Although your initial Hazmat Protection upgrade doesn’t appear to require too much resource hunting, you’ll need a Sodium Diode to complete the crafting process. The problem is that this upgrade material isn’t easy to craft.
When Crafting a Sodium Diode Means Hunting Diodes
The “guide” section of No Man’s Sky is, for the most part, really helpful. It’ll often tell you exactly what you need to do to complete a mission or craft a certain upgrade.
For Sodium Diodes, the guide says that all you have to do is gather 40 Sodium and 40 Ferrite Dust, and you can craft it right in your inventory like a regular item.
However, no matter how much Sodium or Ferrite Dust I gathered, I could never craft a Sodium Diode. It seems getting the blueprint is necessary to craft it, and finding the blueprint is rather random.
So what I discovered after a bit of sleuthing is that the best way to craft a Sodium Diode is to actually go hunting for one.
And gee, whiz, it’s a laugh riot how difficult it is to actually find one of these buggers.
Where is the Sodium Diode Blueprint?
Image credit: No Man’s Sky Gamepedia
As with finding anything in the procedurally-generated world of No Man’s Sky, there’s no one place to find the blueprint for the Sodium Diode. Most players have said they’ve found blueprints in manufacturing centers and manufacturing facilities.
Manufacturing centers are randomly-generated buildings with thick, reinforced doors that you’ll have to blast through. A regular weaponwworks fine, but takes forever. Either a Plasma Launcher or your ship’s Phase Beam is your best bet.
Often, these facilities are heavily guarded by Sentinels, making them a pain in the rear to break in to. But once you do get inside, you’ll need to interact with heavily secured terminals that present certain problem puzzles.
The answers to each puzzle are entirely different based on the puzzle and location. If you’re smart enough to get past the puzzle (which you are), you’ll often be rewarded with a blueprint. However, just like everything else, yes, the blueprint is completely random.
Where Can I Buy a Sodium Diode?
Instead of scouring planets for manufacturing facilities, I would highly suggested just buying a sodium diode from either a merchant or a galactic trade terminal.
Of course, whether or not a merchant or trade terminal has a sodium diode is also (you guessed it) completely random.
However, the chance of finding one this way is much higher than the previously mentioned method. I randomly found one for 4,094 credits when speaking with a merchant in my fifth star system. Later, I found one in my seventh star system at a galactic trade terminal for 4,230 credits.
I’m currently in my eleventh star system and haven’t seen another one (which I’ve been looking for specifically for this guide). So the long and short of it is that Sodium Diode spawn rates are low.
Unfortunately, since the Sodium Diode is random, we can’t pinpoint a specific star system or planet or base or even vendor that will have it either.
Your best bet, if you’re looking to save time, is to just look for it from vendors and trade terminals. Painstakingly combing a planet for manufacturing facilities is just a waste of time and energy.
Make sure to check out our more definitive No Man’s Sky guides while you’re here.
