In a gaming community saturated with tower defense RPG-style games, Yostar and Hyperglyph's Arknights bring something a little different to the mobile genre. While farming and grinding are completely normal in games like these, players often overlook an essential gameplay mechanic for hoarding money and Orundum – the trading post.
Read on to learn more about Trading Posts, including why you need them, how to use one, and how to upgrade one in Arknights.
What is the purpose of the trading post in Arknights?
The Trading Post is your primary source for the in-game currency, LMD. You can also exchange Originium Shard materials and pure gold for Orundum used for recruitment purposes. In general, however, most players use the trading post to earn some much-needed income.
How to Use the Trading Post in Arknights
This RIIC facility operates on a standard retail principle: demand and supply. Your trading post receives an order and you procure the supplies to fulfill the order. For a more detailed breakdown of the process, check out the steps below:
1. Recruit and assign an operator
Showcases don't work without someone there to take orders, and the same goes for your Trading Post. If you want to make it work, you will need to assign at least one operator to the task.
Ideally, you will use an operator who has skills specifically suited to the role, such as:
You only need one operator to start taking orders, but you can assign multiple characters to maximize the effectiveness of your positions.
2. Play the waiting game
When you start your Post, it's time to wait for an order to be fulfilled. There are three types of orders you can receive from Lungmen:
- Low: 1000 LMD for two Pure Gold
- Medium: (Level 2 upgrade required) 1 LMD for three Pure Gold
- High: (Level 3 upgrade required) 2 LMD for four Pure Gold
Once you have acquired the required upgrades, the order options are randomly selected until the post reaches the order limit or until you reach level 3 of the trading post. At this maximum level, you can choose the order instead of receiving it at random.
3. Source the ordered materials
You can get pure gold in different ways, such as:
- The operation falls
- Production
- Shop
Pure Gold drops from Operations are nominal at best, and you don't want to spend your money on this resource buying it from the store, which leaves you with one option: production.
The amount of pure gold you produce in your factories depends on your level and the structure of your base or the number of factories you have allocated to the base. Players have a variety of strategies for the “right” base building, but one of the most popular is a 2-4-3 structure, which means building two trading posts, four factories, and three power plants.
It takes just under an hour per
4. Cash your paychecks
Once you have enough pure gold to fulfill the order, you can exchange them for LMD. Fulfilling orders also frees up your ordering capacity and allows you to take more orders.
What's the best way to make money in Arknights?
Since LMD is the primary in-game currency and you need it for just about everything from increasing your Operator Levels to promotions, you'll need to farm it – and quickly. Here are some of the best ways to create this virtual currency:
Trade Post Exchanges
The main reason for having Trading Posts is to earn money, so this is your main source of income. As mentioned earlier, you can earn between 1 and 000 LMD for Pure Gold orders. To maximize your earning potential, make sure you have at least a few Upgraded Trading Posts to unlock Medium and High Yield Orders.
Complete Supply Missions
Completing missions will earn LMD, but the most lucrative mission types are those for cargo escort. The higher the mission level, the more LMD you will get per sanity, so try to go as high as possible to maximize your potential profit.
Log in to the game
You probably already know this one, but you get LMD just to check in every day. Take advantage of the daily login bonus and be sure to collect your LMD.
Complete Daily/Weekly Missions
You have several choices of missions in the game, but if you want a reliable source of income, make sure to complete the daily and weekly missions. These missions are always available and reward varying amounts of LMD for the trouble.
Spend real money at the store
If you have the budget, you can always spend real money in the in-game store. The LMD currency is available in different packs, and you will receive the LMD as soon as your payment is cleared.
Trading Post Upgrade Materials
Once you've upgraded your Control Center, it's time to level up your Trading Post. To do this you will need:
- Upgrade from level 1 to level 2: drones, three pieces of concrete building material
- Upgrade from level 2 to level 3: drones, five pieces of reinforced building materials
You can craft concrete building materials using carbon bricks in your workshop, although it will cost you quite a bit of LMD to do so. You will also need to have a Level 2 Workshop first. Reinforced Building Materials are also crafted at the Workshop using Carbon Packs instead of Carbon Bricks. Before you can craft this advanced building material, you will need a level 3 workshop as well as 7 LMD per piece.
Let's make money!
Trade Posts are the most reliable way to earn money in Arknights, but you can't do it alone. Recruit some of your most savvy operators to handle the post, and don't forget to set up factories. It might not be the fastest way to earn an income, but it's a great way to earn a stable salary while you're on those escort missions.
How many milking stations do you have in your facility? Do you rely on other methods to do LMD in Arknights? Tell us about it in the comments section below.
