No Man’s Sky is a vast open-world game that allows players to explore an infinite universe filled with unique planets, alien species, and valuable resources. One of the game’s most exciting aspects is the ability to make money quickly and efficiently. This guide will help you in choosing what’s best for you! Welcome to No Man’s Sky Money Making in 2023.
The Pirate Technique
One of my personal favorite ways to make money, because of how fast and how funny it is. Attack Freighters! First, go to a pirate system (systems without sentinels) so you won’t get disturbed by the sentinel fighters while you do your looting. Hang outside the space stations until a freighter warps in and … Then blast all the cargo it holds. When the fighters defending the freighter arrive, simply duck into the station and sell all the loot. You can make up to 20-30 million for every system. Just bring enough shield recharges and if you have trouble shooting them down maybe get some upgrades for your ship too. Happy Pirating!
Freighter With Cargo Pods Circled in Red
Shoot the Water
Yep. This is very good for beginners. One of the oldest ways to make money in No Man’s Sky has been to farm Salt and Oxygen, to transform into Chlorine. We’ll get to that later. Before shooting the tides, it’s very important that you scan every single rock and plant you find underwater on a planet of your choice. Most of the time, the primary element of minerals will be Salt and the second one for plants will be Oxygen. If you don’t find any of this after scanning the deeps, simply change planet, and find one that provides these elements underwater. Then, hop onto your ship, go in first-person view (it will make it easier to aim), and start shooting the water! You’ll realize that you get a lot of resources quickly. Approximately 1k of each per minute.
Once you’re done with your haul, go back to the shore, build a refiner, and simply transform your salt into Chlorine! Chlorine is extremely valuable, but remember to change system once in a while, as market prices will go down if you sell too much in one place. If you have access to a medium refiner, build one and place both the Chlorine you created and the Oxygen you gathered, which will simply double the output of Chlorine! A full stack of Chlorine is worth approximately 2 million. The beauty of this technique is simply that while your refiner does the job, you can hop on back to your ship, and farm more.
Ancient Bones
Old but gold. Literally. This might be one of the easiest way to make money for beginners. The first and hardest part is to find a planet with “Ancient Bones”.
Planet Featuring Ancient Bones (Top “Wifi” Symbol)
These bones will differ in age and therefore in price. The older the better. Once you land on the planet, look for “Natural Burial Site” (See pic below) with your radar and dig out as many bones as you can.
In Yellow: Natural Burial Site Icon
If you unlocked it, summon a Trade Rocket to sell you what you scavenged right on the spot! If not, simply go back to the Space Station and sell your loot there. Easy Money. The trade rocket can be unlocked in the Anomaly with Nanites, don’t worry there is also a tip for easy Nanites in this very guide.
Scanning Bonus
Another personal favorite. One of the aspects of the game I thoroughly enjoy is the exploration and therefore scanning and discovering new things. One of the upgrades you can get for your Multi-Tool is the “Scanner Bonus”. Pretty straightforward, this upgrade raises how much money you make after scanning something. They might be hard to come by, but trust me it’s worth it. With my current Multi-Tool setup, I make approximately 400k when scanning fauna… Seeing the number of animals you can find on each planet, this can easily become a way to make a quick buck on each planet you land. Check for example this image made by a Redditor, showing the difference really well.
Scanning Bonuses Illustrated
Almost half a million for simple scan. This might be one of the best passive way to make huge amounts of money on No Man’s Sky in 2023.
Salvage Crashed Ships
Another great early game way to make money in 2023 is to salvage crashed ships. You just get some Planetary Charts (available at the space station) pointing to Distress Signals and use them. The trick is, You don’t actually need to repair them. You can switch your main ship at the Anomaly and use the teleporter there to go to a Space Station. The broken ship will follow you. Once you made it to the space station, simply sell the ship you just salvaged and voila!
Duplication Glitch
I personally never use that kind of technique, first because they usually get patched rather fast. Second, because let’s be honest, it’s kind of cheating. But I get that people want to make money fast without losing time on several steps. So I’ll tell you but please keep in mind, this method will probably be patched as soon as Hello Games finds out about it.
The method is simple: Build a portable refiner, then put your valuable stack of objects as material (on the left side) and quit. Right after put a second refiner ON the first one (see image below). Once the second is built, destroy the first one. The game will give you back your stack, but surprise, your stack will also still be in the second refiner you just created… Rinse, repeat and you have an infinite money glitch. Easy money making.
Duplication Glitch – In Orange: First Refiner – In Green: Second Refiner.
How to Get Nanites
This technique will work best for beginners, as early upgrades and research are rather cheap. This technique is very simple: simply scan every fauna form on the planet! You’ll usually get some species “greeting you”, as you land on a planet which will make the hunt for them much easier. Then in the “Discoveries” menu, click “Fauna” and you can simply check where the others are. It will tell you the biome and in what conditions you can find them. There are only a few biomes on each planet so finding all species shouldn’t be that complicated. Once you have them all, simply go to the Discovery menu again and upload your data. This usually gets you more than 2.000 nanites (depending on how many species you had to discover). This technique might be less effective in the late game, but early on, it’s a great way to get started on Nanites. If that’s not enough, look at our guide for more Nanites!
Hold X to Upload Data 2.750 Nanites for 11 Species Scanned
In conclusion, there are many ways to make money quickly in No Man’s Sky! Whether you are trading, mining, farming, salvaging… the key is to be persistent and always be on the lookout for new opportunities. Remember to invest in a Freighter when you made enough cash, if you want to make more money. Send it on mission daily and get the generous loot in return. Happy Exploring!
