How to find Starfield planet traits

Starfield
(Image credit: Bethesda)

Starfield planet traits are a key part of collecting survey data, as many planets and moons have strange qualities that need to be scanned before the entire world can be considered properly surveyed. But how do you find these planet traits? When you touch down on some barren rock, it's hard to know exactly what you're looking for, especially when the initial scan gives you no clue - but don't worry, we'll explain how to find planet traits in Starfield below, and what you'll need to do.

How to find planet traits in Starfield for survey data

Starfield planet traits

(Image credit: Bethesda)

To find planet traits in Starfield and complete a full survey, players need to do the following:

  1. Fly into orbit around the planet and scan it with LB.
  2. This will give you a list of how many traits the planet has - usually between zero and three, by our experience.
  3. Land on the planet anywhere that's not one of the Starfield cities and equip your scanner outside, again using LB.
  4. There'll be icons marked Unknown around you. Move the scanner over them and press A to analyse what they are, turning them into landmarks or key qualities.
  5. You need to then head to these landmarks, specifically the ones that represent the natural occurrences. Not bandit camps or anything like that, but natural geographical events or elements that are harder to classify.
  6. Head there and run your scanner over the area looking for anything strange, and scan it to get the planet trait registered. 

There's a wide range of planet traits - 20 in total from our study - ranging from coral ponds to gravitational anomalies and more besides - so what you're looking for will vary significantly. You can also expedite the process by getting the Astrophysics skill, ranks of which can reveal planet traits simply through the initial planetary scan in step one (and the chance of which increases the more ranks you take in it).

Once you have all the traits registered, you can bundle them together with all the rest of the Starfield survey data and sell it as per usual. Keep in mind that it's not enough to have just traits - you need everything there is to know about the planet, including fauna, flora and minerals alike, before you can drop it off at the Eye.

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.