Editing Welcome to the Relay Network (section)

=== Modules: crafting, leveling, pausing ===

Modules are the workhorses inside each bay. Crafting installs a new module at level 1, leveling makes that module pull more weight, and pausing takes a module offline without uninstalling it.

<strong>Crafting</strong> costs Salvage plus a basket of items, with the price climbing as your bay fills up. Two onboarding discounts soften the entry: the first 10 Mint modules cost no Salvage, and the very first Refinery module is also Salvage-free. New players can stand up a working Refinery before they have any Salvage saved up.

<strong>Leveling</strong> costs Salvage plus items per level, up to a max level of 15 in both families. The payoff is real:

* A level-15 Mint module produces roughly 4x as much BC per minute as a level-1 module in the same slot. Salvage fuel consumption scales similarly if you choose to feed it.
* A level-15 Refinery module’s throughput factor is also about 4x its level-1 value.
* Leveling improves your heat budget in both families. Mint modules earn an outright heat discount at every fifth level. Refinery modules do generate more heat at higher levels, but throughput scales faster than heat, so the heat you pay per BC refined drops as you level up.

One thing to watch on Refinery stacks: each additional module contributes a little less throughput than the previous one, ranked by level. The bay still scales as you add slots, but the curve flattens. Once your stack is wide, leveling existing modules beats crafting new low-level ones.

<strong>Pausing</strong> lets you sideline a module without uninstalling it. A paused module contributes nothing to heat, fuel burn, output, or any buffer cap, but it still occupies its slot and can be leveled up while paused. Handy when you need to cool down a hot bay without dismantling progress, or to park spare modules until you decide what to do with them.