just watned to share some friendly advice for people wanting the R&D ships:
1: if you want the ship, dont waste your money gambeling
why? heres why. a few people get really lucky opening boxes and getting ship, but the vast majority do not.
there is a way to get box ships without ever gambling, and it is just buy them from other people. yes its going to cost a lot, but all you have to do is buy master keys and sell them until you have enough creds to buy the ship.
for example if a ship is selling for 500mil and master keys sell for 5mil you would need to buy 100 master keys and sell them to get 500mil. yes $100 is a lot but at least you didnt spend $100 opening boxes and get nothing at all.
its better to spend $100 and guarantee you get something that spend $100 and risk getting nothing.
2: buy the ships on DAY ONE
why? heres why. most box ships go down in price after day 1. but thats not what happened with the connie.
the connie was selling for 700-900mil on day 1, then started going over 1 bil and sits today around 1.5bil.
since this isnt a normal lock box ship that will come back around in the infinity pack, you better buy it early before the prices go up after the event ends and the supply starts to dwindle.
PS: some poor sapps actually sold their connies on the exchange on day 1. so if you sit next to the exchange and spam refresh on day 1 you might get really lucky.
3: if you get lucky and actually win/buy a ship, copy your character to tribble BEFORE YOU OPEN THE BOX
why? hers why: by copying your character to tribble BEFORE you open the box, you can test it out to see if you really like it.
if you dont like the ship, you can go back to live server and sell it to someone else and make a bunch of creds!
and also remember that you can copy the same character to tribble MORe than ones.
you can make 6 or 7 duplicates of the SAME character and each of those characters will have a ship pack in their inventory.
that means you can make enough copies to be able to test the ship pack on all factions before you make up your mind.
I wonder how many people followed this advice for the T6 Connie just to find that not enough of them hit the market. Well, at least they got a nice shiny pile of EC...
So OP, say everyone follows your advice....please explain where exactly we're going to buy the ship if no-one opens a box!? And if only a few open the box, you say we're to give those people monopoly over those ships so we have to save millions, no, billions of EC just to get hold of one!!
And before you start a patronizing rant, I've been playing a long, long time. It's better to buy some boxes and try your luck with 10, than it is to buy none and hope those that have monopoly with these ships don't fleece you for billions.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
So OP, say everyone follows your advice....please explain where exactly we're going to buy the ship if no-one opens a box!? And if only a few open the box, you say we're to give those people monopoly over those ships so we have to save millions, no, billions of EC just to get hold of one!!
And before you start a patronizing rant, I've been playing a long, long time. It's better to buy some boxes and try your luck with 10, than it is to buy none and hope those that have monopoly with these ships don't fleece you for billions.
That has never happened, so your what-if contradicts years of history. There are always people who choose to open boxes in bulk.
For R&D packs, the odds of getting a ship are 1 in 100.
For N packs, **BEFORE YOU OPEN ANY** there is a simple formula that tells you the odds of getting NO SHIPS at all. This is the odds of rolling a die N times and never rolling a 1. The formula of NO ships is (0.99) ^ N.
For 10 packs, odds that you will get 0 ships = (0.99) ^ 10 = .904 = 90.4%.
For 40 packs = $100, odds of 0 ships = 66.9%.
For 80 packs = $200, odds of 0 ships = 44.75%
Spending $200 on keys would get you 1.1 billion EC or a 50-50 gamble if you buy and open packs instead. Your choice.
why? heres why. most box ships go down in price after day 1. but thats not what happened with the connie.
The Connie is special, and being special it will inflate the price of any infinity pack it's in. The same thing won't happen with these ships and the price will drop after day one. But it will rise again after the promo of course.
Other than that, you're paying a markup for any ship you buy over the exchange cap- these people don't sell them at a loss- you're paying for every box they opened to get that ship- their model only works because they open huge numbers of boxes. Thus I'd rather pay that cost to myself if I had to have one- and that's exactly what I'm going to do for a second connie even it's just 5000 zen per infinity promo until I get it. I can always use the R&D boosts and mats.
Maybe for the connie, though 1.5 billion is actually a reasonable price for it given the $250 expected cost to get one (100 packs).
For lock box ships, EC and the exchange is a much better way to buy them unless you happen to want everything else in the lock box including mining claims.
I'm just gonna buy the R&D packs and sell 'em on the Exchange.
^^^This works much better than Lockbox Keys. If you wait a month or two before selling them, the Promo R&D Packs will be worth considerably more because they won't be available from the C-Store any longer. I did it with the Connie R&D Packs and they sold for 55M each.
So OP, say everyone follows your advice....please explain where exactly we're going to buy the ship if no-one opens a box!? And if only a few open the box, you say we're to give those people monopoly over those ships so we have to save millions, no, billions of EC just to get hold of one!!
there are 2 kinds of people who open the boxes:
(1) people who want the ships
(2) people who dont want the ships
people who want the ships are goign to keep them. those people dont sell the ships on the market.
people who dont want the ships sell them, and that is where all the ships that are being sold on the exchange and in trade chat come from.
there are always going to be people who dont want the ships for various reasons. lots of people just open boxes for lobi or craftng mats, so they will sell ships they get.
saying there will be no supply if everyone who wants the ship doesnt open boxes is a logical fallacy, because it ignores the people who sell the ships because they dont want them.
And before you start a patronizing rant, I've been playing a long, long time. It's better to buy some boxes and try your luck with 10, than it is to buy none and hope those that have monopoly with these ships don't fleece you for billions.
you do know the drop chance is less than 1%, right? i mean, thats not an opinion, its a fact. if you like gambling, thats fine, go for it. but some people would rather be able to buy something for a set price than risk spending hundreds of dollars and never get a ship.
its fine if you like gambling, but you shouldnt be bashing the people who dont.
You're forgetting the privileged few that only want to dominate the market and artificially inflate the price, which is exactly what your advice achieves!! And yes, there are people in STO that do nothing but wheel and deal the Exchange.
In the 6 years I've been playing, I'll buy a few boxes here and there, and yes I've been lucky. Won T6 Connie, T6 Konnie X 2, and numerous other ships throughout, and will tell you this, the odds of winning are 1%, and this 'fact' was let slip by a Dev. It makes me laugh when people quote 'I opened 1000 boxes and got none'. It seems people don't understand that even with a 1% chance of winning, drawing 100 boxes still doesn't guarantee a ship, but you still could win 100 theoretically, and you could draw a million and never get one. It's called simple probability, it's not called 'there is 1 ship in every 100' boxes.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
Yeah you could sit on one till the supply runs out and make a killing.
Back on topic. I agree with the OP. Don't gamble...you will end up disappointed.
Actually, moderation, not abstention, is the key to happiness
If I can win 2 Konnies from 70 Boxes, and 1 Connie from 13, so can others.
Set your limit, and don't spend $200 on keys to sell for EC for one ship......that's just plain wrong.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
I make my EC via other routes than selling keys as I cannot afford the rl money to do that, but I have always been able to get the ship I wanted with a bit of time & effort, which didn't even interfere with my normal activities in game.
Yeah admittedly when I first started playing lockbox ships and lobi ships annoyed me, but once I figured out how to make ec at a decent rate it put most ships within reach. Even the super expensive ones are within most players reach if they put in the effort or a little bit of cash.
First let me say that I am personally not interested in gambling. So I don't open these boxes for the possible wins - if I did, which I now don't but it may change, I would do so for the guaranteed gains, materials, lobi in other boxes, what have you.
But then again, even apart from the fact that opening boxes actually tends to give you a net gain in this game (i. e. on average you can sell the stuff you win for more than you paid, which actually is sensible due to risk aversity), gambling is underrated.
Granted, you need a few prerequisites before you should consider it. You need to be absolutely A-OK with not winning. It should not be able to hurt you in a meaningful way. You should be aware of the odds, and the fact that 100 tries in a 1/100 gamble don't guarantee a win. But if you are - a big if - it may pay off. Maybe you enjoy the undertainty, people do. Maybe you won't get a ship through other means, but at least this way you have a shot (again: don't depend on it, don't count on it). Maybe - only in this case, not with real life million dollar lotteries - you are able to ride the variation and gain from it. Gambling doesn't have to be as bad as the odds are. Unfortunately those who do are often the wrong ones, those who don't meet the prerequisites.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
i added a 3rd peace of advise to the orignal post!
Copying to tribble is a good idea. If you don't like it, you can sell the R&D pack ship for enough EC to buy 2+ lock box ships plus any other goodies you want or need like traits, plasmonic leeches, sets of lock box beam arrays, whatever.
The profit margin on fleet ships modules is much worse than keys.
FSMs are selling for 16.5m and cost 500 zen or buy 4 keys at 125 zen which are selling for 5.6m each.. earning you 22.4m.
6.1 million EC greater profit selling the keys than a FSM
Considering the infinity R&D box did nothing to reduce the connie price, I'm going to say promo ship prices have probably stabilized, and the ent j will probably be 1.5 bil on day one
Maybe for the connie, though 1.5 billion is actually a reasonable price for it given the $250 expected cost to get one (100 packs).
For lock box ships, EC and the exchange is a much better way to buy them unless you happen to want everything else in the lock box including mining claims.
It's not a reasonable price, as a direct $ for zen for boxes is the worst way of doing it, and it also fails to take into account the value of everything else in the box. Do it the right way, and 1.5 billion is making a killing and laughing all the way to the bank. That's way it's done to such a degree.
Considering the infinity R&D box did nothing to reduce the connie price, I'm going to say promo ship prices have probably stabilized, and the ent j will probably be 1.5 bil on day one
Perhaps, perhaps not. The connie is not in the R&D promo- and the connie will inflat anything it's part of.
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And before you start a patronizing rant, I've been playing a long, long time. It's better to buy some boxes and try your luck with 10, than it is to buy none and hope those that have monopoly with these ships don't fleece you for billions.
That has never happened, so your what-if contradicts years of history. There are always people who choose to open boxes in bulk.
For R&D packs, the odds of getting a ship are 1 in 100.
For N packs, **BEFORE YOU OPEN ANY** there is a simple formula that tells you the odds of getting NO SHIPS at all. This is the odds of rolling a die N times and never rolling a 1. The formula of NO ships is (0.99) ^ N.
For 10 packs, odds that you will get 0 ships = (0.99) ^ 10 = .904 = 90.4%.
For 40 packs = $100, odds of 0 ships = 66.9%.
For 80 packs = $200, odds of 0 ships = 44.75%
Spending $200 on keys would get you 1.1 billion EC or a 50-50 gamble if you buy and open packs instead. Your choice.
The Connie is special, and being special it will inflate the price of any infinity pack it's in. The same thing won't happen with these ships and the price will drop after day one. But it will rise again after the promo of course.
Other than that, you're paying a markup for any ship you buy over the exchange cap- these people don't sell them at a loss- you're paying for every box they opened to get that ship- their model only works because they open huge numbers of boxes. Thus I'd rather pay that cost to myself if I had to have one- and that's exactly what I'm going to do for a second connie even it's just 5000 zen per infinity promo until I get it. I can always use the R&D boosts and mats.
As for this promo- not interested.
For lock box ships, EC and the exchange is a much better way to buy them unless you happen to want everything else in the lock box including mining claims.
^^^This works much better than Lockbox Keys. If you wait a month or two before selling them, the Promo R&D Packs will be worth considerably more because they won't be available from the C-Store any longer. I did it with the Connie R&D Packs and they sold for 55M each.
You're forgetting the privileged few that only want to dominate the market and artificially inflate the price, which is exactly what your advice achieves!! And yes, there are people in STO that do nothing but wheel and deal the Exchange.
In the 6 years I've been playing, I'll buy a few boxes here and there, and yes I've been lucky. Won T6 Connie, T6 Konnie X 2, and numerous other ships throughout, and will tell you this, the odds of winning are 1%, and this 'fact' was let slip by a Dev. It makes me laugh when people quote 'I opened 1000 boxes and got none'. It seems people don't understand that even with a 1% chance of winning, drawing 100 boxes still doesn't guarantee a ship, but you still could win 100 theoretically, and you could draw a million and never get one. It's called simple probability, it's not called 'there is 1 ship in every 100' boxes.
Yeah you could sit on one till the supply runs out and make a killing.
Back on topic. I agree with the OP. Don't gamble...you will end up disappointed.
Actually, moderation, not abstention, is the key to happiness
If I can win 2 Konnies from 70 Boxes, and 1 Connie from 13, so can others.
Set your limit, and don't spend $200 on keys to sell for EC for one ship......that's just plain wrong.
You are the exception, not the rule.
Yeah admittedly when I first started playing lockbox ships and lobi ships annoyed me, but once I figured out how to make ec at a decent rate it put most ships within reach. Even the super expensive ones are within most players reach if they put in the effort or a little bit of cash.
But then again, even apart from the fact that opening boxes actually tends to give you a net gain in this game (i. e. on average you can sell the stuff you win for more than you paid, which actually is sensible due to risk aversity), gambling is underrated.
Granted, you need a few prerequisites before you should consider it. You need to be absolutely A-OK with not winning. It should not be able to hurt you in a meaningful way. You should be aware of the odds, and the fact that 100 tries in a 1/100 gamble don't guarantee a win. But if you are - a big if - it may pay off. Maybe you enjoy the undertainty, people do. Maybe you won't get a ship through other means, but at least this way you have a shot (again: don't depend on it, don't count on it). Maybe - only in this case, not with real life million dollar lotteries - you are able to ride the variation and gain from it. Gambling doesn't have to be as bad as the odds are. Unfortunately those who do are often the wrong ones, those who don't meet the prerequisites.
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Copying to tribble is a good idea. If you don't like it, you can sell the R&D pack ship for enough EC to buy 2+ lock box ships plus any other goodies you want or need like traits, plasmonic leeches, sets of lock box beam arrays, whatever.
Demand for keys is obvious. Are FSMs still in high demand after T6 has been out awhile?
FSMs are selling for 16.5m and cost 500 zen or buy 4 keys at 125 zen which are selling for 5.6m each.. earning you 22.4m.
6.1 million EC greater profit selling the keys than a FSM
It's not a reasonable price, as a direct $ for zen for boxes is the worst way of doing it, and it also fails to take into account the value of everything else in the box. Do it the right way, and 1.5 billion is making a killing and laughing all the way to the bank. That's way it's done to such a degree.
Perhaps, perhaps not. The connie is not in the R&D promo- and the connie will inflat anything it's part of.