Droid Lab upgrades very underwhelming (minor spoilers)

[Kitty]

Seeing as they sport the highest tech (red) costs, I was hoping for real game-changers match to match out of them. Instead, they provide very negligible boons that newbies and veterans alike are better off without. The default Metal Detector, while not as consistent as I would like, is by far the most utilitarian as it helps with early-to-midgame levels and actual ability to afford anything in final shop.

Gearhead Module might be valuable for newer players, but once you've gotten through a run or two, you definitely learn to prevent armor/health damage. And what isn't avoidable is repairable with certain cards, armor stations, or just riding it out til the end of the planet.

Mercantile Module seemed cool on paper, but in practice isn't great unless you find a bonus dungeon on the planet, not to mention hitting every turret you can find. There is one additional shop, an "Elite Shop", which sells 3 items of boosted rarity, and commonly has 1-2 legendaries (orange) on planets 2&3. Still, legendaries are always very overlevelled (and similarly ungodly priced), so they're hard to even make use of immediately. I much prefer the cheaper rare (blue) items, so I can not only optimize my equipment, but purchase potentially several items per stop.

Diplomacy Module (which only appears after some unknown condtion is met) I have yet to unlock, but I've never had an issue with the two recruit choices I'm given: There is almost always a balance between support/damage, and yields unique playthroughs either way. If anything, unlocking more progeny classes is the bigger issue, for its potential to destabilize the pool in either direction.

Honestly, all things considered, I think the Droid Lab upgrades should just be permanent rather than selectable, or at least be able to select 2. Metal Detector is just too good to diverge from, and seems more like it should be an effect separate from the lab entirely.

[Kitty]

On a slightly related note, does anyone know if Armory generates items randomly or all they all presets? Are they infinite?

I am beginning to regret unlocking all the cheapest ones first since it is diluting my item rewards pool with duplicates or effects I don't need on my setup. It's also very easy to forget to change your active Armory item, which should be a prompt when starting a new run.

[Syraniss]

You unlock the whole tier to be found in rewards/shops at the same time, all spending the scrap in the armory does it unlock higher tiers and give you the ability to select one piece to start with.

You can't actually micromanage what gets unlocked for shop/chests, which while cool in theory would make things boringly consistent.

[Chester]

The devs have said they plan on giving more Armory control in an upcoming patch. Right now, the one "Active" gear will show up in your inventory and once any gear is unlocked it is more likely to show up in the chest pool (potentially flooding you with items you don't want after long enough). Supposedly soon you'll be able to manually include/exclude items you've unlocked in future runs, though not sure of the specifics of how they'll implement it.

[Thndslz]

I completely agree. I always find myself always relying on Colossus, Thrallblade, Retribution, Desecrator and Seether. Im pretty sure there are other viable choices like Bleeding items but buying them now will only mess up the already messed up loot table. For now the only option to fix that is rolling a new save slot.

[Syraniss]

Oh? Hmm... if unlocked ones do indeed have higher odds of appearing that would possibly explain why I am finding 50 thousand guns when all I want is a pair of pants.

[Chester]

#RealLifeProblems

[Torus]

More people need to know that you can overbuy unlocks.