Out of all of the things to place on your backpack in Astroneer, you can’t go wrong with the Probe Scanner. This item is a great mid-game item that will vastly boost your ability to find items on the map. However, it can be a bit annoying to know what the heck it does when you make it! Can you just throw it anywhere and have it work? Where can you put it so that it takes power? And how effective is it? This guide will go over all that this potent module can do for you!
How Do Probe Scanners Work in Astroneer?
A Probe Scanner is a 4,000 Byte unlock that consumes one unit of Metal to craft. To use it, you must place it onto the widget slot of your backpack or the front attachment slot on a vehicle. Then, you must press a context key to activate it. It will point in the general direction of a probe, with lights showing how close you are, before deactivating for a short time. Probes are items that grant the player additional palette customizations to make their Astroneer even more unique.
Probe Scanners are absolutely optional. If you want to focus on a different tech tree, then you can. These are just for cosmetic unlocks. However, there is no doubt that they are a fun side quest for each planet!
Once a Probe Scanner is attached to a backpack or vehicle, it will point to a probe while slowly spinning. Head closer to it and then reactivate the scanner to see how much closer you’ve gotten. Vehicles are recommended, as most planets only have a single probe on them.
Probes only grant the palette swap, and they permanently consume the Probe Scanner to do so. To open a probe, you must place the scanner on the probe slot. So, each of these probes require 1 Steel to open. Make sure you budget accordingly!
We hope this helped your Astroneer journey! Travel time can be cut down by accessing the Gateway engine in the center of the planet!
