Engine Parts are your weapons, modifiers and connection tools. The safest way to evaluate a new part is by asking what role it fills, how much grid space it consumes and what it needs beside it.
Adaptive parts
The tutorial describes Adaptive Parts as the main weapons of the ship. Examples seen in demo footage include Long Cannon, Laser, Missile Launcher, Turret, Orbiter and Repulsor.
Fields and modifiers
Fields can increase stats for everything under their area of influence, making efficient overlap valuable.
Extensions
Extensions weld to another part through a connector and can modify weapon speed, ship movement or other attributes.
Network pieces
Connected parts can act as a single unit and gain power from network structure. Poor placement can leave parts inactive.
Scrap and upgrades
Runs produce scrap and other progression resources. Demo footage shows scrap being used to improve weapons during a dive, while Hangar research handles persistent unlocks.
Build 1.0.3 (September 22) part fixes
Legendary parts no longer show as combinable with a second copy - Legendary is the top rarity, so there was nothing to combine into. The upgrade drawer’s previews also no longer count as installed parts while the drawer is open, a bug that briefly boosted relics and upgrades which scale with your part count.
Build 1.0.4 (September 29): chained Shields
Chained Shields were regenerating far faster than their tooltip said. Three or four close together were close to unkillable. The Shield now only gets 0.5 chained boost to regen speed. The same notes also fixed parts being thrown away from the cursor when rotated while the mouse was moving, and the upgrade tutorial locking up if you selected a part again before the drawer finished sliding open.