Dilithium 101
By PWE_BranFlakes @ October 10, 2012 at 12:01pm
This monthly article features useful information about Dilithium, including what it is, how to earn it, and how to use it in-game. We’ll be featuring this article monthly, and adding to it as more questions about Dilithium arise. If you have any questions about Dilithium, ask them by commenting below and we’ll answer them in the next issue.
What is Dilithium?
Beginning with the launch of Season 5: Call to Arms, Dilithium has become the major form of currency in Star Trek Online – it is primarily used to purchase in-game items, including ground and ship gear, starships, select Duty Officers and crafting materials, and is used to begin some Duty Officer Assignments. With the recent launch of Season 6: Under Siege, Dilithium is also used in select Starbase Fleet Projects.
How is Dilithium earned?
Dilithium is primarily earned by completing in-game missions (PvP and PvE dailies, events, STFs, Duty Officer Assignments etc.), and is awarded as Dilithium Ore. Players can also go mining for Dilithium Ore once per day on the Vlugta Asteroid Field, near Deep Space Nine, in the Beta Ursae Sector Block.
Before this Ore can be spent, it must be refined. Players are able to refine up to 8,000 Dilithium Ore per day – 800 Day Veteran subscribers also have access to a special Duty Officer Assignment on Starfleet Academy (Fed) and Klingon Academy (KDF) that allows for extra Dilithium refining (1,000 extra for a 48 hour assignment). Gold members also have a special perk that allows them to refine Dilithium automatically upon logging in, up to one previous week’s worth.
STOWiki.org has done a fantastic job creating a Dilithium information page that provides a full list of missions that award Dilithium, including amounts. You can check it out here.
Refined Dilithium is also available via the in-game Dilithium Exchange, which can be accessed via the downward arrow on the mini-map. Here, you can exchange ZEN you’ve transferred into STO for Refined Dilithium, and vice-versa. It’s important to note that the Dilithium Exchange is a live marketplace – exchange rates are driven by the playerbase, depending on how much of one currency they are willing to trade for another, and such rates may fluctuate from moment to moment.
How do I use Dilithium in-game?
As mentioned, once Dilithium Ore is refined, it becomes a spendable currency.
Many ships in-game require Dilithium to be purchased. Federation players can find Starship Requisitions at Earth Spacedock, Deep Space 9, Deep Space K-7 and Starbase 39-Sierra. Klingon players can find Starship Requisitions in the orbiting shipyard of Qo’noS.
Players can also buy many different types of ground and space gear from various vendors across the galaxy. Federation players will find that Earth Spacedock is home to vendors who take Dilithium, and Klingon players will want to visit Qo’noS to spend their Dilithium. Gear can also be purchased directly from the Dilithium Store on the minimap.
If you are looking at crafting higher tier items at Memory Alpha, most recipes call for Common and Uncommon Unreplicateable Materials. These are purchased with Dilithium and can be obtained from a vendor on Memory Alpha (Fed) or Qo’noS (KDF), or through the Dilithium Store on the minimap.
Select Duty Officers can be purchased with Dilithium from Lt. Ferra at Starfleet Academy (Fed) and Lt. S’stas at Klingon Academy (KDF) – these Duty Officers are of Uncommon/ green and higher quality. As you participate in various Duty Officer Assignments, you will notice that some of them will require Dilithium. Similarly, Season 6: Under Siege introduced the new Fleet Advancement System. While some of the Starbase Fleet Projects your Fleet Officers decide to undertake may require large amounts of Dilithium, you can choose how much you would like to donate at a given time – this allows for multiple fleetmates to donate smaller amounts at a time if they wish.
For those players that would like to “thank” the author of a Foundry mission you’ve recently enjoyed, at the end of the mission, along with your review, you can choose to leave a “tip” of refined Dilithium. Among other things, this helps authors fund the purchase of additional Foundry project slots, which means more Foundry missions for you to play!
How do I use the Dilithium Exchange in-game?
To access the Dilithium Exchange, click on the downward arrow on the mini-map and select “Dilithium Exchange” – this can also be accessed while browsing the Dilithium Store for items and clicking on “Buy Dilithium”, and through the button on the “Assets” tab of your inventory.
Again, it’s important to note that the Dilithium Exchange is a live marketplace – exchange rates are driven by the playerbase, depending on how much of one currency they are willing to trade for another, and such rates may fluctuate from moment to moment.
The following images provide more information on how to use the Exchange:
A: This is the “Buy ZEN” tab.
B: This section displays the top offers to sell ZEN.
- Example: row 1 tells is that there is 2,899 ZEN available for 205 Refined Dilithium per ZEN.
C: This section displays any outstanding offers you have on the exchange. If you wish to cancel an offer, click on the offer to highlight it and then click the “Cancel Offer” button. Canceling an offer will put the Refined Dilithium you put onto the exchange into your “Exchange Balance” (F).
D: This section is where you can decide how much Refined Dilithium you would like to offer to buy ZEN. All 3 fields may have values entered in them, and the “Total Dilithium to sell” field is automatically updated as you adjust the values above it*.
- Example: if you would like to submit an offer to buy 100 ZEN, you would put “100” in the “ZEN to buy” field, and then the amount of Refined Dilithium you would be willing to pay per ZEN acquired – the “Total Dilithium to sell” field would then update with the total Refined Dilithium you need in order to purchase 100 ZEN at that “Dilithium per ZEN” price.
E: Once you have entered the information in the fields above (D), click the “Submit Offer To Buy” button to confirm and submit your offer to buy ZEN. NOTE: ZEN purchased via the Exchange are bound to Star Trek Online.
F: This section shows your current Exchange Balance. Canceling an offer will put the Refined Dilithium you put onto the exchange into this balance. Future offers will first pull from these balances and you can withdraw available Refined Dilithium or ZEN from your Exchange Balance at any time.
G: This section shows your current character’s Refined Dilithium balance, and your account’s ZEN balance.
A: This is the “Sell ZEN” tab.
B: This section displays the top offers to buy ZEN.
- Example: row 1 tells is that there is 12,856 ZEN available for 204 Refined Dilithium per ZEN.
C: This section displays any outstanding offers you have on the exchange. If you wish to cancel an offer, click on the offer to highlight it and then click the “Cancel Offer” button. Canceling an offer will put the ZEN you put onto the exchange into your “Exchange Balance” (F).
D: This section is where you can decide how much ZEN you would like to offer to buy Refined Dilithium. All 3 fields may have values entered in them, and the “Total Dilithium to buy” field is automatically updated as you adjust the values above it*.
- Example: if you would like to submit an offer to sell 100 ZEN, you would put “100” in the “ZEN to sell” field, and then the amount of Refined Dilithium you are wanting to get per ZEN sold – the “Total Dilithium to buy” field would then update with the total Refined Dilithium you would get if your offer matched or beat an outstanding offer on the exchange.
E: Once you have entered the information in the fields above (D), click the “Submit Offer To Sell” button to confirm and submit your offer to sell ZEN. NOTE: ZEN placed in the Exchange will permanently bind them to Star Trek Online.
F: This section shows your current Exchange Balance. Canceling an offer will put the ZEN you put onto the exchange into this balance. Future offers will first pull from these balances and you can withdraw available Refined Dilithium or ZEN from your Exchange Balance at any time.
G: This section shows your current character’s Refined Dilithium balance, and your account’s ZEN balance.
*If buying ZEN, the Refined Dilithium price must be set between 25 and 500 Refined Dilithium and offers must be set to at least 1 ZEN and no more than 5,000 ZEN. If selling ZEN, offers must be set to at least 1 ZEN and no more than 5,000 ZEN and the Refined Dilithium price must be set between 25 and 500 Refined Dilithium.
kirksplat @ Oct 12th, 2012 4:33PM
It would be nice if the game taught people what this blog post does. There is an academy. Why not use it to teach?
scbypwr @ Oct 11th, 2012 9:43AM
Gold members also have a special perk that allows them to refine Dilithium automatically upon logging in, up to one previous week’s worth. WHAT IS THIS?
kezzin @ Oct 11th, 2012 7:29AM
What part of this being a "Monthly" article are you people not getting? They said as much the prior two times they posted it. Monthly article is monthly. Some are so eager for something to complain about I suppose...
seekerkorhil @ Oct 11th, 2012 7:03AM
Player controlled is a half truth. Someone paying attention can easily see there is a mimimum level PWE is willing to allow it to drop to. Once it falls below this level they log into the game and ramp up the price themselves.
neoakiraii
Show proof
rickeyredshirt @ Oct 11th, 2012 6:36AM
800-day veteran reward huh? You mean 1-day and I just bought a LTS and gave Cryptic my $$$ reward, right?
totenmet @ Oct 11th, 2012 6:35AM
What has all this economics stuff, buying and selling, to do with just playing a game?
cmdrscarlet
Try EVE Online - you'll be happy the Exchange is what it is.
excelly @ Oct 11th, 2012 5:03AM
They need to sort out the exchange rate
excelly @ Oct 11th, 2012 5:03AM
they need to sort out the exchange rate between dil and ZEN
sfccrash
The rate is PLAYER controlled. The only thing they've done is limit the maximum ammount of dil per zen. I feel it's right where it should be most days. Some days are higher some days are lower. just learn when to buy and when to sell.
nyxadrill @ Oct 11th, 2012 12:33AM
As much as I apreciate the drive to always post "Something", posting the same articles within a month of each other is not a good idea Brandon. I, like many others, come to the website most mornings to get news of our favorite game not to see something we've already read previously. 101's SHOULD be done but once published put them on an easy to find tab on the site. Only post new ones. As someone has already said "if you have nothing to say then dont say anything" dont worry...we can take it :)
sigwolf33
Must have been a slow news date at Crytic.
kezzin
Monthly article is still monthly...
aquitaine985 @ Oct 10th, 2012 10:57PM
Stop leaving this same pointless post. If you have no new info, say nothing!
pwnervtecht @ Oct 10th, 2012 9:14PM
Third Time i See this Post. We have a spelling: "if you have to say nothing just Shut up".
admiralkristov
You have a spelling?
arkyboy
?
dracounguis @ Oct 10th, 2012 6:20PM
Really, a repost of an (not qutie that) old article?
ncckiller @ Oct 10th, 2012 5:39PM
collecting dilithium sucks it's borring as hell, I vote to take it out of the game.
firelamp @ Oct 10th, 2012 5:24PM
3 times for this article is to much
kdawgenigma
Just shows they don't have much to talk about if it doesn't involve some money grab scheme.
weasleyisourking @ Oct 10th, 2012 4:53PM
While I'm sure a small minority of players find this useful, it's a little disappointing to check the website newsfeed and find the same article posted yet again in the guise of new material. There's gotta be a way to hit the target viewers without cluttering the news and pushing down the very exciting 1000-day veteran rewards.
tilarium1979
I agree. Just one question.... 1000-day veteran reward? I was under the impression that veteran rewards were made avaliable for cold hard cash and done away with.
kdawgenigma
Didn't know there were still vet rewards. What used to be vet rewards lost their prestige.
admiralkristov
I just had a motion
meurik @ Oct 10th, 2012 1:38PM
@ BranFlakes: Why not STICKY this to the website somewhere, instead of reposting it?
nerosif
I second this motion.
garrethunter
I third it!
garrethunter
I third this motion!
garrethunter
Sorry 4 2nd tie my bad!
masterjp123
I 5 th this motion !
masterjp123
I 6 th this motion !
don1701c @ Oct 10th, 2012 1:02PM
As someone new to the game, this article is helpful, although I already saw it before. I think instead of posting it here in the news though, Cryptic should take a cue from Turbine. They have all of their 101 'Guides' in one convenient and easy to access tab. As for the noob questions on ESD, I agree and I am new myself. However, when I start a new game and I don't know something, I look it up. The first night I played (last week) I can't recall how many players were asking things like "where is the shipyard?, where is Malcom Sissel?". I FOUND those things by just walking around and taking in the scenery. Anyone who doesn't know where those things are at have to be brand new, as I was. But if you are new, you could at least walk around a bit yourself before spamming chat with basic questions. I am not saying you shouldn't communicate in a game, especially an MMO, but at least make an effort to look for yourself.
don1701c
BTW I know this article is from the Wiki but Perfect World themselves need to create a basic set of guides for new players, like the 101 series at LOTRO.
splitboy
Indeed Turbine does a lot better when it comes to transporting information and not waving all the time with a ,buy me, pay me sign.
usskeystone @ Oct 10th, 2012 12:28PM
It's either this or people asking more noob questions on ESD than they already do. Furthermore, web articles are independent of content creation. The job of the webmaster is not to create game content, nor is it likely to be something he or she is trained for. Get over yourselves, kiddies.
baracura28 @ Oct 10th, 2012 12:20PM
Yay this .. again.. its like 3 times this got put up in like 3 months or so?..
commodoreshrvk
Sadly, it is all in the push for money. As aggressive as Cryptic is being with pushing the purchasing, it makes me wonder if things are faltering. For example, less people playing since the F2P launch means they have to be more aggressive with getting people to spend money in game. This can be seen with the lifer sale and gimmick now to sell that, the convienent purchase of dilithium from the exchange to get around the limited amount you can gain and the highly repetitive ways to obtain it. Even the allure of a "personal advancement system" and "fleet embassy" have me concerned about how pushy they are going to be with the money transactions. What ever happened to building a game that was rich and diverse that people wanted to play and enjoy, then pay happily as they went along? I am quite amazed how in what 8 months after the launch of F2P this game has turned into an Asian grinder, but one with much less content to grind on.
rgrgeom @ Oct 10th, 2012 12:20PM
how about we get more content and less of these monthly article crap. on that subect is this not the second or third time this article has come around
neoakiraii
Two dirrent teams
bbfknight @ Oct 10th, 2012 12:19PM
That is a FANTASTIC idea
elqanna @ Oct 10th, 2012 12:10PM
How about putting a cool down timer/counter on the "Refine Dilithium" button so we'll know when we can refine more dilithium.
themarie
Fantastic idea!
dialgastar
It resets at 8 pm Eastern Time every night.
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