NMS: The Blighted Expedition

Our Score

Active and going on now in “No Man’s Sky” is the latest expedition update #6 called “the Blighted.” The Blight are a group of pirates that are wreaking havoc across the galaxy and refuse to accept the Atlas. The goal of the expedition is to collect pirated map fragments which will lead to a abandoned treasure left forgotten somewhere in the galaxy.

This new expedition is a short but sweet one. It took me only about 12 hours of actual playtime to complete it. There are currently four weeks still remaining to claim all the exclusive expedition rewards. Expedition rewards can be claimed aboard the space anomaly at the Quiksilver exchange vendor.

Although expeditions are broken down into separate phases some of the phases can be done out of order in order to save time in backtracking.

Phase 1 Get Off Planet

Phase 1 is the easiest of the stages to complete. It entails the player finding their ship, making the necessary repairs, and taking off into space. Once you launch into space there should be a battle going on where the player can save the freighter from the Blighted attackers. Once you save the freighter, the player has opportunity to take control of the freighter as a reward. I recommend to player take a vantage of this and do so because the freighter comes into play in later phases of expedition, like adding squad mates.

Phase 2 Rescue A Freighter

When the player makes their way to the second rendezvous, which happens to be in a green star system, they’ll be able to check off a few of the expedition accomplishments in one shot. One step of Phase 2 is to collect 16 Gravatino balls. as some players know, whenever you collect a gravatino balls a sentinel is dispatched. Players can choose to run away from the sentinels to avoid further engagement however I recommend taking on a few at a time while collecting the gravatino balls. The player will need to kill sentinels for a later reward in the expedition.

In order to locate a pirated system players will need to install the “conflict scanner” aboard their starship. I recommend that players summon the atlas station during the expedition and visit the starship vendor to purchase as many of the components available as possible. This will help save the player time as well as make it easier to travel. The vendor aboard the atlas sells hyperdrive technology which will allow players to visit red green and blue star systems. The hardest part about the components is finding the resources needed to make them work like indium and cadmium.

Phase 3 Under The Sea

The third part of the expedition should lead the players to a waterbasedplanet. By Completing the previous expedition phases the player should’ve unlocked the nautalous plans to build the submarine craft. The player can use this to travel underwater faster and easier while looking for the sunken treasure in this part of the expedition. Another part of this phase that may seem a little challenging at first players is the need to dive to 80 m underwater. Finding a part of the ocean that is that deep can be difficult. I recommend players use the multitool terrain management setting and drill downwards while underwater. This will give you the depth needed to get the reward for this part of the expedition. this is another easy phase because most of the rewards are all tied into completing one particular task.

Phase 4 Sentinel Technology

Following the rendezvous path should take you across a blue star system in order to unlock this reward. The fourth phase of the expedition can be one of the most challenging because it requires a player to engage sentinels to completion. This means triggering all five stages of the sentinel defense system and defeating the sentinel walker in order to locate the sentinel pillar.

This is another phase of the expedition that focuses solely around one task which doesn’t require a lot of traveling but can take some strategy in engaging the sentinels. When players first begin the expedition they are relatively low level and susceptible to damage easily. I recommend taking out the healer sentinels, the smaller drones that fly around healing damage to other sentinels, first. Then take out the spawning sentinel, This is a triangular shaped sentinel that respawns both battle sentinels as well as healer sentinel drones. Once these two sentinels have been dispatched it’s a lot easier to get rid of the remaining back ups. In order to avoid dyinh, the player should shoot the broken glass canisters that drop from dying sentinels. These will replenish the EXOsuit shield and it’s a lot faster than trying to hold down the action button to collect the item especially while coming under fire. Repeat the strategy for all of the waves of sentinels until the walker appears.

When’s the sentinel pillar has been located extracting the technology is relatively easy and the players will be able to collect the expedition rewards.

Phase 5 Journey to the Galactic Core

Phase 5 to me was a very interesting one because it has the players trying to reach the galactic core. The galactic core is the absolute center of the known galaxy. This will grant the player a couple of different rewards for this final phase of the expedition.
At this point in time, if the player hasn’t done so already, I recommend finishing up and completing the pirate ships destroyed goal. This is another part of the expedition that can be completed or at least began before reaching this final phase of the expedition.

The player should go aboard a space station and talk to any of the Pilots who land. The option to invite one of these pilots to your squadron is available, however, the player must unlock the squadron slot which can only be done aboard a freighter at the freighter control panel. The cost for the first slot is only 500 nanites but goes up to 5000 for the second 10,000 for the third and 20,000 for the fourth slot.

The final task in the expedition is to establish a base planet side. Once the base is built and uploaded to the servers the expedition will be complete and all of the rewards will be would’ve been distributed.

Once the expedition is completed all the awards will be available across all of the players saves in the game. The player can collect the expedition rewards by going to the quicksilver avenger that is it located on the atlas station. The main prize being a outlaw cape variation which looks worn and tattered. Players will also get a new starship trail that makes the exhaust of your ship look like it’s sputtering and combustible.