No Man's Sky Tips: Surviving the First Galaxy and Beyond

No Man's Sky went from gaming's most infamous launch to one of its greatest redemption stories. Hello Games has shipped dozens of free updates since 2016, adding base building, multiplayer, mech suits, settlements, expeditions, and enough content to fill hundreds of hours. The problem is the game explains almost none of it.

Here's what actually matters when you're starting out or returning after years away.

The first planet survival

Your ship is broken. You need resources to fix it. The tutorial walks you through the basics but doesn't emphasize the critical points.

Sodium and oxygen are your lifelines. Sodium recharges hazard protection (the thing keeping you alive in extreme weather). Oxygen recharges life support. Always carry 200+ of each. Yellow plants give sodium. Red plants give oxygen. Harvest every one you see early on.

Don't wander far from your ship initially. Fix the launch thrusters and pulse engine first. Once you can fly, you can escape any dangerous situation. Being stranded on foot in a firestorm is the most common early death.

Cave systems protect you from hazards for free. If your hazard protection is draining fast, duck into a cave. Weather doesn't affect you underground. Caves also contain valuable resources like cobalt and cave marrow.

Save beacons are free save points. Craft one early and drop it at your ship location so you can always reload there if things go wrong.

Ship and inventory management

Your starting ship is terrible. It has minimal inventory slots and weak weapons. Upgrade as soon as possible. Crashed ships found on planet surfaces can be claimed for free — they require repairs but often have more slots than your starter.

Technology goes in technology slots. This sounds obvious but many new players put tech in general inventory, wasting cargo space. Technology inventory is specifically for upgrades.

Stack three upgrades of the same type for bonus adjacency effects. Place three S-class movement modules next to each other and they boost each other. This applies to every upgrade type — weapons, shields, movement, scanners.

Cargo inventory holds double stacks. Regular inventory holds 9,999 of most resources. Cargo slots hold 9,999 too but you get more slots. Upgrade cargo capacity at space stations.

Making money

Scanning flora and fauna with upgraded scanners is passive income. Install S-class scanner upgrades on your multi-tool. A fully upgraded scanner earns 300,000-400,000 units per creature scanned. Walking around a planet scanning everything makes millions quickly.

Chlorine expansion is the classic money exploit. Buy chlorine and oxygen. In a medium refiner, combine chlorine + oxygen to create more chlorine. Sell the chlorine. Buy more oxygen. Repeat. Millions of units per hour.

Ancient Bones and Salvageable Scrap found on specific planet types sell for 100,000-2,000,000 units each. Look for planets with "Ancient Bones" or "Salvageable Scrap" in their description.

Base building

Claim a base computer on a planet you like. This marks territory and enables building. You can have multiple bases across the galaxy.

Electromagnetic generators are free infinite power. Find an electromagnetic hotspot with the Survey Device visor, place generators on it. No fuel needed ever. This replaces solar panels and batteries.

Teleporters connect your bases. Build a teleporter at each base and you can travel between them instantly from any space station teleporter. This is how you manage a multi-planet empire.

Storage containers are shared across all bases. Build all 10 numbered storage containers at your main base. They're accessible from any base that also has them built.

Exploration priorities

The Anomaly is your hub. Summon it with the quick menu in space. It has multiplayer missions, technology merchants, cosmetic rewards, and the research terminal for base building recipes.

Galaxy map navigation: The path to the center is marked. Following it eventually lets you reach the galaxy center and "complete" the main journey. But there's genuinely no rush — the game is about exploration, not completion.

Portal coordinates let you visit specific planets. Once you find and activate all 16 portal glyphs (from Traveller graves at space stations or through the Artemis questline), you can input coordinates to visit any planet anyone has ever shared online.

What we make at Choost

Granny's Rampage is focused action rather than open-world exploration — completely different scope. But we respect what Hello Games built through years of dedicated updates. For more exploration content, the games like Subnautica, best survival games, and best adventure games posts have more.

The shortest version

Carry sodium and oxygen always. Fix your ship before exploring on foot. Use caves to escape weather. Upgrade scanner modules for passive income. Chlorine + oxygen refining for fast money. Electromagnetic generators for free power. Build teleporters to connect bases. Summon the Anomaly for multiplayer and recipes.

No Man's Sky rewards curiosity. There's no wrong way to play — some people build elaborate bases, others explore the galaxy center, others become traders. Pick what sounds fun and the game supports it.