If you’ve spent even a few hours wandering No Man’s Sky’s infinite galaxies, you’ve probably stared at a sleek exotic ship docked at a space station and wondered how you can add it to your collection. You don’t have to grind for hundreds of hours or use sketchy exploits to build a diverse fleet of fighters, haulers, shuttles and explorers. I’ve spent over 300 hours playing the game across multiple updates, and I’ve tested every method to figure out how to get more ships in No Man's Sky that fits your playstyle and budget, no cheats required. Whether you want a fast fighter for pirate battles, a high-capacity hauler for resource runs, or a rare exotic ship just to show off, the methods I’m sharing below work for new and veteran players alike.
How to Get More Ships in No Man's Sky for Free: Crashed Ship Hunting
Crashed ship hunting is my go-to method when I’m starting a new save and don’t have a lot of units to spend on new ships. You can find crashed ships anywhere in the galaxy by using emergency signal scanners, which you can buy from cartographers at any space station for a small amount of navigation data. When you activate a scanner, it will point you to a crashed ship on a nearby planet, where you can claim it for free if you can repair its core systems. The biggest upside of this method is that you can get high class ships for almost no cost, but the downside is that you’ll have to spend a lot of navigation data scanning for signals, and you might have to repair dozens of damaged slots to get the ship fully operational. Always check the class and slot count of a crashed ship before you spend resources repairing it. You don’t even have to fix all the damaged slots to claim it, just the launch thrusters and pulse engine to fly it away immediately, and you can fix the rest later when you have more resources. So if you’re low on units and love exploring new planets, this method is perfect for you. I once found an S class hauler with 48 slots on a frozen planet in my first 10 hours of a new save, and it saved me millions of units I would have spent buying a similar ship from an NPC.
Purchase Ships Directly from NPC Pilots at Trading Posts and Space Stations
This is one of the most straightforward methods if you're wondering how to get more ships in No Man's Sky without spending hours scanning for signals. Every NPC pilot that lands at a space station or planetary trading post has a ship that you can purchase directly from them, as long as you have enough units or a trade-in ship to cover the cost. The price of the ship will depend on its type, class, and number of slots, with S class exotic ships costing up to 120 million units at the high end. The upside here is you get exactly the ship you see, no surprise damaged slots, but the downside is that high class ships can cost a huge amount of units, especially if you don't have a good trade-in ship to lower the cost. Focus on systems with a 3-star economy rating if you’re hunting for S or A class ships to buy, as higher economy systems have a much higher spawn rate of top-tier ships. If you see a ship you love but can't afford it right now, you can reload your save at the space station and it will still spawn, as long as you don't leave the system. I’ve done this multiple times when I’ve spotted a rare ship but didn’t have enough units saved up, and it always works if you don’t wander too far from the system.
Unlock Living Ships and Exotic Ships Through Specialized Missions
If you want unique ships that you can’t find just lying around crashed on planets, you can unlock living ships and solar ships through specialized in-game missions. Living ships are organic, biomechanical ships that you get by completing the Starbirth mission, which you can start by buying a void egg from the Space Anomaly for 3200 quicksilver. The mission takes a few hours to complete, but the end result is a fully customizable S class ship that grows and changes as you use it. Living ships don’t require regular repair resources like tritium or ferrite dust, making them one of the lowest-maintenance ship types in the game. They also have unique pulse travel effects that look incredible when you’re jumping between planets. Exotic ships, on the other hand, spawn randomly in any system, but you can camp a trading post for 30 to 60 minutes to wait for one to spawn. Exotic ships always spawn as S class, so even if they have a lower slot count than other ships, their stat bonuses are way higher than most A class ships of the same type. I once camped a trading post for 45 minutes to get a squid-style exotic ship, and it’s still my main ship two years later. Solar ships, added in the Outlaws update, spawn mostly in pirate controlled systems, and have unique solar sails that make pulse travel faster and use less fuel. You can buy them directly from NPC pilots like any other ship, or find them crashed on planets in pirate systems.
Expand Your Fleet with Frigates for Freighter Missions
Once you own a freighter, you can expand your total ship collection even further by hiring frigates to join your fleet. Frigates are large, specialized ships that you can send on freighter missions to bring back rare resources, units, and upgrades for your freighter. You can hire frigates by talking to their captains when they appear in space next to your freighter, or buy them directly from the command terminal inside your freighter. Always hire frigates with at least a B class rating, as they have higher success rates on long freighter missions. You can have up to 30 frigates in your fleet at a time, so you can build a diverse group that can handle any mission type you throw at them. The different frigate types each have unique strengths:
- Combat frigates: Best for pirate attack missions and high-risk resource runs, they can fight off hostile ships to keep your fleet safe and bring back rare weapon upgrades.
- Exploration frigates: Perfect for scanning uncharted planets and bringing back rare resources like activated indium or void eggs from long, cross-system missions.
- Trade frigates: Generate extra units and rare trade goods from trade run missions, great if you want passive income while you explore distant galaxies.
- Support frigates: Reduce the fuel cost of all other frigates in your fleet, and repair damaged frigates mid-mission so you don't lose progress or valuable ships.
You don't have to stick to the first ship you get when you start a new save. Mix and match methods to fit how you play: hunt crashed ships when you're low on units, camp trading posts when you're saving up for a specific ship type, and run Starbirth if you want a one-of-a-kind living ship. There's no wrong way to build your collection, and testing different methods is half the fun of figuring out how to get more ships in No Man's Sky. Before you know it, you'll have a hangar full of ships for every possible task, from fast pirate chases to cross-galaxy resource hauls.
