Some really useful information from Gamefaqs:
As we've all come to know, linking upgrades together causes them to become highlighted and confer an extra bonus. Well it bothered me that I didn't know how this works, so I did some testing. And these are the results.
First off all each upgrade work like this. L
+1 upgrade -> 25% increase
+2 upgrade -> 50% increase
+3 upgrade -> 75% increase
If you have multiple upgrades they are multiplicative.
1 upgrade
Base * 1.25 = total
1 & 2 upgrade
Base * 1.25 * 1.5 = total
1 & 2 & 3 upgrade
Base * 1.25 * 1.5 * 1.75 = total
And when you link upgrades together they get a bonus for touching another upgrade of the same color (doesn't have to be identical type just same color), per connection. Meaning if you have two things touching the same upgrade, that upgrade gets this bonus again. I've been trying to figure out the exact bonus percentage, but there is some minor variation however you look at it. But it's close to 3.5% (multiplicative) with rounding, this will get you within plus or minus 1. If I had my computer I could probably figure it out but I left it at work and so have been doing this by hand. And honestly 3.5% gets close enough. And the important part is knowing how you have to order the your upgrades.
Here is some raw data. Using boltcaster clip upgrades. Sorry, this is going to look messy since I'm on my phone.
Connections 0. 1. 2. 3. 4.
+1 upgrade. 60. 62. 64. 67. 69.
+2 upgrade. 72. 74. 77. 80. 83
+3 upgrade. 84 87 90 94 97
What this means is that in order for an upgrade to get its maximum potential it needs to be in the shape of a cross. The upgrade in the middle with its four sides touching a similarly colored upgrade. This means if you're linking together purely in a line. Your mission some of your bonus potential.
So let's say you have 4 upgrades in a line. The first upgrade gets a 1 connection bonus. The two middle upgrades both get 2 connection bonuses. The last upgrade gets 1 connection bonus.
But instead let's say you put your 4 upgrades in a square. Then they all get 2 connection bonuses.
Essentially what does this mean? Well it means you should surround your most important upgrades with minor upgrades.
The 4 connection bonus on the +3 clip amounts to a total of 13 additional rounds. While the 4 connection bonus on the +1 clip only amounts to 9 additional rounds. So to get the maximum possible upgrades. You'll want to have your highest level upgrades surrounded by lower level upgrades. And you'll want to build squares instead of lines of upgrades.
Anyways, that's all I have for now. If I have time during work tomorrow I may tease out the actual formula for bonuses. But not likely. I feel like this is enough information for people to make informed decisions on upgrade design.
Edit. PS. This means your exo suit upgrades should be ordered 132 or 231 and not 123 or 321.
And some useful information on star systems:
Yellow Stars/Class G
These are the default star systems you can travel to from the start of the game. Mostly basic resources can be be found on the planets present within them, and a lot of the planets are barren.
Red Stars/Class K
You need a warp reactor sigma upgrade to travel to these stars. Planets will have slightly rarer resources on them, and more planets will be habited with fauna and flora.
Green Stars/Class E
You need warp reactor tau upgrade to have the ability to travel to these systems. They contain even rarer resources and even more planets will be tropical/lush.
Blue Stars/Class B
You need a warp reactor theta upgrade to travel to these systems. Planets will have a chance of having even the rarest resources on them, and a higher chance of being lush with plentiful plant and animal life.
In my experience, by default the waypoints to the center, Atlas interference, and black holes only traverse the yellow stars, so by following the path you will only be seeing the lower tier systems. I think it's a way to reward players for venturing off the beaten track, but I'm not certain.
Keep in mind, this is only information from my experience. But to me, it seems that the higher tier systems have a higher chance of having more lush planets with rarer resources.
EDIT 2: Okay, so it looks like there could be more than four. /u/saffron3d linked a page with all the spectral classes that could potentially be in the game (take note that classes listed on that page are based on stars in our universe, not in the games). So far confirmed classes are G, K, E, B, M, F, O."
The PS5 Exists.
