No Man's Sky Guide V - Improving Your Gear

Multitool


Since you start out with pretty low-grade gear, if you want to get ahead in the Universe, you will need to improve it. Here are some ways to do it.



Your Exosuit

The Exosuit you start with is the only one you will ever have, but you can upgrade it in a number of ways, by finding or buying blueprints for enhancements, by buying or finding upgrade modules and by expanding its inventory space. The difference between blueprints and upgrade modules is that the modules (for any gear - not just the suit) can’t be removed once installed (but they can be salvaged for scrap), but blueprint modifications can be rebuilt. This is not so important with the Exosuit, but the Multi-Tool and Starship will be swapped out as the game progresses, so you may not want to add expensive modules until you get the equipment you want.

For Exosuit upgrades, I concentrate on those which allow faster travel, such as greater sprinting ability, longer boost, etc. I don’t find extra environmental shields to be all that useful, since you have to recharge them separately and you rarely need the extra protection.

Drop PodAside from buying slots every time I visit a Space Station, I look for Drop Pods, which give you a ‘free’ slot if you repair them with the requisite materials. This a good reason to load out your Exosuit cargo slots with at least the basics for repair, which are (so far) 55 Ionized Cobalt, 45 Sodium Nitrate, 40 Oxygen and one Antimatter.

Your Multi-Tool

You start out with a Multi-Tool that is pretty pathetic but enough to get you going, but the five slots it gives you are adequate for everything except hard fighting, so you don't need to upgrade immediately. I eventually want to end up with at least a Class-S Multi-Tool, but that usually costs over 2,000,000 U, and that takes a while both to accumulate the money and even to find one. If you run across the tool of your dreams but can't afford it yet, keep note of the system where you found it so you can return later. As a compromise, one can buy a cheap model with about 10-slots and hang onto it until one finds the right 'piece' - just don’t add any good upgrade modules which you won’t be able to take with you. If you talk to all the Vy'Keen on the Space Stations, one of them might offer you a (slightly) broken one to use until you can afford the best. It seems that in a given system, all the Multi-Tools are the same, so always check the vendor on the Space Station and make note of the best one so you can come back to buy it when you have the money.

For upgrades, I just use those which boost mining speed and Bolt Caster ability. The other weapon types aren’t really all that more effective, unless you use the Plasma Grenade, and I avoid that one like the plague because I kept killing myself with it. It activates with a right-click, and if you accidentally do this in the wrong spot (like a room), you will blow yourself up - I didn’t find the annoyance worth it.

Your Starship

This is perhaps your most important (and customizable) asset - and the most expensive one to upgrade. You start off with a puny but serviceable Class-C Fighter and can only improve it by buying a better one or by finding a crashed one and fixing it up. If you have a fully operating base, getting the materials to completely restore a ‘broken’ one is not too difficult - assuming you can find one worth restoring, but it is cheaper and faster just to scrap the derelict for parts and Units and buy a new one.

The game now allows you to add slots to your Starship through Storage Augmentation Modules at the Starship Salvage deck at any Space Station. These modules can be purchased at the station or can be obtained by scrapping derlict Starships. As with the Exosuit slot upgrades, the price for more storage escalates rapidly, maxing out at 300,000,000 U per slot - that's right - insanely expensive.

Another way to get them is to buy and immediately scrap existing ships; it is expensive to do so but far less than purchasing the Modules directly. At a Space Station, exit your ship to force a restore point and wait for a shuttle to come in with at least 20 slots and a price of less than about 2,000,000 U (this not a hard and fast rule but I have found it is good all-around). Buy the ship BUT DON'T ENTER IT. Immediately go to the salvage terminal and scrap it (note - you must have enough empty slots in your Exosuit for the scrap or nothing happens). After the scrapping process is complete, check your inventory for Storage Augmentation Modules; you can have from zero to two - I think randomly awarded... If you don't get at least one, reload the game from the Automatic Save point (where you exited your ship) and try again. It can take a while to find a ship that gives you Modules... The remainder of the scrap can be sold at the Trade Terminal, and any scrapped Improvement Modules that you can't use can be sold back to the vendors near the Salvage Terminal.

There are five types of ships available, and in order of (my personal) preference from best to worst are:

Exotic ShipExotic – Low (initial, but expandable) cargo space but high base performance on all categories – and the coolest looking ships in the game. With the new ability to expand ship storage, it is probably the best ship to own. Click HERE to see a slide show of various Exotics.

ExplorerExplorer – Easier on Launch Fuel and good base Hyperdrive range and good maneuverability. There are many variations in body and wing style, but all Explorer ships have the 'bubble' cocpit window. I either buy a Class-S Explorer at a Korvax Trading Post and/or an Exotic for deep Hyperdrive needs. Remember that you can switch ships anywhere by 'calling' them to you.

ShuttleShuttle – Balanced statistics and can have moderate cargo space. Not a bad all-around choice if you only plan to have one ship and don't mind flying an ugly box...

FighterFighter – Increased damage, shields and maneuverability. I also buy an S-Class Fighter from Vy'Keen Trading Posts and use it for pirate hunting if I am in the mood for it...

HaulerHauler – Lots of cargo space, if that’s what you want, but I prefer to haul using my Exocraft or Exosuit.

All ships are priced by class and more importantly, by cargo space. A good Class-S explorer or Class-S Exotic with modest capacity (20 slots) will cost you in excess of 10,000,000u, but that is not as hard to get as it seems once you have an operating base. Because of the premium paid for space, a modest Hauler with 48 slots can cost over 100,000,000u. My personal play style is not at all hampered by a ship with limited storage (20 or so slots), as there are plenty of other ways to haul goods, and unless you are a ‘hoarder’, you should sell off most stuff as soon as you get it, saving only the materials needed for high-tech manufacture – if that’s what you want to do.

How To Buy A Ship

Trading PostOnce you have enough money to buy an upgrade and have figured out what class of ship you want, the next problem is how to find it. This turns out to be relatively easy if you follow this simple formula. First, go to at least a 'Prosperous' System ('Opulent' is better) owned by the race associated with the type of ship you want: Vy’keen = Fighter, Korvax = Explorer, Gek = Hauler, Shuttles everywhere. Next, go to a Trading Post and (preferably) jump up on top of the roof and place a Save Beacon (and save). Reload from the Manual Restore Point, and a few seconds later, seven ships will appear (between 5-9), circle the post and eventually land. Until you learn to recognize them in flight, use the Scanner ('F') to see what they are. If you don’t see what you want, reload the game and try again. The ships that appear are randomly spawned, so eventually you will be able to see everything in the system (and buy it if you have the money). If you own more than one ship, you can call them all to you as long as they have Launch Fuel; if you have a Freighter, they are also berthed there.

How To Find A Wrecked Ship

ShipweckI find this fun, in that it is like getting something for ‘free’, but it is also frustrating, since most everything you find will be low class, possibly already owned, and of course, wrecked… You can exchange Planetary Maps for Distress Signals at the Space Station in exchange for Navigation Modules or find these by decoding Signal Towers or Observatorys. If you find one, all you really need to do is make it minimally space-worthy by repairing the Launch Thrusters; leave it where it is and call it to you at your base, where you can then teleport to a Space Station and scrap it. Alternatively, if you own a Freighter, you can call your Freighter to the system and the ship will be picked up, even if it is broken.

Exocraft

These are a lot of fun and very useful for planetary exploration. My personal preference is the ‘Nomad’, since it will go almost anywhere. I don’t add many upgrades except for those that boost speed (and of course the mining laser and scanners). The Colossus is particularly useful as a general-purpose hauler, as it has 42 slots for cargo. You can use it as a mobile storage bin by calling it to you (if you build an Exocraft Summoning Station on that planet) and filling it with whatever you want. When you return to base you can call it back and unload it – just like a rental truck!