NMS: Survival Part 4 - Warpspeed and the Anomaly

 

Distress beacon: crashed ship

 

Before I left the barren moon, I spotted a distress beacon and a crashed ship. It was an A class shuttle with better stats than my starship, but it was ugly and quite damaged. I fixed up the pulse engine and launch thrusters then flew it to the space station (without guns or shields; so glad no pirates attacked!) to be salvaged. I made 770,000 units which was enough to buy the microprocessors I needed for my hyperdrive. I built the hyperdrive on my ship and then I received a message I needed to make a warp cell to power the hyperdrive. I received the co-ordinates for an abandoned base on the hexagon moon that had blueprints for antimatter, the key ingredient in a warp cell.

Warp cell made, hyperdrive operational. Time to travel faster than light!

Warping through space

I reach a new star system and soon receive a message. Nada has mistaken me for Artemis, a missing Traveller. They invite me to the Anomaly to meet. As soon as I agree, the Anomaly warps into the star system right in front of me. Pirates announce their imminent attack so I quickly fly to the Anomaly.

Nada and Polo at the Anomaly

Nada, Polo and friends have made a little enclave outside of normal time and space. They hide from the "Crimson Eye" (Atlas) and the Sentinels. They assist Travellers and sell many equipment upgrades and construction blueprints, and they like to buy information about planets, minerals, flora and fauna. They also offer missions and have a variety of unique decorations and rewards. Nada and Polo promise to help me find Artemis. I head back to space.

Now that I've unlocked the Anomaly the game really opens up - Polo can show me how to find black holes to get closer to the centre of the galaxy, or he could show me Atlas stations and I could complete the Atlas quest line and uncover the mysteries of the universe. I could do Quicksilver missions and unlock the Void Egg to get my own Living Ship, or I could just explore and build bases as I see fit.

The Nexus (source of Quicksilver Missions) at the Anomaly

I'd like to work on two things I haven't done before: reaching the centre of the galaxy, and getting a Living Ship. So, we'll start doing some Quicksilver missions ... next time.