Pretty much the title. Guess I will have to wait until next year to actually see this game go somewhere.

We got spaceships but no true variation, or even modding/crafting. Not even species/faction related ships.

We got freighters but they are a flying inventory box combined with an annoying-to-access timer management minigame.

We have factions and races, but there is zero interaction between the two.

We have crafting, but literally zero use for hightech components.

We got derelict freigthers, but once you see two you have pretty much seen them all.

We got expeditions, yet I completed the last one in a relaxed weekend session so that’s essentially nothing for now.

We got combat, but effectively 4 mobile enemy types and maybe the same number of hazardous fauna which is the same on every planet. Why even have shooting when there’s nothing to shoot at?

We got bases, but nothing to do in them aside from stacking biodomes and placing a large refiner. Settlements are even worse in that regard: you expand it so you… can expand it more? Purely cosmetic changes that aside from eating some resources change nothing in how I interact with the game.

And after 5 years there still is no worthwhile lategame activity. There is no hunting for ship parts/gear. There is nothing rewarding you for the grind for the species/factions. There are no possible mammoth projects one could try to tackle, like expanding your settlement to the point where you can (extreme example) have them start building your own custom freigther. There is not even rare “fashion” to chase down to flex on others in the anomaly with your surpreme sense of aesthetics (or shameless lack thereof, Warframe’s fashion game sure was one crazy mess sometimes).

Every part of this game is just another weird isolated extra-piece that barely fits with each other, and somewhere someone has tried to cram in random story beats with a crowbar or something. The potential is definetly there, this car could definetly go super-turbo-speed with a right do-over of the engine and the gears. But instead watch them install a bluetooth-capable cupholder. It’s so infuriating to see all this potential and HG doing effectively jack shit with it.

I heard people mentioning that a ship exchange scam is finally over.

I was told once by a traveller that people call me an NPC in NMS, don’t know what that means but that is who I am right now. I’ve forgotten my real name years ago.

I travelled the universe trying to make a living. I’ve done some really bad deeds to be able to provide for my family. Killed wildlife, smuggled goods, destroyed natural resources, colonized planets without managing them and many more that I dare not to mention. After all that I’ve done, I’ve decided to put everything on a Hauler. Brought my family with me and lived life through sweet and sour.

One day, a traveller came to me at a station, offered me a really good deal for my hauler. A trade in for his S class ship plus some extra money and in total it will be an amount that will set me up for life. I accepted under the interstellar guidelines and rules. Money was deposited into my E-Wallet. One second later, I saw the traveller putting my dear Hauler into recycling. All those memories, all those adventures, were all gone in a second. That traveller was a destroyer of ships and a destroyer of dreams. I swallowed my pain and tried to ignore his actions since he already paid me.

After that, I saw him coming back to me and somehow hacked into MY SHIP (the one that he owned before), got access into it and threw me out. I was left with NOTHING. And before I say anything, he flew away, leaving me and my family on that station without shelter, no money, and no way of going to a planet to get my life back together.

The station’s security were not joking, they told me that I need to leave. I explained, no one cared. After an hour, they threw my kid into space were I saw him explode into thousands of pieces and they told me that me and my wife are next if I don’t solve this.

I went into the station’s lobby, and saw a GEK named Snoopy Doggo. He looked rich and had something in his mouth that spreads some kind of aroma in the air that’s makes everyone around him vulnerable. I begged him to help me. He agreed on the terms that I give up everything I ever cherish for this. I accepted and he sent me to some dark alleys behind the station. I lost my honor and saw my wife do disgusting things thinking we will be out of this soon. The monsters took turns on both of us. I saw the money piling up in Doggo’s pockets, I thought I will get paid. That never happened. Even at this moment, I am still being used as a slave. A kind master accepted to let me use this device to spread my message before he spreads my “message”. There are thousands of us here in the alleys and no one is getting paid. WE ARE SLAVES FOREVER. I asked the others and it was the same traveller who did this to all of us. Some also were scammed by travellers using something called “steam” to gain access into our galaxy. Life will never be the same again but I am glad that we will not see more brothers and sister enter the dark alleys after the recent news. Intertellar E-crime can’t let this go by after all those missing entities’ claims. I hope that one day they will find us. Help us. NMS NPC, out.

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!