- Moon Sweepers upgrades are split into five trees: containers, cleaning, suit, logistics, and economy.
- Best first buys: wide broom, dust container upgrade, then broom coverage expansion.
- Spend your first hour exploring for loot flags instead of sweeping immediately.
- Large solar panels only: 2 per pressure chamber, 3 per stone press.
- Economy upgrades raise per-square bonuses and boost your income curve.
Upgrade System Overview
Moon Sweepers upgrades are the backbone of your entire lunar cleanup operation. The upgrade screen is organized into five distinct categories, and each one targets a different part of your workflow. Some upgrades increase how much dust your broom carries, others expand the swath your tools cover, and the rest improve your suit, transfer speeds, and income.
Video Highlights:
- Early money should go to the wide broom plus dust container upgrades
- Explore for loot flags before spending time sweeping
- Every region you clear awards money and about 30 kg of progress
- Large solar panels outclass every other power option
- Junus units are the endgame autonomous sweeping solution
Here is how the five upgrade categories compare:
| Category | What It Upgrades | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Containers | Broom and machine dust capacity | ★★★★★ |
| Cleaning | Swath width of your tools | ★★★★★ |
| Suit | Mobility, night light, gravity, jetpack | ★★★☆☆ |
| Logistics | Transfer speeds, teleport, automation flow | ★★★★☆ |
| Economy | Income rates and per-square bonuses | ★★★★☆ |
Roughly $300 covers your opening purchases: unlock the basics, buy the wide broom (skip the extra-wide for now), then dump the remaining ~$135 into the dust container and broom coverage upgrades.
Best Early Upgrade Order
Following a deliberate order in your first session pays off enormously. Sweeping efficiency compounds: wider brooms mean fewer passes, larger containers mean fewer trips back to base, and region-completion bonuses start stacking immediately.
Explore Before You Buy
Spend your first 30-60 minutes running out from base and looting flags. Each flag is worth around $200. Sweep a half-circle route and let the on-screen marker guide you home.
Buy the Wide Broom
Unlock the broom line and purchase the wide broom. Skip the extra-wide broom early — the marginal coverage is not worth the cost yet.
Upgrade Dust Container
Put your remaining ~$135 into the dust container so the broom holds more before you need to empty it.
Expand Broom Coverage
Add the cleaning upgrade that widens your sweeping swath, then clean your first regions in back-and-forth lines following the hex grid.
Reinvest Region Bonuses
Every completed region pays out money and counts toward your 100 kg milestones. Cycle that income back into containers and economy.
If you ever have trouble placing conveyor, platforms, or ramps, dust in the area is almost always the culprit. Clear the surrounding dust before resuming construction.
Machinery, Vehicles & Power Upgrades
Once the manual sweeping loop is running, upgrades shift toward machines, vehicles, and power. The garage lets you purchase vehicles, view every vehicle in the game, and recall your own vehicles at any time. Each vehicle comes with its own upgrade track.
| Vehicle Feature | Control | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Boost | Shift | Toggle on, no hold needed |
| Cruise control | C | Must be unlocked first |
| Suction levels | Scroll wheel | Eco, normal, high, max, full |
| Lights | L | Useful for night shifts |
| Enter/exit | F | Works anywhere |
| Emptying | Drive into garage chute | Dust routes automatically |
Suction slows you down noticeably while active, so cruise control plus suction eco is a solid balance for long hauls. For power, one option dominates everything else:
| Power Setup | Ratio | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Large solar per pressure chamber | 2:1 | Provides comfortable overage |
| Large solar per stone press | 3:1 | Keeps production flowing |
| Large panel stats | 10 kWh battery / 16 kWh daytime | Covers machinery easily |
| Smaller panel options | Not recommended | Simply not worth the cost |
Always run overflow conveyor lines that continuously sell a slice of your lower-tier products. If garage lunar dust might outpace production, drag a line straight to the chute and sell it constantly to keep everything flowing.
Suit Line
- Night light → night vision (press N twice at night)
- Earth gravity toggle with B
- Super boots and jetpack with 4 rechargeable charges
Logistics Line
- Faster transfer speeds
- Teleport between unlocked facilities via map right-click
- Conveyor mergers and splitters with scroll-wheel output aiming
Economy Line
- Higher income rates
- Bigger bonus per completed square
- Pairs perfectly with region bonuses for snowballing cash
The endgame answer is the Junus system. Build a capsule catcher to enable it, and autonomous Junus units sweep squares on their own, firing result pods back to any catcher on the map. Factories are infinitely expandable with only two core machine types, so once your upgrades automate income, scale production to your heart's content.
Press M for a blown-out map view (press again to zoom further — you can still drive in this view), Tab for stats, H for the field manual, G for the grid, F5 for the UI toggle, and B for earth gravity once unlocked.
Upgrade Priority Checklist
Work through this checklist to keep your upgrade spending efficient from hour one to full automation.
Upgrade Milestones:
- Explore and loot at least 3 flags before buying anything
- Purchase the wide broom and upgrade the dust container
- Clear your first region and claim the completion bonus
- Set up large solar panels at 2:1 / 3:1 ratios
- Buy a vehicle and unlock cruise control
- Build overflow sell lines for all low-tier products
- Unlock suit upgrades: night vision, super boots, jetpack
- Construct a capsule catcher and deploy your first Junus
FAQ
Q: What are the best first Moon Sweepers upgrades?
Buy the wide broom, then invest roughly $135 into the dust container and broom coverage upgrades. Skip the extra-wide broom early — the wide broom plus capacity upgrades give far better value per dollar.
Q: What do the five upgrade categories do?
Containers increase dust capacity for your broom and machines, cleaning widens your tool swath, suit improves mobility and vision, logistics speeds up transfers and unlocks teleports, and economy raises income and per-square bonuses.
Q: How do I earn money for upgrades early on?
Explore for loot flags (around $200 each) within roughly 1,000 yards of your base, complete regions for payout bonuses, and keep overflow lines selling lower-tier products so income never stalls.
Q: Which solar panels should I build?
Only large solar panels are worth it. Build two per pressure chamber and three per stone press. With a 10 kWh battery and 16 kWh daytime output, they comfortably power all your machinery.