Beginners Exploration Guide
Exploration can be very rewarding and it is a great solo activity for any player at any level! Exploration generally covers 2 variants:
- Artifacts
- Relics
Both are things you find, but how you find them and how they appear are different. Exploration can also be done within the Assignments system where you will be paid directly, but not have goods to sell or keep for yourself afterword.
Artifacting
Artifacting is the process of finding Artifacts which are invisible locations on every island, unique to your character, that can only be found using special modules and charges. Artifacts when found spawn a loot container and sometimes NPCs which will aggress you instantly! So artifacting is not without its risks, even on Alpha Islands.
All you need is a Geoscanner and Artifact Scanning Charges of any size to do artifacting. The robot you use can be any robot you like! In fact you can get creative with your choice because Artifacting offers a lot of different outcomes depending on what you want to do.
Artifact Types
Artifacts will show on your Geoscanner with different names, indicating level and types. The name will reveal something about the expected composition of the loot contained, and if it is prone to spawn NPCs! The types with NPCs are:
- Infestations
- Observer Stashes
Infestations are often very low level NPCs that can be killed or escaped from easily. Observer Stashes however spawn deadly Observer type NPCs capable of inflicting a lot of damage very quickly.
Note: on different islands, the same named artifact might be different, as artifacts spawn bigger NPCs and offer bigger rewards on Beta and Gamma islands.
Robots and Fitting
Some robots have bonuses or are specially tuned for Artifacting, but that does not exclude other possible fits and strategies. Depending on what you want to do, you should fit accordingly. If you want to hunt the spawned NPCs from Artifacts, fit any combat robot with a geoscanner and otherwise fit for combat! If you want to cherrypick high-end loot and are looking for rare drops, fit for speed with a light robot. If you want to do long-runs, picking up everything you can and tanking any NPCs that come for you, pick a tanky or fast hauler.
Rules of thumb are:
- Shield for tank
- LWF (light weight frame) for speed
- Geoscanner
Generally you will want to favor speed as you are traveling long distances often off-highway. Fitting more adds mass, so remember that important tradeoff. After that, it is up to you if you want more tank, offensive capability, or maybe signal masking to be sneakier.
Some robots that are good choices:
- Argano (has bonus to accuracy, small, cheap, available)
- Sequer (good cargo, better tank)
- Hermes (decent cargo, decent speed, most artifacting bonuses, viable offensive platform)