I still remember the first time I got stranded on a toxic planet with a beat-up starter ship that could barely make it to the next star system. I spent hours fumbling through menus trying to figure out how to build new ships in No Man’s Sky, only to realize I’d been skipping half the required steps and wasting rare resources on parts I didn’t need. If you’re tired of settling for random ships you find at space stations or trading posts, building your own custom vessel is one of the most rewarding parts of the game. You get to pick every stat, color, and feature, so it fits exactly how you play, whether you’re a deep space explorer, a pirate hunter, or a resource farmer. This guide breaks down the entire process without all the confusing jargon that most walkthroughs throw at new players.
Prerequisites You Need Before You Can Build New Ships in No Man’s Sky
A lot of new players assume they can build ships as soon as they start the game, but that’s not the case. You’ll need to hit a few key milestones first to unlock the required tools and locations for ship building. None of these require grinding for rare materials or beating hard endgame content, so most players will hit these marks within their first 3 to 5 hours of play.
- Completed the "Awakening" main quest line up to the point you unlock the Space Anomaly
- Purchased or claimed your first freighter (you can get a free freighter after your first 3 to 4 warp jumps when you respond to a distress call)
- Unlocked the Ship Construction Terminal from the Construction Research Station on the Space Anomaly
- Collected at least 500 Ferrite Dust, 200 Chromatic Metal, and 100 Microprocessors to build the terminal and basic ship parts
You don’t need an expensive S-class freighter to start building ships, either. The free C-class freighter you get early on comes with enough dry dock space to build up to 3 small ships, which is more than enough for new players. You can upgrade to a larger freighter later if you want to build more vessels or bigger haulers and fighters.
Step-by-Step Process to Build Your First Custom Ship
Once you have your Ship Construction Terminal set up on your freighter’s deck, interacting with it will pull up the full ship building menu. The whole process is intuitive once you know what each section does, so don’t stress if the menu looks overwhelming at first glance.
First, you’ll pick your ship hull type, which determines your base stats, maximum inventory slots, and general shape. There are 6 core hull types: Fighter, Explorer, Hauler, Shuttle, Exotic, and Solar Sail. Fighters have high combat damage and shield stats, Explorers have the best base warp range, and Haulers have the most inventory space for resource farming and trading. New players should stick to Shuttle or Explorer hulls first, since they have the lowest resource cost to build and upgrade.
Next, you’ll add required core components: launch thruster, pulse engine, warp drive, and life support system. You can’t skip any of these, as they’re required for the ship to be flyable. You can swap basic parts for upgraded ones later, so don’t worry if you only have common parts when you first build. Then you can add optional tech that fits your playstyle, like shield boosters, mining laser upgrades, or pirate scanner modules. Leave 15 to 20 empty general inventory slots, though, so you have space to carry resources and loot when you travel.
Last, you get to customize the cosmetics: paint colors, wing shapes, decals, even the sound of your ship’s engines. Cosmetic parts don’t affect performance, so you can mess around with these as much as you want without wasting valuable resources. By the end of this process, you’ll have a fully functional custom ship that you built entirely yourself, which is one of the most unique experiences you can have when learning how to build new ships in No Man’s Sky.
Tips to Get Rare, High-Performance Ship Parts for Your Build
A lot of players build their first ship and are disappointed when its stats are lower than random A or S-class ships they find at trading posts. That’s usually because they’re using basic, common parts instead of rare upgraded components. You don’t have to grind for hundreds of hours to get these parts, though, if you know where to look.
First, you can buy upgraded ship parts from the Ship Technology Merchant on the Space Anomaly. They sell B, A, and S-class components for Nanites, which you can earn by completing missions, scanning undiscovered fauna and flora, or scrapping old technology you don’t use. S-class parts can double or even triple your ship’s core stats like warp range or damage resistance, so it’s worth saving up Nanites for these instead of wasting them on low-tier B-class parts.
You can also find rare S-class parts in reward crates from pirate battles, or from frigate expeditions you send out from your freighter. If you’re playing with friends, they can even gift you extra parts they don’t need, since there’s no limit to trading ship components in multiplayer. One trick I use all the time is scrapping old, low-tier ships I pick up for free at space stations to get rare parts and resources for my custom builds. I once scrapped three old C-class fighters I found randomly, and got enough Chromatic Metal and Uranium to cover 70% of the cost of my first custom Explorer ship.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Building Your New Ship
I made almost every possible mistake when I built my first custom ship, so I know exactly what to watch out for to save you time and resources. First, don’t build more than one ship at a time if you’re low on resources. Each ship build takes a huge amount of rare materials, and spreading yourself thin will leave you with half-finished ships you can’t fly.
Second, don’t ignore the ship’s weight stat. Every part you add adds weight, and too much weight will slow down your pulse engine and increase the amount of fuel you use for launches and warp jumps. If you notice your ship is using twice as much launch fuel as it should, remove a few unnecessary cosmetic parts or swap heavy components for lighter, upgraded versions. It’s also a good idea to test fly your ship as soon as you finish building it, so you can fix any issues before you take it out on a long exploration trip. I once built a ship that looked amazing, but it had such bad weight distribution that it drifted to the left every time I tried to land, and I crashed it three times before I realized I needed to adjust the wing placement.
Third, don’t lock in your tech layout permanently. You can rearrange or swap out tech parts any time you want, so you don’t have to stress about picking the “perfect” layout when you first build. As you unlock better parts or change your playstyle, you can tweak your ship as much as you want without having to rebuild the whole thing from scratch.
Building a custom ship that fits your playstyle is way more satisfying than settling for whatever random vessel you come across while traveling. Once you know how to build new ships in No Man’s Sky, you’ll never have to spend millions of units buying overpriced ships from traders again, and you can tweak your build any time you want as you unlock better parts and resources. Take your time with the process, don’t rush to grind all the materials in one sitting, and don’t be afraid to experiment with weird, fun designs that don’t follow the meta. Some of my favorite custom ships have goofy, lopsided designs that still perform better than any S-class ship I’ve ever found randomly.
