Top 10 Tips For Beginners in No Man’s Sky
In between the millions of planets in No Man’s Sky are unique travelers exploring the various landscapes they come across. As one of those travelers, you may be searching for the weirdest creature in the galaxy, or attempting to build an enormous base to call home. Regardless of how you decide to play No Man’s Sky, I’ve compiled 10 of my best tips to get the most out of this game. Let’s start off the list with a tip that will provide a more detailed view of the lore behind No Man’s Sky, and might provide some interesting interactions between the different alien factions.
1. Learn the Alien Languages
With three unique alien races you can befriend, it’s only natural that they have their own language to learn and lore to discover. Interacting with any alien you come across on space stations or trading posts will occasionally allow you to exchange resources for a word in their dialect. Knowledge stones are another way to learn more words, while Alien Monoliths provide an insight into the culture of the race which populates that system. Overtime, you’ll be able to understand what these races are actually trying to tell you, and it’ll make your conversations a little bit more interesting.
2. Beware the Sentinels
Every planet you visit, you’ll run into some level of sentinels roaming about, looking for any travelers that may disrupt the local ecosystem. You’ll be able to see sentinels from a distance, and when they’re watching you an icon will pop-up on the bottom right of the screen. If they catch you disrupting the local fauna and flora, whether that’s mining or killing animals for resources, they’ll start attacking, so stop immediately when you notice a sentinel hovering around – reinforcements won’t take long to hunt you down. A few planets you encounter may have a high security alert, and those sentinels will attack on sight. Unless you have good upgrades for your exosuit and can fight them off, it’s best to run.
3. Collect Crystal Treasures for Quick Money
Unfortunately, you can’t escape capitalism in No Man’s Sky with the best gear costing a fair amount of units to purchase. Better starships can be purchased from travelling merchants, while improved multi-tools can be bought from vendors on space stations. You’ll also need units to invest in more inventory slots on your exosuit, and they become more expensive with each slot you purchase. Luckily, extreme planets now hold a winning lottery ticket for all your money-making needs. During storms on these planets, crystal treasures are unveiled, and if you brave the weather, you can collect them for 100k a pop. That million dollar multi-tool won’t seem so unachievable any longer.
4. Scan Everything
Whenever you discover a new planet, it’s time to bring out the analysis visor for some research. Nearly everything you see can be analysed, from the creatures soaring in the skies to the plants lying on the ocean floor. Best part of it all? You can rename your discoveries if you were the first to find them. Want to name that rock Dwayne? You do you. Want to give an entire species a generic name like Bob or Steve? It’s your time to shine. Also, scanning flora and fauna allows you to collect nanite clusters, which are essential for collecting blueprints which leads us on to tip number five.
5. Upload Discoveries
After finding every last animal, plant, and mineral on a planet, it’s time to upload these discoveries and replenish your stores of nanite clusters. If you want to rename what you found, make sure you do so before uploading everything, otherwise you won’t be able to change the name. When looking through your discoveries, you’ll sometimes see red dots next to the galaxies and planets rather than the usual yellow. This simply means another player managed to reach that planet before you, and they have uploaded the discovery (you might even find some interesting names for these places).
6. Blueprints Are Your Friend
Upgrading your gadgets to their full potential is impossible without the right blueprints. You’ll definitely want these upgrades to make tasks, such as mining and scanning, more efficient. Every inhabited space station has several merchants you can speak to who will provide their wares for the right price. Instead of the usual units for payment, they’ll request nanite clusters, therefore it’s a good idea to keep enough on-hand, in case you come across the perfect upgrade for your tools.
7. Visit Polo and Nada Often
You’ll meet Specialist Polo and Priest Entity Nada quite early on in the game, and they will keep popping up across the Atlas Path story line. They can be found on the Space Anomaly, which usually appears when using your starship scanner while flying through space. Speaking to Polo is essential to unlock each AtlasPass as well as a series of blueprints. Polo will grant you quests related to milestones, and you can return to the Space Anomaly to receive your reward upon completion. Talking to Nada is also quite helpful as they provide three options for you to choose from with one locating the nearest Atlas Interface, another pinpointing a black hole on the Galactic Map, and the third granting you a blueprint.
8. Build Bases
For those who like bringing to life unique houses in games, building a base is a great way to scratch that itch in No Man’s Sky. All you need to do is build a Base Computer, and then your only limit is your imagination (and your resources). Now, a base does come with its benefits. You will have a properly enclosed building that will protect you from a planet’s weather conditions while also recharging your Hazard Protection. You’ll also be able to farm rare resources, once you have the right crops, and you can use your base as a storage unit if you’re running out of room in your inventory. Most importantly, if you want to save time flying your starship from system to system, you can teleport from space stations straight to your base. And once you’ve built a Teleporter, you can travel to any previous location that has been activated – pretty nifty.
9. Hold Onto Essentials
Since you’re quite limited on inventory slots when you’re exploring, make sure you hold onto the items you need for the task at hand. If you’re building a base, resources such as Pure Ferrite and Chromatic Metal are essential, so there’s no point holding Gold or Pugneum – it’s just wasted space. When you’re collecting crystal treasures on extreme planets, you’ll need to replenish your Hazard Protection often, which makes Sodium the perfect companion for your adventure. Of course, when you’re starting out the game, this can be difficult when you’re not sure what resource is used for certain tasks, but over time it’ll become second nature.
10. Focus On Inventory Space When Upgrading
No Man’s Sky seems to have an infinite amount of upgrades at times. Even using the best ones available, you’ll need to make sure you have the room to hold them all. The exosuit has limited slots that you can purchase while the multi-tool and starship you begin with aren’t going to be as useful a few hours into the game. While each space station typically showcases one multi-tool to purchase, having more inventory slots provides more opportunities for upgrades, and it’s the same situation for starships. It’s best to invest in S-Class tools across the board with damage and scanner bonuses available to further improve your gadgets.
