Augmentations

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Augmentations are items that passively provide upgrades for your ship. Every ship can hold and equip up to three of them. They can be bought at random stores for scrap and found through random encounters and quests. Their benefits range from improving stats (FTL Recharge Booster) to granting entirely new abilities (Adv. FTL Navigation) and effects (Reverse Ion Field).

Most of the stat boosting Augmentations stack with each other. The ones that don't are grayed out in stores if you already own one (or if all of your augmentation slots are filled). All augments can be sold to any store for half of their purchase price (rounded down). If you loot an augment that you already own and it's not one that stacks, or if you don't have room for it, you are notified and it's salvaged on the spot for resale value.

Weapon Augmentations

Automated Re-loader

Cost: 40

Sell value: 20

• Cooldown between shots reduced by 15% (10% in Advanced Edition).
• This applies to all weapons, including the artillery weapons of the Federation Cruiser variants.
• Stackable. Measured charge times for Pike Beam with 0,1,2 and 3 automated re-loaders were, respectively, 14.6s, 12.7s, 11.2s, 10.0s. The first time is shorter than the pike beam's stock 16s due to weapons officer. Each successive time is about 13% off the previous time. These numbers suggest that automated reloaders stack additively with itself (rather than multiplicatively with itself) and multiplicatively with the manned bonus.

Explosive Replicator

Cost: 50

Sell value: 30

• Missile-based weapons (both bombs and missiles) have a 50 percent chance of not using a missile.
• Multi-shot weapons (Swarm and the Pegasus Missiles) have the same 50 percent chance of not using a missile in their volley. This is because one missile is used when firing these weapons, even though there are multiple attacks from them.
• Not stackable.

Weapon Pre-Igniter

Cost: 120

Sell value: 60

• Only charges a single charge of multi-charge weapons (Advanced Edition)
• Weapons are now immediately ready to fire upon arriving at a beacon.
• This does not apply to the artillery weapons found on Federation Cruiser variants.
• This only works for the weapons that were powered when you left the previous beacon.
• A good tactic is to turn off everything and divert all power to your weapons before jumping away. This way you can "alpha strike" with 3-4 weapons the moment you arrive, overwhelming the enemy. After the initial volley you can shut down the extra weapons and immediately power up other systems to finish off the fight.
• This is the rarest purchasable augment.

Stealth Weapons

Cost:  50

Sell value:  25

• This augmentation negates the cloak duration shortening effect caused by firing non-beam weapons while cloaked.
• Vital if you want to utilise the Vulcan Blaster - as otherwise the quick-shots will drain your cloak instantly.

Hacking Stun

Cost:  60

Sell value:  30

• All crew inside a room during a Hacking Pulse will be stunned for the duration.
• Crew members who enter the affected room during the Hacking Pulse are stunned to the end of the duration as well.
• You can use this to keep crew in a room that is dangerous, such as one filled with fire or one that lacks oxygen.
• Normally crew would attempt to escape a medbay that is being hacked, with this augment you can keep them in there and guaranetee a kill from full health on normal crew if you happen to have lvl 3 hacking.
• Affects both friendly and enemy crew.
• More information required: this augment was added in the Advanced Edition.

Defense Scrambler

Cost:  80

Sell value:  40

• Prevents enemy defense drones from targeting anything.
• Causes defensive drones (Ex: Defense Drone Mk1 or 2) to be unable to shoot down projectiles (Lasers, Missiles, Asteroids).
• Also prevents Anti-Combat Drones from targeting combat drones or boarding drones launched at the enemy.
  • Possibly (But probably not) affects the enemy Shield Overcharger.
• Will show the enemy defensive drones spinning when the augment is in use.
• Does not affect enemy combat drones or boarding drones in any way.
• The Engi Crusier Layout C starts with this.
• This augment was added in the Advanced Edition.

Defensive Augmentations

Shield Charge Booster

Cost: 45

Sell value: 22

• Boosts the ship's shield recharge rate by 15 percent. Stackable.

Reverse Ion Field

Cost: 60

Sell value: 30

• Protects your ship from ion damage, giving a 15 percent chance to negate all ion damage on your systems. Stackable. (The game incorrectly indicates a 20% chance.)

• Increased to 50% chance in advanced mode.

• Immunity to ion damage with multiple. (A.E.)

Repair Arm

Cost: 50

Sell value: 25

• Repairs your hull for 1-2 point every time you collect scrap, but reduces scrap collected by 15 percent. This percentage rounds against you and is also taken even if you're at full hull and no repairs are performed. Not stackable.
• More cost effective early in the game rather than later when rewards get much bigger.

Emergency Respirators

Cost: 50

Sell value: 25

• Crew takes half damage from low oxygen.
• Crystal crew members take only 25% damage from low oxygen with this augment.
• Your crew will carry the respirators with them on enemy ships, allowing them to more safely board into vacuums.
• The Lanius Cruiser (Type A and Type B) start with this augment. This can help when trying to achieve the Loss of Cabin Pressure achievement or when using depressurization to defend your ship from fire and invaders.

• More information required; This augment was added in the Advanced Edition.

Fire Suppression

Cost: 65

Sell value: 32

• Automatically puts out fires throughout the ship
• Advanced Edition Content

Backup DNA Bank

Cost:  40

Sell value:  20

• "Your crew is safe in clone storage even if the system is off or broken."
• Can be acquired through the blue option for an event discussing Lanius in the Abandoned Sector if you have a Lanius crewmember. Choosing the augmentation may yield this. Available in stores.
• If you buy it without a Clone Bay in your ship it won't work until you update the Med Bay. All the Crew members that die before the upgrade won't be stored so it can't be used to save crew members while waiting to find the Clone Bay.

FTL Augmentations

FTL Recharge Booster

Cost: 50

Sell value: 25

• The ship's FTL drive powers up 25 percent faster. Stackable.

FTL Jammer

Cost: 30

Sell value: 15

• Scrambles the enemy ship's FTL computers, doubling the time it takes for them to jump. Not stackable.

Adv. FTL Navigation

Cost: 60

Sell value: 30

• Allows the ship to travel to any previously visited beacon. This means you can go back to any 'blue' beacon in only one jump.
• Used in some blue events.

Distraction Buoys

Cost: 55

Sell value: 27

• Leaves a false signal at sector start to delay Rebels 1 jump. After entering into a new sector(auto-use, multi-use).
• Cannot have more than 1.
• This augment was added in the Advanced Edition.

Misc. Augmentations

Long-Ranged Scanners

Cost: 30

Sell value: 15

• Adds additional info about nearby beacons on the starmap.
• Allows you to see if a beacon contains a ship or an ion storm / sun / asteroid field before jumping to it.
• If a beacon does not indicate a ship in wait, it may still result in some kind of fight, so be wary. Likewise, even if a ship is detected, there may be ways to avoid a fight.
• Is used in some events.
• The Stealth Cruiser (both layout A and B) starts with this augment.

Scrap Recovery Arm

Cost: 50

Sell value: 25

• Allows the ship to collect 10 percent more scrap from any source. It rounds down, and extra arms stack additively.
• Provides a blue event option which involves mining an asteroid field.
• If bought from a store, it pays for itself after collecting 228 pre-bonus scrap (250 with the arm) if you also manage to resell it before the end of the game. The blue option for this item can come as early as sector 2 and can easily net 30 scrap (the reward range is 18-41 scrap pre-bonus). Since it is quite easy to collect hundreds of scrap in sector 7 alone, this is often still profitable if purchased as late as sector 6.

Drone Recovery Arm

Cost: 50

Sell value: 25

• Functional, non-disabled drones will be retrieved at the end of battle, allowing their parts to be re-used. This includes drones that are merely unpowered, as they are still intact and functional.
• Enemy drones are always disabled at the end of a battle, so they can't be recovered. Boarding drones are also excluded; once launched to an enemy ship, they cannot be recovered, even if they remain functional.
• Most drone part costs are eliminated with this augmentation. The few drones that are shot down are more readily replaced with only the drone parts that you get from rewards and ship salvage.
• This augment pairs effectively with the Hull Repair Drone, which becomes disabled after a random 3 to 5 hull repair (or by being prematurely depowered). With this augment, jumping to another beacon before the drone finishes returns it to you. This means that you can get a minimum of 2 hull repair at every jump-point at no part cost, leaving you with more parts for additional repairs when needed. No more repair costs!
• Hacking drones, boarding drones, and ion intruder drones are not recovered.

Zoltan Shield Bypass

Cost: 50

Sell value: 25

• Allow crew/bomb teleportation and mind control to work through Super Shields.
• Confirmed to work even on the Rebel Flagship's phase 3 shield.

• Added in Advanced Edition.

Reconstructive Teleport

Cost: 70

Sell value: 35

• Crew gets fully healed by teleportation.
• Added in Advanced Edition.

Lifeform Scanner

Cost: 40

Sell value: 20

• Detects the location of any life forms, even when sensors don't function.
• Functions exactly like a slug crewman showing crew.
• Added in the Advanced Edition.

Non-Purchasable Augmentations

Engi Med-bot Dispersal

Sell value: 30

• The Torus (Engi Cruiser Layout A) starts with this augment.
• Floods the ship with Engi nano med-bots, healing the crew even when they are outside of the med-bay (at a reduced speed).
• Medbay needs to be powered in order for it to work.
  • Does not work if you have a Clone Bay instead of a Medbay.
• Not affected by Medbay upgrades.
• Will not work outside your ship.
• Used in some blue event options.
• Cannot be stacked.
• Can be acquired by any ship through the Rebel attacking Engi event.

Rock Plating

Sell value: 40

• The Rock Cruiser (A, B and C Variants) starts with this augment.
• Superior hull armor provides a 15 percent chance to negate hull damage (hit systems will still be damaged).
• This augment also provides blue options for a few events. These include a guarantee of being able to acquire the Damaged Stasis Pod when the appropriate event is found. Without it, chances are only 1/3.
• Can be acquired by any ship through the Rock Cruiser unlock event, even if the Rock Cruiser has already been unlocked.

Titanium System Casing

Sell value: 50

• The Nesasio (Stealth Cruiser Layout A) starts with this augment.
• Superior System casing provides a 15 percent chance to negate system damage. (Hull will still take damage.)
• Can be acquired by any ship through the Stealth Cruiser unlock event, even if the Stealth Cruiser has already been unlocked.

Drone Reactor Booster

Sell value: 25

• The Vortex (Engi Cruiser Layout B) starts with this augment.
• Your onboard drones have their movement speed increased by 25 percent.
• Can be acquired by any ship through the Engi Virus event.

Slug Repair Gel

Sell value: 30

• The Slug Cruiser (A, B and C Variants) starts with this augment.
• Slug ships excrete a thick gel that automatically repairs hull breaches.
• Can be acquired by any ship through the Slug Cruiser unlock event, even if the Slug Cruiser has already been unlocked.

Mantis Pheromones

Sell value: 25

• The Mantis Cruiser (A, B and C Variants) starts with this augment.
• Your crew's movement speed is increased by 25 percent.
• Applies both on your ship and when boarding an enemy.

Crystal Vengeance

Sell value: 40

• The Crystal Cruiser (A and B Variants) starts with this augment.
• Every time your ship takes damage, there is a 10 percent chance to break off a shard that flies at your enemy. This counts as a normal missile shot that does 1 damage and has a 10% chance to breach.
• Be careful pairing this augment with Boarding. As an essentially automatic weapon, Crystal Vengeance will randomly target a room on the enemy ship, which can potentially damage your boarders or destroy the enemy ship if it is at low hull, killing your boarders. If you have a Clone Bay, this is less of a problem.

Zoltan Shield

Sell value: 40

"An unexplained technology creates this nearly impenetrable shield. Only the energy outburst from an FTL engine is powerful enough to recharge it."

• The Zoltan Cruiser (A, B and C Variants) starts with this augment.
• Upon arrival at a beacon, you start with an additional green energy shield that will absorb 5 points of damage before your standard shields and hull will start to take damage.
• Absorbs damage from all weapon types, including missiles and beams, but takes twice as much damage from ion weapons. Beam weapons do two room damage to the shield (including the Artillery Beam) so a Glaive Beam is the only beam weapon that can defeat the Zoltan Shield in one hit and still potentially do damage; the halberd beam can also do damage to a ship and completely destroy the Zoltan shield, but only if it hits four or more rooms and the enemy ship has only one normal shield point.
• Crew cannot board a ship with an active Zoltan Shield. However, the player's ship will still be boarded if an event specifically calls for it, usually with the additional message "You don't know how the intruders managed to get past your Zoltan Energy Shield!" Additionally, in Advanced Edition, Mind Control and Hacking cannot be used on enemies protected by an active Zoltan Shield.
  • Advanced Edition also adds the "Zoltan Shield Bypass" augmentation, which negates these properties of the Zoltan shield, with the exception of the hacking drone, but with the addition of bomb weapons - as they teleport. Accordingly, event boarding parties will now come with a message that states they must have had one of these units.
• Leaving and returning to an area with an enemy ship that has a Zoltan Shield will cause the enemy's shield to replenish. This also applies to saving and quitting, as the game considers this as arriving at a beacon.
• Bomb weapons are particularly effective against the Zoltan Shield, for even when missing, they still deal damage to the shield. An Ion Bomb is thus a sure-fire way to one-shot a Zoltan Shield every time.
• Can be acquired by any ship through the Zoltan Cruiser unlock event, even if the Zoltan Cruiser has already been unlocked.

Damaged Stasis Pod

Spoiler Warning!

Sell value: 15

"This bizarre alien artifact appears to be barely operational. It has no practical function but perhaps someone can repair it."

• This "augment" is used exclusively in a repeatable event sequence in which you first obtain a Crystal crew member and then unlock the Crystal Cruiser.
  • Stasis Pod: Acquired during a random event at an ordinary distress call beacon which is described as being near an asteroid field.
  • Crew Member: Need to find a Zoltan Research Facility to study and examine the pod. Frequently encountered in Engi and Zoltan sectors.
• More than one Stasis Pod can be acquired and held at a time; each one will occupy an augmentation slot. It is also possible to encounter multiple Zoltan research facilities (even in the same sector), and each one will open a single pod.