Health

The subject of this article is from the Visions update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 13 August, 2019.

Health is a game mechanic.

Summary[ | ]

Health is a defensive game mechanic in No Man's Sky. Entities which can die or otherwise be destroyed usually have a resistance to such annihilation. This resistance, quantified as health, varies significantly based on the type of entity being considered; however, health of all types never regenerates naturally. Rather, missing health may only be restored through specific methods.

Player Health[ | ]

Exosuit: Core Health[ | ]

While on foot or while controlling an Exocraft, players are granted death resistance by the Defence Systems of their Exosuit; this resistance, referred to as health in the in-game Guide, is quantified in the Heads-Up Display as core health squares. Regardless of Game mode, players have three maximum core health squares by default, but can raise this limit by installing relevant Technology and Upgrade Modules:

Each Defence Systems Upgrade with a Core Health bonus adds a maximum core health square when installed.
Remembrance and Star Seed each add a maximum core health square when installed. Installing them next to each other grants a third maximum core health square from the hard-coded Upgrade bonus.

Due to the limits imposed on technology installation, players can gain nine maximum core health squares at most. However even though technology installation should allow for 12 health squares, this is capped at 9 and you cannot gain further health squares beyond the max of 9.

Core health is usually reduced by taking damage while one's Shield is down and restored by interacting with Health Stations and Health Restoratives (white boxes that sometimes appear in Cargo Drops). However, the results of certain choices during encounters with points of interest and Vy'keen, Korvax and Gek lifeforms sometimes make modifications to health without regard for one's shield; such modifications are always signaled by a notification just above the player's aim reticle:

Core health reductions are often accompanied by the message "You take damage."
Core health restorations usually come with the message "Health restored." Core health restorations while one is already at maximum core health instead give the message "Health at maximum."

Note: Increases to maximum core health add missing core health, not current core health. The added square(s) must first be filled using core health restorations in order to positively impact one's durability.

Starship: Hull[ | ]

Player-controlled starships, unlike Exocraft, do not inherit the player's health. Instead, they have their own destruction resistance, referred to in the in-game Guide as hull and quantified in the Heads-Up Display as hull squares. All player-controlled starships have seven maximum hull squares at all times.

Hull can only be reduced by taking damage while one's Deflector Shield is down. Players may restore their starship's Hull and Shields immediately by landing on a Space Station or other Landing Pad. Either method will immediately restore the ships Hull and Shields to full health.

Frigates: Integrity[ | ]

Though frigates cannot be destroyed by conventional means, they can meet their end while out on expeditions. Thus, in a sense, player-owned frigates have a form of health as well, informally referred to here as integrity. Integrity has three possible values:

Healthy: All frigates start with full integrity upon initial acquisition, whether included with a freighter purchase or obtained separately.
Damaged: Healthy frigates are reduced to partial integrity if they are targeted by a bad encounter during an expedition.
Destroyed: Damaged frigates are destroyed, losing all remaining integrity and disappearing from the player's frigate fleet, if they are targeted again by a bad encounter during an expedition.

Healthy frigates which become damaged during an ongoing expedition can be recalled early to the player's freighter to prevent them from being destroyed. Damaged frigates can be restored to full integrity by landing on them and manually repairing all marked Damaged Components, allowing them to take damage once more without being destroyed.

Non-Player Health[ | ]

All names for non-player health types are unofficial.

Mining Health[ | ]

Flora, minerals and some destructible objects (such as Combat Supplies canisters dropped by Sentinels) possess mining-type health. This health type, indicated by a diamond marker within the entity's displayed health circle, generally takes 100% damage from dedicated mining implements and 20% damage from weapons (the net damage dealt to this health type is indicated on technology pages using the term Mining Power).

Especially tough targets with mining-type health, such as minerals that yield Pure Ferrite, are completely immune to damage from sources which are not equipped with Advanced Mining Laser functionality, but otherwise behave similarly to their weaker counterparts.

Combat Health[ | ]

Fauna, AI ships and destructible obstacles without mining-type health (such as the containers of ships within Space Fleets) instead possess combat-type health. This health type, indicated by a handgun marker within the entity's displayed health circle (where applicable), generally takes 100% damage from all sources. Additionally, many targets with combat-type health take more damage when hit in certain areas, though the magnitude of the resultant damage multiplier depends on the weapon used to strike the entity in its vulnerable area (the head region for most fauna, the entire rear section for starships).

Reinforced obstacles with combat-type health, such as the Reinforced Doors blocking access to Manufacturing Facilities and Operations Centres, are completely immune to damage from the Mining Beam, but otherwise behave similarly to their weaker counterparts.

Sentinel Health[ | ]

Planetary Sentinels utilise their own health type. Like combat-type health, Sentinel-type health takes 100% damage from Multi-tool and Exocraft weapons (more if damage is dealt to a weak point); unlike combat-type health, Sentinel-type health takes 20% damage from starship weapons and 40% (?) damage from the Mining Beam.

Unique among the non-player health types, Sentinel-type health is the only type which has a means of restoring missing health --- Sentinel Drones, if left to their own devices, will slowly restore the missing health of Sentinel Quads and Sentinel Walkers.