If you played No Man’s Sky‘s first expedition, you’re probably familiar with the Golden Vector starship, which was the ultimate reward at the end of the long haul. It’s a gorgeous flying machine with incredible stats, so it was quite the reward.
What you might not know is that the Golden Vector was actually loosely based off another of No Man’s Sky‘s reward ships, the Alpha Vector. The Alpha Vector was a pre-order bonus for the PS4 version of No Man’s Sky.
I pre-ordered No Man’s Sky for PS4, so I did earn the Alpha Vector. As it turns out, it’s an account-wide unlock rather than a one-time unlock, which means every new character I create has access to it. And because of that, I can still claim the Alpha Vector starship five years after the game’s initial launch. (I also have access to the Rezosu Z65 Multi-Tool, but that’s a story for another time.)
If you earned the Alpha Vector at launch, you should still have access to it. Simply go to the game menu (by pressing the Options button), then select General Options, then Redeem Bonus Content. Your Alpha Vector should be waiting there for you.
There are some changes, of course. Ships in general were updated to have more detailed exteriors, and the Alpha Vector wasn’t excluded from this. It’s also no longer called the Domanish S84 (though you can certainly rename it if you’d like to).
Unfortunately, this isn’t the absolute powerhouse that the Golden Vector is, but it has some semi-decent stats for a starter ship. So let’s take a look under the hood and see what makes this baby tick.
This is a C-class Fighter, and it comes default with 16 General storage slots.
These come pre-loaded with some basics:
- Launch Thruster
- Pulse Engine
- Deflector Shield
- Photon Cannon
- Hyperdrive
- Phase Beam
None of that’s too exciting, but you can always upgrade. However, this also comes with 16 Technology slots, which means you can add quite a few modules without taking up any of your General storage (you’ll want to move your tech to the Technology slots, of course).
With those basic modules installed, you’re stats will be:
- 107.3 – Damage Potential (51.7 Core)
- 165.0 – Shield Strength
- 101.0 – Hyperdrive Range
- 350.4 – Maneuverability
The base value is 720,000 units, and I don’t really have the heart to scrap it to see what I get for it. It’s the Alpha Vector, for crying out loud! It’s a classic!
The Alpha Vector is a bit of a fixer-upper, but it would make a great project for anyone with a whole lot of time and a lot of patience for the brutal technology grind of No Man’s Sky. You’ll need a serious amount of Nanites to kick this thing up to S-class. Still, it might be worth it for the nostalgia factor alone. After all, you have to be a true old-schooler to have access to the Alpha Vector these days.
