Verified economy formulas
Droid Tycoon Cost, Crafting Time and ROI Guide
Find the best use of your Nova for credit upgrades, then compare droid costs, passive income, crafting time and pure credit return.
Cost and production are checked across 90 craftable droids and all 9 finishes on October 30, 2026. Crafting durations use the construction formula. Ordinary station times include the matching-depot 10% reduction, while Fusion and Protocol use the raw time.
Reviewed October 24, 2026 for v1.36.0 · Verified in game · Calculated · Game reference.
Which droid variant has the best credit payback?
There is no single winner across every rarity. Calculate cost divided by income per second: some Common and Rare Galactic droids beat Default, while expensive high-rarity variants usually repay much more slowly.
Use the Credits Upgrade Lab to compare your next Nova purchase, and compare the exact droid and variant before buying for income.
Compare credit upgradesDroidex Credits Upgrade Lab
Find the best use of your Nova for passive income, Scrap payouts or droid selling. Compare Credits, Scrap Value, Jawa Bartering and Credit Sell Bonus using recorded upgrades or a manually edited build. See purchase cost, extra credits and any Nova Crystal shortfall, then explore target purchases and gain per 100 Nova on the graph. Comparisons stay within the same activity. Droid Tycoon v1.33.0 · build 7209. Reviewed October 3, 2026.
Credits upgrade formulas and prices
| Upgrade | Nova price per level | Maximum level |
|---|---|---|
| Credits | 2 + 4 × levels already owned | No final level |
| Scrap Value | 25 + 30 × levels already owned | No final level |
| Jawa Bartering | 5, 15, 30, 45, 60 | 5 |
| Credit Sell Bonus | 25, 40, 55 | 3 |
The first Scrap Value purchase also needs Blueprint Scrap level 1, costing 1 Nova if it is not already owned.
Passive income and the Credits multiplier
Credits adds 0.2 per level before other multiplicative bonuses. Holding the rest of the build fixed, the projected multiplier equals the current multiplier + 0.2 × added levels × the outer bonus factor. Future passive income scales by projected multiplier / current multiplier. The HUD multiplier alone does not identify that outer factor; choose the active credit boosts explicitly when using a synced build. The normal scenario assumes no temporary multiplicative credit effect.
Scrap rewards and plateaus
Use final passive credits per second P, Scrap Value level S and the displayed Scrap Station level K, starting at 1. An ordinary credit hit pays max(H × [1 + 4 × (K − 1)], P × 0.5 × S × hit scale). Completion pays max(D × [1 + 4 × (K − 1)], P × 0.5 × S × completion scale). The game keeps the flat reward until the scaled amount exceeds it.
| Scrap variant | H: flat hit | D: flat completion | Hit scale | Completion scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Default | 1 | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Gold | 3 | 60 | 2 | 40 |
| Diamond | 5 | 120 | 10/3 | 80 |
| Rainbow | 10 | 300 | 20/3 | 200 |
At station level 10 with 10 passive credits per second, Default hits pay 37 credits through Scrap Value level 7. Level 8 pays 40 and level 9 pays 45. Hit and completion rewards are separate; actual session income depends on completion frequency, special drops and time spent at the station. The Companion's recent total credit gain is not treated as passive income.
Droid sales
Expected selling multiplier = (1 + 2.5 × Credit Sell Bonus level) × (1 + 0.05 × Jawa Bartering level), before other fixed companion effects. Jawa doubles the bonus-inclusive sale; a single sale is either normal or doubled. Core Credits does not multiply droid sales. At both shop caps, the expected multiplier is 10.625× the pre-upgrade sale value.
Credits and Scrap Value have no final level. After any Scrap floor, their gains continue while rising prices reduce the percentage gain per Nova. Jawa Bartering caps at level 5 and Credit Sell Bonus at level 3. The graph helps identify a useful stopping point for your own activity and budget.
Crafting time follows one universal formula
| Variant | Default crafting time multiplier |
|---|---|
| Default | 1× |
| Gold | 4× |
| Diamond | 6× |
| Rainbow | 8× |
| Beskar | 10× |
| Galactic | 14× |
| Stellar | 18× |
| Kyber | 36× |
| Scourge | 14× |
This is the unboosted base formula. Since v1.23.2, Crafting Boost applies a 2x crafting-speed effect, and a companion crafting-speed bonus continues to work while offline.
Pure credit ROI compared with Default
| Base rarity | Default | Gold | Diamond | Rainbow | Beskar | Galactic | Stellar | Kyber | Scourge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common and Rare | 100% | 50% | 50% | 66.7% | 75% | 120% | 133.3% | 97.8% | 90% |
| Epic | 100% | 50% | 50% | 66.7% | 27.2% | 17.3% | 10.7% | 1.96% | 7.38% |
| Legendary | 100% | 50% | 50% | 66.7% | 6% | 2.5% | 1.03% | 0.19% | 0.72% |
| Mythic | 100% | 50% | 50% | 33.3% | 2% | 0.94% | 0.45% | 0.08% | 0.31% |
Scourge (1.36.0) earns 28.8× (Common), 28.8× (Rare), 72× (Epic), 135× (Legendary) and 112× (Mythic) Default income before Hive Mind. Each placed Scourge droid then earns 10.45% more for every other placed Scourge droid. Kyber's income here is before its color bonus.
What this comparison includes
Compare blueprint cost, passive income, crafting XP, sell Credits, and Upgrade Chip payouts for every craftable finish. Crafting durations for all 90 craftable droids use the construction formula and the applicable matching-depot convention. They are base times: Protocol crafting slots, companions and boosts speed up progress separately.
Droidex is an independent fan-made resource and is not affiliated with Epic Games, Fortnite, Disney, or Lucasfilm.
Credit payback
Credit payback equals cost divided by passive income per second. It answers how long a placed droid must earn before its blueprint cost is recovered. It does not include time spent crafting.
Income efficiency
Income efficiency equals passive income per second divided by cost. Higher is better when the only question is how much ongoing production each credit bought.
Break-even from craft start
Add station crafting time to credit payback when the decision starts before the droid exists. This is useful when the station is occupied or a boost changes when production begins.
Cost and income multipliers change at the high tiers
Gold is always 4× cost for 2× income. Diamond is always 8× cost for 4× income. Rainbow, Beskar, Galactic, Stellar, Kyber and Scourge change with base rarity. The table lists cost first and income second.
| Base rarity | Rainbow cost / income | Beskar cost / income | Galactic cost / income | Stellar cost / income | Kyber cost / income | Scourge cost / income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common and Rare | 12× / 8× | 16× / 12× | 20× / 24× | 24× / 32× | 36× / 35.2× | 32× / 28.8× |
| Epic | 12× / 8× | 125× / 34× | 300× / 52× | 750× / 80× | 4,500× / 88× | 975× / 72× |
| Legendary | 12× / 8× | 400× / 24× | 2,400× / 60× | 14,500× / 150× | 87,000× / 165× | 18,850× / 135× |
| Mythic | 24× / 8× | 800× / 16× | 4,700× / 44× | 28,000× / 125× | 168,000× / 137.5× | 36,400× / 112× |
So, do Rainbows suck?
Not across the board. Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary Rainbow droids take 1.5× as long as Default to repay. Mythic Rainbow droids take 3× as long as Default to repay. The large pure-credit losses are the high-rarity Beskar, Galactic, Stellar, Kyber and Scourge droids. Scourge also gains from Hive Mind, which this table leaves out.
| Base rarity | Best pure-credit variant | What the formula says |
|---|---|---|
| Common and Rare | Stellar | Its income rises 32× while cost rises 24×. Time to repay compared with Default: Stellar 0.75×, Kyber 1.02× and Scourge 1.11×. |
| Epic | Default | Rainbow is the best upgraded finish at 66.7% of Default. Time to repay compared with Default: Stellar 9.38×, Kyber 51.14× and Scourge 13.54×. |
| Legendary | Default | Rainbow is the best upgraded finish at 66.7% of Default. Time to repay compared with Default: Stellar 96.67×, Kyber 527.27× and Scourge 139.63×. |
| Mythic | Default | Gold and Diamond tie as the best upgraded finish at 50% of Default. Time to repay compared with Default: Stellar 224×, Kyber 1,221.82× and Scourge 325×. |
A higher variant can still be the right move when one placement slot must produce as much as possible, when a rebirth requires it, or when you are chasing collection progress. The table answers one narrower question: which blueprint converts each credit spent into passive income most efficiently?
Continue planning
Compare individual droids in the complete catalog, calculate a placed base in the tools area, and check Upgrade Chip costs before choosing a variant. The economy tables answer credit return; they do not replace the requirement, collection, or companion decision.
Protocol slots change bay output
Each of the three bays has two separate Protocol slots. The income slot boosts all income stations in that bay. The crafting slot boosts automatic crafting progress at that bay’s depot. These slots are separate from a droid following you as a companion and from the 31 ordinary income stations.
Catalog income and crafting times are base values. Include the selected bay income provider when estimating credit payback, and the crafting provider when estimating automatic build progress.