Don’t! Stop!

When booking a flight recently, I made the mistake of giving the airline my phone number. This is what happened:

• First, they tell me to reply STOP to cancel.
• Then when I do, they tell me to reply STOP * to cancel.
• Then they tell me that I am opted out.
• Then they tell me that they are sending messages again.

Good Grief!

Vega Conflict: Time Off

Recently. Kixeye introduced a new feature, called Time Tokens. These are usually given as prizes for events. They some in many shapes, flavors, and sizes:

Shapes: They are divided into ship and module tokens. The module tokens are divided into upgrade and refit tokens. They are rare. The ship tokens are divided into Build and Refit tokens. Refit tokens are rare. Most of the ones offered thus far have been ship build, which is of no help whatsoever to players who have empty hulls lying around.

Flavors: Ship tokens are then further divided by faction. There are tokens for Vega, VSec, Iron Star, Demon Corps, Xeno Division and A.X.I.S. Vega and VSec tokens are usually offered in Planet Strike events, Iron Star and Demon Corps tokens are usually available in Sector Strike, and Xeno and A.X.I.S. are usually available in Monthly and Alien events.

Sizes: Time tokens are currently available in the following sizes:

• 1 hour
• 4 hours
• 8 hours
  12 hours
• 24 hours (base only)

What’s wrong with Time Tokens?

• All tokens have an expiry date: this can be as long as four days (for a 12-hour token) and as short as One Day (off a one-hour token). It is this last point that is most irksome. Too many ship build tokens expire because they were awarded in the middle of a multi-day refit.
• Time tokens are excessively specialized: There are so many different “shapes” and “flavors” available that the chances of getting a particular type of token when you can actually use it is slim.

Taking all of the above into account, it is fairly obvious that unless you are about to build a specific ship, Time Tokens are next to useless. If you are in the middle of the wrong build or refit, your tokens will likely expire before you can use them.

Having said all that, here are a few tips to make Time Tokens more usable:

• Keep your refits small: most items can be fitted in three days or less (one glaring exception is JumpDrives, which can take up to ten days to fit). Small refits lessen the possibility of having your Ship Factory tied up when a Build or Refit discount becomes available.
• Build your ships “naked”: most ships can be built within a week (Exception: Carriers). the only time you should not build your ships naked is if there is a discount, or your tokens are enough to cover the extra items.
• Check the Calendar and make sure that your ship factory is ready when the tokens are available.
• Redeem your time tokens as late as possible: Most event stores close a day after the event ends. This will extend the time that your tokens can be used by up to an extra day, which is critical with the shorter-duration tokens.

Using Time Tokens properly

• Calculate the total time tokens you have for a build. For a typical event, getting all the tokens for one ship will give you sixty hours – 2.5 days.
• Calculate the time required for your build. Go into your Ship Factory and calculate the number of hours. Take off 10% for alliance help, and take off any discounts that may be on offer.
• From the above two figures, you can calculate the amount of time you will need to complete the build after discounts, alliance help and Time Tokens have been used. If the build time is less than the tokens available, (for instance, a Condor or an Eagle), and you’re not going to use the tokens afterwards, add extra weapons/armor/specials until you have used up the tokens.#Start the build, but do not use the tokens yet! Once you have used the tokens you will not get them back if you cancel the build.
• Wait until you have full alliance help, add your time tokens. Remember, once you have spent a time token it is gone.