Crystals
What are some of the best uses of (and ways to obtain) crystals for f2p players?
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Howdy, Stranger!
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Not sure what I wrote is clear, so here is a wordy example (keep in mind we are comparing crystal use on energy vs spending in shops):
If you want mark 12 fusion furnace salvage, you can buy it from the weekly shipments or farm it from fleet 2e.
From weekly shipments you can get them for 1750 crystals for 50, so 1750÷50=35 crystals each.
If you do some research you can find that the drop rate for most gear is around the 20% mark when farmed off nodes.
So if we spend 50 crystals for 120 fleet energy we get 12 sims on that node, and on average we will get 12x0.2=2.4 salvage. So 50÷2.4=20.83 crystals per salvage.
20.83 vs 35 crystals each.
The patience part is that if you do 50x3 refreshes per day that gets you 36 sims for 7.2 per day, meaning you need to wait about 7 days to get your 50 salvage (just using the crystal bought energy to keep to our crystal comparison that is 150x7 for 1050 spent over 7 days), rather than the instant 50 of spending 1750 crystals.
Also you get the other stuff on the node, to make farming it even better.
Best way to obtain crystals is fleet arena and GAC.
What about crystals for shards and/or blueprints?
Is the shipments, packs, or nodes the best for those?
Drop rate on shards is about 1/3.
Princess kneesa is 8 shards for 640 crystals as she is not accelerated. So 80 crystals per shard. If you did her marquee and got the 50 shards from there you would need another 280 to get her to 7 stars, so that would be 22,400 crystals. It would take about a week of shop refreshes to get the character, if you are lucky. (This time is just a guess from me, I've never done it)
The "gamble pack" as I've heard it called is 1299 crystals for a random number of shards. I've never done this myself, but I have heard the general agreement is it costs about $300 worth of crystals to go from marquee to 7 stars. So that must be about 45,000 crystals. You'd have it before your credit card had time to cool down. The 330 pull is of course possible, but that $300 number is out there for a reason.
Farming her with 1/3 drop rate would take 280x3=840 sims.
If you just farm her slow-time at 5 sims per day you could do this for no crystals at all and it would take 840÷5= 168 days. Close to 6 months.
Spending crystals to refresh the node speeds it up. One refresh costs 25. That doubles your daily to 10, so cut the time in half to 84 days. Down from 6 months to 3. 84 days of 25 to refresh is 2100 crystals.
That's what I do for new characters. I'll wait 3 months to cut the crystal cost down to 1/10th of the shipment crystal cost.
Some people like to refresh a second time each day for 15 attempts. That second refresh costs 50 crystals though. So your daily cost goes up to 75 per day. 840 sims at 15 per day is 56 days, so at 75 crystals per day it costs 4200 crystals to have it in 2 months.
Personally, I do not think doubling the cost is worth taking only 1/3rd of the time off, so I'm generally happy to wait 3 months instead of 2.
I don't count the cost of the energy refreshes at all, because I would do 3x50 every day regardless of character farming. It takes away a bit from my gear farm each day, is all. But every character node comes with some kind of gear, so at the worst I'm getting stuff to convert to relic materials at the scavenger.
You could cut most numbers in here in half for an accelerated character and the same applies. 11,200 to buy from shipments.
3 months to 7 stars at slow farm.
1.5 months to 7 stars at 10 per day (still 2100 crystals)
1 month to 7 stars at 15 per day (still 4200 crystals)
No gamble pack option.
Wow, that's a long post. Sorry.
Don't worry about slow farms, end up the farm and then start to gear up ur squads. While u farm someone else, u keep collecting cristals for kyrotechs.
There's no secrets, just cycles.
Account Started: August 12, 2023
That is an awful way to use crystals… it’s very very very rare where you’d want to do that, even then it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
It’s not awful.
It’s not a bitter pill.
It’s strategic & mathematical.
I have done it.
What a player would need is the following:
- They would have to have a Fleet Team strong enough to beat enemy Fleet Teams.
- They would have to time a Fleet Push near Fleet reset.
Fleet Arena gives Crystals.
You can see from the below picture.
If I did nothing and my opponents did nothing, I would gain 100 Crystals for being in tier 11-20.
Now lets say I did do something!
What if I decided to fight 10 mins before reset, I would move up.
Than reset cool down on battles for 50 gems.
Than fight again, I would move up.
Than reset cool down on battles for 50 gems again.
Than fight again.
What would happen?
I would have used up 100 gems in refreshes, but I could be potentially ranked top 3 as reset ends.
I would get 350 gems for being ranked #3.
It would be a net positive of 250 gems, but realistically I am only getting 150 gems extra.
Nevertheless, it’s a total win.
——————
Doing 2 Gem Cool Down Refreshes per day is Aggressive.
I have done it, but it can be risky.
However, I do think 1 Gem Cool Down Refresh or 1 Gem Refill per day can be very good.
It depends on players Fleet Rank.
I have been floating around top 10 for past 2-4 weeks.
I don’t benefit as much from 5 extra attacks because I am so high ranked already.
I benefit more from burst attacks.
A player floating around top 100 would be different.
They might benefit more from 5 extra attacks because they still have room to climb.
I think it would be more beneficial to them especially if they can get into top 50.
———————
The OP question:
What are some of the best uses of (and ways to obtain) crystals for f2p players?
Using Crystal on Fleet Refills/Refreshes is on my list for best use.
Account Started: August 12, 2023
Which you proceeded to answer with one of the absolute worst usages of crystals this game has to offer.
The only valid use of fleet refreshes is when you are outside the top 5 and close to your payout and can gain more crystals than you spend by getting inside the top 5 and potentially even first. Even then that involves only one refresh within the last hour nearest your payout.
Trust me I usually try to get top 3 if I’m not busy, I’m well aware on how the payouts work. What you’re saying is a good usage of crystals due to your “mathematics” is contrary to the opinions of the vast majority of the player base.
The only worse way of using crystals I can think of at this moment is store (not counting mod store) refreshes.
I disagree with you my friend... It's also contrary to mathematics, no opinions necessary
It’s okay.
Most people are bad in math.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the bad math players disagreed.
The important thing is account progress.
It can help an account progress better and that is why I consider it as 1 of the best use of Crystal’s.
Math doesn’t lie.
Math is very straight forward.
Account Started: August 12, 2023
Don’t advise others based off of 12 weeks worth of playing when the advice you’re trying to pass off is extremely poor and is against the stance of a lot of the community.
But again, do what you will.
I’m sorry sport but you are confusing arithmetic and mathematics. The maths of what you are proposing can very easily demonstrate what a poor strategy it is - taking into account probable variables, expected behaviours and outcomes over an extended period of time (& that’s the bit that’s critically missing from your calculus). The arithmetic suggests it might sometimes pay off but only if you take a very simplistic view. I think it might be worth having a chat with @DarjeloSalas who is if I recall an actual maths teacher - he could help you out a bit.
Sadly Darj can no longer help - his last attempt to help Player J resulted in an unfortunate bit of business that prevents him from posting.
I am curious!
Do you have any Crystal income, OP?
People have given advice on what they believe is best use for Crystals and a few people gave examples of where to acquire crystals.
I’m just wondering how many Crystals your account is generating. I feel like the answer could change things.
A person who gets 100 Crystals per day is completely different vs. a person who gets 600 Crystals per day.
Account Started: August 12, 2023
Buying 3x50 energy refreshes and farm kyrotech with it would be more cost efficient.
When I had 100 crystals per day I bought energy refreshes. Now I have about 600 crystals per day and still buy energy refreshes (and more stuff). When OP will earn enough crystals to buy every ‘cheap’ energy refreshes available, I’m confident they’ll be able to ask more guidance if needed.
And you were right about one thing: buying fleet battles refreshes could be cost efficient, if it allows you to get higher crystal rewards. Paying 50 to gain 100 more crystals is a good deal. And then use your 100 more crystals to buy energy refreshes.
Yeah, I think most of what you said is spot on.
I completely agree.
My only curious question would be:
What is your stance on Cantina Refreshes?
Account Started: August 12, 2023
Every energy refresh is good, Cantina or otherwise, depends on what you need. Except maybe for players who are not 85 yet, because regular energy is cheaper to gain xp.
I also didn't expect my first post to start a math fight,
My refreshing is focus on what I'm farming