Life can be hard for a new survivor in the harsh universe of No Man’s Sky, but with this guide you’ll have the best strategies to make money fast.
Units make the Galactic Core go round in No Man’s Sky VR (read our full review here) so it’s helpful to hoard as many of those as you possibly can. The only problem is, where do you find a great source of units that can make you get rich quick and continue raking in the cash without too much effort? Well, there are actually some really great ways to make money in No Man’s Sky VR as soon as you get your first ship and gain access to a trading post or a space station where a Galactic Trade Terminal awaits.
Get Chlorine Stacks
One of the most lucrative materials in No Man’s Sky is chlorine, which sells for 602 units per piece. Accumulating and selling chlorine can amass hundreds of thousands of units quite quickly, and it’s actually surprisingly easy to get chlorine early into a playthrough. You can find chlorine in various plants and rocks laying around, but it is concentrated in ‘Organic Rocks’ strewn about certain planetary surfaces. You can also mine salt and refine that down into chlorine at a rate of 2:1.
Finally, you can convert chloride lattices into 150 chlorine a pop. You can find chloride lattices inside of ‘Submerged Relics’ or ‘Floating Crystals’, or craft them by combining 50 salt and 50 chlorine in a Medium or Large Refiner.
Amass a Fleet Of Frigates in No Man’s Sky
Once you’ve earned your first freighter in No Man’s Sky, you can use it as a staging ground for Expeditions. Expeditions will send frigate(s) from your fleet out looking to explore, hunt, trade, or mine. Frigates are assigned an alphabetical rank much like other ships and pieces of equipment, determining how effective their stats are and how well they’ll do while on mission. Likewise, missions have a numerical rank (expressed by the number of stars next to the mission name) that correspond with how harsh the Expedition will be on your frigates and how good the rewards will be once they return.
Some missions can pay upward of 500,000 units up front in addition to items that sell for hundreds of thousands or even millions of units. Pay attention to the amount of frigate fuel you have on hand, since sending frigates on Expeditions tends to use it up quickly. You can own up to 30 frigates at a time.
Sell Larval Cores
Hunt down ‘Whispering Eggs’ at Abandoned Buildings or on certain planetary surfaces. Bust them open to take their Larval Cores, alien eggs that can sell for tens of thousands of units each. Beware, however, of their guardians, the Biological Horrors that spawn when one is broken. With a well-upgraded shield and a good Multi-Tool weapon, these alien fiends shouldn’t pose much of a problem when you’re looking to loot some Larval Cores for easy money. You can also punch them for high damage, often instantly killing them on impact.
Farm Gold, Silver, and Platinum from Asteroids
Gold, silver, and platinum are all very sellable and easy to get rich off of as soon as you set off from your first planet. It only takes a few minutes of relaxing in orbit and shooting asteroids down to make over 100,000 units in precious metal loot, and you can almost always take a quick trip to a local space station at the end of an asteroid run to turn your loot into currency right away. If you can handle the occasional pirate attack, you’ll find that this is one of the safest and most straightforward ways to get rich quick in No Man’s Sky VR.
Hunt Pirates
Some pirates carry bounties of 100,000 units or more, and generally aren’t very difficult to kill. You can take on pirate hunting missions from NPCs, or from a mission delegator at the Mercenary’s Guild in any spaceport, but just killing pirates with (clearly marked via stars) bounties on their heads will immediately grant you credit rewards.
Become a No Man’s Sky Pirate
When you see a freighter warp into the same system you’re in, you don’t have to play nicely with it. You can also raid it. Freighters carry cargo pods with them, which often drop highly valuable loot such as Chromatic Metal. Blowing them up does cause you to lose reputation points with the corresponding NPC alien race, but who cares about keeping up appearances when it’s time to get rich quick in No Man’s Sky VR?
Exploit No Man’s Sky Trade Routes
Each system has a different focus on trade and production, as well as its own economy that represents the movement of the local market. Of course, by buying low and selling high you can manipulate the galactic market to your favor. In order to play the trade routes, you need to install an Economy Scanner to your ship, which will give you information about each system you view in the Galaxy Map. You don’t even necessarily need to invest in order to begin running trade routes. As you warp through the galaxy and pick up valuable commodities, read their descriptions to find out which systems need them the most, then sell at a premium once you reach those systems.
Upgrade Your Analysis Visor in No Man’s Sky
If exploring and surveying planets is more your speed, you can actually make an insane amount of units (sometimes over 200,000 or more per scan!) by surveying animals and plants with a fully-upgraded Analysis Visor. In order to get rich quick in No Man’s Sky VR with this method, save up roughly 1,750 nanites and use them to purchase three S-class Analysis Visor upgrades for your Multi-Tool. Make sure your tool has enough slots to support the three upgrades plus whatever else is installed. A fully boosted Analysis Visor will practically print money for you each time you touch down on a new planet, so it’s worth making this upgrade as soon as possible.
Let us know some of your favorite ways to make money in No Man’s Sky VR down in the comments below and keep an eye on the official website for updates.
