Energy Credits 101

What are Energy Credits?

Energy Credits, also known as EC are the main tradable currency in the game for players. This currency is earned from selling items on the Exchange (player market) as well as from selling junk items and gear to NPC vendors. This is the only form of wealth that can be traded for directly or placed into your account bank. As such all player to player transactions for items will either be for other items and/or Energy Credits. Energy Credits are also earned from activities in the game, such as the Admiralty System and Endeavors.

Note that free to play players are limited to 15,000,000 Energy Credits in their bank accounts at any given time (per character).

Energy Credits from Admiralty System

Energy Credits can be earned from successfully doing missions in the Admiralty System. To be able to access this system you need to be Level 52. Opening your Duty Officer panel, there will be a tab that says "Admiralty." Clicking the tab will show the 4 factions you can do missions for. Each mission in the different factions have different rewards. Sometimes those rewards will be Energy Credits and other times those rewards will be Dilithium or sometimes resources for Research and Development. Faction XP and Expertise is always rewarded for a successful mission. Because the rewards are mostly random, and the missions not always awarding Energy Credits when you need them, this system can be hit or miss if you need Energy Credits.

Energy Credits from Endeavours

EC can be gained from doing the daily Endeavors, which opens as an option once you reach level 60. Endeavors are a series of goals to attain with 4 different levels of rarity and type. The easiest to achieve are the Uncommon level. Next is the Rare. And the last is Very Rare. The 4th category is called Universal and is considered Epic.

Completing each of these, the Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare, each day will grant a bound box to be opened and inside is contained various rewards. Often that is in the form of Energy Credits as well as marks and Dilithium. The Universal Endeavor is different in that it is a weekly and not available daily and has a much longer timer to complete the activity. This can be a great way to make a LOT of EC as some of the rewards can be 200,000 or more in each box. Some boxes will have none but the chances of getting several thousand ECs is much higher than the Admiralty system. Combined, you can be making a lot of EC daily to buy the gear you need and want for the that special item.

Energy Credits from the Exchange

Energy Credits, and lots of them, can be made from the Exchange. The Exchange is the Player driven economy that buys and sells items and gear that you might get as loot during your missions in space or on the ground. These items as long as they are not bound to your character (commonly knows as Bind on Pickup items) or bound to your account (Account Bound items) can be freely sold for Energy Credits to other players. Often you will get items that other characters on your account can use and you can use your account bank or mail system to send these to your other characters. If that is not the case and you just don't want the item you can see what you can get on the Exchange. A good way to test to see if its worth it to sell is to first use the search feature in the Buy tab to search for the item you plan to sell and see what that item is going for (assuming any are there). Note that the search feature is VERY precise and you will need to put in the EXACT spelling and spacing for the item to show up. Example, a Phaser Relay console in your inventory is listed as Console - Tactical - Phaser Relay (note the spaces and the dashes, you need to have that in there to zero in on your item). You can use more generic words, like Phaser, but then you will get the weapons, turrets and anything with the word Phaser in it. Being precise will let you see the going rate much easier.

Once you have the price tag in mind, based on the buy prices, you can get ready to sell the item. Click the Sell Tab and drag and drop the item from your inventory to the the bar at the top of the sell screen. Next put in the value you are asking for in the box below. If you get an error with the amount, you might be asking for an amount that will put you over the 15,000,000 EC limit for Free to Play accounts. Keep this in mind when you are looking to sell items. If you notice that the item icon is dark in your inventory, and the item won't drag (and the dragging can be a little wonky) it might be that the item is bound to you. If so, you will not be able to sell the item on the Exchange.

Energy Credits from Vendors/NPCs/Recycler

If you find that you can't sell the extra loot items from your inventory to the Exchange (bound items, or items that no one will want), you can sell items to NPC vendors. Most all the vendors in the game that will let you buy items will have a sell tab to sell those extra items or junk to them. Click that tab and you will see a list of items and the amounts you will be given for them in the window. All items will be given a value in Energy Credits. You might see a 0 next to some items, and the reason for that is Standard Issue items and some rewards have no value. The NPCs will take those items as well, to help clean up your inventory but you will not get anything from it. Often those items cannot even be salvaged for materials either.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The sell window shows all the items you can sell, including Research and Development items which will be at the very top. Inventory items will be lower. The screen defaults to highlighting the top item and so clicking that sell button before clicking on the item will sell that top item, some of your Research and Development materials, so be CAREFUL and make sure you click and see the highlight on the item before you click sell. There is a buyback tab, but better safe than sorry.

Bound to Character and Bound to Account items can be sold to vendors and are a good way to make some EC from gear that you have used and outgrown or stuff you just can't use and were awarded via the reputation system boxes or missions.

If there are no vendors around or you are in the middle of a mission and your inventory is getting full of useless junk, always remember that you can use the Recycler in your inventory tab to "sell" the items to it. You get the same EC price for the items as you would selling them to an NPC.

If you are looking for extra loot to be able to sell, a good way to get that loot is to run the Deep Space Encounters that periodically appear in space as a Red and Yellow Starfleet symbol. Going to these locations will put you into a combat encounter that is scaled based on the Quadrant you are in. Beta Quadrant Deep Space Encounters are generally lower level fights that generate Mk VI level items. Alpha Quadrant Space Encounters will generate Mk X loot. Delta and Gamma Quadrant Space Encounters will generate Mk XI and XII loot. Because these encounters are random, they are not a great way to get loot, but they can be a good way to test a build and also give you a few items to be able to sell afterwards.

Task Force operations will also let you roll on loot against other players, and are generally better quality items, but you are rolling against other players and so getting loot to sell this way is random and potentially unrewarding.

Energy Credits from DoFF Missions

Some Duty Officer (DoFFs) missions in the Duty Officer screen will award Energy Credits as a reward. If you have the personnel and items that will let you undertake those missions, you can do so to earn Energy Credits. Most of the missions do not return Energy Credits and even those that do only bring in a few EC and not the larger values you get from items or the Admiralty and Endeavor systems. There are some rare missions where a lot of EC can be earned, but those are few and far between. Doing the DoFF missions can still be valuable to earn other points and items/currency (Dilithium) and so should not be overlooked as part of your daily log in.

Energy Credits from Missions

EC can very rarely be earned from some space and ground based missions. The vast majority of missions do not give EC as a reward, and those that do the amount is generally small. Generally speaking this is not a very good way to make EC as the time involved to make the small amount of EC could be better used elsewhere. Instead missions that reward items can be sold to the NPC vendor or on the Exchange depending on if the item becomes bound to you when you complete the mission.