No Man's Sky has come a long way since its turbulent, initial release in 2016. Many games that suffered disastrous launches fade away never to be heard from again, but Hello Games' epic space odyssey has endured and continues to receive regular updates, fixing bugs and issues and adding new content.
No Man's Sky: Best Ship Weapons, Ranked
No Man's Sky players have access to a range of great ship weapons. Some, however, are simply much better than others.
With all the new mechanics and possibilities, there is a steep learning curve, and it can take players a while to learn everything and work out their preferred playstyle. Base building is an integral part of No Man's Sky and learning how to efficiently use the game's construction mode will save a lot of time, resources, and headaches.
Updated on August 29, 2024 by Rhenn Taguiam: With No Man’s Sky Worlds teasing some of the biggest changes in No Man’s Sky since its release, fans can now enjoy a more immersive space-faring experience with better visuals, planetary diversity, and other gameplay features that will help them truly make a mark in the galaxy. For builders, this means even more opportunities to create more stunning bases for their characters. However, players of No Man’s Sky who are just venturing into creating their first bases might do something they wouldn’t realize can affect their overall enjoyment of the base-building mechanics. Among must-avoid things to do when creating a base include skipping the data on the planet, building after digging, missing out on glitch-building techniques, and forgetting to have fun.
Don’t Forget To Have Fun
A Base Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect
With the game boasting as much as 18 quintillion planets, players of No Man’s Sky should be in no hurry to create “the perfect” base wherever they decide to build one. There’s always the likelihood that players will encounter a better planet - not just in size or resources, but perhaps even in the geography that fits the intended purpose of the base they’re currently working on.
Players working on their first few planets should consider focusing on thinking of a “theme” and roleplay their way around making the base work. Even if they don’t build the perfect base, encountering mishaps and things they have to “repair” occasionally can give players something to do whenever they log in, especially if they want a more leisurely experience. Fixing mistakes they encounter while working on these bases can also give players some insights on how they can build more efficient bases in the future.
Don’t Skip Planet Info
Check What Kind Of Resources The Planet Has In Store
Before players start building a base, they have to make sure the planet in question will provide some use for them. Not only is it because they will likely use the planet’s resources to build the base anyway, but the longevity of their stay is determined by how helpful the planet will turn out in the long run. Before players waste any more time on a useless planet, they need to check out its information to see its potential for base-building.
Aside from resources, players should look for Salvageable Scrap and Damaged Machinery. Afterwards, they should check if Buried Technology Modules are near these locations. These should help players with their grinding objectives.
Don’t Try To Build After Digging
Terrain Regenerates And Might Cover The Base
Unlike other base-building games, No Man’s Sky has some of the most in-depth building processes that allow players to live out their space colony fantasies. Be it designs that resemble Star Trek structures or sophisticated Star Wars architecture, the flexibility in No Man Sky’s offerings leaves a lot to the imagination. However, players must consider an essential element when building their bases: not build a base after digging a location.
While the prospect of a bunker-esque base falls within the line of real-life considerations of space colonization, the game’s physics don’t work this way. When players dig a hole on the ground, the game eventually “repairs” this and regenerates the land over time. At the least, players might suddenly encounter grass inside their base. Unfortunately, worst-case scenarios involve the whole base being buried under dirt.
Don’t Skip Glitch-Building
Abuse The Game’s Physics For Awesome Bases
One of the most daunting gameplay mechanics players discovered in No Man’s Sky is glitch-building, capitalizing on existing glitches in the game to force pieces to get stuck together when it’s conventionally unallowed. Think of this as the no-snap mechanic in The Sims 4 house-building, but applied on a larger scale. There are many guides to glitch-building and different ways to exploit certain parts of the map, but the most common ones are:
- Wire Glitch: This lets players “switch” the placement of two parts, even in unstable locations. Use the Build Menu to select the part to be placed and enter Wire Mode. Move the cursor to the area where the part should be placed. Use both buttons that exit Wire Mode and put the part simultaneously. The part should be transferred there.
- Universal Adjacency Glitch: Use the Build Menu to select the piece to the immediate side of the part the players want to move. Position the piece to the desired location of the intended part. Press simultaneously the buttons that select the next piece in place and place the part. The intended part should be transferred instead of the selected adjacent piece. This lets players center a half-ramp or turn other objects upside down.
- Color Glitch: This lets players color a separate piece using the color of a previous piece. Edit any piece that accepts the desired color and leave Edit Mode without leaving the Build Menu. Select the other piece where the color should be placed, and place that instead. The color of the first piece should be applied to the second piece.
Mind Base Building Limits
Consider The Hard Limit For Bases
While No Man's Sky gameplay allows players to create multiple bases across the galaxy to store their valuable items and resources, the game does set a hard limit per play on how much of the galaxy they can populate with their settlements. It's important to consider these limits when building multiple bases, or even just one grand base on a planet. Here are some numbers to consider should players consider being architects in No Man's Sky:
- Number of Bases (per save): 402, including one Freighter and one Planetary Settlement
- Base Objects (per save) 16,000
- Component Upload (per base): 3,000
Going For An All-Around Base
Use Harvesters To Build Bases For Specific Materials
Much like how a ship in No Man's Sky is the go-to exploration vehicle for any player, there's the implication that a base is the home players come back to for relaxation after a busy day adventuring. As such, there's a tendency to build a base that fulfills all-around functionalities for players. While this is a perfectly viable reason to build a base, this may cause unnecessary stress on the part of players to find "the right" planet with just enough resources to last them for years but also safe enough to stay for prolonged periods of time.
Instead of focusing too much on building a do-it-all base, players should instead assign functions to specific bases they build. Thanks to Harvesters, players can theoretically create bases specifically to help them collect specific materials for both trade and construction. This way, players can create small but purposeful bases around the galaxy, with clusters of mini-settlements they can stay safe in along the way.
Getting Creative With Half-Items Can Get Annoying
There's No Consistent Way Of Getting Half-Items To Snap In Place
Once players have enough units in No Man's Sky, it can get tempting to just showcase their wealth in an awesome crib with complex parts. However, much like how it takes experimenting to pull off unique structures in The Sims, so too does it take a lot of testing to get certain base elements in No Man's Sky correctly. It's been a known problem for the game to not work consistently with half-width stairs, half-panels, and even ramps.
There are ways to "snap" them in place, usually in the form of temporary ceilings, walls, and floors that are removed when finalizing the build. However, the experimentation required to figure out which temporary parts hold these elements in place can waste the player's time, making it more practical to just opt for whole structures when combining base elements.
Weather Still Affects Two-Storey Bases
Too Big Of An Inside Space Counts As Outside
Despite the in-depth base-building mechanics that exist in No Man's Sky, the rather flexible nature of this feature can lead to some wonky effects should players opt for extremely grandiose bases. At its core, one problem players have with the current housing system is how weather can still affect the inside of their base - defeating the purpose of building a base in the first place. This problem often occurs when players have two-storey bases, especially when each storey is taller than the game's hidden limit.
As fans have noticed, the rule of thumb for weather not affecting bases would be two walls high for any vertical structure. In the case of multi-tiered bases, any storey in the player's base should only be two walls high and should be followed by flooring or roofing.
Going Big Too Fast
Base Management Can Get Complicated In Large, Unplanned Spaces
With the game’s New Settlements update allowing players to create bases that occupy up to 1000u of space, it’s extremely tempting to maximize land as early as possible. However, newcomers to base building in their No Man’s Sky gameplay may want to consider building their base in a smaller patch of land before expanding to cover larger portions.
No Man's Sky Memes That Are Too Hilarious For Words
No Man's Sky has gone a long way toward redemption - that doesn't mean we can't laugh at some memes in the process.
Similar to a city builder, players should ensure that their small area is sustainable before expanding, so they can easily identify issues to fix along the way. This “slow but sure” process allows players to make a functioning base where they understand all components, which they can then use as a basis for a larger base in a new location.
Forgetting Hotspots
Hotspots Can Provide Limitless Energy
Electricity plays a crucial role in base management in No Man’s Sky gameplay, with equipment requiring a set amount of power in order to function. Unfortunately, finding locations with a stable source of electricity can be tricky when building a base for the first time, and skipping out on Power Hotspots can ruin a base’s long-term survival.
In the game, Hotspots supply an infinite amount of electricity. To secure this beneficial location, players need to upgrade their Analysis Visor with the Survey Device in order to activate Surveying Mode. It’s through this special interface that players can detect hidden terrain resources, which include Power Hotspots. Players know they’re near a Power Hotspot once they detect electromagnetic radiation in the form of pulsing signals, with the Hotspots themselves marked by lightning bolt symbols.