New updates usually come with new bugs, and the latest update to Hello Games’ infamous space sim is no different. I just so happen to have found one that will let you farm Nanites perpetually, at least until this is patched.
Disclaimer – I am playing No Man’s Sky on PC. I have not tested this on other platforms, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
The new Desolation update adds procedurally generated interplanetary wrecks for you to explore – these freighters have been abandoned wholesale by their crews, and have been infested by various forms of alien parasites. Fortunately for you, they have left all the valuable cargo aboard.
This isn’t the only reason you might want to visit one of these wrecks. These derelicts just so happen to be a source of infinite Nanites as well.
What You Need
The only major considerations are your Thermal Protection (the one for extreme low temperatures), which will run out eventually, so keep an eye on that and consider buying some upgrades if you haven’t already. I wouldn’t brave one of these ships without at least 2 Thermal Protection modules.
Load up on some dioxite or energy cells to replenish your thermal protection, some ammo to take care of any infestations, and find yourself a desolate freighter – you can do this by going to any inhabited space station and buying an Emergency Broadcast Locator (EBL) from the scrap dealer.
Your friendly neighborhood scrap dealer can be found near the upgrade merchants on your right as you exit your ship – his makeshift stall is hard to miss; you can see it in the image at the beginning of the article.
Buying an EBL from the scrap dealer costs 5 million units to start, which might seem expensive to new players, but it’s well worth it. You will make that money back very easily by selling items you find on the derelict. Pony up the cash, and head back to your ship.
Finding An Abandoned Freighter
You will have to exit the Station and activate the EBL from within your inventory. It will prompt you to enter a pulse jump, and once it has located the wreck, it will prompt you to drop out of the jump. You can then land aboard the derelict.
Once you’ve landed, head inside.
How To Farm Nanites
Initially, I thought this method relied on a broken passageway that seems to have been patched out a few days ago – I have not encountered it since, but I am happy to report that I was wrong. You don’t need a broken passage at all.
What you are looking for is something like this:
Alien growths are commonly found around doorways aboard derelict freighters.
The alien growth around the door takes damage when you hit or shoot it, but it cannot die and is indestructible. This is to our advantage, because each time you strike the alien growth, it yields a single living slime.
If you are lucky, you might find a heating unit close enough to one of these doorways that hazard protection won’t be a concern and you can idly farm Slime to your heart’s content. A rubber band over the melee button will do, or you could download a program like this on your PC.
If you can’t find a heating unit near a doorway, you should consider trying another star system or you could farm semi-idly. That is, you’ll have to keep your eye on your hazard protection.
But Living Slime Is Junk!
Wrong! To the uninitiated, it might seem that way.
Living Slime can be refined into Runaway Mould at a 1:1 ratio. Runaway Mould can be refined further into Nanites at a 5:1 ratio. I even went so far as to time how long it takes for you to earn each Nanite – it takes about 3 seconds to melee 5 times, yielding 12 Nanites per minute, 720 Nanites per hour.
This doesn’t include the time it will take you to refine all the Living Slime into Nanites, so it might not be the fastest way to get them, or the most interesting, but if you want to farm Nanites idly/semi-idly, this might be a good exploit for you.
Conclusion
There are likely better, faster and more interesting ways to farm Nanites, but if you are a lazy gamer, this exploit might be right up your alley. Get it while it’s hot! Also, before it’s patched.
I made a short video demonstrating the exploit; check it out below:
Chris
Still works as of Jun 2021!