So, turns out if you just go back down to the planet where you pick up an upgrade unit, it will have spawned another one. I don't think this is intended, as it renders the rumors and tips you get from random clients moot. But I ended up with three upgrade units from the same planet as I kept going back to pick up stuff to sell.
Other than that, I can see myself getting pretty absorbed in the game once there is a story and characters to interact with. I haven't explored outside of the starting system yet (I only played about an hour and a half) but I hope other systems are more varied in terms of what the inhabited planets look like. So far it's three different urban planets, so my feedback would be to make the galaxy more varied so I would feel like I would find something new by exploring.
Still, it's early days, and so far the game has my interest. I am definitely going to keep up to date with the development.