15 Find Shelter
Taking a page straight out of Grand Theft Auto’s book, the Sentinels of NMS work on a wanted level system. Typically, they’ll leave you be, but once you earn a bit of their ire, they’ll start to come after you.
However, stay out of their detection long enough and they’ll leave you alone, for the most part. Luckily, this means you can just find shelter to avoid their sights, like a building or a cave. In a pinch, you can even dig a hole with your Terrain Manipulator and hide underground until they bugger off, but sometimes you need to go pretty deep underground to get away from their detection.
14 Stop And Switch
If you’re doing something the Sentinels don’t like (like mining resources) and one of them perks up, you have a brief moment before it starts to bother you. While the Sentinel Drones are scanning to see what’s up, stop! Just freeze and stop doing whatever you were doing.
The Sentinels scan you and the area to see if you’re being a rulebreaker, so if you stop doing whatever you were doing, they’ll typically just leave. Sometimes, you can switch the output of your Multi-tool (from Mining Beam to a weapon, or whatever works for you) before they finish their scan, and they won’t engage.
13 Throw Them A Distraction
For some reason, Sentinels aren’t very smart, and aside from not being able to find you when you go underground right in front of them, you can also distract them.
If you’re being chased by Sentinels, you can hop in your Starship, fly a little bit (but don’t leave the atmosphere), and then land. Get out of your ship and run for it. Sometimes, the Sentinels will begin scanning your parked ship as though it’s the threat, allowing you to evade them. This doesn’t always work, but it’s one option and might just work when you need it to.
12 Head To Space
An even better idea, though, when you have your Starship nearby, is to just head into space. Despite the fact that the Sentinel Drones can fly, they won’t fly very high. You can just simply… leave the planet. You have two separate wanted levels, one for an individual planet, and one for space. If you leave a planet with any level, you’ll automatically have a wanted level of one in space. That’s much better than a much higher level on the planet.
However, in space, when you have the one-point level, a single Sentinel Starship will get on your case. You can take it down, but your wanted level will increase. If you left the planet to escape the wanted level there, it won’t make much sense to then increase it again in space. Luckily, there’s a way to deal with this too…
11 Summon The Anomaly Or Your Freighter
Sentinel Starships, no matter how many are on you, cannot follow you inside of space stations, freighters, or the Anomaly. Whether you’ve got the single Sentinel ship on you or you have an entire mothership shooting at you, just head inside the nearest dock. Entering these structures also resets your space wanted level to zero.
Sometimes, it’ll be quite some distance to the nearest place to enter, especially since you can’t use your Pulse Drive in combat. But, when leaving a planet to escape the Sentinels, you can use this handy trick to avoid the one-point space wanted level. This can be done pretty easily by summoning your freighter or the Anomaly. You’ll want to be quick and summon them before the Sentinel Starship gets on you.
10 Hit The Weak Spot
Heading back down onto the planets, it’s good to have some tips for actually fighting the Sentinels, because, at times, it’ll be unavoidable. While it’s pretty easy to just fire away at Sentinels, there are some surefire tricks for making it an easier job.
The basic Drones are pretty easy to take down from any angle, but the other types of Sentinels (Armored Drones, Quads, and Walkers) all have weak spots that you can exploit if you have good aim.
9 Always Be Looting (Sentinel Drops, That Is)
After taking down Sentinels of any type, you’ll notice there are canisters that they drop. These can be very helpful, especially in a skirmish against several Sentinels at once. These canisters are labeled “Combat Supplies,” and can contain Nanites, Ammo, Quad Servo (when dropped by Quads), and Walker Brains (when dropped by Walkers).
However, what’s extremely helpful is that breaking open these canisters will partially restore your shield, which can be invaluable in the middle of combat.
8 Upgrade Your Weapon
This might go without saying, but upgrading your weapon is a fantastic way to give you some advantage against the Sentinels. The standard Boltcaster is often fine against the Drones, but you’ll want something more powerful against higher-level Sentinels.
Consider the different types of weapons like the Blaze Javelin or Plasma Launcher. Additionally, the different weapon types can be upgraded and improved with modules and tech. Find what works for you and upgrade it. The Plasma Launcher is especially helpful against Quads and Walkers, while the standard Boltcaster is a great choice against Drones.
7 Get The Multi-Tool Shield Upgrade
The Personal Forcefield is a technology you can add to your Multi-tool. It’s basically an impenetrable shield that blocks all ranged attacks, making it incredibly useful against Sentinels of all types. It drains your Life Support quickly, but it’s a fantastic way to get an edge on the Sentinel forces.
You can purchase the blueprints for the Personal Forcefield from the tech merchants in small settlements as well as from the Anomaly.
6 Finish Off Quads Quickly
When you’re at a wanted level high enough to have many Sentinels, including Quads, swarming around you, you’ll want to take out the Quads quickly. This is because the Drones will repair the Quads when their health is low.
If you leave a bit of health on a Quad and then switch to attacking another enemy, you’ll have to redo all of that effort once a Drone does the repairs. Finish them off completely before changing your target.
5 Find A Portal
Early on in-game, you learn how to construct portals that will instantly transport you to a space station. Space stations are considered neutral territory, and therefore a good place to be if you are under sentinel attack.
If you decide to settle on a sentinel-infested planet, building a portal should be one of the first things you construct on your base as it means easy access to neutral territory. Better yet, having multiple portals spread across an area could mean the difference between life and death while you are out gathering resources.
4 Keep Track Of Your Wanted Levels
Whenever you break sentinel law, such as over-harvesting or damaging sentinels directly, this factors into your overall wanted level. Wanted levels are separated into two different categories, planet wanted level and space wanted level. There are five levels you can hit, each increasing the number of sentinels tracking you at all times.
Managing your wanted levels is important to know how many sentinels are following you at all times and if there are any sentinel battleships pursuing you in space. Always be aware of your wanted levels.
3 Know Your Planet
You may have noticed that every planet you land on has its own sentinel frequency level. Always pay attention to this information as it will let you know how many sentinels to expect and how many resources you can safely gather before alerting them to your actions.
It may seem simple, but this awareness of your planet will allow you to strategically plan out where you can get resources and where to make a base. Stay vigilant and you might just survive.
2 Scan The Area
The scanning tool does way more than just letting you know what resources are in the area. It can even let you know where sentinels are if you are a close enough distance to them. Always use your visor to see if it’s safe to disturb the terrain harvest minerals.
Scanning is a precaution you should take so you don’t raise your wanted levels on a brand new planet. Think of it as robot recon as you scan the area for sentinels.
1 Fly Straight, Lose The Search
The most reliable method of losing Sentinels while on a planet? Hop into your ship, pick a direction, and speed along the horizon. Make sure to stay within the atmosphere, but just keep moving.
After a little while, it will notify you - next to your wanted level - that the Sentinels are searching for you, and will begin to count down. If you keep up this speed and stay within the atmosphere, then they won’t be able to find you, as they will only spawn on the planet’s surface and can’t keep up.
NEXT: Most Unique In-Game Maps
