Just started playing No Man’s Sky? Looking for No Man’s Sky tips? Well, we’re certainly not No Man’s Sky experts (just yet) but the following information should get you off on the right footing to begin your extraordinary journey through the universe.
Note – There’s some mild spoilers here, so turn away now if you’d rather discover them yourself!
Here’s one big tip before you begin – don’t go thinking that you can follow the path and the objectives to the centre of the Universe right from the outset. We learned the hard way, and got destroyed multiple times! Go too far into the universe too quickly and you’ll encounter harsh planets and Sentinels that will attack the moment they see you. We’d suggest sticking around the first few universes and planets to build up your ship, exosuit upgrades, and multi-tool upgrades before you even think about jumping light years ahead! Get the resources and upgrades you need whilst it’s relatively safe!
No Man’s Sky tips
- Your Exosuit will deplete in health while you explore planets. Keep your health and shields topped up at all times by ensuring you always have a supply of red materials – carbon/plutonium/thanium for your suit, and yellow materials – zinc/ titanium/shielding shards – for your shield.
- Learn quickly the symbols that represent these materials so you can mine them quickly when needed. Don’t worry, you’ll find plenty of these resources lying around!
- You can fully recharge your toxic and cold protection by jumping back into your ship before heading back out onto the planet.
- Craft an Analysis Visor as soon as you can. By pressing L3 you’ll flag up resources that are in the area. Upgrade your visor as soon as possible so you can scan a much wider area. It will save a lot of searching around!
- Be careful of mining resources too much under the gaze of a Sentinel. They’ll attack if you get too greedy. Just simply move away from the area and go back when they’ve moved. In the early hours of game, they won’t be much of a threat.
- You’ll need Heridium fairly early on to craft materials, and unless they’re flagged up on with your scanner they can be tricky to find. Look for a large clump of rock, standing on its own. Most rocks can be mined for Iron, but these huge Monolith-like pieces of rock usually contain a lot of Heridium.
- Wildlife isn’t always friendly. You can be attacked so look out for the red icons on the navigational bar at the top of the screen. Just run out of the way to avoid being attack, or you could just kill them!
- Look for the grey-colored chest symbol when scanning. Here you’ll find items that are valuable at trading posts.
- Craft materials in a free slot in your inventory by pressing square. You’ll also be able to see what resources you need to craft them.
- See what upgrades are available (and what resources are needed to upgrade) by selecting a free slot in your exosuit, ship or multi-tool inventory and pressing X.
- Your inventory will get full very quickly. Transfer items to your starship inventory to free up space in your exosuit. You can stack up to 500 of one resource in your starship, but only 250 in your exosuit.
- You’ll quickly want to get more inventory slots to hold more resources. You can find these at Shelters on each planet. Use transmission beacons to find out where the shelters are located, and look for the Drop Pod alert and symbol. Head to that area and enter the drop pod to get your extra slot. You’ll get the first slot for free, but you’ll soon have to pay for more slots.
- Earn units easily by zooming in on wildlife to discover them. Upload all your discoveries, including new planets and universes to the Atlas. Just press Options on the DS4 and upload. You’ll get units for everything that you upload.
- You can also rename universes, planets and wildlife in this section before you upload!
- You’ll find Galactic Trading Posts at space centers where you can buy and sell items, but the best way to earn units quickly is by visiting the trading panels at Colonnial Outposts on planets. You can mine the area around the trading post and go back and forth to sell items.
- Scout the area for green coloured trade items, particularly when you’re near a Galactic Trading Post. You can go back and forth to the vending machine and make a fortune!
- You’ll see different prices offered for resources in each system at trading posts. Some trading posts will offer you considerably more for an item than another universe. Make a note of which trade posts buy items at the best price, and then you can travel back and forth making as many units as possible.
- Look for the purple icons and learn more about the alien races which help in bartering and relations by interacting with knowledge stones and alien monuments. You’ll learn words for that universe’s alien language which will help you communicate with the race better.
- Speak to every alien you encounter. They’ll often give you gifts if you select the right answer from a range of multiple choice options. Spend carbon to speak to them again, and you’ll often be able to boost your health or shields, or ask them for units if you’ve built up a good relationship.
- One of the first few aliens you meet will ask you to hand over your multi-tool. If you do, you’ll get a better one in return.
- Crafting bypass chips is very important because it allows you to bypass systems that allow you to scan the area in more depth and find out where: Monoliths, Colonnial Outposts, Transmissions and Shelters are located. All you’ll need is Iron in your inventory, which you can get by mining most rocks. You can stack bypass chips at Transmission points to reveal all these locations on the planet. Just go back and forth mining Iron, crafting bypass chips and then using them on the Transmission point.
- Loot as many cargo crates as possible when you find a new waypoint. They’ll often contain green colored trade items which sell well at Galactic Trading Posts.
- Look out for cog symbols when scanning the environment. Head towards them and activate them to earn new blueprints to help upgrade your exosuit, ship and multi-tool.
- Earn a good reputation among the host alien race by breaking into manufacturing plants. You’ll know when you find them as the entrance will be protected by a steel door!
- Craft the Boltcutter in your exosuit inventory to break through steel doors at manufacturing plants.
- Be careful when you’re breaking through steel doors at manufacturing plants. You’ll alert the Sentinels. Kill them quickly with the boltcutter before re-enforcements arrived.
- It’s a good idea to upgrade your boltcutter so it cuts through steel doors more efficiently. Press square in a spare inventory slot to choose from the list of upgrades once you’ve gathered the right materials.
- At manufacturing plants you might find new blueprints for upgrades, and you’ll often need to solve a puzzle to take their systems offline to stop the attack from the Sentinels. We missed the puzzle a few times – it’s near the bottom centre of the screen and may involve selecting the correct co-ordinate by solving a number puzzle.
- Move quickly across the environment to waypoints that are far away by flying your ship in between the planet’s atmosphere and orbit. You’ll get there much quicker!
- You’ll need to power up your launch thruster to take off in your ship. To refill it you’re going to need plenty of plutonium. Always have a good stack of plutonium in your inventory, otherwise you may get stranded!
- Fire at asteroids in space to mine resources with the X button.
- When you see a distress signal, you may witness an attack by alien ships on its position. You can attack them to earn kudos with that planet’s alien race.
- Don’t worry about getting lost. You can find your starship at any time by checking the navigation tool at the top of the HUD. Just don’t wander too far if you’re on a planet with harsh conditions that is draining your exosuit.
- Once you’ve repaired your first ship, you can take off into orbit. Simply head upwards and hold down O to blast into orbit.
- Don’t jump into water unless you’ve upgraded your suit. You’ll drown!
- No need to buy your first ship! If you’re following the set objectives, you’ll bump into your first new ship for free.
- Follow the prompts to repair and build components or head to way points signalled on screen – if you want to progress in the story.
- You can buy ships from the space station or various colonial posts when a ship lands. Just walk up to a ship and press square to see its price.
- When you buy a ship or buy a new multi-tool, make sure you transfer any items from your old ship into the new inventory, otherwise you’ll lost them all.
- You can buy Suspension Fluid from a Galactic Trading Post. There’s always one or more available at a space station once it’s been unlocked. You’ll need plenty of these to be able to fly from one universe to another.
- Saving isn’t automatic in No Man’s Sky. Look out for green question mark items, head towards them and activate the waypoint in order to save your progress. Save often because if you die you’ll lose your resources.