A couple of questions about R&D

captainkorak

Okay, I've finally got one school up to level 18 and I'm aiming for level 20. I plan to just keep grinding all of them until they are maxed out.

1. How do I craft EPIC items? Do I need level 20 and a special DOFF or something?

2. Do having certain DOFFs help me level my R&D schools any faster?

3. What's the best way to upgrade items (both level and rarity)? At higher levels it takes an INSANE amount of dilithium just to try to get one item from lvl 13 to lvl 14

4. Once I've got my R&D schools up to really high levels is it possible to generate a good EC income by crafting, or is it more just for your own personal use? I don't mind spending the time on R&D if I can eventually rake in the EC with the skills and sell lots of items.

5. Can Federation characters not craft other types of energy weapons, like disruptors, polaron, antiproton, etc? I only see options for phasers. Or is there some kind of "schematic" you have to get in order to learn how to build those.

Thanks!

turbomagnus

1. Epic/Gold items are non-craftable, they can only be gotten by upgrading.
2. Not exactly. Higher quality DOffs increase your critical chances, which can give extra R&D Exp, but they have no direct effect.
3. Use the Romulan Upgrades from completing the Romulan Admiralty System Campaign and Experimental Superior upgrades (the ones that need Salvaged Tech to craft) and wait for an Upgrade Weekend.
4. It doesn't really help. You can sell low Mark-high quality items okay, but most things you can craft other people can craft themselves. The only exceptions are the Lvl 15 School items like the Aegis set, Omni-Beam Array, etc. Those usally sell well.
5. Click on the Phaser image, you should get a dropdown menu allowing you select the different weapon types (also applies to Torpedos, Mines, etc.).

groomofweird

1) I dont think you can craft epic items, but you can craft ultra rare.
2) Certain doffs do help in crafting items, but levelling im not so sure. There is a project you can do at your fleet research station for bonus research xp. Research xp boosters help too.
3) The best way to upgrade crafted items is to craft them at mkII and upgrade from there as that gives you increased chances for earlier, cheaper rarity increases. Its a gamble but it helps as one superior upgrade tech will knock it up several levels giving you several "free" rolls for a quality increase.
4) yes, if you have allot of crafting materials, some crafted items (with desirable mods) sell for a good few milion ec. You'll have to work for it though as critDx4 weapons are rare and very highly priced on the exchange for a very valid reason. Search for yourself to see what weapons with what mods sell for the most in the areas you wish to craft and work from there.
5) You can craft all standard energy types, theres a drop down box after you select the item you wish to craft at the top next to the picture of the item.

Others can no doubt elaborate further with better detail, but it's late here lol! Hope that helps a bit though.

davefenestrator

Note that getting one CrtD x 3 beam array might require crafting 100+ Mark II beam arrays with other mods. Then you have to hope you get CtrD when you upgrade it and it goes to Ultra Rare (ultraviolet) quality. They are expensive because of the huge time investment.

If you have the mats on hand, crafting Improved and Superior tech upgrades to sell can bring in decent money if you have R&D at level 20 so you get x2 of them almost every time you craft using a purple doff. It also means you can craft the Superior upgrades for your own use instead of buying them.