Some of the resources inNo Man’s Skyare only found in the distant systems that you can’t go to right away. Cadmium is one of the resources you’ll need early on in the game, and you may be left slightly confused about how to get it.
Here’s a complete guide to everything you need to know about Cadmium inNo Man’s Sky, including how to get it and what it’s used for.
How to Get Cadmium in No Man’s Sky
Cadmium only appears in red star systemsthat look like red dots on the Galaxy Map. You mustinstall a Cadmium Drive on your starshipto travel to one of these systems. It’s an upgrade to the hyperdrive that you can pick up on the Anomaly at the starship upgrade NPC. Cadmium Drive requires 250 Chromatic Metal and 3Wiring Looms to build.
Red star systems don’t have space stations. This means you have to fly in and out using a hyperdrive unless you decide to build a base or use yourfreighter with the Amplified Warp Shielding upgrade. Any vendors and services that you usually find on space stations are also, naturally, unavailable.
Equipped with the Cadmium Drive, open the Galaxy Map and warp to the nearest red system. Once there,use the ship’s scanner on the planets to view their resources, as not every planet in the system will have Cadmium.
Land on the planet, find the deposit and use the Terrain Manipulator to mine Cadmium. Alternatively, you may install an Autonomous Mining Unit over the Cadmium deposit. In that case, you should alsoconsider setting up a baseon the planet with the teleporter for quick and easy access to Cadmium.
What is Cadmium used for in No Man’s Sky?
Cadmium has only a few uses inNo Man’s Sky. The main one is tocraft the Emeril Drive upgradefor the starship’s hyperdrive and the Amplified Warp Shielding upgrade for the freighter’s hyperdrive. These upgrades allow you to warp into the green star systems where you can find Emeril.
Another use for Cadmium is tocraft an AtlasPass v2 cardto access restricted areas on space stations and outposts. If you want to craft AtlasPass v3 to access even more areas, you need the previously mentioned Emeril, too.
You will also need Cadmium for several main missions inNo Man’s Sky, including The First Traveller mission and one step of The Atlas Path mission. Therest of the Cadmium you may refineinto Chromatic Metal, which is widely used for research and building.
