No Man’s Sky Outlaws Update Overhauls Space Combat, Patch Notes Revealed

No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games just revealed a substantial update for the spacefaring game which overhauled space combat, added new “Outlaws” systems, and much more. This follows a tease from earlier in the week where the game’s creator, Sean Murray, tweeted out a simple pirate flag emoji and kicked off all kinds of speculations. Some of those theories players came up with were indeed correct with many people predicting a space combat revamp was coming while others were a bit further off.

This latest No Man’s Sky update announced on Wednesday came with a full set of patch notes along with different videos and images to show what’s planned just as players have come to expect from these lengthy No Man’s Sky blog posts. What’s not there is a Sea of Thieves crossover which was one theory held by some players, albeit it was quite the unlikely resolution to the pirate tease from Murray.

Crossovers aside, the highlights from the update will likely be two-fold for many: The Outlaw Systems and the space combat overhaul. For the former, different star systems across the galaxy have been commandeered by pirates with players able to work with or against these space pirates to achieve their own goals. The space combat overhaul is multifaceted and includes new ships, in-atmosphere combat, and more.

You can see the full patch notes for the update below:

Starships

• A new class of starship has been added, the Solar Sail ship.
• Solar starships come in a wide range of procedurally generated variations. They can be found all across the galaxy, but are more common in outlaw systems.
• The Solar-class starship comes with unique technologies for a fast and efficient Pulse Engine.
• All ships now come with a high-capacity cargo inventory. The starting size of the cargo inventory varies according to ship type and class.
• The ship cargo inventory can be upgraded at the starship salvage station.
• The maximum number of saved ships has been increased from 6 to 9.
• Players may now change their primary starship from the quick menu while in the freighter hangar.
• The companion management quick menu option has been moved into the ‘Utilities’ section of the menu while flying a starship.
• Summoning other ships, including the freighter, now has its own dedicated sub-section of the quick menu.
• While on a planet, players may occasionally see groups of frigates enter the atmosphere and pass by on their own missions across the universe.
• An audiovisual cockpit alarm has been added to the ship, to alert pilots to dangerous situations.

Outlaw Systems

• A number of star systems across the galaxy have been taken over by pirates. These systems can be identified on the galaxy map with a Conflict or Economy scanner.
• Outlaw systems have a unique space station, with their own assortment of NPCs.
• Visit a Bounty Master aboard an outlaw station to undertake a range of procedurally generated piracy missions and earn unique rewards.
• Purchase illegal goods from the black market traders aboard outlaw stations. Illegal goods can be sold for a large markup in regulated space.
• The maximum stack size for all trading goods, illegal or otherwise, has been increased.
• In regulated systems, space station authorities will periodically scan incoming ships for illegal goods. Sentinel interceptors may be deployed to deal with non-compliant pilots.
• A new technology is available, the Cargo Probe Deflector, to attempt to fend off unwanted cargo scans.
• Earn Forged Passports while working for pirate factions.
• These counterfeit starship registration documents can be used at Station Cores in regulated space to increase or reset reputation levels with the system authorities.
• Outlaw stations cannot be warped to directly from regulation space stations, and vice versa.
• Outlaw stations have their own technology merchant, specialising in suspicious aftermarket upgrades.
• The rewards for destroying starships – freighters, Sentinels, pirates or traders – have been diversified and improved.
• The rewards for saving a freighter from pirate attack have been improved.
• A new series of narrative missions have been added for outlaw systems. Complete these missions to earn unique customisation and title options.

Cloth Simulation

• Support has been added for cloth simulation.
• Fully customisable cape and hood options have been added to the Appearance Modifier. Some options are available by default, while others must be earned via missions or expeditions.

Expedition: The Blighted

• Expedition Six, The Blighted, will begin soon.
• The Blighted expedition will take players on a treasure hunt across a distant galaxy as they trace the routes of these mysterious pirates.
• The Blighted expedition offers the chance to earn an exclusive starship trail; pirate-themed base decorations; your own personal wayward cube/Geoff; a unique cape customisation, and much more besides.

Space Combat

• Sentinel, pirate and trader ships now have energy shields that must be depleted before the ship itself can be damaged.
• Different grades of ship come with different strength shields, and shields that recharge at different rates.
• Player starship weapons deal different damage levels against shielded or unshielded targets.
• The starship combat flight model has been improved for in-atmosphere combat.
• Pirates can now attack while the player is flying within a planet’s atmosphere.
• Sentinel interceptors will now respond to crimes committed while flying in a planet’s atmosphere.
• Pirate ships will occasionally make attacking runs on planetary structures. Players who drive off or eliminate these raids will be rewarded.
• Space combat has been rebalanced to allow for more challenge for high-end players while remaining accessible to those in starter or non-combat ships.
• Players now have the option to enable a combat autopilot for the starship. This setting can be found within the Controls section of the options menu and can be used as a hold (to apply additional alignment assistance towards your target on request) or as a toggle (to constantly apply auto-alignment towards your current target).
• The heat capacity of the Phase Beam has been increased.
• The Phase Beam can now leech shield energy from hostile ships and transfer it to the player’s shield.
• The Photon Cannon now cools down faster after overheating.
• All starship weapons now decay heat much faster if the burst is stopped before the weapon overheats.
• Fixed an issue that caused the name and visuals of hostile ships on the starship target screen to be incorrect.
• Fixed an issue that caused the shield bar on the starship target screen to be incorrect.
• Fixed an issue that caused the heat bar on the starship weapons screen to be incorrect.
• Fixed an issue that caused the cooldown bar for the Infra-Knife Accelerator to be invisible.
• The Positron Ejector has had its base firing speed slightly reduced.
• The Positron Ejector has had its heat capacity reduced.
• The Positron Ejector now deals slightly ineffective damage to starship shields.
• The Infra-Knife Accelerator has had its base firing speed slightly reduced.
• The Infra-Knife Accelerator has had its range and base damage increased.
• The Infra-Knife Accelerator now deals additional damage to unshielded targets.
• The Infra-Knife Accelerator has had its heat capacity reduced, but now cools down significantly faster.
• The Cyclotron Ballista has had its base fire rated reduced.
• The Cyclotron Ballista has had its dispersion reduced and its heat capacity increased.
• The Cyclotron Ballista now deals extremely high damage to starship shields, but low damage to starship hulls.
• The Cyclotron Ballista now disables hostile starship engines on hit, causing them to drift slowly.
• Starship rockets now do additional damage to unshielded starship hulls, but significantly reduced damage versus energy shields.
• The starship HUD now more clearly reports weapon heat levels.
• The off-screen target indicator has been moved to a central position around the starship reticle.
• The tethered mouse flight model has been tweaked to make ship control more precise and responsive.
• Damage potential readouts now include an additional readout for damage versus energy shields, if shield and hull damage levels are different.
• Fixed an issue that caused the speed readout on the starship screen (but not the actual maximum speed of the starship) to be artificially increased by manoeuvrability upgrades.

Squadrons

• Players with a freighter may now recruit NPC ships to their own personal squadron.
• Your squadron is managed from the Manage Fleet terminal on the bridge of your capital ship.
• Players may unlock up to four slots for their squadron.
• Your squadron is automatically summoned during space combat, and may be summoned or dismissed at any other time from the Quick Menu.
• Your squadron will assist in space combat, taking your lead in attacking hostile targets.
• Squadron pilots and their ships can be upgraded using nanites.

Visual Effects

• Significantly improved the visual effects for the Photon Cannon, Cyclotron Ballista and Phase Beam.
• Improved the visual effects for the Infra-Knife Accelerator and Positron Ejector.
• Improved the impact effects for NPC ship laser impacts.
• Improved the visual effects for large ship engines.
• Improved the visual effects for NPC ship and freighter warp-ins.
• Fixed an issue with underwater jetpack trails.
• Significantly improved starship and asteroid explosion effects.
• Improved the visual impact of player starship muzzle flashes.
• Improved the visual and audio impact of the starship cockpit alarm.
• Improved the visual impact of starship cockpit hit warnings.
• Fixed an issue that caused damage effects to intrude upon the cockpit view when piloting in first person mode.
• Improved the projectile and muzzle flash effects for NPC starships.

Optimizations & Bug Fixes

• Introduced several very significant memory optimisations, improving stability and performance especially on base consoles.
• Introduced a significant optimisation to texture memory usage.
• Introduced an optimisation to creature and Sentinel navigation.
• Introduced a significant optimisation for bases and settlements.
• Fixed a crash related to input settings.
• Fixed several threading crashes in the UI.
• Fixed a crash related to technology item popups.
• Fixed a crash related to base building.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when using a mineral extractor.
• Fixed a rare crash that could occur during warp.
• Fixed a rare crash in the Appearance Modifier UI.
• Fixed an issue that caused many underwater creatures to spawn without their correct procedural settings, dramatically reducing water lifeform variety.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent particular rare planetary creatures from ever spawning.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Livestock Unit to fail to harvest products from specific exotic creatures.
• Fixed an issue that caused the [ The Sentry ] to appear angry when shot by the player.
• Fixed an issue that caused [ The Sentry ] to report the player’s position to hostile Sentinel drones.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Sentinel Quad companion to prevent other Sentinels from spawning.
• Fixed an issue that could cause Sentinels to stop spawning during combat, leaving no progression through the wanted levels.
• Fixed an issue where a generic ‘Evade Sentinels’ hint would be displayed during missions that encouraged confrontation with Sentinels.
• Fixed an issue that could cause bases to lose their base computer, and restored the base computer to all affected bases.
• Fixed an issue that could cause players to get stuck underneath or on top of buildings and other structures.
• Fixed an issue that could cause multiplayer bases to display in the teleporter UI when multiplayer was disabled.
• Fixed a multiplayer exploit that could allow bases to be synced from blocked players in ambient sessions.
• Fixed a rare issue that could cause players to teleport outside the bounds of a Space Station.
• Fixed a rare issue that could prevent interaction with various NPCs and objects in multiplayer.
• Fixed an issue where summoning the Sentinel Quad companion aboard the Space Anomaly could cause desyncs with other players.
• Fixed an issue that could cause mission destinations to be desynced in multiplayer.
• Fixed an issue that caused the starship cockpit pitch indicator to show an incorrect angle.
• Fixed an issue that caused the starship cockpit pitch indicator to render incorrectly at various HUD scales.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Inventory page to auto-open onto an inventory that could not currently be accessed.
• Fixed an issue that caused the Exocraft technology tree to be clipped at the sides.
• Fixed a visual issue with the LODs at Sentinel Pillars.
• Fixed a number of UI overlap issues with the base building menu.
• Fixed a misleading ‘Attempt to Download’ message displaying on the Community Expedition UI when that was not the correct error.
• Fixed a number of issues with the UI and popups when attempting to warp to a new galaxy.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a long delay when transitioning to/from some freighter interactions, such as colour customisation.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a long delay in a dialogue sequence if the player received a new item in the middle of the sequence.
• Fixed an issue that could cause player hands to disappear when getting into the ship in VR.
• Fixed a visual issue with the Emergency Light base building objects.
• Fixed a visual glitch with door animations in several base building wall pieces.
• Fixed an issue that could cause consumable reward items to all generate the same rewards if redeemed in a short time window.
• Fixed a number of issues with NPC ships when flying close to the player, for example when using the starship communicator.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent corrupted Sentinels from spawning at scrap heaps.
• Fixed an issue that could cause mission destinations to go missing or jump to new locations after save/load.
• Purchasable frigates will no longer attempt to call the player on the starship communicator during space combat.
• Fixed a mission issue that could spawn too many Sentinel Flares into a player’s inventory.
• Fixed an issue that caused the starship to take ground impact damage when crashing into another starship.