Laterite on Novus

[Scipio]

The wiki say it has some, but I'm digging and exploring but not finding any... I'm only needing one to get of the damned moon... It there really some or am I stuck forever ?

[Collateral damage]

There is but it's very rare. I also had problems finding it, but there should be few deposits underground.

[mrkhrum]

i have found it
in one of those large crater things. find a cave and then go in
i have found it like that

[Atlas_Dusk]

It took me awhile by that I mean half an' hour but there is laterite on Novus I assure you. Guess I got lucky

[Xilo The Odd]

you'll find it on the surface and the 2nd cave layer or lower. recommend getting a large rover with a drill and paver setup so you can easily navigate the surface to find some. then have some silos on board to store a ton of it.

[Bomoo]

I don't recall seeing any on the surface, but I think every planet has laterite in its cave layers at some point.

[Hades]

Hey there, I hope some of you will still respond to this even though it's a year later. I am stuck on Novus and literally can't find any laterite. I've done a full circle across the planet, as some sites said Laterite was all over the surface. Didn't find any. Then I entered caves and dug down, as far as the Mantle Layer (I got an achievement and found out it's called that, I've been playing for a couple days now.) But now I've not found any Laterite yet, after 5 hours of exploring. *where* is that damn stuff?

[Bomoo]

Originally posted by Hades:

Hey there, I hope some of you will still respond to this even though it's a year later. I am stuck on Novus and literally can't find any laterite. I've done a full circle across the planet, as some sites said Laterite was all over the surface. Didn't find any. Then I entered caves and dug down, as far as the Mantle Layer (I got an achievement and found out it's called that, I've been playing for a couple days now.) But now I've not found any Laterite yet, after 5 hours of exploring. *where* is that damn stuff?

Hm. I guess I can fire my game up and have a look around. There really should be some in the first couple of cave layers, but maybe I'm remembering incorrectly.

[Bomoo]

Yep, found some first layer down. You have to remember that going deeper doesn't necessarily mean "MOAR OF EVERYTHING." Some resources are only found in the deepest layers, yes, but some resources don't spawn down there at all. Very possibly this is the case with laterite, though I couldn't say for certain.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2385981500

[Pesky]

I had this problem in my second playthrough. I found the answer eventually: the game places veins of ore very randomly. You can be particularly unlucky and not find any in one route from surface to core. Then start from a different cave on the planet surface and find it everywhere you look. So if the wiki says something like "Laterite can be found underground in Novus" and you don't find any, try again from a different starting point.

[Tregon]

I know this is not solution to issue but... I always have one packed up unused solid fuel thruster in storage in rocket. Cheap insurance to get out in case of misclick.

[Pesky]

Good idea. It's actually possible to build one, from no platforms or machines, on any planet you find yourself on. But it can take a long time to find everything you need.

I always carry a beacon with me. That way if I die I can always find the things in my backpack, even if the backpack itself has worn away.

[Kyrros]

I apologize ahead of time for the necro - this is still the first thread that comes up when searching google for this very issue. Literally every new game I've started since before 1.0 for me has this problem. Novus and Laterite, it seems, are barely on speaking terms, making finding a source fairly unpleasant.

Thankfully, the solution, while a bit brute-force-ish is that Novus' cave layers are much more open, spacewise, than several of the other planets, with the walls between vast chambers being fairly thin. Once I get down to the initial cave layer, it's pretty simple to just start moving in one direction, boring through the thin walls as I go - digging out the surrounding 180 arc in front of me as I go. Since the walls are thinner compared to other worlds, it's quicker and opens up fairly long lines of sight off to the side as I move through the large chambers, allowing me to find a Laterite deposit in (usually) less than 10 mins, even if barely at the edge of visibility. Thankfully, every Laterite cluster I've ever found on Novus, though rare(er), has been very rich, needing only one trip to cover the rest of my Aluminum needs on that particular planet.

Hope this helps future Google/Steam™ searchers!