Editing Nanite Cluster

{{Version|Orbital}}
{{Resource infobox
| image = NANITE.png
| color = DarkBlue
| category = Special
| type = Technological Currency
| rarity = Rare
| symbol = ∞
| used = Upgrading
| value = 
| release = Orbital
}}
'''Nanite Cluster''' is a resource and an alternative form of currency.

==Summary==
'''Nanite Cluster''' ('''∞''') is a [[resource]] and one of the [[special elements]]. It is also a secondary currency ({{nanites}}).

==Game Description==
A dense miasma of Nanites, undulating in its potentiality. These clusters are stable, but unrestricted nanite foam can produce undesirable runaway reactions in the presence of organic matter.

Used in the construction of advanced technologies. Highly valuable to specialist traders.

==Usage==
[[File:20170411113926 1.jpg|thumb|right|Blueprint Trader at a Gek Station]]
* Purchase [[blueprint]]s from [[Blueprint Trader]]s and [[Upgrade Module]]s from [[Technology Merchant]]s.
* Upgrade starships and multi-tools to higher class
* Payment to [[Traveller]]s for information including the location of [[Traveller Grave]]s.
* Purchase additional [[Companion Pets]] slots
* Purchase additional squadron slots aboard your [[Freighter]]

== Source ==
Nanite Cluster can be acquired by:
* Searching abandoned buildings on planets.
* Uploading Discoveries
* Discovering all creatures on a planet and claiming the rewarded nanites.
* Feeding certain animals, which will lead you to a buried object that yields them.
* Searching [[Damaged Machinery]].
* Destroying [[Sentinel]]s.
* Destroying [[Freighter]] cargo containers with no resource tag.
* Reward for completing [[Mission Board|missions]].
* Can be found in storage containers while exploring [[Crashed Freighter]]s.
* Selling Upgrade Modules to Technology Merchants.
* From certain [[Space Encounter]]s.
* Through multiple steps of refining, [[Residual Goop]] can be converted to [[Viscous Fluids]], to [[Living Slime]], to [[Runaway Mould]] and then to [[Nanite Cluster]].
*Payment during certain NPC missions.

{{PoC-Refine
| Runaway Mould,5;1;0.6%Recycle Waste Materials
| Platinum,35;1;0.24%Reality Warping
| Platinum,25;Gold,15;Silver,15;1;0.36%Transmutation
| Hexite,1;Faecium,1;1;0.24%Alchemical Construction
| Pugneum,25;1;0.12%Reality Filtering
| Larval Core,1;50;0.24%NOT RECOMMENDED
| Hadal Core,1;50;0.24%Doom Cycling
| Salvaged Data,1;15;1.28%Nanite Extraction
| Tainted Metal,1;2;0.36%Doom Cycling
| Flesh Rope,1;50;0.36%Loosen Bonds
| Vile Spawn,1;50;0.36%Loosen Bonds
| Radiant Shard,1;50;7.2%Subjugation of Glass
| Inverted Mirror,1;95;8.8%Purge Corruption
| Hyaline Brain,1;230;12.8%Sentience Extraction
}}

==Lore==
{{Quote|I look down at the Nanite Clusters, puzzled. They look nothing like the shells of Sentinel drones. They are just currency, traded between species to create technology and weapons... aren't they? They shift and undulate, changing their shape at my every thought. They bubble and rise, sparking in and out of existence... I look at them, and it's the strangest thing... The Nanite Clusters look back, I'm sure of it. They watch me as I watch them. The Nanite Clusters are alive. They are sixteen of them. They... they need me. They crave me.|Traveller (Player)}}

In the [[storyline]] quest ''Patterns in Time'', the [[Explorers Guild]]'s representative, a [[Korvax]], uses Nanite Cluster manipulation to reveal to the player glimpses of their race's past. They suggest that these clusters come from [[Sentinel]] casings.

Later in the same quest, the [[Merchants Guild]]'s representative, a [[Gek]], uses their pheromones to reveal to the player the truth behind the fall of the [[First Spawn]]. The enslaved Korvax entities sacrificed themselves in the spawning pools of [[Balaron]] and used the Nanite Clusters from their bodies to rewrite the biology of the Gek. This led to the downfall of the First Spawn Empire.

The Travellers often utilize and manipulate Nanite Clusters.
== Acquisition Tips ==
===Iteration: Cronus and Cooking===
[[Cooking]] for [[Iteration: Cronus]] is an excellent way to earn Nanites. If the player has the resources, they can quickly and easily produce [[Flavoursome Sauce]]. Combining it with [[Mystery Meat Stew]] can make the highly valuable [[Herb-Encrusted Flesh]], giving 50-320 nanites/unit. With this method, one can get 25,000 nanites with 250 Herb-Encrusted Flesh, which is just 500 [[Meaty Chunks]] and 500 [[Steamed Vegetables]]. It is easy for late game players and early-mid game can yield a reasonable amount of Nanites.

=== Salvaging spaceships ===
A decent way of converting units to Nanite Clusters is to purchase [[Starship#Buying a starship|Starships]] at [[Space station]]s and scrapping them. It is recommended to be in a high-wealth system for better class ships and to have at least 200m units before starting. This will allow you to go for hours without restocking units, however this can be done efficiently with as little as 75m units.

Start by buying any ship in the Space Station, smaller ships and ships with few inventory slots, like [[Starship Catalogue#Shuttle|shuttles]], can be magnitudes cheaper than larger ships like [[Starship Catalogue#Hauler|haulers]], Currently, there seems to be no benefit in choosing the larger ships other than convenience. Next, go to the large orange interface displaying the ship you just bought near the [[Appearance Modifier|character customizer]]. 

Confirm that you would like to scrap the ship along with its contents. This operation yields a minimum of one (1) and a maximum of five (5) upgrade modules, with the module grade matching the grade of the salvaged ship. These modules will have random sell values from 30-1,300 Nanites each, depending on class. . They function identically to the ones bought at the Technology Merchants so it's recommended to trade them instead of installing.

In addition about 75% of of your units are recovered in sellable items, However it is not recommended to dump your scrapped material in the same system economy twice, as prices for your bulk items will be reduced by as much as -80%.

This method can get you upwards of 30,000 Nanites/hr, making it a strong contender for the best method in the game for acquiring Nanites.

Salvaging higher grade ships also gives a higher chance of receiving a [[Storage Augmentation]] module.

=== Refining Salvage Data ===
[[Salvaged Data]] is in [[Buried Technology Module|Buried Technology]], found on most planets and most often near Broken Machinery. 1-4 Salvage data is received from each Buried Technology. A Salvage Data can be refined into 15 Nanite Clusters each as well as used to unlock certain technology, making this an extremely fast and safe way to progress through the early game while gathering a reasonable amount of nanites.

This method is capable of at least 1000 Nanite Clusters an hour without proper [[jetpack]] upgrades.

===Discovering all creatures on a planet or moon===
While discovering all creatures on an astral body can yield up to 4,750 nanite clusters (avg ~2,000), it can take many hours, especially when creatures are underground or underwater.

=== Curious Deposit - Runaway Mould ===
While finding a [[Curious Deposit]] of [[Runaway Mould]] can be difficult, once you find one you can easily gather over 200,000 Runaway Mould per hour earning 40,000+ nanite clusters during that time. You need to have basic base building and basic refiner unlocked since you need to mark the deposit. You will also need a way to refine Runaway Mould into nanite clusters and preferably have a teleporter next to it. The curious deposit will respawn if you teleport off of the planet, then back to your base at the deposit. This works well since it is relatively fast. While it takes 20 minutes to refine a stack of Runaway Mould into about 2000 nanite clusters, you can run many refineries simultaneously to refine several stacks at the same time, dramatically increasing the yield.

=== Fighting Sentinels ===
Killing Sentinel [[Sentinel Drone|Drones]] and [[Sentinel Heavy Combat Drone|Heavy Drones]] yields [[Combat Supplies]], which yield Nanites and [[Salvaged Glass]], which yields [[Upgrade Module|Upgrades]], which can be sold for Nanites. Rapidly killing large amounts of Sentinels is very profitable, rivaling the starship scrapping strategy.

Strategy:

* Get two [[Sentinel Summoner Drone|Summoner Drones]] in one place. One is not enough.
* Keep the summoners alive while killing other drones and looting supplies.

Tips:

* At the time of writing, two summoners seem to reliably spawn at [[Wanted level]] 3 on planets with [[Sentinel#Behaviour|aggressive Sentinels]]. This may change with future game updates.
* You can stand in place and "tank" the damage, remotely looting Combat Supplies to recover.
* To avoid being thrown off by terrain destruction, stand on something indestructible, such as:
** Towering pre-built structures.
** Your Starship.
** An [[Exocraft]] platform, after moving the Exocraft elsewhere.
* Standing on a small patch of high ground makes it easier to remotely loot Combat Supplies, which should fall to the low ground around you.
** If no high ground is available, you can make one. Place your Starship or an Exocraft platform on terrain and dig/flatten the terrain underneath and around. The ship/platform will stay in the air.
* A well-[[Upgrade Module|upgraded]] [[Neutron Cannon]] is excellent at remotely looting supplies. Take care to avoid killing summoner drones with splash damage.

=== Outlaw Station module trading ===
The black market traders at the space stations in [[Space Station#Outlaw Station|Outlaw systems]] carry stocks of [[Suspicious Packet|"suspicious packets"]] of arms and tech(5+5), and can be purchased for normal currency. Most of these packets reduce to upgrade modules, that then can be sold to tech merchants on regular space stations for nanites. (Outlaw Systems are infrequent, but can be located easily on the galaxy map by aquiring a [[Conflict Scanner|conflict scanner]] and searching for the pirate flag "conflict activity" label.) The traders on Outlaw Stations restock at an unknown (if regular) interval. But shifting suspicious packets is a conflict, grind and hassle-free way of aquiring non-trivial amounts of nanite clusters while exploring systems. Will not attract the attention of station authorities.

==Release history==
* [[Pathfinder]] - Introduced as a resource, which can be used as a currency.
* [[NEXT]] - Value changed, previously it was worth 137.5 {{units}} each. It can be refined. After refinement the resource type Naninte Cluster no longer takes up inventory slots and converted immediately to its currency type. It cannot be purchased or sold. Classified as Raw Material according to the in-game guide.
* [[Visions]] - ''Hidden changes:'' The information panel has an additional icon indicating its purpose.
* [[Beyond]] - ''Hidden changes:'' Value is removed from the information panel. Conversion for Platinum > Nanite Clusters changed from 5>1 to 35>1.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
NmsResource Nanite Cluster Panel Beyond.jpg|Information panel taken at a Refiner interface<br>(Beyond)
NmsResource_Nanite_Cluster_Panel.jpg|Information panel taken at a Refiner interface<br>(Abyss)
NmsRawMaterial_Nanite_Clusters_Panel.jpg|Information panel from in-game guide<br>(NEXT)
NaniteClusterInfo.jpg|Information panel<br>(Pathfinder)
Nanite cluster icon.png|Item in the inventory
CURRENCY.NANITES.png|3D icon
</gallery>

==Videos==
{{#ev:youtube|5LR0eJlhXpM}}

{{Resource nav}}

[[Category:Special elements]]
[[Category:Currency]]

[[de:Nanit-Haufen]]
[[fr:Amas de nanites]]
[[ja:ナノマシンクラスター]]
[[ru:Скопление нанитов]]
[[es:Cúmulo de nanites]]