Ship Mods 101

The Basics

Modifications, or ‘Mods’, are the gear you’ll use to upgrade and customize your ship. There are six unique categories of mods for you to install in your ship as well as a wildcard slot (unlocked at higher ship levels) that can accept any type of mod.

Your mod loadout will vary dramatically based on general and specific focus. Generally speaking, pilots will choose between trade, combat, and intrigue classes of mods. The mods are not labeled but each mod’s attribute(s) will learn towards one of those three general focuses.

The specific focus of each mod will allow the pilot to fine-tune their ship to exactly match their play style.

For example, if a pilot’s general focus might be trade, but their ship’s specific focus might be cargo space increase or cargo shielding increase (or a combination!). As you progress in the game you’ll get a feel for what your own play style looks like and you’ll be able to find mods that match your needs.

Mod Types

The following section explains the general differences between each mod type.

Weapons

Not surprisingly, these mods affect a ship’s offensive actions. Typically, weapons mods increase a ship’s chances of hitting a target, or increase the damage done after landing a strike. There are, however, more exotic weapon mods that can guarantee successful interception of PVP targets.
Learn more about weapon mods

Armor

Armor mods increase your ship's hit points. If your armor runs out, your ship becomes critically damaged and will significantly delay your arrival to your destination. Armor hit points, unlike shields, do not regenerate, making damaged ships more vulnerable to attacks from pilots looking for an easy kill. More exotic armor mods have unique abilities such as reflecting damage back to the attacker or reducing the damage received.
Learn more about armor mods

Shields

Energy shields are the first line of defense between enemy attacks and your ship's precious hull. Standard shield mods increase your shield hit points or recharge rate. More coveted mods can be used to shield your cargo from pirates, while others specialize in heat and radiation protection, allowing you to travel to locations otherwise too dangerous to reach.
Learn more about shield mods

Engine

Your ship's engines may be your most valuable assets. More than just propelling you from place to place, engine mods can be used to decrease your travel time, which is ideal for traders. Other Engine Mods can be used to increase your mobility, making your ship difficult to target. The most infamous engine mod is the Myriad Drive. It's rumored to allow instantaneous travel between locations, but it comes at a price. The last pilot to use it fried most of the mods on his ship using it.
Learn more about engine mods

Sensors

Offering a wide variety of customization, sensor mods can be used to magnify the scanning power of your ship's scanner, locating additional targets. Sensor mods can also be used to have also been known to be configured to detect valuable cargo adrift in space, increase your ship’s evasion chance, as well as optimize engine performance for increased speed.
Learn more about sensor mods

Utility

If there is one mod type that gives you the freedom to truly customize your ship to the max, it's the utility mod. Many utility mods carry similar stats of other mods, allowing you to double up and focus on stats that are more valuable to your play style. Rarer mods include massive gains to hacking success rates, sensor scrambling, and shield recharge boosts.
Learn more about utility mods

Mod Details

Each mod is tied to a specific location (weapon, engine, etc.). Additionally, each mod includes up to three attributes, a level requirement, an item level, and a rarity category. If a mod is restricted based on faction reputation, that restriction will be indicated in the mod store.

Restrictions

Mod usage is restricted by the following criteria:

• Ship Class
• Location
• Pilot Level
• Faction Reputation

Item Level

Each mod has a base item level based on its rarity score. Each mod level has a unique color to make identifying mod value easier.

• White – 100
• Green – 200
• Blue – 300
• Purple – 400
• Orange – 500

Additionally, the mod’s item level increases by 15 for each attribute. Your ship’s Mod Score will be the total of all installed mods.

In the example below, the Terran Legionnaire’s Plating is an armor mod with a level requirement of 60. It is also a level 500 mod which is extremely rare and difficult to obtain. The combination of the mod level (500) and the number of attributes (3 x 15) gives us an Item Level of 545.

This mod is only available for purchase on Earth.

Source: [1]