Weapon mods (4.0)

Weapon modifications are loot items that can be used to modify characteristics of various weapons. Particular modifications vary from slight bonuses or penalties to alterations that drastically change how particular weapons can be used.

Usage

Acquisition: Weapon modifications can be acquired as loot dropped from destroyed ships, from lockboxes, and/or (rarely) as mission rewards.

Installation: Installing them must be carried out by an NPC Mechanic, selecting "Weapon Modifications."

Dismantling: Weapon modifications can also be dismantled into weapon mod parts of various grades, which can be used to make new weapon mods. Any modded weapon will have its mod dismantled before sale; likewise changing a mod will dismantle the previous mod installed. This is noted in the text during the procedure

Crafting: New weapon mods can be crafted using weapon mod parts, (plus maybe some additional items) of the same grade.

The Weapon Mod Interface

The Weapon Mod Interface contains a list of weapon mods that you currently have with details for each one.  This interface can be accessed in two ways:

1. Through the Inventory, [Sidebar (Enter) -> Information (2) -> My own status (1) -> Inventory (3) -> Weapon Mods (2)]
2. And via each weapon in the Ship Details of the Albion Skunk. [Sidebar (Enter) -> Information (2) -> Ship status (3) -> Weapon Systems -> select Weapon -> Details (4)]

The Crafting Interface

Like any other craftable item, weapon mods are crafted in your Inventory. [Sidebar (Enter) -> Information (2) -> My own status (1) -> Inventory (3)]

NOTE that the resulting weapon mod does not appear in the Inventory; rather, it appears in the Weapon Mod Interface where all of your weapon mods can be examined in detail at your leisure. The newly-crafted mod will be a random mod of the same grade as its parts, so it may or may not be useful; it also may not necessarily be applicable to your current weapon loadout

Grades

Weapon mods come in three grades: Low, Medium, and High.

Low-Grade Weapon Mods

Low-grade weapon mods are experimental in nature and tend to throw a weapon out of balance. They alter a single aspect of a weapon, but that single aspect tends to be altered drastically. The quality of these weapon mods is also extremely random, and there is a fairly high chance that such a weapon mod will provide only a penalty.

Medium-Grade Weapon Mods

Medium-grade weapon mods are more conservative than low-grade weapon mods. They modify between two (2) and three (3) attributes of a weapon, but the extent of each modification tends to be much less than with low-grade or high-grade weapon mods. This usually results in a marginal net bonus or penalty to the weapon without changing that weapon's essential character.

High-Grade Weapon Mods

High-grade weapon mods are highly refined pieces of kit that can drastically improve a weapon, but equally may drastically change that weapon's characteristics. They modify between three (3) and five (5) attributes, and the extent of modification tends to be on the high end; between that of medium-grade mods and low-grade ones.

Details

Because of the highly-specialized nature of weapon modifications, each weapon mod is designed for a specific weapon  Weapon mods are complex, so very little can be salvaged from dismantling them. While weapon mod parts can be used to build weapon mods for any weapon, this complexity means many mods must be dismantled in order to craft even one. Different tiers of mods require parts of the same tier to craft. Please note that this whole process is abstracted in-game: you cannot choose which weapon mod to make, nor with which weapon that weapon mod can be used; neither do the serial numbers bear any significance to any individual mod

Some weapons handle modification better than others. Weapon mods for these weapons tend to improve the weapons more, with less risk of making them worse. Similarly, certain weapons take modification of particular attributes better. Mods that alter such attributes for these weapons have a higher tendency to provide a bonus than mods that modify other attributes.

Weapon modifications can alter the following weapons in the following ways:

* Only available with the Teladi Outpost DLC.

** Only available with the Home of Light DLC

Notes:

• Any increase in damage, RoF or fragmentation (for IH blasts) may result in a significant increase in weapon cooldown time. See DEV post here
• Mods are not cumulative! Installing another mod will replace (& dismantle - you won't be able to reinstall) any existing mod on that weapon. Note the window's sidebar text during the operation
• Mechanics will not apply discounts to mod installation/replacement: it's a flat install fee from 20K for grade 1 to 250K for grade 3. Mod removal costs 10K regardless of the grade of mod
• Weapon mod parts cannot be sold
• Weapon mods can be dismantled for free via the  Ship Details Menu (see "The Weapon Mod Interface" section above)