Part of the handbook:

Quick Answer

  • Technology in No Man's Sky is installed in inventory slots across your Exosuit, Multi-Tool, Starship, and Exocraft.
  • Upgrade modules come in four classes: C, B, A, and S, with S providing the largest bonuses.
  • Supercharged slots are rare golden tiles that dramatically boost any technology placed inside them.
  • Adjacency bonuses reward you for placing compatible modules next to each other; a well-organized layout can outperform higher-class modules in a poor layout.
  • Nanites are the currency used to buy upgrade modules from space station technology merchants.
  • Save Nanites for A-class and S-class modules; low-tier modules are quickly outpaced.

Overview

Technology is the primary way your Traveller becomes more capable. A new player with basic gear struggles to survive a storm or defeat a pirate, while a fully upgraded player warps across galaxies, mines asteroids in seconds, and walks through Sentinel patrols without concern. The difference comes less from owning modules than from understanding how modules, supercharged slots, and adjacency work together.

This hub explains the technology system and links to deeper guides for each category of upgrades. Whether you are installing your first Life Support module or min-maxing a fleet of S-class starships, start here.

How Technology Slots Work

Every piece of equipment has two kinds of inventory: general storage and technology slots. Technology slots hold installed tech and upgrade modules. You can expand these slots at space station terminals using Units or Storage Augmentations.

The number of available technology slots limits how many upgrades you can run at once. Early in the game you must make hard choices; later, expanded grids let you stack multiple upgrades of the same type for compounding bonuses.

Upgrade Module Classes

Upgrade modules purchased from technology merchants with Nanites come in four classes:

Class Bonus Strength Cost Efficiency When to Buy
C Lowest Cheap Never, unless you have no alternative
B Low Moderate Early game only
A High Good Mid-game standard
S Highest Expensive but permanent Endgame target

The same module type in S-class can provide roughly double the bonus of its C-class version. For this reason, most experienced players skip C and B entirely and save Nanites for A or S modules.

What Changes Between Tiers

Class sets the range a module's stats can roll within, not a fixed value. Two S-class modules of the same type bought minutes apart will not be identical; one may land near the top of its range and the other near the bottom.

Class also governs how many separate bonuses a module can carry. A Scanner Upgrade that boosts fauna, flora, and mineral rewards and scan radius at once will be S-class or X-class; the C-class version may improve only one of those.

Technology Merchants also buy modules back for Nanites, so a weak roll is never permanent. Selling a disappointing S-class module and buying its replacement is a normal part of tuning a build.

X-Class Modules

X-class modules sit outside the C-to-S ladder. Their stats are rolled at random across a wide band that can fall below a mediocre C-class module or climb above a good S-class one, and there is no way to tell before you open the packet or pick up the drop.

The gamble is worth taking because the cost structure is different. They are paid for in Units, Tainted Metal, or looting time rather than the Nanites you were saving for guaranteed S-class stats, which makes them a supplement to your budget instead of competition for it. Land one high roll and it holds a supercharged slot better than anything sold over the counter. Every normal rule still applies: the three-per-tab cap, adjacency, and supercharged bonuses all behave exactly as they do for S-class.

Where Upgrade Modules Come From

Source Cost What You Get
Space Station Technology Merchant Nanites Reliable C, B, A, and S modules, restocked and buyable on demand
Scrap Dealer, outlaw systems Tainted Metal X-class modules with random stats
Contraband Agent, pirate stations Units Suspicious Packets that open into modules, X and S class included
Derelict freighters Time and risk Modules from wall panels and reward rooms, plus Crew Manifests
Operations Centres, Manufacturing Facilities Puzzle solving Modules as puzzle and mission rewards
Buried caches Terrain Manipulator digging Occasional X-class modules, class and stats unpredictable

Only the first row is dependable. Use the merchant to bring your grid up to a known standard, then let lucky rolls from the other sources replace individual modules as they turn up.

Supercharged Slots

Supercharged slots are golden technology tiles found on every piece of equipment. Any technology placed in a supercharged slot receives a large bonus.

Planning your layout around supercharged slots is the single biggest damage, defense, and range multiplier available. Always place your most impactful core technology (such as hyperdrive, shield, or weapon upgrades) in supercharged tiles, then cluster supporting modules around them for adjacency.

How many you get scales with the equipment's own class. Starships, multi-tools, and freighters run from one supercharged slot at C-class up to four at S-class, with positions generated at random inside the grid. Exosuits and Exocraft work differently: they always have exactly three, in fixed positions that never touch each other. That means you cannot build one large cluster serving all three exosuit slots and should plan three smaller clusters instead.

This scaling is the strongest argument for hunting S-class ships and multi-tools: four supercharged slots against one raises the ceiling on every other layout decision you make.

The two systems stack. A module sitting in a supercharged slot still earns adjacency from its neighbours, so the best square on any grid is a supercharged tile surrounded by compatible tech. The best technology upgrades and supercharged slots guide has the per-equipment slot counts, tested layouts, and which technologies repay a supercharge least.

Adjacency Bonuses

When compatible technology modules touch horizontally or vertically, they gain an adjacency bonus. The bonus is shown as a colored border around the module. Matching colors mean the modules are benefiting each other.

A common example: placing three Starship Shield Modules next to a core Starship Shield in a tight block gives a much higher effective shield value than spreading the same modules across the grid. The best technology upgrades and supercharged slots guide covers specific layouts.

Getting the Shape Right

Only the four cardinal sides count; diagonal contact does nothing, however tight the arrangement looks. The bonus is earned per touching side, so build compact blocks rather than lines and put your best-rolled module where it touches the most neighbours instead of on an edge. When a supercharged slot falls outside a clean block, breaking the shape to get your strongest technology onto that tile is usually the better trade.

For worked grid diagrams — why a 2×2 block beats a 1×4 line, where the core technology belongs, and how to handle scattered supercharged slots — see the technology layout grids guide.

The Three-Module Cap

Each core technology accepts a maximum of three upgrade modules per inventory tab. Install a fourth of the same type and the entire group overloads: every module in that group stops working until you drop back to three. The game flags the affected modules with a warning, nothing is destroyed, and removing one restores full function immediately.

Two details make the cap less restrictive than it sounds. It counts upgrade modules only, so blueprinted technology you craft yourself (the weapon, the hyperdrive, the Life Support unit) never counts toward the limit and never overloads. And equipment with two technology-capable tabs applies the limit per tab, so an exosuit or a starship can carry three modules of the same type in each of its two tabs.

Because three is the hard ceiling, quality outranks quantity the moment you reach it. Once a technology runs three S-class modules, further Nanites do more work opening a new technology line than chasing a better roll on a full one.

Upgrade Categories

Exosuit Technology

Exosuit upgrades improve survival and movement. Core technologies include:

  • Life Support. Extends oxygen consumption
  • Hazard Protection. Resists planetary hazards
  • Movement upgrades. Jetpack duration and sprint distance
  • Shield. Reduces combat damage
  • Underwater Protection. Extends aquatic exploration

The Exosuit upgrade guide covers slot expansion and early priorities.

Multi-Tool Technology

Multi-tools are built around three roles: mining, scanning, and combat. Key upgrades include:

  • Mining Beam. Harvests resources faster
  • Scanner/Analysis Visor. Increases scan payout
  • Boltcaster, Scatter Blaster, Pulse Spitter, Neutron Cannon. Combat weapons
  • Terrain Manipulator. Reshapes terrain and excavates buried items

Read the multi-tool guide hub for a full breakdown, and the weapons and loadouts guide for which of those weapons is worth a slot and which module pairings actually change how one performs.

Starship Technology

Starships benefit from hyperdrive, shield, and weapon upgrades. Each ship type also has a class bonus that multiplies one of these areas. The starships guide hub explains ship classes, and the S-class ship guide covers how to find the best upgrade platforms.

Freighter and Exocraft Technology

Freighters support fleet upgrades and base technology, while Exocraft vehicles can be fitted with mining lasers, scanners, and weapons. The freighter guide and exploration hub cover these systems.

Sentinel Interceptors are a separate branch again: their technology is repaired with Atlantideum and other materials found only on Dissonant worlds, so a working Interceptor costs planetside effort before it costs Nanites. See the Dissonant and corrupted planets guide.

How to Get Nanites for Upgrades

Nanites are the bottleneck for high-tier upgrades. Reliable sources include:

  • Scrapping unwanted starships at the space station
  • Uploading creature, flora, and mineral discoveries
  • Completing Nexus missions
  • Refining certain materials
  • Selling Salvaged Data once blueprints are unlocked

Two sources dominate once you have Units to work with. Derelict freighters drop upgrade modules directly and hand over Crew Manifests, which a Scrap Dealer turns into Tainted Metal that refines into Nanites. At outlaw stations, buying Suspicious Packets and selling the modules inside is the fastest active conversion of Units into Nanites, covered in the piracy and outlaw systems guide and in how to sell upgrade modules for nanites.

The how to get Nanites fast guide ranks every current method.

FAQ

Can I remove a module without losing it?

Yes. You can dismantle most installed technology to recover some materials, but upgrade modules purchased with Nanites cannot be removed and reused. Once installed, they stay in that slot until replaced and destroyed.

What happens if I install two upgrades of the same type?

They stack, and three of the same type in one tab is the maximum the game accepts. A fourth overloads the whole group and switches all of them off until you remove one, so a spare module is better installed in your other technology tab or spent on a different system entirely.

What is an X-class module and is it worth chasing?

X-class modules roll their stats at random over a range wide enough to produce something worse than C-class or better than S-class. They cost Units and time (Tainted Metal at outlaw Scrap Dealers, Suspicious Packets, buried caches) rather than the Nanites you are saving for guaranteed rolls, so treat them as lottery tickets running alongside your normal shopping and install only the rolls that beat what you already have.

How do I know if modules are adjacent correctly?

Look for the colored border glow around modules. Compatible modules touching each other show matching colored outlines. If there is no glow, they are not benefiting from adjacency.

Are supercharged slot positions fixed?

No. The location of supercharged slots is determined by the seed of the equipment. If you want a better layout, you may need to hunt for a new ship, multi-tool, or suit upgrade seed. Some players reload their save before accepting an upgrade reward to reroll the result.

Should I upgrade my starter ship or wait for an S-class?

Install cheap A-class movement and shield upgrades on your starter ship to make early travel comfortable, but save major Nanite investments for a ship you plan to keep long-term. Upgrading class at the Outfitting Terminal is expensive.

Key Takeaways

  • S-class modules provide the largest bonuses; skip C and B modules once you can afford better.
  • Supercharged slots multiply the power of whatever technology sits inside them. Plan your layout around them.
  • Adjacent compatible modules gain additional bonuses, so cluster related upgrades together.
  • Nanites are the upgrade currency; farm them efficiently before buying endgame modules.
  • Different equipment benefits from different upgrade priorities: Exosuit survival, multi-tool scanning and combat, starship hyperdrive and shields.
  • Use the child guides for detailed build recommendations for each equipment type.