What systems to upgrade?

[Soulmirror]

I am looking for a progression for upgrading the various systems on my SW based on:

1) Going to start trading, I think that is where the bang for the buck is right now.
2) Assisting on Mobius efforts to flip systems to Empire.
3) Eventually exploring.

So, should I upgrade my ship 1st or the systems on the starter ship and what systems should I upgrade 1st based on my initial progression. Thanks in advance /RJ

[endless]

Upgrade your ship first and get into rare trading they cost less but sell very high if trading is what you want to get into that is. 1st ship to look at is an Adder you will want to put a good FSD for jump range and fill the internals with cargo holds. You can get this easily by adding a discovery scanner to your starter ship and flying around scanning systems. Or the pew pew route add some pulse lasers and upgrade shields and add couple shield boosters.

[clivewil]

very first:
power coupling.
power plant.
frameshift drive.

do those on whatever ship you buy, regardless of whatever else you do to it. buy the best grade you can, A is the ultimate grade for everything except weapons which have their own grade convention

when about to upgrade to a new ship: strip off all high quality saleable parts, for the parts that remain attached*, downgrade them to the cheapest version. THEN select 'buy new ship/sell old ship'

when selling parts you get 100% back of what you paid for it. when selling a ship, you get 90% back for it - and this includes any parts still attached. the extra 10% can make a huge difference when you're just starting out and scratching for cash; later in the game with bigger ships it will often amount to millions and nobody wants to just throw away such a sum for the sake of an extra couple of minutes in the Outfitters


* clarification - you can for example sell a shield generator or cargo bay etc., and leave an empty slot where it was. BUT you cannot sell a frameshift drive or a power plant, you can only exchange them for another of better or worse quality.

[Soulmirror]

Thanks for the info, I upgraded the SW in the order suggested, ship behaves better.