There are tons of chemicals to collect within No Man's Sky's vast Universe, and while you can find some on almost every planet, others are more difficult to come by. With the giant selection of crafting recipes in No Man's Sky, there are lots of reasons you may need Solanium.
You can collect Solanium in a few ways, but each method involves plants. By the end of this guide, you'll be an experienced Solanium harvester with a giant supply of this rare chemical.
What Is Solanium?
Solanium is a strong chemical, and it has its place in many No Man's Sky recipes. You can primarily find it in hot biomes, so it's not particularly common compared to other resources. You can use Solanium to craft items, but it's also possible to use it with a refiner as well.
How To Get Solanium
There are multiple methods you can follow to get Solanium. While a few of these include traveling to certain locations, many of these methods allow you to get Solanium anywhere in the Universe.
Harvest Solar Vines
To find Solar Vines, you need to travel to a Scorched biome. You can't find this plant in other biomes. Hot planets may have a Scorched biome, so search for high temperatures. Once you find a Scorched biome, look for brown pillars with vines wrapped around them. They may appear in groups, and will be identifiable with your analysis visor.
Once you find a Solar Vine, harvest its resources to get Solanium. You need a Haz-Mat Gauntlet to harvest the Solar Vine. To get a Haz-Mat Gauntlet, you can buy the blueprint for it from the Exosuit Technology Merchant at the Space Anomaly. Then you can craft a Haz-Mat Gauntlet with 20 Sodium Nitrate and 50 Chromatic Metal. You can now use the Haz-Mat Gauntlet to harvest Solar Vines, which is the primary way to get Solanium in No Man's Sky.
Grow Solar Vines With Farmers
To grow Solar Vines for harvesting Solanium, you first need to hire a Farmer. Farmers are Gek characters that usually reside within the Space Stations in Gek systems. There are a few tasks you must complete before hiring a Farmer becomes an option. These tasks include claiming a habitable base, hiring a Scientist NPC, Armourer NPC, and Overseer NPC, and you need to create an Agricultural Terminal for your base.
Once you hire a Farmer, you should use Bio-Domes to plant and harvest the Solar Vines. You can't grow them in outdoor locations, but you can grow them in any biome you desire. You need 25 Chromatic Metal and 100 Phosphorus to plant Solar Vines. The Haz-Mat Gauntlet is necessary to retrieve the Solanium from the Solar Vines, so scroll above to find out how to get it.
If you need a lot of Solanium, then you should create multiple farms to grow this resource. Since Solar Vines can be grown indoors in any biome, there's a lot of potential for Solar Vine farms regardless of which planet you call home. Each Solar Vine grants roughly 78 Solanium.
Use The Haz-Mat Gauntlet To Harvest Solanium From Wild Plants And Carbon Plants
Wild Plants may grant Solanium if you use a Haz-Mat Gauntlet. This isn't a quick way to collect piles of Solanium, but it does offer a way to earn a small collection by paying attention to the plants on each planet you visit. You can find out how to get the Haz-Mat Gauntlet step-by-step above.
Carbon-based plants are another easy way to get Solanium throughout your travels. You'll occasionally receive Solanium by harvesting carbon-based plants. Using the Analysis Visor helps identify the correct plants, as Solanium will be the secondary resource after you analyze the flora. This method also grants lots of other resources, so it's ideal if you need chemicals other than Solanium.
How To Refine Solanium
Creating Solanium with a Refiner is the fastest way to get it if you have the necessary resources. You can craft Portable Refiners if you only need a little Solanium, but you can also create a lot of it with the Large Refiner.
To craft the Portable Refiner, you need to open the build menu, then select the Portable Technology section. You can then craft one Portable Refiner for 30 Oxygen and 50 Ferrite Dust. You can place the Portable Refiner in most places, and you don't need anything else to use it other than Carbon or Condensed Carbon for fuel.
To refine Solanium more efficiently, you need to craft a Large Refiner. You can complete the Scientific Research missions to earn the Large Refiner blueprint. Next, enter your habitable base and build the Large Refiner with 100 Sodium Nitrate, five Microprocessors, and 200 Chromatic Metal.
Now that you have a Refiner interact with it and place any of the following chemical combinations inside it to create Solanium.
|
Necessary Ingredients |
Result |
|
One Phosphorus + One Sulphurine |
One Solanium |
|
Two Phosphorus + One Oxygen |
One Solanium |
|
One Sulphurine + One Di-Hydrogen |
One Solanium |
|
One Phosphorus + One Solanium |
Two Solanium |