Random Thoughts – Randocity!

There are 255 galaxies in No Man’s Sky as of this article. Hello Games, however, could unlock more galaxies in the future. There are various ways to unlock each of the current 255 galaxies within No Man’s Sky. Let’s explore all of the ways and see which one is best.

Galaxy Center

The primary way that has been designed by Hello Games to unlock new galaxies within No Man’s Sky is to reach the center of each galaxy using a series of quests. Once you reach the center, your ship will be catapulted to the next galaxy in numerical order. From 1 through 255. If you’re in galaxy 1, then the next galaxy unlocked should be galaxy 2, then galaxy 3 and so on.

To unlock each galaxy, you will need to follow a very long, convoluted and involved Atlas quest line along with using black holes to hyperjump ever closer to the galaxy center. Performing this method to reach the galaxy center could take literal months to unlock just one galaxy. Attempting to get through all 255 galaxies in this way could take you years, assuming you follow Hello Games’s designed path.

Once your ship reaches the new galaxy, some of your ship’s technology will be broken and in need of resources to repair along with some of the technology in your Multitool. If you’re planning to use this (as designed) approach to unlock galaxies, it is strongly recommended to pick up a throw-away ship right before reaching the center. It also recommend to equip a throw-away Multitool. Then, when in the new galaxy on the other side, switch ships and then sell that broken ship and free up that slot. Then, switch back to your primary unbroken Multitool. This means you don’t have to worry about repairing any of that broken ship junk or a broken Multitool.

If you know you’re going to be doing this often to unlock many galaxies, then you’ll need to buy a super low priced functional ship each time and also equip that broken Multitool before proceeding to each galaxy center. You just need to make sure the ship you buy has enough hyperdrive distance to get to the center, which might mean buying and equipping distance mods.

However, thankfully there are much easier and faster methods to unlock galaxies that avoid this whole long tail quest and broken technology problem, but these involved using multiplayer.

Friends

After multiplayer was added to the game, Hello Games allowed you to follow your friends or a group out of the Anomaly station and into their system. This allows you to follow a friend into their system and their galaxy.

If you have a friend who has already unlocked a number of galaxies, you can unlock each of those same galaxies by using the Anomaly to follow a friend into them.

This method requires friends who already have galaxies unlocked. If you don’t have any friends like this, there is the another method below.

To use the friend method, you will need to have Internet and, if using a console, access to PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live to connect with your friends using multiplayer. The Nintendo Switch version of No Man’s Sky does not currently offer multiplayer, so this method is presently not available for those playing on the Nintendo Switch.

Anomaly Terminus

This is the fastest and recommended method to unlock galaxies, but again this doesn’t work on the Nintendo Switch. It also doesn’t require broken ships or spending months traveling to the galaxy center. However, it does take time to collect the galaxies in this way. When you do, it’s way faster, easier and doesn’t require having any friends online. In fact, this method doesn’t involve friends at all. It does, however, require multiplayer, so you will need to have multiplayer and crossplay enabled to unlock this method and offer you the best chances at finding galaxies to unlock.

As stated, if you’re playing on the Switch, this method is unavailable. This means when playing on the Switch, you’ll need to rely on the first method (galaxy center) described above to unlock galaxies. It is presently the only method for those playing on the Switch or for others who are playing the game in offline mode. If you are playing on a platform that supports multiplayer, then the Anomaly Terminus method works exceptionally well.

On the second floor of the Anomaly station is a giant Terminus that allows you to warp to your bases, other space stations and even to bases of people who are currently visiting the Anomaly at that moment. It is this latter part that is how you find galaxies to unlock.

Method

1. After visiting the Anomaly station, head up to the giant Terminus
2. On the Terminus, select ‘Space Anomaly’. This isolates the screen to only bases by other players actively visiting the Anomaly at that moment.
3. Click on each base listing to see if the base is in a galaxy other than Euclid (or whatever galaxy you are presently in). Note that bases that don’t list a galaxy in the base information means that it is in the same galaxy where you presently are. If you’re in Euclid, it means that that base is also in Euclid. If you’re in Eissentam, then it means the base is also in Eissentam.
4. If the base information doesn’t list a galaxy name, then move onto the next. Keep clicking on each base listing until you find one that contains a galaxy other than the one you’re in. If you don’t see any bases with a new galaxy, jump to step 8.
5. Once you find a base that is in a different galaxy, you may be forced to wait while it downloads. If it fails to download, back out and click on the base name again. It sometimes takes 2 or even 3 attempts to load before it allows you to warp to that base.
6. When ‘Warp to [Base Name]’ appears, click it and warp to that base.
7. Now you’re in that new galaxy. All you need to do is establish a base in that galaxy and you can visit it at any time. If you’re really lazy, you can visit the space station in that system and that will allow you to return to that galaxy through the space station. I don’t recommend the space station collection as a method because space stations have chances of dropping off of the list. Built bases never disappear from your list.
8. If you fail to find any galaxies in the Anomaly Terminus list, don’t fret. You have two options: 1) wait for more players to show up (could take a while) or 2) (faster method) Go to your ship, fly out of the Anomaly, turn around and fly back in. Flying out and back in will put you into a brand new lobby with brand new players. At this point, rinse and repeat beginning at step 1. It could take as many as 3 fly-out-and-in attempts to find a player with a base in a new galaxy. If you try more than 5 times without success, take a break and try later.

There are some tricks here. There are times where in step 5 the game simply refuses to download the base. This either means the player has left the game entirely for that session or there’s a connectivity problem. You’ll simply need to skip that base and try to find a different base to that same (or a different) galaxy. I’ve lost several possible galaxy collects as a result of failing to download the base. Don’t be discouraged as there are plenty of players and plenty of chances to find it again or even new galaxies to add to your collection. After all, there are 255 of them.

You’ll also need a relatively good memory to see and recognize galaxies you have already collected. Once you collect about 20 or more, you may not recall all of the galaxies you presently have collected. If you see a base in a galaxy you don’t recognize, warp to that base anyway. It’s better to be there and not need it, than skip and and find that you do. Once you reach the new galaxy, you can spend the time to dig through your own bases in a Terminus to find out if you already have base there. If you already have it, then fly into space and call the Anomaly and start over at Step 1.

Mix and Match [Updated: 5/30/2023]

I’ve decided to add a few more thoughts about galaxy collecting. There’s no need to constrain yourself to one type of collecting. If you like the idea of using the galaxy center at times, then by all means use that. If you like the thought of being able to find galaxies using other player bases, then use that.

One thing I didn’t mention is that you can use glyphs as a shortcut to reach the galaxy center of each universe, assuming that you want to use the galaxy center approach. This will help players on systems without multiplayer, like the Nintendo Switch. If you’re constrained to using the galaxy center approach, then you’ll need to search Google to find shortcut glyphs that will lead you to the galaxy’s center.

You’ll first need to know all of the names of the galaxies to search Google for the galaxy center glyphs. Know that there are a few legacy galaxies that appear to not be collectable using the galaxy center approach. These are galaxies 256 (Odyalutai) and 257 (Yilsrussimil). Once you reach the center of galaxy 255 (Iousongola), you will be taken back to galaxy 1 (Euclid).

If you are using the galaxy center approach and after reaching a brand new galaxy, you’ll further need to find a portal in that new galaxy with which to use glyphs. This will take some time to locate a portal. For this reason, the Anomaly approach can be faster, assuming you have access to multiplayer.

Future Expansion?

Note that there is at least one special numbered galaxy named Hacolulusu. It is numbered both +MAX32INT+1 and -MAX32INT+1 at the same time… or, in number, +2147483648 AND -2147483648 simultaneously. It is likely that Hello Games reserved this galaxy endcap placeholder to prevent accidentally assigning it. The bigger tell with using this 32 bit sized integer is that it suggests that 255 isn’t the maximum number of galaxies possible. In fact, it seems Hello Games may have reserved the possibility of at least 2,147,483,647 (2.1 billion) galaxies (unsigned) or up to 4,294,967,294 (4.2 billion) galaxies (signed), while artificially constraining the number to 255 at this moment.

The fact that the galaxies Odyalutai (256), Yilsrussimil (257) and Hacolulusu (+/-MAX32INT+1) exist strongly suggests the possibility of offering more galaxies than 255. Further, it suggests the game is artificially constraining itself into using an 8 bit integer value when No Man’s Sky is very likely using a 32 bit signed integer to store the galaxy ID values.

What this all means is that Hello Games could open up more galaxies in the future, possibly expanding it to 512 or 1024 or some similarly lower and more manageable value. It’s unlikely Hello Games would open up the full 4.2 billion galaxies, though.

Etiquette Suggestion

If performing the Anomaly Terminus method (using strangers) for collecting galaxies, I recommend leaving the system to finding your own system for setting up your first base in that new galaxy. However, if you find a planet that is so overwhelmingly good in that player’s system that you can’t pass it up, then by all means establish a base there. For example, were I to find a spot on a planet with 20 Mold Balls, I’d have no problem establishing a base around that.

However, as a matter of etiquette and courtesy, I recommend establishing bases in systems that you have unlocked yourself rather than encroaching onto that person’s system that you leeched from the Anomaly.

If you happen to land in a galaxy and system with hundreds of bases already, then it won’t matter if you establish a base there. There are a number of these out there that have been used for both Expeditions and for Weekend events.

Good Luck and Happy Galaxy Hunting!

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