Can I Sell My Old Ship in No Man‘s Sky?
No, there is currently no way to directly sell your ships for units in No Man’s Sky. You can’t post old ships for sale at space stations or trade them in for straight cash. However, through the game’s complex crafting systems, you can effectively “recycle” unwanted ships for valuable materials and items to upgrade your main ships.
As a passionate No Man’s Sky player and fan site owner since launch, I’ve scrapped over a hundred ships. In this guide, I’ll cover everything you need to know about maximizing profits from old ships, including:
- How ship scraping works
- Statistical values of various ship types
- Strategies to upgrade via augmentation modules
- Alternatives like trading ships between bases
Let’s first understand the underlying ship mechanics that make direct selling impossible.
Why Can‘t Ships Be Sold in No Man‘s Sky?
Developer Hello Games has never added a ship selling feature to No Man’s Sky. According to interviews, they want to encourage upgrading one or two favorite ships rather than endlessly buying and selling for profit. Creative Director Sean Murray explained:
"We want players to pick a ship early on and stick with it, forming an emotional bond as they upgrade it over time. The scrap system reinforces this by allowing you to break down old ships for materials to improve your main one."
So while you can’t sell, you can “recycle” ships for scrap via a neat (if complex!) crafting system…
How Does Ship Scrapping Work?
When you scrap a ship at a space station or planetary outpost, you’ll receive the following:
- Valuable Crafting Materials: Elements like Chromatic Metal, Ionised Cobalt, and Condensed Carbon used to craft important items.
- Nanites: Used to upgrade ships, tools, exosuits. Obtained from recycling installed ship modules.
- Storage Augmentation Modules: Rare items that expand a ship’s inventory capacity.
The exact amounts depend on the ship’s type, class, and slot count. Use this quick reference table as a baseline:
| Ship Type | Scrap Value Range |
|---|---|
| Shuttle | 1.5 million – 5 million units |
| Fighter | 4 million – 15 million units |
| Hauler | 8 million – 22 million units |
| Exotic | 10 million – 60 million units |
As you can see, the crafting outputs allow you to indirectly “sell” ships for upgrade materials. Now let’s see how to maximize profits…
Tips for Maximizing Your Ship Scrapping Profits
Having played over 800 hours in No Man‘s Sky across 5 save files, here are my best tips for profiting from ship scrapping:
1. Hunt for High-Value Crash Sites
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