Updated:
29 Dec 2022
When it comes to No Man’s Sky, everyone starts with the same broken down ship on a somewhat abandoned planet. However, you aren’t stuck with that ship forever. Perhaps you’re tired of your current ship and want to upgrade or you just want another ship. Regardless of your reasoning, I’m here to help. There’s a multitude of ways to gather new ships and many different kinds of ships but today, I’ll be counting down the top 10 ships in No Man’s Sky and where to get them. Note: Most, if not all, of these require you to use a portal in the starter galaxy.
10) The Freighter
No Man’s Sky - Freighter Purchase & Tour + Space Battle - Foundation Update
- The freighter can be found in just about any star system. If they aren’t in yours yet, just wait around and you’ll see about twenty ships come at warp all at once, among them is the freighter. This is no small ship, rather it’s a giant starship capable of carrying, I believe, nine starships in its docking bay, though the max you’re allowed to own is only 6 (as of this writing).
- Along with the ship docking privileges, the freighter comes with increased storage. Each cargo slot (which, depending on the type of freighter, can range anywhere from 14 to 48 total slots) can hold up to 1,000 units, double the amount in your regular starship and four times the amount of your exosuit. That’s not all that’s awesome about this ship, either.
- It serves as a portable base, quite literally. No matter where you left it, even if it’s systems away, you can call it to your location in your current star system and it will appear, whether that be next to your starship while in space or in the atmosphere of the planet you’re currently on. You can build specialty stations (such as construction, science, or weapons, to name a few) in your portable base. It serves all the purposes of a planet-made base, only in space and with more storage.
- And finally, the coolest part of the freighter: it comes with, essentially, a swarm of frigates (the other ships that spawn in around it) that you can send out on missions to trade, collect, and sell things, among other purposes. They also defend your freighter when under attack, which, given the vast amount of pirate spawns in star systems, is entirely likely to happen.
How To Get The Freighter:
- Like I said, you can find a freighter in just about any star system (even your starting one!). Getting a freighter is quite simple, all you have to do is board and go talk to the captain - and, of course, shell over quite a few millions of units. Once you have enough money, it’s really just as simple as buying it off the captain. The hardest part will be the gathering of enough units - I’ve seen freighters go for hundreds of millions of units and they weren’t even S-Class (the best class of ship in the game).
9) The Squid (Common White Squid)
How to Find The Best White Squid Exotic Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The squid ship comes in two different varieties: a white squid or a tiger squid ship. The tiger squid ship is rather rare to find but not impossible. I’ll be talking about both of them but first, the white one.
- The stats of the white squid are +47% damage, +57% shields, +61% hyperdrive, all of which can be customized to your specific style of gameplay.
- The white squid, depending on how lucky you get with the spawn, has 6 technology slots and 20 general slots (general slots are where your cargo will go).
- The white squid costs 12,000,000 (twelve million) units. Quite pricey but it is an S-Class ship (an S-Class is the best class of ship you can get) so it’s rather worth it.
How To Get The White Squid:
- You'll need all 16 glyphs (you get these by talking to Fellow Travellers at the space stations - they look different to all the other aliens so they're easy to find. All you have to do is ask them where they're from, which will cost you 100 nanites, and then go to that location. That location is always a grave and that grave will you give you a glyph) and a portal (this can be found by going to a monolith, which will give you a riddle and then one of the options is "find portal location." In order to find the portal, you'll need race-specific items to locate the portal - for example, if you're in a Gek system, you'll need nip nip buds and if you're in a Korvac system, you'll need a convergence cube) to get to the location of the squid ship, regardless of if it's the white one or the tiger squid ship.
- Once you have the portal, all you need to do is activate it. Easy as pie. Once it’s activated, all you have to do is put in the coordinates: Bird, Sunrise, Boat, Dragonfly, Sunrise, Dinosaur, Hot-Air Balloon, Hot-Air Balloon, Boat, Teepee, Moon, and the Starship. Put those in, in that order, and the portal will take you where you need to go.
- Once you’re through the portal, make sure you have the ship you want to trade in (if you’re maxed) or that you have the amount of units you’ll need to get the ship and go to the space station.
- As soon as you get to the space station, hop out and reload your save. The white squid is a first-wave ship (not exclusively a first-wave but unless you feel like waiting around for what could be hours, this is the best option) and by the time you get there, the first-wave will have already come and gone. So get out of your ship and then reload the save to get that first-wave round of ships. Once you reload, don’t move! It should make it the first ship to appear - if you move, it could mess up the random-number generator and make you have to wait longer.
- The white squid will show up, you talk to the owner, and then you can buy the ship off of them! Hand over the units (and possibly your ship, if you’re trading) and bam! Now you’re the proud new owner of the white squid ship!
8) The Squid (Rare Tiger Squid)
How to Find The Rare Tiger Squid Exotic Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The tiger squid gets its own ranking because it has slightly different stats to the white one and because of how rare it is.
- The tiger squid has +49% damage, +59% shields, and +60% hyperdrive capabilities.
- The tiger squid, like the white squid, has 6 technology slots and 20 general slots (again, this is all based on your luck with the spawn).
- The tiger squid costs a whopping 12,000,000 (twelve million) units - but if you’re trading your ship, you will have a trade in value which could lower that price by millions.
How To Get The Tiger Squid
- Much like with the white squid, all you need is a portal and the glyphs (explanation already given on how to get those above). It’s super easy to find a monolith and go from there.
- Once you have the portal, all you need to do is activate it. Easy as pie. Once it’s activated, all you have to do is put in the coordinates: Sunrise, Sunrise, Starship, A Boat, The Triforce, Hot-Air Balloon, Triforce, Triforce, Triforce, Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise. Once you walk through, just like with the white squid, you’re going to get in your ship and fly to the space station. Again, make sure (if you’re maxed) that it’s the ship you want to trade. If you’re not maxed, prepare to shell over a lot of units for this badboy.
- Once you get to space station, just like with the white squid, hop out of your ship and a restore point will be saved. Then reload the save as the tiger ship is a first-wave ship and the time it took you to get there means the first-wave has already come and gone. This is important! Make sure you reload the save!
- With the save reloaded, just like with the white squid, do not move! This could mess up the random-number generator and make you have to wait longer for the ship to appear.
- Make sure the slots look like what you want them to look like, continue to reload your save until you get the stats and the slots that best suit your mode of gameplay.
- After that, you just hand over the units (price listed above) and bam! The ship is yours!
7) Marvel of the Itakan (Crashed)
How to Find the Best S Class Hauler | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The Marvel of the Itakan is the best of the best, being an S-Class (I believe every ship I write about in this article is an S-Class, all except for the freighter - but you can get an S-Class freighter if you’re lucky). It has the highest stats for its type and the most capacity.
- The stats of the Itakan are +19% damage, +56% shield, and +30% hyperdrive. I know what you’re thinking - not as good as the squid. That’s because these stats are exclusive to the type of ship the Itakan is: a hauler.
- The Marvel of the Itakan comes with 48 general slots and 8 technology slots. This is really good.
- It’s worth a whopping 126,000,000 (one hundred twenty six million) units - don’t worry, you won’t be paying that! Because it’s crashed, you get it for free! All you have to do is fix it up.
How To Get The Marvel of the Itakan:
- You’ll need a portal and the glyphs for this one (explanation on those has already been given). Once you get to the portal, put in these coordinates, in this order: Sunrise, Sunrise, Boat, Sunrise, Sunrise, Dinosaur, Triforce, Triforce, Dragonfly, Triforce, Triforce, and Octagon.
- Once you walk through the portal, hop in your starship. Look at the console in the left-hand corner, you should see “Einheit 211” and some coordinates. This is important. You need to fly to +20.88, +153.21.
- Once you get to those coordinates, you’ll see the ship. All you need to do is claim it as your own and fix it up with the materials on the planet (or the materials you brought with you, if you thought ahead).
- Bam! Now you own the Marvel of the Itakan! Enjoy your new ship.
6) Utsub’s Magnificent Protector (Crashed)
How to Find the Rarest and Best Fighter Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The Utsub’s Magnificent Protector is also an S-Class ship.
- The Utsub’s Magnificent Protector’s stats are +48% damage, +17% shields, and +6% hyperdrive (classic for a fighter).
- The Utsub’s Magnificent Protector has 38 general slots and 12 technology slots. This is really good for a fighter.
- This ship is worth 57,500,000 (fifty seven million, five hundred thousand) units.
How To Get The Utsub’s Magnificent Protector:
- Like the others, you’ll need a portal and the glyphs. Activate your portal and put in these coordinates: Sunrise, Sunrise, Triforce, Beetle, Triforce, Beetle, Boat, Dinosaur, Octagon, Ship with Dots, Whale, and Moon.
- Once you walk through the portal, you’ll need to hop in your ship like with the Marvel of the Itakan, and leave the planet. Then you take a right and head towards the gusty planet, it’s a brown planet with big rings around it. You’ll have to use your pulse engine to get there. Once you’ve found the planet, fly to the coordinates +63.21, +0.49. There you will find the crashed fighter ship.
- Now all you have to do is transfer your inventory and claim the fighter as your own. Fix it up and you’re ready to head for the stars.
5) Sleep of Perfection
How to Find The Best Explorer Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The Sleep of Perfection is an S-Class ship, just like the rest of the ships I’ve listed. S-Class is best of the best (as of this writing) and you can’t hope to find anything better.
- This ship has the stats +10% damage, +33% shield, +6% hyperdrive.
- It has 38 general slots and 12 technology slots.
- The Sleep of Perfection is worth 39,000,000 (thirty nine million) units.
How To Get The Sleep of Perfection:
- Like the others, you’ll need a portal and all the glyphs. At this point in writing this article, I’m almost certain that it’s a necessity for all S-Class ships. Once you’ve activated the portal, put in these coordinates: Sunrise, Sunrise, Hot-Air Balloon, Black Hole, Bird, Beetle, Starship, Ship with Dots, Beetle, Octagon, Bird, and Dinosaur.
- Once you’re through the portal, hop in your ship and fly to the space station. This ship, like the squids, is a first-wave ship. So once you get there, hop out so the autosave takes place and then reload your save and don’t move for 45 seconds. If you move, you could mess up the random-number generator, which could make it take longer for the ship to appear.
- Talk to the captain, buy the ship, and bam! It’s all yours! Now you are the proud owner of the Sleep of Perfection.
4) Floating Falcon YX4
How to Find a Rare S Class Exotic Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The Floating Falcon YX4 is, like the rest, an S-Class ship. It’s a rare one, too. Because of how exotic it is, it will always be an S-Class ship.
- It’s stats are +49% damage, +51% shield, and +67% hyperdrive.
- It has 20 general slots and 6 technology slots.
- This ship is worth 7,300,000 (seven million, three hundred thousand) units.
How To Get The Floating Falcon YX4:
- Like always, you’ll need a portal and the glyphs. Once you activate the portal, put in these coordinates: Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise, Triforce, Sunrise, Dragonfly, Starship, Bird, Teepee, Black Hole, Starship, Black Hole.
- Once you’re through the portal, head to the space station. Like the rest that appear at the station, this ship is a first-wave. So remember to hop out of your ship to get that autosave and then reload the save to reset the waves of ships as the first-wave will have already come and gone. Stand there for about 45 seconds so you don’t mess up the random-number generator and it should be one of the first ships to arrive.
- After it appears, all that’s left is to buy it from the previous captain and it’s yours! You now own the super cool looking Floating Falcon YX4.
3) GJ9 Iokina
How to Find a S Class Long Nose Fighter Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- The GJ9 Iokina is an S-Class, just like the rest of the ships I’ve listed. It’s a fighter type ship, not an exoctic, so sometimes you may have to reload the save until an S-Class shows up.
- It’s stats are +49% damage, 32% shields, 5% hyperdrive.
- It has 38 general slots and 12 technology slots.
- It’s worth 57,500,000 (fifty seven million, five hundred thousand) units.
How To Get The GJ9 Iokina:
- Like the rest of the ships, you’ll need a portal and the glyphs. Once you’ve activated that portal, put in the following coordinates: Sunrise, Sunrise, Sunrise, Hot-Air Balloon, Sunrise, Sunrise, Ship with Dots, Triforce, Y-Tree, Black Hole, Starship, and Black Hole. Once the portal is open, just walk on through.
- After you’ve walked through the portal, you’re going to want to hop in your starship. This one is a bit more complicated though as you’ll need the technology called “Economy Scanner” to scan for trading posts. Once you’ve landed, hop out to create an autosave. This is very important as you’ll likely have to reload your save multiple times before one lands.
- Once the right ship has landed, all that’s left for you to do is to talk to the captain and negotiate the sale of the ship. Don’t forget to transfer your items from your previous ship! After all that, the ship is yours!
2) Hawk of the Kegaura
How to Find the Best Long Nose Exotic Ship | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- Like the rest of the ships, this is an S-Class ship. Because it is an exotic, it will always be an S-Class ship, no matter how many times you reload your game.
- It’s stats are +48% damage, +54% shield, +70% hyperdrive.
- It has 20 general slots and 6 technology slots.
- It’s worth 12,000,000 (twelve million) units.
How To Get The Hawk of the Kegaura:
- To get this ship, just like the rest, you’ll need a portal and all the glyphs. Once you’ve activated the portal, put in these coordinates: Sunrise, Bird, Teepee, Starship, Sunrise, Y-Tree, Octagon, Sunrise, Hot-Air Balloon, Y-Tree, Teepee, Triforce.
- Once you’ve walked through the portal, hop in your starship and head for the stars. It’s a first-wave ship so you’ll need to get to the space station. After getting there, hop out of your ship so the autosave takes place and reload your save to guarantee first-wave ships appear.
- Once you’ve reloaded, do not move! You’ll mess up the random-number generator which could lead to you waiting for a long time!
- As soon as the ship lands, just talk to the captain and buy it from them. Now bam, you are the proud new owner of the Hawk of the Kegaura.
1) Ochiura NM4 (Crashed)
How to Find The Best Crashed S Class Hauler | No Man's Sky Synthesis 2020
- This ship, like the rest of them in this article, is an S-Class ship.
- Its stats are +22% damage, +54% shields, +34% hyperdrive.
- It has 48 general slots and 8 technology slots.
- It’s worth 126,000,000 (one hundred twenty six million) units.
How To Get The Ochiura NM4:
- Like the rest of them, you’ll need a portal and the glyphs to get to this one. Once you’ve got that portal activated, put in these coordinates: Sunrise, Sunrise, Moon, Dragonfly, Triforce, Triforce, Y-Tree, Black Hole, Sunrise, Boat, Teepee, Hot-Air Balloon.
- Once out of the portal, you’re going to hop into your starship and set a course for the stars. You’ll be flying to the left out of the atmosphere, towards the vaguely Earth looking planet with rings around it, super close to your current planet.
- After you’ve made it to that planet, you’re gonna fly to these coordinates: -2.27, +64.54. There you will find your crashed ship. Because it’s crashed, you get it totally for free. All you have to do is claim it as your own and repair the broken bits and you’re good to go!
- Now you own the best hauler ship the game has to offer, congratulations!
