Items & upgrades
Crates drift in the debris of every map. Some are cargo worth money, some are a five-minute edge in a fight, and one or two change what your ship is good at for the rest of the game.
Getting hold of them
- Find them. Pickups scatter through the map. Fly into one and it is aboard — Weapons can also Grav Reel one in from a distance rather than chasing it.
- Take them off the dead. Destroyed hostiles drop trade goods; wrecks and dead space creatures leave Salvage and Bio Samples.
- Buy them. Hail any friendly station and pick Market. Prices move from station to station — a place that produces something sells it cheap and buys it back for little, so there is money in carrying cargo somewhere that wants it.
- Build them. The Fabricator turns Salvage into gear. See Fabrication & Beacons.
Using one
Everything you are carrying is on the Upgrades tab, on every console — including the things you have not found yet, so you can read what a crate does before you go looking for one.
Two rules worth knowing. Most upgrades name which console may fire them, and the tab tells you when you are at the wrong one. And while an upgrade is running, its tile shows a countdown instead of a button — you cannot stack a second one on top of it.
Ship upgrades
Each is a one-shot: it is spent when used and runs for the time shown.
| Upgrade | What it does | Lasts | Console | ~Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carapaction Coil | Shields x3 | 5 min | Weapons, Engineering | 250 |
| Infusion P-Coils | Impulse and turn x3 | 5 min | Helm | 250 |
| Tauron Focuser | Beams and tubes x2 | 5 min | Weapons | 250 |
| Haplix Overcharger | Beams x3 | 5 min | Engineering, Weapons | 400 |
| Cetrocite Crystal | System cooling x2 | 5 min | Engineering | 250 |
| Lateral Array | Sensors x2 | 5 min | Science | 250 |
| Vigoranium Nodule | Restores your damage-control teams | instant | Engineering | 250 |
| HiDens Power Cell | +500 energy, the moment you touch it | instant | any | 150 |
| Secret Codecase | Arms a one-shot enemy auto-surrender, played from Comms | 5 min | Comms | 400 |
Tug rigs
Towing something heavier than you is slow, drinks your reserves, and on a starbase is frankly a job for more than one ship. A tug rig makes your hull count for more on the beam — the load comes in faster, costs you less speed, and the strain readout drops a notch.
| Rig | Worth | Lasts | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Tug Rig | four ships' pull | permanent | bought at a station, ~600 |
| Tug Rig Mk I | two and a half ships' pull | 10 minutes | found in the world |
The Heavy rig is fitted once and stays fitted — the crate is used up in the fitting, so there is nothing left in the hold to sell. The Mk I is an old unit that burns itself out; it is worth saving for the delivery rather than the trip out to it.
They stack. A ship with the Heavy rig still gets the full benefit of a Mk I on top, so a rig you find is never wasted.
Neither changes what your ship weighs, so fitting one will not make you harder for somebody else to grab, and will not make your own wreck worth more.
Bring a friend before you bring a rig
Every ship on the same beam pulls harder and takes a share of the power bill. A rig makes the haul quicker; a second ship makes it last, which on a station is usually what stops you. Weapons shows the crew count as TOW ×2, ×3, and the beam says so outright when it is overloaded.
Cargo & materials
Not upgrades — these are what you sell, and what the Fabricator eats.
| Cargo | Notes | ~Price |
|---|---|---|
| Contraband | Illicit. Lucrative where there is demand | 200 |
| Tech Components | High-value trade good | 120 |
| Volatile Gas | Compressed industrial gas | 60 |
| Bio Sample | From a dead space creature; programs a Bio Beacon | 60 |
| Raw Ore | Bulk commodity | 40 |
| Provisions | Food and supplies. Always wanted somewhere | 30 |
| Salvage | Hull plate, wiring, parts. The Fabricator's raw material | 20 |
Salvage arrives in caches rather than one crate per unit, and there is a second way to earn it: tow a derelict home and a friendly station pays out by its mass.
Turret kits
Bought at a station, ejected as a crate, towed into position with the grav-tether and unfolded where you want it.
| Kit | Notes | ~Price |
|---|---|---|
| Beam Turret Kit | A beam emplacement | 450 |
| Heavy Turret Kit | Longer reach, harder hitting, slower | 900 |
| Drone Turret Kit | Launches attack drones on its own | 900 |
Carried, not used
- Escape Pod — a life-support capsule. Carry it home and dock to deliver whoever is inside. It never appears as an upgrade because there is nothing to activate.
- Hacking Virus — a trap, not a prize. Whoever trips it takes weapons and engine damage.
Fighter fits
Hangar craft carry their own fits — Cockpit Shields, a Torpedo Bay and a Torpedo Autoloader — applied to the craft when it launches rather than picked up in space. See the hangar.
Prices above are the base; what a station actually charges depends on how badly it wants
the thing. Everything here is defined in the mission's items add-on, so a mod can add
to it — see Adding an item or upgrade.