List of Melnorme trade goods

The primary Melnorme trade good is information, either abstract such as galactic history, or material such as specifications for advanced technology. The Melnorme also imply that they are willing to divulge additional information about themselves and their sources of information, however the price for these are extremely high and The Captain is never given the option to purchase them. All sales and purchases with the Melnorme are translated into Interstar Credits which, although apparently not a currency according to the Melnorme, facilitates trade. While not information, fuel for The Flagship can also be purchased from the Melnorme at the exchange rate of one Credit per unit of fuel. If the player has no credits nor anything that can be sold for credits, they will also exchange fuel for the flagship's modules.

Technology

The Melnorme offer to sell the following pieces of technology. Some of these (such as the lander upgrades) go into effect at the time of purchase, while others are building plans that allow new modules to be constructed at the Starbase. Each technology item costs 150 Credits. The technology is offered and must be purchased in this order:

1. Fusion Blaster module designs — plans for a weapons module for The Flagship, twice as powerful as Ion-Bolt Guns and twice as expensive.
2. Planet Lander speed upgrade — doubles the moving speed of planet landers. Installed on the spot.
3. Point-Defense Laser module designs — designs for a short-range auto-aiming module for The Flagship.
4. Planet Lander lifeform resistance upgrade — makes the lander more resistant to life form attacks. Installed on the spot.
5. Planet Lander cargo space upgrade — makes the lander able to carry twice as much minerals (100 units instead of 50). Installed on the spot.
6. High-Efficiency Fuel Tank designs — designs for fuel tanks for The Flagship which are able to carry twice as much fuel as the standard fuel tanks (100 units instead of 50).
7. Planet Lander firing rate upgrade — doubles the speed of the lander's Stunray Bolt-Beamer Gun. Installed on the spot.
8. Planet Lander earthquake resistance upgrade — makes the lander more resistant to earthquakes. Installed on the spot.
9. Tracking System module designs — designs for a module for The Flagship which guides weapon fire towards the target.
10. Planet Lander lightning resistance upgrade — makes the lander more resistant to lightning. Installed on the spot.
11. Planet Lander hot-spot resistance upgrade — makes the lander more resistant to planetary hot-spots. Installed on the spot.
12. Hellbore Cannon module designs — designs for a weapons module for The Flagship, three times as powerful as Ion-Bolt Guns.
13. Shiva Furnace module designs — designs for a module for The Flagship that increases the amount of energy added each recharge cycle.

Information

The Melnorme have amassed a great deal of information about the galaxy from numerous, unnamed sources. They offer to sell some of this useful information that relates to the current events, alien races, and ancient past of this region of space. Each item of information costs 75 Credits. The information is purchased in each section below in the order shown. Some items of information, once purchased, allow The Captain pursue certain topics of conversations with other races. When the Melnorme's supply of relevant information on these areas are exhausted, the Melnorme offer to sell (at a substantial discount) useless facts to The Captain, but he is apparently uninterested.

Current events

1. The way to resuscitate the Shofixti race — where to find Tanaka and how to deal with him, and the existence of the Shofixti Maidens in the possession of Admiral ZEX.
2. The second Doctrinal Conflict — current battle between the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za and the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah centered about the Crateris constellation.
3. The Umgah's recent practical joke — impersonation of Dogar and Kazon and its immediate effects on the Ilwrath civilization.
4. The existence of portals to other dimensions — where and when to find the naturally occurring portal into QuasiSpace.
5. The crashed Dreadnought — found in the Alpha Pavonis system, and nonspecific possibility for salvage.
6. The malfunctioning red Probes — their nature and the location, Beta Corvi, of the owners.
7. The recent trade between the Druuge and the Utwig — the Druuge gave the Ultron to the Utwig hoping to get their Precursor bomb.
8. The depression of the Utwig — due to the breaking of the Ultron, and the specific parts and their locations needed to fix the Ultron.

Alien races

1. Zoq-Fot-Pik — very near the combat between the Ur-Quan subraces, with a homeworld at Alpha Tucanae I.
2. Ilwrath — currently attacking the Pkunk due to an Umgah prank.
3. Pkunk — offshoot of the Yehat race, currently being attacked by the Ilwrath.
4. Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah — currently in combat with the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, and seeking to destroy all other sentient races.
5. Druuge — a race of merchants centered around Zeta Persei I that offer low prices but hidden tariffs.
6. Burvixese — once inhabited Arcturus I but were wiped out by the Kohr-Ah with help from the Druuge.
7. Thraddash — a belligerent race in the Draconis and Apodis stars, which guard a relic in the Zeta Draconis system.
8. Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm — both chose to be slave-shielded on Procyon II, and are attempting to create a hybrid race.
9. Mycon — colonize worlds by using Deep Children to make the planets uninhabitable to everyone except the Mycon.
10. Androsynth
11. Arilou Lalee'lay — IDF beings not from this universe, with possible secret plans with regards to Earth and Humans.
12. Shofixti — nearly extinct due to a suicidal last stand that destroyed several Dreadnought and scorched their homeworld, though less than a dozen Shofixti are still alive.
13. Slylandro — recently bought from the Melnorme a red probe which by now has performed numerous replications.
14. Spathi
15. Syreen
16. Yehat

Historical data

1. Sentient Milieu
2. The Ur-Quan and the Sentient Milieu
3. The Dnyarri and the Sentient Milieu
4. The Taalo demise
5. The Dnyarri's slave empire
6. Kzer-Za's discovery and the revolt
7. Fate of the defeated Dnyarri
8. The two Doctrines
9. The Doctrinal Conflict and the Sa-Matra

Emergency fuel service

If the Melnorme come to the player's aid when he is out of fuel, and the player has no credits nor anything worth selling for credits, the Melnorme will then offer to sell the player enough fuel to get them home, at the cost of 50 RU worth ship modules per 1 unit of fuel.

The modules to be removed will be chosen randomly, but they will never take a non-empty crewpod, a non-empty storage bay, a fuel tank, or parts of the Chmmr bomb. They keep choosing random modules until the cost of those modules is equal to or greater than the cost of the fuel they are selling, or you run out of removable technology. If the cost is greater than the cost of the fuel, they will not reimburse the difference.

For example, if the player is 50 hyperspace units away from Sol, the Melnorme will offer to sell 7 units of fuel (5 for the distance + 2 for safety margins). This costs 350 RU at their exchange rate. To cover that cost, it is possible that they take a 500 RU Planet Lander. It is also possible that they take a 6000 RU Hellbore Cannon. Regardless of which modules they take (including the cannon, which is worth 120 fuel), they will still give you only 7 units of fuel.

Another example: The player is 700 hyperspace units far from Sol. They offer to sell the player 72 units of fuel (assuming the ship tanks can hold that much). This fuel costs 3600 RU at their exchange rate. The only removable items in the ship are 4 fusion thrusters, worth 2000 RU total. The Melnorme will then take those thrusters (worth 40 fuel), but still give 72 units of fuel.

If the ship tanks cannot hold enough fuel to get the player home, they will sell as much fuel as the tanks can hold.

If the player's ship has no removable parts at all, they will give the fuel for free (to remain consistent with their rejection of altruism Melnorme will justify it as an investment). For this to happen, you cannot have any turning jets, fusion thrusters, weapons, energy generators, empty crew pods, empty storage bays, or planet landers. Any accompanying fleet is ignored.

The amount of fuel given depends only on the distance to Sol and doesn't take into account if player has Portal Spawner which greatly reduces the fuel requirements. In principle this could be used as an exploit to get free RU. One should strip the flagship of all modules except the fuel tanks, load 10 units of fuel to create the portal and then exit between Supox and Utwig spheres of influence. Melnorme will give 97 units of fuel which, provided 15 units are necessary for return trip, yields profit of 72 units of fuel (1440 RU). If the player already has met Slylandro to deal with their probes this operation is perfectly safe. However it takes (depending on how fast Melnorme reacts) from 1 to 2 months which makes the exploit impractical compared to other options available at this stage of the game.