Every blockchain game is built on a reward-based model, and so is the Splinterlands game, which rewards its players with DEC and tradable card assets after winning ranked battles and winning chests.
This post is intended for new players, to give them a simple overview of Dark Energy Crystals (DEC) and its importance in the game's ecosystem.
Today we are going to discuss the important aspects of Dark Energy Crystals commonly known as DEC.
What is DEC?
DEC is the in-game currency, which is used for purchasing in-game items and can be traded outside the game in various central and swap exchanges.
How to Earn DEC
Splinterlands is a play-to-earn game, where players can earn DEC and game cards. But, a player can only start earning when he/she purchases a Spell Book and reaches the Bronze III league.
When a player uses owned or rented cards and wins a battle, a portion of the DEC reward from the pool drops into the player's wallet according to the rank, current league, and ECR (Energy Capture Rate) of that player.
Those who use Starter Cards in ranked battles do not earn any DEC in the new system of rewards. A player can mix starter cards with owned/rented cards, but it will still reduce DEC earnings per battle won. It is better to avoid starter cards in ranked battles for better reward earnings.
Energy Capture Rate (ECR) is a player's percentage to receive DEC according to the Ranked Battle won. ECR drops with each battle played, but it gradually fills back over time.
According to the DEC whitepaper, ECR replenishes at the rate of 25% every 24 hours. If a player hits a 50% ECR rate, then the DEC reward also reduces to 50%, suppose if a player receives 1 DEC per battle won, at 50% ECR the reward will be 0.5 DEC.
It is recommended to keep ECR ratio above 50% and give it some time to replenish. Since each battle eats up your ECR at the rate of 1.04% and restoration may take a day or longer depending on the utilization of ECR.
The above image gives an idea of "Energy Capture Rate", it is easy to view by hovering the mouse pointer over the DEC balance, this pop can be accessed by clicking the DEC balance tab as well.
DEC Bonus Rewards
Certain ways may help a player to increase the DEC rewards if that player fulfills those criteria.
As you can observe in the image that there are some reward bonuses and reward penalties for using starter cards.
If you win battles consecutively you will receive a 5% Win Streak bonus added to the normal reward. Each Gold, Alpha, and Promo card adds a bonus of 10% to the base DEC reward, while Beta card gives you a 5% bonus towards the base reward. If you are in a guild, you'll receive up to a 20% bonus based on the guild level and quest lodge.
DEC Token Supply, Price, and Pools
There is a misapprehension among some gamers that DEC price is pegged with USD as 1000 DEC = $1, but it is not the case. DEC is a tradable token and it has a huge circulation across the crypto market.
According to Splinterlands Whitepaper, '1000 DEC = $1' is an intended value and the price may vary up and down based on the current market conditions.
DEC Price Overview
The chart shows an all-time price movement of DEC, as per the time stamp it was valued at the price of $0.00065049. Looking at the chart, there is no doubt that market conditions affect the price movement.
If a player buys a Chaos pack based on shown price, he would definitely get it cheaper than the usual $4 price.
DEC Reward Pool
The total Supply of DEC tokens is capped at 1,000,000,000,000 as listed on coingecko.com, and it is safe to assume that DEC has not hit its total supply volume.
The daily reward pool is filled to 1 million DEC every day if the intended price of DEC remains at 1000 DEC = $1, but if the price goes down or up the reward pool is filled according to that market-based price.
Suppose, the market price of DEC becomes $0.0005, the 1 million DEC pool would be filled to half a million DEC, and if the price becomes $0.002, the pool would be filled to 2 million DEC.
The DEC price is the key factor that affects the reward pool size depending on the actual market value of DEC.
DEC Supply Control
A typical burning mechanism is introduced by the developers to adjust the DEC volume. The burning mechanism includes Guild Contributions, Purchasing of Skins, and Purchasing of Potions, there might be more ways to keep the supply balanced in the future, but currently, any DEC accumulated from the above-mentioned contributions is taken away for burning from the supply.
I hope this article will provide you with a basic understanding of DEC and its in-game reward system. If you have further questions, do write in the comments section to interact.
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