Starfield player on Reddit finds the best and fastest way to obtain a planet’s complete survey data

One of the core exploration mechanics in Starfield is completing a full survey of a planet’s data and discovering new flora, fauna, and minerals. Planet surveys usually take a fair bit of time to complete. Depending on how many unknown things there are to discover (usually a minimum of zero and a maximum of three), you might have to invest a lot of time to find them all.

However, a player with the Reddit handle Repulsive_Show_1664 has seemingly come up with a much faster way of acquiring survey data. The method involves finding an abandoned research tower, which is another randomly generated point of interest that you will come across in the game.

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Using abandoned research towers to complete planet survey data in Starfield

You can obtain all of a planets survey data if you find an abandon research tower. byu/Repulsive_Show_1664 inStarfield

Starfield does not hold your hands when it comes to exploration.

To complete a planet’s survey, you would usually drop down in a landing zone, check the total number of unknowns you need to discover, and set off on foot to find them. These unidentified flora, fauna, and minerals will be represented by a question mark. All you need to do is bring out your scanner and scan them, thereby successfully logging in their data.

As planets are procedurally generated in Starfield, this method would either take a few minutes or close to an hour to complete, depending on how lucky you are. Fortunately, Redditor Repulsive_Show_1664 has come up with a lesser-known way of acquiring all planet survey data immediately.

Abandoned research towers, like the planet itself, are procedurally generated points of interest. You will be able to find them on heavenly bodies that have unknown data to survey. These structures will also have a computer situated at the very top.

By interacting with one, you will be able to automatically download the planetary survey data without having to do the extra legwork. You will be able to log in all the details of the things that were not discovered.

This is by far one of the best and fastest ways to complete planet surveys in Starfield.

Comment byu/Repulsive_Show_1664 from discussion inStarfield

However, it's important to note that, for certain planets, the data will not download immediately. As another Redditor points out, you might need to make your way to the planet map and press R to download the data after interacting with the computer.