Subset Games Forum

How do you manage your scrap? When do you save, and when do you spend?

I save my scrap a lot, and don't really buy anything until I get to a store or my scrap amount gets ridiculous. I typically only upgrade my ship after checking a store for stuff to buy, because store > ship.

I spend my scrap willy nilly on shields and engines until sector 3 or so, only upgrading other things for specific reasons (weapons to get a nice find online, or doors if entering a Mantis sector, or piloting if going into a big nebula).

After I'm at engines 5 and shields 2, I want shields 3 but then start spending scrap willy nilly on upgrading other things and buying things that I will help me. Ideally, this is when I start going to stores and not before.

I try to never keep a lot of scrap. You don't lose better if you die with 300 scrap in the hold instead of 30. That said, there are many games where in sector 7 or so I'm hauling around several hundred scrap simply because any more upgrades will be marginal at best, and I'd hate to show up at a store with a cloak AND a pre-ignitor and not be able to buy both

It all depends of course. It depends on the ship and what I need at the time. If I'm fairly well defended and think I can handle most opponents in the sector I'm in then I'll save scrap like it's going out of style. If my ship is going to take a beating in regular encounters then I'll upgrade my defenses ASAP. When I am saving I usually do like OP and only spend on upgrades after visiting a store. I want to have my options open to buy all the goodies at a store if I need them, but if the store is full of garbage then I'll just upgrade defenses (after checking if any of the next set of beacons are also stores).