No Man’s Sky guide: How to find Chromatic Metal?

Crafting is a major aspect of No Man’s Sky. You will find yourself farming a lot of resources in the first few hours of the game. This grind is inevitable, as almost everything requires some form of resource to be crafted. Some of these resources are available naturally on the planets or in space, while others require refinement. One such refined resource in No Man’s Sky is Chromatic Metal (Ch).

How to get Chromatic Metal in No Man’s Sky?

The in-game description for this special resource reads:

“A processed metal alloy, created in a Refiner from the stellar metals: Copper, Cadmium, Emeril, and Indium. The rarer the stellar metal, the more Chromatic Metal it will produce. This valuable metal is used in the creation of many advanced technologies.”

As the description suggests, the best method of obtaining Chromatic Metal in No Man’s Sky is by refining stellar metals like Copper, Cadmium, Emeril, and Indium. The recipes for refining Chromatic Metal using a refiner of any variant, portable, medium, or large, are as follows:

2x Copper gives 1x Chromatic Metal
1x Cadmium gives 1x Chromatic Metal
2x Emeril gives 3x Chromatic Metal
2x Indium gives 4x Chromatic Metal
1x Activated Copper gives 1x Chromatic Metal
1x Activated Cadmium gives 2x Chromatic Metal
1x Activated Emeril gives 3x Chromatic Metal
1x Activated Indium gives 4x Chromatic Metal

Other ways of getting Chromatic Metal in No Man’s Sky:

From Space Stations: You can purchase Chromatic Metal from the Galactic Trade Terminals inside Space Stations. You can also interact with the NPCs that come with ships on the Space Station to see if they are selling them too.
Pirate ships: You can blow up pirate ships in space, and you will almost always get Chromatic Metal as a reward.
Freighters: You can attack freighters and blow up their cargo pods that contain Chromatic Metal. Pointing your starship’s crosshair at the cargo pods will show you what loot it has inside. Be careful of Sentinel Interceptors, as they can be a menace.

What is Chromatic Metal used for in No Man’s Sky?

Chromatic Metal is an important resource used for crafting advanced technology in No Man’s Sky. Base Computers, Construction Terminals, Electromagnetic Generators, Hyperdrives, and many more require Chromatic Metal. What Oxygen is for your character, Chromatic Metal is to technology.