If you’ve ever spawned into a new No Man’s Sky save, stared at your broken ship, and panicked when the game tells you to find chromatic metal to repair your launch thrusters, you’re not alone. This core crafting resource is required for nearly every task in the game, from basic repairs to high-end tech upgrades and base building, and new players often get stuck figuring out how to source it. Learning how to make chromatic metal on No Man’s Sky is one of the first essential skills you’ll pick up, and once you master the process, you’ll never get stranded without supplies mid-exploration again. Most players don’t realize you don’t find chromatic metal lying around as a raw resource — you have to refine it from other common metals you can find on almost every planet in the galaxy.
What You’ll Need Before You Make Chromatic Metal on No Man’s Sky
First, you won’t be able to craft chromatic metal out of thin air, so you need to gather a few basic supplies before you get started. The most important tool you’ll need is a Portable Refiner, which you unlock within the first 10 minutes of a new save. If you haven’t built one yet, you can craft it in your inventory’s tech menu with 10 Carbon and 1 Di-Hydrogen Jelly, both of which you can collect from plants right near your spawn point. You don’t need any rare upgrades to build this refiner, so there’s no barrier to getting started even on your first playthrough.
Next, you need a source of refining fuel, which will almost always be Carbon or Condensed Carbon. You can get regular Carbon from harvesting trees, plants, and small organic rocks on any planet, and Condensed Carbon is made by refining regular Carbon or harvesting larger crystal formations. 20 units of regular Carbon is enough to fuel a portable refiner for 50 units of chromatic metal, so you don’t need to stockpile tons of it for small batches. Condensed Carbon lasts twice as long, so it’s worth making if you plan to refine large amounts of material at once.
The last thing you need is the raw input metal. Any of these metals will work to make chromatic metal: Copper, Cadmium, Emeril, Indium, or their activated variants. Regular versions give a 1:1 yield when refined, while activated versions give a 2:1 yield, meaning you get twice as much chromatic metal per unit of input. Copper is the easiest to find for new players, as it spawns on nearly every lush, barren, or frozen planet, and you can spot deposits easily with your analysis visor. Higher tier metals like Cadmium and Indium only spawn in specific star system types, so you won’t have access to them until you unlock hyperdrive travel.
Step-by-Step Process to Craft Chromatic Metal
Once you have all your supplies gathered, the actual crafting process is incredibly simple, even for total beginners. First, pull out your analysis visor and scan the area around you for copper deposits, which show up as bright orange markers with a copper icon. You usually won’t have to walk more than a few hundred units from your spawn point to find a large enough deposit to work with. If you don’t see any copper markers immediately, try climbing a small hill to get a higher scan range, or walk in a straight line for a minute or two to expand your search area.
Use your multi-tool’s mining beam to collect at least 50 units of copper, plus 20 units of Carbon if you haven’t gathered that already. If you run into hostile fauna while mining, don’t waste time fighting them unless they attack first — you can usually outrun them easily, and you don’t want to waste your mining beam charge on combat when you’re just trying to get supplies to leave the planet. Once you have all your materials, open your build menu, place the Portable Refiner on a flat piece of ground, and interact with it to open its inventory.
Add your Carbon to the fuel slot in the top left of the refiner menu first, then add your copper to the input slot. The refiner will automatically detect you want to make chromatic metal, so all you have to do is hit the start button. Each unit of copper takes about 2 seconds to refine, so 50 units will be done in less than 2 minutes total. You don’t have to stand next to the refiner while it works, so you can use that time to gather extra Carbon or pick up nearby Ferrite Dust for other basic crafting needs.
A pro tip for players a little further into the game: if you run across a radioactive planet, stop to mine activated copper if you have the hazard protection to handle it. You’ll get twice as much chromatic metal per unit mined, so you can cut your mining time in half for the same amount of end product. Just make sure your radiation protection is fully charged before you head out, or you’ll burn through your life support before you fill your inventory. You can also use a exocraft to mine faster and stay protected from the elements at the same time.
Fast Chromatic Metal Farming Methods for Mid and Late Game
Once you’ve unlocked hyperdrive travel and have a few base building upgrades, you can skip the manual mining of copper entirely and use far faster methods to get thousands of units of chromatic metal with minimal effort. These methods are perfect if you’re working on a large base build, upgrading multiple ships, or just want to stock up so you never run out mid-trip. I use all of these methods regularly, and I haven’t had to manually mine copper for chromatic metal in over a year of playtime.
Here are our favorite tested farming methods that we use regularly in our own playthroughs:
- Activated Indium farming: Build a mining outpost on an activated indium planet in a blue star system, each unit of activated indium refines into 2 chromatic metal, and you can set up automatic mineral extractors to collect thousands of units while you explore, complete missions, or even log off the game. You can easily get 10,000+ units of activated indium per hour with a small outpost, which translates to 20,000 units of chromatic metal. You can also sell extra activated indium for huge profits if you have more than you need for chromatic metal.
- Space station scrap trading: Buy bulk scrap from visiting NPC traders at space stations, then refine the scrap in a large refiner. Scrap often breaks down into large stacks of cadmium, emeril, and indium, which you can then turn into chromatic metal. This method is perfect if you have extra units to spend and don’t want to spend time mining at all. You can usually find scrap for sale at 20-30% below the cost of buying the raw metals directly, so you’ll save money in the long run.
- Frigate expedition rewards: Once you have a freighter and a fleet of frigates, send your frigates on short 1-2 hour resource gathering expeditions. They regularly return with hundreds of units of rare metals, plus other useful resources, that you can process for free chromatic metal with zero work on your end. You can run multiple expeditions at once to get even more resources faster, and you don’t have to do anything except claim the rewards when the frigates return.
One important note if you’re planning to farm activated indium: you’ll need to unlock three separate hyperdrive upgrades first to reach blue star systems. You’ll need the Cadmium Drive to reach red systems, then the Emeril Drive for green systems, then finally the Indium Drive for blue systems. Don’t waste time trying to jump to a blue star without the correct upgrade, because the game won’t let you select it as a jump target. You can unlock all three drive blueprints from the space anomaly technology merchant for relatively cheap nanites.
Practical Uses for Chromatic Metal You Should Prioritize
You might be wondering why you need so much chromatic metal, and the answer is that it’s used for nearly every core activity in No Man’s Sky. Early game, you’ll need it first to repair your ship’s launch thrusters and pulse engine so you can leave your starting planet. After that, you’ll use it to craft basic base parts like walls, floors, doors, and storage containers as you build your first outpost. Even simple tech like portable save points and signal boosters require small amounts of chromatic metal to craft.
As you progress, you’ll need chromatic metal for nearly every tech upgrade you install, from exosuit hazard protection upgrades to multi-tool mining beam improvements and ship hyperdrive upgrades. Even high-end late-game upgrades like portal scanners and freighter warp cores require at least a small amount of chromatic metal to craft. You’ll also need it to repair damage to your ship, freighter, and exocraft if you take fire from pirates or crash into objects while flying.
If you have extra chromatic metal lying around, you can also sell it at space stations or trade posts for a decent profit. A full stack of 9999 units of chromatic metal sells for around 300,000 units, which is enough to buy a new mid-tier ship or pay for several exosuit inventory slot upgrades. You can also trade it to NPCs for rare resources or upgrade modules if you find a trader that’s looking for it.
We recommend keeping at least 500 units of chromatic metal in your inventory at all times, so you don’t get stuck if your ship takes damage mid-exploration, or you need to build a quick shelter to wait out a toxic or radioactive storm. There’s nothing worse than being stranded on a dead planet with no way to repair your launch thrusters because you ran out of chromatic metal. I keep a stack of 1000 units in my exosuit inventory at all times, and I’ve never had to pause a play session to grind for more at an inconvenient time.
I still remember my first No Man’s Sky playthrough, where I ran around for nearly three hours trying to find chromatic metal as a raw resource before I realized I had to refine it from copper. I spent so much time digging through random rocks that I almost gave up on the game entirely, which is why I put this guide together to help new players avoid that same mistake. Once you get the hang of the refining process, knowing how to make chromatic metal on No Man’s Sky becomes second nature, and you’ll never have to stress about running out again. Start with copper if you’re new, work your way up to the faster farming methods as you unlock more gear, and you’ll have a never-ending supply of this essential resource before you know it. Happy exploring!
