No Man’s Sky is a game about survival, exploration and mostly mining. The game apparently has no quests or objectives apart from those that players create for themselves. However, this is not a bad or broken game.
In fact, because of the unique nature of the game, we believe No Man’s Sky is just largely misunderstood. If you are one of the lucky ones who got what they wanted and were delighted with their purchase of No Man’s Sky, here are a few things you may like to know about the game.
This is not a guide for the game or a recipe for success since No Man’s Sky is a vast experience with endless content, and we are nowhere near completing it yet. Here are some tips to make your experience easier and more interesting. If you already know all of this, it might be comforting to know that someone else is exploring and grinding along, slowly venturing towards the center just like you.
Get Rich Quick (Without Cheating)
This could be true for all role-playing games and almost every game with an economy system, but being rich in No Man’s Sky is really beneficial. It could make your journey a lot more comfortable but requires some work and a lot of mining in return. We urge gamers to not use item-duplication cheats by loading previous saved files, as this may cause the game to crash.
One of the most interesting things about No Man’s Sky is that even though it doesn’t have a real story, it facilitates all forms of gameplay, from combat-oriented paths such as space piracy, to more mundane professions such as being a miner, trader and even a zoologist (more on that later). No matter what you decide to do in the game, mining for resources is essential, both for maintaining your Starship and Exo-Suit and also if you want to get a better ship, which is essential.
There are several ways to earn Units – the inter-galactic currency of No Man’s Sky. You can literally make trips back and forth to a vending station, becoming a miner/trader indefinitely. However, it is important to know the value of all the items in the world, in order to know what to keep and what to sell. Arrekz Gaming suggests finding planets with high sentinel activity, since it indicates the presence of valuable resources, such as Gravitino Balls or Albumen Pearls.
Gold and Emeril are hard to come by but fetch a great price, so be on the lookout for these. Remember, gold is found naturally in two different forms, and you will get a lot more gold from the pointy green crystals than the round rock formations. This “green crystal” gold will usually show up near clusters of Plutonium (the red crystal), and it is absolutely necessary that you mine every last shard if you see it.
Apart from mining, you can craft and sell Bypass Chips, which is a really good way to get Units without making long trips to mine planets. You can craft Bypass Chips anywhere as long as you have Plutonium and Iron, which are both extremely abundant. It has become a common practice and depending on your inventory space, you can make a million units in between 30 minutes to an hour.
Another way to make some quick money is to scan all life (flora and fauna) and upload the discoveries. In addition to the creatures you encounter, which give you up to 2500 Units, try to scan every rock or plant as well, which earns you 500 Units each.
Having a lot of money will not only let you have better Starships and items, it also allows you to explore freely, knowing that you will be able to make any purchase. The game often puts players in painfully frustrating situations when they do not have enough Units for the opportunity at hand.
Buy a New Starship ASAP
If you want any chance of progressing to the later sections of the game, it would be in your best interest to dump your starting ship and get a bigger, faster or prettier ship as soon as you can. This is where the “get rich” part will come in handy, as Starships are not cheap, with the most basic ones costing a few hundred thousand Units.
Starships can be acquired in one or two ways. One of these is to scan for a Transmission by hacking any of the Signal Scanners found on most planet outposts (look for the machine emitting a red-orange laser) using a Bypass Chip. Choosing Transmission from the various scan options might lead you to an Abandoned Starship, which you can pick up for free.
However, these ships are usually heavily damaged, with various systems missing or needing repair. You will have to find several materials to get it up and running, and if you choose to accept, you will abandon your original ship. Be careful to not get stranded with a broken ship without any materials to fix it. This results in an interesting situation, which is less challenging and more frustrating.
Secondly, Starships can be purchased from Space Stations, outposts on a planet and just about anywhere you find a landing pad with Starships coming and going. Traders or pilots that sell Starships will not stick around the landing zone for long, and if you make an offer on their Starship, you only get one chance to buy it or leave it.
Often, the perfect Starship is right there with the right amount of slots and the best look, but you find yourself short on Units. The Starship you want to purchase will launch and depart as soon as you turn around, like a disgruntled peddler letting you know he has no shortage of offers elsewhere.
If you’re in the market for a new Starship, check prices from various vendors to get an idea of the rates, and when you finally think you’re ready to make a purchase, make sure you bring enough money.
Remember, the quality of Starships will improve as you move closer to the center of the galaxy, and the price will keep rising as well. You can find good bargains on planets but Space stations will have more variety. Your first purchase could cost anywhere from 300,000 to 2,500,000 Units, depending on where you find it.
The only thing for players to consider when purchasing a new Starship is the number of Slots. No matter what upgrades or components currently installed, a ship with more slots than your ship is always better. You may even need to craft some key components again but this is a minor hurdle.
Another important note regarding ships; it is advisable to stay close to your Starship if you want to avoid dying from environmental damage or hostile creatures, but know that you can call your ship from terminals or devices at various planetary outposts and buildings.
So don’t be afraid of leaving the comfort and safety of your ship. There is nothing to worry about as long as you keep harvesting resources to keep your suit and tool running smoothly. Whenever you get tired of wandering, make your way to the nearest outpost and look for an electrical device that resembles a giant spark plug jutting out like a pillar with red lights. It will be placed a few yards away from any structure. Sometimes, your ship lands right next to one of these structures. Alternatively, if the outpost has a landing pad, there would be a device that looks like a computer terminal with a screen. Using either of these will require a Bypass Chip, and will immediately call your ship to the landing zone at your location.
Exo-Suit Inventory Slots
If you have been playing for a few hours, you’ll know that your Inventory consists of the items in your Exo-Suit and those in your Starship, with the ability to transfer any item to your ship. While the inventory space in your ship cannot be increased, your Exo-Suit can be upgraded to have more inventory slots.
The upgrade can be done at drop pods found across planets or by using the Atlas Pass V1 at various outposts and alien buildings found on planets. While the Atlas Pass requires players to first reach the Atlas entity, which progresses the game further, finding the Drop pods is the best way to increase inventory space in your Exo-Suit.
These Drop pods can be found by scanning for a Shelter from the Signal Scanners mentioned earlier; you can only add one slot to your Exo-Suit’s inventory at a time. The first of these upgrades costs 10,000 Units and the next Drop Pod you find will increase your inventory to 20,000 Units. This goes further up from 30,000 Units and 40,000 Units to a maximum of 350,000 Units for the forty-eighth slot version, following which your Exo-Suit will be maxed out.
There is a lot more to learn when playing No Man’s Sky. We hope you enjoyed our discussion as well as your experience with this interstellar game. Let us know about your experience with No Man’s Sky, and be sure to watch this space for the latest on the game.