No Man's Sky: Currency Farming Guide

Overview

The No Man's Sky economy is built on three separate currencies: Units for buying ships and equipment, Nanite Clusters for upgrading technology, and Quicksilver for cosmetic items. Every item and location name in this guide is given alongside its English original for players using the Turkish localization — you'll find the full list in the Term Glossary section at the end of the page.

Units: Early Game Strategies (0-10 hours)

The fastest bootstrap on a new save comes from three low-setup methods.

1. Chlorine Expansion

The most accessible way for new players to build wealth. Apply this recipe inside a Medium Refiner:

1× Chlorine + 2× Oxygen → 6× Chlorine

Starting from 2,000 Chlorine and 4,000 Oxygen, you can produce 18,000 Chlorine worth roughly 12 million Units. Oxygen can be bought from the Galactic Trade Terminal at any space station.

2. Cobalt Economy Crash

Mine 20,000-60,000 Cobalt from caves, sell it all at once at a space station to crash the price by 80%, then buy it back cheap before jumping to the next system. Since Cobalt is stocked at every station, the buy-back is guaranteed. As of 2025 it's recommended to carry at least 6-8 stacks (9,999 each).

3. Ancient Bones and Salvageable Scrap

A method that needs zero setup. Scan from space, land on planets carrying the relevant tag, then mark them with the Analysis Visor and dig with the Terrain Manipulator. Rare bones are worth 2M+ and rare scrap pieces 3M+ Units. Since the Voyagers update, Sentinels no longer spawn in scrap fields, and they now also drop Corvette Modules.

Units: Mid Game Methods (10-50 hours)

4. Nutrient Ingestor + Scanner Upgrade

Currently the strongest Units-earning method in the game. Fit three S-class Scanner Upgrade modules into your Multi-tool (preferably an Alien-type one, with two modules placed in Supercharged Slots). Special meals prepared in a Nutrient Processor grant a +6,000% fauna analysis bonus when eaten via the Nutrient Ingestor.

Result: A single creature scan earns 7-44 million Units.

5. Interceptor Ship Scrapping

Works by repairing damaged Interceptor ships found on Dissonant planets and scrapping them at a space station. Nanite and upgrade modules drop too.

6. Storm Crystal Collecting

Done during storms on planets with corrosive weather. 129,000-211,000 Units per crystal.

Units: Late Game Methods (50+ hours)

7. Stasis Device Crafting — Production Chain

Along with the Fusion Ignitor, the most valuable craftable item in the game. The full production chain relies on these inputs:

• Plants: Cactus Flesh, Star Bulb, Solanium, Frost Crystal, Gamma Root, Faecium
• Gases: Nitrogen, Sulphurine, Radon

With an optimized farm you can produce 40 devices a day for 624 million Units. Setup is demanding: all recipes (from a Manufacturing Facility / Synthesis Laboratory), multiple Biodomes, an Atmosphere Harvester in three different biomes, and multiple refiners are required.

8. Starship AI Valve Farming

Obtained by scrapping high-value S-class exotic ships (worth 70M+) at a space station. 12M Units per Valve (it was 50M before Waypoint).

9. Corvette Parts Farming (Voyagers, August 2025)

Salvageable Scrap fields now also drop Corvette Modules.

Units Efficiency Comparison

The chart below compares the hourly upper-bound earnings of active-play methods (no passive/waiting required) on a logarithmic scale — the ~65x gap between Nutrient Ingestor and Stasis Device should be read from the scale itself, not the bar-length ratio.

Nanite Clusters: S and A-Tier Methods

Nanite Clusters are the price of technology upgrades; the most sustainable methods rely on mining and refining chains.

S-Tier Runaway Mould Farm

The gold standard of sustainable nanite production. Curious Deposit clusters found on planet surfaces yield Runaway Mould when mined:

5× Runaway Mould → 1× Nanite

Optimal setup: place a Base Computer, build walls to stop the balls from rolling away, set up 12+ refiners, and chain Short-Range Teleporters for a 5-second respawn. Fitting an Optical Drill to your Multi-tool boosts yield by 50%.

S-Tier Sentinel Farm (Summoner Method)

On an aggressive Sentinel planet, once you hit a Wanted level of 3+, Summoner Drones spawn; leave them alive and they keep calling in more drones. Killed drones drop Combat Supplies; the Salvaged Glass inside yields X-class upgrade modules when broken down (300-1,100 Nanite each). Hyaline Brains refine into 230 Nanite.

A-Tier Ship Scrapping

In rich-economy (Tier 3) systems, buy B+ class ships that arrive at the space station and scrap them. The resulting upgrade modules are sold to the Technology Merchant.

A-Tier Suspicious Packet — Outlaw Stations

Buy Suspicious Packets (Technology) and (Arms) from a Contraband Agent in Pirate systems, then sell them as X-class modules. It's recommended to cycle between 9+ Outlaw stations.

A-Tier Faction Tech Arbitrage (Late Game)

Relies on buying discounted modules with maximum reputation and reselling them to the same vendor at a profitable price.

Nanite Clusters: B and C-Tier Methods

B-Tier Larval Core Farming

Done from Whispering Eggs in abandoned buildings. Each egg yields one Larval Core:

1× Larval Core → 50× Nanite

B-Tier Cooking for Cronus

Works by preparing meals in a Nutrient Processor and offering them one by one to Iteration: Cronus at the Anomaly. High-quality meals yield 50-320 Nanite each. The Worlds Part II update added a Food Market and bulk-selling options.

B-Tier Fishing (Aquarius Update, September 2024)

Caught fish yield nanite when released: C-class ~20, S-class/legendary 400-500 Nanite. Fishing Traps (limit of 3 per planet) provide passive income.

C-Tier Derelict Freighter Exploration

Collect Tainted Metal (1 Tainted Metal = 2 Nanite); 1,500-4,000 Nanite total per expedition. The Emergency Broadcast Receiver costs 5M the first time, up to 30M Units.

C-Tier Pugneum Refining and Others

Very slow at a direct 25:1 conversion rate. But there's an indirect route too:

Pugneum + Atlantidium → 2× Runaway Mould

The Residual Goop chain also reaches the same point in four steps: Goop → Viscous Fluids → Living Slime → Runaway Mould → Nanite. Slow, but a fallback route for those short on inputs.

Nanite Efficiency Comparison

Quicksilver: The One Currency That Needs Patience

Quicksilver (QS) is the only time-gated currency in No Man's Sky. There are no microtransactions; it's earned entirely through in-game quests. It's used to buy cosmetic items, base parts, gestures, ship decorations and the Void Egg that starts the Living Ship quest. Buying the entire store's contents requires roughly 267,250 QS.

Daily Quests — The Core Income Source

One orange-marked QS quest appears every day at the Nexus in the Anomaly; completing it grants 400 QS. Missed quests stack up to a maximum of 3 days — logging in every three days lets you earn 3 × 400 = 1,200 QS in a single session.

Weekend Quests

A special hexagon-icon community quest appears at the Nexus every weekend. It takes 15-45 minutes. Buying the entire store takes roughly 58 weeks (13.5 months).

Unlimited Farming with Condensed Stellar Ice

While cruising in space with the Pulse Drive, Condensed Stellar Ice clusters rarely appear in random encounters. Destroying them has a 10% chance to drop 100 QS. They're reported to appear more often in Green Star systems (requires the Emeril Drive). Can be farmed with a quicksave-reload loop.

Expedition Rewards and Story Bonuses

Expeditions are limited-time events and can grant thousands of QS as milestone rewards. In the Artemis Path storyline, interactions with Nada grant 150 QS (one-time).

Quicksilver Store, Prices and Exploit

QS Store Exploit (Still Works)

1. Board and exit your ship at the Anomaly. This creates an automatic save point.
2. Buy a blueprint or cosmetic item from the QS store.
3. Load the restore point from Options → Save Data. The spent QS is refunded, but the purchased item stays marked "Available" and can be claimed for free.

Term Glossary — English / Turkish Equivalents

A complete match between the translations you'll see in the Turkish localization and the original English names used in this guide and the community.

Currencies

Resources & Elements

Items & Materials

Farming Resources

Equipment & Technology

Structures & Locations

Recommended Roadmap for Beginners

How the Meta Changed in 2024-2026

Waypoint v4.0 (2022) pushed Activated Indium and the Starship AI Valve out of the meta, while the fishing system added in 2024 and Corvette parts in 2025 opened new income channels. The discovery of the Nutrient Ingestor + Scanner Upgrade combo revolutionized Units earning.

On the Nanite front, the Runaway Mould farm has held its S-tier position for years. The Xeno Arena update in April 2026 added Nanite earning from creature battles. The Quicksilver economy remains deliberately slow by design; Hello Games positions this currency as a long-term loyalty reward.