How rare are solar ships?

[76561197979566298]

Just curious because I found aship with solar sails in my freighter and managed to exchange my radiant pillar + 3 mil for this.
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197979566298/screenshot/2518149866750700623/

[Scoob454]

I'm pretty sure they're somewhat rare in normal economy systems. I see them come into space stations/trading posts here and there. Not sure how far along in the game you are yet, but you'll find that solar ships are much more common in pirate controlled systems (I believe pirate systems also have a higher chance to spawn S class ships, so it's fairly common to find an S class solar in those systems).

There are some really sleek looking solar ships. Definitely one of my favorite types of spacecraft (I prefer the crescent sails). I'd say it's a nice upgrade from the Radiant Pillar.

I'm only speaking from experience. I'm sure the smarter folk will chime in.

[maestro]

A solar ship will replace 1 shuttle in a non-Outlaw system 10% of the time.

I think it's something like 50% of the time in Outlaw systems.

[76561197979566298]

All I know is. Compared to my radiant pillar this ship blows it away in every aspect! Haven't even tricked out all the slots either. I love it.

[Scoob454]

Originally posted by BATHE N FOE'S BLOOD:

All I know is. Compared to my radiant pillar this ship blows it away in every aspect! Haven't even tricked out all the slots either. I love it.

Yeah, they are nice. The solar ships also have a unique tech (Vesper Sail) that upgrades your pulse drive and slowly recharges your launch boosters. I'm a sucker for visible moving parts on a ship, so solars and sentinel ships are my go to.

[UncreativelyNamed]

They're not extraordinarily rare, but they are my favorite ships partly because in real life I'm a hippie tree hugger but mostly because I don't have to remember to make sure the launcher is fueled every time I leave the ship to go explore, because the launcher recharges itself. I also don't have to carry around extra uranium to fuel the launcher or a lot of tritium to fuel the pulse drive, since they are so fuel-efficient. Plus, I like that they're flat when flying in atmosphere. I use 3rd person pretty much all the time, so a flat ship is easier to see things around. The only ship I like better in that regard is this really tiny, beetle-like sentinel ship I have in one of my saves.

So, in pretty much every save, my priority is to find myself a solar ship ASAP, so I usually seek out an outlaw system as an early priority, if the quest that directs you to one hasn't fired yet. I always find and repair crashed ships, though, never buy them.

[ominumi]

I found one that's pale white with green circular solar sails. Wish those sails were gold or yellowish. Red would look good as well. Some day we'll be able to fabricate our own solar ships.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Originally posted by ominumi:

I found one that's pale white with green circular solar sails. Wish those sails were gold or yellowish. Red would look good as well. Some day we'll be able to fabricate our own solar ships.

There's already a mod that enables it, if you're not averse to mods. But, it will probably break, perhaps permanently, if/when HG decides to make adjustments to the fabricator. So, get it while it's hot, maybe:
https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/3015

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Solar ships are much more common in Pirate controlled systems. They do journey into Normal space but less frequently. Tier 3 Systems marked with 3 dots on the Galactic map, generally are of higher quality and will have more variety and quality of star ships. An economy scanner (and conflict scanner) fitted to a ship or freighter enables more complete information about a system on the galactic map. Look for more affluent, booming, opulent, paradise systems and with 6 planets or moons, which are a good start for better quality and more variety of everything.

However in a procedural game visiting any system, planet or moon can throw up unexpected surprises with any economy or conflict type. Visit them all as some real 'ship treats'' can appear in even the most dull systems with 3 stars :D

Solar ships are more agile than most, self charging and have some great de
signs and a nice animated solar panel. A hot key toggle, bound to camera view, will help quickly change view from 1st to 3rd person. if when solar panels are extended, the cockpit view becomes more restricted, simply change camera for a wider view.

[76561197979566298]

I had been using only first person with the radiant pillar. But now with this ship Im strictly 3rd person and its amazing.

[maestro]

Originally posted by BATHE N FOE'S BLOOD:

All I know is. Compared to my radiant pillar this ship blows it away in every aspect! Haven't even tricked out all the slots either. I love it.

The Radiant Pillar (along with most ships that any expedition starts with) is unique in the fact it confers 0 bonuses (despite it supposedly being a fighter). The same is true for the starting Multi-Tool. It's a pistol, but yet lacks the bonuses normally found on pistols (the extra mining speed).

Normally, ships will have bonuses, such as shuttles being cheaper to launch, and fighters getting a bonus to damage dealt, haulers have better shields and explorers having better hyperdrive range.

The Radiant Pillar, however, has no bonuses at all.

This makes it the absolute worst ship in the game, because even a C-Class Shuttle will have better stats than it.

So the fact that your solar ship feels better than the Radiant Pillar doesn't really say much about solar ships. That's not to say solar ships suck, but more to say "try other ships" as you might find something that feels even better to you than the solar ships.

The solar ship's main draw is that it has great pulse drive efficiency and speed and comes with a launch system recharger built-in. It's rather "meh" in everything else, very similar to a shuttle.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by maestro:

The Radiant Pillar, however, has no bonuses at all.

This is not accurate. You can see if a ship has bonuses by looking at it's Core tech values through the visor. The radiant pillar has bonuses to the same stats as any other fighter.

[Lindy Bomber]

https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Starship

Every star system has 21 different ship designs: seven Shuttles, nine specialist types (three of each: Fighter, Hauler, and Explorer), four more of a single specialist type based on that system's dominant race, and one Exotic. A solar ship has an 85% chance of spawning instead of a shuttle in outlaw systems and a 10% chance to do so in other systems.

------------

Most normal systems will have one or two solar ships. Outlaw systems will commonly have 4 to 6.

[Jaggid Edje]

Just adding to what @Lindy Bomber said above, Outlaw systems have an additional 10% chance of a solar replacing any of the other (non-shuttle) ship types on top of the 85% chance of it replacing shuttles. Outlaw systems can potentially have a whole lot of solar ships.