The game always starts here and leads you through a 'basic training' course until you are finally released on your own. However, although you have to perform a certain number of prompted actions in order to gain the gear to get you started, there is still a lot of leeway for other exploration.
You Awaken Alone and Lost
Awakenings - In the beginning... You will wake up alone on a moderately inhospitable planet; if you don't do something fairly soon, you will die!
Before doing anything else, use your Multi-Tool to get at least 75 units of Ferrite Dust from the nearest rocks and use it to fix your Multi-Tool scanner. When this is done, you can search (C) for other necessary elements. First, look for Sodium, yellow-glowing 'flowers' which are marked 'Na' in the scanner; this is used to recharge your Exosuit's hazard-protection apparatus (which keeps you from dying in an adverse environment). Don't go too far afield, but gather all that you can. You will soon get a message that a ship's signal has been located, and the ship icon will show up somewhere. Move toward it at all deliberate speed, but gather any nearby sodium you come across. When the ship is finally in sight and if you have your Exosuit under control, you can stop and gather some resources you will need. NOTE that you should mine any yellow-crystal or red-crystal structures you come across, as these are concentrated forms of Sodium and Carbon and are much more effective at recharging items; also harvest any red 'Oxygen' flowers in your path, because this recharges your Exosuit.
Start by 'mining' some trees or plants for carbon and use it to recharge your mining beam on the Multi-Tool before doing anything else. If it runs out of fuel (Carbon), you are stuck until you find some more. [Hint - if you screw up and deplete it completely, you can jump-start it by 'punching' some plants (melee attack) for a few units of carbon, but it is better not to run out...]. Then, you can collect some more Ferrite and the blue crystals of Di-Hydrogen which are fairly common everywhere. Make your way to the shipwreck site and energize (E) the beacon. When it goes through the dialog and 'asks me' what to do next, I choose 'Broadcast', but I'm not sure if this really makes any difference. Next, go to the and enter the ship.
When you are in the ship (or any protected structure or cave) you are safe from the elements and your environmental protection and shields will be restored (but your life support, which needs oxygen, will NOT). When you look at the ship's contents, you will see that the Launch Thruster and the Pulse Drive are both 'broken', and both must be repaired before you can do anything else.
To repair the Launch Thruster, you will need to mine 40 units of Di-Hydrogen and convert it to the jelly - this can be done directly by clicking on an empty slot in the ship or Exosuit and then on the Di-Hydrogen Jelly icon; one unit of jelly will be created if you have the requisite 40 units of Di-Hydrogen. The next item needed is Pure Ferrite; since you can't as yet directly mine it, you will need to collect Ferrite Dust and convert that to Pure Ferrite using the Portable Refiner, and that will complete the repair. Note that you should always 'pick up' the refiner and carry it with you when you are finished using it.
However, even with the Thruster repaired, you can't take off until the Pulse Drive is also fixed, and you don't have the parts for this. The ship dialog will prompt you to extract navigation data from the beacon, make a Signal Booster and get the coordinates of the missing part - you will have to walk to get there, and you can easily die on the way or get lost.
Before leaving, craft one Carbon Nanotube and install the Analysis Visor in the Multi-Tool; this will let you locate more resources, and most importantly, find your way back to your ship. Make sure you have a good supply of Sodium (or better, Sodium Nitrate) before leaving, because you are guaranteed to run into lethal weather on the way. When you retrieve the part (Hermetic Seal), install it and you will be good to launch. [Hint: If the planet is nasty enough and you think you may not be able to make it, start the journey but hang around the ship until the storm starts and then hop in to wait out the storm].
A very important distinction in this game is the difference between 'game-time' and 'real-time'. Day/night, storm cycles, plant growth and other events occur in 'real-time', which means pausing or shutting down the game has no effect on the development of these events. For example, if you are waiting for something to happen in real time, you can switch to another computer task or take a coffee break to wait out a storm.
Before leaving, collect any easily obtainable resources. If there is a cave nearby, look for Cobalt and collect at least 100 units before leaving; it will be needed later, and you should always keep some on hand. Also, your Scanner (F) will show the presence of valuable resources such as the Albumin Pearls shown here. Valuable resources are shown with a yellow icon containing one to three exclamation points.
OK - now get in the ship and head for space! When you get there, you will be given a mini-tutorial on the ship's controls, followed by a signal directing you to another planet and a beacon. Before going there, shoot up some of the asteroids you will run into and collect Tritium for your Pulse Engine. You will also get some Gold and Silver, but those are not really all that valuable at this point.
After you land at the beacon, take a little time to look around and scan any new animals that you see (they have red dots in the scanner); doing so and uploading the info gets you Nanites, one of the forms of currency in NMS. This is ALWAYS a good idea every time you land the ship. The beacon will disgorge plans for a Base Computer and a Terrain Manipulator mod for the Multi-Tool, which in turn allows you to mine Copper, which can be turned into 'Chromatic Metal' - which is used in making most everything. The Terrain Manipulator is fueled with Ferrite Dust, Pure Ferrite or Magnetized Ferrite. The latter is by far the most efficient, so if you are in a good area, blow up some rocks to collect ferrites. You can also build a Portable Refiner (same 'Z' menu as you used for the Signal Booster) and convert the ferrites into the magnetized form, which is 5X as efficient and avoids you having to carry so much material - or you can just mine ferrite as you need it...
The economics of NMS: There are five types of 'currencies' in NMS, Units, Nanites, Buried Salvage Modules, Frigate Salvage Modules and Factory Reset Modules; all are needed if you want to do everything in the game, but only the first three are important early on. Most materials can be exchanged for Units, but Nanites are required for tech upgrades. Buried Salvage Modules are required to buy blueprints and they can also be sold for about 55,000U each; this can give you a quick cash boost early on. Nanites are given as rewards for missions, for 'repairing' any damamged equipment you see or can be 'refined' from Buried Salvage Modules at a rate of 15 Nanites per module (giving an approximate worth of $3,600 pre Nanite). Everywhere you land, look for and unearth these modules, as you will need a LOT of them if you want the blueprints.
The Sentinels: From now on you will see Sentinels on planets. The 'Synthesis' update has toned them down quite a bit, but they are still annoying, flying environmental guardians who are quite deadly, so don't annoy them at this time if you can avoid it. For unknown reasons, they don't mind you strip-mining everything with the Terrain Manipulator, but if they see you use your Mining Beam on anything - even a stupid rock - they will come over and investigate. They are even more picky if you kill an animal, even in self-defense. At the first annoyance, their indicators turn blue, and if you do it again while they are around, they will attack you. They can be defeated with the Mining Beam, but when you kill one, others will quickly appear - and so on until some really tough monster-size equipment wants to beat on you. If you cause them to attack you, the best defense is to jump in your ship and lift off a short distance. They will search for you, but they give up after less than a minute, and when all clear, you can go back down - just DON'T go into space until all is clear. You can read more about fighting Sentinels here.
Use your scanner to find a Copper deposit, and if it is more that a short run away, fly to it - you never know if you will have to duck into your ship to escape a predatory animal or get out of bad weather. At this stage, the most efficient thing to do is to mine some Copper and then set down a Portable Refiner and convert the Copper into Chromatic Metal as soon as you can. While it is being converted, either mine more Copper or some ferrite (pure or otherwise) and switch back and forth between converting copper to Chromatic Metal or ferrites into Magnetic Ferrite to make best use of your time. If the circ*mstances permit, fill one Exosuit 'slot' each full of Magnetized Ferrite, Chromatic Metal and Sodium Nitrate (converted from Sodium). When you use the Terrain Manipulator to mine materials, always use it at its lowest aperture ('r' selects this); you can dig the deposit more quickly if it is opened up, but you will lose most of the mineral.
Once you have the Chromatic Metal, create the base computer and it will then allow you to download plans for a Blueprint Reader, which holds plans for base construction. To get blueprints, you will have to locate buried Salvaged Technology modules to unlock the blueprints, which in turn opens up new plans. To advance the narative, you are required to set up the Teleporter and power it with a Biofuel Reactor. The Teleporter is important as it allows you to instantly travel to any other Teleporter on other bases you create or to any space station you visit. The Save Point allows you to do a manual save, separate from any automated saves, giving you two save options.
Before you begin base construction, make sure you have at least 200 carbon to create a simple wooden structure, because once you start, a storm will arrive, forcing you to take shelter, and it is easier to get materials in good weather...
After building the base and the teleporter, you will then be prompted to fly to the space station and ask the aliens there to decode the mysterious message '16..16..16...'. After you ask around and notice that the aliens are very upset with you for asking, one of them will go into a 'trance' and tell you the coordinates of another beacon. After this, no one on the station will speak to you for some reason. Before you leave, go to the Exosuit vendor (last booth on the right terrace as you face out), approach the Exosuit display and purchase an expansion slot for it. NOTE that you can only purchase one slot per space station, so it behooves you to do so every time you visit a new one. The prices start out low and quickly climb, but this is a good way to get more space [See ExoSuit Upgrades]. Also note that each container category (General, Technology, Cargo) has a separate price structure, so find the lowest cost choice unless you really need more space in a specific category. At all space stations, look around on desks and counters for colorful geometric forms, which when activated, give either Nanites or Navigation Data - for free. Most game threads require you to gain experience in talking to Aliens, so make a quick tour of the denizens as well. Some of them can give you helpful ‘directions’ to important places of interest or trade with you.
A note on Containers: Your Base Computer will give you a blueprint for Storage Container-0, which it is a good idea to build and fill with stuff you don't need right now. You will ultimately be able to build 10 of them (Containers 0..9), and they are more than just a container. Like the Exocraft, there is only one per game in the sense that if you build another Container (0 or whichever) at another base, it will contain the same stuff as in the first base. All containers (or Exocraft), wherever they are will always contain the same material in their slots, making them effectively a system for teleporting material as well as storage. For example, if you have several supply bases, the material farmed (or mined) from that base could be put into a Container, where it will appear in your main base (if you have one), saving you from lugging it around in your Exosuit.
Teleport back to your base, decode the message and fly to the distress beacon, which is a crashed freighter. Here, you get the blueprints for a Hyperdrive from the distress beacon. The crashed freighter cargo pods can be scavenged for miscellaneous materials and, occasionally, a Frigate Salvage Module - DON'T sell these - you will need them later, and they are rare. You will need about 80-100,000u for the five Microprocessors needed to build the Hyperdrive, and the best way to get it is to dig out a few more Savlaged Technology Modules; they sell for about 55,000u each. Fly back to the Space Station, and even though no one will talk to you, you can use the Galactic Trade Terminal to sell modules and buy the Microprocessors. If you have Navigation Data, go to the Cartographer (next to the Transporter) and exchange them for maps (to secret facilities - see about 'Raiding' here). Next, build the Hyperspace Drive and head into space.
Scanning (C) will light up yet another beacon, so head there and land. This station is a mess, with a scummy terminal; clean the junk off and it will give you blueprints for an Antimatter Containment module. After you make one, you can then create a Warp Drive cell, and you are good for one trip between the stars. Around the station you will see quite a few 'eggs' with a danger sign on them. Pay attention to that and don't mess with them. If you insist on doing so anyway, boost to the top of the station and shoot one from there - you will soon see what you missed. The uglies go away by themselves after a short time, so you don't have to shoot them. Note that once you have a fully functioning base, the junk on the terminal can be converted into Nanites at a ration of 5:1, so you can either collect it, discard it or sell it at a Trade Terminal. Note that the 'eggs' contain very valuable 'Larval Cores', which can be sold for about 70,000 U each or 'refined' into 50 Nanites. They can be safely harvested by digging under them with your Terrain Modifier and then shooting them from below to drop the core.
Fashion a Warp Cell, fuel the Hyperdrive, go into space and warp to a new system, and you will get another transmission directing you to an alien monolith which will give you a Warp Cell and some (sort of) story information. In space, after visiting the Monolith, you will be directed to yet another beacon, which in my particular case was a wrecked Class-B Hauler and plans for the improved mining beam. In the 'Synthesis' update to NMS, ships can be salvaged for parts at a space station, so it pays to fix it up just enough to fly and take it there. You can also just keep it and use it, but completely restoring one takes a lot of resources better used to make money - and buy a Class-S ship... Boost into space and the Anomaly will then appear, where you get to meet the Gek Polo. Visit everyone and find out where to buy blueprints. You can then use the Anomaly teleport to warp back to your base or another space station. In the 'Synthesis' update, the Anomaly is the key meeting and commerce place, and talking to Polo will give you information on starting the various game story lines. Once the Anomaly is open to you, 'Awakenings' is essentially finished and you are free to do whatever you want.
Next Steps?
My preference is to first remedy the lack of ground transportation, so I explore around my base to find at least 10 Salvage Modules (preferably 20). Take them to the Anomaly and buy the blueprints for an Exocraft - I prefer the Nomad because although it is small, it can go anywhere. It needs 100 Paraffinium, 5 metal plates and 4 Ion Cells to make it. With this Exocraft, I can then efficiently roam much farther and gather piles of Salvage Modules and get even more blueprints. At this time, I jump right into building an advanced base to generate income for more adventures. However, you can play all the game threads and earn all the money you need with only a minimal base if that's how you want to play.
Freighter Command
After a few warps into other systems, you will come out of the warp into the middle of a fight between Pirates and Freighters. If you choose to aid the Freighters by attacking the Pirates (and succeed), you will be invited to enter the Freighter and talk to its captain. You will be offered the command of the Freighter for free - it's a good deal, even if you don't want to be a freighter jockey - however, if you want a better freighter than the one offered, simply walk away; you will be offered a free freighter after every fight until you finally accept one. You will periodically find these fights happening after dropping out of warp, but you don't have to join in. If you do (after already taking the free Freighter), you will be given the chance of exchanging that Freighterfor the one you have - for probably in excess of 100,000,000u! I personally found freighter missions to be a bit tedious, as my Frigates always came back shot up and needed a lot of repairs, but it can be profitable once you have accumulated a fleet of Frigates - which also takes a lot of Units...
