‘No Man’s Sky’ Starship Guide: Upgrading, Basics And Everything You Need To Know

There’s a lot you can do in No Man’s Sky and part of the fun of exploring space is to actually fly your own Starship.

But there’s a lot to the Starships in No Man’s Sky than just flying around. Players will also have to defend themselves from time to time against Space Pirates and the like but we’re getting ahead of ourselves – let’s dive into everything you can do with your Starship in No Man’s Sky .

BASICS/CONTROLS

The basics of your Starship are simple. To interact with your Starship, simply hold SQUARE while you’re nearby to enter. The same goes for getting out of your Starship, simply hold SQUARE and you’ll pop out.

But if you want to take off, hold down R2 and your Starship will launch. If you’re on a planet’s surface, you can just move left, right up and down using the left analog.

R1 and L1 will tilt your Starship right and left, respectively, and you can perform barrel rolls with those functions.

However, if you want to really make headway with the Starship you’ll need to use the various boosts.

The first boost is your normal thruster, which you use by holding CIRCLE. You’ll need to hold the button down, if you don’t your Starship will stop.

The second is your Pulse Jump. Hold L1 and R1 together to use it, and you don’t have to continue holding it to stay boosted. Press R2 to break.

The final boost is your Hyperdrive. While in space, press Down on the Control Pad to open up the map and you can choose the galaxy you want to go to from there. Steps on how you get the Hyperdrive on your Starship can be found in our guide, here .

If you’re entering a planet’s atmosphere, you will be prompted to land by simply pressing SQUARE. However, a nice little tidbit to be aware of is where you land. If you land in a not ideal area, you’ll need to use your Launch Thrusters to get airborne and that takes fuel.

Landing at a flat area like an outpost or the Space Station will not waste any fuel.

Your Starship’s inventory acts like your Exosuit’s and you can only carry a certain amount at one time. You can transfer from your Exosuit to your ship with no problem as long as there is room. However, to transfer from your Starship, you’ll have to be in the vicinity of the ship.

GETTING A NEW STARSHIP

Every player in No Man’s Sky begins with the Rasamama S36 Starship. It comes with 15 inventory slots and, to be frank, you can get better in the game.

There are two ways to get a new Starship in No Man’s Sky : either you buy it from another pilot or you find a crashed/abandoned one.

Buying one is the easiest but more expensive means of upgrading your Starship. If you find a trading post or visit the Space Station, you’ll see plenty of ships docked and you can talk to the pilot. You can trade and sell your inventory and also check out their ship and what it holds.

The more inventory slots the more expensive it’s going to be, but it’s worth it. Don't forget to install upgrades next to each other. Upgrades from a similar category (shields, mining or combat) get a bonus when they're placed next to each other in the inventory and get outlined by a green, yellow or red box once its active.

The second method is finding an abandoned/crashed Starship on a planet. These are more difficult to find and you can only get one if you intercept a distress signal. While exploring planets, you’ll find waypoints and outposts that sometimes have beacons. These beacons may lead you to another location where an alien is in trouble.

Travel to that location and you’ll normally find a crashed ship. If you repair its parts, the Starship is yours and for much cheaper than buying one outright.

SPACE/SPACE COMBAT

Flying through space is simple as your Starship will continue to move in the direction it’s facing, but you’ll need to be aware of asteroids that are flying around. Crashing into them will bring down your shields. If you break them apart, however, you will avoid any unnecessary damage.

Simply using your Photon Cannon (X Button) will break up the asteroids and give you some elements for your trouble.

While you travel in space you may come across some hostiles. If they like your cargo, they will begin to attack you; if you don’t beat them you’ll wind up dead.

Your Starship does have weaponry in the form of Photon Cannons. Press the X button to fire and you can thwart the threat but it is, admittedly, difficult.

Once they have engaged you, you can’t warp away and if you’re in the middle of a Pulse Jump they will stop you.

For more advanced tips on how to fight in space, check out our guide.