Economy and missions
Three currencies, all belonging to the world you fly in. Everything that makes you stronger can be earned in play.
- Credits
The everyday currency, paid by alien kills, missions, sales and bonus boxes. Buys the lower gear tiers, the first ships of the ladder, Lite and Core cells, Skate drones, Auction lots and a clan of your own.
- Rift Crystal
The harder currency, earned in play and above all from daily and weekly missions. Buys the upper hulls and gear, the stronger cells, Nautilus drones, tech charges, extensions, wreck repairs and a new nickname or faction.
- Gold
The paid currency, never earned in play, meant for cosmetics and convenience. Gold never buys Rift Crystal, and nothing is sold for money during the open beta.
All three belong to your pilot in one world. Each world is separate, and what you earn there stays there.
Money never buys a permanent edge
Power is real in RiftArmada: a bigger ship and better gear are stronger. Every bit of it can be earned in play, and anything ever sold for Gold becomes earnable too. You can get there faster with money, never somewhere other pilots cannot reach.
- Earned, not gated. Every ship and every piece of gear can be earned with Credits and Rift Crystal.
- A head start, not an edge. Paying gets you somewhere sooner, never somewhere a free pilot cannot reach.
- Every crystal is earned in play. Gold cannot buy Rift Crystal.
- Paint, not power. Skins and cosmetics change how you look, nothing else.
Missions are the main road to Rift Crystal. They also pay Credits, experience, Honor and resources, and some pay a title.
- MissionsOne-off work: a starter chain for new pilots, then contracts that open as you level and finish earlier ones.
- Daily and WeeklyDailies reset at 00:00 server time (UTC), weeklies on Monday at 00:00.
- PriorityMark one accepted mission as your priority, and your kills and pickups count there first.
- On your HUDAccepted missions ride the tracker on your screen. Some are tracked on their own and pay out by themselves.
Mission work covers destroying aliens (sometimes a variant, or on a named map), destroying enemy pilots, collecting resources and bonus boxes, selling, reaching a map or a level, owning a second ship, joining a clan and more. You hold up to 5 at once, and no mission ever pays Gold.
One kill, one mission
Past the first levels, a kill counts for one mission: your priority if it fits, otherwise the one that asks for that alien most narrowly. New pilots on the first maps have every kill count for every mission. Abandoning a mission throws away its progress.
Every alien you destroy drops one crate with everything it owes. The killer’s squad has it first, then anyone can take it: click a crate and your ship flies over and scoops it. Resources come in three grades:
- LooseRift Dust, Void Ash and Star Sand. Every alien drops them, and small nodes on your lower four maps and the fronts hold them too.
- Condensed boostersVoid Ember, Star Glass and Rift Shard. From tougher aliens, or refined from Loose.
- Coherent boostersRift Core and Null Prism, the strongest. They take no room in your hold.
- Sell resources at your own faction’s two home stations, your base and your eighth map. No other station buys them.
- Refine in the Cargo panel: Loose resources become Condensed boosters, and boosters become Coherent ones. A fitted Refinery does it on its own. Boosters feed Infusion.
- The hold is a real limit and belongs to each ship. A full hold refuses pickups, and says so.
- Bonus boxes are scattered over the maps: collect one for a currency reward.
What each resource sells for at your home stations, what it boosts when you load it into Infusion, and what it is refined from:
- Rift Dust
- Sells for
- 20
- Void Ash
- Sells for
- 20
- Star Sand
- Sells for
- 20
- Void Ember
- Sells for
- 600
- Damage boost
- +15%
- Shields boost
- +10%
- Speed boost
- +10%
Refine from: 20 Rift Dust + 10 Void Ash
- Star Glass
- Sells for
- 600
- Shields boost
- +12%
- Speed boost
- +18%
Refine from: 20 Void Ash + 10 Star Sand
- Rift Shard
- Sells for
- 600
- Shields boost
- +18%
- Speed boost
- +12%
Refine from: 20 Star Sand + 10 Rift Dust
- Rift Core
- Sells for
- 3,000
- Damage boost
- +30%
- Shields boost
- +20%
- Speed boost
- +20%
Refine from: 3 Void Ember + 2 Star Glass
- Null Prism
- Sells for
- 8,000
- Damage boost
- +60%
- Shields boost
- +25%
- Speed boost
- +25%
Refine from: 8 Rift Shard + 4 Void Ember
A full hold is a target
When your ship is destroyed, 20% of your hold drops as a crate anyone can scoop. Sell often on the PvP maps.
The Shop has six tabs: Ships, Guns, Ammo, Generators, Extensions and Drones. Every item shows its details, its rarity and its price in the currency it is earned with; filter for what you own or what is on sale. There are no purchase limits, and spare items and ships sell back for 30% of their price. Every item’s numbers are in equipment and every hull’s in ships.
Got a redeem code from an event, a stream or the newsletter? Enter it under Redeem code in the Shop, the pilot menu or Settings. Its reward goes to the world you are playing in. A code never gives Gold.
The game itself sells lots in rounds: pilots bid against each other, never trade with each other. Set the most you are willing to pay, and the game bids for you a step at a time. Bidding opens at level 5.
- HourlyEight lots, closing every hour.
- DailyFour lots, closing at 20:00 UTC every day.
- WeeklyTwo lots, closing on Sunday at 20:00 UTC.
- Each bid must beat the top one by 5%, and by at least 500 Credits.
- Your whole maximum is held while you lead, and comes back at once if you are outbid.
- The winner pays one step over the runner-up’s maximum. On a tie, the earlier bid wins.
- Every lot closes on the second, with no overtime, and is delivered at once.
- Every lot is bid in Credits, even a ship or a drone the Shop sells for Rift Crystal. Never in Gold.
- Every lot is also in the Shop or earned in play: the Auction is a cheaper road, never the only one.
