No Man's Sky

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Rezz

Mr. Poopybutthole
4,486
3,531
Been playing this a lot recently on PC; it's improved quite a bit and I've been having a ton of fun. Wish the living ship stuff didn't take 24 hours of real time passage to move to the next step though.
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
<Gold Donor>
18,554
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It's a fun game, the multiplayer experience just doesn't really add anything to that experience. You and a friend could play the single player game along side each other rather than with each other if that makes any sense. You can help each other with resources, design a base together, but the glaring fact will remain that this was not built as a multiplayer game.
That's really where all the issues lie. The game was built as a single-player experience, so multiplayer really adds nothing to the experience and in most cases my friends and I we're all doing our own things. Doing things together became more of a hassle than it was worth and eventually led us to quitting.

I don't know what it is, but I can't play "survival/sandbox" games like these solo. Subnautica was received very well, but I just couldn't get into it for the same reasons.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,044
113,802
Picked this up finally a couple weeks ago. Have about 60 hours invested in it. I want to say I like the game, and I guess I did for the first 30 hours or so.

But I eventually hit a point where it just became...tedious? When you're trying to establish yourself, it's really fun. But eventually you realize the sentinels aren't actually a threat. You can hide easily; but even fighting they're all pretty worthless. But eventually you have to hide because there's no end to it. Weather is just an annoyance to wait it out because even with 2 modules on your suit against that weather type, they drain in 20 seconds.

The story was enjoyable. Weird and existential, but enjoyable. Once I finished though, I'm just like...wait, what? I just start over with all my shit?

I easily have more money than I can use. By the time I even got a farm setup for making fusion ignitors I didn't even need the money. So I don't even bother harvesting it. I had makeshift bases until starting over in Eissentam. Found a nice Earth-like planet and made a base, but there wasn't really a point. The NPC's don't do anything once you finish their quests, I barely need base storage anymore because of the aforementioned "I have everything," and my farm is worthless (this includes outposts for things like minerals and gasses). I started working on maxing all my inventory slots, but when you realize you can just warp to new galaxies and buy it, it just gets tedious. I have more inventory slots than I know what to do with.

I farmed (sat at a station waiting for a good version) a good starship and maxed it out easily.

Honestly, I'm just doing the living ship now, but each step is time gated 24 hours so I'm getting pretty annoyed. I also don't seem to get those 1200 quicksilver weekend nexus missions, so I'm not even bothering with buying cool cosmetics.

So yeah. I'm just sitting here wondering wtf I'm supposed to do. Feels like the complaints people had years ago of "every planet is kind of the same, but different."

I really want to like this game. And I kind of do. Just seems shallow.
 

Gankak

Vyemm Raider
4,010
2,754
Picked this up finally a couple weeks ago. Have about 60 hours invested in it. I want to say I like the game, and I guess I did for the first 30 hours or so.

But I eventually hit a point where it just became...tedious? When you're trying to establish yourself, it's really fun. But eventually you realize the sentinels aren't actually a threat. You can hide easily; but even fighting they're all pretty worthless. But eventually you have to hide because there's no end to it. Weather is just an annoyance to wait it out because even with 2 modules on your suit against that weather type, they drain in 20 seconds.

The story was enjoyable. Weird and existential, but enjoyable. Once I finished though, I'm just like...wait, what? I just start over with all my shit?

I easily have more money than I can use. By the time I even got a farm setup for making fusion ignitors I didn't even need the money. So I don't even bother harvesting it. I had makeshift bases until starting over in Eissentam. Found a nice Earth-like planet and made a base, but there wasn't really a point. The NPC's don't do anything once you finish their quests, I barely need base storage anymore because of the aforementioned "I have everything," and my farm is worthless (this includes outposts for things like minerals and gasses). I started working on maxing all my inventory slots, but when you realize you can just warp to new galaxies and buy it, it just gets tedious. I have more inventory slots than I know what to do with.

I farmed (sat at a station waiting for a good version) a good starship and maxed it out easily.

Honestly, I'm just doing the living ship now, but each step is time gated 24 hours so I'm getting pretty annoyed. I also don't seem to get those 1200 quicksilver weekend nexus missions, so I'm not even bothering with buying cool cosmetics.

So yeah. I'm just sitting here wondering wtf I'm supposed to do. Feels like the complaints people had years ago of "every planet is kind of the same, but different."

I really want to like this game. And I kind of do. Just seems shallow.

I got to the same point with the game. There was only so much base building I could do before i was just bored of it all. I also got stupid rich by finding an S class activated iriduim node and setting up mining on it and just selling the ore.
 

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
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The main use for money really is upgrading your ships to max slots. That shit gets stupid expensive if you don't have the slot upgrade modules.
 
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Valderen

Space Pirate
<Bronze Donator>
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I started this again over the weekend after not playing since a few months after release.

The amount of content and quality of life stuff they've added for free since release is pretty amazing. Game is finally caught up with the release promises.

This is really the epitome of what a sandbox game is though, once you've gone through the few main and side quests, it's all about just doing things for the sake of doing things. You set up your own goals and go on from there.

I started a new game since I was only 15 hours in on my previous game, already over 20 hours now and still having a blast, I totally forgot about the main quest for now.

I've been wandering around basically trying to find Drop Pods to expand my ExoSuit inventory since it's so expansive "for me" right now. Inventory management is one of thing that annoys me the most in any game, so focusing on that for now. I got the Expanded section maxed out, need 7 more Technology space, and 8 or so of General.

Once this is done, I'll focus more of exploration to learn the languages, and find Salvaged Data to learn new Blueprints.

Objectives in no particular order.

  • Finish the main quest and side quest.
  • Built a base with all the cool stuff involved
  • Built all the ExoCrafts
  • Built the ExoMech
  • Get a few ships, S Class Hauler, and S Class Fighter at least
  • Get a Living Ship
  • Built a decent fleet
  • Try to complete all Milestones
  • Get an S Class Multi-tool
  • Have fun
I'm actively trying to avoid reading guides, I just want to play as blindly as possible and enjoy the ride as long as I can. The game is very chill and relaxing to play.

The multiplayer aspect is seriously lacking, as mentioned before there is NO benefit to playing with someone else. Hopefully they'll address this in the future. They could add activities that require more than 1 player to accomplish. Just something as simple as a building requiring 2 buttons to be pushed at the same time to open a door, or a new type of node that requires 2 people to mine it, either with their multi-tool, or a new vehicle that requires 2 people to operate. I think it would be fairly easy to implement without really changing the core game.

All in all I'm impressed with the improvement they've made, they mentioned they had big plans for 2020, hopefully they deliver, looking at the updates they did since release, no reason not to expect something cool. My #1 feature would be actual multiplayer gameplay.
 

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
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11,935
Ya, it's a very sandbox game. You really need to make your own goals or you'll eventually get bored. Trying to find a "perfect" planet with awesome terrain for a base is always a good one. Trying to get a S class freighter that looks good is very hard. I eventually settled for an A-class one with 1 cargo slot shy of max slots and was a green&black Star Destroyer look.
 

Valderen

Space Pirate
<Bronze Donator>
4,437
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I'm utterly addicted to this game now for the past few weeks. Up to over 80 hours, and not even remotely getting bored yet.

I managed to complete the main quest, weirdly interesting story. Enjoyed it.

I maxed out the 3 tabs of my inventory, makes such a big difference, I hate inventory management, and at the beginning, you have so little space that it made it hard for me to enjoy the game.

I farmed Nanites (doing missions, looting everything, and selling upgrade modules I have, or don't want). I got enough that I was able to purchase all the technology blueprints for Exosuit, Exocraft, Starship and Multi-tools available at the Nexus. So now I need to get S Class Upgrade Modules, so more Nanites farming, well not really farming as I just get them looting and completing missions as I do other stuff rather than being the focus.

I also farmed Salvaged Tech so I could learn the crafting recipes available at the Nexus, I am not done with this, but got the most important stuff. I still need all of the Basic Wood and Concrete recipes, and all the Decals. I have most of everything else though.

I manage to find a S Class Hauler with 48 Slots, and only missing 6 Technology slots, I had 2 Storage Slot thingy to upgrade the ship, so only missing 4 more to get my ship to 48/14 and maxed out. It's not the best looking ship around but it's doing the job. :)

I fleet is doing pretty good, got an A Class Freighter with 32 slots, so lots of room to improve there. Also missing a lot of Freighter Blueprints that you can buy with Freighter Salvaged Tech, I really want the Matter Beam that allows me to teleport inventory items from Exosuit to freighter inventory if in the same system. I do have 30 Frigates now in my Fleet though, making about 7-12M a day in Units alone, not counting the materials they bring back.

I built all the Exocraft, I love the Submarine, it's totally useful. The others I found to be a disappointment, mostly due that I don't like how they control. I still generally just jetpack around rather than using them. I hope they tweak the controls so they are more fun to use, or maybe installing all the tech and upgrade modules improves them. I haven't used the ExoMech yet since I just got it.

I found a pretty good planet, and started on my base. That stuff is fun. There's ton of modules and gadgets, I'm about halfway done now. A friend got a cool one built around a network of caves, which gave me tons of idea for a next one. This one is just in a very scenic spot.

I still have lots I want to do. I only have 1 starship, I want at least a fighter, I'd liked to get a Living Ship but not sure how to get started on that yet. I still have to locate an exotic ship too.

The amount of time where I feel I do nothing, and make no progress and find out 3-4 hours have passed is ridiculous.

I can't wait to get home and continue the work on my base. :)
 
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Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
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11,935
Living Ship you get by buying the egg at the nexis (costs like 3k quicksilver, which you earn from the weekly events). You then fly around at pulse engine speed in a system until you get hailed, then some living ship appears and starts the quest line. Takes RL time to progress some parts. There is also a trick you can use to reroll the living ship you get if you want to try for a certain look or better stats (vids on YouTube). They also upgrade differently than regular ships and use different fuels.

Exotics are tough to get. Best bet is to chill out in a high economy station or trade post to see if one lands, I’ve never seen a crashed one you can salvage. I have an owl ship with insane warp range...over 2k light years in a single jump
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
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I wish I could find enjoyment in single-player sandbox games outside of the strategy genre. Kenshi and Mount and Blade style sandbox games I love playing solo, but stuff like No Man's Sky I find incredibly unsatisfying by myself.
 

Pancreas

Vyemm Raider
1,121
3,808
I played the crap out of this a month or two ago.

I found an exotic red squid ship at a starport. Except, it was flying away when I saw it...

So I hoped into my ship and chased it. I followed it out into orbit, past 3 groups of pirates and back down to the surface at a different port where I bought it. Took like 10 minutes of following.

Also, scraping ships is the easiest way to max out your ship slots.

Costs about 60 million credits total and a few hours to do. You buy every a rank A or higher shuttle and small fighter you find and immediately scrap them for credits and mods. Sell the scrap for credits, and sell the mods for nanites, but keep the storage augmentations.

Each augment increases your storage by 1 in either ship inventory or tech slot tabs.

You can buy slots with credits until they feel too expensive, I got lazy and kept buying them until they were a few million each. Then it's pretty much cheaper to scrap ships.

S rank ships give 3 augements every time. Do doing this in a 3 economy system is necessary for sanity preservation, and in a Vy'keen system for increased number of fighters spawned.

If you simply buy all the slots it costs a few billion credits, the last slot is like 300 million alone.

The maximum number of slots is dictated by the ship's base class. S rank always goes to 48 inventory and 18? Tech... it's three full rows.

You recover most of the purchase price of a ship when it's scrapped... it's like 90%. So a 3 million credit ship costs you 300,000 to scrap but you potentially get augments worth millions.

The quickest way to get ships to scrap is to bounce back and forth between a systems orbital station and a starport directly below it. Each time you arrive at the starport you will get 4-5 ships to spawn. Buy the good ones then fly back up and scrap em. Grab anything worthwhile that comes into the station, then head back down.

When I finished maxing out my exotic I had 50,000 nanites to boot. Bought every mod and blue print and had lots to spare.

It does kill that part of the game really quick though. My exotic ended up better in every way than anything else and I didn't have a need to check ship stats anymore.
 

Khane

Got something right about marriage
19,785
13,293
This may ruin the game for you but travelling from space station to space station and simply selling and then re-buying Chlorine (only works if the merchant sells Chlorine) or other high price elements while also searching all the tables in each space station for nanites/augments is the fastest way to "farm". You can also pick up easy bounties at each station and then knock them all out in one shot as soon as you have enough of the same type to make it worthwhile.

Make sure to check for S tier items/ships while you do it.

Of course. Doing this will vastly cut down on your enjoyment of that portion of the game, though there are plenty of other time wasters like base building and ship/freighter building/searching
 

Pancreas

Vyemm Raider
1,121
3,808
There is a very convoluted process to checking weapon cabinets for high rank weapons.

S rank weapons only spawn in tier 3 economies.

Each planet and space station has its own pool of weapons it generates. Everytime you save and then load up on a planet all cabinets you unlock until you go through a another loading screen will draw from that pool.

So you can discover and mark a bunch of cabinets spread around a system. Do a full save somewhere. Then quicksave and load on each planet, checking all the discovered cabinets each time.

The weapon pools are pretty small so you see repeats often.

The first system you start in tends to have a high chance of a max slot or almost max slot tool it seems.

A 23 or 24 slot tool, even if it's b rank is better than any non max slot tool.

My starter system wound up spawning a 24 slot A rank exotic and I never needed to upgrade after that.
 

Mist

Eeyore Enthusiast
<Gold Donor>
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The fastest way I found to get credits was just stealing from NPC freighters by blowing up the cargo pods. Hitting the cargo pods doesn't incur a reputation penalty as long as you don't actually attack the ships.
 

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
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11,935
Good way to get freighter modules as well. Usually I would pirate their asses then fly into the space station to escape the sents.
 

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,044
113,802
The freighter thing I was instantly soured on when I found out you have to repair your frigates every mission they run. And that means physically landing on it, running around, and repairing every god damn thing...with the added bonus of trying not to fall off.

Fuck that. What a dumb shit concept. You have these massive, crewed ships, but the guy who owns the fucking thing is fixing it? Wut?

Also, by the time I even got into it, money was completely worthless to me. I mentioned before by the time I setup all my farms for making cash, it was also worthless. Basically, it's a sandbox, but all the stuff you can do is meaningless.
 

Denaut

Trump's Staff
2,739
1,279
I wish I could find enjoyment in single-player sandbox games outside of the strategy genre. Kenshi and Mount and Blade style sandbox games I love playing solo, but stuff like No Man's Sky I find incredibly unsatisfying by myself.

I'm in the same boat as you. I don't begrudge people for what they find as "fun" but NMS is all tedium and no decision-making. Games that make you do lots of repetitive things without having to execute with skill (e.g. a brawler) or make some sort of tactical or strategic decision (e.g. a strategy game) I find monumentally boring and nearly unplayable.
 
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Valderen

Space Pirate
<Bronze Donator>
4,437
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A lot of these quick way to make money, or nanites for me kind of defeat the purpose of the game. Since when you have tons of money and nanties, a big part of the game is gone. That’s just me though.

I won’t disagree that a lot of what you do in the game is fairly meaningless, NMS is a true sandbox, in a way you play for the sake of playing, and make objectives for yourself as there is really no point to the game. I have fun, but definitely can understand why someone wouldn’t.

I find it a nice change of pace from the more regular games, it’s very relaxing. :)
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
<Gold Donor>
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I'm in the same boat as you. I don't begrudge people for what they find as "fun" but NMS is all tedium and no decision-making. Games that make you do lots of repetitive things without having to execute with skill (e.g. a brawler) or make some sort of tactical or strategic decision (e.g. a strategy game) I find monumentally boring and nearly unplayable.
I absolutely love how grandiose and relaxing "survival" type sandbox games can be. ARK, Conan, Citadel, etc. are all a blast to play...with friends. I don't know if it's the need to "share" in community style projects(a giant base you all collaborate on), the sharing aspect of resource pooling, or what, but I just can't find enjoyment in "building" style survival games while solo.

NMS just stands out to me because it does such a horrible job of allowing you to incorporate friends into your game.
 

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
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11,935
A lot of these quick way to make money, or nanites for me kind of defeat the purpose of the game. Since when you have tons of money and nanties, a big part of the game is gone. That’s just me though.

This is very true. When I learned tricks to get 2 billion units easy and max out everything with low effort, it did dilute the drive to play. In a game with few goals, doing stuff like that removes most of them too quickly.