Ships Guide
Starships, hunting, upgrades, storage, and custom builds
Starships are your transport, storage, combat platform, and identity in No Man's Sky. This guide explains which ship types matter, what beginners should aim for first, how to hunt S-Class ships, how to build custom ships, and which upgrades actually make flying feel better.
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Everything You Need To Know About Ships Updated for 2025
Start here if you just want the practical version before the deeper ship systems.
A Solar Ship is one of the best first serious upgrades because Vesper Sail improves fuel efficiency, speed, and launch recharge.
Sentinel Interceptors are excellent all-rounders once you understand dissonant planets.
Use the Analysis Visor to scan landed ships before talking to pilots.
Install Economy Scanner and Conflict Scanner before serious ship hunting.
Move your own ship off a trade outpost pad so more NPC ships can land.
Group similar ship upgrades together for adjacency bonuses.
Do not archive or trade a ship before emptying its cargo.
Build custom ships mostly for looks first; perfect stat hunting is optional.
Recommendations
You do not need the perfect ship immediately. Your first real goal should be a ship that feels good, handles basic combat, and does not constantly punish you with fuel problems.
Solar Ships are great early because the Vesper Sail makes travel smoother, reduces launch-fuel pressure, and gives the ship a strong all-around feel without needing perfect upgrades.
Once you can find dissonant planets, Interceptors are excellent. Keep one if you like it, or scrap extras to fund a better ship.
Fighters are simple, strong, and easy to understand. They are a good pick if you mostly care about dogfights and weapon damage.
If an Exotic lands naturally and you can afford it, it is usually worth considering. Do not stall your whole save waiting for one, though.
Ship Types
Each ship type has a different identity. Some are better for combat, some for travel, some for storage, and some are mostly about style.
Best early all-rounder
One of the strongest beginner recommendations. Solar Ships look great, are common in outlaw systems, and their Vesper Sail makes flying smoother.
Strengths
Watch out for
Best free high-value ship
A fantastic ship once you can handle dissonant planets. Even lower-class Interceptors can be worth claiming or scrapping.
Strengths
Watch out for
Combat-focused classic
Great if you want damage and responsive combat. Less useful if your main goal is long-range exploration.
Strengths
Watch out for
Travel and exploration
Good for players who care more about warping and exploring than dogfighting.
Strengths
Watch out for
Storage and shields
Useful if you love big ships, shields, and storage, but they can feel clunky compared to faster ships.
Strengths
Watch out for
Rare S-Class collector ship
Excellent if you find one, but not something every beginner should wait around for immediately.
Strengths
Watch out for
Basic all-rounder
Fine early if you like the look, but usually not the ship type most players chase long-term.
Strengths
Watch out for
Organic collector ship
Worth getting if you love the style, but not the best practical beginner recommendation.
Strengths
Watch out for
Higher class usually means stronger bonuses and more upgrade potential.
Lowest class, fewest bonuses, and usually the cheapest. Fine for scrapping, collecting parts, or temporary use.
A small step up, but usually not worth heavy investment unless you love the design and plan to upgrade later.
Good enough for most players. Often a smart buy if you like the ship and do not want to wait for S-Class.
Best class tier, more supercharged slots, and stronger stat potential. Expensive, but ideal for long-term favorites.
Use stats to guide decisions, but do not let numbers ruin the fun of flying a ship you like.
A ship's base damage matters, but your actual weapon DPS depends heavily on the weapon and its upgrades. Do not install every weapon just to inflate the stat screen.
Useful for survival, especially on Haulers, but less exciting once you can recharge shields quickly or use Phase Beam to steal shields.
Great for Explorers and early exploration, but later your freighter can handle many long-distance jumps.
One of the most noticeable everyday stats. It affects turning, responsiveness, chasing targets, and how good the ship feels to fly.
Slots matter, but they can become very expensive to expand. Do not fully upgrade every ship unless it is a long-term favorite.
Some ship types have unique tech, like Solar Ship Vesper Sails or Sentinel Interceptor hover capability.
Ship hunting is mostly about choosing the right system, cycling ship waves efficiently, and scanning before buying.
Step 1
Install an Economy Scanner and Conflict Scanner.
Step 2
Use the Galaxy Map to find wealthy or outlaw systems.
Step 3
Use the Economy Scanner to locate a trade outpost.
Step 4
Land nearby or move your ship off the pads so NPC ships have room.
Step 5
Stand on the outpost and scan incoming ships with the Analysis Visor.
Step 6
If you do not like the wave, reload your restore point and check the next wave.
Step 7
Bring enough units before committing to a hunt.
Vy'keen systems favor Fighters, Gek systems favor Haulers, Korvax systems favor Explorers, and outlaw systems are the best place to look for Solar Ships. If you are hunting a specific ship type, pick systems that favor that type.
Free Ships
Buying ships is simple, but crashed ships and Sentinel Interceptors can be better for players who want free ships, salvage money, or rare designs.
Free ships usually take more searching, but they can be worth claiming or scrapping.
Buy emergency/distress charts from the Cartographer with Navigation Data. They can lead to crashed ships, though not every signal is the one you want.
Solve the tower puzzle and it may reveal a distress signal. Sometimes it leads to a crashed ship; sometimes it leads somewhere else.
Great for drowned ships on ocean planets once you have the submarine and scanner upgrade.
Useful for distress beacons and planetary searching when you want a more active crash-hunting route.
Interceptors are one of the best advanced beginner targets.
Unique and stylish, but not the easiest practical upgrade path.
Collectors have more room now, but cargo management still matters.
Custom ship building is great for players who care about looks, colors, and building a fleet that feels personal.
Fuselage, wings, thruster, Reactor Core
Cockpit, wings, thruster, Reactor Core
Left wing, hull, right wing, Reactor Core
Fuselage, wings, sail, Reactor Core
Bring a ship to a space station, use Starship Outfitting, and extract one customization module. You get the selected part, not the normal full scrap payout.
Buy a Reactor Core from the Starship Research merchant. The core determines the starting class of the assembled ship.
Stats and supercharged slots can vary by station and part combination. For most players, the best custom ship is one you actually enjoy flying.
Corvette-class ships are a newer, separate custom ship system. This page focuses on classic starships, but a dedicated Corvette guide could make sense later if you want to cover that system in detail.
Upgrades
Upgrade placement matters almost as much as the upgrades themselves. Put similar tech together, watch for colored adjacency borders, and use supercharged slots carefully.
One of the best quality-of-life upgrades because it reduces how often you need to craft or recharge launch fuel.
Improve speed, maneuverability, and fuel efficiency. These make every ship feel better.
Lets you transfer items to and from your ship at a longer range, which is useful while exploring or building.
Essential for finding better economies and locating trade outposts for ship hunting.
Helps identify outlaw or high-conflict systems, which matters for ship hunting and combat risk.
A strong combat pairing: Infra-Knife for damage and Phase Beam for shield sustain.
Do not chase big stat numbers blindly. A balanced ship usually feels better than a one-stat screenshot build.
Four adjacent supercharged slots can create big numbers, but it can also over-focus one stat. For most players, a balanced ship feels better.
Great for putting three slots into a main weapon or engine setup, then one slot into maneuverability or utility.
Good for Fighters or ships that already have strong damage, because you can split slots between weapons and maneuverability.
Before spending huge units or nanites, create a restore point, upgrade enough tech slots to inspect the top rows, then reload if the layout is bad.
Most ship mistakes are not permanent, but they can cost a lot of units, time, or inventory.
Always transfer cargo first. This is the easiest way to lose valuable resources by accident.
A ship you enjoy flying is usually better than an S-Class ship you hate looking at.
Trade outposts cycle ships quickly and are usually better than waiting inside a space station.
Perfect supercharged slots and perfect rolls are late-game goals. Beginners should focus on a useful ship first.
The Starship Outfitting Terminal works on your active ship. Double-check before salvaging.
Customization-module extraction gives you ship parts, not the same normal unit payout as scrapping.
Keep Going
Ships connect naturally into resources, freighters, and base systems, so these are the best internal links to build around this page.
Start here for first planet survival, scanner repair, starship repair, space stations, and the Space Anomaly.
Learn the resources, refining recipes, fuel, Nanite chains, and automated farms that support ship upgrades.
The next natural step after ships: mobile bases, fleets, frigates, expeditions, storage, and freighter upgrades.
