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The Art of the Deal
ertihan
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Getting Started (or, how the heck do I make my first million?)
The art of making EC in STO can be pretty intimidating at times, but the truth is that it's not as complicated as it sounds. The first million can come pretty quickly if you know what you're doing, but here are some tips to get you going.
Tour the Universe
This repeating event lasts for one hour. During this hour, you can take a quest from an NPC from Earth Spacedock (Federation) or the First City (Klingon). Go to every sector of space your faction can visit, and gain 50,000 EC for each sector. You can repeat this quest as long as the hour isn't over.
There are maps of the optimal routes, and with some practice you can do this mission two or three times during the event, for a grand total of a little over a million EC for an hour's worth of work. Not too shabby.
"Sell" Your Dilithium
For about 125 Zen (at average market price, that's approximately 19,750 dilithium) you can purchase a single lockbox key from the Zen store. They sell for about 1.4 million EC each on the exchange. Since you can refine 8,000 dilithium per character, per day, that works out to about 2 and a half day's worth of dilithium, assuming you hit 8,000 every day.
Now, once you reach the 5 million EC mark you won't want to (and shouldn't) sell your dilithium in that manner. However if you're just starting out, and need starter cash, selling your first 20,000 dilithium for your first million might not be a bad deal.
Investing (or, Expand or Die)
This is where things get interesting. Once you've got your first million, you're going to want to turn it into something more valuable. So how do you do that?
Duty Officers (or, slave trading for fun and profit!)
Used to be, selling very rare duty officers was the way to go. Nowadays, very rare Duty Officers have dropped so precipitously in price that it's no longer profitable to make a living off of them.
Instead, consider selling your common or uncommon duty officers. The reason these officers can sell these days is because of the new starbase system. For those not in the loop, upgrading your starbase requires a huge amount of common and/or uncommon duty officers, and many people end up buying them in bulk from the exchange.
How can you get mass quantities of these duty officers? May I recommend, sir, the Duty Officer Mini-Pack. These ridiculously cheap little packs will give you four duty officers (one of which is guaranteed green or better), and you can typically sell many of them for 50,000 EC, especially the tactical and security officers.
Also, you can go to Starfleet Academy or the Klingon Academy to "grind down" any rare or very rare duty officers these packs might give you, unless the very rare is something valuable, such as a Shield Distribution Officer.
You'll typically make quite a tidy profit from these little packs, and at the very worst, break even. This method is slow, but it will get you to 5-10 million and is fairly safe.
Ripping Off the Wealthy
This method relies on the fact that there are wealthy idiots out there willing to drop a pretty penny on something that, in my opinion, is utterly garbage. What I'm referring to, is the Special Requisition Pack - Shields and related packs. At Vice-Admiral level, these packs are practically worthless. But, at Captain level ...
The reason I've got this here at the million EC mark is because you'll need a bit of initial investment capital to make this work. Each of these packs can be bought for pennies on the dollar (around 50,000 EC, last I checked, each), and when opened by a level 29 character, gives a guaranteed very rare shield/armor/weapon/whatever.
VA level purple shields and such don't sell for anything, but for whatever reason, rich idiots like to purchase purple-level shields for their captain-level ships. Why? Who knows! But it's pretty insane that you can turn a 50,000EC pack into a million EC's worth of profit. Yes, sometimes these purple shields really can sell that high.
The Big Leagues (or, Using Money to Make Money)
Once you start getting into a decent amount of cash, it's time to seriously invest in certain things. Basic arbitrage can be irritating, but it can make you a decent racket ... if you can maintain it.
What is arbitrage? To put it bluntly, it's buying low and selling high. More complicated: it's controlling a specific market. Find a niche that isn't controlled already (that can be hard, but not impossible).
A good example might be duty officers. If you've got 5-10million, you could conceivably control the price of, say, common Assault Squad officers, artificially maintaining a price of 100,000 EC each. Any one of these that appear on the exchange below that price, you purchase and re-list at 100,000.
Yes, you initially lose out on some cash, but since due to Starbase construction projects requiring boat-loads of these, your assault squad officers WILL eventually sell, and you'll get your money back plus interest.
The Keys to Wealth - Literally!
And now we get into the biggest of the big-leagues. The purchase of lock-box keys.
You're gonna need some serious cash for this. I do mean serious. Like 50 million, at least, but in a few weeks of doing the above you should be able to get there. Also, you need to be prepared, because this is a high risk gamble. But the rewards are equally high.
Now, the first thing you're gonna need to do is acquire as many lock-box keys as you can, but leave about 1-2 million EC left. At around 50million EC that's about 30 keys. Then, purchase that many Cardassian Lock Boxes.
Yes, Cardassian. Don't get the Ferengi, definately don't get Tholian, and temporal is pretty meh.
Why Cardassian? Because everything good from that box will sell. Let's see:
Galor - sells at around 80 - 85 million EC
Attack Pattern Duty Officer - Sells at around 15 - 35 million EC (this one is highly volatile)
Subnuke Duty Officer - Sells at around 10 million EC (at least until it's nerfed to high-heaven)
Shield Packs - send these to your low-level character (if you don't have one, make one), have him open them and sell the proceeds for quite a profit
Duty officer mini-packs - didn't we go over these already? :P
The Ferengi box's only claim to fame is the D'Kora, which sells on average 10 million less than the Galor. The Wells is hovering around 80 million, but not much else that's good comes out of that pack. The Tholian Orb Weaver is just sad, selling at only 30 million. Don't even bother; if you really want one, open Cardassian boxes, use the proceeds to buy an Orb and still have cash left over.
Now, at 30 boxes you might not get a Galor. That's OK, you'll probably still make back the 50 million you spent, if you sell off everything the boxes gave you. If you DO get a Galor, sell it immediately. Boom! Instant 80 million EC, which is more than the 50 million you spent.
I think you can guess what comes next. Yes, buy even MORE keys and repeat this process. Also, in the meantime, you're picking up Lobi Crystals. Once you hit 800 (which, if you keep repeating this process on the same character, will happen fairly soon), pick up a Temporal Destroyer. Sell it for 85 - 90 million EC on the exchange. Even more cash in your pocket!
The Art of the Deal (or, Know Your Market)
As the Ferengi would say, "Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to." It's good advice. When purchasing lock box keys, never pay more than 1.5 million. Even 1.4 million is a tad high; try to buy them at 1.3 if you can.
On the same token, don't buy mini-packs that are more than 300,000 EC in price. At that price point you're not making much profit at all. Don't be discouraged if they're at a high price; people are opening boxes all the time, and these mini-packs are some of the most common drops from them. The price rarely stays high for long as somebody is always trying to unload a pack of them.
So happy selling to you! Hopefully with this guide you'll be on your way to happiness and profits! Or at least profits.
The art of making EC in STO can be pretty intimidating at times, but the truth is that it's not as complicated as it sounds. The first million can come pretty quickly if you know what you're doing, but here are some tips to get you going.
Tour the Universe
This repeating event lasts for one hour. During this hour, you can take a quest from an NPC from Earth Spacedock (Federation) or the First City (Klingon). Go to every sector of space your faction can visit, and gain 50,000 EC for each sector. You can repeat this quest as long as the hour isn't over.
There are maps of the optimal routes, and with some practice you can do this mission two or three times during the event, for a grand total of a little over a million EC for an hour's worth of work. Not too shabby.
"Sell" Your Dilithium
For about 125 Zen (at average market price, that's approximately 19,750 dilithium) you can purchase a single lockbox key from the Zen store. They sell for about 1.4 million EC each on the exchange. Since you can refine 8,000 dilithium per character, per day, that works out to about 2 and a half day's worth of dilithium, assuming you hit 8,000 every day.
Now, once you reach the 5 million EC mark you won't want to (and shouldn't) sell your dilithium in that manner. However if you're just starting out, and need starter cash, selling your first 20,000 dilithium for your first million might not be a bad deal.
Investing (or, Expand or Die)
This is where things get interesting. Once you've got your first million, you're going to want to turn it into something more valuable. So how do you do that?
Duty Officers (or, slave trading for fun and profit!)
Used to be, selling very rare duty officers was the way to go. Nowadays, very rare Duty Officers have dropped so precipitously in price that it's no longer profitable to make a living off of them.
Instead, consider selling your common or uncommon duty officers. The reason these officers can sell these days is because of the new starbase system. For those not in the loop, upgrading your starbase requires a huge amount of common and/or uncommon duty officers, and many people end up buying them in bulk from the exchange.
How can you get mass quantities of these duty officers? May I recommend, sir, the Duty Officer Mini-Pack. These ridiculously cheap little packs will give you four duty officers (one of which is guaranteed green or better), and you can typically sell many of them for 50,000 EC, especially the tactical and security officers.
Also, you can go to Starfleet Academy or the Klingon Academy to "grind down" any rare or very rare duty officers these packs might give you, unless the very rare is something valuable, such as a Shield Distribution Officer.
You'll typically make quite a tidy profit from these little packs, and at the very worst, break even. This method is slow, but it will get you to 5-10 million and is fairly safe.
Ripping Off the Wealthy
This method relies on the fact that there are wealthy idiots out there willing to drop a pretty penny on something that, in my opinion, is utterly garbage. What I'm referring to, is the Special Requisition Pack - Shields and related packs. At Vice-Admiral level, these packs are practically worthless. But, at Captain level ...
The reason I've got this here at the million EC mark is because you'll need a bit of initial investment capital to make this work. Each of these packs can be bought for pennies on the dollar (around 50,000 EC, last I checked, each), and when opened by a level 29 character, gives a guaranteed very rare shield/armor/weapon/whatever.
VA level purple shields and such don't sell for anything, but for whatever reason, rich idiots like to purchase purple-level shields for their captain-level ships. Why? Who knows! But it's pretty insane that you can turn a 50,000EC pack into a million EC's worth of profit. Yes, sometimes these purple shields really can sell that high.
The Big Leagues (or, Using Money to Make Money)
Once you start getting into a decent amount of cash, it's time to seriously invest in certain things. Basic arbitrage can be irritating, but it can make you a decent racket ... if you can maintain it.
What is arbitrage? To put it bluntly, it's buying low and selling high. More complicated: it's controlling a specific market. Find a niche that isn't controlled already (that can be hard, but not impossible).
A good example might be duty officers. If you've got 5-10million, you could conceivably control the price of, say, common Assault Squad officers, artificially maintaining a price of 100,000 EC each. Any one of these that appear on the exchange below that price, you purchase and re-list at 100,000.
Yes, you initially lose out on some cash, but since due to Starbase construction projects requiring boat-loads of these, your assault squad officers WILL eventually sell, and you'll get your money back plus interest.
The Keys to Wealth - Literally!
And now we get into the biggest of the big-leagues. The purchase of lock-box keys.
You're gonna need some serious cash for this. I do mean serious. Like 50 million, at least, but in a few weeks of doing the above you should be able to get there. Also, you need to be prepared, because this is a high risk gamble. But the rewards are equally high.
Now, the first thing you're gonna need to do is acquire as many lock-box keys as you can, but leave about 1-2 million EC left. At around 50million EC that's about 30 keys. Then, purchase that many Cardassian Lock Boxes.
Yes, Cardassian. Don't get the Ferengi, definately don't get Tholian, and temporal is pretty meh.
Why Cardassian? Because everything good from that box will sell. Let's see:
Galor - sells at around 80 - 85 million EC
Attack Pattern Duty Officer - Sells at around 15 - 35 million EC (this one is highly volatile)
Subnuke Duty Officer - Sells at around 10 million EC (at least until it's nerfed to high-heaven)
Shield Packs - send these to your low-level character (if you don't have one, make one), have him open them and sell the proceeds for quite a profit
Duty officer mini-packs - didn't we go over these already? :P
The Ferengi box's only claim to fame is the D'Kora, which sells on average 10 million less than the Galor. The Wells is hovering around 80 million, but not much else that's good comes out of that pack. The Tholian Orb Weaver is just sad, selling at only 30 million. Don't even bother; if you really want one, open Cardassian boxes, use the proceeds to buy an Orb and still have cash left over.
Now, at 30 boxes you might not get a Galor. That's OK, you'll probably still make back the 50 million you spent, if you sell off everything the boxes gave you. If you DO get a Galor, sell it immediately. Boom! Instant 80 million EC, which is more than the 50 million you spent.
I think you can guess what comes next. Yes, buy even MORE keys and repeat this process. Also, in the meantime, you're picking up Lobi Crystals. Once you hit 800 (which, if you keep repeating this process on the same character, will happen fairly soon), pick up a Temporal Destroyer. Sell it for 85 - 90 million EC on the exchange. Even more cash in your pocket!
The Art of the Deal (or, Know Your Market)
As the Ferengi would say, "Never pay more for an acquisition than you have to." It's good advice. When purchasing lock box keys, never pay more than 1.5 million. Even 1.4 million is a tad high; try to buy them at 1.3 if you can.
On the same token, don't buy mini-packs that are more than 300,000 EC in price. At that price point you're not making much profit at all. Don't be discouraged if they're at a high price; people are opening boxes all the time, and these mini-packs are some of the most common drops from them. The price rarely stays high for long as somebody is always trying to unload a pack of them.
So happy selling to you! Hopefully with this guide you'll be on your way to happiness and profits! Or at least profits.
Post edited by ertihan on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I find the Z : D exchange to be a fun part of STO, and have even been tracking it for a little while now. Finding new tricks and ideas is always a good thing ^_^
Most recent tracking: http://samonmaui.blogspot.com/2012/10/sto-dilithium-tracking-101112.html
edit: And, too good not to share. So I posted a link on a forum I regular, and my blog. Great stuff ^_^
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com/2012/10/sto-great-read-on-making-energy-credits.html
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
Seeing what a "mere" 2 million invested can do for me ^_^
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
For example, I got a rare out of the few I just did. Looks like I could sell it for around 200K-220K EC. Should I do that, or would it be more beneficial to turn it into commons and sell those?
Personally? I've been exchanging them with the Personnel Officer.
1 Rare = 3 Uncommons
3 Uncommons = 9 Commons
You can do your own research on rarity (sorry, on break, so I can't check the exchange right now), but overall it seems that having volume to sell works pretty well. Some DOFF occupations (not looking at the rarity, skills, traits, etc, just the occupation itself) sell for very nice amounts of EC.
Now, honestly, some don't sell for much (~10k or less!), but some sell for 20k, 50k, 80k, 120k! You'd want get an average of 24-25k per DOFF (220k/9 commons) to make it worth your while.
Like anything involving the infamous Random Number Generator, there is an element of risk involved. Overall, I think the chances of you getting a reasonable amount of EC is decent, though. In a way, the DOFF packs are sort of like Mutual Funds - you're spreading out the risk by having lots of stuff rather than just one or two, and overall coming out ahead. The strong performers/sellers will (hopefully) counter the low performers/sellers...
For some additional reading on what I did over the weekend:
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com/2012/10/sto-doff-investing-experiment.html
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com/2012/10/sto-doff-experiment-nearly-24-hours.html
Of course, looking over the Purple? Who knows - it might be worth keeping depending on what it is - is it useful for your Space/Ground slots? Is it particularly useful for DOFFs you might want to do?
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
You never know what opportunities might come your way, or how interested you are/aren't in doing something at the moment. I'm a big believer in that if it becomes work to you, you'll stop having fun and stop doing it. I'd much rather you earn less doing something you enjoy than make a lot doing something you hate, get frustrated/burned out on the game, and stop playing!
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
Certainly looks like a decent profit, if you don't mind having your exchange full of stuff (that the only hard limit I can see to this).
I want to try the box/keys...but getting keys at 1.3mil seems a bit tough right now, everything is at 1.8mil right now it seems.
Personally, I'd just as soon buy the keys with Dilithium. You can sell them for 1.3mil+, or use them to open lockboxes. The reason I'd use Dilithium is because its versatile - while you're earning it and decide to change strategies? Sure, go for it. Also, it doesn't use your Energy Credit earnings, leaving them it for other things. It is definitely slower, though.
Just don't spend real money buying Keys to open stuff with! That's a little too speculative, IMO. If you buy a key with money, buy it to sell it. If you're opening stuff up, then buy with EC, Dilithium turned Zen, or maybe Stipend Zen, since that's not an extra cost out of your pocket.
I prefer DOFFing to earn my Dilithium, since its lunch-break friendly, but there are other ways to get it, and get it faster. And, usually with DOFFs, I've got a chance to get other things, too (may or may not be important to you), so I'm working towards other goals as well.
I honestly wish they'd sell more market slots, but that's just me. As is, though, so long as you're pricing well its not a big deal. I tend to price on the lower side (I want to move inventory faster, and don't feel I need to get "top dollar" for things), so usually I can go through stuff reasonably quick.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
And yeah, I'd love more market slots as well.
I tried the Doff thing today. I've made my money back, but there's only a few hundred thousand EC worth left to sell. I got a lot of low value 10-15k EC ones though. Also possible that if a lot of people are trying the techniques in this thread, we're crashing the market, as I alluded to above
I will say that there is entirely too much EC in the economy. The fact that people will pay absurd prices for stupid things as the OP pointed out proves this. One interesting bit about MMO economies as opposed to real ones is that money can be created from nothing, and returned to nothing. Sell junk to NPC vendors, it creates EC that didn't exist before. Buy from an NPC vendor, and your EC vaporizes. Problem is, outside common consumables and commodities, high level players don't spend EC with the NPC vendors. It just builds up in the system as everybody swaps it amongst themselves.
More EC floating around the economy devalues the currency. Then anything of any use costs 2-5 million. That's straight up out of control inflation, and the "normal" income from just playing the game and selling drops can't keep up.
The Dilithium economy underwent a nice correction since the Fleet Starbases hit. They are basically pulling dil out of the economy and vaporizing it. That raises the value of any dil that's left, increasing its Zen buying power. I had thought the Starbases would suck down vast amounts of EC, causing a similar correction on the Exchange, but they don't. Not outside cheap common commodities anyway. Sure, it costs a lot to stockpile Doffs off the Exchange, but that's just transferring your mass of EC to another player. It doesn't take it out of circulation, and does nothing to correct the undervalued EC currency.
But I digress, and ramble.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
First, isn't the 50K EC per faction block only that much for level 50 characters? Just investigating...
But more importantly...
YOU DO THE WHOLE TOUR?
There's no reason in the game to do that, when a couple of tricks can be used by your Federation toon to earn at least 2 Million EC. Four complete tours only yields 1.4 million.
Option One: Four Faction Transwarp Method
Before starting, get a purple (Very Rare) quality Astrometrics DOff. It reduces Transwarp cooldown
to 4 minutes. (Note: the following Galactic North/South relative to map up/down descriptors). Also obtain either Diplomatic Immunity OR Raiding Party buff right before starting first tour.
To start, from inside the Club at ESD, leave the station and the system as normal.
From Sol System, travel to edge of Beta Ursae Block.
Warp to Beta Ursae and change instances. That puts you in Cardassia Sector of BU, just South of Orellius Block.
Enter Orellius Block and traverse Deferi sector to northeast corner, cross just over the Raveh line.
Warp to Eta Eridani Block and change instances. That puts you in Donatu Sector, near Drozana Station.
Head to northeast corner of Donatu Sector where border of Archanis Sector meets Regulus block, staying just left of the corner. Warp to Regulus Block upon entering Archanis Sector.
On entering Regulus Block, head due west and warp to Sirius Block.
On entering Sirius Block, Risa Sector, take hard right and head into Gamma Orionis Gate.
Complete Gamma Orionis Block and enter Pelia Sector. Transwarp to ESD
Entire circuit should take less than four minutes. With both DI and RP, takes less than three. This should net you 200,000 EC per trip, and even if you only complete ten circuits (due to lag), that's 2 Million EC.
Option Two: Incomplete Mission Transwarp Method
Before starting, as above except ignore the Purple Astrometrics Doff and get both DI and RP if possible. Acquire the following missions using your Journal: Stranded in Space, Badlands, The Doomsday Device. Make sure you start with at least 18000 EC.
To start, from inside the Club, select "Badlands" from your active missions list and Transwarp for the cost of 18000 EC. This puts you instantly in Beta Ursae Block, Cardassia Sector, almost immediately next to the border with Orellius Block.
Complete the Orellius Block as normal.
On entering Eta Eridani Block, change instances to arrive right next to Drozana Station, and head due East toward Archanis Sector Border.
On entering Archanis Sector, select "The Doomsday Device" from your active missions list and Transwarp for the cost of 100 EC. This puts you instantly in Sirius Block, Risa Sector, not far from the Gamma Orionis Gateway. Head toward it and complete Gamma Orionis Block and Pelia Sector as normal.
On entering Pelia Block, select "Stranded in Space" from your active missions list and transwarp for the cost of 100 EC. This puts you not far from Sol Sector.
With both DI and RP, this should take less than three minutes, and net you 181,800 EC per trip, and if you complete fifteen circuits, that nets you more than 2.7 Million EC.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
I may not be the best at math...but 200K x 4 Laps does not equal 2 Million...did I miss something?
Yeah, you missed my math error on the other end... should be able to get ten or more laps, not four.
200k x 10 = 2 Million. Now, I'll go and edit the original if I can.
Oh, and that's perfectly reasonable. I've been contributing to my fleet via credits, not Dilithium!
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
meh, math is over-rated anyway
Most people do this, I think; my hope is to perhaps stem this tide a little amongst the more knowledgeable members, so to keep prices in line and keep our EC markets going.
I try to not go at the bottom-bottom-bottom. Way I see it, the cheapest stuff will sell fast anyways, so if I price above them, but below many others, I'll get my sale.
Personally, I liked COH's blind consignment system, where the lowest asking price got the highest bid. Not sure if it was the best system, but the simple fact I could effectively "place an order" was nice.
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
The tricks OP mentionned are for lowbies. It won't make you 'rich', you might be able to buy a lockbox ship every once in a while, that's it. I have several niches I'll never reveal. And that makes me insanely "rich", since I own every single lockbox ship (except the bug I don't want) + 500M in investments or cash. :rolleyes:
Of course that's just virtual cash and no one should care about it but that's a good part of my fun.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Dave Ramsey tells a great story about him interviewing a billionaire, and finding out his secret. The billionaire said his secret was in "The Tortoise and the Hare!" Keep going, keep steady, and don't get distracted! For most players, no matter the techniques, the biggest obstacle to accumulating wealth will be either spending it all or stopping (burn out, lack of interest, etc).
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Zombie thread alert!!
10c.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
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