On your quest across the stars, you won’t be just battling space pirates, vanquishing hostile alien life, and completing missions for locals in need of desperate help, but you’ll also spend time surveying planets. It’s a relaxing endeavor, though it can be a little confusing attaining a 100% planet survey. So, if you’re curious as to how to reach a 100% planet survey in Starfield, here are the details to accomplish your goal.
How to Reach 100% Planet Survey in Starfield
In a nutshell, to achieve a 100% planet survey is Starfield, you’ll need to scan all the Flora, Fauna, Resources, and planet traits of the planet.
Now, that doesn’t mean you have to go around and scan each and every last thing on the entire planet as that would take you ages. Nope, instead, you’re going to need to get a 100% completion rating for each individual type of animal, vegetable, and mineral, and discover all the planet’s traits, too.
Interestingly, getting a 100% completion rating slightly varies depending on the type of material you’re looking for, so we’ll break them down for you.
Scanning All Resources
These are the easiest of the bunch to get a 100% planet survey as scanning a resource once is all it needs to tick it off your list. With your hand scanner equipped (simply press the LT button), find the resources — like rock nodules containing iron, cobalt, or lead — and scan them with the A button.
Resources that are yet to be scanned will glow blue, while the ones that have already been scanned will glow green. Ergo, focus predominantly on the ones that are glowing blue.
Scanning All Flora
Off the bat, it’ll take you around eight times to scan a species of flora and earn yourself a 100% planet survey. Thing is, if you have upgraded your Botany Skill, it will be quicker to fully scan a species so that number can vary. Again, anything in blue is yet to be fully scanned, while anything in green is fully complete.
If your hand scanner tells you that the biome is complete, however, and you still have some left to do, you’re going to need to land on a different part of the planet to find the other species. So, open up your star-map by holding the Menu button and press LB to reveal the resources of the planet.
This doesn’t just reveal the resources, though, as it also highlights where the other biomes are situated. Now, head to a different biome, and try your luck there. You’ll likely find what you’re looking for in a biome you haven’t explored yet.
Scanning All Fauna
Much like Flora, you’ll need to scan the species of animal around eight times before you can tick it off as complete. Again, this may vary depending on whether you’ve upgraded the Zoology Skill. If you have, it’ll be quicker to fully scan all of the animals.
Echoing up top, if the game is telling you that the biome is complete, but there are still some species to find, you’ll need to land on a different part of the planet and explore a biome you haven’t been to yet.
If you’ve killed a creature, you can still scan its body and it will count towards your survey progress.
Scanning All Planet Traits
Last of all, planet traits are slightly different. Depending on the planet, you’ll have up to three traits that you’ll need to find to net that allusive 100% planet survey. These can range from Sentient Microbial Colonies to Exposed Root Systems to Asteroid Crash Sites, though there are a lot of different types you can stumble upon.
You can see how many traits a planet possesses by looking at the circles below the Resources section of your star-map (as highlighted above). The game also shows you these traits when you have your hand scanner equipped.
Finding these planet traits is a little bit different to finding flora, fauna and resources. Essentially, you’re going to need to look out for points of interest when you have your hand scanner equipped.
From our experience, we found planet traits at points of interest that were described in-game as Natural. However, we didn’t find any planet traits at points of interest that were described as Structure or Cave. As a result, we recommend focusing your searches on Natural points of interest to net yourself a 100% planet survey.
What to Do with Slates After a 100% Planet Survey
Once you’ve obtained a 100% planet survey in Starfield, you’ll be given a Survey Slate. These can be either sold at a shop, like Jemison Mercantile or Shepherd’s General Store, for 618 Credits. Or you can opt to sell them to Vladimir Saal aboard The Eye for 1,237 Credits.
If you’re looking to make a quick buck and net yourself some survey slates quickly, you can scan gas giants in just a few seconds, if you’re orbiting said planet.
Hopefully, this has helped to clue you in on how to reach a 100% planet survey in Starfield. For more, here’s how to kill Terrormorphs easily and how to increase carry capacity. For everything else, keep it locked at Twinfinite.
