Stellaris contains a galaxy worth of wonder and mystery and a ton of content to discover, some you'll probably never even encounter. But, if you've heard of the wondrous nanites and got a little curious, let us fill you in.
Nanites are a rare strategic resource with multiple applications in-game, depending on what you need most and the technologies you've researched at the time.
Stellaris Nanite Guide
The most basic use for them is the planetary building, the Nanite Transmuter. This building requires one nanite upkeep and produces two each of rare crystals, volatile motes, and exotic gases. Normally you'll have an ample supply of these by the time you acquire nanites, but if you have a need, this building can prove useful.
The Nanite Actuators edict is another reasonable choice if you have a steady source. For 0.5 nanites per month, your empire receives a +10% to research speed across the board. With technology often making the difference between win and lose, this is a good way of getting ahead.
The last and most militant use is the Nanite Repair System. This auxiliary component offers 1.5% daily hull regeneration and 2% daily armour regeneration, making it significantly better than the more obtainable Regenerative Hull. It costs a single nanite during construction with zero upkeep, so is very good for your big ships, allowing them to rapidly repair in space. However, you do need to defeat the Scavenger Bot Leviathan included in the Distant Stars DLC to obtain this tech.
Stellaris - The L-Cluster
Knowing what to do with them is only the start. The main challenge is finding them. While you can occasionally receive nanites as event rewards, these will only provide a limited amount. If you're looking for a more consistent source there's only one place to go.
This is where L-Clusters come in. Enabled by the Distant Stars DLC, these normally inaccessible systems exist outside the normal hyperlane network. They can only be accessed by L-Gates located in some Black Hole systems.
These gates cannot be activated with the normal Gateway technology and instead require 7 Insights to be found. These can be obtained from anomalies, specific enemies, a rare repeatable Engineering tech, and trade with the Curator Order every 10 years. If you have the Ancient Relics DLC, you can also spend 50 Minor Artifacts to gain an insight on another 10 years cooldown.
All empires are alerted once one has found 5 of the 7 insights they need. After 7 have been found, a special project to open the gate will become available, and opening the L-Gate will trigger 1 of 4 possible outcomes, ranging from peaceful to the terrifying Gray Tempest crisis.
Whatever happens, securing the L-Cluster systems will give you a random number of nanite deposits, although this can be none whatsoever.
That said, the L-Cluster itself has a single Gateway that can be used to access any of the others in the galaxy, allowing for the owner to move fleets across space incredibly quickly, even directly into hostile empires while at war.
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