Update 8/25/2016: Added pages on Finding Trade Posts, Sentinels and Wanted Level, in addition to Shielding, Power, and Unstable Plasma Items. Also see my guide to Making Money in No Man's Sky for some tips on the best methods for earning cash, what crafting items are most profitable, and a list of all resources in the game.

No Man's Sky: Better Warp Reactors

Blueprints to Craft Warp Reactor Sigma, Tau, and Theta

Learn to Craft Better Warp Reactor - Sigma, Tau, and Theta

Better warp reactors can be found from aliens you meet in facilities and trading posts, as well as the distress beacon around crashed ships.

Different star classes require different warp reactors in No Man's Sky. There are several colors of stars: yellow, red, green, white, brown (reportedly), blue (and shades/combos of these such as reddish brown). Each have different classes. You can see the class of star as the first letter in the system's analysis category when viewing on the map:

Class F Star System - Yellowish White (travel with normal warp reactor)
Class G Star System - Yellow (travel with normal warp reactor)
Class K Star System - Orange (travel with Sigma Reactor)
Class M Star System - Red (travel with Sigma Reactor)
Class E Star System - Green (Travel with Tau Reactor)
Class B Star System - Blueish White (Travel with Theta Reactor)
Class O Star System - Blue (Travel with Theta Reactor)

Finding Warp Reactor Sigma, Tau, and Theta Blueprints

I got the Tau upgrade from an alien at a trading post. Your experience may be completely different, but it's good to know they are capable of handing out the upgraded blueprints.

There are two ways I know to find the three Warp Reactor Blueprints in No Man's Sky: crashed ships on planets, and manufacturing facilities/operations centers on planets. It's highly likely you'll find Sigma first, and may want to search systems where Sigma or Tau are required in order to get better warp drives.

Crashed Ships

Look for transmissions using signal scanners and you'll eventually locate a transmittion center, where you can then find the last known coordinates of a crashed ship.

Finding Crashed Ships is fairly easy. Look for Transmission with a Signal Scanner. You can then use the transmission tower you find to locate a crashed ship. Doing this repeatedly is very helpful to you regardless of finding the warp reactor. Along with the crashed ship - which you may want to repair, you'll also find a distress beacon. Use the beacon to frequently find blueprints to ship-related upgrades, including warp reactor types! Obviously heading to more rare planets, such as those that require warp reactor sigma, will result in you finding better items. It also seems based off your ship, so get a better ship!

Operations Centers and Manufacturing Facilities

Ops Centers and Manufacturing facilities will require you to bust down the door, and often feature enhanced security. A plasma grenade is usually great at breaking the doors, as well as your boltcaster. The mining beam will do nothing. Once you're inside, you'll have to do a puzzle. Sometimes it takes resources, sometimes it takes answering a question with the right answer (like what to do to get the facility back online). You can save using a nearby beacon or by getting in/out of your ship if you don't mind save scraping to do this.

Random Events from Aliens

Correctly answering dialog, or reassuring aliens of your trustworthiness, can sometimes also result in obtaining a warp reactor blueprint. I received Tau from a random alien at a planetary trade depot. This only applies the first time you meet an alien, so you should seek others rather than waste time repeatedly talking to one.

Installing Warp Reactors & Maximizing Warp Distance

Connecting warp reactors in the ship inventory does improve their maximum distance

The ship on the right offers better opportunity for linking the warp reactors together, as you could build tau just below Sigma.

Placing warp reactors next to one another apparently helps you get more maximum distance, so arrange them that way for a boost. Doing this requires you to have space around the hyperdrive or in a line/square in order connect them. It's a substantial bonus when you can group them. Early on, place them whereever you can if necessary, its not possible to rearrange gear that is intalled (you'd have to scrap and rebuild it). It's one more 'link' if you can put them next to the normal hyperdrive, but not necessary unless you're trying for max warp distance. On ALL equipment bonuses in NMS, try to ensure the most powerful upgrade has as many connections to smaller upgrades as possible.

If you want more info on the linking bonus in relation to warp drives, see TheSloppyBanker's Post on Reddit and updated info by ForlornWanderer at gamefaqs. Just so we're clear, it's not possible to add more than one of each type - so no theta + theta. This applies to all equipment/ship upgrades in No Man's Sky.

Warp Distance: Warp Reactors Do Stack

The distance you can travel differs based on what one you have installed, and whether they are next to one another: Normal is 100 light years, Sigma adds 200 (for 300) and Tau adds 400 (for 500). Theta adds 800 light years to your maximum distance for a total of 900 light years if you installed only that one. All four on your ship at once would give you a total of 1500 light years max distance without the linking bonuses mentioned above.

You want All Three

If you want maximum distance, you should use all three upgrades. Having just Sigma and Tau would give you a range of 700 light years per warp. Add in Theta, and you've got another 800 for 1500. This is without any percentage bonuses you may get by linking them.

Other No Man's Sky Guides