I’ve spent the last couple days looking for just the right staff for my character. I’ve found a number of S classes, but I want a specific color (in S class). So the game wants you to use the Polyphonic Core to detect the hidden autophage camps, then use the Scan Harmonizer to reveal them. But you quickly realize that there are only a handful of points of interest where these camps spawn, and I find it tedious to scan with the Polyphonic Core and constantly recharge it. So knowing the POIs I’m looking for, I don’t even bother installing the Polyphonic Core anymore. I just find a planet that has a high density of structures and fly low in a north or south direction and look for the ones that will spawn camps.

So here’s where this quirk comes in: You land at a POI and it turns out you don’t have to scan with your MT scanner (the C key on PC). When you’re outside your ship, if you interact with anything that triggers a scan, it will reveal the autophage camps. So you can use a map, the signal booster, a waypoint beacon, and I suspect dropping a base computer and claiming a base would work as well (I haven’t tested it because that method would be a bit silly).

So what use is this information? It’s not earth shaking, but my MT scanner recharges quite slow, so I found I was frequently in a situation where I found another POI that would spawn a camp, but my scanner wasn’t recharged yet. Now, instead of waiting, I just use one of the methods noted above. I’ve taken to using the signal booster at all drop pod locations (it actually detects the drop pod you’re at), and trigger the waypoint beacons when I find them (if you leave the marker for the minor settlement up, the subsequent beacons don’t go through that camera animation).

So about the only place I use the MT scanner is at the debris fields or at crashed freighters (of course, you can use the signal booster there as well, but the MT scanner doesn’t go through the camera pull-up animation, so it’s faster).

So yeah, nothing life changing, but if you’re searching for that perfect color combo, SC slot layout, or just an S class staff, I’ve found it helps alleviate a bit of the tedium when searching for those staff synthesis terminals.