How to Find the Best Planetary Settlements

Learn how to find the best planetary settlements in No Man's Sky. Discover Gek, Vy'keen, and Korvax settlements, and understand key stats like Population, Happiness, and Productivity.

To find planetary settlements in No Man's Sky, you'll need to progress through the main questline, specifically the 'Awakenings' quest, which acts as a tutorial. After completing it, you can fly into orbit around a planet and wait for a signal to investigate a settlement. This initial settlement is unique to the planet you are orbiting. You can then target it and use your Pulse Drive to reach it quickly. Upon arrival, interact with the Settlement Hub Interface to view its stats. Be aware that speaking to a settler before interacting with the hub interface will trigger a sentinel drone attack. Interacting with the hub first can prevent this, though fighting off sentinels will guarantee you become overseer. If you don't fight them, settlers might ask for a specific item to accept you as overseer.

If the first settlement isn't to your liking, you can purchase Settlement Charts from Cartographers found in space stations, usually to the left of the Station Terminus teleporter. Each chart costs 5 Navigation Data, making them more expensive than other charts. You can find Navigation Data on planets by looking for Ancient Data Structures with your Analysis Visor, or by finding Cargo Drops or Encrypted Navigation Data in shelters, abandoned buildings, or space stations. Once you have a chart, use it from your inventory on a planet where you wish to establish a settlement. Note that a chart will only identify one settlement per planet.

Planetary settlements are associated with specific races: Gek with timber, Vy'keen with stone, and Korvax with alloy. To find a settlement made of a specific material, look for one in a system associated with that race. You can check system associations using the Galaxy Map. If you're unsure about material preference, you can visit settlements of each type to inspect their structures.

When looking for the best settlements, consider the overview stats: Population, Happiness, Productivity, Maintenance Cost, and Sentinel Alert Level. While Settlement Features can be changed later, having at least two positive starting features is beneficial. The most crucial stats are Productivity and Maintenance Cost. Aim for a settlement with high productivity (maximum is 1,000,000, but typically 100,000-300,000) and a maintenance cost as close to the productivity as possible, especially if you are early in the game and need to conserve units.

Before using a settlement chart on a planet, build a Save Beacon and create a manual save. This allows you to reload your progress if the settlement found has poor starting stats. While finding a settlement with actively good stats is rare, you can find one that is better than average to ease your early game experience.