The new Origins Update to No Man’s Sky has landed, bringing the game to version 3.0, and adding a ton of features. First, we got a bunch of threatening new creatures in various planets. The new Synthetics are just a small piece of the puzzle though. There are also massive new colossal archive buildings in No Man’s Sky that pose a new mystery to solve. You will need to also upgrade your Multi-Tool to hand all of this new stuff as well.
The new colossal archive buildings in No Man’s Sky are a bit of a challenge to find though, so let’s start there. To go about finding them, you need to use Planetary Charts. So where the heck do you get those? Just like everything in this game, you’re going to have to do some grinding and exploration. And you will want to do this, as each Archive contains clues to a grander mystery surrounding lost civilizations, as they contain histories of various ancient races. These also contain hidden secrets like lost artifacts, it’s still very new so it’s hard to say what exactly they contain. The biggest bonus is the new Artifact Exchange.
You can use the terminal found inside the Archive to trade your bones and other items for things of equivalent or higher value. You can also trade in Nanites for some Planetary Charts. If you’re lucky, you get an Ancient Site or other valuable spawn, which contains Relics. You can then turn around and trade in the Relics you don’t want. The artifact exchange is for Historical Documents, Biological Samples and Fossil Samples. I
As they’re officially described: “Enormous buildings have risen on planetary horizons, creating new hubs of alien life. These huge vaults are repositories of data, treasure, and directions to long-forgotten ruins.”
These massive structures are pretty easy to find once you know where to look. Trouble is, you need to get there first. Some players have encountered randomly by purely exploring planets as well, which is nice. But if you’re looking to rush into the new mechanic, you need to get a map. Or more specifically, you need to get a Planetary Chart. These can be randomly obtained from the Cartographer on a space station in exchange for Navigation Data. You need to make sure you start with Commerical Maps, that’s the first thing you need.
Colossal Archives in No Man’s Sky are found using commercial planetary charts
Navigation Data is one of many secondary currency items in the game. They can be received from Ancient Data Structures, Red Canister Debris and Encrypted Navigation Data. They can also be obtained via Galactic Trade Terminals.
There are several different types of Planetary Charts, most of which were added in the Beyond update last year. These are Secure Site, Distress Signal, Inhabited Outpost, Ancient Artifact Site and empty. The types have now been simplified in Origins, and you’re after the Commerical type from a vendor.
Each one leads to a unique destination, and it seems like the ones that most reliably lead to the new colossal archive buildings are the Planetary Archive. Use one of these and get directions to the nearest planet’s outpost, there may be a colossal archive building on the horizon. It seems to be random though, so be prepared to use a few of these before you find the archive.
You can use the Planetary Chart either in space, and it will trigger on a random planet in the system, or you can land on a planet and trigger it. When you use one, the game will randomly generate a specific type of destination. The destination you’re after is the Planetary Archive.
