No Man's Sky Outlaws: What's included in the new pirate-themed expansion?

No Man's Sky’s latest update, “Outlaws,” releases today, April 13, 2022. With it, players can live out pirate-themed fantasies in space by smuggling, improved starship combat, and so much more. A previous update improved ground combat and a major focus of Outlaws is space combat.

What can fans expect in this latest, massive update to No Man’s Sky? Read on to find out.

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No Man's Sky “Outlaw” update lets players live out their pirate fantasy in space

This latest update to No Man's Sky offers a significant number of changes to the game, and even allows new ways to play when it comes to pirates. As far as actual changes, here is what is coming to the game.

No Man’s Sky Outlaw update features

• Starship Changes/Space Combat Changes
• Outlaw Systems
• Expedition Six
• Squadrons

Pirates have always been a part of No Man's Sky, but their presence has been muted. Players will inevitably come into contact with them. With the 19th update to No Man's Sky, pirates have begun to colonize the galaxy, and use space stations as their base of operations.

Players who want to live the pirate life can undertake missions in the outlaw systems (Image via Hello Games)

With that in mind, players can, in this update, become pirates, or fight against them! It’s a major change and should add a nice bit of variety to the game. Starships were improved, wingmen were added, and so much more.

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Major Starships changes added to No Man's Sky

For the first time in two years, No Man's Sky receives a new starship type, the Solar Ship. This new high-tech ship is a versatile, long-range traveling ship, and can be found in many parts of the universe.

Starships can be outfitted with high-capacity cargo inventory, so players can carry even more things than ever. On top of that, players can now own up to 9 starships and can switch their primary starship in the freighter hangar.

These starships also now have an option for “Combat Auto-follow” to make automatic target locking possible in space combat. It will track enemy ships, while also letting the player adjust and play the way they want. Pirate, trader, and sentinel starships now also come with a variety of energy shields to make combat a bit safer.

Weapons were also rebalanced for all starship weapons, to try and promote more tactical dogfighting decisions. Weapons now have a variety of levels of damage, and the Cyclotron Ballista disables the engines of hostile starships. Phase Beam can leech shield energy as well, making it very ideal.

Perhaps the coolest change is that starship combat has been improved, allowing for in-atmosphere combat, and pirates can attack while the player is in the atmosphere of a planet. Sentinel interceptors, however, respond to crimes committed in a planet’s atmosphere.

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Piracy and Outlaw Systems debut in No Man's Sky

Several star systems in the galaxy have now been taken over by pirates and can be identified with a Conflict or Economy Scanner. This gives pirates their own unique space station and their own NPCs.

These star systems have no Sentinel interceptors and have their own technology merchants, a marketplace for contraband items, and unique mission agents. It’s a whole new way to play No Man’s Sky. Players can smuggle contraband items and undertake new missions to earn new titles and even the Shroud of Freedom hood customization.

Though players can buy contraband and smuggle it for major profits, players need to be aware that authorities in star systems might be scanning for contraband. Pirates do have countermeasures against this, though, if they have a Cargo Probe Deflector.

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Expedition Six begins soon

Expedition Six: Blighted will begin soon, and features a group of pirates known as The Blight. They have a secret to reveal, and there’s a mysterious treasure to seek out in a new narrative-driven expedition of No Man's Sky.

Of course, there are exclusive rewards to unlock, such as the battle-worn Outlaw Cape, a wayward cube for a player’s base, flags, posters, and so much more.

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Squadrons and Wingmen mean never fighting alone

Roaming pilots can be recruited by players into a squadron that will accompany the players as they fly around the stars. These other pilots, the player’s wingmen, will warp to the player’s location during space combat and can be summoned to fly into a formation at any time.

The wingmen can be upgraded via training, and players can inspect the wingmen they have to see their skills, traits, and battle stats. This means players can always have allies in combat, making the skies just a bit safer.

A great change to the game will allow players to recruit wingmen to help them in combat (Image via Hello Games)

This is an absolutely massive change for No Man’s Sky, completely reshaping certain aspects of the game. Players now have the choice to be wicked as pirates, try their hand at hunting them down, and can even change their minds and work on improving their reputation again after tarnishing it. It’s an incredible move by Hello Games to add these major changes to starship combat and gameplay.