Most of the players who constantly feel like they’re always searching for things inStarfieldsuch as Sealant or Structural sadly aren’t even aware that there’s a much better route to gathering Organic Resources than raiding other spaceshipsor constantly checking Vendor shops. This route, of course, is utilizing Greenhouses, a module of the Outpost building system where players can grow their own alien flora to produce all sorts of different materials.
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And to be fair to the players who had no idea these even existed, these Outpost Modules aren’t even unlocked until players invest Skill Points in 2 different Skills, fully fund 1 Research Project, and manage to catch of glimpse of it in their ‘Builders’ tab. Still, it’s very fulfilling (and worthwhile) to growall sorts of different sci-fi alien plantsin this game, so let’s go over exactly what Greenhouses are in this game and how to use them inStarfield.
Greenhouse Overview
To put it as simply as possible,Greenhouses are to Organic Resources as Extractors are to Minerals.Once set up and properly powered, Greenhouses generate a chosen Organic Resource infinitely (as long as it remains powered and has somewhere to send its output).
The most common use for Greenhouses is to generate Fiber and then hook them up to an Animal Husbandry Facility the player also built, as that requires Fiber to run properly.
But, with how often Organic Resources seem to appear in shops, a lot of players are likely just assuming that investing time into setting up a Greenhouse or two is only a ‘little’ better than buying from vendors. This is a completely incorrect assumption, as Greenhouses, when set up correctly, will make it so that Organic Resources of almost any variety will never be a concern for the player that set them up ever again. All it takes is a bit of time, some surveying/scanning, and a steady water supply, and players can set up their very own Organic Resource generators.
How To Unlock Greenhouses
Now, players might be looking in their Outpost Modules menu and wondering why they can’t seem to find the Greenhouse module in any of the tabs. Well, unlessthey’ve put a Skill Point into both Botany and Outpost Engineering, as well as researched Horticulture 1 at a Research Lab, they won’t see it in any menu. After doing all that, however,Greenhouses should appear in the ‘Builders’ Tab of the Outpost Building menu.For players who want to start gathering the resources to Research and build Greenhouses now, they’ll want to have:
7
9
Usable Skill Points
2
If players have invested in the right Skills and Researched Horticulture but somehow still aren’t seeing Greenhouses in their Outpost Building menu, then it’s probably because they’re on a planet without any sort of Flora that can be produced at an Outpost.
Prep-Work For Setting Up A Greenhouse
Greenhouses are also in a category of Outpost modules that are a bit more ‘needy’ when it comes to the circumstances they demand in order to function well. In this same categoryare Animal Husbandry Facilities, Fueled Generators, and in some respect both Turbines and Solar Arrays. With all that said, this just means that there are a few bits of ‘prep-work’ players are going to want to complete before setting up their Greenhouse inStarfield, such as:
Description
1
Find a planet that has at least a few Flora with the ‘Outpost Production Allowed’ tag near the bottom of its details in the Hand Scanner.
Scan plantlife that produces the Organic Resource the player wants to cultivate to 100 percent on the same planet the Greenhouse will be built on. This doesn’t need to bea full planet Survey, but players might as well if they want more options to choose from in their Greenhouse.
3
Gather enough resources beforehand to set up a Water Extractor, a Greenhouse, an Outpost, a Solid Storage Container, and some Power Sources.
After all these steps have been met, it’s finally time to go about getting this Greenhouse (or multiple Greenhouses) up and running.
Step-By-Step Guide For Setting Up A Greenhouse
Thankfully, compared to a lot of otherStarfieldOutpost modules and contraptions, setting up a Greenhouse is pretty simple. It has a few steps, of course, but it’s nowhere near as irritatingly complex or tedious as setting up Cargo Links for Supply Missions seems to be.
Place down the Greenhouse, the Water Extractor, the Extractor Power Source, the Greenhouse Power Source, and the Solid Storage Container that players gathered all the resources for beforehand.
Connect the Power Source to the Extractor through the ‘Wire’ input (Optional).
Connect the Power Source to the Greenhouse through the ‘Wire input (Optional).
4
Connect the Water Extractor to the Greenhouse using the ‘Create Output Link’ function in the Outpost Building menu.
5
Connect the Greenhouse to the Solid Storage Container using an Output Link.
6
Walk up to the console next to the Greenhouse entrance and pick the Organic Resource of choice the player wants to produce.
After following these steps and double-checking that their Water Extractor is running and connected, players should quickly be able to tell that their Greenhouse is working as intended. In fact, if they open up the Greenhouse itself, they can see the budding plants that the player selected at the console growing all around the Greenhouse. As a nice little extra detail, these plant saplings completely change based on the plant the player selects at the Console.
Small Things To Keep In Mind
As a last extra bonus section, let’s go over a few more bits of info and general tips about Greenhouses that players will want to keep in mind:
If players are somehow on a planet that allows a Greenhouse to be placed but doesn’t allow the Water Extractors (of either type), players can make this work by placing a Liquid Storage Container, hooking that up to the Greenhouse, and manually placing Water inside the Container to power the Greenhouse.
Keep in mind that aGreenhouse will only be able to cultivate the plants on the same planet it’s built on, so choosing where to build the Greenhouseacross the vast star mapStarfieldoffersis actually very important.
Players who might be wondering about the differences between standard Greenhouses and Commercial Greenhouses that they’ll gain access to after researching Horticulture 2 here’s a quick answer: Just like most other Industrial/Commercial variants, the Commerical Greenhouse is just a better version of the baseline Greenhouse that cultivates more Organic Resources overall.
Remember that machinery in Outposts all run off of Universal Time inStarfield(the number underneath Local Time in the Sleep/Wait menu). So, if players don’t want to go off somewhere else only to come back later and check on their Greenhouse, they can instead go to any planet where the Local Hours aren’t 1-to-1 with Universal Time to speed things along.Venus, for example, is a fantastic planet in the Sol System for rapidly advancing Universal Time.
Starfieldis available now on Xbox Series X/S and PC.
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