Star Trek Timelines is one of our favorite mobile strategy games set in the Star Trek universe. It’s not just that it makes great use of the characters and themes of this memorable TV series, but also that it’s fairly accessible to all players, whether they decide to invest real currency or not. That’s what we call being true to the Starfleet mission!

Of course, this is still a mobile game, which means that P2W players can quickly gain an advantage over others – at least at first. For F2P players, on the other hand, things tend to progress slower and decisions that are otherwise casual can become very important. That’s what this guide is for. You don’t want to make mistakes during the early game battles that you will regret later on. So, if you want to tackle the galaxy for free, dive right in!

Choose Your First Captain Wisely

Within the first 10 minutes of gameplay, Star Trek Timelines will throw a difficult decision straight at you. For the first time in the game, you’ll have to choose between three possible captains – Sisko, Picard, and Kirk. You might be tempted to recruit your favorite captain from the TV show, but… we recommend you take a moment to consider the decision more carefully.

Although they are offered to you in their Uncommon versions, either of these captains is great to begin with. However, Picard stands out from the crowd when it comes to completing Cadet Challenges and other missions – something you’ll definitely want to do later on. His unique combination of skills and traits will come tremendously in-handy in this respect so he is actually essential to your game if you want to play for free.

Make Your Way through Campaign Missions

Campaign Missions are a great way to start the game in Star Trek Timelines. Chances are, you won’t be able to complete more than a couple of full episodes, especially not if you’re trying to earn 3-star victories on all missions. However, the number of missions you do complete will grant you a quick boost to resources, gear, and other useful stuff, while also giving you the possibility to choose new crew members.

Some of the characters will be more important than others, so it might be a good idea to check out our compendium of the best crew members for F2P players before you start. Like with Picard, you wouldn’t want to miss on a useful addition to your crew just because you’re not yet familiar with the way missions work.

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Prioritize Crew over Ships

As we’ve discussed at length in our guide to playing Star Trek Timelines for free, it can be excruciating to get any premium currency in this game without forking out real cash. Luckily, you don’t actually need Dilithium to progress with your fleet, but even when you consider other resources, you’ll often come across the question – “Should I buy this ship?”

Granted, ships are cool in the Star Trek universe, some much more so than others. However, when it comes to most of the content in Star Trek Timelines, ships aren’t actually that important. Crew is. Yes, you need good ships to compete in the Arena, but that will become a concern later in the game. You can actually complete most missions with a 3-stars ship and you’re very likely to get one from various events or from playing Dabo.

Did Anyone Say “Dabo!!!”?

Quark’s hilarious casino game from Deep Space Nine is, in Star Trek Timelines, an opportunity for all F2P players to get their hands on handsome loot. Once per day, you can “spin the wheel” for a chance at various rewards, from resources to ships and amazing crew members. This only costs you 5,000 Credits for the first try so it’s basically free. Don’t forget to do it on a regular basis!

Now, the thing is, you will almost never see the wheel land on rewards from the top row of the list. This shouldn’t make you sad because the mini-game is, after all, available for free. One other thing it shouldn’t make you do, though, is spend Dilithium for additional spins. You’ll dump tons of cash into the game and, well, at the end of the day, you still won’t land on top-tier rewards. That could be upsetting.

Complete Cadet Challenges for More Resources

Once you get accustomed to the UI and completing missions, your next goal should be to access the “Daily Missions” tab and complete all the tasks that are provided for you. This will grant you a bunch of resources and, more importantly, a fair amount of Merit, which you will then use for faction items, gauntlets, and other important purchases.

Aside from these daily tasks, you’ll have 6 chances to complete the Cadet Challenge of the day. This is something you absolutely must do on every time you get the chance to log in if your aim is to progress through the game with ease. From Credits to extra Chronitons, boost packs, gear, and much more, the rewards for these Challenges are well worth the effort.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to excel at Cadet Challenges if you don’t have the right crew members at hand. We talk all about it in our recommendations for F2P crew members, so if you didn’t open that article earlier, do it now.

Focus Only on the Right Characters

Aside from Chronitons, one of the resources that will most limit your gameplay in Star Trek Timelines will be your available crew slots. It will be a sad day when you’ll have to start throwing young Wesley Crushers out the airlock (just kidding… or are we?), but dismissing duplicate or unnecessary crew members is a must if you want to keep a tidy ship.

Your first additional crew slots are purchasable with Credits, which is great. Unfortunately, they’ll only take you as far as 110 characters and, as a F2P player, that’s likely where you’ll stay for some time. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though. It will force you to consider your priorities, choose the best heroes for the tasks you set out for yourself, and make some difficult decisions. That is what a strategy game is all about, isn’t it?

By the time you have too many heroes, you’ll also likely exit the early game and head towards some real fun. No, you probably won’t have any of the best legendary ships yet, but, hey, if F2P players have something to spare, it’s time. Steady as she goes, right?

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