Home No Man’s Sky Orbital Update 4.6 brings with it new revamped space stations

No Man’s Sky Orbital Update 4.6 brings with it new revamped space stations

No Man’s Sky, alongside Cyberpunk 2077 is a gaming rarity in that it launched to a sea of derision, but is now so highly thought of in gaming spheres that it is up there with the best games of the last decade.

Unthinkable as that was back in 2016 when it launched, the team at Hello Games stuck to the task and tirelessly crafted and molded it into the game that was promised.

Now we are getting another of the frequent massive updates taking the game to v4.6. This one is called No Man’s Sky Orbital and sees a huge revamp of space stations in the game, along with a host of new starship customizations.

There is a ton of other stuff in the patch but below is the juice we are really interested in.

As with all NMS updates, we don’t need to wait, they launch as they are announced so you can jump in and get going on this one immediately. We are off to load it up right now.

What’s new in 4.6 No Man’s Sky Orbital

Space Stations

  • Space stations have been completely overhauled and refreshed.
  • Station exteriors now come in a huge array of procedurally generated shapes and colors, 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, provided the ship in question has functioning launch thrusters.

Starship Customization

  • 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 colors 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.

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Paul McNally
Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine,…

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