Hello fellow travelers, I know many of you are frustrated with the difficulty this expedition has to offer, especially to those of us who never play a survival or perma death style mode but I believe this expedition is 100% doable to even the worst players and I would like to help if I can, so here’s a guide I’ve put together to help you out along the way.

1. First things first, Die. Yup, gotta die to complete the first phase anyways and might as well do it when you don’t have anything to worry about.

2. Now that you’ve died your anxiety about it can settle a little. Locate your ship and jump inside so your safe from the elements and creatures, and look at the entire expedition milestone log, all phases not just phase 1. There’s a lot you can do before even leaving the planet and will be easier to do so earlier on vs later.

3. Don’t Panic. Easier said then done I know but there will be times when everything is going down at once. Hazard shields depleted, life support low, sentinels attacking because you tried defending from an aggressive creature. These are the moments that can break you, cause you to panic and make you spin in a circle rather than actually save your self. When in doubt, use the terrain manipulator to dig a whole and cover yourself up quick like. A Minecraft tactic that works beautifully in NMS. A hole will save you from the elements , creatures and sentinels and allow you to collect your self and make a plan

4. Make a plan. Seriously plan everything, even down to how your going to collect the whispering egg. Don’t just try and grab it and run when the horrors show up. Look at the slope it’s on, how will it roll? Where’s an escape path? Should I dig a hole first? A platform? Make a damn plan for everything. Even if it doesn’t work out, having a plan allows you to adapt to unforseen situations and recover quickly.

5. Take a break. Getting sweaty and tense? Save, shut it down and take a break for 5 minutes or so. The game will be there, it takes little time to load and coming in without high anxiety will make it so much easier.

6. Buy materials for batteries, gels, fuels and anything else you need to quickly recharge your devices. Don’t mess around with trying to find sodium to recharge your shields in the middle of a fight. Have batteries so you can just drop them in on the fly and recharge before ever taking damage.

7. Don’t spend units or nanites. This is super subjective but I was able to complete the expedition without purchasing a single upgrade, ship or weapon. The expedition will give you all the upgrades and tech you need say except for 1 or two you need to purchase with nanites which I believe are still optional.

8. Keep your inventory as clear as possible. Put everything in your freighter and move that around the stars. Pirates are rampant in this expedition and they will be constantly after you for simple things like wiring looms, larval cores, whatever. They want it all.

9. Be patient. I know, it’s silly to say but it holds weight. There’s no need to rush, rushing causes under planning, under planning causes more mishaps, mishaps cause panic, panic causes death.

10. Crash that game! Haha, about to die? Literally watching all your work go to shit in a hand basket? Alt F4 or console command and shut the game down as fast as possible. Who care if you lose 15 minutes of progress, better then the whole thing am I right?

Well, that’s all I got and I’m sure some of this, maybe even all of it, sounds like you’ve heard it before and you probably have but I truly believe keeping these tips in mind will help you maintain your focus and enjoy the expedition rather than dread it. Good Luck and happy Whaling.

Below are a few popular questions that we’ve received from our past FAQ thread. As always we ask that everyone be respectful and we welcome everyone’s contribution so have fun!

Q- I’m keen to start a new passive money making pursuit. What are some good ideas or guides post-Waypoint?

A#1-Gold farm, then take that stack and sell it at a terminal (not traders) in systems that sell gold. Sell all your gold to the terminal and crash the economy. Then buy it all back at 80% off discount. You just got free money and keep all the gold. All this takes is an initial investment on a gold farm, then you carry all that gold with you and just sell/buy back when you get to another system that sells gold. With 50 stacks in my ship’s cargo hold, I can make somewhere around 150 million units in each system I do this in.

A#2-Start a Farm, Fusion Igniters or Statis Devices Farm which will increase your profits to 100- 200 mil fairly quickly and you can even send out multiple freighter missions which will help you get aronium, magno-gold, Enriched carbon and more which will increase the profits even more.

A#3-Quickest way I’ve found to make a TON of units: Harvesting Storm Crystals. Find a VERY hot planet that has frequent fire storms. DURING STORMS ONLY – you can see the bright white light from Storm Crystals if you fly around low enough. Fly to them, land, quickly harvest them, get back in your ship and fly to the next before you burn up.

Q-How do I get the Advanced Mining Laser? I don’t have the option to craft one, and the multi-tool upgrade vendor at the space station doesn’t have the blueprint for sale.

A-In order to get it, you have to look for the blueprints in crashed ships or abandoned facilities. You get it from the main story (awakenings) or you can buy it on the anomaly.

Q-What do I actually do in the game? I finished the tutorial, is there anything else beside gathering stuff, building a base and repeat?

A#1-It’s really whatever you want, there’s a base story, (assuming you haven’t completed it already), follow the quest log and you’ll figure it out, but things You’d want to do for end game? You can collect multiple multitools, ships, built a fleet for your freighter, etc.

Q-Is there a planet that is populated by many players, and they built their base close to each others like a city?

A- Yeah its the Galactic Hub Project, Its a place where many people have bases and each day the numbers grow. Please help yourself. There are many factions in NMS that do this, even NMS Pirates Hub.

Q-I’m still pretty early into the game, just making my way to the center of the galaxy, what should I be spending my credits on?

A-Go hang around a outlaw/pirate trading post. Cheapest S-class start at around 8-8.5 million without a trade-in. I recommend Vikeen pirate, as then you have two good and 1 remote chances at high-maneuverability S-class: fighter, solar, exotic.