The game just sort of thrusts you out there, gives you some short instructions on what to do, and leaves you to it. This guide’s for those of you who have lost track of what you’re supposed to do to finally get your ship up and out of the first planet’s atmosphere.
When you first hop into your ship after the short intro the game tells you that your ship’s Pulse Engine and Launch Thrust need to be repaired before it can be piloted.
Your gathering and crafting to repair your ship is your first taste of the game’s progression and if you’re not familiar with exploration and crafting-based sandbox games it can be a little overwhelming to start.
Repairing the Launch Thrust
To repair your Launch Thrust you need four Carite Sheets, which can be crafted in both your Exosuit and Starship inventories by pressing square on an empty slot and choosing the Carite Sheet.
Each Carite Sheet requires 50 Iron to craft. And how do you get Iron? From various rocks around the planet, of course.
Iron is the easiest ore to get your hands on and it can be mined from rocks and other large, solid objects easily. You can even mine it from tiny rocks you find on the planet’s surface, if you feel so inclined.
Though this is highly inefficient.
Once you have all four Carite Sheets, you can go to the Launch Thrust in the Starship menu and repair it by holding the X button.
Repairing the Pulse Engine
Next up is the Pulse Engine, which is a little more complicated.
For this repair you need 200 Heridium, 2 Carite Sheets (50 Iron each), and 20 Zinc. You know how to get the Carite Sheets, it’s easy as can be – as for the others, you’re going to have to do a little searching.
Heridium is can be found as a giant black pillar. You can home in on its location by using the scan (L3 button) and looking for any blue indicator icons you happen to be near.
In time, after chasing hopefully not too many blue indicators, you should find one of these massive deposits and 200 Heridium will be yours.
Zinc can be more difficult to hunt down, as there are likely many types of Oxides on the planet you’re on. Use your scanner with the L3 button again and look for the orange indicator icon with what looks like a stack of bars inside.
With luck you’ll come across some Zinc not too far off. I myself found it in a flower. This one you don’t mine with your Multi-tool. Instead you just press and hold the square key to get the Zinc from the plant.
With the 20 Zinc, 200 Heridium, and 2 Carite Sheets in tow you can finally repair your Pulse Engine and get your ship in working order. You repair it the same way you did with the Launch Thrust, by going to the Starship menu and holding the X button on the Pulse Engine to repair.
This is your first taste of crafting for progression in No Man’s Sky and it’s certainly not the last. Getting your ship running is no small task when you first start out, but it gives you the chance to get the basics of scanning, mining, and crafting so you have the basis down for your intergalactic exploration.
