# Building ships and $FUEL

There are numerous reasons to build or upgrade ships in the Nova Creed universe. 

1. Improve your score in [Ice Hunt](/racing/ice-hunt-player-vs-environment.md) by fitting more crew members on your ships - every new member with a different role ensures a higher score
2. Get better results on [Missions](/racing/missions.md): bigger, upgraded ships are more successful and will land you more metal per Mission on average
3. Go on more missions per day: the more ships you own, the more missions you can undertake!
4. Be the best you can in our [PVP battle mode](/roadmap/gaming-updates/pvp-battles.md) (*coming soon*) as you fight it out with other players in multiplayer battles, for major rewards, prizes and status
5. Participate in future game, [Fleet Wars](/roadmap/gaming-updates/fleet-wars.md) where the more ships you own the better your chance of winning
6. [Stake your ships](/racing/nft-staking.md) for passive income

## How to build / upgrade ships

Each month **every** Nova Creed avatar can either build or upgrade **a single ship**. Building or upgrading a ship requires **$FUEL, Ship Components** and **$ICE**.

Ship components will be their own collection of NFTs, which can be collected through completing Missions. The range and detail of these components will be significantly larger for Gen 2, but for Gen 1 you will only need Sheets of Metal to build/upgrade your ships.

**All upgrade or ship build actions cost 200 $ICE**

| Action                     | Fuel | Components        |
| -------------------------- | ---- | ----------------- |
| Build a Class 1 Ship       | 1500 | 1 Sheet of Metal  |
| Upgrade Class 1 -> Class 2 | 2100 | 3 Sheets of Metal |
| Upgrade Class 2 -> Class 3 | 2800 | 6 Sheets of Metal |


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://whitepaper.novacreed.com/racing/building-ships-and-usdfuel.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.