If you’ve just spawned into your first No Man’s Sky save and are staring at a broken ship with no way off your starting planet, you’ve probably already seen the prompt asking for metal plating to repair critical systems. Learning how to craft metal plating in No Man’s Sky is one of the first core skills every new player needs to master, and it stays useful even hundreds of hours into your playthrough for base building, ship repairs, and crafting advanced tech components. This guide breaks down every step, from gathering the right materials to troubleshooting common crafting roadblocks you might run into.
What You Need to Craft Metal Plating in No Man’s Sky
Unlike more complex NMS crafting recipes that require refiners, rare elements, or multiple processing steps, metal plating has an extremely simple material requirement. You only need 50 units of Ferrite Dust to craft one piece of metal plating, no secondary materials or special crafting stations required. That accessibility makes it one of the most versatile and widely used items in the entire game.
Ferrite Dust is the most common resource in the No Man’s Sky universe, so you never have to go far to gather it. You can collect it by mining small surface rocks with your multi-tool, breaking apart larger rock formations with your terrain manipulator, or even punching loose pebbles if your multi-tool is out of charge when you first spawn. If you’re in space, you can also get Ferrite Dust by shooting small floating asteroids near planets or space stations.
You don’t need to unlock the recipe for metal plating either. It’s available by default in every player’s crafting menu from the second you start a new save, so you don’t have to visit a space anomaly or complete a mission to access it. The only time you won’t be able to craft it is if you don’t have enough Ferrite Dust in your inventory.
Step-by-Step Process to Craft Metal Plating
Crafting metal plating only takes a few seconds once you have the required materials, and you can do it anywhere, even mid-exploration while you’re hiding from a hostile storm. Follow these simple steps to make metal plating any time you need it:
If the Metal Plating option is greyed out, that means you don’t have enough Ferrite Dust to complete the craft. Exit the menu and gather a few more rocks until you hit the 50 unit threshold, and the option will light up immediately. You can craft multiple pieces of metal plating at once if you have enough stockpiled Ferrite Dust, which is a huge time saver if you’re prepping for a large base build or repairing multiple crashed ships at once.
You can also craft metal plating directly in your freighter or base construction menu if you’re building components that require it on the spot. The game will pull Ferrite Dust from your inventory, your base storage containers, or your freighter storage automatically if you have the materials stored somewhere accessible.
Pro Tips to Speed Up Metal Plating Production
If you’re cranking out dozens of metal plating for a large base build or freighter upgrade, you don’t have to mine every single piece of Ferrite Dust by hand. There are a few shortcuts to stockpile materials fast without spending hours running across a planet’s surface. You can set up a small Ferrite Dust farm with a mineral extractor placed on a Ferrite deposit, which will passively generate hundreds of units of the material while you go off and explore other systems. You can also trade excess resources you don’t need at space stations or planetary trade outposts to buy pre-made Ferrite Dust in bulk, which saves you time if you have a stock of extra units lying around.
Many players also use third-party build planning tools to calculate exactly how much metal plating they need for a project before they start crafting, so they don’t waste resources making more than they need. If you’re someone who likes to map out full base layouts ahead of time, YonoVIP has a handy NMS build calculator that lets you input your desired construction components and get an exact count of required raw materials, including Ferrite Dust for metal plating. That tool also lets you save your build plans so you can reuse them across different saves or share them with friends in multiplayer sessions.
Another pro tip: Keep at least 2 spare pieces of metal plating in your exosuit inventory at all times, because you never know when you’ll need to repair a damaged launch thruster after a rough landing or fix a broken base component during a storm. It’s also helpful to keep a stack of 20+ pieces in your freighter storage if you do a lot of base building, so you don’t have to run back and forth to gather materials mid-build.
Common Uses for Metal Plating in No Man’s Sky
A lot of new players think metal plating is only useful for repairing their first ship, but it’s a core component for hundreds of crafting recipes across every stage of the game. The most common early use is repairing your ship’s launch thrusters and pulse engine, repairing damaged life support systems on crashed ships, which you need to do to leave your starting planet. You’ll also need it to craft your first base computer, which unlocks the full base building system, and portable tech like the save point and portable refiner.
As you progress into mid and late game, you’ll use metal plating to craft freighter bulkheads, exocraft upgrade modules, and even starship hull components for your S-class fighter or hauler. It’s also a required component for most planetary defense systems, landing pads, and large construction pieces like base walls and floors if you’re building a permanent home on your favorite planet.
One of the most underrated uses for metal plating is crafting trade goods to sell for units. You can turn cheap, easy to gather Ferrite Dust into metal plating, then combine it with other cheap components like carbon nanotubes to make higher value trade items that sell for 3x or more the cost of the raw materials at space stations. Metal plating is also required for most multiplayer base building projects, so if you’re playing with friends, make sure everyone brings a stack to contribute to shared builds. Never throw away spare metal plating, because you’ll almost always find a use for it later in your playthrough, even if you think you have too much right now.
Whether you’re a brand new player just trying to get off your first planet or a veteran explorer building a massive base across an entire planet, knowing how to craft metal plating in No Man’s Sky is a fundamental skill that will serve you well throughout your entire playthrough. Keep a steady stock of Ferrite Dust on hand, use the shortcuts we shared to speed up production, and you’ll never find yourself stuck waiting to craft a critical component when you need it most.
