The release of the outlaw update in No Man’s Sky has brought with it a plethora of new features, one such feature is squadrons. If you’re looking to learn how to be the captain of a small squad then look no further, we have you covered.
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No Man’s Sky Squadrons act as an excellent supplementary force; they can draw enemy fire and just generally act as a good insurance policy to stop your more valuable ships from being turned into a pile of floating debris. It also feels good having your own crack team of pilots that you can take from rookie to top guns.
Updated November 11, 2024, by Sean Murray: Having a squadron to fight by your side can make exploring the vast expanse of the universe a lot less lonely. We’ve updated this guide with some fresh pictures, refreshed its formatting, and also added a few new tricks to make the most out of your squadron in No Man’s Sky.
How To Unlock Squadrons
To unlock squadrons you’ll first need a capital ship – a Freighter in this case. You can also potentially unlock a Freighter ship for free by warping through galaxies.
After you’ve secured you’re very own Freighter (or if you already have one) you can access your squadron by going to the “Manage Fleet” terminal on the bridge. There will also be a menu that says “Manage Squadron” select that, and it will show you the number of available slots that you have.
- You have access to 4 squadron slots, and it will cost you a total of 21,800 Nanites to unlock all of these slots
- The first slot is 800 Nanites, the second slot is 3,500 Nanites, the third slot is 7,500 Nanites, and the fourth slot is 10,000 Nanites
- The menu will show all squadron slots as locked if you haven’t purchased any yet
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Assemble The Pilots
Once you’ve unlocked your 4 squadron slots it’s time to start filling them up with some capable pilots! You can find pilots in a few different ways, but it’s equally important to look for good pilots and good ships.
Ships have the following stats:
- Damage Potential
- Shield Strength
- Hyperdrive Range
- Maneuverability
The stats you’re looking for will depend on what kind of squadron you’re after, high Damage Potential and Maneuverability might be the play if you’re looking for the very best combat pilots. That said, having some tank ships and some damage-dealing ships might be even better. It’s largely up to you.
Pilot stats are heavily randomized, so it depends on what you’re looking for. Potential squadron pilots can have stats that range from acrobatics to spatial awareness.
How these exactly affect a pilot’s performance is not completely known, but it’s a good bet that some stats do pair well (or there wouldn’t be any point in having them).
Having a pilot with good spatial awareness or reaction time on a high-damage dealing ship could potentially be an excellent combo.
Where can Pilots be found?
There are multiple ways you can find pilots, and while it’s difficult to guarantee top S-class pilots, there are lots of options in the vastness of space. You can find pilots in the following areas:
- They’ll sometimes come aboard and dock on your Freighter
- You can find them in space stations that are not pilot-controlled
- They’ll also be found at trading posts and on some planetary locations
Pilots can go from C to S tier, with C being the worst and S being the best. You can also upgrade pilots for Nanites, but it’s cheaper just to find the pilots that are S-tier and recruit them. However, you might want to hold on to pilots that have stat combinations that you want and then upgrade them.
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Unleash The Squadron
Squadrons can help you in battle in a couple of ways. They add some extra pressure to the target, as they’ll fire on enemy targets. They also help you by drawing fire, which can be very helpful in situations with lots of enemy ships suddenly engaging you out of the blue.
There are also a few ways to get your buddies into battle to help you out.
- Squadrons will usually jump to your location automatically whenever you enter combat or whenever you’re attacked.
- You can also specially request your squad to join you in space by using the “Summon Squadron” function.
You’ll find “Summon Squadron” by heading to the “Summon Freighter and Squadron” section of the interface while you’re in space.
The squadron will stick around you for a while before dispersing again. You can even do some fancy acrobatics with your pilots (they’ll do barrel rolls at the same times as you).
Squadrons by themselves aren’t ridiculously powerful, but you can find some strong pilots across the universe that can give you an advantage in dangerous situations. It can also be great fun to try and find rare stat combinations, and then take these pilots from average to ace.
How To Ensure Your Squadron Has S-Class Fighters
Getting S-class pilots simply involves finding them naturally or upgrading their skills using nanites. However, the ships they fly cannot be upgraded after joining your squadron, and even an S-class pilot won’t be much help if they’re flying a C-class ship.
To ensure that you’re getting the best ships, scan the ship of the entity you’d like to join your squadron. The higher the class of ship, the better they’ll perform over time, with S-class ships having the highest potential.
Fighters and Exotic ships make the best squadron mates as they have the best damage potential.
There is, however, one way to ensure that the NPC who joins your squadron is definitely going to be flying an S-class ship. First, you need to have a good S-class ship already in your inventory and you need to currently be flying it. Then, go up to an NPC and offer to trade ships.
It doesn’t matter what ship they’re currently flying because after the trade they’ll be flying the ship you gave them (you can scrap whatever ship they gave you). Then all you need to do is invite the NPC to your squadron and presto! You’ve got a squadron member flying an S-class ship.
There appears to be an inverse relationship between the quality of an NPC’s ship and its pilot rank, so an S-class ship owner will be a C-class pilot. You’ll need to spend nanites to upgrade their skills after performing this little trick, and that’ll cost a lot of nanites.
Before making the trade, be sure to have upgraded the ship so that your new squadron mate will be flying a ship that’s as powerful as the one you’re flying.
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