Let’s face it – every MMO is a grindfest, and STO is definitely not an exception.  Amongst all the in-game currencies, dilithium (aka “dil”) is the most coveted and most difficult to obtain.  Or is it?  If there is one event that dil farmers were born for it is the Dilithium Bonus weekend.  During this event, all dil rewards are increased by 50%, with some increased by 100%.

Setting up mining and contraband dil farm

Resources needed:

1. as many level-9 toons as you can get (both Fed and KDF).
2. minimum of 25 contraband per toon. To obtain contraband, you can:
3. purchase in bulk off the exchange by searching for “contraband” and selecting “sort by ascending price per unit (expensive but can be done immediately).
4. do select doff missions or marauding missions on KDF toons (time-consuming but inexpensive).
5. if available, a minimum of 5 VIP mining vouchers per toon for the Vlugta asteroid mine field located in the Alpha quadrant. Unfortunately, these vouchers can only be obtained by opening lock boxes.
6. an environmental suit.

So how does this work? First, you’ll need to move all your farming toons (which shall now be referred to as “farmers”) to Deep Space 9 located next to Bajor in the Alpha quadrant.

Place all your farmers in the vicinity of the Security Officer on Deep Space 9.  On the evening before the dil bonus weekend event begins, accept the “turn over confiscated contraband” doff mission.  Collect the results the next day once the event starts and accept the same doff mission again.

Reward before event: 2000 dil.  Reward during event: 3000 dil.

If you have VIP mining claims, fly your farmers to the dilithium mine on the Vlugta asteroid located in the Bajor sector.

The night before the event begins, talk to Isihl and accept the “rich dilithium claim” mission.  However, do not run the mission.  Instead, wait until the event begins.

Once the event begins, you can go to the rich dilithium vein by activating your environmental suit.  Go talk to the FDMAA agent and accept the mining mission.  You will need to score at least 700 points in order to maximize your reward.  Once done, leave your farmers there until the next day in order to repeat this process.

Reward before event: 5000 dil. Reward during event: 10000 dil.

[EDIT]: I forgot that you can mine on the Vlugta asteroid as well. I just ran this mission during the dil bonus weekend event, so I’ve got accurate numbers for the result of completing it.  Basically, talk to Isihl and take the “asteroid mining” mission.  You can use the same trick of picking up the mission the night before the event, just like the VIP mining mission.  You’ll have to mine at five locations as indicated on your mini-map.  Each mining mini-game will also reward you with a small amount of common and uncommon crafting materials.  Once done, go back to the airlock and talk ti Isihl in order to complete the mission.

Reward before event: 1350 dil.  Reward duing event: 2025 dil max.

If you do not have VIP mining claims, then you can fly over to the “Dilithium Fleet Mine Holdings” located in the Bajor sector as well.

Once you’ve beamed to the surface of your fleet’s mine holding, talk to the Miner Shift Manager who will offer you three missions: mine impure, rich, and pure dilithium crystals.

Once accepted and you’ve activated your environmental suit, you’ll see their locations on the map.  Go to them and perform the mini-game.  Again, a minimum score of 700 will maximize your results.

There are four colors of mineable dil crystals: pink, gold, blue, and green.  The Miner Shift Manager can provide you with information about the different colored crystals.  However, it is irrelevant since they all provide the same reward of 200 dil before the event.  You will find a total of ten such mining locations.  There is also one bonus dil mining mission located to the northeast of the mining station, which rewards (prior to the event) 480 dil. Be careful with this one because you may fall into an abyss and get stuck.

Make sure to use the navigation points to fly to each.

I can’t give you an exact number for these rewards during the bonus dil weekend since I typically don’t do this mission.  Why?  It’s time-consuming (about 15 – 20 minutes per toon).  So the following bonus reward numbers may be off.

[EDIT]: I just ran these mining missions during the dil bonus weekend event. I’ve updated the rewards numbers below.

Reward before event: 2480 dil.  Reward during event: 5010 Wow!!!

Now for the next day, you’ll do the “rich dilithium claim” or the “dilithium fleet mine holding” missions and then fly to Deep Space 9 and accept the “turn over confiscated contraband” doff project with the Security Officer.  For each day of the event, you’ll repeat this process in the opposite order.  If you move any toons from their end locations, remember to put them back before you log out.

Setting up a doff mission dil farm (courtesy of @Foxman86)    

There are many options for setting up a doff dil farm since every doff mission provides a small dil reward.  However, some may provide more than others.  Undoubtedly, the “turn over confiscated contraband” doff mission provides the largest reward.  However the leader of the 101^st Fleet, Aaron Lawford@Foxman86, recently informed me of some he does on a regular basis: Daily Research and Development doff missions from the Assignment Officer.  The Assignment Officer is located in the development lab on your fleet’s R&D holding.

You’ll have several to select, but you’ll only be able to do one at a time.  However, there’s a twenty-hour cooldown, so this would make a good daily mission.  Personally, I haven’t done these doff missions during the dil bonus weekend event, so the following numbers are an estimate.

Reward before event: 1200 dil.  Reward during event: 1800 dil (est.)

Another good dil doff mission can be found on your very own ship if you go talk to the Science Officer on your engineering deck.  You can get there by visiting your bridge and then take the turbolift to the engineering deck.

You will see three doff missions on the menu. On the first window, you’ll see a menu, so select the mission titled “special projects.  A second menu will appear. The one you want to do is the first one – “data sample analysis.” You’ll be presented with four doff missions that require data samples – something that you likely have lots of taking up inventory/bank-slot space.

The good thing about these projects is the cooldown: three have a six-hour cooldown and one an eight-hour cooldown. Each project rewards 250 dil.

Reward before event: 1000 dil.  Rward during eveng: 1500 dil (est.)

Task Force Operations farm

STO recently re-did the old STF’s into the new Task Force Operations (TFO’s).   Granted, we all know the risks of running these with random players, so do so at your own risk.  As always, it is best to do these missions with friends, as well as fleet- and armada-mates.  Make sure to put a call out for others to join you either in your fleet’s chat channel or the Equator Alliance (EA) chat channel.  You could also use the Armada chat channel, but we prefer to use the EA chat channel since it is a cross-faction channel. If you need an invite to this channel, send me an email (@CaptainPetey) and I’ll add you to the channel.

When it comes to rewards, these vary depending on how successful is your team.  Hence, I won’t post dil results for TFO’s.  However, it is worthy to note that some are much easier and faster to complete. These include Crystalline Catastrophe Advanced (CCA), Infected: the conduit (otherwise known as Infected Space Advanced – ISA), and Federation Fleet Alert (FFA).  Each has a 30-minute cooldown, so you can keep running these on your toons as often as you’d like.  Your rewards can also vary depending on if you’ve received your daily bonus for CCA or ISA (or any other Borg-related TFO).

Setting up an Admiralty farm (courtesy of @ISS Voyager)

Imagine-

-an ocean of stars, shimmering crystal and violet.  With a tall prow and a handsome stride, a starship wakes the sky in dilithium supernovae.  Imagine forging dilithium with a keystroke.  Imagine no cooldown timers, no trading, no mining, no contraband, no zen, nor lockboxes.  Imagine infinite dilithium from no input, without cooldown, from anywhere, by any ship, for as many times as you press a button, right now.  Imagine accomplishing this using assets once thought defunct.  This is the potential of the Admiralty System.

What’s the Catch?

There is always a catch.  In this case, there are three.  Reaching the full potential of the admiralty system requires: (X) An armada of account-reclaimable starships; (Y) a vast army of captains, and (Z) patient setup.  Maximizing the Admiralty System is not for the casual: it is for those of us who remember Marks of Honor, Pursuing DSE’s, Memory Alpha, Tribble Breeding, and a choice of 6 endgame Starships.  (Enter Excelsior-class, August 26, 2010.)

Theory

The theory is simple: (1) Maximize the Admiralty System, (2) across numerous avatars, by (3) effectively deploying your armada.  We discuss these three dimensions below.  Done correctly, the cooldown timers will be vastly eclipsed by the available missions, and will effectively allow you to earn dilithium continuously.  Further, effectively deploying your armada means all your idle ships become infinite sources of dilithium.  That is, what was an infinite well of buyer’s remorse is now an infinite source of energy.

Maximize the Admiralty System

(For a beginner’s guide to the Admiralty system, look to the STO Wiki.)

Maximizing the Admiralty System means: (A) completing missions which reward dilithium, while (B) skipping non-dilithium missions without wasting pass-tokens.

Missions that Reward Dilithium

• Klingon & Ferengi Tours of Duty [10 of 10] [30,000 Dilithium Ore]
• Missions marked with Dilithium Emblems [50-500 Dilithium Ore]
• Missions with “Dilithium Events”
  • Lucrative Mining Contract [2,000 Dilithium Ore]
  • Lucky Vein [1,000 Dilithium Ore]
  • Refinement Surplus [500 Dilithium Ore]
  • Rogue Dilithium Asteroid [500 Dilithium Ore]
  • Dilithium Dust Synthesis [500 Dilithium Ore]
  • Intermix Chamber Salvage [500 Dilithium Ore]

Skipping Missions without Wasting Pass Tokens

The strategy is to repeat the long-term Klingon and Ferengi Tours of Duty while also repeating the short-term Dilithium missions.  A pass token is (usually) rewarded on a critical mission successes, and a captain may only have a maximum of 50.  Thus, they must be neither horded nor wasted.  A simple algorithm for this strategy is:

1. Do all Tour of Duty and Dilithium missions accessible without using a pass token. Check all campaigns.
2. Klingon Campaign; skip non-dilithium missions and run all dilithium missions until the next Tour of Duty mission is run.
3. Repeat for Ferengi Campaign.
4. Return to Klingon Campaign, skip non-dilithium missions and run all dilithium missions until all slots are filled.

Numerous Avatars

The second dimension is to multiply the above method across many avatars.  Notice that all of your c-store and special event ships are account reclaimable.  Notice also that Dominion captains start with access to the Admiralty System, and can access all starships after selecting an allegiance.  Admiralty Starships are created when you first claim a starship on an avatar.  Decommissioning a starship does not remove its parallel admiralty card.  Thus, you can copy your entire armada onto every avatar, simply by taking care to commission and decommission each ship one by one.

1. Create a new Dominion captain. Play through the Tutorial.  Select the allegiance of your Armada.
2. Stand by a “Ship Selector” NPC/Console
3. Reclaim an account-reclaimable starship. Verify its corresponding Admiralty Card has been created.  (Sometimes it doesn’t create due to a glitch)
4. Decommission the starship.
5. Repeat for every starship, one by one. Take care to verify each admiralty card is properly created.
6. You have now copied your Starship Armada, and all its dilithium-earning glory!

Effectively Deploy your Armada

Armada Strategies and Tactics are outlined below.

Armada Strategy

• The “Star Empire”

Imagine a Star Empire comprised of Armadas of Starships.  An Armada of Admiralty Starships is mapped to each of your avatars.  Note, your Star Empire is made of Admiralty Starships, and not of Avatar Starships.  Consider your Avatar Starships as “communication ships” and your Avatars as “communications officers”: their role is only to relay information to their corresponding Armadas of your vast Star Empire.  Accordingly, simplify and streamline your activity to deploy your Armadas wisely.  Admiralty Starships require zero attention and earn all of the dilithium, while Avatars and their Avatar Starships require a colossus of attention, and earn no dilithium.

• Avoid Black Holes

Are you OCD like me?  Remember the “Star Empire” design.  Do not get bogged-down in the tedium of micro-managing many tertiary avatars!  Beware the following:

• • Do not attempt to actually level an army of avatars to Vice Admiral 52 for this purpose
  • Do not attempt to keep track of tertiary avatars’ levels or equipment
  • Do not attempt to make all tertiary avatars identical
  • Do not attempt to reclaim all other account-reclaimable items
  • Save and Load their UI, or simply keep the default settings
  • Save and Load a common uniform, or simply use the default costume
  • Setup tertiary avatars one at a time, do not “assembly line” them
  • Name your avatars simply! (X-1, Y-13, Z-17, etc.)
  • Remember they have exactly one function: Admiralty System

Mothballs to Star Empire

Do you have starships idling in mothballs?  The beauty of the Admiralty System is that it turns your idle starships into the greatest source of dilithium in-game, accomplishing two endeavors in one excellent design.  That is, what was an infinite well of buyer’s remorse is now an infinite source of energy.

Moving Resources

Dilithium and other resources will collect evenly across the inventory-assets of your numerous avatars.  Periodically transfer these resources to your main avatar(s).

• Dilithium via Dilithium Exchange
• Energy Credits via Account Bank (Bridge)
• R&D Materials via Account Bank (Bridge)
• Liquidate all other assets to Energy Credits
• Overkill Formation

If your Armadas are large enough, lead with your Tier-6 starships in an “overkill formation.”  Do so even for common assignments with small requisites.  The critical success will supply you with necessary pass tokens and increased dilithium.  If your Armadas are smaller, maintain a “cohort” formation, where powerful ships are partnered with weaker vessels.

Music

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaOpJ9GtYqQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KzzxqSH6gk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBko-tc1aM0

Armada Tactics

Tactical activity will consist of:

• Log onto a Tertiary Avatar
• Collet rewards from completed Admiralty Assignments
• Engage new Admiralty Assignments (as outlined in Section 1, Supra)
• Log out. This cycle takes a minute or less.
• Repeat Indefinitely.

Final Results

When the system is setup, each avatar will normally collect 1,000 – 3,000 Dilithium Ore per login cycle. (Described in Section 3B, Supra)  Further, Klingon & Ferengi Tours of Duty [10 of 10] reward 30,000 Dilithium.  (See Section 1A, Supra)  It will typically take 20 days to complete a Tour, though they can complete in as little as 10 days.  Regular dilithium missions complete in several hours, or in as little as 15 minutes.

Now, imagine 40 avatars.  If it takes only one minute to perform a cycle, and if most missions complete in an hour or less….  Then, by the time you cycle Avatar-40, Avatar-1 will be ready to collect dilithium again.

That’s: 40 x 1,000 = 40,000 Dilithium per hour, minimum, indefinitely.

Plus: 40 x 2 x 30,000 = 2,400,000 Dilithium every 10-20 Days.

Long Live the Terran Empire!

Antonio@ISS Voyager

Terran Empire 1^st Fleet

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