Part of the allure of the long-awaited No Man's Sky is the prospect of visiting undiscovered planets and uncharted galaxies, teeming with uncatalogued flora and fauna.

Thanks to Hello Games' central algorithm, its sci-fi exploration game for PS4 and PC is capable of replicating 18 quintillion planets across its impossibly large universe adds a unique flavour to each explorer's journey among the stars.

There is, however, one aspect of the No Man's Sky experience that all players can relate to. It's a good job that no one can hear you scream in the black of space, as all anyone would ever hear is the pained cries of wayward explorers realising that they have ran out of storage space, again.

Thankfully, there are several solutions to this universal (pun intended) issue, that will allow you to merrily mine elements, trade items and craft upgrades without consistently running out of inventory slots.

In your equipment menu there are three storage sections: Starship, Exosuit and Multi-Tool. Each can be improved, but some will require scavenging trips and others can only obtained by spending those hard-earned credits.

No Man's Sky: How to add inventory slots to your Exosuit

Exosuit storage slots are absolutely invaluable in the opening hours of No Man's Sky. With your rather pokey starter-ship offering a minuscule amount of additional inventory space for your many space-trinkets, your suit will regularly become overloaded after even a short excursion.

Basic upgrades for your Exosuit that add an extra slot will randomly generate on some planets inside Drop Pods, although actually finding them is quite the task. There is, however, a quick and easy way to pinpoint their location using Signal Scanners which spawn far more often than the Drop Pods themselves.

Signal Scanners are the beacon-like machines that spew vertical beams of orange light. To interact with one, you will first need to craft a Bypass Chip (10 Iron and 10 Platinum). After feeding the chip to the scanner it will offer up four options: Monoliths, Colonial Outposts, Transmissions or Shelters.

While the latter of the bunch seems like the least appealing at first, No Man's Sky defines Shelterd as regular abandoned buildings or, you guessed it, a Drop Pod.

In short, whenever you find a Signal Scanner, it is worth selecting the Shelter option if you are craving some extra storage slots. Doing so will add a nearby Shelter location to your HUD and if luck is on your side, that additional Gek Charm you so wanted to keep can stay off the scrap pile for a little longer.

You can also randomly nab Exosuit inventory upgrades inside areas locked away behind Atlas Pass doors. This isn't guaranteed, but it is always worth checking those areas once you have the pass (see our Atlas Pass guide for tips on how to find them).

No Man's Sky: How to add inventory slots to your Starship

As much as we love the trusty Rasamama S36 for being with us for our first ever Pulse Jumps and Hyperspace Warps, its paltry inventory space quickly becomes a burden. Unfortunately for 'Rasa', there is also no way (as of Patch 1.03) to increase storage slots on your Starship.

With that in mind, there are two ways to procure a larger vessel with a suitably vast cargo bay. The first is the easier of the two options, but also the most expensive. While not obvious at a glance, you can buy one of the procedurally generated ships that dock inside Space Stations.

To do this, walk toward whichever Starship strikes your fancy and approach the cockpit. You will then be able to interact with the NPC pilot and make them an offer. We are not sure at present whether your standing with the occupant's race alters the price, or whether they can outright decline your suggestion (in my playthrough every NPC has been willing to flog their ship to a complete stranger).

No Man's Sky Screenshot
Warping towards a new planet in No Man's Sky. Hello Games

The price will vary depending on a multitude of factors (pre-set upgrades, size, type etc.), but you are looking at at least 1m+ credits per ship early on. Ouch.

For those really keen on dragging a haul of goodies around the galaxy, you will want to keep an eye out for a Trader class ship (the others are Fighter, Explorer and Science), as they have larger capacities as standard at the expense of speed and maneuverability.

The other option is cheaper, but requires resources and a bit of hard graft.

On rare occassions, some of No Man's Sky's Waypoints (the green circles with question marks) will harbour Crashed Starships that can be fixed up much like at the start of the game.

Whether you are planning on repurposing a wrecked craft or spending big at a Space Station, be sure to dismantle all of your upgrades from your previous Starship before the swap as you can't transfer these over.

No Man's Sky: How to add inventory slots to your Multi-Tool

Weapon, Mining-Tool, Scanner - your Multi-Tool is quite a neat little gizmo, but to install all the juicy upgrades you will pick up throughout your planet-hopping, you will need more than the five slot maximum No Man's Sky starts you with.

Much like Starships, the only way to expand your Multi-Tool's slot count is by obtaining a better version with a higher capacity. The bad news? Your in-game wallet is going to suffer.

So far we have found bespoke terminals selling superior Multi-Tools inside planatery Bases / Trading Posts and inside Space Stations. Once you approach the wall-mounted terminal, it will show off its wares and the asking price. Early game replacements seem to be valued at around 50,000 to 100,000 credits, although this may vary for each player.

Before you stump up the funds for a Multi-Tool with extra inventory slots, it is worth dismantling the upgrades installed on your outgoing version. As with Starships, you will have to rebuild any upgrades not pre-installed from scratch and every little resource gain will help.

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