Ship Upgrades

## Intro

Ship Upgrades come in basically three flavors. Tier, Level and equipped components and weapons. Below, you'll find information about each of those, but first, let's talk about what is and is not upgradeable on your ship.

All of the components can be upgraded simply by swapping out the old for a new, better, one. Each component affects a specific part of your ship stats. For example, swapping out a Cargo component adjusts the mass your ship can carry, it's number of cargo slots and possible a few bonus things, depending on it's Tier. For more information on the individual components, click here.

Ship Upgrades can be completed at Faction Hubs. Faction Hubs are located in the Hub system of a Sector (Sectors are a group of systems controlled by a Faction). You'll be looking for a flat spot on the ring with a blue dome on one end. Or, alternatively, you can contact the base and request landing permission and they will provide an icon to guide you the landing pad.

There are two options for upgrading your ship at a Faction Hub. The first is its Tier and the second is its Level. The Tier adds generous amounts of additional stats to various parts of your ship, i.e.: the shields and/or armor, warp speed, cargo slots, etc. Upgrading the Tier will also grant you the ability to add new modules to your ship. We'll talk about these modules in a bit. The second option to upgrade your ship is the ability to upgrade its level. You can only upgrade your ships' level to your current Pilot level. Just like with Tier upgrades, upgrading your ships level increase stats like armor, shield and thruster speed, to name a few. More on this down below, also.

As of v1.9.0, ship perks can now also be changed.

## Tier Upgrades

When you upgrade a ships' Tier, you will be given the option to add up to two unique component slots, one at Tier 2 and one at Tier 4. This means you can potentially add more weapons, or a defensive slot, offensive slot, etc. This means that your ship can be uniquely your own design. You will need to go to the Kiosk to the left of the Upgrade Kiosk to purchase the new component slot. Be advised, you can only install ONE of each type of component. In other words, if you buy 2 weapons slots, you will only be able to install one of them in either the Tier 2 or Tier 4 slot, but not both.

Some but not all component slots may be available at any given upgrade kiosk. You may have to try different Faction Hubs to find the component slot you are looking for.

As with many things in game, the higher your level the more expensive things get. It's highly recommended to upgrade your Tier level as early as possible and purchase the slot components as soon as you are able.

## Level Upgrades

Level upgrades adjust many of your ship stats, from shield capacity to cargo capacity. Upgrading your ship level increases your damage and resistances, as well. It's not necessary to upgrade your ship level every time your Pilot level goes up, but many veteran players upgrade their ship levels on increments of 5 or 10. You should definitely upgrade your ship levels if you recognize that you're getting soundly beaten up in PvE ship combat.

## Ship Perks

Ship perks are those things that your ship can do by virtue to being installed on the ship. These perks are typically tied to keys three, four, and five (3, 4, 5) on your keyboard. Some of these perks are things like invisibility, multi-missile launches and a fan favorite, stabilize.

Not all perks are available at all kiosks and you may have to shop around different Faction Hubs to find the one you're looking for. Additionally, perks are randomized by game start, as well, so perks you find in one play-through at a specific hub may not be there in a different play-through at the same hub. Swapping perks is quite expensive, so be prepared to spend, potentially, in the 10s of millions for a new perk.

Additionally, your ship comes with a perk specific to that ship type which cannot be swapped. You can find the mandatory perk listed for each ship type here. Ship perks you can purchase are: Signal Disrupter, Dynamic Drone Maintenance, Immortal, Cargo Keeper, Squad Boost, Holographic Mirror, Cooler, Pod Stabilizer

## Customizing Your Ship with Paint

The Paint Terminal is where you can customize the look of your ship. Click *F* when standing in front of the terminal to open the paint interface.

Clicking the various colors will bring up the paint wheel allowing you to select the paint scheme for your ship. Clicking *HARMONIC COLOR* brings up additional options allowing you to select colors that harmonize the colors in a specific way. By clicking one of the 7 options above the color wheel, the selection for paint is simplified to matching colors in the scheme shown. For example, clicking the second form the left option chooses two colors in the same spectrum, but offset from each other by a few shades. Clicking the third option from the left selects two colors on opposite sides of the color wheel.

Once you're done with paint, click *APPLY AND CLOSE* to set your paint job as final.

## How to Upgrade Your Ship

To upgrade your ship, head to any Faction Hub, land, and head into the Upgrade Station. Slightly left of center is the Upgrade Kiosk. Hit *F* to open the upgrade interface to begin the upgrade process.

On the left side of the interface is the Tier Tree. You can see each Tier listed and with it the module or perk slot that goes along with it. To upgrade your Tier, click the icon in the bottom that says *ADD TIER*. To upgrade your ship level, click the icon that says *ADD LEVEL (10)* (it is unknown why the 10 is there). As you increase the level or Tier, the funds required to upgrade increase, as well. As you can see in the screenshot above, a weapon slot was added at Tier 2 and a component slot (Offensive Holder) was added at Tier 4.

If you want to add a new perk or component/weapon slot item, click the perk or empty component slot to open your cargo hold.

 If you have an available item to fill the slot, it will show up here.

Make all the changes you want or can afford and close the interface and you're done upgrading for now. Come back in 5 or 10 levels to increase your ship level in order to maintain your PvE Ship v Ship dominance!