Once you know how to level up quickly, it's time to start upgrading you ship. After all, you can't keep that teeny-tiny cargo bay forever; the other Captains will laugh at you. This guide shows you how to find upgrades (and what to do with them) in Starstruck Vagabond.
Where to find ship upgrade units in Starstruck Vagabond
In case you haven't noticed by now, Starstruck Vagabond has a big, wide, procedurally generated galaxy out there. No two games are exactly the same so, unfortunately, I won't be able to tell you exactly where to find upgrade units. But I can tell you the exact sorts of places to find them.
Listen for rumors
Rumors are your main source of information on the location of ship upgrade units. These can be accessed from the main menu by hitting 'Esc' and scrolling down to the 'Rumors' tab. Be aware: this is only populated as you hear rumors on your way around the system.
There are certain jobs that are more likely to produce rumors than others. These include salvaging derelicts floating in deep space.
Certain derelicts carry PDA computers. Picking these up can unlock rumors in the form of cargo manifests, which will tell you in what system and on what planet a ship carrying a ship upgrade unit has crashed. Its then a simple matter of finding the wreck and salvaging the unit.
Successfully assisting in a distress beacon mission (either squashing alien zoobs as pictured, or repairing mechanical faults) can also be rewarded with rumors. These may confirm that a certain planet's trading post is selling an upgrade unit, or that a sector mission will be rewarded with an upgrade unit.
Completing lost cargo/luggage missions by finding missing items and returning them to their rightful owner may also be rewarded with rumors. They also sometimes reward you with recipes instead, but that's for another time.
How to use the ship upgrade units in Starstruck Vagabond
Once you hear a rumor giving the location and how to earn a ship upgrade unit, simply follow the instructions. Loot the unit from a derelict or crashed ship, buy it from a planet-side trader, or earn it as a mission reward. Once you have a few, take them to the nearest planet with a shipyard (this is indicated by the crane icon as shown in the picture above).
Bring you ship upgrade units down from the ship and place them in the shipyard loading area (green arrow). Once done access the shipyard console at the top of the screen (yellow arrow).
From here you can select exactly what upgrade you want for your ship. It will tell you the cost in credits (Cr) and the amount of upgrade units needed to install the upgrade. If you don't have enough of either, then repeat the above steps until you do.
For the beginning, I recommend starting with enlarging the cargo platform because without it your ship can become claustrophobic and you can run out of storage space very quickly. It might not be immediately obvious, but the first time you run out of oxygen and die because you couldn't get past a crate of oranges to weld a hull breach, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
Now you've tricked out you ship, check out How to pilot your spaceship in Starstruck Vagabond like a pro on Pro Game Guides.
