# Co-op Meta: Clues, Cabins & Credits

> Cooperative network economy in Arknights Endfield: Clue Exchange yields, cabin assists, depot transfers, and the 1,630 daily Store Credit ceiling.

Source: https://endfieldhub.org/blog/friendlist-cooperative-network-credit-economy
Published: 2026-05-10
Updated: 2026-09-24

_Arknights: Endfield_ has no synchronous co-op, but it has a deeply asynchronous cooperative layer that becomes a primary progression driver after the **Valley Reboot** quest unlocks the social system. A maxed friendlist of **100 active players** doesn’t just unlock market arbitrage. It accelerates Clue Exchange yields, doubles your effective cabin throughput, quadruples regional Stock Bill income from depot deliveries, and pushes daily Store Credit generation from a solo baseline of roughly **550 credits** up to **1,330–1,630 credits**.

This post covers the systems beyond the trading floor. For the deep dive on price-arbitrage mechanics, see our companion guide on the [100-Friend Meta and Social List Arbitrage](https://endfieldhub.org/blog/100-friend-meta-social-list-arbitrage-guide).

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## TL;DR - Key Points

* **Friendlist is a sample-size multiplier** — 1 self-roll vs. 101 rolls (you + 100 friends) for daily Stock Redistribution sell prices, Clue Exchange visits, and depot transfer pickups.
* **Clue Exchange caps at 700 host credits** — 400 base after Reception Room upgrade plus up to 300 from a full 20-visitor day.
* **Clue #7 is structurally oversupplied** because Last Rite is leveled early; the other six clues hold higher trade value.
* **Depot transfers quadruple regional currency** — send your 4 daily jobs out, run 3 friend transfers in, both parties collect full Stock Bill payouts.
* **Cabin assists pay 20 credits each, capped at 5 per day** for an easy 100-credit floor before any market activity.
* **Store Credits soft-cap at 300 on reset** — spending discipline matters more than raw earning above that line.
* **A maxed network funds \~32 Arsenal Tickets per day** through 4 shop refreshes (80 / 120 / 160 / 200 credit costs).

---

## 1\. Why the Friendlist Is a Sample-Size Engine

Most of _Endfield’s_ cooperative systems run on a hidden mechanic: **independent random rolls per friend instance**. Stock Redistribution sell rates, depot transfer payouts, and the population of active Clue Exchanges all scale with the number of friend worlds you can probe in a given day.

The math is unforgiving. With 1 friend you sample 2 rolls (yours + theirs); with 100 you sample 101\. The 99th-percentile outcome of 101 rolls is, in practice, the daily ceiling, and it converges to roughly the **+130% markup band** for elastic goods, which is the threshold where market trading becomes meaningfully profitable rather than incrementally so.

A shrunken or stale friendlist doesn’t just lower the ceiling. It lowers the _expected_ outcome of every cooperative loop in the game.

---

## 2\. Stock Redistribution: A Compressed Refresher

[Stock Redistribution](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/stock-redistribution) unlocks at **Authority Level 15** after **Outpost Level 2** and the _Restart Area Stock Redistribution I_ quest in Valley IV (which itself gates behind the _Paving the Way_ main mission). Every region has its own currency, Valley Stock Bills, [Wuling Stock Bills](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/wuling-stock-bill), and the bills cannot be spent outside their native region.

The two transaction tiers behave very differently:

| Tier                                                              | Behavior                                                   | Refresh Model                                                           |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [**Staple Goods**](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/staple-goods)   | One-time progression purchases (mats, Headhunting Permits) | Diminishing tiers: -90% → -80% → -70% → -60%, then sold out permanently |
| [**Elastic Goods**](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/elastic-goods) | Daily speculative trading items                            | Daily price reroll, purchase quotas stack up to 3 days                  |

Buying is locked to your _local_ prices. Selling can happen on any active friend’s ship. That asymmetry is what makes the friendlist a multiplier.

### Roll Math at a Glance

Valley IV currently runs **12 elastic items**. With a 3-day stack, that gives a maximum pool of **36 buy rolls**. Selling rolls are far more abundant, 1 from your world plus up to 100 from friends:

| Holding Window | Cumulative Rolls (max) | Buy Target     | Sell Target     | Approx. ROI |
| -------------- | ---------------------- | -------------- | --------------- | ----------- |
| 1 day          | 12 buy / 101 sell      | ≤ 1,100 (-45%) | ≥ 4,600 (+130%) | \~418%      |
| 3 days         | 36 buy / 303 sell      | ≤ 800 (-60%)   | ≥ 4,900 (+145%) | \~613%      |
| 7 days         | 84 buy / 707 sell      | ≤ 754 (-62%)   | ≥ 5,000 (+150%) | \~660%      |

The observed **price floor is 401 credits (-80%)** and the observed **ceiling is 5,301 credits (+165%)**, giving a theoretical maximum return of **1,234%** on the right roll convergence.

### Endgame Pivot

Once Staple stock is bought out, surplus Stock Bills get redirected to Essences (which themselves cap), high-tier food, and [**Operator Gifts**](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/trust). Trait-matched gifts (e.g., Gilberta on Fashion + Culture) yield up to **+20% daily trust gain**, model the exact thresholds with the [gift calculator](https://endfieldhub.org/tools/gift-calculator), but stacking more than three gifts per day per operator hits a hard diminishing-returns wall.

There is also a quiet **host cashback loop**: when visiting friends collectively trade ≥ **142,750 Stock Bills** of goods on your ship, you receive **60 Store Credits**. Hosts get credits, traders get markups. Both sides of the loop are paid.

---

## 3\. The Clue Exchange: The 24-Hour Credit Cycle

The Clue Exchange unlocks with the **Maintenance Progress** main mission and lives in the Dijiang flagship’s [**Reception Room**](https://endfieldhub.org/guides/control-nexus). Running an exchange consumes **all seven distinct clues (#1 through #7)** placed on the board and starts a **24-hour timer** that pays Store Credits to both the host and any friend visitors who claim it.

### Operator Pairings for the Reception Room

Each clue number maps to a specialty operator whose **Level 40 talent** boosts that clue’s search rate:

| Clue | Specialty Operator | Boost Pair (Standard Meta) |
| ---- | ------------------ | -------------------------- |
| #1   | Alesh              | Ardelia + Estella          |
| #2   | Avywenna           | Ardelia + Estella          |
| #3   | Liefeng            | Ardelia + Estella          |
| #4   | Ember              | Ardelia + Estella          |
| #5   | Xaihi              | Ardelia + Estella          |
| #6   | Arclight           | Ardelia + Estella          |
| #7   | Last Rite          | Ardelia + Estella          |

**Ardelia** carries strong intrinsic Reception Room passives, while **Estella** layers a flat **+20% search efficiency**. The third slot is always reserved for the operator tied to the clue you’re currently short on.

### The Clue #7 Surplus Problem

Last Rite is one of the most-leveled early operators in the meta, so a disproportionate slice of the playerbase ends up running her in the Reception Room by default. This produces a structural oversupply of **Clue #7** across friend networks, the same loop _Arknights_ veterans recognize from the Angelina era, which we unpack in our deep dive on the [Clue 7 Curse and Last Rite’s Seš’qa affinity](https://endfieldhub.org/blog/clue-7-curse-last-rite-sesqa-meta). The other six clues, particularly the ones tied to less-popular specialty operators, trade at far higher real value, so duplicate Clue #7s are best dumped into the friendlist quickly rather than hoarded.

### Peer-to-Peer Trading Rules

| Action            | Reward                  | Notes                                         |
| ----------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| Send a clue       | 40 credits to sender    | Visible in Operator Showcase / Clue Send menu |
| Claim a sent clue | 57 credits to recipient | —                                             |
| Storage cap       | 20 clues total          | Up from 10 in original _Arknights_            |
| Expiration        | 9 days                  | Window is generous; no need to coordinate     |

The matchmaking menu prioritizes **recently active accounts**, which is the primary reason a stale friendlist starves your Clue Exchange. Your sends stop landing in front of online players.

### Host Yield Math

| Scenario                                     | Host Credits                                 |
| -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Base exchange completion                     | 300 (unupgraded) / 400 (upgraded)            |
| Per visitor                                  | +15 credits, capped at +300 from 20 visitors |
| **Daily ceiling (upgraded + full visitors)** | **700 credits**                              |

Because the exchange runs a **flat 24 hours with no buffer window**, missing a refresh by even an hour pushes your daily start time forward and bleeds long-term yield. A live friendlist clears the visit cap quickly enough that drift becomes the binding constraint, not visitor supply.

---

## 4\. Dijiang Cabin Assists: The Easy 100 Credits

The Dijiang flagship’s support interface splits across **three screens with six total daily assists available** (your own usage):

| Cabin                          | Mechanic                                        | Cap                       |
| ------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- |
| **Control Nexus**              | Manual mood-restoration boosts                  | Up to 2 operators per day |
| **Manufacturing (MFG) Cabins** | 3-hour production accelerators (manual)         | 3 per day                 |
| **Growth Chambers**            | Cultivation rate boost (auto-applied, no input) | 1 per day                 |

### Optimal Cabin Lineups

| Cabin               | Recommended Operators                | Key Talents                      | Output                            |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Control Nexus       | Lifeng, Da Pan, Snowshine / Fluorite | Snowshine & Fluorite L40 unlocks | +48% mood regen                   |
| MFG Bay (Weapons)   | Gilberta, Pogranichnik, Perlica      | Perlica L40: +20% Weapon EXP     | +90% Weapon EXP log efficiency    |
| MFG Bay (Operators) | Ember, Laevatain, Wulfgard / Xaihi   | Ember & Xaihi L60/80 mastery     | +80% Character EXP log efficiency |
| Botany Bay          | Last Rite, Yvonne, Chen Qianyu       | Chen Qianyu L40: +20% growth     | +30% growable efficiency          |

Helping friends pays a flat **20 credits per assist, capped at 5 assists daily, a guaranteed 100 Store Credits** before any market or clue activity. The friend benefit is symmetric: their cabins get the boost, your wallet gets the credits.

---

## 5\. Depot Transfers: Quadrupling Regional Income

Depot Nodes let you package regional materials and run delivery jobs for high Stock Bill payouts. Doing the runs yourself is rarely the right call, fast-traveling, taking falls, or catching combat damage during transit chips away at cargo integrity, and a damaged delivery loses up to **50% of its payout**.

### Cargo Damage Rules

* Each in-transit jump costs **1% integrity**.
* Falls **up to 50 meters** do not damage cargo.
* **Automated jump boosters** are also free of cargo damage, making zipline networks the safest delivery path.

### The Transfer Math

| Constraint                                     | Limit                           |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| Jobs you can transfer out per day              | **4** (depot cap)               |
| Friend jobs you can run per day                | **3**                           |
| Credits per friend run                         | **30 Store Credits** (90 daily) |
| Payout to _both parties_ on completed transfer | **100% Stock Bills**            |
| Payout if transfer expires unclaimed           | **50% to sender only**          |

The cooperative loop: **send 4 out + run 3 in = effectively 7 fully-paid deliveries per day**, where pure solo play caps at the local 4\. That’s the source of the “quadruple regional income” framing, not because each delivery pays 4×, but because both ends of every cooperative transfer collect the full reward, and you’re collecting on roughly 7 deliveries instead of 4.

### UI Friction Worth Knowing

* The delivery list **cannot be filtered by region**, so high-paying Wuling jobs get visually buried under lower-yield Valley IV runs. Manual sorting is required.
* Active runs **cannot be canceled** mid-transit.
* Transferring a job requires opening the Missions menu individually. There is no batch transfer button.

For Wuling Stock Bill maximization specifically, train your eye to identify Wuling depot transfers in friend lists first; they are roughly 2× the per-run yield of Valley IV deliveries.

---

## 6\. Shared Ziplines and Overworld Networks

Pylon and Tower zipline blueprints can be **copied between friend worlds**. The two infrastructure tiers:

| Network Piece  | Range | Power Source        |
| -------------- | ----- | ------------------- |
| Electric Pylon | 80 m  | Outpost / PAC power |
| Tower          | 110 m | Outpost / PAC power |

Practically, this means a single skilled builder can scale a friendlist’s vertical traversal in one afternoon. Historically the community also used shared blueprints to bypass intended map boundaries (e.g., copying a route built using the Yvonne + Laevatain infinite-jump glitch before it was patched). Even with the exploits patched, the legitimate use case, fast access to elevated nodes, remains a quiet but high-impact friendlist benefit.

---

## 7\. Daily Store Credit Yield: The Headline Number

Store Credits are the gating currency for **Oroberyls**, **Arsenal Tickets**, and discounted progression materials. The Credit Store has a **soft cap of 300 at daily reset**, anything above that is deleted. Spending discipline is therefore as important as earning.

### Yield Comparison: Solo vs. 100-Friend Network

| Source                    | Solo Yield | Active 100-Friend Yield | Mechanic                                     |
| ------------------------- | ---------- | ----------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Daily login check-in      | 300        | 300                     | Flat claim                                   |
| Clue Exchange visits      | 0          | 250                     | 5 friend visits × 50                         |
| Cabin assists             | 0          | 100                     | 5 friend assists × 20                        |
| Shared depot deliveries   | 0          | 90                      | 3 friend transfers × 30                      |
| Market cashback           | 0          | 60                      | Friends trading ≥ 142,750 bills on your ship |
| Reception clue trading    | \~50       | \~180                   | Production claim + duplicate trading         |
| Clue Exchange host        | \~200      | 400–700                 | Base 400 (upgraded) + 15/visitor (cap 300)   |
| **Total daily potential** | **\~550**  | **1,330–1,630**         | —                                            |

### Refresh Strategy and Arsenal Ticket Conversion

The Credit Store supports **4 daily refreshes** at increasing cost: **80 → 120 → 160 → 200 credits** (560 total). At the 1,330–1,630 daily ceiling, refreshes are easily covered. Across those 4 refreshes, the practical Arsenal Ticket throughput averages out to **\~32 tickets per day**, which translates to meaningful weapon-banner pity acceleration over a patch cycle.

### The 300-Credit Soft-Cap Discipline

Two rules govern end-of-day credit balance:

1. **Sit at 200–300 credits before logging off**, so you can immediately purchase rare shop refreshes (Oroberyls, Arsenal Tickets) when the daily roster appears.
2. **Burn any excess above 300 on deeply-discounted dev materials** (50%–99% off), since reset deletes anything over the cap.

---

## 8\. Daily Routine: A Practical Checklist

A maxed cooperative network only pays out if you actually run the loops. The following routine collapses to roughly **10–15 minutes per day** once the muscle memory sets in:

* **Prune** the friendlist by “Last Active”, drop anyone offline for 24–48+ hours, then refill from the Add Friend recommendations.
* **Run cabin assists** on 5 friend ships → 100 credits.
* **Visit 5 friend Clue Exchanges** → 250 credits.
* **Transfer your 4 daily depot jobs** to friends, then **run 3 high-paying Wuling transfers** → 90 credits + maximum regional Stock Bills.
* **Place your own Clue Exchange** with Ardelia + Estella + the operator covering your missing clue → up to 700 host credits.
* **Send duplicate clues** (especially Clue #7) to friends → easy passive credits.
* **Scan Elastic Goods**: buy locally below \~1,100 bills, sell at ≥ 4,600 bills on the highest-rolling friend world.
* **End the day with 200–300 credits banked**, with any excess burned on discounted materials.

Run consistently, this routine sustains roughly **9,000–11,000 Store Credits per week**, enough to keep weapon-banner pity progressing and rare-material gaps closing in parallel with your factory throughput.

---

## Closing Note

In _Endfield_, the friendlist is not a social-feature bolt-on. It is a structural multiplier on five distinct progression loops, each of which pays out independently and stacks into the same Store Credit pool. The marginal cost of a fresh friend slot is essentially zero; the marginal yield of letting that slot stay stale is measurable in lost Oroberyls and Arsenal Tickets every week.

Treat the friendlist as a daily-maintained resource, not a static contact list. The credit ceiling, the trading ceiling, and the depot ceiling all assume an _active_ network, not a _full_ one.