Starfield has thousands of exploration and customization options—this is a game you can get lost in (both figuratively and literally). In Bethesda’s latest open-world (universe) RPG, players will become captains of a ship in the intro of the game. From there, pretty much everything else is up to the individual.
Many players will feel a pull towards exploring the hundreds of planets across dozens of solar systems and may do so before advancing the main story of Starfield at all. While this is a great way for budding galactic pioneers to get some notches on their belts, it can definitely lead to some uncertainty about some of the more specific features in this game, such as discovering planet traits.
Planet Traits in Starfield explained
While exploring in Starfield, you’ll be able to enter orbit around any planet or moon in any solar system. This is a simple thing to do—you’ll only need to highlight a given planet on your map and choose Set Course.
If you use your ship to scan a planet from orbit (you should always do this), some information about that planet or moon will be revealed. You will learn about the temperature, gravity levels, inorganic resources, and flora/fauna. The amount of information you gather can be increased by selecting certain skills within the Science skill tree.
After scanning a planet from orbit, you’ll also see Planet Traits at the bottom of the information list. A planet will have anywhere from zero to three (I’m 90 percent sure three is the maximum—I haven’t exactly been able to scan the whole universe just yet) Planet Traits that make this planet unique. Just as you’ll have to scan all the flora and fauna on a planet to achieve a 100 percent survey rating, you’ll need to discover and scan the planet’s Traits. Don’t worry, you’ll be able to see exactly how many you’re looking for.
How to find Planet Traits in Starfield
There are two ways this can be done—the easy and the fun way. The easy way is to get extremely lucky and automatically discover a Planet Trait when scanning that planet from orbit. The odds of this happening are very low, but there is actually an Expert tier Science skill that will further your chances.
The fun way is by getting your boots on the ground. Land anywhere on the planet’s surface, bring up your scanner and look for any unknown map marker. While this marker might lead you to a cave or outpost, there is a good chance it will indicate an Unknown Feature of the planet, and scanning your findings will result in discovering a Planet Trait.
As you arrive at any Unknown map marker, you’ll quickly be able to tell if you’ve discovered a Planet Trait or not. If you have, your scanner will inform you that you’ve come across some type of Unexplored Feature (Ecological, Geological, etc.). The specific type will vary from planet to planet, but the “Unexplored Feature” label always means that you are coming across a Planet Trait.
The specific things you must scan within an Unexplored Feature to discover the Planet Trait will be highlighted in blue, just like a plant or animal would be. You will have to scan a few different iterations of this unknown feature before the Planet Trait is discovered, but your HUD will tell you exactly how many, and they will always be very close in proximity to one another—you won’t have to go back out exploring to finish discovering the Trait.
You cannot know until you actually arrive whether the Unknown marker is a Planet Trait or something else, but there are some clues you can use. First off, I’ve found that Starfield is forgiving when it comes to discovering Traits. By that, I mean that you won’t have to get lucky and happen to land near the exact right spot—there are dozens, if not more, of the same Unexplored Feature type on a planet’s surface. This means that no matter where you land, exploring every nearby unknown map marker will likely result in discovering a Planet Trait within 1000-2000 meters.
If the planet has multiple Traits, make sure you’re landing in different environments, or you’ll likely just keep finding different sites of the same Planet Trait. When you select a landing point on a planet, the game tells you what that environment is (mountains, plateau, etc.). If you’ve already discovered a Planet Trait in a plateau, for example, it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to discover a second Trait within a plateau.
