DREDGE Ship Upgrades Guide: Hull Slots, Gear, and Better Routes
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Upgrade for the next constraint
The Shipwright handles two connected jobs. Equipment fills the slots you already have: rods, engines, lights, nets, and other gear. Hull work in the dry dock changes the boat’s layout, opening more cargo and equipment space. Treat the dry dock as a route upgrade, not just a bigger backpack. A hull step matters most when your planned rod, engine, and light arrangement cannot all fit.
Before buying anything, inspect the next Pursuit or fish spot. If it needs a new habitat type, research and buy a matching rod. If your useful daylight disappears during crossings, add speed. If the trip becomes a night run, improve light and plan a dock at the far end. Do not spend scarce materials on a theoretical final layout while a single missing tool is stopping your current job.
Use the dry dock between regional pushes
Materials come from dredging and story exploration, so make a material run part of another outing rather than sailing solely for one scrap pile. Keep enough open cargo to load awkward pieces. Return to a Shipwright before you overfill the hold with fish, then check the new grid before fitting gear. A larger hull can create a better layout, but a large device may still crowd out the rod or engine you need.
Hull improvements also make damage less disruptive because the boat gains more room to work with. Still, speed and light are often the difference between an easy return and a night of sailing through fog. Repair any damaged slot first if it disables the equipment your route depends on.
A simple purchase check
- Name the next region, fish, or Pursuit.
- Check its habitat or travel problem.
- Research the missing tool with Research Parts.
- Buy and fit it at the Shipwright.
- Use a hull upgrade when the fit itself is the problem.
Start with Getting Started. Regions and fishing types shows where gear works; Night fishing and Panic covers the cautious return.
Check a proposed layout in the right order
Open the equipment grid and reserve the item that solves the next journal step first. Then fit enough engine to make the return realistic, then a light if the route may reach evening. Only after those three choices should you use spare cells for a net, pot, or a more specialised tool.
This matters when you reach deep fishing. A large rod can solve the habitat but remove the engine or light that makes the trip safe. In that situation, another Research Part is not the answer; a dry-dock layout change might be. Abyssal and Hadal Gear gives a worked way to make that call.