On-Foot Engineering

Requires Odyssey.

• Two steps. Upgrade gear from Grade 1 to 5 at Pioneer Supplies. Add mods at an on-foot engineer.
• Each upgrade adds one mod slot. G2 gets 1 slot. G5 gets 4.
• Mods are permanent. You cannot remove or swap them. Plan first.
• No engineer rep grind. Unlock an on-foot engineer and all their mods are open at once.
• 13 on-foot engineers. 9 in the bubble, 4 in Colonia. Every mod is available in the bubble. Colonia is optional.
• Best material source is missions, not looting. The August 2024 rework cut upgrade costs by about 60 to 70% and made mission rewards 3 to 4 times bigger.
• Shortcut: buy pre-upgraded gear. It restocks every Thursday after server maintenance.

Three makers, three damage types. Simple combat kit: one laser to strip shields, one kinetic to finish. That is why the Dominator's two primaries matter.

How referrals work: meet the engineer's unlock task to use them. Then hand over their referral item to reveal the next engineer in the chain.

• Hero Ferrari (Siris)
  • Wellington Beck (Jolapa)
    • Uma Laszlo (Xuane)
• Jude Navarro (Aurai)
  • Terra Velasquez (Shou Xing)
    • Oden Geiger (Candiaei)
• Domino Green (Orishis)
  • Kit Fowler (Capoya)
    • Yarden Bond (Bayan)
• Eleanor Bresa (Desy)Colonia
• Rosa Dayette (Kojeara)Colonia
• Baltanos (Deriso)Colonia
  • Yi Shen (Einheriar)Colonia

Colonia sits about 22,000 ly from Sol. Easiest first unlock: Domino Green. Book one long Apex shuttle ride of 100 ly or more and you are done.

Find the mod. Go to the bubble engineer in bold. Colonia backup in the last column.

Must-unlock engineers: Uma Laszlo (only bubble Headshot Damage), Yarden Bond (only bubble Audio Masking and Quieter Footsteps), and Oden Geiger (only bubble Night Vision).

You get 4 slots at G5. Pick 4 from each list. These are community favorites, not law. Night Vision shows up on every list. Most settlement missions happen on the dark side.

Greater Range tip: it pays off most on the Intimidator and Tormentor. Many other weapons lack the accuracy to use extra range.

These are separate from ship materials. They live in your ship locker, not your ship material storage. Bartender rules: the bartender only barters Assets. You trade Assets in for barter value, then spend that value on the Asset you need. Goods and Data can only be sold for credits. Need Goods or Data you cannot find? Fleet Carrier bartenders sell them. Search Inara, Data menu, Components trading. Storage: your ship locker holds about 1,000 units per type. Your backpack holds much less, so bank loot often.

The August 2024 rework made missions a real material source. Mission rewards now cover every material type, not just the old three. A single mission can pay up to about 24 units of one material. Missions cost you nothing extra if you are already flying.

1. 1Decide your next upgrade or mod. Note what it costs.
2. 2Visit the on-foot mission board in a starport concourse. Filter by material rewards.
3. 3Pick 2 or 3 missions that pay what you need.
4. 4Check more than one station. Boards differ even inside one system.
5. 5Talk to the NPCs standing around the concourse. They offer missions too. You can negotiate their reward up, sometimes to double. Higher faction rep helps.
6. 6Repeat. Rep with the faction grows, and so do reward sizes.

• Reactivation missions appear where a settlement's faction is in Infrastructure Failure. Restore missions appear in Civil Unrest. Restore adds fires to put out.
• You get the power regulator and access clearance with the mission.
• Bring a Maverick with the Arc Cutter and Energy Link.
• Once power is back, loot every building. The settlement is empty.
• These are a classic source of Suit Schematics and lots of Assets.
• 10 of them also unlocks Jude Navarro.

• Settlements owned by Anarchy factions let you loot with no bounties or fines.
• Industrial and Military settlements have the best loot.
• The guards still shoot back. Bring a Dominator or be sneaky.
• Faction control shifts over time. Check Inara for current Anarchy settlements near you.

The rarest early unlock item.

• Fastest: mission rewards in Anarchy systems with lots of settlements. Filter missions by material. These often pay 3 to 8 plans. Illegal missions pay more.
• Slow way: they drop from security data ports, most often at high security Military and Industrial settlements.

• Operations pay Merc Coin, credits, ship materials, and on-foot materials.
• Merc Coin buys exclusive on-foot mods and special gear.
• Merc Coin caps at 9,999, with a weekly earning limit of 1,000.
• Hard mode pays more. Bring fully engineered gear and a squad.
• Full details in Module 14.

• Plan mods before you commit. They are permanent. A wrong mod means buying a new item.
• Uma Laszlo vs. Marco Qwent. Uma wants you Unfriendly with Sirius Corporation. Qwent (Module 1) needs Sirius Corporation to invite you. Unlock Qwent and get your Sirius permit first, then tank the rep.
• Bartender sales only count after you know the engineer. Discover Wellington Beck, Oden Geiger, Kit Fowler, or Yarden Bond before selling their unlock items, or the sales will not count.
• Colonia is optional. Every mod has a bubble source. Only go if you are already there.
• G1 gear takes no mods. Upgrade to G2 first, or buy pre-upgraded.
• Walk in, do not fly in. The ship menu cannot touch on-foot gear.