Start of no man's sky and The hell of looking for copper

[Erinhor]

I don't know if this is the case for you who are reading this, but I'm just starting the game and I need to find some copper, but it's impossible to find any. The tutorial tells us to use the analysis visor to find this material, but there's nothing on the horizon... How can I do this? Have I missed a step?

Wouldn't the game need to be redesigned for this, because I can see that more than one player finds it very difficult to find this material when they start no man sky.

[Ook]

Hop into your ship, fly a ways, land and look again. Copper is all over the place.

[Guyver8]

pick a direction (north or south are easiest cos of the compass), walk about 300u in that direction new deposits should show up

don't be afraid to wander from your ship/base

[Fire walk with me]

It sounds possible. Are you initiating a scan or simply opening the visor? Without a scan the visor won't provide the locations. On PS5 this is L3. Check your options control settings to verify.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Open your discovery tab (esc) and see what resources the planet you are on has. If it is a wakeup planet, it will likely have copper deposits...they just might not be super close to your current location.

If not, look for Cad, Emril, or Indium. Each has an activated form (including copper). Depending on why you need that resource, they all convert to condensed metal when refined. I am guessing that is ultimately what you need in the tutorial. You will end up needing a lot of condensed metal in the start of the game so don't be shy about collecting copper or whatever mineral (see above) that you have available.

[Fire walk with me]

For the tutorial? Aren't all starting planets strictly a yellow system? Pretty sure cad, em, etc are not relevant here. The metal they probably need is chromatic metal to progress which comes from the colored star metal.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Originally posted by Fire walk with me:

For the tutorial? Aren't all starting planets strictly a yellow system? Pretty sure cad, em, etc are not relevant here. The metal they probably need is chromatic metal to progress which comes from the colored star metal.

That should be true, but we keeping getting odd forum messages like OPs so maybe Worlds P1 changed some of the factors for where you wake up in a new save. I know on one of the recent Expeditions we woke up on a planet with Cad instead of copper.

[Lindy Bomber]

Coper is in ground deposits. Use the visor (not scan) and look for white diamond icons. There should be several in range no matter where you are. Point directly at one to reveal what it is.

[Fire walk with me]

You can also tag resources so that the icon stays visible while traveling. Best of luck, OP.

[Fire walk with me]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

Originally posted by Fire walk with me:

For the tutorial? Aren't all starting planets strictly a yellow system? Pretty sure cad, em, etc are not relevant here. The metal they probably need is chromatic metal to progress which comes from the colored star metal.

That should be true, but we keeping getting odd forum messages like OPs so maybe Worlds P1 changed some of the factors for where you wake up in a new save. I know on one of the recent Expeditions we woke up on a planet with Cad instead of copper.

That is wild. Owned the game for 8 years, but just recently gave it an appropriate dive. I have only just started visiting non-yellow systems around 40ish hours in and they were very aggressive systems, lol. Sounds like a nightmare if someone woke up in one of those systems.

[Galactic Starman]

Is this this an expedition start? The normal game start should be easier to find copper. In the current expedition it's a little tricky at the start but the analysis visor is always the tool to find resources. If it is the expedition it can be helpful to dig a tunnel and make your way towards any material deposit using the terrain manipulator in safety from above ground dangers. Also you complete a milestone at the same time. : ) It can help to adopt a pet and use first person view while riding it to find resources and travel there quicker. Riding you also use up less life support at the start.

In 'The Cursed' expedition the second planet (greener planet) in the system has more obvious copper deposits. Otherwise in the expedition collect other valuable resources and buy copper from NPC pilots that land at the space station. Pilots in the main game also can provide needed resources and blowing up freighter cargo pods may also provide other resources which can be more tricky to obtain otherwise.

[Felis_Exploria]

You have encountered an uncommon RNG event. Copper is by far the most abundant mineral in the galaxy. Normally, 1/2 of mining veins observed via the visor are copper. You can either walk in any direction 300 - 500 u and try again, or hop in your ship and land anywhere else. Copper should be prevalent.

[smurfy]

Every normal game starts in a YELLOW class star system on a planet with copper.
In the tutorial, you need Copper to refine it into Chromatic Metal.

You are looking for a mineable in-ground deposit. When looking through your Analysis Visor (using [F]) you will see the available mineral deposits on the current planet listed down the right side of the HUD.
e.g. this planet has Activated Copper, Mordite and Sodium deposits.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3305466585
Everything in the HUD is marked with an icon. In-ground deposits are marked with a blue diamond icon with a quad-segmented white circle inside (you can see one of these in my screenshot above).
Check every such icon until you see Copper. You may need to move around a bit.

There is also a small chance of getting Copper or Chromatic Metal from Buried Caches, so look for those too.

IF you started your first game with the current Expedition (Exp 16 - The Cursed) then you start in a RED class star system and it does not have Copper deposits, instead having Cadmium. Cadmium can also be used to refine into Chromatic Metal.