No Man’s Sky Guide: How to Craft a Fusion Igniter to Earn Tons of Units

At one point in No Man’s Sky history, crafting top-tier items and selling them was the best way to earn Units. And while there are faster ways to make Units by exploiting various game systems (like duping ionized cobalt or taking advantage of discrepancies between trade economies), crafting ludicrously expensive items will always be a classic money farm. The second most expensive item in the game (behind the Stasis Device) is the Fusion Igniter, which is worth 15.6 million Units per piece.

Crafting one, however, is a long, long road. So here’s an extensive guide on everything you need to know to craft your first Fusion Igniter.

Now, before you get all sappy and start thanking me for doing all of this work, I have to admit that my motives here are mostly self-serving. This is a lot of information to keep stored inside my head, and even when I wrote it down in a notebook, I couldn’t keep any of it straight. I mean, look at this mess:

By turning this into a proper guide, I was able to put all of this information into an easily readable format, and now I can access it whenever I need it.

Okay, so now that all of that is out of the way, let’s begin!

Learn the crafting blueprints

First off, you must learn the crafting blueprint for the Fusion Igniter, as well as every single one of its components, plus every single component of those components. It’s a long, long list of things (more on that later), but you’ll learn all of these blueprints the same way. Well, one of two ways…

The first way is the classic method — finding Manufacturing Facilities. Someone made a full guide to the process over at GameFAQs, so I won’t repeat all that information here. Besides, there’s now a much easier way to do this.

The second way is to unlock all of these recipes in the Nexus. Way in the back of the Nexus (which you get to by summoning and entering the Space Anomaly) there are several terminals where you can purchase blueprints. In between the Exocraft terminal and the Multitool terminal, there’s a terminal called Synthesis Laboratory. There are a few different menus on this terminal, and the one you are looking for is called Valuable Products (shown at the top of this section). Here, you can purchase all the blueprints you need in exchange for Nanite Clusters.

Which ones should you buy? Well, I’ll walk you through all of the components you’ll need in the following sections.

How to craft a Fusion Igniter

So, the basic recipe for the Fusion Igniter is pretty simple. You’ll need one Portable Reactor, one Quantum Processor, and one Geodesite. The good news is that you can craft all three of these items yourself. The bad news is that none of them is particularly easy to make. Let’s walk through each one.

How to craft a Portable Reactor

To craft a Portable Reactor, you’ll need 1 Liquid Explosive and 1 Fusion Accelerant.

The Liquid Explosive requires 1 Acid and 1 Unstable Gel. The Acid is made from 25 Mordite and 600 Fungal Mold, and the Unstable Gel is made from 200 Cactus Flesh.

The Fusion Accelerant requires 1 Nitrogen Salt and 1 Organic Catalyst. The Nitrogen Salt is made from 250 Nitrogen and 50 Condensed Carbon. The Organic Catalyst is made from 1 Thermic Condensate and 1 Enriched Carbon. The Thermic Condensate is made from 250 Sulphurine and 50 Condensed Carbon, while the Enriched Carbon is made from 250 Radon and 50 Condensed Carbon.

Okay, to summarize, in order to craft the Portable Reactor, you’ll need:

• 600 Fungal Mold
• 200 Cactus Flesh
• 25 Mordite
• 150 Condensed Carbon
• 250 Nitrogen
• 250 Radon
• 250 Sulphurine

How to craft a Quantum Processor

To craft a Quantum Processor, you’re going to need a Circuit Board and a Superconductor.

The Circuit Board requires 1 Heat Capacitor and 1 Poly Fiber. The Heat Capacitor is made from 100 Frost Crystal and 200 Solanium, and the Poly Fiber is made from 200 Star Bulb and 100 Cactus Flesh.

The Superconductor is made from 1 Enriched Carbon and 1 Semiconductor. The Enriched Carbon is made from 250 Radon and 50 Condensed Carbon. The Semiconductor is made from 1 Thermic Condensate and 1 Nitrogen Salt. The Thermic Condensate is made from 250 Sulphurine and 50 Condensed Carbon, and the Nitrogen Salt is made from 250 Nitrogen and 50 Condensed Carbon.

So, to get all this made, you’ll need:

• 100 Frost Crystal
• 200 Solanium
• 100 Cactus Flesh
• 200 Star Bulb
• 250 Radon
• 150 Condensed Carbon
• 250 Nitrogen
• 250 Radon
• 250 Sulphurine

How to craft Geodesite

To make Geodesite, you’ll need Herox, Lemmium, and Dirty Bronze. To make Herox, you’ll need 50 Ionized Cobalt and 50 Ammonia. To make Lemmium, you’ll need 100 Pure Ferrite and 50 Uranium. And to make Dirty Bronze, you’ll need 100 Pure Ferrite and 50 Pyrite.

So, to make 1 Geodesite, you’ll need:

• 200 Pure Ferrite
• 50 Ionized Cobalt
• 50 Ammonia
• 50 Pyrite
• 50 Uranium

Say what?

Alright, do you have all that memorized yet? I’m kidding. Of course you don’t.

Just to reiterate, here’s a complete grocery list:

• 600 Fungal Mold
• 300 Cactus Flesh
• 100 Frost Crystal
• 200 Solanium
• 200 Star Bulb
• 25 Mordite
• 200 Pure Ferrite
• 50 Ionized Cobalt
• 50 Ammonia
• 50 Pyrite
• 50 Uranium
• 300 Condensed Carbon
• 500 Nitrogen
• 500 Radon
• 500 Sulphurine

Where do you find all this stuff?

As you can see, you’ve got a lot of farming to do. Thankfully, all of these resources can be gathered. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to travel across the galaxy to find all of these things, since so many of them come from different places.

The easy stuff

First off, a few of these things are easy, since they can be found just about everywhere.

• Pure Ferrite
• Condensed Carbon
• Ionized Cobalt
• Mordite

You can find Pure Ferrite by mining rocks on any planet. Ferrite Dust can be refined into Pure Ferrite with a refiner.

Condensed Carbon can be mined from red crystals on planetary surfaces, but it’s much easier to simply refine Carbon, which can be mined from most plant life.

Cobalt is a mineral that is found in caves. Refine it into Ionized Cobalt. There’s a trick for creating massive quantities of Ionized Cobalt, which I explain in my guide to farming oxygen (this trick requires a lot of oxygen). Check that out, because it will teach you how to refine a handful of cobalt into thousands of Ionized Cobalt.

Mordite can be harvested by killing planetary fauna.

The gasses

• Nitrogen
• Radon
• Sulphurine

All of these gasses can be farmed the same way, though gas type will vary by planet. Radon can be found on frozen or radioactive planets, nitrogen can be found on toxic or lush planets, and sulphurine can be found on desert or superheated planets.

You can occasionally buy these gasses in space stations. You can mine them as a secondary resource in many plants or minerals. You can build an atmosphere harvester to gather it passively. Or, best of all, you can farm these from a gas hotspot with a gas extractor.

I’ve given detailed explanations for all of these methods in my oxygen farming guide, so I won’t repeat all of that here. If you need help with any of these, that guide should walk you through pretty much everything you need to know. The methods I’ve mentioned above work for oxygen, though they’ll also work for all three of the gasses you need for your Fusion Igniter.

Additionally, gasses can be refined into other gasses at a rate of 3:1, though adding oxygen will make that 1:1. Radon refines into nitrogen, nitrogen refines into sulphurine, and sulphurine refines into nitrogen. This is good to know if you end up with a lot of one specific type of gas but are struggling with the others.

The biome-specific materials

Now there are some some plants:

• Cactus Flesh
• Frost Crystal
• Fungal Mold
• Solanium
• Star Bulb

and some elements:

• Ammonia
• Pyrite
• Uranium

These resources are specific to certain planetary biomes, and in order to get these ingredients, you’ll have to travel to all six of the major biomes in the game.

• Ice planets will have Frost Crystal.
• Desert planets will have Cactus Flesh and Pyrite.
• Toxic planets will have Fungal Mold and Ammonia.
• Irradiated planets will have Uranium.
• Lush planets will have Star Bulb.
• Superheated planets will have Solanium.

Tips to make all this easier

There are several ways to speed up this process, so you’re going to want to know about those.

Make use of alternate farming methods

First off, there are alternative ways to get a lot of these resources. Doing frigate missions aboard your freighter can often earn you already-crafted components, such as Geodesite, Dirty Bronze, and even Fusion Accelerants. On top of that, there are alternate recipes for Enriched Carbon if you’re good with the bigger refiners. You can check out the Enriched Carbon Wiki entry for more information on that.

Pirates commonly drop Herox and Lemmium, so you might want to hit up a space station and do some pirate-hunting quests. This will save you from having to farm so much Ammonia and Uranium.

For any of the plant-based materials, you can grow those yourself, but you must collect some naturally first (and you must have the Haz-Mat Gauntlet to do that).

And I definitely recommend gas extractors for the gasses, though it might take you a decent chunk of time to find everything you need and get it all set up.

Focus on one component at a time

No matter how many Fusion Igniters I make, the process never stops feeling overwhelming when I try to focus on the big picture. It’s much easier to simply focus on Geodesite for a while, then later focus on Portable Reactors, then later on focus on Quantum Processors. Then, I can eventually just combine all the parts and make a big sell.

Use a freighter

I recommend doing all of this on a freighter, for several reasons.

First of all, you can have frigate missions running in the background at all times.

Second, you can build hydroponic trays onboard your freighter to create a massive grow room (like the one shown in the image at the top of this section). Keep in mind that some plants grow faster than others, so you might have to adjust the number of each plant type if you want to achieve maximum efficiency. Having your grow room on your freighter means you can bring it with you wherever you go.

Third, you can build storage units aboard your freighter, and you can craft straight from storage as long as your in the “constructible” section of your freighter. That means as long as it’s in storage, the game knows it’s in your inventory and will let you craft with it. You don’t have to go constantly manage your inventory this way.

Use Base Teleport Modules for fast travel

I build bases next to gas extractors, and then I build a Base Teleport Module in each one. This allows me to jump from extractor to extractor so I can collect all of my harvested gasses in a matter of minutes. Then I call in my freighter and harvest anything that’s done growing. At that point, I can get to work.

Yes, all of this takes a really, really long time to set up, but once you have it put together, you’ll never be hurting for money.