Overview
This guide aims to explain all the non-obvious benifits (blue text unlocks) for ship upgrades and crew effects. It will offer insight when trying to decide if your scrap is better spent upgrading the medbay, engines, or if hiring that slug is worth it.Due to the nature of this guide there will be spoilers (though I have attempted to keep them as vague as possible).
Introduction
This guide covers all of the special (blue text) options that I have seen crop up in the game, and what their prerequisites are. If I have missed one, or one has become outdated, let me know and I’ll do my best to correct the information.
Currently this guide only applies to the base game, I have yet to complete all of the Advanced Edition content. When I do I’ll add a new section to the guide.
It’s broken down into three main sections:
Crew Member Benefits – Options that are unlocked by having a member of your crew be a specific species.
Specific Upgrades – Options that are unlocked by having specific pieces of equipment
Generic Upgrades – Options that are unlocked by upgrading the overall capabilities of your ship
A note on the reward terminology:
The reward mechanism for the game seems to be somewhat random, but bounded within ranges. This seems to scale with both difficulty (easy gets you more scrap) and sector (early sectors get you less scrap). So defeating a drone ship in sector 4 will get you more scrap than one in sector 2, but it should be consistent across multiple play throughs.
I have classified the rewards into a two part system.
Size – Low, Medium, High, or Random. Roughly how much of a reward you are given.
Type – what the rewards are:
- augment: a ship augment (long range scanners, scrap recovery arm, etc)
- drone: a random drone schematic
- drone parts: just drone parts, nothing else
- fuel: just fuel, nothing else
- missiles: just missiles, nothing else
- scrap: just scrap, nothing else
- stuff: a random collection of fuel, missiles, drone parts, and scrap
- weapon: a random weapon, size determines how good it can be
So a “rewards low augment” would reward the player with a low cost augment. I am not sure on what the breakpoints are for the sizes are. If someone can point me in the right direction in the comments, I would be grateful.
Crew Member Benifits
I have not listed the humans, as I have not found situations where they unlock specific options.
Engi can:
- disable the haywire satellite defense system (rewards high stuff)
- prevent a riot on the disease outbreak station (rewards medium stuff)
- get a hidden fed base map point from saved engi stations (rewards low weapon and repairs hull 10 points)
- avoid bad consequences with some derelict ships
- request more resources from the distressed engi ship (stealth ship unlock mission)
Crystal can:
- avoid bad consequences from chatty crystal civilian (rewards random fuel)
- open the gate to the crystal homeworlds from the rock homeworlds
Mantis can:
- avoid bad consequences with mantis commando (rewards mantis crew or sector map)
- counterattack the slug distress trick (rewards high scrap)
- hail the legendary thief KazaaakplethKilik (mantis ship unlock mission)
Rockmen can:
- put out research station on fire (rewards high augment)
- prevent a riot on the disease outbreak station (rewards medium stuff)
- avoid bad stuff from crystal genetic research (rewards medium stuff)
- lead racist rock ship out of nebula (reward high stuff)
- avoid getting shanghaied by a slug trader (prompts a fight instead)
Slug can:
- prevent stranded madmen from shanking your crew (50% chance of nothing happening, 50% chance of getting a new crewman)
- always get the good outcome from the alien horses (rewards one engi crew)
- prompt a special battle with black raven slug pirate (50% extra slug boarders, 50% avoid the fight and rewards high weapon)
- avoid bad consequences when out of fuel in slug sector
- avoid bad consequences when looting disabled rock ships
- avoid bad consequences when dealing with fake slug traders
- needed for slug ship unlock [or level 2 sensors]
- get fuel off of zoltan security ships
Zoltan can:
- avoid bad consequences at the zoltan trading hub (costs 10 scrap) – thanks to krinsee for finding this
Specific Upgrades
These are upgrades that appear under the “equipment” tab of your ship information. Most of them can be bought or sold at stores.
Advanced Ftl Navigation:
- Escort quests are auto-completed (rewards high stuff, no ambushes)
Drone Control Module
- Anti-Personnel Drone:
- kill all the spiders that are overrunning the station (rewards medium stuff)
- avoids bad consequences of sickness station (rewards medium stuff 33% of the time)
- avoid fights with rebel auto radar drones (66% chance of working)
- save a trapped asteroid miner, costs one drone (rewards medium scrap, no ambushes)
- cut away the drill mine (rewards low scrap)
- kill all the spiders that are overrunning the station (rewards low stuff)
- save a ship stuck in an astroid field (rewards medium weapon or hidden federation base)
- save a ship stuck in an astroid field (rewards medium weapon or hidden federation base)
- put out research station on fire (rewards high drone)
- trade for fuel with damaged engi ship when out of fuel (rewards 4 to 6 fuel)
- repair the rock ship in mantis-v-rock fight (rewards high stuff)
Anti-Ship Drone:
Beam Drone:
Boarding Drone:
Defense Drone:
System Repair Drone:
Bio Beam:
- kill all the spiders that are overrunning the station (rewards high stuff)
- mission to kill crew of a enemy ship is acceptable (rewards high weapon)
Breach Missiles:
- always break through to the crystal cache (rewards low crystal weapon)
Cloaking:
- disable the haywire satellite defense system (rewards medium stuff)
- avoid some hostile mantis ships (66% chance of success)
- avoid some hostile rebel ships
- freely raid some automated drones
- avoid auto-scouts in nebula storms
- get goods from drones defending rebel space stations (50% reward low random, 50% fight)
Fire beam:
- set fire to a settlement being blockaded by pirates (rewards high drone)
Fire bomb:
- set fire to a settlement being blockaded by pirates, costs one bomb (rewards high drone)
- cause havoc in the mantis encampment, costs 2 bombs (rewards high stuff, and one engi crew)
- mission to kill crew of a enemy ship is acceptable (rewards high weapon)
Long Range Scanners:
- always get something from hidden federation bases (rewards medium weapon)
- avoids bad consequences from destroyed engi station (no crew death, rewards engi or low drone)
- avoid getting boarded by hostiles while out of fuel
- good outcome with federation ship in nebulas (rewards one random crew or medium scrap)
- avoid bad consequences when chasing rebels in nebulas
- avoids bad consequences from floating cargo
Medbay (level 2):
- stranded people always able to safely join your crew
- synthesize a cure for the disease outbreak station (rewards medium stuff)
- avoid bad consequences from plague station
- needed for mantis ship unlock event
- prevents slugs from disabling it entirely in some nebula fights
- prevent KazaaakplethKilik from dieing (mantis ship unlock mission)
(level 3) - get extra crewman from sick station (rewards medium scrap)
- get extra drone from zoltan research facility (rewards low stuff, random drone)
Nano Med-bot Dispersal:
- increases rewards from fed-v-rebel fight (rewards 1 crew, high scrap)
- disperse the cure for the disease outbreak station (rewards high weapon) [also requires medbay level 2]
Rock Armor:
- save a ship stuck in an astroid field (reward medium fuel)
- always get the crystal ship choice (rewards low weapon or crystal stasis chamber)
- advantage during rock hunting mantis fight
Scrap collector arm:
- avoids the bad consequences of mining asteroid fields (rewards high scrap)
Teleporter (level 1):
- save the crew of a ship stuck in an astroid field (rewards 1 crew, or scrap, or hull healing)
- increases rewards from fed-vs-rebel fight (rewards 1 crew, or medium scrap, or hidden fed base)
- mission to kill crew of a enemy ship is acceptable (rewards high weapon)
- needed for mantis ship unlock event
- good outcome with federation ship in nebulas (rewards one random crew and medium scrap)
- avoids the bad consequences at the zoltan trading hub
- board KazaaakplethKilik’s ship to hunt for survivors (mantis ship unlock mission)
(level 2) - avoid bad consequences in crystal cache event (rewards random weapon and low stuff)
- free a slave from a slaver ship before the fight (66% chance)
- always get sector maps from auto defense drones
Generic Upgrades
Simply having more capacity in certain systems can unlock options. The systems in question don’t need to be powered fully, they just need to be upgraded.
Engines (level 3)
- 50% chance to avoid auto-scouts in nebula storms
(level 4) - skip out on mantis gambling debt (fight with mantis ship instead of paying 50 scrap)
- avoid some hostile rebel ships
(level 5) - avoid the ghost asteroid fight (take 4 damage instead)
- avoid the drill mine
(level 6) - avoid fights with slaver ships
(level 7) - avoid bad consequences in crystal cache event (rewards random weapon and low stuff)
Weapons (level 6)
- 50% chance of scaring away pirates who are chasing civilian ships
- Get more rewards from delivering the drones to the station (fuel and scrap)
Beam Weapon (any damaging type)- save a trapped asteroid miner (rewards medium scrap, no ambushes)
Ion Weapons (any type)
- disable the haywire satellite defense system (rewards high stuff)
Missile Weapon (any type)
- controlled detonate the drill mine (rewards low scrap and 4 hull damage)
- fail to bombard the mantis encampment (guarantees a fight)
Piloting (level 2):
- smaller number of enemies in ghost asteroid fight
- avoid bad consequences while searching wreckage in plasma storms
Sensors (level 2):
- avoids bad consequences from destroyed engi station (no crew death, rewards engi or low drone)
- avoids bad consequences from floating cargo
- always convince the rock atheist (reward rock crewman)
- needed for slug ship unlock [or a slug crewman]
(level 3) - get more scrap from docking with the ghost ship (medium instead of low)
- always get something from hidden federation bases (rewards medium weapon)
- scan the giant engi monster (rewards low augment)
- avoid getting boarded by hostiles while out of fuel
- avoid bad consequences when chasing rebels in nebulas
- get sector maps from auto defense drones (50% chance of map, 50% chance of fight)
- chance to avoid fights with broken rebel drones
Closing comments
Thanks for reading this everyone. I hope it has given you some insight into the benefits of upgrading various parts of your ship, or helped you when you trying to decide which crew member to buy at a station.
If you spot any errors or can determine exactly what the size thresholds are for the rewards are, let me know in the comments.