Endless Sky: Complete Guide

A practical guide to Endless Sky, the free and open-source space trading and combat game: starting out, making money, outfitting ships, fighting, capturing, growing a fleet, and exploring the main human campaign and alien space.

Researched September 2026 — current as of stable release 0.11.2 (June 27, 2026), with notes on unstable beta 0.11.3 (September 26, 2026). Endless Sky ships a stable/unstable pair of releases several times a year; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

It is free. Endless Sky is free and open source on Steam, GOG, and GitHub. Steam's default branch is the stable release; the unstable releases are on a beta branch.
Missions pay better than trading early. The job board on every spaceport lists cargo and passenger jobs. Take several heading the same way at once.
Watch your fuel. Each hyperspace jump uses fuel. Refuel at spaceports and do not strand yourself in empty systems. If you do, you can request help from passing ships.
Save before risky jumps. Pirates are common near the edges of human space. The game autosaves on landing, but a manual save before a new route costs nothing.
Energy and heat decide fights. Weapons and engines drain energy and create heat. A ship that overheats or runs dry stops fighting. Balance generators, batteries, and cooling before adding more guns.
Disable, then board. Damaged ships become disabled before they are destroyed. You can board them to plunder cargo and outfits, or capture them if you have enough crew.
Use escorts. Once you can afford a second ship, hire or buy escorts. Several cheap escorts often beat one expensive ship.
Speed wins. Faster, more maneuverable ships control engagements. Engines are rarely a waste.
Ignore the story if you want. You can follow the main campaign or just trade and explore; the galaxy is yours.

Default Controls

Action	Default key
Thrust and steer	Up, Left, Right arrows
Land on planet	L
Hyperspace jump	J
Open map	M
Fire primary weapons	Tab
Fire secondary weapon	Q
Select secondary weapon	W
Target nearest hostile	R
Deploy/recall fighters	D
Fleet: fight my target	F
Fleet: gather around me	G
Fleet: hold position	H
Board selected ship	B

Everything can be rebound in Preferences. There is also an option to control your ship with the mouse; its behavior was refined in 0.11.2.

Starting Out

Choosing a Start

Newer versions offer several starting scenarios. As of 0.11.0 you can also start in the Deep, the Paradise Worlds, or Syndicate space, all available immediately. The classic start puts you on a fresh pilot's journey in human space with a small starter ship.

Starter Ships

Ship	Strength	Weakness
Shuttle	Cheap, nimble, carries passengers well	Weak in combat
Star Barge	Large cargo hold	Slow
Sparrow	Cheapest real combat ship	Little cargo space

A Shuttle running passenger jobs is the classic safe opener. A Sparrow is for players who want to hunt pirates immediately.

Loans and Debt

You begin with a significant mortgage. Payments come out automatically each day when you have the credits; missing a payment adds interest and lowers your credit score by five points. Paying it down early reduces daily costs and makes bad weeks less painful.

Making Money

Method	When it works	Notes
Passenger and cargo jobs	From the start	Stack jobs along the same route; rush jobs pay more
Commodity trading	With a big cargo hold	Buy low, sell high; the map shows commodity prices by system
Escort and bounty jobs	Once your combat rating improves	Bounty jobs were heavily reworked in 0.11.0
Mining	Any small ship with weapons	Shoot minable asteroids and collect the ore
Plundering and capturing	With a combat ship and crew	Sell captured ships and outfits; very lucrative but risky

Tip: The map panel has a commodity view. Open it on a spaceport and look for a nearby system with a much higher sell price for what is cheap here.

Outfitting Your Ship

Each ship has limited outfit space, weapon capacity, and engine capacity. Everything you add draws from these pools.

The Energy and Heat Balance

Generators produce energy continuously; batteries store it for bursts.
Weapons, shields, and engines consume energy.
Heat builds from generators, engines, and weapons. Coolers remove it. An overheated ship shuts down.
Engines differ in thrust per ton, energy draw, and heat. Compare them in the outfitter's stat panel rather than buying the biggest one; a hotter, stronger engine can wreck your heat balance.

Always check the ship info screen after changes: it shows energy and heat per second while idle, moving, and firing. If "firing" goes negative, you will run out mid-fight.

Weapon Basics

Guns fire forward; turrets track targets independently and are great for escorts and larger ships.
Missiles are secondary weapons that use ammunition. Resupply at outfitters (a gamerule controls whether ammunition can be bought everywhere).
Anti-missile turrets shoot down incoming missiles. Add one once enemies start using them.

Drives

Human ships begin with a hyperdrive. Better drives (such as scram drives and jump drives) exist, the latter letting you jump to systems that are not directly linked. Ramscoops slowly regenerate fuel in space.

Combat

Choose your fights. Check the enemy's ship in the target panel before engaging.
Kite with speed. A faster ship can stay at range and pick apart slower enemies.
Focus fire with your fleet using the attack-target command.
Disable, do not destroy, when you want loot. Boarding disabled ships gives cargo, outfits, or the ship itself.
Retreat by landing on a friendly planet or jumping out.

Combat Rating and Reputation

Your combat rating rises as you disable and destroy ships. Higher ratings unlock tougher missions and change how planets react (for example when you demand tribute from a world). Each government tracks its own reputation with you: attacking a faction's ships makes them hostile, and helping them improves your standing. Pirates are hostile to everyone.

Capturing Ships

When boarding, you can plunder or attempt a capture. Capture is a crew fight: the more crew and hand-to-hand weapons you have, the better your odds. You cannot capture with only one crew member (yourself), and defending crew are generally about twice as effective as attackers, so bring a real crew advantage. You also need spare crew to fly the captured ship. Captured ships join your fleet or can be sold. Some ships you capture may carry illegal outfits; as of 0.11.3 the game tells you when this happens.

Illegal Cargo and Outfits

Some goods and outfits are illegal in certain territories. Planetary security scans ships, and getting caught means fines. Dump or sell illegal items before landing in strict systems.

Building a Fleet

Early: one flagship plus one or two cheap escorts.
Mid: a strong flagship, a freighter for cargo, and combat escorts with turrets.
Late: carriers with fighters, heavy warships, and specialized support (fuel and repair).

Escorts need fuel and pay: crew salaries add up. Park ships you are not using at a planet to avoid wasted costs.

The Galaxy

Human Space

Human space is divided among governments such as the Republic, the Free Worlds, the Syndicate, the Deep, the Paradise Worlds, and pirate-controlled systems. Prices, legality, and ship availability differ by region.

The Main Campaign

The main human storyline is a civil war where you can side with the Free Worlds. The Steam page estimates 8 to 16 hours for the main story, with over a hundred hours of other storylines. Missions usually appear on job boards or as pop-up offers when you land.

Alien Space

Beyond human space are many alien species and regions, including the Hai, the Quarg, the Korath, the Wanderers, the Remnant, the Coalition, and more. Several have their own mission chains:

The Remnant have ongoing content, including new short chains around investigating the Ka'het in 0.11.3.
The Successors campaign received a new chapter in 0.11.3 with six new ships and 57 new missions.
The Hai Reveal storyline was removed in 0.11.0 because it conflicted with other storylines.

Alien territory often requires specific ships, drives, or story progress to reach. Some aliens are extremely dangerous to provoke.

Stable vs. Unstable Releases

Release	Branch	What it is
0.11.2	Default (stable)	Bug fixes and polish, including a quantity dropdown in shops and cloak state saved in files
0.11.3	Beta (unstable)	New Successors chapter, Ka'het missions, illegal-outfit improvements, a map in the logbook, and hardcore gamerules including permadeath

Since 0.11.1, gamerules are per save file and can be changed from the main menu, and save files for the same pilot share a pilot file. Plugins with tractor beams need updating for 0.11.3.

Plugins

Endless Sky has full plugin support. Anything in the base game can be done in a plugin: new ships, outfits, missions, and even species. Browse plugins in-game or on GitHub, and check compatibility with your version before installing.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overloading guns without generators. Your weapons stop firing mid-fight.
Jumping with low fuel. Always keep enough to get back to a spaceport.
Attacking government ships. It turns whole regions hostile.
Buying huge ships too early. Big ships have high upkeep and need crew.
Carrying illegal goods into strict systems. Fines add up.
Provoking powerful aliens before you know what they can do.
Forgetting anti-missile defense once enemies use missiles.

Advanced Tips

Capture for profit. Disabling and capturing pirate ships is one of the fastest ways to build a fleet and bank.
Specialize escorts. Fast interceptors, tanky frontliners, and turret boats cover each other's weaknesses.
Use the hold-fire command (re-added in 0.10.15) to stop escorts from breaking your stealth or provoking fights.
Carriers: fighters deployed with D can overwhelm pirates while your carrier stays safe.
Plan trade loops with the map's commodity view to maximize profit per jump.
Explore with a jump drive once you have one; it opens routes to otherwise unreachable systems.
Hardcore gamerules (0.11.3 beta) add permadeath options for players who want real stakes.

FAQ

Is Endless Sky really free? Yes. It is free and open source under GPLv3, available on Steam, GOG, and GitHub.

What is the latest version? Stable 0.11.2 (June 27, 2026). The unstable 0.11.3 beta was released September 26, 2026.

How do I switch to the unstable version? In Steam, open the game's Properties, go to Betas, and choose the unstable beta branch. Back up saves first.

How long is the main story? About 8 to 16 hours for the main storyline, with over a hundred hours of optional storylines.

How do I make money fast early? Stack passenger and cargo jobs on the same route, and pay off your starter loan.

Can I play with a mouse? Yes. Turn on "Control ship with mouse" in Preferences.

How do I get to alien space? Follow storylines, improve your ship's range and drives, and explore beyond human borders. Some regions require story progress.