Having finished the expedition (and watched the questions in this forum) here’s a handy FAQ!

General tips

• Read all the tasks – they don’t have to be done in order. Some of them you can get out of the way early on. (scanning flora / fauna, learning words, pictures of different environments..)
• At every space station, especially in the rendevous systems, scroll through all the other bases. Some of them will have super helpful names like “Airless photo op” or “Sunken Freighter here” or a list of available resources.
• Most of the time it’s better to not be in multi-player mode – that will mean that resources others have gathered, beings in stations that have been talked to, ships that have been found – all these will still be available to you, where they probably won’t be in multi-player. However, whenever you visit the Anomaly it is nice to be in multi-player.
• You can craft ammo out of ferrite. Super helpful for those pesky sentinels. Speaking of Sentinels, you can tunnel underground or dive into the water to escape them. Usually.
• Once you go through the back hole, immediately go to the space station in that system and use the station teleporter to get back to your base or the previous system. Do NOT try to warp back to the 3rd rendevous, it will just make you frustrated.
• The very first system you spawned in on has a planet that will work for the hot planet pic.
• If you are reading this on Feb 19, Tier 5 community research isn’t done yet. If you want the rewards for that, don’t complete the expedition until that is done.

What do I take with me?

• If you are a new player, not to worry! you will be able to collect what you need. Also look for other bases that are offering things (see tips above) The rest of this guide is for folks who aren’t starting a new save for the expedition.
• If you have a main save, and want to bring stuff over – here are some things to consider.
  • Basic building blocks: 9999 stacks of carbon, ferrite, sodium, oxygen, chromatic metal, silver, tritium, di-hydrogen, ect
  • Special items: things to claim an interceptor (inverted mirror), things to make liquid explosive (acid, unstable gel), cadmium, salt
  • Things to make or save money: wiring looms, salvaged data, exosuit inventory modules, runaway mold or tainted metal to make nanites, high ticket items to sell (hot ice, floral samples, stasis pods, ect.)
  • Tech row: eh. not as helpful as you’d think, especially if you are bringing over things for nanites and selling. You could drop some S class stuff here for the exosuit? but especially if you plan to “buy” a copy of your multi-tool and ship, those should already be tricked out.
  • In general, the items and upgrades you really need to complete the tasks will be given to you or will be possible to obtain. For instance you start out with a portable refiner. Don’t buy the special star warp upgrades from the Anomaly – you’ll get them as a reward.

What can I take back?

• All the expedition rewards will be available from the quicksilver booth in the anomaly on any save.
• If you transferred from your main, you can use the same storage system to send stuff back (like companion eggs, other stuff you’ve collected that’s hard or expensive to get, resources if you want to)
• Here I found the tech slots much more useful, taking back upgrades for use on other starships/multitools.
• You will be able to buy back the ship you are in and the primary multi-tool you are carrying, so if you brought stuff over from your main, make sure you are back in them going back. You’ll be able to claim the reward ship and atlas staff at the quicksilver station.
• Yeah, for real, you can only take back one ship and one multi-tool. so be sure the ones you want are the ones equipped.

What about my money / nanites / bases?

Ok – disclaimer. I haven’t actually completed the expedition yet, I’m waiting for the Tier 5 community research to complete. So I don’t know FOR SURE about this, but here’s what I’ve read.

• Your bases will be available from your main.
• Some of the stuff you didn’t take back with you will be converted into units and nanites.
• Anything you buy with quicksilver on the expedition will also be available to claim on the main.
• if someone who has completed the expedition wants to chime in with what happened to their units/nanites/quicksilver, that would be much appreciated!

Anything else interlopers? Feel free to chime in with tips or ask questions in the comments!

List of all updates in chronological order as well as what they added/changed at the bottom.

Here are the statistics: an average of 3.7 updates per year, and keeping at the current average rate, by the 10th anniversary in November 2026 there could be more 7/8 updates to come. February/March and June/July seem to be guaranteed months for big updates for the last 4 years.

I find it hard to believe that after 8 years of regular updating they’d just stop short of a 10th anniversary, so this probability is extremely likely in my opinion. It could also coincide with the release of Light No Fire and a passing of the torch for the team.

Also worth mentioning that there has been 5 planet generation overhauls (in bold) some greater than others, the last one being Origins in 2020. I could see another generation update being planned for v5.0 (later this year?), personally.

09/Aug/2016 Initial Release
26/Nov/2016 Foundation v1.10 (Base Building)

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08/Mar/2017 Pathfinder v1.20 (Vehicles/Exocraft + Permadeath Mode)
11/Aug/2017 Atlas Rises v1.30 (Overhauled storyline + Portals + Procedural Missions + Economies)

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24/Jul/2018 NEXT v1.50 (Multiplayer Mode + Freighters + Graphics Overhaul + Character Creation)
29/Oc/2018 Abyss v1.70 (Oceans Overhaul +Underwater Bases + New Fauna and Flora)
22/Nov/2018 Visions v1.75 (New Biomes + New Creatures + Weather Effects)

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14/Aug/2019 Beyond v2.00 (VR Support + Base Building Overhaul + Discovery page + introduction of Nexus)
28/Nov/2019 Synthesis v2.20 (Upgrade/Salvage Ships + Terrain Manipulation Overhaul)

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18/Feb/2020 Living Ship v2.30 (Living Ships and Questline + Space Encounters)
07/Apr/2020 Exo Mech v2.40 (Minotar Mech)
11/Jun/2020 Crossplay v2.50 (Crossplay Support + XBOX Release + Friends System)
16/Jun/2020 Desolation v2.60 (Desolate Freighters + Freighter Customization)
23/Sep/2020 Origins v3.00 (Universe Overhaul + Sandworms)
10/Nov/2020 Next Generation v3.10 (PS5/XBOX X Support + Save Transfers + 32 Multiplayer Sessions)
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17/Feb/2021 Companions v3.20 (Creature Taming and Breeding)
31/Mar/2021 Expeditions v3.30 (Introduction of Expeditions + Improved UI + Starships Visual Overhaul)
02/Jun/2021 Prisms v3.50 (Graphic Overhaul + Flying Companions)
01/Sep/2021 Frontiers v3.60 (Settlements + Base Building Overhaul)
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16/Feb/2022 Sentinel v3.80 (Sentinel Pillars + Combat Improvements + New Sentinel Presence, Types, And AI)
13/Apr/2022 Outlaws v3.85 (Outlaw Stations and Missions + Solar Ships + Squadrons + Capes)
20/Jul/2022 Endurance v3.94 (Freighter Overhaul + Asteroid Fields Overhaul)
07/Oct/2022 Waypoint v4.00 (Nintendo Switch Release + Custom Game Mode + QoL improvements)
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22/Mar/2023 Fractal v4.10 (PSVR2 Support & VR Overhaul + “Wonders” Section + Utopia Expedition + A Trace Of Metal Questline)
05/Apr/2023 Interceptor v4.20 (Corrupted Planets + Interceptor Ships)
07/Jun/2023 Singularity v4.30 (Singularity Expedition)
24/Aug/2023 Echoes v4.40 (Introduction of the Autophage race and Questline + Pirate Faction)
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14/Feb/2024 Omega v4.50 (Omega Expedition + Starborn Runner + Atlas Helmet/Sceptre)
27/Mar/2024 Orbital v4.60 (Space Stations Overhaul + Ship Customization)