Ship upgrades are almost always handy. If you are planning to stay in the same ship for a long period of time, upgrade your ship. This will help you in battle and for easier mining. If you are trying to get a higher tier ship, don't waste your time on upgrades. They take too long and make the journey to your wanted ship challenging. As you keep upgrading and not focusing on your job, others will upgrade their ships and start to overpower you. Even with an upgraded ship, they will have higher tiers and will overpower you. Upgrades make your ship strong and powerful, but they take a lot of time and patience. This is why you should get to the ship that you will spend the majority of the game in first, and then start your upgrades. This will be much easier for you, as it conserves time. However, if you are encountered while you are mining. You may not be ready. Most players upgrade only parts of their ships sometimes while they are mining. Like speed, agility, health regen and health capacity. These are the least of the upgrades that will help you get away. I like to call them Getaway Upgrades. If you are lucky, you won't meet any unfriendly players while you are mining. Most prefer to just plow ahead and get a good ship before they start their upgrades.