No Mans Sky - How to Switch Ships and Select Old or Lost Ships

No Mans Sky - How to Switch Ships and Select Old or Lost Ships

Posted in no mans sky

No Mans Sky has seen a resurgence of players in recent weeks but a common question which constantly crops up is "how do I switch ships" or "how do I get my old ship back"? Whether you have found a crashed ship, possibly lost a ship or two, or simple want to understand how to trade ships, this guide will help you out.

With the release of No Mans Sky v1.5, Hello Games are really making up for the mistakes of the past by releasing an absolute monster of a game changer. One of the major changes is the introduction of Multiplayer, which in itself is a major improvement to a game that craves interaction. I won't go into the details here since this post is a guide to ships, but just take a look at the patch notes to truly appreciate everything that's included.

How to switch ships / select old ships



Ship flying through asteroid belt

So let's assume that you've found a new ship, possibly on a planets surface. Most likely this ship was broken but you chose to add it to your inventory. A wise choice, but now how do you switch between your new ship and the old one?

To answer this question we should really look at the basics of summoning ships in No Mans Sky. Hopefully you're familiar with the Quick Menu which is accessed by pressing DOWN on the D-Pad?

Once in that menu, scroll to where it says "Ships" then continue scrolling all the way to the left to "Other Ships". Select the ship you want to summon and it'll spawn in to the launch pad.

This method can be applied to any ship you own - whether that ship is lost on another planet or not.

One thing to note here is that spawning your ship from inside your Freighter doesn't work too well at the moment. The best place to select an alternative ship is down on a planets surface. If you really do need that other ship from within your Freighter then it's best to either: summon the new ship then warp the freighter, or reload from a previous save. Both of these should spawn all ships into the hangers.

Avoid losing your old ship



When you do find one of these crashed ships it's important to make the right choice to avoid losing your old ship. There's a subtle difference in the menu when scavenging a new ship.

Make sure you select Buy (Add to ship collection) rather than Trade. It's a zero fee purchase anyway, and this avoids you losing your old ship and keeps both the old and new ship in your inventory. It's also a good idea to transfer all of your inventory items from old to new.

How to get a freighter



As a little sub topic, let's discuss how to get a freighter since a lot of you are asking me this question too. A freighter is a much larger ship where your smaller ships can be docked.

Players can command their frigates from the bridge to complete real-time fleet missions. You can also call on your fleet for assistance in space battles, or deploy them to help you explore a specific system.

It's actually quite simple to get your first freighter. Simply watch the skies for a freighter in distress (i.e. being attacked), usually after warping to your first system. Engage in the fight and defend the freighter from the incoming attacks. If successful, the NPC commander will offer you the freighter as a reward afterwards.

Quick tip for fixing a broken ship



Broken ships may come cheap (free in fact) but they all require repairs before they're usable. The main component that needs fixing is the Launch Thrusters (or whatever its called). To fly any ship you'll also need fuel!

There's a sneaky trick you can use on NPC's to trade in these junk ships. Simply return to your freighter then trade your broken ship for one of the random NPC's that land. It's way cheaper than fixing it up and NPC's are dumb enough to take junk off your hands!

So there we have it, swapping ships isn't that hard. Good luck on your travels!