Starfield has hundreds of planets and moons players can scan, land on, and survey. Some of them are barren, some of them are nothing more than ice rocks, and some of them are just as full of life as Earth once was. There's just one planet that stands out from the rest: Volii Alpha.
Volii Alpha is the home of Neon, one of the four major cities in Starfield. Unlike other planets, Volii Alpha is completely covered in water, and the city of Neon exists on a massive offshore platform. This means the usual formula for completing a survey won't work, but players can still complete this survey if they know both where to look and how.
How to Reach the Fauna Under Neon
The first thing players need to know is how to get down to the ocean beneath Neon. One option is to jump off the side of the landing pad. Like most video games, players take no falling damage if they land in water, and even if that wasn't true a boost pack can cancel a player's falling speed. Players can then use fast travel to go back up to central Neon.
However, there's another way down that's safe enough for any character to use, and it doubles as a way back up. First, head to the main strip in central Neon. Next, use one of the side doors to enter Ebbside. Ebbside has two elevators that lead down to a lower platform filled with fishing businesses. Players can also use a boost pack to jump down from Ebbside and reach this platform.
Head to the Generdyne Industries building and turn right to find a third elevator. This one leads down to a small dock just above the water line.
Incidentally, the lower platform and this dock are perfect for players who want to smuggle Aurora or other contraband past the security checkpoint. The checkpoint is beneath the lower platform, so players can jump from it to the walkway that leads to the landing pad, and players can jump from the landing pad down to the dock to bypass security.
How to Find the Volii Alpha Fauna
Volii Alpha has two fauna and two resources players must find to complete the survey. The resources start out as scanned the moment players land on the planet, which means the only job is to scan for both kinds of animal.
As an aquatic planet, both animals are types of fish, and players can find them swimming under the Neon supports. They aren't always close to the dock, so players may have to swim and boost their way over to the other pillars. Fortunately, players can scan fish species from any distance, not the usual 10 to 50 meters.
The two species are the hunting sharkwhale and the chasmbass. The chasmbass are the source of Aurora, which means players can get a resource from them that they can craft into Aurora at a pharmaceutical station (assuming they have enough Chemistry). This is another way to smuggle Aurora off-planet.
One problem players are sure to run into is that there aren't enough fish of either type to complete the survey in one trip. Only a few fish spawn under Neon, and zero fish spawn further away. This means players shouldn't try swimming away from Neon to find more fish. Luckily, there are a few ways to solve this problem:
- Players who put skill points into Zoology can get away with scanning fewer animals to complete their survey.
- If players save, quit, and reload, they can scan the same animals twice. This is true whether the animals are alive or dead.
- The fish beneath Neon respawn every few hours. If they don't, or if players find no fish under Neon, they may want to go do other things for a few hours and try again much later.
While Volii Alpha is an easy planet to scan since it only has two fauna species to look for, it's also one of the hardest since the species don't always like to make an appearance, and never in enough numbers. Still, the right approach can make this survey simple, plus it's a good way to get lots of free chasmbass oil for Aurora production.
Starfield is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.