Star Trek Online Introducing Dilithium

On their “Path to Free to Play” blog entry, the Star Trek Online development team details how a new feature will be introduced on the Tribble PTS: Dilithium as currency.

This new form of currency can be earned through “ranking up” in level.  Each level gained earns a cache of refined Dilithium.  Other in-game events and quests will also result in Dilithium payouts.  Sometime in the future, the developers plan to add dilithium ore points and refining as a craft.

More ways of getting it include:

• Exploration: Starfleet officers of Lieutenant 4 (level 4) or higher can do a daily exploration mission that rewards Dilithium Ore. Starfleet Lieutenants can contact Lieutenant Grall and then explore three unknown systems in the Delta Volanis cluster. KDF Lt. Commanders should start out by hailing Lieutenant Atonone to get their exploration mission. As officers advance, additional exploration missions open up.
• Daily Missions: Once a character completes the Devidian story arc (which becomes available around level 7), you can perform missions like “Defense Contract” and “Satellite Repair” once per day. Similarly, once you complete the Breen story arc (which becomes available around level 48), you will open up missions like “Aiding the Deferi” and “Emancipation.” Completing these special daily missions will reward Dilithium Ore.
• Duty Officer Assignments: Sending your duty officers on uncommon, rare, or very rare assignments has a chance of awarding Dilithium Ore.
• Events: At various times of the day, and during special calendar events, there are additional ways to earn Dilithium Ore. For example, the Academy event and the Mirror Universe event both grant Dilithium Ore as part of the rewards. Check your in-game calendar to find out when these events are running.
• PvP: Completing the daily mission “Into the Fray,” or other daily PvP missions, rewards Dilithium Ore. Starfleet officers should hail Captain Mackenzie Calhoun to get this mission. KDF officers should hail Lt. Commander Kultan.
• Special Task Forces (STFs): Once you reach Rear Admiral (level 41), you can queue up to play the STF missions, like “Infected.” During these missions, you can earn salvage that can be traded in for containers of Dilithium Ore.

The blog also details what dilithium will be spent on:

The most obvious Dilithium expense for an officer climbing through the ranks will be getting access to new starships. Each time a player achieves a new rank, they will receive a “discount token” and a small sum of Refined Dilithium. The discount token allows the player to purchase one new starship of the appropriate tier at a deep discount.

Existing players are probably used to getting a “free ship token” at each rank up. With the new changes, the discount plus the Refined Dilithium award will often not be enough to get a ship. It will be close to enough at the lower ranks, but there will be a larger gap at the higher ranks. We expect that players will need to spend a portion of their time as they level up doing daily missions and other means to acquire Dilithium. If they do so, they should generally have more than enough to acquire a ship at rank-up. If, however, they have not been participating in the daily content, they may find that there is a gap they need to fill.