Which upgrade should be first to do?

[Dr. Dino]

Realized that I tend to use all my scrabs on weapon & pilots.

But when I tried to upgrade ship, my score got worse. Must be me being stupid choosing wrong upgrades. :p



Which upgrade is cost effective or/and should be finished soon?

[daniu -TLG-]

I usually first upgrade my engines because it's pretty cheap and you get evasion bonus plus better evasion training (every successful evasion levels your pilot and engineer). Also, if possible you should get the second shield in sector 1 or 2.
That said, I also always try to get at least four crew asap so I save up ~50 scrap to have available in case there's a crew member at the next shop. And I don't repair in the first sectors until I have a reasonable setup to have more money for getting it. Although on Normal, you don't really get around it... ;)

[Xdiesp]

If you are yet to beat the game, get Shield level 2. Then aim for a Defense Drone asap, and then a bigger weapon.

But if you are beyond your first run, then you have to adapt to each ship's specific deficienses and Shield 2 can wait until you fix some glaring handicaps like no medbay, no weapons, or shields (stealth ships have no shields, but it's more survivable to buy cloak 2 before shield 1 like that).

[Johari]

Shields and engines are usually the best choices early in the game.
Just note that engines are more reliable than shields. If you're fighting an enemy that uses ion weapons then your shields will be weakened more and more, and then it'll be up to your engines if your shield gets knocked out for 3-5+ seconds. Missles can also penetrate shields.

Getting alot of crew is also a very good idea. I don't know about anyone else, but I've had very good luck in mantis sectors -- I get 2 or 3 crewmen(albeit insectoid) from each sector.

[MRGRRR]

Shields. Always shields. Sure those missiles are going to be scary for a bit... but when the badguys start shooting those burst guns at you need the blue bubbles to keep your ship afloat.

I think saving for a crew teleporter is the next priority. If you have a teleporter and the enemy ship does not have a medical bay you will win every time when you get enough boarding missions under your belt.

Slow and steady wins the race. Teleporting tortoise ships for the victory!

LONCHIVAR

[Dr. Zegobob]

On a ship that does not have level-two shields to start with, then level two shields then the power to run them. On the ship that has shields, except needs lots of scrap to upgrade them (i.e. Zoltan Cruiser type B), then go for level-one shields. For a stealth ship, go for engines and cloak first, then save for shields.

[Cougarific]

I'm gonna go against the general "shields then engines" theme to be a bit more specific:

Before even making your first jump, you should (depending on ship) have enough scrap to upgrade your Power Plant, allowing you to make use of the extra Engine slot without sacrificing Medbay power.

As soon as I have a little spending money in the bank I upgrade my Doors. It's cheap and even though you probably won't see boarders until Sector 2, it's nice to know it's already taken care of.

Then I try to save as much scrap as possible to build up a "savings account" of up to 150 scrap to use for new purchases.

Prioritize Teleporter as first big purchase even if you don't have a boarding-oriented build, for the extra blue options at text-events.

Cloak is really only necessary after Sector 5, don't blow your wad on a Cloak too early as it will deplete your scrap and be of very little use because you won't be able to upgrade it or purchase Stealth Weapons (if you find them).

Of course, the Scrap Recovery Arm is a must-buy if you find it (which is why it's good to have a scrap "savings account").

Other "must buys" for me when they appear in shops are Faster Reload augment, Long Range Scanners, Stealth Weapons (even if I don't have a cloak yet) and Pre-Igniter if you can afford it.

O and Shields then Engines.

[Ordon Draconis]

I shoot for level 2 shields within 3 encounters. The game becomes trivial after that. You can power them by turning off med bay, engines, and O2 if need be.

[zhunGamerTTV (人^▽')～]

Shields level 2 as soon as possible.


....except on the Stealth Ship of course which doesn't have shields at all, in that case, Cloak 3 as soon as possible, and try to get Shields from the store asap.

[Dr. Dino]

By taking you guys' tips, I understood which upgrade I should go for. And now I get higher points and manage to go until the boss ship more often. (It keeps on eating me as a light snack though. :p)

Thanks everyone! :)

[Dr. Dino]

Another question.

Does the sensor upgrade help at all?


It seems quite useless since a slug crew appears quite often...

[MRGRRR]

Improved sensors really help a new player. You will get to see how many crew are in each ship in each phase of the game and what they do. After you learn the ways of the AI crewmembers they really are not necessary... but for a new player they can be very educational.

LONCHIVAR

[Xdiesp]

Sensors are necessary if you board, which you should do.

[ChilliCorgo]

I usualy dont upgrade anything in the first sector saving it all for boarding or a good wepon/agument an a store, in the second sector and the third I like to upgrade my shields to lvl 3, more isn't really needed! Then if I got the bording thing I want to upgrade my sensores once and probably get 2 mantises! Then I upgrade my engines not to full but almoste so I still got power for wepons, drones, boarding and stealth! :) The wepons I usualy goes for is lasers! Two burst lasers mkII will get through 4 shields and then a heavy laser mkII will do the rest! I ususally have a basic laser as well when I get to the boss cuz I really like Red-Tail! (The Kestrel B-type)