You can build all sorts of crafting stations and useful facilities in your base, when you finally get around to constructing one, and one of the more intriguing early-game facilities you can build is the Scanning Station. Finding the specific materials you’ll need to build new tools, vehicles, resources, crafting stations and facilities is one of the more elementary goals in Subnautica 2, and nothing will prevent you from progressing more than forgetting where some much-needed Copper or Quartz can be found. The Scanner Station attempts to solve that problem, and this page will discuss how to build and make good use of the Scanner Station in Subnautica 2!
Page Breakdown¶
| Quick Search |
|---|
| Find a Scanner Station Blueprint |
| How to Build a Signal Scanner |
| How to Use the Scanner Station to Find Materials |
You can get the recipe for a Scanner Station by scanning a defunct model - one can be found in a room in the ruins of Camp One.
Find a Scanner Station Blueprint¶
Before you can worry about building a Scanner Station, you will first need a base with plenty of power - the Scanner Station is pretty energy-hungry while in operation, requiring ten power. Solar Panels can get the job done, during the day, provided your base isn’t built too far below the surface, but Hydroelectric Turbines in a current will provide a more stable source of power.
Once you have a base with space and power, you can turn your attention to another potential roadblock: you need a blueprint for the Scanner Station. Aside from dumb luck and a lot of exploration, you can find a broken Scanner Station in Camp One, which is located about 250 meters north, northeast of the Life Pod. You’ll have to swim up a tunnel to reach the room where it’s located and scan it, which of course also requires a Scanner.
Scan the broken Scanner Station at Camp One and you’ll be able to build a somewhat more functional version in your own base!
(1 of 4) If you want an easier time tracking down materials, you’ll want to build a Scanner Station!
How to Build a Signal Scanner¶
…Assuming you have the materials, of course. To build a Scanner Station you’ll need a System Chip, 3x Titanium and a Wiring Kit. The Wiring Kit is a resource crafted with 1x Silver and 1x Copper Wire, which in turn is another resource that requires 2x Copper, and since the System Chip requires another Wiring Kit to create, that’s double the resources for that, in addition to 2x Quartz. Most of these resources can be found around Camp One, and in total you’re going to need the following:
- 3x Titanium
- 2x Silver
- 4x Copper
- 2x Quartz
As mentioned earlier you’ll also need ten spare power to operate the Scanner Station - it doesn’t cost this the entire time, only when it’s in use and actively scanning something,
How to Use the Scanner Station to Find Materials¶
Once you’ve built the Scanner Station, interact with it and you’ll get a list of materials - minerals and plants - found within a fairly generous 300 meters of the scanner station. Simply select one of the scanned items from the list and you’ll get a radial map with three rings around a sphere. The sphere in the middle is the location of the scanner and the three rings are presumably markers showing distances in 100 meter increments - the first ring is 100 meters away, the second ring is 200 meters away and so on.
With a scanned item selected you should also see numerous spheres smaller than the one in the middle. These mark the locations of the selected element, and can give you a rough idea of where to look for said material. Of course, having this information in your base is… moderately useful, at best. If you’ve got a good memory you can sus out the rough direction and distance of an item displayed by the Scanner Station, as we did before we found out that there’s another step to the process.
You can actually interact with the spheres representing scanned materials and once done the sphere will glow yellow, indicating that the particular node has been tagged. You’ll now have an in-game marker for the specific node of materials - it’ll appear as a “bullseye” icon and if you aim at it it’ll even remind you of the material and the distance between you and it! Handy! It’s not all perfect, however, as the Scanner Station won’t lead you directly to the tracked resource, instead the icon for it will vanish when you’re within 20 meters, so you’ll still need to do the last bit of searching yourself. Still, narrowing down a resource of need to within twenty meters can be a welcome time-saver, well worth the investment required to build a Scanner Station in the early game!
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