Starfield: Planet Atmospheres, Natural Hazards, and Gravity

 Each planet in Starfield has its own atmosphere, which can translate into advantages and benefits, or potential risks. Luckily, we can explain what you need to know to explore without fear.

Exploring planets in Starfield isn't as simple as just wandering through each world and that's it, of course. In this game, Bethesda has created a system of different atmospheres for each world, with different environmental hazards, different levels of severity, with breathable air or not... To avoid headaches, in this section of our guide, we will explain how to understand the atmosphere of a planet and the risks or advantages of each type.

How to know if an atmosphere is dangerous or not

Before landing on a planet, you can see some elements on the star map: if there is water, if there is fauna (only animals. You have no way of knowing if there will be enemy settlements or not), gravity and temperature, although in some cases This last value is not a very reliable meter.

When you land, as a general rule you will be equipped with a space suit, helmet, and backpack. These elements allow you to breathe in space. However, they are not always necessary. The first thing you should do when you arrive at a planet (some of these details can also be consulted from space) is activate the scanner and look at the lower left corner of the screen.

On that small dial, which represents the watch you wear on your wrist, you can see, in addition to your life and oxygen bar, three values: TEMP (temperature), O2 (oxygen in the atmosphere), and GRAV (the strength of the gravity). Each of these values ​​tells us a different thing.

• TEMP: indicates the temperature of the planet. The further it is from "normal" (think about what temperatures would be uncomfortable for you in real life), the more temperature danger there will be on this planet. In the example, we are at -129º, extreme cold, which forces the character to wear armor with a suitable level of thermal defense.
• O2: refers to the level of oxygen in the atmosphere. If the percentage is 0, you will need to wear a suit, backpack, and helmet to avoid suffocation. On planets with a breathable atmosphere, the lower the atmosphere, the more energy and oxygen you consume when making physical efforts.
• GRAV: refers to the gravitational force of the planet, the standard being 1. The lower it is than 1 (always represented by . XX, for example, in the image it is .07 that is, 0.07), the less oxygen you consume at the same time. make physical efforts and the higher you reach when jumping.

Then, if you turn off the scanner, at the top of the sphere from before you can see environmental hazard icons. In the example of the same satellite in the previous image, you can see the icons for extreme cold and solar radiation.

These two icons imply that our spacesuit should have specific protection, in this specific case, thermal and radiation protection. Otherwise, it is possible that our character will contract diseases that have adverse effects on his life, oxygen consumption, etc. If you have questions about the condition of a planet, you can open the inventory, press the Status button (at the bottom of the screen), and select Status Effects. If the planet has some type of toxic environment, it will indicate it is there (they will not indicate whether the atmosphere is breathable or not, mind you).