If you’ve ever tried to upgrade your hyperdrive, build advanced base components, or craft high-tier tech in No Man’s Sky, you’ve probably hit a wall when you realized you’re short on cadmium. This rare, red-hued resource only spawns in specific parts of the galaxy, and random mining runs rarely give you enough to finish big projects. If you’re tired of wasting hours hopping between systems chasing tiny scattered nodes, this guide covers exactly how to make cadmium in No Man's Sky reliably, no more guesswork involved.
What You Need Before You Start Farming Cadmium
Cadmium doesn’t spawn everywhere, so you’ll need to tick a few prerequisites off your list before you can start collecting it consistently. I skipped this step once when I was in a rush to upgrade my starship, and I ended up wasting 45 minutes warping to systems I couldn’t even access properly. Don’t make that same mistake.
- Emerald Hyperdrive upgrade installed on your starship, as cadmium only appears in red star systems that require this drive to reach
- Terrain Manipulator tool with at least one mining speed upgrade to break deposits faster
- Base Computer if you plan to set up a permanent automated cadmium farm
- 10+ units of Ferrite Dust to mark large deposit locations so you don’t lose them when exploring
You don’t need any late-game tech to start farming cadmium, but a few extra storage slots on your exosuit or starship will make the process far less frustrating. You’ll be collecting a lot of it at once, and running back to your ship every 5 minutes to unload gets old fast.
How to Make Cadmium in No Man's Sky: 2 Reliable Methods
There are two main ways to get consistent cadmium, and which one you pick depends on how much you need and how much time you want to put into setup. Both work perfectly, so you can pick whichever fits your playstyle best.
The first method is manual mining on cadmium-rich planets. Once you warp to a red star system, scan all the planets in the system and look for ones that list high cadmium concentration in their resource details. Land near the large, glowing red deposit clusters that pop up on your scanner, and use your Terrain Manipulator to break them apart. You can also pick up loose cadmium crystals scattered around these deposits for extra bonus amounts. This method is great if you only need 50 to 100 units of cadmium right away, with zero setup time. The downside is that it’s tiring if you need hundreds or thousands of units for big builds.
The second method is automated extractor farming, which is my go-to for long-term cadmium supply. Find a massive cadmium deposit (the ones that show up as giant red blobs on your scanner), place a Base Computer nearby to claim the land, then set up Cadmium Extractors directly on top of the deposit. Connect the extractors to Supply Depots and a power source like solar panels or generators, and you’re done. The farm will run even when you’re off doing other missions, and you can come back to hundreds of units of cadmium whenever you need it. I have one of these farms set up 5 minutes away from my main base, and I haven’t had to mine cadmium manually in over 6 months.
Pro Tips to Speed Up Cadmium Collection
Even the basic farming methods work fine, but a few small tweaks can cut your collection time in half, or even triple the amount of cadmium you get per hour. These are all tricks I picked up after years of playing, and they make the process way less of a grind.
First, install S-class mining upgrades on your Terrain Manipulator if you plan to mine manually. These upgrades don’t just make you mine faster, they also increase the amount of cadmium you get per hit by up to 300% in some cases. I went from getting 2 units per hit to 7 units per hit after adding one S-class upgrade, and it cut my mining runs down from 30 minutes to 10.
If you only need a small amount of cadmium for a quick upgrade, don’t even bother landing on a planet first. Blow up asteroids in the red system you’re in, and roughly 1 in 5 asteroids will drop cadmium. You can get 50 units of cadmium in 2 minutes just by flying around and shooting asteroids, no landing required.
For automated farms, place 2 to 3 extractors on the same large deposit, and connect them to at least 4 Supply Depots. This setup lets you store up to 10,000 units of cadmium at a time, so you don’t have to check back every few hours to empty the depots. I check my farm once every 2 weeks, and it’s always full when I get there.
You can also use an exocraft with a mining laser upgrade if you’re covering a large planet looking for deposits. It’s way faster than running around on foot, and exocrafts have extra storage space so you can carry more cadmium before you have to unload. I use the Nomad exocraft for this, since it’s fast and easy to maneuver over rough terrain.
Common Cadmium Farming Mistakes to Avoid
I’ve made every mistake in the book when it comes to farming cadmium, so you don’t have to. These are the most common errors that waste players’ time, and they’re all super easy to avoid if you know what to look for.
First, don’t waste time looking for cadmium in non-red star systems. It doesn’t spawn anywhere else, no matter how hard you look. I see new players ask about this all the time, and it’s always frustrating to see them spend hours searching systems that will never have cadmium.
Don’t place your automated farm in extreme weather zones or areas with lots of hostile creatures. Storms and aggressive fauna can damage your extractors over time, and you might come back to find your farm broken and no cadmium collected. Pick a flat, calm spot near your deposit, even if it means walking an extra 30 seconds from your ship to the deposit.
Don’t forget to connect your extractors to a power source. I made this mistake once, set up 4 extractors on a huge deposit, left for 3 days, and came back to zero cadmium because I forgot to add solar panels and batteries. Always test your power setup before you leave, and make sure the extractors are running before you head off to do other things.
If you play in multiplayer mode, make sure you set your base to private if you don’t want other players accidentally messing with your extractors. Most players won’t touch your stuff on purpose, but it’s easy to accidentally build over a deposit if someone else is building a base nearby.
At the end of the day, cadmium doesn’t have to be a scarce resource that slows down your progress. Whether you need a small amount for a quick hyperdrive upgrade or thousands of units for a massive base build, these methods work for every playstyle. Now that you know how to make cadmium in No Man's Sky, you can spend less time chasing resources and more time exploring the weird, wonderful parts of the galaxy you haven’t seen yet.