Request R&D Assistance, is it worth your time?

adorenko

Has anyone been wondering if "Request R&D Assistance" is worth the time or for that matter even aware it existed?

Well for those who are not familiar with this assignment, you can run a DoFF mission that rewards you with all sorts of R&D materials, components and even DoFFs. It doesn't require any special officers to start the mission just 1000 dilithium. I know a 1000 dilithium may seem like a lot to start a DoFF mission but the rewards can be well worth the 1000 dilithium.

I ran this mission across 6 characters. Check out my results here.

Let me know, is this mission worth your time?

tk79

I used to do it across 12 characters until I got a blue doff (Aegis) that is BOUND to character. Quite aggravating.

To answer OP: not worth it, as it's a gamble for DOFFs, and doing them in alts is not encouraged since the rare DOFFs are bound.

stuart1965

adorenko wrote: »

Has anyone been wondering if "Request R&D Assistance" is worth the time or for that matter even aware it existed?

Well for those who are not familiar with this assignment, you can run a DoFF mission that rewards you with all sorts of R&D materials, components and even DoFFs. It doesn't require any special officers to start the mission just 1000 dilithium. I know a 1000 dilithium may seem like a lot to start a DoFF mission but the rewards can be well worth the 1000 dilithium.

I ran this mission across 6 characters. Check out my results here.

Let me know, is this mission worth your time?

Yes its worth doing if you are into crafting, as i am.This is in addition to getting mats from different missions.

adorenko

tk79 wrote: »

I used to do it across 12 characters until I got a blue doff (Aegis) that is BOUND to character. Quite aggravating.

To answer OP: not worth it, as it's a gamble for DOFFs, and doing them in alts is not encouraged since the rare DOFFs are bound.

Well if you are looking for DoFFs then no but I do it more for the mats.

sheldonlcooper

It was for a while. Now I would say no. The chance of getting argonite related things is too low.

hypl

It depends. It's a lottery, after all. But it might be worthwhile if you have alts.

And remember, Romulans can take two assignments. One from themselves and one from their ally.

adorenko

The biggest problem I think most people are going to have with running this mission, in the games current state, is the fact that Dilithium has become such a sink on gear upgrades that a 1000 dilithium seems like a lot on a chance of finding something very specific.

If you are running this to try to find something specific, I would say stay away from this mission. Run this mission when you are not looking for anything. The hope is you make your Dilithium back and then some in the components you get as I did in this video.

gavinruneblade

it is the most efficient way to turn dilithium into EC, beating both contraband and buying zen then buying keys and selling the keys.

I have no idea if it is good for crafting as I don't craft.

adorenko

gavinruneblade wrote: »

it is the most efficient way to turn dilithium into EC, beating both contraband and buying zen then buying keys and selling the keys.

I have no idea if it is good for crafting as I don't craft.

With crafting, it's good for stockpiling components. All the omni beams I have made have been from the components from running these missions across all my characters.

raidcontroller

I was quite upset when I discovered the Rare Doffs from this assignment were bound on pickup. I had high hopes of being able to sell a few for some EC, but anyway. The mission is generally a good way to drill up EC, but not sure about using the mats. My return on the assignments has averaged over 500,000 EC. This would make it by FAR the best EC payout per dilithium.

New characters should start running this as soon as it is available. I always suggest to my fleet mates to use the funds from the sale of crafting materials to buy contraband, then of course contraband to dil. This allows them to quickly build up dilithium starting at level 10, meaning if they save it they can quickly gear their ships once they hit 50.

erei1

IMO it's worth it, because I had several purple component (not the basic resource, but "crafted" component, that use several blue and purple basic resource if I do them myself).
Also, it is one of the most reliable source of crafting doff for me. I don't have the name listing to search on the exchange, and I've yet to see the random R&D doff mission you can have roaming in space.

As for the price, you can almost halve it by doing the academy quizz in the immediate vicinity (fed) or nearby (kdf).

tk79

adorenko wrote: »

Well if you are looking for DoFFs then no but I do it more for the mats.

I collected a decent amount of items when I used to run it, however, getting rare components was, well, rare. I am inclined to believe that crafting those components with dilithium yields a better Return-Over-Investment than expecting them to be awarded in that mission. As for mats, it can be tricky, since some mats can be really expensive due to their availability tied to queues and the queue system being under-played.

donowick

If you want aegis set it is worth it to me. I was lucky and got my aegis doff (rare) on first try. The materials are just a bonus seeing I had plenty of it already. But is it worth 1000 dil not to me maybe 500 dil be better. If your looking for a doff for crafting then do it but don't do it for materials. There are easier ways of getting materials that pay you instead of you paying them.

olivia211

It is kind of like a crapshoot. Sometimes you get some nice items and sell-able DOFFs and other times you get nothing but junk.

I was doing it on most characters but now I am laying off.

adorenko

Lots of good feedback as to what people think. Some love it, some hate it, and some are just meh. With queues being dead I find it somewhat useful, but I don't run it every time it's up. I run it when I have excess dilithium on my farmville characters, bc lets face it, what are alts good for anymore these days?

lordmalak1

Couldn't you just post your results instead of making a video ? I don't have sound so it's a waste of time for me to try and watch it.

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hausofmartok

I run it all the time on my main and alts just for the mats and IMO it is worth it. Also, in case anyone hasn't noticed them, there's a ton of DOFF missions in the allied zone of the Dyson Sphere that reward a bunch of mats too.

bergins

westmetals wrote: »

I do it mainly for the chance of getting the (white) crafting doffs. That said, I have quite a few of those now, so I'm starting to slack off.

I discovered that since there are no Romulan crafting doffs, the Romulan mission never rewards them.

I have not checked the market recently, but it used to be that those white DOffs were quite expensive, depending on which one you got.

I must say, I was pretty excited for the OP when they collected the DOffs, but a little sad when they seemed pretty "Meh" about them. Relly, some of them on the exchange went for more than those components that cost 4000 Dil.

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adorenko

bergins wrote: »

I have not checked the market recently, but it used to be that those white DOffs were quite expensive, depending on which one you got.

I must say, I was pretty excited for the OP when they collected the DOffs, but a little sad when they seemed pretty "Meh" about them. Relly, some of them on the exchange went for more than those components that cost 4000 Dil.

From what I have gathered in the way of these DoFFs, is they were worth some EC but not a crazy amount. Perhaps those I had acquired were not the officers people wanted. I'll check on the officers I got and see if they were worth anything.

robin74

I have data for the mission run almost 200 times, and the average return, at current prices, is still about 600-700 thousand EC per mission, about a third of it coming from Argonite and Isolinear Chips, and most coming from various very rare and rare components and materials. So yes, I would say it's still one of the most profitable things you can do with dilithium.

adorenko

robin74 wrote: »

I have data for the mission run almost 200 times, and the average return, at current prices, is still about 600-700 thousand EC per mission, about a third of it coming from Argonite and Isolinear Chips, and most coming from various very rare and rare components and materials. So yes, I would say it's still one of the most profitable things you can do with dilithium.

Ahhh damn, and here I am hoarding it.

virusdancer

My apologies for not reading through the thread if it was already brought up, but since it's an opinion question even if it was brought up before then it just a case of agreeing...

It used to be for me. I did it on 10 alts every 4 days (48 hour duration, 48 hour CD) or so. I'd average around 12-14m EC for the 10k Dil. Then the Sheshar promo came about and prices plunged...so I stopped bothering with it.

adorenko

virusdancer wrote: »

My apologies for not reading through the thread if it was already brought up, but since it's an opinion question even if it was brought up before then it just a case of agreeing...

It used to be for me. I did it on 10 alts every 4 days (48 hour duration, 48 hour CD) or so. I'd average around 12-14m EC for the 10k Dil. Then the Sheshar promo came about and prices plunged...so I stopped bothering with it.

I forgot about the Sheshar. Good thing I don't really sell my mats. So it's about the same for me.

gavinruneblade

adorenko wrote: »

Ahhh damn, and here I am hoarding it.

Run this mission, sell the stuff, buy contraband. turn contraband into double your expended dilithoum. keep the extra ec as profit.

This mission is a gold mine.

adorenko wrote: »

From what I have gathered in the way of these DoFFs, is they were worth some EC but not a crazy amount. Perhaps those I had acquired were not the officers people wanted. I'll check on the officers I got and see if they were worth anything.

Most of them sell for 20-30k beams and a few others go for 500k to 1 mil depending on day of the week and current competition.

warmaker001b

Price issues with mats due to the Sheshar Promo is a temporary thing. Once that Promo is done things will normalize again after a bit.

If you're into crafting, the R&D Assistance is worth it. You get mats and components ranging typically up to the Rare types. If you're lucky, some Very Rares. Making some of the components at higher rarity costs way more than 1k dil. If you get the AEGIS DOFF for your crafting needs (maybe not now but maybe later?), then that's icing on the cake.

futurepastnow

I do it 13 times twice a week. Sometimes I "break even" on the 13k dil spent, sometimes I don't, sometimes I make a large profit. It's all RNG based. One of my characters, one that is level 0 in all the R&D schools, now has four Gumerres, i think. I'll downgrind them or execute them eventually.

I do it just to do it.

cmdrscarlet

^ This, pretty much.

welcome2earf

I would say that it is not as handy as it was, however I have scored a Gumarre or two from it on my toons.

Like the above poster said, it's hit or miss, but used to be 100% hit in the beginning pretty much. I woudl say over time, you are more likely to break even at worst, but that will likely change as more people get on-board and prices normalize somewhat.

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