I played 15 hours in the first two days after I got it
gaem good 
I was thinking about treating myself and buying no mans sky since its $60 but apparently it was randomly on sale so I got it for $24, fuck yeah
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I “rescued” Artemis and put them in the simulation, currently trying to upgrade my base and equipment, as well as maybe finding a new base location or getting a new ship
Have you gotten a freighter yet? They function as bases that can serve most of the functions that a planetary base can, with the added advantage of being mobile. In addition, you can use a freighter and its services to send frigates on lucrative missions, store vast amounts of items, seamlessly summon Exocraft, and manufacture chromatic metal.
I also have a strategy for getting a quality starship, though it requires specialized equipment and some persistence:
Visit a space station’s starship technology merchant and buy a reactor module of choice, preferably at least an A-class.
Visit the Space Anomaly and head to the research area at the back. Open the Construction Research Station and buy the blueprint for the Minotaur Geobay. Then, visit Iteration Perses and research the Minotaur Radar Array.
Deploy the Minotaur Geobay and install the radar. Enter the Minotaur and navigate Quick Menu → Minotaur Radar Array → Scan for distress signals. If a “Distress Signal Detected“ notification appears, you have traced a crashed ship. If “FREIGHTER CRASHSITE LOCATED“ appears, scan again.
Fly to the distress signal, and you will find a free ship, though not a very good one. Repair its critical systems and fly it to the space station. At the Starship Outfitting terminal in the back, select Begin Salvage Analysis → Extract Customization Module. Repeat steps 3-4, salvaging one of each ship part: wings, cockpit, and engine.
(post split due to character limit)
(continued)
Be aware that all the salvaged parts must be from the same archetype: shuttle, fighter, explorer, hauler, solar. You can check this type on the starship comparison screen. (further reading: https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Starship#Starship_Archetypes ) A fighter will generally serve you best, though you may want multiple starships if you really want to specialize.
Once you have all the parts you need, bring them to the Starship Fabricator, the conspicuous landing pad at the back of a space station. Select the class, insert the parts, customize the coloration, and confirm the fabrication.
If you care about maximizing power over looks, try swapping out different parts of the starship. The arrangement of supercharged slots depends on what parts you use, and will change if you use different ones.
I’ve looked at the ship builder pad before, but I never knew how to obtain the actual parts, is salvaging old ships the only way. or is there some way to craft them? also I just got the launch auto charger and its so good, getting launch fuel was so annoying
also first freighter being free sounds crazy, but might as well check that myself
Salvaging ships is the only way to get the necessary parts. If you have enough navigation data, you can buy Emergency Cartographic Data maps from the space station cartographer and use them instead of the Minotaur. Technically, any ship that the fabricator can assemble can be salvaged for parts, regardless of the source.
If you find a crashed ship that you can't salvage for wings/engines/cockpit, you can also salvage it for reasonably valuable scrap. If you're having trouble finding the right ship to salvage, you can use that money to buy the right ships to salvage. Fighters are more common in Vy’keen systems, haulers are more common in Gek systems, and explorers are more common in Korvax systems.
got it, thank you!
You're welcome!
ok, how much does a freighter typically cost, and how do I actually buy it? I’ve seen them but I don’t know how to interact with them
To buy one, you dock with it by approaching the glowing blue tractor beams, enter the bridge and speak to the captain. The easiest way to get a freighter is to save it from a pirate attack, as doing so will lower the price of the freighter. Some sources that I vaguely remember say that your first freighter is completely free, though I doubt that claim and can't confirm it.
Can confirm (though this info may be outdated)