One of the most common questions new No Man's Sky players ask after they get tired of their clunky starting hauler is can you steal ships in No Man's Sky. The short answer is a little more complicated than a straight yes or no, because the game has very specific rules around what counts as claiming a vessel vs outright stealing that will get you in trouble with local system factions. I’ve spent hundreds of hours hopping across star systems testing every trick to get better ships, so I’m breaking down exactly what’s allowed, what’s not, and how to get the best possible vessels for your fleet without wasting units or getting attacked by sentinels.
Can You Steal Ships in No Man's Sky: What Counts as Illegal Vessel Takeover?
First, it's important to draw the line between permitted claiming and actual stealing as defined by the game's rules. The game does not let you permanently take a ship that is still actively owned by an NPC, no matter how much you want its cool design or high stats. You will never get a faction penalty for claiming an abandoned or crashed ship, as these are considered unowned by the game's systems.
If you try to force your way into an occupied NPC ship, or take an NPC's parked ship while they are away from the cockpit, you will face immediate consequences. Attempting to force entry into an occupied NPC ship will immediately trigger a 2-star wanted level, and sentinel drones will spawn to attack you until you either flee the system or lose them by hiding in a building or cave. Even if you manage to take off with the ship, you will not be able to register it to your fleet, so you'll lose access to it as soon as you dock somewhere or switch to another ship.
Sentinel ships are the one exception to the "no taking occupied ships" rule. If you disable a sentinel interceptor during combat on a corrupted planet, you are allowed to claim it as your own with no penalties, as the game considers it a spoil of war rather than stolen property.
How to Legally Claim New Ships Without Stealing
There are plenty of legitimate ways to build out your ship fleet without breaking any in-game rules, and most of them are accessible even to new players who don't have a huge stock of units saved up. These methods are all approved by the game, so you won't have to worry about faction standing drops or sentinel attacks for using them:
- Find crashed ships on planetary surfaces: These are marked with distress beacons you can pick up with your ship scanner, and you can repair them with common resources to add to your fleet for free.
- Trade with NPCs at space stations or trading outposts: If you have enough units or a good trade-in ship, you can purchase any ship an NPC has docked at the platform, no questions asked.
- Disable and claim sentinel interceptor ships: Fight off sentinel patrols on corrupted planets, disable the interceptor when it lands, and you can claim it as your own with no penalty.
- Claim freighters after saving them from pirate attacks: When you get a freighter distress call while warping between systems, fend off the attacking pirates and the captain will offer you the freighter for free the first time you do this.
Most players aim for the largest possible ship inventory to carry more resources, trade goods, and crafting materials without having to make frequent trips back to their freighter. High-tier S-class ships can have extremely large inventories, and dedicated players often track down specialized guides to find ships with top-tier slot layouts, including options that offer 567 SLOTS for players who want the maximum possible storage for long, cross-galaxy exploration runs. S-class ships always have better slot layouts than lower tier A, B, or C class ships of the same model, so it's worth holding out for a higher tier version of any ship design you really like.
What Happens If You Try to Steal an Occupied Ship?
I tested this myself early on in my playthrough because I saw an S-class fighter docked at a space station and couldn't afford its 12 million unit price tag. I waited for the NPC pilot to walk away from the ship, hopped in the cockpit, and tried to take off. As soon as I pulled away from the docking platform, I got a 2-star wanted level, and three sentinel ships spawned to attack me immediately. I couldn't warp out of the system because the wanted level blocked my warp drive, and I ended up dying before I could find a place to hide.
Even if you do manage to escape the sentinels, you won't be able to keep the ship. When you dock at another station or switch to one of your other registered ships, the stolen NPC ship will disappear forever, and you'll have no way to get it back without trading for it properly. You cannot permanently keep any NPC-owned ship you try to take without trading for it first, so it's never worth the hassle of dealing with the wanted level and possible death.
That said, if you're just messing around in creative mode, you can take any ship you want with no consequences. Creative mode turns off all faction penalties and sentinel attacks, so you can test out any ship design you like before you go through the work of claiming it in survival or permadeath mode.
Tips to Get the Best Possible Ships for Your Fleet
If you're looking to build out a fleet of high-tier ships without wasting time or units, there are a few simple tricks that will make the process way faster. The first tip is to check every space station you visit, as NPCs spawn with random ship types and tiers every time you load into the station. You can reload your save at the station entrance if you don't see any ships you like, and a whole new set of NPCs will spawn with different ships.
If you're hunting for crashed ships, use an exocraft scanner to find distress beacons faster. The exocraft scanner can pick up crash sites from much farther away than your standard player scanner, so you won't have to wander around the planet on foot for hours looking for a ship. You can also use navigation data to buy distress signal maps from space station cartographers, which will mark a crashed ship location directly on your HUD.
If you don't have enough units to buy the ship you want, you can trade in your current ship to cover most of the cost. You can exchange ships with NPCs even if you don't have enough units, as long as your current trade-in ship covers most of the cost, so you can upgrade your ship gradually over time instead of saving up for one big purchase. For players who prefer combat, sentinel interceptors have some of the best damage and shield stats in the game, and you can claim them for free as long as you can win the fight against them.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you steal ships in No Man's Sky depends entirely on what you define as stealing. Taking abandoned, crashed, or defeated sentinel ships is completely allowed and encouraged by the game's systems, but trying to take an NPC's occupied ship will only cause you headaches and won't reward you with a permanent new vessel. Stick to the legal claiming methods, and you'll build out a fleet of powerful, high-capacity ships in no time, no faction penalties required.
