This page details an overview of what buildings can be constructed in planetary settlements. Includes how to find all the required materials associated with each stage of construction.

What Buildings Can You Construct in a Planetary Settlement in NMS?¶

There are currently 9 known building types that can be constructed in a planetary settlement, with a number of different specific style names (or subcategories) associated with each. Almost all of these increase settlement productivity, while others improve citizen happiness or population size. The below table details an overview of each building type, their associated subcategory names, the time elapsed per construction phase (when each set of materials is provided in the order listed), materials required, and the benefit to the settlement when completed. The majority of the buildings that you can construct will have two or three phases in their construction process, and you’ll need to provide different types of materials for each construction phase in order. You can’t provide all the materials at once and then wait for the total construction time to elapse.

The main types of buildings that will be proposed for construction are Factory Modules, Farming Modules, Marketplaces, Residences, Saloons, Starship Docks, Towers, Utility Modules, and Warehouses. There will be different subcategory names for each building type, but they all serve the same purpose and require the same materials to construct, aside from the residences which are slightly different depending on their size. The exact subcategory of a building proposed for construction will be decided by your settlers.

You’ll notice that the Saloon buildings raise happiness but reduce productivity. The trade is definitely worth it, since almost all the other buildings provide plenty of increases to productivity, and your productively will passively increase as your overview stats and the tier of your settlement improves. This means that ultimately, happier settlers will contribute to increased productivity.

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(1 of 3) Once you’ve approved the construction of a specific building, you’ll see a marker on your screen indicating the construction site.

Settlement Buildings in No Man’s Sky¶

How to Find the Required Materials for Construction Opportunities¶

For most of the buildings that you can construct in a planetary settlement, you need similar types of materials. The most common are Chromatic Metal, Ferrite, Pure Ferrite, and Magnetised Ferrite. However, there are also some materials which are considerably more difficult to find or craft than these. The good news is that most of the more rare materials can be purchased from a Galactic Trade Terminal, or from visiting pilots at Trade Outposts or Space Stations. You may need to travel to different systems if the materials aren’t showing up in the economy of one system, but with enough searching it shouldn’t take you too long. If you’re having trouble finding some of the more rare items such as Heat Capacitors, you can visit systems where the materials to construct them are present on the planets within that system. For example, Solanium and Frost Crystals can be found on Scorched Planets and Frozen Planets respectively. By the same logic, we’ve found that trading in systems where planets exist which contain these resources naturally will increase your chances of finding them from terminals and pilots.

If you don’t have the blueprint for a rare product such as the Heat Capacitor, you can purchase blueprints from the Synthesis Laboratory at the Anomaly. Alternatively, you may be lucky enough to find the blueprints at Manufacturing Facilities or Operations Centres, which are present on most inhabited planets. You’ll also find that Cargo Drops will sometimes provide blueprints, but these methods are far less reliable than simply visiting the Anomaly to purchase the blueprints. If you’re willing to wait, you can explore first, but if you want the blueprint immediately you’ll need enough nanites to purchase them. See our page on the Best Ways to Make Nanites Quickly if you’re struggling. Most of the blueprints cost 250 nanites to purchase, so it shouldn’t be too long before you have enough for the core blueprints required.

Ultimately, there isn’t much variation in the materials required to construct buildings for your settlement, but if you’re looking for the best source of a specific material or product, see the table below. Just remember: when in doubt, scour the markets.

Icon	Item	Type	Crafting Materials	Best Source
	Aronium	Product	Paraffinium (50), Ionised Cobalt (50)	Galactic Trade Terminal / Visiting Pilots
	Chromatic Metal	Refined Resource	Copper (2)	Copper Deposits, found on most planets with Analysis Visor
	Carbon Nanotube	Product	Carbon (50)	Extracted from flora on most planets
	Ferrite Dust	Resource	N/A	Extracted from rocks on most planets
	Gold	Resource	N/A	Mined from asteroids / Galactic Trade Terminal
	Glass	Product	Frost Crystal (40)	Extracted from Frostwort flora on frozen planets, required Haz-Mat Gauntlet exosuit upgrade
	Hermetic Seal	Product	Condensed Carbon (30)	Extracted from crystal minerals on most planets
	Heat Capacitor	Product	Frost Crystal (100), Solanium (200)	Galactic Trade Terminal / Visiting Pilots, or Frozen Planets and Scorched Planets respectively
	Hydraulic Wiring	Product	Carbon Nanotube (2), Salt (20), Di-hydrogen (40)	Galactic Trade Terminal / Visiting Pilots, or extracted from underwater minerals (Salt), mined from most planets (Di-hydrogen)
	Living Glass	Product	Lubricant (1), Glass (5)	Galactic Trade Terminal / Visiting Pilots
	Magnetised Ferrite	Refined Resource	Pure Ferrite (2)	Extracted from rocks on most planets, refined from Pure Ferrite
	Metal Plating	Product	Ferrite Dust (50)	Extracted from rocks on most planets
	Pure Ferrite	Refined Resource	Ferrite Dust (2)	Extracted from rocks on most planets, refined from Ferrite Dust
	Quantum Computer	Product	Microprocessor (1), Antimatter (1), Chromatic Metal (25)	Galactic Trade Terminal / Visiting Pilots, Antimatter crafted from Chromatic Metal and Condensed Carbon
	Silicate Powder	Resource	N/A	Extracted from soil on most planets
	Solar Mirror	Product	Gold (40), Silver (30), Chromatic Metal (25)	Mined from asteroids / Galactic Trade Terminal
	Silver	Resource	N/A	Silver Deposits, found on some planets with Analysis Visor, or mined from asteroids / caves