Ship upgrades

Ship upgrades are optional improvements installed on an individual ship in ge-next. Classic Galactic Empire 3.2e has no ship-upgrade system. Upgrades are separate from higher-Mark phasers and shields and from consumable cargo. The standard persistent game defines eight; each ship class's configuration determines which it may install.

Available upgrades

#	Upgrade	Main effect
1	Enhanced scanners	More ship-scan detail and additional wormhole information
2	Armor plating	Reduces applicable incoming damage
3	Acceleration boosters	Doubles acceleration
4	Scan range boost	Doubles effective scanner range
5	Enhanced lock	Reports selected actions of a locked ship
6	Enhanced damage control	Speeds passive repairs and adds repair estimates
7	Transponder control	Adjusts how many Cybertrons may pursue the ship
8	Reinforced neutron core	Reduces accumulated overspeed strain

Buying and keeping upgrades

At Zygor, NEW UPGRADE lists the options available to the current class, their prices, and whether they are already installed. NEW UPGRADE followed by a number buys an eligible upgrade. A ship cannot buy the same upgrade twice. The configured base price is multiplied by that class's damage factor divided by 100, so both price and eligibility can differ between classes. A sysop can change these through configuration. See New command for complete syntax and purchase restrictions.

Upgrades belong to the ship, not to every ship owned by the player. They cannot be moved to another ship, refunded, or salvaged after destruction. REP UPG lists installed upgrades, and relevant ship lists mark upgraded ships.

Upgrade effects

Enhanced scanners

Enhanced scanners add information to eligible ship scans, including more detail about damage and installed systems. They can also reveal the direction of a wormhole destination and make some scan reports more useful under jamming. They do not increase scanner range or overcome every concealment effect; a sufficiently strong jammer or a nebula can still limit what is seen. For extra reach rather than detail, use the separate scan range boost.

Armor plating

Armor plating passively reduces applicable damage before it is added to the ship. The shared ton_fact() routine first scales raw damage by the target class's DAMF and then multiplies it by 0.625 when armor is installed. That removes 37.5% of damage reaching this routine: 20 damage after DAMF becomes 12.5 before later rounding and hit handling. Armor and a higher DAMF combine rather than replace one another.

This includes ordinary phaser, torpedo, missile, and mine paths that call ton_fact(). It does not reduce every scripted or environmental hazard, restore damage already taken, or replace shields. The final visible damage may differ because other combat steps can intervene. Armor uses no activation command or consumable charge.

Acceleration boosters

Acceleration boosters double the class's configured acceleration. A ship speeds up and slows down faster, which can help it change course or escape danger, but its rated cruising warp speed does not rise. They do not remove ordinary overspeed risks or change the amount of flux available.

Scan range boost

A scan range boost doubles the class's effective scanner range. It changes reach, not the information content of an individual scan; enhanced scanners serve that different purpose. The boost does not bypass visibility restrictions, including the short local detection limit within a nebula.

Enhanced lock

With an active lock, enhanced lock reports selected actions of the target ship, such as entering or leaving hyperspace or orbit, using a wormhole or cloak, and firing phasers, torpedoes, or missiles. Some reports include a sector or an identifiable target letter. The upgrade does not change which ship LOCK selects, make an invisible ship visible, or preserve a lock after it has been lost. See Locks#Enhanced lock for the reporting conditions.

Enhanced damage control

Enhanced damage control doubles the normal passive hull-repair rate and advances eligible damaged-system repairs more quickly. REP SYS can also show estimated repair times when the upgrade is installed. It does not eliminate the need for planetary maintenance, and it does not stack its passive-repair acceleration on top of an active maintenance job.

Transponder control

A ship's transponder setting influences how many Cybertrons may pursue it at once. HIGH increases that pursuit allowance; LOW reduces it; NORMAL uses the class's configured value. The result is capped, and a low setting is not a guarantee of safety: provocation and other combat rules can still make Cybertrons engage. Classes with no configured pursuit allowance cannot buy this upgrade.

An eligible ship can install it at Zygor with NEW UPGRADE 7 or specify HIGH, NORMAL, or LOW during purchase. After installation, the owner can return to Zygor to change the mode without buying the upgrade again. See New command#Upgrades in ge-next for the command forms.

Reinforced neutron core

When a ship runs above its rated cruising warp, ge-next accumulates long-term overspeed strain. The reinforced neutron core reduces the random strain added during eligible overspeed movement updates; it does not increase the class's rated speed. It does not remove flux consumption, make unlimited overspeed safe, or repair a drive already damaged by abuse.

ge-arena

ge-arena uses the shared upgrade effects but not persistent Zygor purchases. In current matches, enhanced scanners, armor plating, acceleration boosters, and the reinforced neutron core can spawn as planet pickups. An eligible ship installs them with TRA UP; an upgrade the ship cannot use remains on the planet. Arena ships and installed upgrades last only for the match.