As you advance through the game, you’ll be able to challenge yourself by attempting harder versions of the same missions you’ve already succeeded at. There are two additional difficulty levels: Elite and Epic. To attain 100% completion for any timeline, you’ll need to complete all the variations of a conflict on all the difficulty levels.
Higher difficulty levels of previous Away Team missions and Space Battles offer you greater rewards, such as higher-level equipment needed by your most advanced Crew. Elite missions become available at level 7, and Epic missions arrive at level 16.
The requirements to engage a higher difficulty mission are as follows:
- your Captain has to be at or above the correct level (7 or 16)
- you must have achieved 3 Stars of the lower-difficulty version of that mission by claiming all of the available Rare Rewards
Bear in mind that higher difficulties are intended to provide challenge to more experienced Captains, and as such, you might need to significantly advance your Crew's capabilities before engaging a higher-difficulty mission.