Station technology merchants
Where do you buy class S upgrade modules? From the technology merchants of an inhabited space station: one for the starship, one for the multitool, one for the exosuit, and one for the exocraft. Each class S starship module is on sale at 38% of stations, and the system's wealth does not move that chance. A station that sells Launch Thrusters, Pulse Engine, Hyperdrive, Starship Shield, Phase Beam, and Infra-Knife all at class S is one in 420 stations: real, and rare.
What each module raises once installed, class by class, is on the page of its item; this page says where and how often you find it.
A module's stats are rolled when you install it, not when you buy it. Hover over it before you install: its card shows what it will give, as long as nothing else goes in first.
Starship technology merchant
| Module | Class C | Class B | Class A | Class S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Photon Cannon | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Phase Beam | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Positron Ejector | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Infra-Knife Accelerator | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Cyclotron Ballista | 38% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Reactor | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Launch Thrusters | 100% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Pulse Engine | 100% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Hyperdrive | 100% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Starship Shield | 100% | 38% | 38% | 38% |
Apart from the class C core modules and the reactors every station sells, each module at each class is a pick of the station, and each has the same chance. There is no class roll: a Hyperdrive Module at S is its own item on the list, beside the one at B and the one at A. What each of them raises, and the figurines and drives that do not come from a merchant, are on starship modules.
Multitool technology merchant
| Module | Class C | Class B | Class A | Class S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Geology Cannon | 36% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Plasma Launcher | 36% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Neutron Cannon | 36% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Pulse Spitter | 36% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Scatter Blaster | 36% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Blaze Javelin | 36% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Mining Beam | 100% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Scanner | 100% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
Boltcaster | 100% | 36% | 36% | 36% |
A class S multitool module is on sale at 36% of stations. The limits of every Mining Beam, Boltcaster, or Scanner module are on multitool modules.
Exosuit technology merchant
| Module | Class C | Class B | Class A | Class S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Life Support | — | 100% | 52% | 52% |
Underwater Protection | — | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Radiation Protection | — | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Toxic Protection | — | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Thermal Protection, cold | — | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Thermal Protection, heat | — | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Movement System | 100% | 52% | 52% | 52% |
Shield | 100% | 52% | 52% | 52% |
The exosuit merchant sells the most at S: 52% for each module. Life Support has no class B, and the protection modules have no class C. What a Movement System or a protection module raises is on exosuit modules.
Exocraft technology merchant
| Module | Class C | Class B | Class A | Class S |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Minotaur Engine | — | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Minotaur Laser | — | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Minotaur Cannon | — | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Minotaur Flamethrower | — | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Exocraft Cannon | 33% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Exocraft Engine | 33% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Exocraft Laser | 33% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Exocraft Boost | 33% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Humboldt Drive | 33% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
Nautilon Cannon | 33% | 33% | 33% | 33% |
The cannons, lasers, boosters, and engines of the land exocraft, and their limits, are on the pages of Roamer, Nomad, Pilgrim, and Colossus.
How many at class S
| Class S modules | Chance |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1.3% |
| 1 | 7.7% |
| 2 | 19% |
| 3 | 27% |
| 4 | 24% |
| 5 | 14% |
| 6 | 5.6% |
| 7 | 1.3% |
| 8 | 0.16% |
| 9 | 0.0077% |
A starship merchant sells 9 modules at class S at most, one of each type. 51% of stations sell three or four of them.
| On one merchant | Chance | How rare |
|---|---|---|
| Launch Thrusters, Pulse Engine, Hyperdrive, and Starship Shield at S | 1.9% | one in 53 |
| Those four, Phase Beam, and Infra-Knife at S | 0.24% | one in 420 |
| All nine starship modules at S | under 0.01% | one in 13,000 |
| All nine multitool modules at S | under 0.01% | one in 34,000 |
| All eight exosuit modules at S | 0.33% | one in 300 |
| All ten exocraft modules at S | under 0.01% | one in 3,900,000 |
The four modules every ship needs, Launch Thrusters, Pulse Engine, Hyperdrive, and Starship Shield, are all at class S at one in 53 stations.
Why wealth does not matter
A merchant's stock has a fixed size range and draws from one list, and no part of that reads the system's wealth, economy type, conflict, or race. Wealth only sets how many of an item a merchant holds, and for an upgrade module that is one at every wealth. A wealthy system pays more class S ships and multitools, as economy shows, but not more class S modules.
Each station keeps its stock for good. Which modules a station sells follows from the station itself, so a station sells the same to every player, and the odds above say how rare one that sells everything at class S is.
Pirate stations
A pirate station, the Outlaw Station, has one technology merchant, and it sells only suspicious modules: Illegal ones for the starship, the multitool, and the exosuit, nothing for the exocraft. It shows 12 of 22: nine for the starship (Launch Thrusters, Pulse Engine, Hyperdrive, Starship Shield, and the five weapons), nine for the multitool (Mining Beam, Scanner, and the seven weapons), and four for the exosuit (Life Support, Hazard Protection, Movement, and Shield). Each is drawn with the same chance, so every one is on sale at 55% of pirate stations, whichever you want. There are no classes to wait for: each suspicious module is one item.
A whole set is a different matter. The four modules every ship needs are all on one pirate merchant at about one pirate station in 15, and all nine of one item almost never.
| On one pirate merchant | Chance | How rare |
|---|---|---|
| Launch Thrusters, Pulse Engine, Hyperdrive, and Starship Shield | 6.8% | one in 15 |
| All four exosuit modules | 6.8% | one in 15 |
| All nine starship modules | 0.044% | one in 2,300 |
| All nine multitool modules | 0.044% | one in 2,300 |
An Illegal module is a gamble. A class S Mining Beam module always raises all four of its stats; an Illegal one raises one to four, but its limits reach past class S: Heat Dispersion goes to +55% against +50%. Each family's limits are on multitool modules, starship modules, and exosuit modules.
What no merchant sells
Freighter modules never stand on a merchant's list: a derelict freighter or a pirate dreadnought gives them, and the Hive of Glass of the Swarm expedition did, as freighter technology shows. Out in deep space, at the edge of an outpost, another merchant waits: the Forsaken Trader.