I’ve been meaning to sit down and write an FAQ for both the Hub and No Man’s Sky for a while. But, barring that, I’ve decided to start working on this guide instead. It will cover things that might not actually be part of an FAQ. When you want to go to the Galactic Hub, there’s some key concepts you need to know right off the bat. A lot of this I’ve covered elsewhere, but not nearly as well organized. So, without further ado:
Things You Need To Know About
1. The “Galactic Hub” Is Not “The Center”
In fact, the Galactic Hub is roughly 166,000 RLY (explained below) away from the Center.
2. There’s a Math Bug.
When talking about distances in No Man’s Sky, everything involving interstellar travel uses Light Years. However, there’s “Real Light Years” (RLY) which is mainly related to what the Galactic Map will tell you your “Distance To The Center” is. Thing is, this is not the same as “Linear Distance Light Years” (LDLY) which is the distance the Galactic Map says you are from any destination star you’ve selected.
In general, you can usually consider it: RLY*4 = LDLY
It’s important to keep this in mind. Some utilities you might use in traveling to the Galactic Hub will report distances in one or the other. If the Pilgrim Star Path Website (PSPW) says you are “two hops” away from a destination, that’s a LDLY value of between 1600 and 3200. However, it may tell you you’re only 400-800 Light Years (RLY) away.
3. A Black Hole Always Moves You Closer To The Center.
Black Holes can be … utilized … to get you very close to the Galactic Hub … depending on where you’re at. It’s important to use the “Show Black Hole Ring” function on the PSPW to show you where a Black Hole might spit you out. It’s a ring, because a Black Hole generally moves you 1500 – 2000 RLY closer to the Center … but randomly around the Center as well. So if you’re 167,000 RLY from the Center, but on the other side of the Galaxy from the Galactic Hub, you’re actually in prime position: a few rounds of “Black Hole Roulette” (explained below) might put you right in the middle of the Galactic Hub.
However, if you’re already fairly close to the Center of the Galaxy, there’s very little Black Holes will do for you, and if you’re directly between the Center and the Galactic Hub, a Black Hole will just make the situation worse.
Finally, Black Holes do not appear to be accessible in “Creative” mode from what I’ve heard, so you’ll have to just travel the old-fashioned way if you’re in “Creative.”
4. There Are Three Saves (Unless You’re In PermaDeath).
Every time you land on a planet, a Space Station, or your freighter (but not just any freighter – it has to be yours), it triggers a save, and moves the previous saves down one (the third drops off the bottom, forever lost as an option). This is important to know for Roulette.
PermaDeath has one save. There’s no going back to an earlier version of your game when you play PermaDeath.
5. A Vast Majority Of The Players Are In “Normal” Mode.
And PS4, though there is a very sizable PC-Normal group as well. There are “Survival” mode residents, but they are very rare. It’s important to note that “Survival” mode can change the planet generation rules for a given planet, making tags/labels in planet/system names incorrect for a different mode than what it was originally discovered in. At the very least, any non-desert planet with decent weather is going to have aggressive Sentinels. Always. And finally, bases are not shared between modes (or system platforms), so you need to know going in that if you’re in “Survival” mode, you won’t have as many shared base destinations as those of us in “Normal” mode.
6. It’s Probably Better To Not Head There Right Away.
I strongly recommend doing the Atlas Path (not 100% important; Nada can tell you how to find what the Altas Path will allow you to see) and completing all of your Milestones first (welcome to the Hell of trying to find every animal on 10 planets, or the grind of Hyperjumping 60 times). Talk to Polo at the Anomaly – he’s the only way to get the Theta Hyperdrive Upgrade; he’ll also give you the Atlas Passes and the other two Hyperdrive Upgrades along the way. Even with the most ideal starting placement, getting all of your Hyperdrive Upgrades will make traveling to the Galactic Hub a lot easier, because it’s highly unlikely that Black Holes will do it for you alone.
But … let’s just say you’ve gotten that all out of the way …
“I’m Ready To Make The Trip!”
Praise Lord Pahefu, Master Of Mapping
So important I’m linking it twice, Pahefu wrote two mapping utilities, and the important one for this guide is the Pilgrim Star Path Website (PSPW). You feed it your coordinates and it tells you where you are when compared to the Center, the Hub, and the Pilgrim Star.
“How Do I Get My Coordinates?!”
You should be able to build (with a bit of Iron and Platinum) a Signal Booster. Once built, hover your reticle over it, and it should show you a sequence of five alphanumeric groups:
(In System Location):(x):(y):(z):(Solar Index)
The block with x, y, and z is the most important, but including the Solar Index allowed as well. The “In System Location” should be left off. x, y, and z point to your region in the Galaxy, and in the scales we’re talking about, your “region” as accurate as we can get at this point. Feed the last three or Hexadecimal number groups (separated by colons) to the PSPW, and see where it says you are.
“I’m On The Other Side Of The Galaxy!”
Don’t fret. Play “Black Hole Roulette”.
- Go to a system with a Black Hole. Either find one in the Galactic Map (if you’ve done the Atlas Path) or ask Nada for a Short Cut. Land on the Space Station. This will cause you to –
- Get out of your ship. This sets up a save point.
- Get back into your ship, take off, go through the Black Hole. Land on a planet.
- This will shift your saves down one since it sets up a new save. Keep that in mind. Get your coordinates using a Signal Booster. Check them on the PSPW.
- Are you either within 50 hops or between the Center and the Hub? Start your journey from there.
- If you’re not, load the save from #2 (should be the one in the middle of the three, not the most recent). IMPORTANT: GET BACK INTO YOUR SHIP. Now, proceed to step 2 …
It’s important to note that if you are between the Center and the Hub, or extremely close to the Center, Black Holes will not help you – remember, they always move you closer to the Center.
Now, if you consider reloading an earlier save cheating, or you’re in PermaDeath mode, the other option is to build a base in a Black Hole system, and use the Teleporter in the Space Stations to return in order to try again.
“Well, Now I’m Supposed To Go X Degrees From Center. What’s Up With That?”
The Galactic Map is strongly lacking in navigational aids. The best we can do at this point is give you a “general” direction from where you’re at compared to some easy to find location … like the big bright light at the Center.
Reprinted from an earlier post (Finding The Galactic Hub):
Of the five choices you have in the Galactic Map: Path To Center, Freeflight, Path To Waypoint, Path To Black Hole, and Atlas Path, four of them give you a line leading away from your current star to another hop. I’ve found it useful to:
- Select one of those paths, but then orient myself towards the center.
- Make a guess as to what direction roughly (in degrees) the path is pointing relative to directly towards the center. Even the path to the center isn’t going to always point “directly” to the center. It can be off by a significant amount. As an example, we’ll use 20 degrees right for your next hop …
- Make another guess as to where that line should be pointing when I rotate around my current location to face the appropriate “degrees from center”.
- Spin round, still in the path mode. If the path to center was 20 degrees right, and you needed to go 180 degrees away from the center, the line should be pointing behind you to the left by 20 degrees.
- Go into free-flight and see how good your guess is.
For long distance traveling, all you’re really worried about is going the general direction for a long hop.
That’s Pretty Much It
I can’t think of anything else I can add to this to explain what you need to know in order to get to the Hub with a minimum of fuss. However, if I get any suggestions or questions, I’ll edit this post appropriately.