Engineers
The Engineers are known individuals that can modify your ship's weapons and modules. They reside in planetary bases and can only modify a specific set of weapons and modules depending upon their lore and preference. Some engineers are suited more for explorers whilst others for bounty hunters.
In total there are 30 engineers with only 5 immediately known. Before you can get an invite to an Engineer's base you must learn about them first, either through common knowledge or from hearing about them through other Engineers.
To be able to get an invite to an Engineer's base, you first have to meet their invite requirements (listed as How to Get Invite in table below). These requirements vary and some engineers are easier to obtain an invite than others. Once invited and having traveled to their base, you can unlock their services by doing a task that they ask you to do, such as providing a commodity they require. Upon unlocking their services you are given a reputation rank to the engineer, going from 1 to 5, where 5 is the highest reputation achievable. These reputation ranks determine what level of modification you can do, with every modification crafted your progress to the next reputation level increases. As you increase your reputation with the Engineer you will be able to craft higher level modifications which provide increased effects. It should be noted that Engineers may not be able to craft all 5 modification levels for a module type.
How crafting with an engineer works
Materials and commodities are required by the engineers to upgrade modules on the player ship. Each blueprint specifies which materials and commodities are needed, and how to get them (either from destroying ships, completing missions, visiting signal sources, or from a planetary surface ). Different engineers require different materials, meaning not all materials gathered can be used by the same engineer.
Before you upgrade a module, you will see an information screen that lists the materials needed for the modification, the possible range for applied effects (with each effect having a minimum and maximum change value), and the percentage chance to receive a special effect (which mostly applies to weapons). You will only see the exact outcome of the upgrade after you have committed to spending the materials. It is also possible to choose to decrease the level progressing with an engineer for a guaranteed special effect on the module after reaching at least reputation level 2. After spending the resources to craft the upgrade, you may either choose to accept the changes, discard them or retry the modification. If you choose to discard the changes, any previous engineer upgrade on that module will remain and the materials used in the making are used up. With either choice your engineer level will increase.
Please note that you can only have one upgrade modification installed per module. Installing a new modification will remove the old modification permanently. Thus it is not possible to have a module with multiple modifications. This limitation should not be confused with the number of stat changes and effects a modification has, as these are determined by the particular modification and can be numerous.
Currently known engineers
| Engineer | Specialty | Location | How to find | How to get Invite | How to unlock | How to gain reputation | Allegiance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tod "The Blaster" Mcquinn | Kinetic weapons | Wolf 397 | Common knowledge | Earn 15 bounty vouchers | Provide 100,000 Cr worth of bounty vouchers | Craft modules,
Hand in Alliance vouchers to Trophy Camp. |
Alliance |
| Felicity Farseer | FSD Drive,
Thrusters, PowerPlant, Shield Booster, Interdicter |
Deciat | Common knowledge | Exploration rank Scout or higher | Provide 1 unit of Meta-alloys | Craft modules, Sell exploration data at Farseer Inc. | Federation |
| Elvira Martuuk | FSD Drive,
Shield Cell Bank, Shield Generator, Thrusters |
Khun | Common knowledge | >300 ly travel distance from starting system | Provide 3 units of Soontill Relics | Craft modules, Sell exploration data at Long Sight Base. | Independent |
| Liz Ryder | Explosive armaments and protection | Eurybia | Common knowledge | Cordial reputation with Eurybia Blue Mafia | Provide 200 units of Landmines (illicit) | Craft modules, Sell commodities to Demolition Unlimited. | Empire |
| The Dweller | Lasers,
Power Distributors |
Wyrd | Common knowledge | Deal with (stolen goods) at 5 black markets | Pay 500,000 Cr | Craft modules, Sell commodities to Black Hide. | Independent |
| Lei Cheung | Shield Generators,
& Boosters |
Laksak | Learned from "The Dweller | Trade with at least 50 markets | Provide 200 units of gold | Craft modules. | Independent |
| Selene Jean | Hull Reinforcements, Armour | Kuk | Learned from Tod "The blaster" (tier 3) | Mine at least 500 tons of ore | Provide 10 painite | Craft modules, Sell commodities and exploration data to Prospector's Rest. | Alliance |
| Hera Tani | Power Plant, Power Distributor | Kuwemaki | Learned from Liz Ryder (tier 3) | Minimum outsider rank with Empire | Provide 50 Kamitra Cigars | Craft modules, Sell commodities to The Jet's Hole. | Empire |
| Broo Tarquin | Burst Laser, Pusle Laser | Muang | Learned from Hera Tani
(tier 3) |
Combat rank competent or higher | Provide 50 Fujin Tea | Craft modules. | Empire |
| Marco Qwent | Power Plant, Power Distributor | Sirius | Learned from Elvira Martuuk (tier 3) | Invitation from Sirius Corporation | Provide 25 Modular Terminals | Craft modules, Sell commodities to Qwent Research Base. | Independent |
| Zacariah Nemo | Fragment and Multi-cannons,
Plasma Accelerator |
Yoru | Learned from Elvira Martuuk (tier 3) | Invitation from Party of Yoru | Provide 25 units of Xihe Companions | Craft modules, Sell commodities to Nemo Cyber Party Base. | Independent |
| Didi Vatermann | Shield equipment | Leesti | Learned from Selene Jean (tier 3) | Gain trade rank of Merchant or higher | Provide 50 units of Lavian Brandy | Craft modules. | Alliance |
| Colonel Bris Dekker | FSD Drive and Interdictor | Sol | Learned from Juri Ishmaak (tier 3) | Friendly rank with Federation | Provide 10,000,000 credits worth of combat bonds | Craft modules. | |
| Juri Ishmaak | Mine Launcher,
Missile Rack, Torpedo Pylon |
Giryak | Learned from Felicity Farseer
(tier 3) |
Earn more than 50 combat bonds | Provide 1,000,000 credits worth of combat bonds | Craft modules, Hand in combat bonds to Pater's Memorial. | Federation |
| Professor Palin | FSD Drive,
Thrusters |
Maia | Learned from Marco Qwent (tier 3) | Attain a maximum distance from your career start location of at least 5,000 ly | Provide 25 units of Unknown Fragments | Craft modules, Sell exploration data to Palin Research Centre. | Independent |
Trivia
- Engineers was part of v2.1 The Engineers Update.
Gallery
- "Tod the blaster McQuinn as he appears in the beta. His appearance has seen some development since the concept art we showed earlier in the year." - Newsletter #122
- Todd 'The Blaster' McQuinn Concept Art from Newsletter #113
- From Newsletter #117: Concept art - Approaching an engineer's base in Elite Dangerous: Horizons. You'll land at these bases to offer commodities, data and materials in exchange for unique ship modules.
- An Engineer's base as seen in Newsletter #121
- A hanger in an Engineer's Base as seen in Newsletter #121
- Another Engineer's Base as seen in Newsletter #121
- Preview of a Engineer Info screen as seen in Newsletter #122
