The scanner is one of the most important tools in Starfield. The fact that it can’t just display resources surprised MeinMMO author Nicole on her space adventure.
In Starfield, exploration is one of the core elements of the game – even if it is sometimes quite limited. Nevertheless, it is worth exploring the planets and getting to know their flora and fauna. The scanner is an essential support that not only provides information about the existence of individual resources, plants and animals.
I would say that I discovered most of the scanner’s features in Starfield entirely by accident. By pressing the button for the scanner every now and then, interesting possibilities opened up. So I was suddenly shown a marked path to my quest marker.
You can upgrade the scanner using your skills. You can find out more about the skills in the video:
Starfield: 5 useful skills that you should definitely unlock at the start
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The scanner in Starfield has these functions:
So that you don’t have to wait for random revelations of your scanner button, we have put together the functions for you:
I’d be lying if I said I walked through new regions without my scanner. Actually, I always have it in front of me as long as there are no opponents in front of me. This way I don’t miss any resources that are in front of me.
As soon as you scan resources, plants or animals, your scanner will show you information about them. The more your scanner is improved, the more information it spits out to you. Among other things, you will find out in which biomes the plants grow and what resources you get from them. For the complete information you have to scan several plants and animals.
You can use the scanner to display enemies and NPCs when they are not standing in buildings or behind rocks. Depending on the level of your scanner, you can recognize enemies from a long distance and in the dark and surprise them.
If you activate your scanner and scan the quest marker, you will see a path on the ground in the form of white arrows. However, this is only possible if the scanner recognizes a path at all – not if you have climbed up some narrow mast with a bang.
In Starfield, research and crafting play a big role if you want to improve your equipment or your outposts. This in turn requires certain resources. You can turn on the location of resources in the individual crafting stations.
With the scanner you can not only see the resources that are available in your location – it also shows you a small blue magnifying glass. This means that this exact material or item is needed for crafting.
I’m sure you all know it. You run around in the world and there is loot everywhere. And the question quickly arises: Do I need this? Can I use this? Is this decoration or can it be removed? Your scanner can’t tell whether you really need the stuff, but it can at least show you if you can take the items with you.
For me personally, it’s particularly helpful when it comes to tracking down scrapbooks that I sometimes don’t recognize at first glance among worthless notepads and pieces of paper that I can’t even keep up.
If your backpacks are full of “indispensable” items, here are 5 tips:
If you look towards discovered locations or your spaceship with your scanner, you will be given the option to quickly travel to the locations in the selection. This saves time and unnecessary walking. I even use the function within New Atlantis because I’m too lazy to constantly run to the train.
You can use the scanner to view locations so you can quickly travel to them. But you can also use it to view unknown places when you arrive on a new planet. I usually use this to first see what places a planet has to offer. Who knows what is hidden there?
Even before landing, you have the option to scan planets and their surfaces. This shows you the resources there and provides information about the environment, the flora and the fauna.
This is how you upgrade your scanner in Starfield:
To utilize the scanner’s full potential, you’ll need to level up a few skills in Starfield. The following skills influence the capabilities of your scanner:
The Analysis skill adds an optional zoom to your scanner. In addition, with each skill rank you increase the scanning distance to 20, 30, 40 and 50 meters.
The “Scanning” skill allows you to discover additional, rarer resources on the surface of planets and moons with each rank. You will also receive information about spaceships you encounter in space.
With the Astrophysics skill, you can scan more planets and moons with every rank you unlock, even outside of your current system. In addition, you can use the skill to discover properties of the planets and moons.
This is how you use the scanner: Press the F key on the keyboard to equip the scanner. With E you can then scan your surroundings and individual resources. Press LB on the Xbox controller.
If you would like more tips for a good start to your space adventure in Starfield, you should take a look here:
Starfield: 17 spoiler-free, short tips from the community for the perfect start