Micro-upgrades
Between the big modification jumps — M0 to M1 to M2 to M3 — every hull and turret can take 10 micro-upgrades. Each one costs crystals, takes real time to install, and moves your stats a fixed share of the way toward the next modification. This page documents exactly how both the price and the stat gain are calculated.
The single most important thing to know: once an item reaches 10/10 micro-upgrades, its next modification costs 1 crystal instead of the full price. Micro-upgrades are not an optional side-grade — they are how you pay for the next modification, split into ten smaller instalments.
What each level gives you
The stat gain is a share of the gap between your current modification and the next one. The graph is front-loaded: the first five levels deliver 75% of the total gain, and the last five only fill in the remaining 25%.
| Level | Install time | Stat gain this level | Total stat gain | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 min | 8% | 8% | flat first price |
| 2 | 17 min | 12% | 20% | 3% of the pool |
| 3 | 30 min | 17% | 37% | 6% of the pool |
| 4 | 52 min | 18% | 55% | 8% of the pool |
| 5 | 1.5 h | 20% | 75% | 10% of the pool |
| 6 | 2.6 h | 10% | 85% | 12% of the pool |
| 7 | 4.6 h | 6% | 91% | 13% of the pool |
| 8 | 8.0 h | 4% | 95% | 14% of the pool |
| 9 | 14 h | 3% | 98% | 15% of the pool |
| 10 | 24 h | 2% | 100% | 16% of the pool |
Install time is geometric — 10 minutes at level 1 stretching to a full 24 hours at level 10. You can pay to finish early; see below.
How the stat gain is applied
For M0, M1 and M2 the step size is the difference between your modification's stat and the next modification's stat. At 10/10 the item performs exactly like the next modification — which is precisely why that modification then costs a single crystal.
For M3 there is no next modification, so the game uses the M2 → M3 gap as the step size instead. A fully micro-upgraded M3 therefore ends up beyond its listed M3 values. That is the strongest an item can be.
Worked example — Smoky damage
Smoky M0 deals 220 - 280 damage and M1 deals 290 - 370. Each micro-upgrade closes that gap by the percentage above, so a level-5 Smoky M0 already hits for three quarters of the way to M1.
How the price is calculated
The first micro-upgrade on an item is a flat price set by its current modification:
| Modification | First micro-upgrade (crystals) |
|---|---|
| M0 | 100 |
| M1 | 500 |
| M2 | 1 000 |
| M3 | 1 500 |
Every micro-upgrade after that costs a percentage of a price pool, and that pool is 1.5× the next modification's price. The more expensive your next modification, the more each micro-upgrade costs.
Worked example — Smoky M0 → M1
Smoky M1 costs 11 000 crystals, so the pool is 1.5 × 11 000 = 16 500. The ten micro-upgrades then cost:
| Level | Cost | Spent so far |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | 100 |
| 2 | 495 | 595 |
| 3 | 990 | 1 585 |
| 4 | 1 320 | 2 905 |
| 5 | 1 650 | 4 555 |
| 6 | 1 980 | 6 535 |
| 7 | 2 145 | 8 680 |
| 8 | 2 310 | 10 990 |
| 9 | 2 475 | 13 465 |
| 10 | 2 640 | 16 105 |
After the tenth, M1 itself costs 1 crystal instead of 11 000.
Is it worth it? Ten micro-upgrades plus the 1-crystal modification costs more in total than simply buying the modification outright. What you buy with the difference is time: you get stronger after every single upgrade instead of staying weak until you can afford the whole jump. Save crystals and buy the modification directly if you can already afford it; micro-upgrade if you cannot and want the power now.
Skipping the wait
An installing micro-upgrade can be finished instantly. The price is twice the micro-upgrade's own cost for the full wait, charged in proportion to the time still remaining — so a job that is 90% done costs roughly a fifth of a full skip. The price steps down once per minute, never per second.
Start your longest upgrades before you log off. Levels 9 and 10 take most of a day each, and the timer runs whether you are playing or not.