No Man’s Sky: How to Get to the Center of the Universe Faster

Only Land for Supplies

In order to get to the center of No Man’s Sky’s universe you’re going to be using your Hyperdrive a lot. That means you’ll be burning through Warp Cells rapidly. In order to keep yourself with a constant stock of this rare but extremely powerful fuel, you’e going to need some supplies. Players that are rushing to the center will probably ignore most planets in their way, but there are a few elements that you should always keep a large stock of:

• Carbon – Needed to Make Suspension Fluid
• Plutonium – Needed to craft Electron Vapor
• Heridium – Needed to craft Antimatter
• Zinc – Also needed to craft Antimatter
• Thamium9 – Along with Antimater, this allows you to craft those precious Warp Cells.

Thankfully all of the above are among the most common elements in the entire game. The only one that may give you a problem is Zinc, so a good idea is to buy all you can from the Galactic Market in each new star system you visit. They usually have anywhere between 30 and 50 pieces in stock. That should help to keep your stocks from hitting zero.

Ignore Atlas After the First Visit

Atlas is one of No Man’s Sky’s many mysteries. This omniscient force starts to beckon players shortly after they obtain the Hyperdrive. It’s one of the paths that you can choose in the game, offering a more directed narrative as well as some insight into the universe and its inhabitants.

While we do recommend exploring this avenue at some point in the future, it will only prove to be a distraction if you’re trying to make record time on your way to the center. For one, the story will have you stopping at planets every now and then, something we’ve already stated you shouldn’t do unless you need supplies. Secondly, the path of Atlas goes in a different direction than the path to the center, sometimes even in the direct opposite direction. You don’t need us to explain to you why that’s not something you want.

However, you do want to visit Atlas at least once. After that first visit you will be guided to the first Atlas Pass which will prove useful in resource gathering. Also, the individuals that you’re introduced to within an Anomaly while obtaining the pass will provide great upgrades later on as well as assistance.

Upgrade, Upgrade, Upgrade

There are a lot of different blueprints you can obtain in No Man’s Sky, but the ones you should be focusing on are any that have to do with the Hyperdrive. When you first get this upgrade to your Starship, you can only jump about 100 light years. The first Hyperdrive upgrade lets it jump to 300, and then 1000, and can increase further if you find the stronger, but rarer, upgrades.

The folks who gave you the Atlas Pass that were in that Anomaly, the Korvax and Gek, provide these upgrades. But, you can also get them earlier if you’re lucky. The random aliens you encounter on planets and in Space Stations have a slight chance to provide the blueprints necessary to upgrade. You will have to do quite a bit of resource collection – one of the upgrades requires 1000 Gold and 1000 Emeril – but it’s definitely worth it.

Before you know it, you’ll be skipping over Star Systems 10 at a time.

When Installing Upgrades, Make Sure to Place Them All Next to One Another

It turns out that the where you place upgrades within your Exosuit, Multi-tool, and Starship matters. As you may already know, each upgrade corresponds to one of the major components of your gear. In the case of your Starship, upgrades can apply to your Shields, Photon Cannons, Thrusters, Pulse Drive, and Hyperdrive. Since you’re looking for a way to get to the center of the universe much more quickly, you’re going to want to pay special attention to those concerning your Hyperdrive.

Install your Hyperdrive in a location where you have plenty of free Inventory Slots around it. That way, when you find blueprints for upgrades you’ll be able to place them adjacent to the Hyperdrive, boosting their perks. Since the perks for all of the upgrades allow you to travel further in a single jump, you can extend that distance even more, shortening your trip.

Do Not Use Black Holes

During No Man’s Sky you’ll occasionally run into an Anomaly that is a sort of Space Station with one Korvax and one Gek inside. It’s the same station that you’re introduced to after your first run-in with Atlas. Everytime you come across this place you’ll have a set of options, one of which is to obtain a shortcut to the center. This shortcut comes in the form of a black hole.

Black holes cut down on the distance between you and the center of the universe by a significant amount (about 2000 light years). There is one drawback though – a random piece of your equipment will be critically damaged. There’s no telling what that piece of equipment will be, especially since it’s not limited to the upgrades to your Starship. It can be one of your Exosuit add-ons, or even one of the components of your Multi-tool.

While having something happen to your Scanner or something easily fixed isn’t a big deal, you can have a huge wrench thrown in your plans if something were to happen to your Warp Drive, one of your Hyperdrive upgrades, or even your weapons systems (pirates will attack occasionally, and you’re going to want to be able to defend yourself). If you have enough Hyperdrive upgrades, the 2000 light year boost won’t be that special anymore anyway, it’s not like it’s saving you a Warp Cell since you need to use one of those anyway to make it to the Black Hole. You’re better off just relying on your trusty path. 

Use Free Fly in the Galactic Map

When using the Galactic Map to warp from star system to star system, you may think that using the tab marked Path to the Center is the best option, after all it’s the most logical. However, if you’ve upgraded your Hyperdrive with more than the Sigma upgrade, you’ll be selling yourself short. When using the Path to the Center tab, you can follow it for between 5 – 8 planets. After that it ends and you can choose to warp to the end-point. Many players believe it stops there because that’s as far as your current Hyperdrive can take you, but that isn’t true.

We’re not sure if it’s a bug that will be addressed in the future or not, but you can often go much further than what your map tells you. head to the last point and then switch over to Free Fly by pressing R1. No use the Right Stick to select a system and you’ll find that you can continue on.

Now this isn’t unlimited, but you can at least get what you paid for. My current drive allows me to travel about 1600 light years, but the Path to the Center always seems to end at around 700, robbing me of an entire 900 light years. Essentially that means it was costing me two trips to travel a distance that my Starship could easily travel in one. Don’t let that happen to you.

These tips should help you make a lot of headway on your quest to the center. Make sure to always pay attention to your map and to keep stock of your supplies. If managed well, you should only need to stop once every 10 or so jumps, which isn’t bad at all.

If you need help with anything else No Man’s Sky related, be sure to check out our ever expanding wiki.