Worst. Decision. EVER.

[TBjarnason]

So, today I was like “Hey! I really would love a Plasmonic Leech console, but I only have like 7 million EC. But I have 2000 Zen, so maybe I’ll try some Tal Shiar lock boxes..”

Worst. Decision. EVER.

[Damix]

Tried similar thing with first Xindi lockbox. 50 keys spent without getting a useful item so it was last time I went onto spending spree with Zen. Now I try to use EC to get items I need.

[Marcase]

Yeah, unfortunately you missed some of the advice we give on that; use your zen to buy keys, but instead of playing the ‘lockbox lottery’ (where the house ALWAYS wins), it’s best to sell those keys on the exchange for mucho ec and buy the Plasmonic Leech (or any other valued item) with same ec. Could be a tad more expensive -statistically you could get lucky with a lockbox- but at least you’re sure that you’ll get what you want.

Sorry to hear TB, lesson learned 😥

"Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."

[TBjarnason]

Yeah, it was definitely not a good feeling. It sounded so fun at first! I feel like I need gambling counseling after this…

[TBjarnason]

So after reading your replies, I felt so ripped off that I lost 2000 Zen ($26.50 CANADIAN!) and had nothing to show for it, that I bought another 2000 Zen, bought 13 keys, sold them all on the exchange within 20 minutes for $4,4600,000 each, and bought Plasmonic Leech. And I still have 500 Zen left. What a stupid expensive day. Looks like I’ll be eating KD and hotdogs for the next week. Ugh. The more you know… 🙂

[Marcase]

At the risk of making you feel worse – and obviously that’s NOT my intention ofcourse! – depending on the going dilithium/zen rate (and it’s ridiculously high now at +375) you *can* earn enough dilithium in-game equivalent to 750-1,000 zen per month.
Granted, it will take some grinding, and 2-3 alts (of which one is a KDF) minimum, but getting 200K-300K refined dilithium per month is achievable, especially with the new Admiralty system – ignore the Fed and Rom one and focus on the KDF and that one alone should net you +30,000 dilithium ore per month easily. This will take away some of the dili grinding.

Add the daily 1,200 dili from our Research Lab, 2,000 dili for turning in Contraband (which is where the KDF ‘farmer’ alt comes in) and daily missions like Tau Dewa Patrols, Dyson Sphere (Allied Space), Red alerts, Sh’mar (Zibal)/Traelus/Alhena (Def. contract) (3x 480), doffing/admiralty and you know, just playing the game 😀 , +8,500 per alt will be the normal when you know where to farm it. And farming being defined as quick and easy, so no long missions or mining.

My farming schedule;
20 play days/month x 5 characters (8,500 daily refined) = 850,000 dili / 375 zen-rate = ~2,266 zen

As an extra reserve, I turn in various reputation marks for dilithium whenever I’m low.

A play-day is an average 1.5 hours of STO per day. I do play more, and the extra dilithium earned I spend on gear-upgrades or fleet project donations etc.
The zen I spend on keys, fleet ship modules or other c-store items I can sell on the exchange for ec.

Just to give you an idea. 😎

This is another reminder for me to update the Dilithium guide, will update it soon(tm).

"Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."

[Damix]

Is anyone playing Arc Quest to get ArcPoints? It took me 3 months to get 15000 points, which is 1500 Zen. It is slow but it takes just few clicks which is ok for me.

I have 5 characters and go for dilithium through gameplay on my main, while 3 kdf alts are supplied with contraband dil they get themself. Some of that contraband goes to my main character.

Contraband can also be sold for EC, which is also good option.

[TBjarnason]

Definitely doesn’t make me feel any worse! So no worries there 😉 But I do love all of the tips on how to better farm for dilithium. Some of this I already knew, but like usual, most of it I didn’t!

[fatman592]

Speaking as someone who has farmed 8 million dilithium since Delta Rising and the Upgrade System wiped me out last time: Doff, doff and doff (and Admiralty isn’t bad either).

I have 8 characters, 5 KDF/3 Fed. I doff on all of them, Admiralty on only my Feds (if there was an auto-filling system for Admiralty I’d run that on all of them). I focus my doffing strictly on the following, in order of priority: contraband, R&D mats, doff recruitment mostly colonists/forced labor. That gets you generous amounts of dil, and a steady ec source in mats and common doffs which people buy up to fill fleet projects.

Logging in once a day, for 1 hour at most I generate: A minimum of 16k dilithium (though often much more, I’d say I average more like 24k), enough R&D mats to fetch at least 500k ec on the exchange (though I let these accumulate and then sell in bulk, especially during events), enough colonists and blue/purple prisoners to get around 700k-1 million ec.

Admiralty rewards on three characters is harder to quantify, so I’ll leave it out. But the rewards are indeed excellent. Purple R&D mats, dil, salvaged tech, lump sums of ec can easily match the take from doffing on all my characters.

16k dil and say 1 million ec a day, for less than an hour online. Let’s do the math:

16k/1mil x 7 days = 112k/7mil
112k/7mil x 4 weeks = 448k/28 mil
448k/28mil x 12 months = 5,376,000 million dilithium and 336,000,000 million ec

And that is with the most minimum of effort. Add some discipline when it comes to spending (never upgrade any gear unless you absolutely have nothing else to spend your resources on), and all the events where they double dilithium, etc and you’ll generate even more. I didn’t even log in for months at a time, and I’m sitting on enough Zen to get the AoY pack, absolutely free – just as my Delta Rising Pack was absolutely free.

And yes, never ever ever and under no circumstances gamble on lockboxes. Open them strictly for lobi and you’ll come away a happy customer.

Edit: Totally forgot about selling excess contraband. Stacks of 250 go for around 10 million ec. Usually I get that many every couple of weeks, so add in say another 120 million ec per year (conservatively) in doffing profit.

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." - Marcus Cole, Babylon 5

[TBjarnason]

Thanks for all the tips guys, always a huge help. Guess I should make a couple alts this weekend since it’s double XP!

[Marcase]

Just make a single, simple Klingon, and get it to level 11, which unlocks the duty officer system. You don’t have to develop it any further – in fact I’d suggest against it because Agents of Yesterday will require a new toon and that will keep you busy enough :D.

You could choose a Romulan and have it align with the KDF, as Romulans have a much more interesting arc(s) than plain Klingons. KDF-Roms also benefit from the KDF marauder Doff missions.

"Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."

[TBjarnason]

Ha, that’s too funny. I actually created a Klingon alt today (and got to level 11 in about 30 minutes with the double XP event), before even reading this… so thanks for confirming my idea!

[CodeWarrior316]

I probably should burn a slot or 2 on contraband farmers… if I could only get motivated! Maybe this will inspire me 😀

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