No Man's Sky is a massive, massive game where you can farm the environment for resources to upgrade your equipment and survive. One of the hardest things about this game is making money. Well, I've cracked the code.
However you play the game, there is one thing all the players of No Man’s Sky have in common: the need for units. They can be hard to come across so, today, I’ll be counting down the top 5 ways to make mad money in No Man’s Sky.
By the end, you should be able to afford just about anything you want in the game, including that S-Class freighter you’ve got your eye on.
5) Storm Crystals
How to Make Money Fast with These 2 Techniques | No Man's Sky 2019 (0:00)
For this one, you’ll need an extreme planet and extreme hazard protection. Make sure you have all the tech you can get to save you from the elements before you try this one, otherwise you might not make it. This is probably the hardest so I’ll list it first.
- The storm crystals can stack up to five in your inventory and each stack sells for about 750-800,000 units.
How It Works:
- Again, you’ll need an extreme planet for this one. The best way to find one is to hover over the planets while you’re in space and scan them. Extreme planets will have activated elements listed on their elements list. It could be a hot planet, a cold planet, or maybe even a toxic planet. It just has to have the activated elements.
- Once you’ve landed, wait for a storm. You need the storm to find the, appropriately named, storm crystals. Once it’s storming, hop out and, with your scanner, look around for any yellow pop ups with a lightning bolt.
- After you’ve found some, tag it and make your way over. Storms on extreme planets last longer than on regular planets but you’re still running on limited time. Once you get there, just collect the storm crystal and it’s yours!
- Warning: They only stack up to five in your inventory so if you plan on doing this for a couple of storms, make sure your inventory is cleaned out, minus the tech you’ll need and the materials to recharge your hazard protection (though, it should be noted that you can find those on the planet as well).
4) Salvaged Tech
How to Make Money Fast with These 2 Techniques | No Man's Sky 2019 (6:20)
Another great method of making fast money is salvaged tech. This can be found on just about any planet so you won’t have to look long or hard for it. We’re stepping into easy territory now, guys.
- The amount of units it’s worth is all depending on what you find. The scrap should have protection capsules around it, the more there is, the more expensive what you’ll find will be. For instance, in the video linked above, there were three and the player found a rare item worth 681,802 units. For just one item.
How It Works:
- Unlike the last one, you don’t need an extreme planet. You will, however, need a planet that, when you scan it from space, it says “salvageable scrap” up at the top. Once you’ve found one, just fly to the planet and land.
- Once you’ve landed, hop out and take out your scanner. You’ll, once again, be looking out for yellow pop ups. This time, though, they won’t have lightning bolts, they’ll have, I believe, down arrows. Find one, mark it, and make your way over there.
- After you’ve got to the location, take out your terrain manipulator (which you should have gotten at the beginning of the game) and tear up the grown until all of the capsules are in view.
- Once they’re in view, just start shooting away with your mining tool. Once all the capsules are mined away, you can then access the salvageable scrap (which you’ll also have to mine to get the materials inside).
- Once you’ve mined it, you’ve got it! Now take that bad boy to a trading post or the space station and sell it for all that it’s worth.
3) Scanning
Let’s say you’re just starting out your game. You’ve just passed all the tutorials on how to survive in No Man’s Sky and you’ve got your multitool and you’re ready to go. You may not know how to make money but this, this one is easy as pie. You don’t really make a lot per scanned item but they add up quickly.
- By scanning materials, you can get anywhere from 200 to maybe even 2,000 units per scanned item.
How It Works:
- You’re fresh out of the tutorials, you have your multitool with your analysis visor installed. This is probably the easiest one. All you have to do is hold down L2 and then scan the items around you by using R2.
- Bam! Free money!
2) Buried Technology Module
We’re still in easy territory here, folks. This one is rather easy, all you need is your terrain manipulator and your analysis visor. Just get to looking for the blue pop ups and you’ve found your buried treasure.
- Each buried module varies in price, depending on how much technology the module gives you. Each module is worth 50,000 units.
How It Works:
- For this, you’ll need both your visor and a terrain manipulator. Using your visor, look for buried technology modules. The little pop up will be blue with down arrows.
- Once you’ve found one, go to it and, with your terrain manipulator, dig up the ground all around the module until you can see it.
- After you’ve got it uncovered, all that’s left is to pick it up and bam! Yours to sell!
1) Recipes
Finally, the last way to make quick money: recipes. Or, well, taking recipes you’ve learned, building the product, and selling it. It’s super easy to do. All you’ll need is navigational data (which you can buy from space stations or find around the planet you’re on) and a scanner - one of the big boys you have to build, not your visor’s scanner.
- How much you make depends on what item you’re making. I can’t give you figures but you can make a lot of money this way.
How It Works:
- All you need for this one is navigational data - which can be gotten from space stations or found on the planet - and a big scanner. One of the really big ones you have to build.
- Once you’ve got the technology built, put in the navigational data and select “scan secure frequencies.” This should find you a manufacturing facility.
- Once you’ve found one, fly (or walk, if you prefer) to it and collect the recipe from inside. All that’s left after that is building the thing and selling it for your units. Again, how much you make depends on what you’re building.
- Bam! Keep cranking these bad boys out and you’ll have a lot of money in no time!
