No Man's Sky Outlaws update lets you be spacepirates

rockpapershotgun.com:

Hello Games today launched yet another huge free No Man's Sky update, raising the skull 'n' crossbones with the Outlaws update. It focuses on three main things: being a pirate and doing naughty things; reworking and prettifying spaceship combat; and recruiting and training a squadron of NPC pilots to fly alongside you. But oh, there's so much more. Get a glimpse in the new trailer, below.

So, baddies. Some systems have fallen to outlaws, with no Sentinel interceptors left to defend them and new outlaw authorities moved in with their own merchants, missions, and contraband runners. You can buy buy contraband goods from outlaw stations and smuggle them into regulated systems for potential mega-profits, though authorities scanning cargo will send deploy interceptors after you unless you have a Cargo Probe Deflector installed. Or you can just rob people, as piracy is now profitable. You can restore your reputation through a Forged Passport, mind. Pirates will raid settlements now too, a new ambient threat offering rewards for chasing 'em off.

With new reasons for space combat, Hello Games have spruced that up a little. Starship weapons are overhauled, with different types doing varying damage to shields and hulls. Weapons gain secondary abilities too, with the Cyclotron Ballista disabling engines, and the Phase Beam leeching shield energy from targets to you. You can make space combat easier, if you want, with the new 'Auto-Follow' option that'll lock onto and follow enemy ships in combat. The devs have also given spaceviolence a visual refresh, including reworked muzzle flashes, lighting, and particles, plus dramatic explosions for destroyed vessels. And spaceship violence can go down in the atmosphere too.

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