I still remember my first 10 hours fumbling through No Man’s Sky, scavenging half-broken ships from crashed sites and swapping them out every time I found one with a few extra storage slots. None of them ever felt quite right, though – either the weapon layout was garbage, the paint job was ugly, or they burned through fuel way too fast. That all changed when I figured out how to make a ship in No Man’s Sky from the ground up, built exactly for my playstyle. This guide walks you through every step you need, no fancy mods or expensive in-game purchases required.
First: Unlock the Freighter Base and Ship Building Terminal
If you want to make a ship in No Man’s Sky that’s fully customized to your playstyle, the freighter terminal is the only tool you need. You can’t build custom ships on regular planetary bases, so your first step is getting access to a freighter. Most new players don’t know this, but you don’t have to spend millions of units buying one from a space station. You don't need to pay for your first freighter – after roughly five hours of regular gameplay, you’ll get a random distress call from a freighter under attack by pirates. Help the captain fend off the attackers, and they’ll gift you a free starter freighter as thanks.
Once you have your freighter, dock with it and head to the build menu inside. You’ll need to craft a Ship Building Terminal to access the ship construction menu, which costs 100 Ferrite Dust, 50 Chromatic Metal, and 25 Sodium to make. Place the terminal anywhere in your freighter’s main hangar area, and you’re ready to start building. Make sure you have at least 10 empty hangar slots on your freighter before you start, or you won’t have space to store your unfinished build.
Core Steps to Make a Ship in No Man’s Sky From Scratch
Interact with your new Ship Building Terminal to pull up the full construction menu. The menu can feel overwhelming at first, but it’s split into clear categories that make it easy to navigate. When you make a ship in No Man’s Sky for the first time, stick to a basic frame first before you invest in expensive S-class parts. Here’s the step-by-step process to follow:
One of the best parts of the ship building system is how flexible it is. If you don’t like where you placed a wing or a weapon mount, you can delete or move it at any time with no penalty. You can rearrange parts at any time for no extra cost – don't stress about getting the layout perfect on your first try. I went through three different wing designs for my first custom ship before I landed on one I liked.
Best Resource Farming Tips for Fast Ship Construction
Building a custom ship can take a lot of resources, especially if you’re making a high-end S-class build. You don’t want to be running back and forth to random planets every 10 minutes to mine more Ferrite Dust, so a little pre-planning goes a long way. If you’re working to make a ship in No Man’s Sky with S-class stats, you’ll need to farm even more rare materials like Cadmium and Emeril for high-tier upgrades.
The easiest way to stock up on common materials is to set up a small resource farm on a planet within the same system as your freighter. Plant Ferrite Dust, Carbon, and Sodium miners, and you’ll have a steady supply of the most-used building materials waiting for you whenever you need them. For rarer materials like Chromatic Metal and Platinum, skip mining entirely and attack small pirate fleets near your freighter. They drop huge amounts of high-tier crafting materials when you destroy their ships, and you’ll also get extra units from selling any leftover loot you don’t need. Pirate freighter raids give 2x more rare resources than regular planet mining if you're looking to speed up your build significantly.
You should also check your freighter’s hidden storage crates regularly. Most starter freighters have 3-4 hidden crates scattered around the lower decks that are full of free building materials, including rare parts you’d otherwise have to farm for hours to get. I found enough Chromatic Metal in my first freighter’s crates to build my first entire ship without mining any at all.
Common Ship Building Mistakes to Avoid
I made almost all of these mistakes on my first custom ship build, so I know how frustrating they can be to fix halfway through. When you make a ship in No Man’s Sky, it’s easy to get carried away with adding 10 different weapon systems and 12 different wing pieces, but that can cause real issues with your ship’s performance later.
First, don’t overload your ship with cosmetic parts that add no functionality. Every part you add to your ship adds weight, which slows down your pulse engine speed and increases how much fuel you use for both planetary takeoffs and hyperdrive jumps. I added four extra decorative wing pieces to my first build, and I didn’t realize until later that it increased my fuel use by 25% every time I took off from a planet. Second, don’t ignore your ship’s frame class limits. C-class frames can only hold 15 total upgrades, B-class holds 25, A-class holds 35, and S-class holds 40, so if you want a high-performance ship, invest in a better frame before you start adding dozens of upgrades. Third, don’t forget to register your new ship with the nearest space station once it’s fully built. If you don’t register it, you won’t be able to call it to you when you’re on a planet surface, and you could lose it entirely if your freighter moves to a different system. Registering your ship only costs 10,000 units and takes 30 seconds at any space station terminal, so it's not worth skipping.
Once you know how to make a ship in No Man's Sky, you’ll never want to go back to using random scavenged ships again. My current custom hauler has enough storage to carry 120 units of resources, and it’s painted bright pink with neon wings – I get compliments on it every time I dock at a space station. You can even build custom ships to share with friends in multiplayer, if you’re playing with a group. Don’t be afraid to experiment with weird designs, either. Some of my favorite custom ships I’ve seen other players make look nothing like traditional spaceships, and that’s half the fun of the system.
