Skyships Ship Upgrades: Tech Trees, Costs and Prerequisites

Filter by ship and research type, or search an upgrade’s name. Open More details for its costs, effects, unlocks and prerequisite relationships.

For branch order, jump to Wasp, Corvette, Strizh or Berkut. Read each field’s ship condition: shared names such as Cargo Conversion and Maneuvering Package can have different requirements on different ships.

1. Open Shipyard, select the ship and enter Tech Tree.
2. Select an upgrade node. Read its Requires conditions, effects, unlocks and research cost.
3. Complete the preceding research and meet any ownership requirement, such as having Corvette in your fleet for Reinforced Keel.
4. Gather the listed CR and materials. Meeting the ship requirement alone does not make the research affordable.
5. Click Research. Wait for the node’s completion check mark and installation message. The modification is installed on its applicable ship, and downstream nodes can become available.

To budget for one node, subtract your current Credits from its CR cost, stopping at zero if you already have enough. For example, Escort Search Radar costs 510 CR: with 65 CR, you need 445 more CR, plus its required materials.

Equipment listed under Unlocks is not a promise of a finished weapon already mounted on your ship. Follow the separate weapon building and equipping steps when preparing a weapon for use.

Wasp has seven upgrades across two branches. Follow each chain from left to right; each later node requires the preceding upgrade.

Hull, radar, mining and gunnery

Riveted Hull Plating → Radar Waveguide Tuning → Mining & Cargo Package → Gunnery Package

Riveted Hull Plating starts this route. Radar Waveguide Tuning costs 55 CR and adds 150 radar range, 40 fuel, 5% acceleration, 5% hull and 5% explosive resistance. It unlocks Radar MK2, Fuel Tank Medium and Storage Room Expanded.

Continue to Mining & Cargo Package for 75 CR to improve mining speed and range, Iron and Copper mining, cargo capacity and overload-related performance. This is the branch to prioritize when gathering and carrying resources are your immediate goals.

Gunnery Package costs 100 CR after Mining & Cargo Package. It improves fire rate, cooling, projectile spread and radar range, adding combat support after the resource-handling upgrade.

Weapons, protection and movement

Hardened Breech Blocks → Hull Reinforcement → Maneuvering Package

Hardened Breech Blocks requires Wasp in your fleet and costs 40 CR. It increases damage, fire rate and range, and unlocks M20 20MM Twin, AK-101 and XM12 Rocket Pod.

Hull Reinforcement follows for 65 CR, increasing hull, explosive resistance and kinetic resistance. Maneuvering Package then improves reverse movement, climb rate, turn rate, forward speed and acceleration. Its research price is 90 CR, with an alternative Tech Tree price of 80 CR; budget using the price on your selected node.

Corvette has nine upgrades across three branches:

• Reinforced Keel
• Rapid Feed Chutes
• Phased Array Calibration
• Hull Reinforcement
• Mining & Ore Package
• Cargo Conversion
• Gunnery Package
• Maneuvering Package
• Interceptor Director

Reinforced Keel and hull progression

Research Reinforced Keel with Corvette in your fleet, 140 CR and 2 Iron. It provides 10% speed, 10% acceleration, 8% kinetic resistance and 5% explosive resistance. Its effects list separate +10% Hull and +8% Hull modifiers; do not treat them as a stated combined +18% bonus.

Reinforced Keel unlocks Armor Plate 2 and Engine MK3. Hull Reinforcement follows it in Corvette’s Tech Tree.

Cargo Conversion to Interceptor Director

Complete Cargo Conversion → Interceptor Director for Corvette’s optional anti-air upgrade. Interceptor Director costs 300 CR, plus 2 units of the material with the brown-gold icon and 6 units of the material with the gray icon.

Its benefits apply to anti-aircraft weapons: 10% less spread and 15% better cooling efficiency. Choose it for an anti-air setup rather than treating it as a general bonus to every gun or rocket.

Strizh’s Cargo Conversion capacity, retention and cost figures apply to Strizh’s version, not Corvette’s.

Strizh’s Tech Tree contains 14 upgrades. These two routes lead to climbing improvements and additional cargo or mining research.

Engine route

AESA Radar → Vectored Lift Fans → Sealed Compartments

After AESA Radar, research Vectored Lift Fans for 400 CR, 2 units of the material with the orange icon and 5 units of the material with the gray icon. It adds 10% climb rate and 5% hull, and unlocks Fuel Tank Large and Storage Room Hold. Completing it opens access to Sealed Compartments.

Cargo and mining route

Load-Bearing Frame → Cargo Conversion → Ore Cutting Heads

After Load-Bearing Frame, research Cargo Conversion for 510 CR, 6 units of the material with the gray icon and 2 units of the material with the brown icon. It adds:

• 20 cargo units, equivalent to 200 kg of extra capacity. These are two expressions of the same increase; count it once.
• 25% less overload penalty.
• 10 percentage points more cargo retained on death. This increases the retained share; it does not set the final retained share to 10%.

Completing Cargo Conversion reveals Ore Cutting Heads, an optional mining upgrade priced at 590 CR. For carrying limits and the return-to-port routine, see cargo capacity, overload and storage.

Berkut offers research for resource runs, movement and combat support:

Escort Search Radar requires Berkut in your fleet and costs 510 CR, plus two materials in quantities of 5 and 2. It adds 300 radar range and 14% turn rate, and unlocks Radar Phased. This makes it useful when you want both more radar reach and faster turning.

For cargo protection, follow Sealed Compartments → Protected Cargo Vault. The vault adds 20 cargo units (200 kg) and 10 percentage points to the share of cargo retained on death, using the same capacity and retention interpretation explained for Strizh above.

Escort Citadel costs 450 CR plus two material requirements. The mining, cargo, engine and weapon nodes let you develop Berkut for mixed use; choose the research area that addresses your current bottleneck instead of assuming every branch must come first.

• Mining and hauling on Wasp: prioritize the route to Mining & Cargo Package. It improves both gathering and carrying, so it addresses more of a resource run than a weapons-only upgrade.
• Movement: follow Wasp’s branch to Maneuvering Package for broad handling improvements. On Strizh, Vectored Lift Fans is the direct choice for better climbing; Berkut’s Escort Search Radar also offers a turn-rate benefit.
• Anti-air combat on Corvette: work toward Interceptor Director after Cargo Conversion when your setup uses anti-air weapons.
• Cargo protection: choose Strizh’s Cargo Conversion or Berkut’s Protected Cargo Vault on the applicable ship. Both add capacity and death retention; Strizh’s upgrade also reduces the overload penalty.
• Mining with combat support: add Wasp’s Gunnery Package after its mining upgrade, or develop Berkut’s weapon research alongside its mining and cargo nodes.

For ship-by-ship combinations and priorities, use the mining builds guide. If your next goal is a new hull, see ship branches and building requirements: completing every upgrade on a ship does not by itself guarantee that the next ship’s Build button becomes available.