The Alters: How to use a scanner and find an Organics Deposit Area?
Using a scanner to find a deposit of organic substances is part of the Organic Need quest from the prologue of The Alters game. The walkthrough description from our guide shows you how to use probes and scan the ground, where to place the extraction point and how to start acquiring organic substances.
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In the first few hours of The Alters, you may have some trouble with the main mission Organics Matter, in which Jan has to find an Organics Deposit Area and construct a Mining Outpost for the first time. We've covered all these steps in our guide. You will learn how to use a scanner and scanning probes, how to find the deepest point, how to connect the Mining Outpost with the base, and how to extract organics. We also explain the potential problem with finding a mining site.
- How to craft a scanner?
- How to get to the Organics Deposit Area?
- How to scan a deposit?
- Why doesn't the deepest point appear?
- How to build and connect a Mining Outpost with the base?
- How to use the Mining Outpost?
How to craft a scanner?
- During the prologue, you'll obtain organics for the first time - it's one of the main resources used in the game. It's tied to the main task - Organics Matter. The player must discover and scan an Organics Deposit Area, so they can extract the resources.
- To do that, you have to craft a scanner using the workshop in the base. Crafting a scanner requires 20 metal.
How to get to the Organics Deposit Area?
- Leave the base and explore the nearest surroundings. To find an Organics Deposit Area look for blue smoke and a droplet icon. In our case, a climbing wall blocked access to it.
- You don't need to craft a climbing hook. Take the roundabout route instead, so you can reach the deposit on your own (attached picture). Along the way, you should also a deposit of rapidium related to another task.
How to scan a deposit?
- Start by holding down the selection wheel key used to select items from the inventory (Q on the keyboard). Highlight the scanner.
- Stick scanning probes into the ground - you can place up to 6 of them. Make sure all probes are connected so that a closed area is created, which will be scanned immediately.
- After setting up and connecting the probes, gather all of them again (by holding the right mouse button), and then start placing them in a different location. The newly checked area may overlap with previous ones. If that happens, only the new fragment will be scanned.
- Your task is to discover the deepest point within the area with deposits - it is the reddest area underground. In the found location, a droplet icon and a large icon on the ground will appear - as shown on the attached picture. You can pick up the scanning probes one last time, because they will no longer be needed at this location.
Why doesn't the deepest point appear?
- In the case of some deposits, you may encounter a problem with finding the deepest point, i.e. the place for future extraction.
- The solution to this problem is a thorough exploration of all the areas in the vicinity that are part of the deposit. You should especially check out the higher shelves - you may need to use a climbing hook (example in the picture shows a mineral deposit in act 1). Once you get there and use a scanning probe, a deposit icon may appear.
How to build and connect a Mining Outpost with the base?
- You have already discovered the best place to extract, it's time to take action. You will use a Mining Outpost for this - you can craft it at the workshop with 30 metal. You can then select it in the construction window in the drop-down menu.
- After choosing the Mining Outpost, you must position yourself properly at the deposit. The construction must be blue (picture above), which will let you know you're at the right place.
- That's not all though, because you still have to connect the Mining Outpost with the main base. Pylons will help you with that. You select them in the construction menu and can also craft them in the workshop.
- Head back towards the base and set up pylons along the way. Make sure to place them as far apart as possible to maximize the use of them. You should need a total of three.
- The last pylon should connect your base with the Mining Outpost. Green lines indicate correct connections. If necessary, move somewhere else, as rocks and other obstacles can sometimes block the connection.
How to use the Mining Outpost?
- By creating the connection you can now use the Mining Outpost (it does not work automatically). After you return to it, interact with the terminal to start acquiring organics. This will speed up time.
Later on in the game, an option to assign alters to mining tasks will become available. This will allow you to save time and focus on other, more important things.
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