Answers
Items, ore & cargo
Why can't I equip this module?
It's probably unidentified (the tooltip says so).
You'll need
- Read the module's tooltip. Anything above Normal rarity can drop unidentified: its modifiers, ports and rating are hidden and it can't be fitted.
- Identify it by right-clicking with enough ORE in your stash; the tooltip shows the cost. It costs 10% of the item's rating, at least 1 ORE.
- Fit it while tethered to a refit terminal. In a hub your ship tethers to the pad automatically.
Still won't fit? A battery, subsystem or propulsion module must cover a matching hardpoint, and a hull can't carry more battery modules than it has battery hardpoints.
How do I get ORE?
Recycle modules and minerals in the Recycler tab of your stash at any hub.
You'll need
- Get your loot home: the only way out of a breach is a train.
- At any hub, open your stash and go to the Recycler tab.
- Recycle modules and minerals. You get ORE equal to 25% of the item's rating.
Good to know
- Faction-issued gear gives nothing, in ORE or in Merits.
- The Recycler is also your faction's depot, so minerals and looted gear earn Merits too.
- Early on it's worth recycling common drops since ORE repairs your ship and identifies modules. It also pays for blueprint research.
- Keep rare minerals such as Dark Triton and Solstine for recipes.
Which minerals should I keep?
Keep rare ones like Dark Triton and Solstine for recipes.
- Dark Triton is found in breaches off Greylock, where the higher-tier breaches unlock.
- Every hull recipe calls for Solstine, and 13 of the 20 call for Dark Triton. A Normal Rune blueprint, for example, takes 12 Solstine and 32 Dark Triton.
- The Forge takes materials from your hub stash, and moving them between hubs is manual, so store them where you craft.
- Veskar and Pirite also repair damaged drones in cargo.
- A dev believes salvage luck may help a mixed ore node upgrade to Dark Triton.
- Recycle common drops for ORE instead.
How do I repair outside my home hub?
Carry ORE in cargo and repair at a terminal.
- Load ORE into cargo before you leave. A breach terminal takes ORE from cargo; only a hub pad uses your stash.
- Tether to a refit terminal with the harpoon and wait out the 8-second hack; once authorised, tethering again skips it.
- Repair: 5 ORE per 100 armor, 10 per 100 hull and 10 per burned control rod.
Good to know
- You can be attacked while tethered.
- Repair charges come from the Quartermaster; armor repairers reload automatically from charges in cargo once their loaded charges run out.
- A Standard Nanite Regenerator repairs 70 HP/s for 16 s, more with higher quality and armor-repair bonuses.
Changed in Beta Patch 2: nanite repair used to be a flat amount.
How do drones work?
Equip a Dronelink, keep drones in cargo, press Q.
You'll need
- Fit the Dronelink while tethered to a refit terminal.
- Keep drones in cargo.
- Press Q while hovering a target or mineral fragment.
Good to know
- Dronelink bandwidth caps how many drones are out; cargo space caps how many you carry. A Drone Conduit or Swarm Protocol adds 2 bandwidth.
- Drone endurance sets how much heat your ship makes while drones are out, not flight time.
- Damaged drones repair in cargo using Veskar/Pirite.
- Utility mining-speed bonuses apply to drones too.
- Drones deal kinetic damage.
- NPC ships currently don't target drones, so they shine in PvE.
- The Quartermaster sells the Mining Drone blueprint: 160 Merits, 20 uses.
Warning
Drones are easy to counter in PvP. Rampart Gatlings intercept attack drones and flak shreds them.
How do I mine?
Mine mineral fragments with a mining laser or mining drones.
You'll need
- Fit them at a refit terminal. The laser (1x2, battery) adds 20% to your signature radius.
- Find a mineral fragment, floating inside clouds in breaches.
- Laser: switch it on, aim at the fragment and right-click it once. The beam then stays on it wherever your cursor goes, heating (6.5 per second) only on a valid target.
- Drones: hover the fragment and press Q.
- Extract by train to keep your haul.
Good to know
- The laser mines 25% faster in the Optimal heat zone.
- Hel fragments can't be extracted yet.
- Lost your laser? Your faction Quartermaster sells them cheaply for Merits.
Tip
Passive utility modules like the Salvager Rig (+20% mining speed) boost mining, drones included, but can't mine alone.
What is stash overflow?
A safety net, called Recovery Overflow in game, that catches items when you remove cargo space while it's full.
- Cargo space comes from modules such as the Cargo Bay (+16 cells) and Structural Cargohold (+12). Removing one shrinks the hold.
- Fitting a module that takes cells away, like the Missile Bay (-6) or Fuel Bay (-4), shrinks it too.
- Items in the lost cells go to your hub stash only when you're in a hub. Anywhere else they're thrown out as loot.
- Beta Patch 2 used it too: launchers that lost their place when missiles moved to battery hardpoints went to your hub stash, or to Recovery Overflow if the stash was full.
Tip
Before you refit cargo modules at a breach terminal, make room in the hold first.
How do I organise cargo automatically?
Set auto-deposit rules per cargo bay; then Deposit from cargo sorts everything.
- In a hub, open your stash.
- Set auto-deposit rules for each cargo bay. The arrows next to X expand the bays.
- Use Deposit from cargo; everything is sorted into the stash.
Good to know
- The stash also has a TYPE sort.
- Rearranging your own cargo needs no terminal, and items can be turned in the hold.
- Every ship has four safety hold cells, a fixed 2×2 square at the top left of the cargo grid. An item lying fully on them is kept if the ship dies.
Changed in Beta Patch 2: before, most hulls had two safety hold cells and the Acolyte, Eidolon and Starrk had none.
How do I trade with a player?
Request a trade from the radial wheel on their ship.
- Meet them in the same hub. Since Beta Patch 1 you can trade untethered in the same hub.
- Hold left click on their ship to open the radial wheel.
- Choose Request Trade and release.
Good to know
- Faction-quality gear can't be traded: your free starter ship and its modules, and everything a Quartermaster sells.
- Hubs are safe: nobody can attack you there except in a duel you both accepted.
- The wider player market is still being introduced during early access.
How do I trade? (earlier answer)
You must be tethered to a refit terminal.
What's salvage luck?
Better drops.
A dev believes it may also help a mixed ore node upgrade to Dark Triton.
Where to get it:
Salvager Rig: +12%, plus +20% mining speed.
Survey Scanner: +8%.
Utility Conduit: +7%, plus 2 cargo cells.- Rolled modifiers: hulls and most module types can roll salvage luck.
- Lucky Cigarettes, the safe Tek cipher: +15%.
Percentage bonuses to the same stat stack with diminishing returns, so each extra source adds a little less.
Where are merchants in breaches?
They spawn at high-value nodes.
- They show as an orange map icon once someone finds them.
- While players are in a breach it stays open and the stock stays the same.
- Hover a merchant and press Tab to target it.
- Faction-issued gear is worth nothing to a merchant.
- Hubs have merchants too, including the blueprint/industry merchant in Greylock. Merchants also sell hulls.
What does harpoon speed do?
It sets how fast your harpoon pulls in.
- Loot comes to you quicker.
- You swing harder while you're harpooned onto something.
Where can I get mining lasers, turret conduits and ship blueprints?
Mostly from your faction's Quartermaster, for Merits; turret conduits from the blueprint merchant.
- Mining lasers: the faction Quartermaster sells them cheaply for Merits.
- Turret conduits: the blueprint merchant in Greylock is your best bet.
- Ship blueprints: from loot, from the Quartermaster (Faction quality, for Merits), or from other players in your faction.
How do I sort my whole stash?
Combine your stash containers, then use the TYPE sort.
- Combine your stash containers, so one sort reaches everything.
- Sort by TYPE (added in Beta Patch 2).
Are some artifacts weaker than others?
Yes. Some artifacts are more common and less powerful than others.
Not every orange drop is a jackpot.
ORE
Mining Laser
Mining Drone
Armor Repairer
repair charges
Nanite Regenerator