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How Many Starship Types Are There?
How To Obtain A New Starship
Throughout your adventure in No Man's Sky, you'll end up using your Starship a lot. Starships are one of the most useful items in the Universe, and you can't travel to new planets without one.
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You may eventually grow tired of your old ship and want to obtain a shiny new one, and there are lots of ways to go about finding a ship that fits your needs. Here are the best ways to find new starships in No Man's Sky.
Updated April 20, 2023, by Sean Murray: We've updated and expanded this guide with Living Ships and Sentinel Interceptors, as well as other ways of obtaining new Starships like Expeditions and even Twitch drops. We've also updated this guide's formatting with a few tweaks to make it easier to find out how to get a new ship in No Man's Sky.
How Many Starship Types Are There?
Starships come in lots of different forms, and there are a few types of ships that you should know about.
There are eight unique types of Starships, including Fighter, Explorer, Hauler, Shuttle, Exotic, Solar Ship, Living Ship, and Sentinel Interceptor along with four tiers, including A, B, C, and S.
Living Ships require their own special conditions and a particular item called a Void Egg. Details on hatching one can be found here. We also have a guide on locating crashed Sentinel Interceptors here. Solar Ships are more commonly found in Outlaw Systems. The other types of ships can all be found pretty much anywhere.
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How To Obtain A New Starship
There are a few different ways to obtain a new Starship in No Man's Sky, ranging from fairly easy to incredibly expensive. Luckily, you can decide whether you want to go after the best ships or search for less powerful Starships that you can get your hands on quicker.
Buy Starships With Units
Although there are more challenging ways to find Starships if you're low on Units, the easiest way to get a new Starship in No Man's Sky is to buy it. You can purchase Starships from NPCs anywhere they land in the Universe, including Outposts, Space Stations, and Trading Posts.
The price of Starships is based on its Archetype, Class, and how many inventory slots it has. There are so many options for you to pick from, so the price varies significantly.
If you don't have enough Units to purchase the Starship you want, you can trade in your current ship to get a discount on the new one.
Find Crashed Starships On Planets
Buying a Starship has its advantages, but fixing up a Crashed Starship is a lot cheaper. There are several methods for finding Crashed Ships.
Transmission Towers | Interacting with a Transmission Tower will activate a Distress Signal that provides you with the coordinates of either a Crashed Ship or a Crashed Freighter. Transmission Towers can sometimes be located by using an Inhabited Outpost Planetary Chart obtained from the Cartographer on Space Stations. |
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Exocraft Scanners | The Nautilon High-Power Sonar and Minotaur Radar Array can be used to scan for nearby starships and distress signals, sometimes providing the coordinates for a Crashed Starship. |
Planetary Charts | There is a 15 percent chance of finding a Crashed Starship from a Planetary Chart. You can obtain a Planetary Chart from the Cartographer aboard Space Stations. |
Just Flying Around | Crashed Starships will appear on your scanner as a Point of Interest. This is the least effective method of finding a Crashed Starship. |
You can acquire the Nautilon during the quest "Dreams Of The Deep." You can buy the Minotaur plans from the Exocraft Dealer on the Construction Research Station for ten Salvaged Data.
One Metal Plating, one Hermetic Seal, one Di-hydrogen Jelly, and 50 Pure Ferrite are required to repair the Launch Thrusters and Pulse Engine, the two vital systems to get your Crashed Starship off the ground. You may also need to repair other parts of your new Starship, but the materials required will vary.
Completing Expeditions
Expeditions can sometimes reward you with unique Starships after completing certain milestones--usually for completing the final milestone. Those Starships can then be obtained by going to the Quicksilver dealer aboard the Anomaly.
The requirements for completing any particular Expedition vary widely, and Expeditions are only available for a limited time. Check No Man's Sky's website and social media channels for information on the current Expedition.
Twitch drops
No Man's Sky streamers will sometimes have Twitch Drops that reward you with free Starships. Just as with Expeditions, these are typically only available for a limited time.
Check No Man's Sky's site and social channels following updates to see if Twitch Drops might be available. Twitch Drops are obtained from the Quicksilver dealer aboard the Anomaly.
NEXT: No Man's Sky: How To Repair Frigates
