Star Trek Voyager Across the Unknown: Every Hidden Technology and How to Steal Them

Getting stranded in the Delta Quadrant is brutal enough without realizing half of your ship upgrades are locked behind cryptic question marks.

When I first opened the research menu in Star Trek Voyager Across the Unknown, seeing a massive wall of unknown technologies drove me absolutely crazy. You start the game with 45 hidden research nodes mocking you. They are split across Engineering, Crew, Science, Combat, and Borg categories. If you want to survive the trip back home, you cannot rely on Starfleet standard issue gear. You have to beg, borrow, and steal alien technology.

Finding these upgrades requires scouring the sector map for Points of Interest featuring golden titles referencing classic episodes. Sometimes the RNG gods hate you and a required location refuses to spawn. When that happens, I highly recommend restarting the sector and reloading your save. You also unlock a massive chunk of these technologies by passing brutal skill checks during specific side missions.

If you are tired of missing out on crucial upgrades because you picked the wrong dialogue option, I have compiled the complete list of every hidden technology, where it hides, and exactly what hoops you need to jump through to get it.

Sectors 1 Through 4: The Early Scavenge

The early game is a desperate scramble for survival. Your hull is weak and your crew is constantly getting injured. You need to prioritize crew health and basic engineering fixes before you even think about picking fights.

EARLY GAME TECHNOLOGIES

These upgrades keep your ship from exploding during the first few sectors. Do not skip the Vidiian tech.

TECHNOLOGY & STATS	LOCATION & UNLOCK REQUIREMENTS
Ultra Thin Reactor Plating Reduces damage by 25 percent when your warp core takes a hit.	Sector 1 (Emanations): You have to roll a critical success during the second skill check on the planet.
Vidiian Surgical Device Cuts base treatment time by 10 percent.	Sector 2 (Phage): Chase them down, use the tractor beam, and willingly provide an artificial lung.
Modified Trajector Matrix Boosts impulse flight speed by 10 percent.	Sector 2 (Prime Factors): Let your crew rest on Sikaris and successfully trade for the tech.
Nucleogenic Biobed & Linked Beaming Heals crew faster and reduces spatial anomaly damage.	Sector 2: Biobed requires passing skill checks at The Cloud. Linked Beaming unlocks automatically during Eye of the Needle.
Pralor Shield OR Weapon Tech Reduces enemy shield penetration OR boosts your torpedo penetration.	Sector 3 (Prototype): Beam the android aboard. Negotiate for the shields. Forcibly rescue your crew member for the weapons. You can only pick one.
Dreadnaught AI Increases torpedo speed by a massive 50 percent.	Sector 4 (Dreadnaught): Scan, intercept, and deactivate the ship. You must get a "Good" outcome. An "Excellent" outcome gives you an ally instead.

The choice at the Pralor Debris Field always trips people up. I personally go for the Pralor Weapon Technology every single time. A 20 percent shield penetration on your torpedoes ends fights significantly faster, which saves you more hull integrity than the shield upgrade ever could.

Sectors 5 Through 8: Assimilation and Cloaks

This is where the difficulty spikes violently. You start running into the Borg and the Hirogen. The game also introduces massive multi-step unlock requirements that span across different sectors.

Getting the Cloaking Device in Sector 7 is probably the most stressful mission in the game. You have to sneak in with a shuttle and perfectly execute a rescue mission without losing anyone. If you fail, you miss out on the most overpowered escape tool Voyager has to offer.

MID GAME TECHNOLOGIES

Stealing from the Borg is dangerous, but the upgrades are entirely worth the risk.

TECHNOLOGY & STATS	LOCATION & UNLOCK REQUIREMENTS
Neuro Electric Field Gen (Lvl 1 & 2) Massive 30 patient capacity in sickbay, but drains 3 morale per cycle.	Sector 5 (Unity): Choose to keep the Field Generator instead of destroying it.
Borg Armor Module Boosts base hull integrity by 50 points. Essential for survival.	Sector 6 (Scorpion): Simply accept Seven of Nine's offer to upgrade Voyager. Do not reject her help.
Cloaking Device OR Hirogen Laser Cloak lets you flee combat. Laser adds 15 percent phaser penetration.	Sector 7 (Old Friends): Confront the Hirogen for the Laser. Sneak via shuttle and rescue both crew members alive to get the Cloak.
Radiation Recycling Reduces Waste Disassembler time by 25 percent.	Sector 8 (Juggernaut): Rescue survivors, research the vaccine, listen to Pelk, pass the final command check, and administer the cure in sickbay.
Optimized Cloaking Matrix Massively upgrades your cloaking efficiency.	Sector 8 (Romulan Risk): You must have recruited Telek Rmor way back in Sector 2 AND obtained the Cloak in Sector 7 to finish this timed research.

The Optimized Cloaking Matrix highlights exactly why this game requires meticulous planning. If you ignored an optional recruit hours ago in Sector 2, you are permanently locked out of a top tier science upgrade in Sector 8. I learned that lesson the hard way during my first playthrough and had to watch the timer expire while my science team did absolutely nothing.

Sectors 9 Through 12: The Final Push

By the time you reach the final stretch of the Delta Quadrant, the resource requirements for new technology become staggering. You will need to rely heavily on your workshop development chains to get anything done.

LATE GAME TECHNOLOGIES

The final upgrades require navigating complicated politics and massive resource investments.

TECHNOLOGY & STATS	LOCATION & UNLOCK REQUIREMENTS
Equinox Antimatter Injector Drops trading time by 25 percent.	Sector 10 (Equinox): Requires completing a very long workshop development chain. Start this immediately.
History of Mankind OR Science Milestone History boosts morale. Science speeds up research.	Sector 10 (One Small Step): Recover the Ares IV logs. Choose to honor historical achievements for morale, or scientific ones for research speed.
Omega Power DLC Boosts warp flight speed between systems by 10 percent.	Sector 11 (Good Shepard): Use the ensigns' dialogue options during the mission. Take their suggestions afterwards and pass the skill checks.
Energy Dissipator Level 2 Slightly increases your combat disable time.	Sector 12 (Endgame): You must side with Ralik back in Sector 11, keep him alive, and then agree to take over the transwarp hub in the finale.

The Alternative Cloak Method

If you completely messed up the Hirogen encounter in Sector 7 and missed the original Cloaking Device, the game throws you one final lifeline. When you reach Sector 11, head to the planet Nightingale. Accept the offer and initiate trade talks. You need to let a shuttle team aid the Kraylor while Voyager stays with the Annari. Have your shuttle team confront the Kraylor about their lie, then inform the Annari. Passing a 60 percent skill check here rewards you with both the base Cloaking Device and the Optimized Cloaking Matrix research nodes. It is a convoluted diplomatic nightmare, but it beats flying into the final battle completely exposed.

Unlocking all 45 hidden technologies completely changes how Across the Unknown plays. You transition from a desperate, heavily damaged science vessel into a terrifying dreadnought draped in Borg armor and temporal shielding. Check your sector maps carefully, keep your command skills high, and never trust a Vidiian.

This guide is a work in progress and was compiled using in-game testing alongside information shared by the community, including Frei Casul’s Steam guide.