No Man's Sky Technology Layouts: Grid Patterns for Ship, Multi-Tool and Exosuit

Part of the Technology Series:

• Technology & Upgrades Hub: Module classes, sources and the three-module cap (Start Here).
• Best Technology Upgrades & Supercharged Slots: Which technologies to prioritise per item.
• Best Multi-Tool Weapons & Loadouts: Which weapon to build around first.

Quick Answer

• Adjacency is calculated per touching edge, not per cluster. Every shared side between related technology adds a bonus.
• The optimal shape is a square or near-square block, because squares maximise shared edges. A 2×2 block has 4 internal edges; a 1×4 line has only 3.
• Put the core technology in the middle of its modules, not at the end of a row.
• Supercharged slots beat adjacency, by a wide margin. Exactly how wide is disputed — see the section below, which sets out both figures in circulation rather than picking one.
• The catch: supercharged slots are in fixed positions, so the real problem is fitting a good cluster around them.
• Class C equipment has 1 supercharged slot; Class S has up to 4. Exosuits and Exocraft always have 3.
• Never place unrelated technology inside a cluster. It breaks adjacency chains and is the most common layout mistake.

Overview

The technology hub explains what adjacency bonuses and supercharged slots are. This guide is about the part nobody shows you: where the modules actually go.

That gap matters because adjacency is a geometry problem, and geometry is very hard to explain in prose. Players read "place upgrades next to their technology" and produce a long row of modules that leaves most of the available bonus on the table. The difference between a naive layout and a good one on the same modules is substantial and entirely free.

A note on precision: slot geometry differs between every ship, multi-tool and Exosuit, and supercharged slots land in different places on each. The grids below are patterns to apply, not maps to copy square-for-square. Anyone showing you one universal layout is showing you their ship, not yours.

How Adjacency Actually Calculates

The mechanic, stated precisely:

The adjacency bonus is calculated for every side of every technology, by multiplying the hidden bonus power stat of the technology that owns the side by the hidden bonus multiplier stat of the technology the side faces.

Three consequences follow, and they drive every layout decision:

1. Edges are counted, not neighbours. Two modules sharing one edge produce one bonus interaction. Shape your block to maximise total shared edges.
2. The relationship is directional and paired. Upgrade modules boost, and core technology receives. Putting the core technology where it touches the most modules is what you are optimising for.
3. Diagonals do nothing. Only orthogonally adjacent slots — up, down, left, right — count. A diagonal neighbour is a wasted placement.

Why Squares Beat Lines

Count the internal shared edges:

1 × 4 line                    2 × 2 square
┌───┬───┬───┬───┐             ┌───┬───┐
│ A │ B │ C │ D │             │ A │ B │
└───┴───┴───┴───┘             ├───┼───┤
                              │ C │ D │
3 shared edges                └───┴───┘
                              4 shared edges

Four slots, same modules, one extra bonus interaction from shape alone. Scale that to a nine-slot block and the gap widens sharply:

3 × 3 block — 12 shared edges
┌───┬───┬───┐
│ M │ M │ M │      M = upgrade module
├───┼───┼───┤      T = core technology
│ M │ T │ M │
├───┼───┼───┤      T touches 4 modules.
│ M │ M │ M │      Every M touches 2-3 neighbours.
└───┴───┴───┘

The core technology sits in the centre. That is the single highest-value placement rule in this guide. A hyperdrive in the middle of its upgrades touches four of them; the same hyperdrive at the end of a row touches one.

The Three-Module Cap Shapes Everything

You can install a maximum of three upgrade modules per technology, per inventory tab. A fourth overloads the group and disables all of them until you remove one — the affected modules show a red pulsing tint, so the failure is at least obvious.

That cap means your realistic cluster is one core technology plus three modules, or four slots in total. That is what makes the 2×2 square the fundamental building block of every layout in the game:

The standard unit, 2 × 2
┌───┬───┐
│ T │ M │      T = core technology
├───┼───┤      M = upgrade module
│ M │ M │
└───┴───┘
T touches 2 modules directly.
Modules touch each other, adding
their own interactions.

Note that crafted, blueprinted technology does not count toward the cap. Only procedurally generated upgrade modules do. So a technology line built from crafted upgrades can run larger than four slots without overloading.

Because equipment with two technology-capable tabs applies the cap per tab, a starship or Exosuit can run three modules of the same type in the general tab and three in the technology tab. That is the route to six modules on one system, and it is why players with full grids still find room to improve.

Supercharged Slots Come First

Supercharged slots give a larger boost than adjacency does. The size of that boost is the one number in this guide worth being careful about.

Reported figures vary enormously, and you will see both in circulation:

• Community testing of upgrade modules in supercharged slots consistently lands in the 25%–50% band, scaling with how strong the module already is.
• Much larger figures, up to 400%, are quoted for base technology placed in a supercharged slot, and our own Exosuit guide uses that framing.

These are probably measuring different things: a percentage uplift on an upgrade module's small bonus is not the same quantity as the effect of supercharging a core technology's base output. We have not been able to reconcile the two figures against a verified source, and we would rather flag that than pick one and present it as settled.

What is not in dispute is the ordering, and the ordering is what drives layout decisions:

Put your best modules in supercharged slots. Build the adjacency cluster around whatever is left.

Slot counts, which drive whether this is even worth optimising:

This is a strong argument for upgrading your ship's class before agonising over layout. Going from C to S takes you from one supercharged slot to four, which is worth more than any rearrangement of a C-class grid.

When Supercharged Slots Are Adjacent

The best case, and worth planning around:

Supercharged slots contiguous, ideal
┌───┬───┬───┐
│ ⚡│ ⚡│ M │      ⚡ = supercharged slot
├───┼───┼───┤      T  = core technology
│ ⚡│ T │ M │      M  = upgrade module
├───┼───┼───┤
│ M │ M │ M │      Best modules occupy ⚡.
└───┴───┴───┘      T still touches 4 slots.

Here you get both effects at once: the strongest modules are supercharged and they are adjacent to their core technology.

When Supercharged Slots Are Scattered

The common case, and where judgement is needed:

Supercharged slots split apart
┌───┬───┬───┬───┐
│ ⚡│ M │ M │ ⚡│
├───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ M │ T │ M │ x │      x = unrelated tech
├───┼───┼───┼───┤
│ M │ M │ ⚡│ M │
└───┴───┴───┴───┘

With scattered supercharged slots you must choose. The general answer: take the supercharged bonus and accept a weaker cluster. Supercharged gains outrun adjacency gains in most cases, so a strong module isolated in a supercharged slot beats the same module tucked into a tidy square.

The exception is when a supercharged slot would isolate your core technology rather than a module. Core technology in an isolated supercharged slot receives the supercharge but loses all its adjacency, which is usually a net loss.

Applying It Per Item

Starship

Prioritise, in this order:

1. Hyperdrive cluster. The warp range that determines where you can go. Note that several quality-of-life technologies are blueprint-crafted and so do not consume module slots at all.
2. Pulse Engine, travel time, which you feel constantly.
3. Weapons. One weapon system built properly beats three built badly. See starship weapons.
4. Shields, survivability in space combat.

Use the second tab. Three hyperdrive modules in the technology tab and three more in the general tab is legal, and it is how long-range builds are made.

Multi-Tool

The multi-tool is the easiest item to lay out well because you should be building two systems, not six:

1. Mining Beam cluster, used more than any weapon.
2. One offensive weapon cluster. Pick one weapon and commit to it.
3. Scanner cluster. If you are chasing scan payouts, this earns more than any weapon.

A multi-tool with three well-clustered systems outperforms one with six scattered half-built ones. That is the same argument the loadouts guide makes, expressed as geometry.

Exosuit

The Exosuit has three fixed supercharged slots and. Unusually. The ones that matter most are often not combat:

1. Hazard protection and Life Support, if you play on higher difficulty settings.
2. Movement systems. Jetpack and sprint, which you use every minute of play.
3. Shields, for combat-heavy play.

Because Exosuit supercharged slots are fixed, plan the cluster around them from the start rather than rearranging later.

Common Mistakes

FAQ

Do diagonal slots count for adjacency?

No. Only orthogonally adjacent slots. Up, down, left and right, produce adjacency bonuses.

Is the supercharged bonus better than adjacency?

Generally yes. Supercharged slots give roughly 25–50% depending on the module's base strength, which usually exceeds what adjacency returns. Put your strongest modules in supercharged slots first.

Should my core technology go in a supercharged slot?

Usually not, if doing so isolates it from its modules. Core technology in the middle of its cluster receives adjacency from every side; supercharging it while stranding it is normally a net loss.

How many upgrade modules can I install?

Three per technology, per inventory tab. Equipment with two technology-capable tabs can therefore run six total. Crafted blueprint technology does not count toward the cap.

What happens if I install a fourth?

The whole group overloads and every module in it stops working, shown with a red pulsing tint. Remove one and function returns immediately, nothing is destroyed.

Why do my two S-class modules give different bonuses?

Class sets the range a module's stats roll within, not a fixed value. Two S-class modules of the same type will not be identical. Technology Merchants buy modules back, so re-rolling a weak one is routine.

Does layout matter on an Exocraft?

Less than elsewhere. Exocraft have three fixed supercharged slots and smaller grids, so use the supercharged slots well and do not agonise over the rest.

Key Takeaways

• Adjacency counts shared edges, so squares beat lines. A 2×2 has 4 internal edges to a 1×4's 3.
• Put core technology in the centre of its modules. This is the highest-value single rule here.
• Supercharged slots outrank adjacency. Best modules go there first; build the cluster around what remains.
• The three-module cap per tab makes the 2×2 block the fundamental unit of every layout.
• Use the second inventory tab. It doubles your module capacity on ships and Exosuits.
• Upgrade a C-class ship to S before optimising its grid. One supercharged slot becomes four.
• Slot geometry differs per item. Apply the patterns; do not copy anyone's exact map.