First Edition

Expeditions Update 3.3 – This update was released within a month of Companions and introduced two major features, a new game mode called Community Expeditions, and an additional Analysis Visor function called Target Sweep, along with tweeks and enhancments to the game, including a change to Sentinel Combat.

Introduction Page iv – Community Expedition – A new mission type introduced with the 3.3 patch. The content of these types of game are set to be changed on a regular basis, and they are time limited. You can think of them as a complex Nexus Mission starting with a randomised set of facilities, with special rewards.
Although there are community aspects to the game, you don’t need to interact with the other players to succeed. In fact, their presence can make life a little difficult.
One thing that you should bear in mind that the knowledge required to take part in these missions can be gleaned from completing Awakening and the later main missions, so unless you want to spend a lot of time following pinned hints and other guidance, it’s best to get some experience of the game in other playing modes first.

Page 11 – Testing the Visor
That’s not all that the Analysis visor provides. Using the F key/Left Trigger/L2, items of interest are shown in the Analysis Mode. Since the Expeditions Update, an additional mode is instantly available in the Visor by using the F key/D-pad left/right to select Target Sweep mode. We won’t be using this for some time yet, but it’s worth noting that a lot of missions that involved the tracking down of items and locations have now been enhanced by the inclusion of this feature.

Page 22 – Analysis Visor – The Target Sweep Mode
When you have been given a specific Mission target in the game, and you are close enough to reach it on foot, the Analysis Visor defaults to Target Sweep Mode. Pressing the Scan Control (F Key/Left Trigger/L2 brings up a rectangular sight in the middle of your view with four dots in the corners and scan beacons to either side.
To the left is a Target sweep information box. This tells you the current mission or objective to which the Visor is tuned into.
When the target is to your left or right, the relevant side beacons will animate. When it is roughly ahead of you the four dots will illuminate. The distance is shown in units.
Having swung your player round to face the current objective, you must travel on foot to get closer. Either plant a beacon to head for using the E key/X Button/▢ Button, or just check quite frequently to ensure you are still on track. The direction indication becomes more accurate as you near the target, until eventually you will see what you are searching for or the Analysis Visor will lock on to the objective and convert it to an icon for you.
The Target Sweep mode can also be used in conjunction with the Catalogue in the Menu (described in Part 2) to help you find specific objects.
Using Target Sweep, locate a piece of damaged machinery and active it. Your Guardian Angel has left you the formula to build two new items – an addition to your Multi-tool that is going to allow you to alter and mine the terrain, and the plans for a computer which you need to establish a base. Now we are getting somewhere. There was also an important clue in the last message – the Base Computer that you build may well provide you with further information later in the mission.

Page 29 – Locating the next set of Co-ordinates
The Target Sweep mode of your Analysis Visor will point you in the right direction of the new location, and also tell you how far it is away. If you decide it’s a long way off and you have the Launch Fuel to spare, you can fly there. If you decide to walk, you will have to follow the Target Sweep guidance as you did for the previous set of co-ordinates.
Sub-orbital Flight
If you are flying, once in the air the red marker will appear as a target. You might head for the target at low level, as this one will probably be quite close, but there will be lots of occasions when your destination is half way round the Planet. There are two ways to speed up the journey – fly a bit higher so that you can travel faster, or if the distance is great enough to warrant it, point your ship straight up and operate your Pulse Drive for a few seconds, switch it off, swing back to the Planet, locate the marker and use the Pulse Drive to lock onto it again.
You will soon get the feel for when to use which technique.
Travel to the co-ordinates given you, land and then use the Target Sweep Mode to pinpoint the exact location.

Page 43 – Expedition – This Menu option only exists when you are playing a game in the Community Expedition mode. I’ll look at that in Part 3.

Page 50 – Drop pods – these have been rebalanced and are now easier to exploit, so you might reconsider if they are an efficient way of expanding the Exosuit inventory size.

Page 85– Sentinel Combat

The Expeditions Update made battling with Sentinels harder. Oh Great, I hear you exclaim. Actually, with a good level of shields, they may be a little easier, but more interesting. Although the general principles of Sentinel combat have not changed, there are now more of them. Once a normal drone attacks you, it is joined by two Armoured Drones. Level Two consists of 4 Armoured Drones, Level Three has 3 Armoured Drones and 2 Quads, Level Four has 4 Armoured Drones and a Walker and Level 5 has it all – 5 Armoured Drones. 2 Quads and Walker. Good Luck!

The amount of damage they inflict is a little reduced. You can also now see when the Drones are repairing the Quads and Walker because they display spanner icons while doing so, making more sense of when to kill the Drones first. According to the patch notes the Quads have become a bit better at tracking you, but it’s still possible to confuse them by hiding behind objects

Page 127 – Game Change or Bug?
When I began writing this book, I could see a flaw in the concept of Trading Routes. Although I could sell Trading Commodities at a profit in the Systems that demanded the produce, I could also sell them at a decent price in any system as long as it wasn’t one that actually produced the goods locally. I tested this on the PC and the Xbox, and found a few people on various forums that agreed that this was the case. However, with the release of 3.3 Expeditions, this loophole seems to have been closed.

Page 127-128 – Trading Routes
It’s quite straightforward from the information we have already to work out two simple trading loops. You can then fill up a large Hauler and pop round the routes by teleport and make a lot of money. Better still, build small bases in each system, perhaps near Trading Outposts.
The two loops suggested are Science>Commerce>Materials>Science and Energy>Minerals>Manufacturing>Technology>Energy.

The real key to making any trading trip worthwhile is to buy from Wealthy Planets where there is plenty of stock – you should be able to fill up a 48 slot Hauler. Where you sell is really up to you as long as the items are in demand, but it makes sense to go to another wealthy system that can sell you a lot of new products, saving you extra travel.

Page 186 – The Living Ship. The whole of this mission has been improved – instead of having to search for random co-ordinates, you use the Target Sweep mode of the Analysys Visor to locate each goal of the mission.

Page 190 – Community Expeditions.

The main new feature of patch 3.3 is actually a new game mode and not a mission as such, but I’ve included it here because when you complete certain stages you can cash in your rewards in another Game Save.

If you want to take part in a Community Expedition, you must start a new game. It’s like starting again at Awakenings, except you have a little more equipment and, once you have found it, a better ship. You don’t get specific guidance as what to do, though.

Second Edition

The major feature of Companions was the introduction of Pets. Creatures can be tamed by normally offering them Creature Pellets, although in the case of some exotic creatures the bait varies – for example Robots require Ion Batteries. Once added to your Companion register you can equip them with accessories to help them carry out tasks. The character of each Pet determines its behaviour. You can get your Pet to breed by producing Eggs, modifying its properties at a special terminal at the Space Anomaly, and thereby changing the appearance and personality of the offspring when the egg hatches.

The Food and Companions chapter can be downloaded as a PDF from this link: Food and Companions.pdf

Third Edition

The following notes deal with the Prism update 3.5, added in June 2021.

Many visual features have been improved, but this does not affect the gameplay, just the pleasure you get from exploring. You will need a new generation console or a decent graphics card to see these effects at their best, but some older console users will see a difference too. Animals can now have fur and more of them can be tamed. This includes low flying creatures, so you can ride on them while they fly.There is a major change in the graft needed to discover crafting/product recipes, because a new terminal in the Anomaly blueprint room now boasts a Synthesis Laboratory where you can purchase crafting recipes for Nanites.

Another new feature will make using your freighter as a base more practical, because when you upgrade the interior design of the current freighter will be copied across to your new model. Therefore, you can kit out your freighter with confidence, knowing that your work will not have to be repeated.Space Stations have acquired a new control panel. Situated at the back of the Hanger deck, a short set of steps leads to a panel. At the time of writing, it’s not clear what the function of this feature is, but I suspect it has something to do with the next Expedition.

Fourth Edition

The Frontiers update 3.6 was added in Septemnber 2021.

The Build Menu has changed to a Grid Layout. The Basic Structure components have changed to Timber, Stone and Alloy. They carry more decoration and intelligently adapt to where they are used in a building.

You can now place a Galactic Trade Terminal on a Basic Wall.

Settlements can be discovered with the use of a special map from the Cartographer, and you can apply to become the overseer. You will need to protect them from Sentinel attack, help then build new features and govern the population. When the Settlement is not in debt it will produce materials and goods for you to collect, although the rewards are not very impressive in the early stages.

The Settlements chapter can be downloaded from this link: Settlements.pdf

Fifth Edition

The Sentinels update 3.8 was added in Feburary 2022. Apart from graphical improvements and other optimisations, this update addressed Combat. The changes and addtions to the book are covered in the Addendum which can be downloaded from this link: Sentinels Addendum.pdf

Sixth Edition

The Outlaws update 3.87 was added in April 2022. Apart from graphical improvements and other optimisations, this update introduced the concept of becoming a Pirate and enhanced Space Combat. The changes and addtions to the book are covered in the Addendum which can be downloaded from this link: Outlaws Addendum.pdf

The Endurance update was added in July 2022. The main changes were to Freighters and the Build Menu, witrh the addtion of Living Frigates as well. These are covered in the Addendum which can be downloaded from this link: Fortitude Addendum.pdf

Seventh Edition

The Waypoint 4.0 release notes

This major update introduced the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and at the same time made a number of important changes to the balance of the playing modes and the way the inventories work. The following notes will be of relevance if you bought No Man’s Sky Revealed: A Newcomers Guide to Companions and Later (with the dark blue cover):

The Nintendo Switch version of the game excludes Multi-Player and Settlements.

The Guide, Catalogue and Milestone pages have been merged into one which leads to new pages. These contain all the old information as well as some new features – your Journey is recorded, you can look at lists of the words you have learned and refiner and food recipes that you learn are noted.

Although the old game modes have been retained, there is much rebalancing, so for example Oxygen in not longer for sale anywhere in the game in Normal Mode. All the game modes can be customised to some extent from the Options Menu, so you may find yourself in a Multi-Player game with others who have selected easier or harder options. A new mode called Relaxed sits between Creative and Normal.

Saving a game has been reworked so that an autosave occurs at 1 minute intervals (unless you aren’t making any progress in the game). A single Restore Point is now updated every time you exit your ship or carry out any of the other actions that created one in the past.

Inventories have been simplified. There is now no “General” category, slots are either for technology or cargo. The maximum number of slots has been increased. Filters allow you to highlight just the types of items selected. Installed technology can now be packaged up for storage as cargo and future reuse, rather that having to be dismantled.

The Base Computer Archives mission has been modified so that you don’t have to wait for each step to become unlocked, you do so by learning alien words.