No Man’s Sky: Can you Destroy a Planet Completely?

No Man’s Sky gives players a lot of freedom as they explore the universe. You can discover entire solar systems and animal species, battle pirates, save helpless traders, and make a galactic fortune. You can also cause quite a bit of havoc, if that’s your sort of thing. But just how much mayhem can you cause? Is it possible to actually destroy a whole planet?

Well… no. Let us explain. While it is possible to destroy any land you see, it requires a specific Multi-tool attachment called a Plasma Launcher. This excavates the planet’s land, allowing you to cause more destruction than simple mining, which is all your Minelaser can do. The thing is, it takes a lot of resources to create just one small cave.

With a full charge, you can reload the Plasma Launcher about five times. With a few energy consumption upgrades you can raise that number, but you’ll still need to recharge pretty often. With a few thousand Isotopes you could probably create a small tunnel. With a million you may create a crater worth writing home about, but still not exactly planetary destruction. The amount of resources you would need to blast away the whole planet are far too high to estimate, meaning it would possibly take you actual ages to accomplish if it is at all possible.

Another thing about destruction is that unless it’s something on a massive scale, it will not save to the No Man’s Sky server. It will save in your own local game, though, giving you time to keep picking away. In the end, you’ll more than likely be forced to give up long before you make a dent.