Jumping into No Man’s Sky with the latest ORBITAL 4.6 update feels like the universe just handed you the keys to the ultimate cosmic road trip. The space stations? An architectural masterpiece, each with its own vibe and story. And when it comes to your starship, it’s all about making it your own in ways we’ve only dreamed of until now.
First off, space stations have gotten a major facelift. Imagine cruising through space and stumbling upon one of these beauties. Each one’s got its own character, making every visit feel like a first-time experience. Inside, it’s like a whole new world has opened up, with shops and tech galore and all wrapped up in a design that’s both futuristic and familiar.
With the new Starship Fabricator, it’s like you’ve got your own intergalactic chop shop. Ever had a vision of the perfect ship but just couldn’t make it happen? Tear down those clunkers for parts and build your dream machine. It’s like playing Galactic LEGO with real stakes, turning the game’s economy into your playground.
Furthermore, the whole trading system’s been given a turbo boost. With the Economy Scanner, you’re the wolf of Wall Street, spotting deals and playing the markets like a pro. Your standing with the alien factions now means more than ever, affecting everything from what tech you can get your hands on to the prices you’ll pay. It’s all about who you know.
Your fleet missions? They just got personal. Whether you’re guiding your ships from afar or diving into the action, your choices directly affect the outcome. It’s a whole new layer of strategy and immersion, making every mission feel like a mini epic in its own right.
Guilds now offer way more than busywork. Depending on how tight you are with them, you could snag some sweet deals or even freebies. It’s a fantastic incentive to get out there, explore new systems, and make some new friends (or frenemies).
Visually, the game’s never looked better. Everything from the reflections on your ship’s hull to the design of the space stations has been kicked up a notch. Combined with smoother performance, the universe got a next-gen upgrade.
You can find the trailer below:
Below you can find the patch notes in further, precise details.
Orbital 4.6 Patch Notes
SPACE STATION OVERHAUL
The external architecture of space stations has been completely reimagined. The new designs bring incredible detail and bold silhouettes, as well as a broad range of colour palettes to these deep space orbital platforms.
REPUTATION DISCOUNTS
Your standing with alien races now impacts the prices offered by technology vendors aboard the space station. Cultivate a strong reputation with alien lifeforms to enjoy deep discounts!
TOTAL SPACE STATION REDESIGN
Space station interiors have been completely redesigned and expanded. Engine improvements have enabled a vast and dramatic new station experience.
As well as visual improvements, navigating to essential shops and technical equipment is now more intuitive and efficient; stations include more nooks to explore; and aesthetics now vary tremendously from system to system.
TRADE SURGES
The starship Economy Scanner can now sweep for market surges in nearby star systems. These time-limited events present high-profit opportunities for enterprising traders, revealing which trade commodities are currently scarce and in high demand.
STARSHIP CUSTOMISATION
The Starship Fabricator allows Travellers to design and construct a completely custom ship from salvaged parts. Dismantle unwanted ships at the outfitting station, then repurpose the components into the starship of your dreams.
Naturally-hunted ships acquired by traditional methods can be identified by the Authenticated Starship seal, and attract a bonus in price when traded.
SPACE STATION VARIETY
Space Station interiors are now procedurally generated and vary dramatically from station to station. A huge range of different designs are waiting to be found, as well as a wide array of atmospheric and lighting arrangements.
SALVAGE SHIP PARTS
Disassemble starships at the Starship Outfitting station to break them into reusable components. These salvaged customisation modules can be used to fabricate a brand new, fully custom starship.
SCREEN SPACE REFLECTIONS
The lighting model for reflective surfaces has been revised to achieve a more realistic appearance, as well as reduce noise around reflections and improve their stability.
FLEET MISSIONS
Fleets of frigates engaged in interstellar expeditions may reach out for remote guidance, or even request your presence for direct intervention! Advise your commanders in situations relating to crew management, strange space phenomena, risky exploration ventures and more – or warp to their system to help defend the fleet against attack!
Your choices matter: decisions made will directly impact the outcome and rewards of expedition events.
IMPROVED GUILD REWARDS
Affiliation with the Mercenaries, Explorers and Merchants Guilds is more rewarding than ever. Guild envoys in each solar system now offer a selection of free or discounted supplies, increasing in value for higher-ranking members. Visit new systems to collect more complimentary items!
STATION MERCHANT REFRESH
All space station vendors have undergone a complete storefront renovation. New high-tech props, kiosks and decorations provide plenty of visual detail to delight customers, and each guild now has a uniquely designed service point for its envoy.
SPACE STATION BASE PARTS
A selection of the most premium and desirable space station commodities are available to build in planetary and freighter bases. Visit the Construction Research Station aboard the Space Anomaly to learn these new construction blueprints.
UNIQUE STATIONS
Each alien race imprints their personality onto their space station designs. The Korvax are known to furnish their stations with server blocks and technical equipment, Gek stations provide ergonomic seating amid scrolling billboards, and Vy’keen stations often double as a storage facility for classified military equipment.
FRONTEND AND UI IMPROVEMENTS
The Game Mode selection screen has been refreshed with a clean, polished new aesthetic, and many user interface elements throughout the game have been revisited for consistency and visual appeal.
GUILD ENVOYS
Swiftly advance in standing with the Merchants, Explorers and Mercenaries Guilds by donating surplus materials to Guild treasuries. Approach space station envoys to browse a list of their currently desired items.
SWITCH STARSHIPS ABOARD STATIONS
While docked with a Space Station landing pad, use the Quick Menu to instantly swap your primary ship. Scrapping starships for salvage has never been easier!
UNIQUE STARSHIP COLOURS
Custom-fabricated starships can be decorated with a variety of paint designs, including some tints and shades unavailable in galactic standard starships, as well as further refined with matte or metallic finishes.
4.6 PATCH NOTES
SPACE STATIONS
- Space stations have been completely overhauled and refreshed.
- Station exteriors now come in a huge array of procedurally generated shapes and colours, as well as at an increased scale.
- Space station interiors are now procedurally generated.
- Space station interiors now have a huge amount of lighting and visual variation.
- Station interior designs now reflect the race of the local system authorities.
- The various key space station merchants and interactions have all been visually refreshed.
- Players can now use the Quick Menu to switch their docked ship while aboard the space station, providing the ship in question has functioning launch thrusters.
SCREEN SPACE REFLECTIONS
- Introduced a number of optimisations and visual improvements to screen space reflection rendering.
- Reflection rendering has been revised to reduce noise and make the effect more stable.
- The lighting model for reflections has been improved to achieve a more realistic, physically based look.
FLEET MISSIONS
- While away on expeditions, frigates may now call home via the starship communicator or the fleet command terminal on your freighter.
- The fleet commander may seek your advice in dealing with a tricky situation, or may even request direct assistance.
- Your decisions at these moments, or your efforts in coming to the aid of your fleet, have a direct impact on the outcome and rewards for your fleet missions.
- Fixed a number of text issues when using the captain’s terminal on a frigate.
- The player’s torch is no longer auto-activated when boarding a frigate.
- The frigate teleporter can no longer be triggered while the frigate is away on a mission.
- Fixed an issue that could cause asteroid flickering when warping to a system that contains a frigate fleet.
- Fixed an issue that prevented outlaw frigates that are not away on a mission from being warped in to defend the player when under attack by hostile starships.
- Nearby fleets will now always deploy fighters to assist the player in combat, even if they are on a mission.
- When landing on an outlaw frigate, the captain will now greet you with an appropriate message.
STARSHIP CUSTOMISATION
- A new interaction, the Starship Fabricator, has been added to the space station.
- The fabricator allows you to build your own custom fighter, hauler or explorer starship.
- When salvaging a ship, the process can now be targeted at specific visuals, e.g. reclaiming the wings or thruster array specifically. These harvested components can then be combined to create a brand-new ship.
- Purchase starship reactors from space station technology merchants to determine the stats and class of your new starship.
- The fabricator also allows you to choose unique colour and paint styles for your new ship.
- Starships salvaged from the wild or purchased from another pilot benefit from universal authentication, granting them a bonus to future trade-in values.
USER INTERFACE
- The splash screen and mode select screens have been visually overhauled.
- The options screens have been tweaked for visual clarity.
- The in-game patch notes have had a visual upgrade.
- Purchase and decline buttons in various UI pages have been re-styled.
- The compare and purchase screens have been tweaked for clarity.
- When using “Transfer More” to add items to a slot, the popup will now only show valid items.
- When a mission location is marked, the icon will now briefly start in the centre of the screen before moving to its usual position, making it easier to track off-screen locations.
- Fixed an issue that added an additional delay to the creation of markers for mission events.
TRADING, REPUTATION AND GUILDS
- Space station technology merchants now have a wider range of upgrades, with more high quality modules available.
- Space station technology merchants now offer a price discount based on your standing with their faction.
- The starship Economy Scanner can now be activated from the ship’s inventory as well as from the quick menu.
- The Economy Scanner can now detect nearby trade surges, in addition to detecting planetary outposts.
- Trade surges are time-limited events in nearby systems that offer an increased profit margin on key goods. Find a source of the required trade items to take advantage of these surges.
- A system’s economy description on the galaxy map now uses a consistent label to describe the goods they buy and sell.
- The guild envoys for the Merchants, Mercenaries and Explorers Guilds now offer a wide selection of items to their members.
- Find guild envoys aboard space stations.
- Each envoy offers a range of free supplies and heavily discounted items, with eligibility based on your current standing with their guild. The exact items vary from system to system but are tailored to each specific guild.
- Envoys will also accept donations to guild supplies, in exchange for increasing your standing with their guild.
- Vanquished pirate starships now yield Pirate Transponders, which can be donated to the Mercenaries Guild for a boost to standing.
- The clarity and presentation of the buttons to view journey milestones and faction standing within the catalogue have been improved.
- Fixed an issue that caused the catalogue system standing button to lead to the wrong page.
- A number of new alien words have been added, ready to learn and translate.
- The trade terminal found on space stations now has a clearer name and subtitle.
BASE PARTS
- A large number of new base parts have been added, based on the decoration style of the space station.
- Research these parts with salvaged data at the construction research terminal on the Space Anomaly.
BUG FIXES
- Fixed an issue that caused some shuttle wings to be misaligned.
- Fixed a number of visual issues with the hologram at the Multi-Tool salvage terminal.
- Fixed an issue that caused starship icons to be used on the Multi-Tool salvage terminal.
- Fixed an issue that could cause doors to open too slowly, leading to a collision event between the door user and the door structure.
- Fixed a number of visual issues that could occur when attaching Autophage heads to other bodies in the customiser.
- Fixed an issue that could cause some planetary crops to flicker.
- Fixed a number of memory leaks related to texture generation and streaming.
- Fixed a memory trample related to holograms.
- Fixed a memory trample related to planetary missions.
- Fixed a memory trample related to discoveries.
- Fixed a memory trample related to player bases.
- Fixed a memory trample related to claiming rewards at the end of an expedition.
- Fixed a memory trample related to planetary generation.
- Fixed a number of memory issues that could occur when dying.
- Introduced a significant performance optimisation while in non-combat locations such as space stations or the Anomaly.
- Fixed a number of multiplayer connectivity issues on Xbox.
- Improved the audio for the Starborn Runner’s landing effects.
- The Starborn Runner can now truly hover when in planetary flight.
- Solar-class starships now retract their sails when engaging the hyperdrive.
- Fixed a number of issues that could prevent starships from correctly attaching to their dock or landing pad.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the galaxy map to fail to mark the correct path type for your current mission.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause some NPCs or objects aboard an outlaw station to use the wrong dialogue type when loading a save made aboard the station.
- Fixed a number of text issues with missions that encouraged space combat.
- Fixed a number of items and technologies being absent from the known recipes list when starting a new creative mode game.
- Fixed an issue that could incorrectly cause additional base specialists (such as the Overseer or Farmer) to appear at Space Stations even after one had been hired.
- Fixed a softlock that could occur when dismissing a message box while it was still fading in.
- Fixed an issue that could allow the accidental early ending of an expedition before all milestones were complete.
- Fixed a number of rare display issues in the Space Anomaly’s expedition terminal.
- Fixed an issue that allowed players to put damaged technologies in the cargo section of the expedition terminal.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause supercharged slots not to appear on the preview of some starships given as rewards.
- Fixed an issue that could cause a missing texture to appear on the expedition terminal when no expedition is in progress.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause player inventories to slowly fill with emergency signal scanners after placing an active scanner in an inaccessible inventory.
- Fixed an issue that could make it difficult to delete items from your inventory using the pad without also scrolling the inventory away from the item in question.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause the camera to be placed incorrectly after being given a reward.
- Fixed a number of instances of bad data in bait cooking recipes.
