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As a VIP0, what is the best way to use dilithium, merits and honour?
Background: I am level 44, have already got the third shuttle slot, and am not sure how to use the resources I’ve got.
I have 4.6 mil credits, 104 k honour, and 26 k merits and 350 dil.
I usually spend a few merits on the gauntlet, just to try and stay top 100, I have splashed out before but didn’t feel like it was massively worth it, I sometimes use a few merits/credits to get packs when I’m straying far above 25k and 5mil respectively. I don’t tend to spend honour very much, other than to buy a few trainers fairly infrequently and I was probably going to use the dil to get more crew slots but it doesn’t really feel worth it for 5.
I feel like I’m wasting my resources and hampering my progress tbh by not spending them (esp the honour) but don’t want to for fear of wasting them.
That was wayyy longer than planned but basically what are your suggestions?
Background: I am level 44, have already got the third shuttle slot, and am not sure how to use the resources I’ve got.
I have 4.6 mil credits, 104 k honour, and 26 k merits and 350 dil.
I usually spend a few merits on the gauntlet, just to try and stay top 100, I have splashed out before but didn’t feel like it was massively worth it, I sometimes use a few merits/credits to get packs when I’m straying far above 25k and 5mil respectively. I don’t tend to spend honour very much, other than to buy a few trainers fairly infrequently and I was probably going to use the dil to get more crew slots but it doesn’t really feel worth it for 5.
I feel like I’m wasting my resources and hampering my progress tbh by not spending them (esp the honour) but don’t want to for fear of wasting them.
That was wayyy longer than planned but basically what are your suggestions?
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"A few merits" in Gauntlet is okay, as long as you're still taking in more than you're spending. I use them very sparingly myself — only when I have a longer streak going, but not even then sometimes — and coming out on the positive side during every round. As a level 44 captain, if you're not able to stay in the top 100 of a Gauntlet without having to spend Merits, I'm wondering if your issue may be in just not having the good crew in your roster fully leveled? One of my mistakes in the beginning was trying to level up my entire roster equally; a much better method being to focus on 2 or 3 crew at a time, and get them leveled up before moving on to some other crew. Maybe that's not the issue with you — just bringing it up in case it applies.
My own personal strategy with Merits is to spend them back down to around 10k when I get above that, by doing pulls. Even if you don't get lucky with a Legendary, or a 4* you need, you will still accrue Honor for them. 25k seems to be a rather high point to at which to keep your reserve, since you really are only going to use Merits for two things — and occasionally for unfreezing crew and buying items in the faction centers. But YMMV.
I do think your credit level may be a bit on the low side, if you're doing much leveling and/or replicating. It's easy to burn through a couple million credits just by replicating a bunch of 5* items. Again, just my personal choice, but I tend to keep at least above 10 million of them. When I used to let myself dip to half that, I found myself really needing the Saturday advanced cadet missions to get enough to get through the next week.
As a VIP0, you're obviously not buying the premium track of the Campaigns, but I assume you're doing all your daily missions regularly so you at least finish the basic track and get yourself the 4* citations at the end. And I would save those for event crew where you only got 3 stars of 4 on the new Super-Rare crew. So I'd say if you are going to spend any large amount of Honor, I wouldn't spend it on a 4* citation. What you might want to consider is using 45,000 of it for a Legendary Behold, if you're still needing good 5* crew. I haven't done that much, myself, but I know many other players find it to be helpful. Just keep a reserve of at least 50k of that so you can fully fuse your mega event Legendary (who you should be getting 4 copies of, assuming you're playing each of the 4 weeks long enough to get them in the threshold rewards).
I'm sure others will chime in, but those are a few of my thoughts.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
Merits are best spent on merit pulls to convert to honor. Gauntlet has potential for good rewards, but mostly you get junk, so use a merit refresh once or twice if you are wanting a 3-streak or are in the last five minutes and could get more boxes, but it is seldom worth it.
Credits are an issue for some people, but I'm not one of them if you focus on one or two crew at a time and pace yourself, you will have an abundance in short order. I use credits to buy stuff from the faction stores. I buy 0* holoprograms, for example, every time I see them for credits. I once bought them for merits, too, but have since stopped. Once I hit about 20 million, I spend 5 to 10 million on basic portal pulls for a bit if honor and basic resources, usually just before a galaxy event.
Honor is for citations. Always make sure you have 50K at the start of a mega-event. I am saving honor right now because I have a good crew and hope for another honor sale in six or eight months. But when I was new, I used it on citations. I have used it on 3 and 4 star crew a few times when a I had a very specific goal, but with patience, those crew will come. Save it for gold crew.
Dilithium is precious. Especially for VIP0. First use it for extra shuttles. I started for a few months as VIP0, but I get the monthly card and many campaigns. If you do not get a monthly card or campaigns, don't waste your dilithium on packs, no matter who is in them. I occasionally get a pack, but almost always regret it. Instead, I save my dilithium for crew spots. Every once in a while they give 5 new crew spots for free and have a half-price sale on more. I always wait and then buy another 20 or so crew slots. For me, this is good. It means more crew available for events and for voyages during shuttle events. It means more merits saved from constantly freezing and unfreezing crew. It means keeping 3/4 crew until they join the portal or get a rerun. It allows more freedom of play.
There comes a point when you will just accumulate chronitons faster than you can spend them. Don't despair: it will eventually happen. In the meantime, my suggestion is to use what you need to meet dailies and save the rest. Once each weekend, use a supply kit and level up several crew while playing the event.
Here are my resources after about 2.5 years.
I've had this same discussion with fellow fleet members who also have a huge number of chrons in reserve — but sadly, that point has not arrived for me, after about the same amount of time playing as you. The most I've accrued at one time (sans chrons which have been part of special offers I've purchased) is around 12k or so. After discussing all the variables at play with my fleetmates, my best guess is that it's due to keeping every new crew I get, leveling them up immediately, playing Galaxy & Skirmish events as much as possible, and doing a fair amount of pre-farming. But even when I've not spent any of them for a time, I tend to grow by only about 5k or 6k per week, which, again, usually gets spent again quite soon.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
I rarely double any crew. That is likely a reason. I do play almost all the events, but I aim for a little under 1000. A higher score is nice, but just takes time that I don't want to give. In the past two months I have reached ten hour voyages half the time and that has equaled a 20K boost for chroniton stash.
Honor. If you are struggling with trainers, then use honor to buy trainers. Leave saving for citations until you are getting enough trainers from voyages and shuttles, this will take 3-4 months. The honor you spend now on trainers will lead to stronger crew, which means longer voyages, and more trainers/honor, so it will pay off.
Forget about concentrating on one or two crew at a time. Try and level your best crew, but if you get stuck on one crew, move onto another.
Galaxy events are your friend, you should be able to get 4/4* crew here leading to immortalised crew, they will be stronger than 3/4, and can be frozen when needed. Faction (shuttle) events are harder for starters, as you will not have bonus crew, and you only have 3 shuttles.
Complete the galaxy map as needed, don't try and overdo it. Instead concentrate on cadet missions. Once you have 3 stars on all weekday missions on all difficulties, you can freeze your 2* crew. Then do the same with weekend missions, and you can then freeze your 3* crew. Injured Torres is about the best 2* crew there is for weekday cadet missions.
https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/14225/created-a-new-account
At the point where I am, the only 4* crew I have active are those who are main event crew for that weekend, the handful of crew who staff my ships in Arena, and maybe six or eight newer ones who I haven't FF yet (including a couple of Voyage-exclusive crew). I've also started freezing some Legendaries who I haven't used in ages for anything, even though they used to be among my best.
I realize there are many players who feel otherwise, but I just happen to think that there are better ways to spend dilithium in the game than spending it on slots, unless you have legitimately tried (like for at least a couple of months) to make it work without doing so, and there is absolutely nobody that you can either freeze or airlock.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
I think my current plan is to spend some merits on reward packs, to try and get a few levels some of my upper rated/ get some more honour. (Also having actually payed attention to cadet challenge rewards more (thanks to Prime Lorca!!) I spotted the premium rewards in the hardest Friday mission so hopefully they’ll come this Friday with a 2x reward video 🥰)
For the honour I’m thinking of sitting on it for a bit longer, my stack of trainers is certainly decreasing and I don’t want to be out.
I am also now planning on saving for another shuttlebay to help with faction mission events. (Having given up halfway through this one after my 85/90+% shuttle missions were failing 40% of the time)
Re levelling up crew, having recently come back to the game after a few months, I’ve definitely got more patient and am working on getting my legendaries up to lvl 100, but I’ve found that 1/5 legendary is usually worse than my 4/4 epics so I’ve been concentrating on them.
Again thanks for all your help and expertise, I feel like I’ve got a bit of a direction now.
Dil - Save all dil for all four shuttle slots, then save all dil for crew slots. I have NEVER not hurt for crew slots in the 1-(something) year(s) I've been playing. Too many crew, not enough crew slot sales. To echo others: only buy crew slots during a sale.
Honor - I am a firm believer in not spending honor for anything but citations. And, because of campaigns, the only citations you should buy are 5*. And, IMHO, saving that 5* citation for Mega crew is the best way to use it. Everything else comes in time; including trainers. (Once you have all four shuttle bays and all faction reps maxed, you'll start using trainers as rep fuel.)
Merits - I like having a BIG cash of merits so I can play gauntlet hard. Keep in mind, I HATE gauntlet and I don't always play (or play hard), but the gauntlet crew are worth it and a large merit pile means I can play how I want, at anytime. Beyond that, there are merit packs and/or shuttle tanking.
Credits - I also like to have a big pile of these. (5 mil seems really low.) I don't usually use these for buying basic packs, unless there was a crew sale and I have some free space. (Same goes for premium pulls, I just hold on to them until I finally have room.) I like having a large buffer of credits because it makes me worry free when it come to big expenditures.
I’ve run with a 5 million credit reserve for a while. I’ve dipped below that to rapidly level someone on a handful of occasions but never below 3.5 million or so, not even when I leveled six legendaries in the days leading up to the TOS mega. I might keep 5.5 million on hand when I know I will be building a lot of 5* equipment, but anything above that goes to the basic 10-packs. While it might be a trickle of honor and a bunch of low-level items, those things are more valuable than a few extra million credits in reserves.
Disclaimer: I never replicate 5* equipment and rarely replicate anything at all (10k 3* rations, 9k 4* rations, 729,790 schematics for maxed out ships, and integer-limited quantities of both nanopolymers and all five trainers are proof of that), so 5 million is more than enough to carry me through any conceivable situation. People who have to replicate a lot of 3-5* items might want to up that number to 7-10 million.
So, my own internal logic boils down to: 1) credits are easy to get, but even easier to spend (mostly on credit pulls — which also don't have a terribly great ROI); 2) chronitons also accrue without nearly as much difficulty as they once did, but still not nearly as easily as credits; 3) when faced with spending hundreds (or possibly thousands) of chrons on farming equipment for a crew, I personally find it better to replicate the larger or harder-to-farm items, thus spending credits and replicator fuel (which is also easy to come by) rather than chronitons. Therefore, I definitely fall into the category which you refer to in your last sentence — and 5 mil can be dangerously low for me, if I happen to have one of those situations where I find replicating to be the more propitious expenditure.
That's not to say I find myself in that situation weekly — or even regularly — but I do like to have that reserve of at least 10k credits just in case the need does arise.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
Credits: I tend to spend them mainly on building items, but I buy a 10x Portal every day (for the dailies) unless I'm particularly low, and then I buy 3x1 Portal. I also Ad-warp Breakwater on Epic on Saturdays (the final Cadet mission), which tops up my credit pool.
Merits: I farm them from the gauntlet whenever I can, but I rarely spend them on gauntlet. In fact, I almost always buy a merit pull whenever I hit 725. The exception to this is if my faction transmissions are getting a bit low (around 10ish per faction), and then I'll spend a day or two going round the faction centres and topping them up to 26 (2x8 transmissions for 75 merits each) - This is 2100 merits for a full top up. However, this keeps me going for a while.
Honour: The moment it hits 50000, I buy a gold citation. Occasionally, if I am running out of crew slot space, I will buy a purple citation to finish off one of the most recent 3/4s to the freezer.
Dilithium: First and foremost - both shuttles if you can. Then crew slots (but wait until there is a half-price crew-slot sale). When you reach a number of crew slots that you are happy with, then turn your attention to packs. I tend to only buy packs if I don't have any of the featured crew immortalised... although I am reaching a point where this just doesn't happen anymore.
I sometimes splurge on a 490 pack during mega events. After the cataclysm mini-event, I bought a 6500 pack too... this was actually worth it!