Good afternoon. One of the things I’m going to work on doing on a regular basis is trying to answer questions from readers, in greater depth than one can do on Discord or Facebook. I think I’ll probably answer a few questions a week in the Monday mailbag, but this week, I’m going to just do one, as it’s a rather involved one. Recently, I wrote an article all about the changes that happen at level 39, and this one has to do with what to expect at level 40.
Hey Carnac! First off, love your site and passion for the game. Thank you so much for all you do. I am ALL Fed faction, (huge mistake I should have fixed long ago), and sitting at LVL39 with everything primed to go to 40. My question is, what do I need to know about mining events, ship upgrades, mining, offers, etc…that might negatively affect me moving. Many have said to stay at 39 until you have high warp 4* miners, (like the Hydra), or that my dallies and events will change. Help! I need any advice you can give. Thank you so much. – DengarX, Server 15, JAWS
So DengarX, great timing on this question. I’m was actually leveling up to level 40 myself when you wrote this. I actually rushed it so that I could better answer your question. Level 40 is definitely more of a mixed bag than level 39. There are some drawbacks if you rush it (and generally, I’m all in favor of rushing it.) It would help to know what ships you have, but I’ll try to keep it on the generic side, and I hope it helps. You’ve asked a rather involved question, so I’m going to break it down into categories.
Faction Rep
You’ve nailed the first problem. By level 39, you should be well on your way to triple-faction. The good news is that at level 39, you’ve probably got the ships to get there. I’d recommend making a priority of grinding on Federation ships like crazy until you’ve gotten all three locked. And since it’s much easier to gain faction rep at higher levels (I’ve gained 20+ million Fed rep over the past two weeks), I wouldn’t worry about getting your Fed rep back up once you’ve locked the other two. More than anything else, you’re really going to like the increased payouts in terms of faction credits, and repair speed-ups.
Mining & Other Events at Ops 40
Here’s where you’re going to notice the big change. The events that were previously giving you 3* materials are now going to give you 4* mats. For example, here are the top-level rewards for finishing the Latinum Rush solo event.
It’s also worth noting that you’ll probably find yourself in a higher event bracket after you move up. On the downside, you’ll be with some of the bigger players on your server. On the plus side, you’ll probably be competing with fewer players.
Daily events, however, like your Research events, Station Events, etc., will still give you 3* materials. Your 30-day monthly loyalty chest will also still give you 3* materials.
But as you’re likely trying to upgrade those epic 3* ships, you’re going to have one less supply of 3* mats. Do with this information what you will.
The bright side is that now you’re going to be able to unlock a few primes for free, if you haven’t already purchased them. I’m going to be looking at Prime Repair Costs, Prime Defenses, and Prime Piercing.
In addition, it’ll also open up for me the last level of Romulan combat research, Romulan Firepower for my Augur, which needs 4* ore.
4* Material Mining for Factions
You won’t need 4* materials for your faction goals unless you’ve reached 30 million rep (Celebrated) with any faction. Your faction dailies are set by your faction level, not by your ops level. I probably would have stayed below 30 million before Territory Capture, but now, due to Territory Capture, you no longer need a high warp ship to reach G4 materials. You just need your alliance to control one of the territories that has the stuff you need. You’ll also need to be able to knock off level 41 ships. But again, this isn’t ops related.
I’m not sure why people told you that you need should have a Hydra before you reach level 40, as you need to be level 41 before you build a Hydra in the first place.
Daily Goals
There is a change in your dailies when you hit level 40. But it shouldn’t be all that daunting.
By the time you get to level 39, and especially with the new territory capture research, you should be able to defeat level 41 hostiles fairly easily. You’re going to need to destroy 25 level 41+ hostiles for your Hostile Hunter goal. The big change from level 39 is that you’re not going to be getting 3* parts for this goal anymore, but broken 4* parts that you can refine. You’ve probably got more 3* ship parts than you’ll ever be able to use at this point, so it’s good to start refining the new ones as soon as you can.
Likewise, your Spelunker goal will change from 3* materials to 4* materials. Which is going to lead you well into level 40+. And for completing this goal (80,000 4* materials), you’ll get 3000 broken survey parts. And while 80,000 may seem like a lot, you need to remember that 4* tends to mine a lot quicker than 3*, in many cases, twice as fast, depending on the system.
Offers
As with all offers, they get more rewarding as you advance up. This is never really a reason to delay advancing. The level 40 monthly pack offer contains something that the level 39 monthly pack doesn’t – it contains 4* materials.
Conclusion
So to me, the questions you should really be asking as you move up to level 40 are these:
- Can you successfully destroy level 41 hostiles?
- Do you have access to raw G4 materials for mining? Either with a high warp miner or through territory capture?
- How are you set on G3 materials?
- How important is it to you to get the available prime research?
Got a question?
If you’ve got a question you’d like to see answered like this, shoot me a message on my contact page.
PS, 2nd Anniversary Event Ending Soon
So, in case you’ve forgotten, along with the maintenance tomorrow, the 2nd Anniversary event is coming to a close. Right now, we’re about 8.3 million hostiles away from completing the 10th and final goal. And, with the long-awaited Faction Hunt today, it should be done by tomorrow. You can check the results for yourself here.
Just in case your curious, I totaled up the rewards that will go out to all players when the event ends:
| Event Store Currency | 37,450 |
| Ultra Recruit Tokens | 1,600 |
| Speed Up Hours | 100 |
| Minor Commendations | 840 |
| Peace Shield Hours | 40 |
| Relocation Tokens | 2 |
And we while we know an event store is coming, we don’t know exactly what will be in there. To refresh your memory, here’s what was in the event store, the last time we had one, in August.
Have a great day, and we’ll see you on the other side of the game update tomorrow.