No Man's Sky/Getting the best gear

Maybe you want a PvP advantage? Or you want to be able to explore derelict freighters without worrying about the cold? Possibly you want to make hundreds of thousands of units for every item scan? Or a starship that never needs refueling? All of these can be done, and more.

Geting started

 * Note: Weaponry that has been damaged in the past and repaired again only deals half damage. For that reason, it may be best to repair damaged weapons, dismantle them, and re-install them (dismantling upgrades destroys them for half the resources used to craft them - rounded up). This only apples to the core weapon module, not any of its upgrades.
 * However, a starship must always have at least one weapon at all times (multi-tools do not need a weapon, since it has other ways to deal damage), so if the weapon is damaged (say, if you die in your ship) it is best to repair it, install a new weapon, dismantle all the previously damaged weapons, reinstall them, then dismantle or archive the extra weapon (if you archive it and store it in your freighter, you never need to craft it again! Just remember to install the freighter "matter beam" module). If you have more than one weapon equipped anyway, it is more resource efficient to run the above steps one at a time for each weapon, then you don't need to install a temporary weapon. Remember: repair, dismantle, reinstall.
 * The mining beam is not considered a weapon for these purposes, despite it dealing a bit of damage. The mining beam also cannot be removed.
 * If you are planning to become involved in (or prepare for) PvP, also see the preparing for death guide.

Ship type
First, you need to have a decent starship. The below table shows the main stats at S-Class. Lower classes may have way lower stats. All S-Class ships have a max of 60 tech slots. (The fandom shows different numbers, that is because these are the actual core stats that you can see inside the game.)

Multi-tool types
The below table shows the core stats of a S-Class multi-tool. All S-Class multi-tools contain 60 tech slots (as of the Waypoint update).

The alien (or "exotic" to some) is the best for damage, but the experimental and royal ones offer bigger mining speed and scanner range, but sacrificing a small amount of damage. Royal multitools can only be found in sentinel pillars.

Stage 1
This is the most time consuming bit. You will want at least 20 - 30 thousand nanites. These can be obtained by:
 * Selling upgrades
 * Searching supplies dropped by sentinels
 * Repairing damaged machinery
 * Uploading discoveries
 * Certain quests
 * Clicking "Request payment instead" after rescuing a freighter from a space battle
 * Refining tainted metal. Talk to the scarp dealer and choose "Get coordinates" to summon a derelict freighter

You can skip this step by changing your difficulty. You can do this on the pause menu. The difficulty button is above the save button. Make sure to set "purchases" to "free".

Stage 2
Go around to as many star systems with high economy level. Then, visit the space station. While you are here, you may want to increase your exosuit inventory. Focus on the tech slots first. You will soon wish you could have more.

Go to all four of the upgrade merchants and buy all the S-rank upgrades. Install the multi-tool, starship, and exosuit upgrades now. Save the exocraft upgrades for later.

You may want to consider maxing out the starship and multi-tool upgrade slots, as well as class. Although consider waiting for the multi-tool or starship you want most before you spend 900 million units and 60 thousand nanites on slot/class upgrades.

Stage 3
When you have gotten enough so that you can't equip any more upgrades (of any type at all), it becomes pointless to continue to buy S-Rank. You will need to follow a riskier approach. Find the nearest black-market system. This can be checked by looking for a skull icon on the systems info in the galaxy map. This is easiest with the economy/conflict scanner starship upgrades.

Once there, enter the space station and go to the shop on the left, towards the multi-tool container. Black-market systems tend to contain interesting multi-tools. Then go to the right hand side. One NPC will sell X-Class upgrades (buy any and all that interest you - mining beam, starship shield, hyperdrive, pulse engine, and exosuit upgrades are always worth the risk of losing nanites). The other will sell items (but suspicious packets for tech and arms - after opening them, you can return up to two more times for more). Check each upgrade's stats by using them. Either delete them, or if it is more powerful than another upgrade you have, delete the weakest upgrade of that category. This only counts for upgrades with a red "!" at the top right.

X-Class upgrades aren't always good. Some are only as good as C-Class, others are way above S-Class. It requires luck and patience to get it right.


 * X-Class upgrades to hazard protection offer hazard resistance for all four hazard types, with a minimum of 2% boost, a maximum of 10% boost. (if the value is high enough, you become immune to lower levels of the hazard immediately. With 58% cold protection, for example, you are immune to temperatures between 0 and -55. This is a big change, as the day temperatures on cold planets are usually around -55.
 * X-Class exosuit shield upgrades allow +33% core health, with +34 shield strength. However, it is not actually better than S-Class, which may be a bug, but the same. It may be better to stick with S-Class for exosuit shields.
 * X-Class starship shield upgrades allow a maximum of +38 shield strength, compared to the maximum S-Class stat of +30 shield strength. Unlike exosuit shields, this will actually improve your starship shield.
 * X-Class scanner upgrades may give more units than upgrades of S-Class.
 * X-Class hyperdrive upgrades, at their best, offer +100% warp cell efficiency, and more than +300 LY to the hyperdrive range.

Tips

 * You may only equip 3 upgrades of the same type at once. Craftable upgrades (which the blueprints for can be bought at the space anomaly) do not count to the limit of three, so install any upgrades you want. Every little bit helps.
 * Contrary to the above, the "advanced jump system" jetpack upgrade adds a short delay to all jetpack uses, which could be fatal in ground PvP against players with high power weapons.
 * Upgrades on a super charged slot gain a massive increase.
 * Upgrades get a small bonus for every adjacent upgrade that focus on the same thing. You can check if you got it right if both upgrades have a glowing outline. The outline is harder to see on ExoCraft engine upgrades, but it is there.
 * It is possibly a bug, but having an upgrade with "+100 warp cell efficiency" means you never need to refuel your hyperdrive.
 * Solar ships (the ones that have colorful sails when not in planetary atmospheres, and have wings that move outward when flying) come with the "vesper sail" upgrade, a core upgrade (cannot be removed) that makes the pulse engine recharge while in space. If you have enough pulse engine fuel efficiency, you will have to wait a long time of just pulsing before the fuel runs below 90%.
 * Solar ships take a few seconds longer to land than normal ships. That may be a problem in some cases, like for the GHDF (Galactic Hub Defense Force) members, who might be chasing a hostile target who just landed on a planet. That is why "community defense forces" prefer to use regular fighters while on duty. (See this Fandom article for more)
 * This page is not designed for giving tips on taking out the GHDF. They are many members, and by trying, you could get overwhelmed. It is more of a guide in PvP self-defense - active PvP-ing is not a requirement. Be prepared to face the GHDF if you attack other players in or near the galactic hub. They likely have methods to get strong gear that is much more effective than any method on this page.