If you’ve ever zipped across a toxic planet in your beat-up starting hauler and spotted a sleek, shiny fighter docked at a trading post, you already know how badly you want to swap your ride. Learning how to change ships in No Man's Sky is one of the most satisfying early-game upgrades you can unlock, and it opens up everything from faster interstellar travel to carrying way more resources for your base builds. I’ve spent hundreds of hours hunting for perfect S-class ships across 12 different galaxies, so I’ve broken down every method you can use, no expensive upgrades or complex exploits required.
How to Change Ships in No Man’s Sky: Core Basic Steps
The core process of swapping your active ship is far simpler than most new players expect, and you don’t need to progress very far into the main story to unlock the ability. A lot of new players I’ve run into in multiplayer assume they have to permanently trade in their starting ship when they get their first new one, but that’s not the case at all. You don’t have to give up your old ship when you claim a new one, and you can store as many as 12 ships in your fleet at any time, so you can keep your nostalgic first craft even after you upgrade to a faster, higher-capacity model.
The basic swap flow works the same across all platforms, whether you’re playing on console, PC, or cloud. First, approach any ship you own or have already registered to your account. Interact with the ship’s central control console, and select the “set as active ship” option from the menu that pops up. Your active ship is the one that will spawn when you call for your craft from any planet or space station, so you don’t have to run back to where you parked it if you swap locations later. The only time you’ll need to get rid of an old ship is if you hit that 12-ship limit and want to make space for a better find, and you can do that from the same control menu.
Top 3 Accessible Methods to Get New Ships to Swap To
You can’t swap ships if you don’t have other options registered to your account, so these are the easiest, lowest-effort ways to build out your fleet fast, even if you’re still in the first few hours of gameplay. You don’t need to grind for millions of units or beat any difficult story missions to access any of these methods, either.
- Crashed ships: These spawn randomly on every planet type, and you can claim them for free if you repair their damaged launch thrusters and pulse engine. You can find their exact locations using planetary navigation charts bought from space station cartographers, or by following distress beacons you pick up while flying close to a planet’s surface.
- Trading post purchases: Every trading post, minor settlement, and space station will have a rotating lineup of ships landing every 2 to 3 minutes. You can purchase these directly from the pilot using units, or even trade in a ship you already own to knock down the total cost if you don’t want to keep it in your fleet.
- Freighter crew rewards: Once you own a freighter, you can send your frigate fleets on long-distance exploration, trading, or combat missions. They often return with low to mid-grade ships you can claim for free, plus rare upgrade modules for your existing fleet that you can’t buy from regular vendors.
I always recommend new players start with crashed ships first, because you can often find A or S class models for just the cost of a few common repair materials, no units needed. For example, I once found a gorgeous S-class fighter at a crashed site in a radioactive system, and all it needed was 50 ferrite dust and 20 di-hydrogen to get it flight-ready. That same ship would have cost me 12 million units at a space station, so I saved a fortune just by taking 10 minutes to follow a distress beacon. Just make sure you scan the ship's stats before you spend resources repairing it, there's no point fixing a C-class hauler with less inventory space than your starting ship.
How to Swap Between Ships You Already Own
Once you have more than one ship registered to your save, you don’t have to track down where you left your other craft to swap to them. The easiest way to swap between owned ships is to head to any space station or freighter hangar, and access the ship management terminal near the main ship summoning pad. You can select any ship in your fleet to spawn immediately, and it will become your new active ship as soon as you step inside.
If you're on a planet and don't want to travel all the way to a space station, you can also summon your freighter to your current location (as long as you’re not in a dangerous storm or combat situation) then swap ships directly from its hangar. Note that you can't swap ships mid-flight, so make sure you pick the right craft for a mission before you take off, especially if you're heading into a high-risk pirate system where you’ll need strong combat capabilities. If you do decide to delete a ship from your fleet to make space for a new one, make sure you move all your resources and upgrade modules off of it first, or you'll lose them permanently with no way to get them back.
Pro Tips to Optimize Your Ship Swapping Routine
After swapping hundreds of ships over my playthroughs, I've picked up a few tricks that make the process way smoother, and help you avoid common mistakes that waste resources or lose your favorite ships. Most of these are things I learned the hard way, so you don’t have to.
First, always keep at least one hauler in your active fleet with 30+ inventory slots, even if you prefer flying fast, agile fighters for combat and exploration. You'll thank yourself when you find a deposit of rare activated indium or storm crystals and can carry all of it back to your base without making 3 or 4 separate trips. Second, if you're hunting for S-class ships, save your game before you land at a trading post or crash site. If the ship that spawns isn't the class or design you want, you can reload your save and refresh the spawn pool until you get the model and stats you're looking for. Third, don't waste rare upgrade modules on low-class ships. You can't transfer upgrades between ships, so save your S-class hyperdrive and weapon modules for the permanent ships you plan to keep long-term.
One quick note for multiplayer players: you can't claim or swap to another player's ship, even if they give you explicit permission. All ship ownership is tied to your individual save file, so you'll have to find your own rare models if you want to match your friend’s custom fleet. You can still show off your favorite ships to each other, though, and share coordinates of great crashed ship finds you stumble on.
Don't stress too much about picking the perfect ship right away, part of the fun of No Man's Sky is stumbling on weird, colorful, unexpected ships as you explore new galaxies. Learning how to change ships in No Man's Sky opens up so much more of the game's content, from long-distance expeditions to high-stakes pirate battles, so don't be afraid to test out different models until you find the ones that fit your playstyle. Next time you spot a cool ship docked at a space station, go talk to the pilot, you might just walk away with your new favorite ride.
