A useful first upgrade order
- Capacity or carrying: choose this when the crew spends more time returning with a partial load than cleaning.
- Travel or route speed: choose this when the depot loop is the slowest part of every shipment.
- Cleaning speed: choose this when the crew is waiting for dust to appear or a sector is too slow to clear.
- Automation: expand only after the short loop works and everyone can explain where a capsule ends.
Why “best” depends on the crew
A solo player, a small co-op crew and a full lobby have different idle time and transport problems. The Steam store describes online co-op for up to 16 players, while the launch patch notes changed shared upgrade and building behaviour. Put the patch number beside any screenshot or tier list you trust.
Write down the upgrade, the pain it fixed and the next shipment time. After two or three runs, that small log becomes a better build order than a copied list with no version or test scope.