Setting up a Polygonal Scanner is easy, but the game doesn’t elaborate on the proper way to set it all up in the mining spot. The Polygonal Scanner helps reveal the exact spot in the mining area where we can install an outpost to mine the metals out of the ground. Here is a quick guide to properly set up the Polygonal Scanner in the area to set up the Mining Outpost.
How To Craft A Polygonal Scanner
Set up a Workshop anywhere in your base, then you need to invest 20 Metals to craft a Scanner. Don’t worry, it’s a one-time investment, and once done you will be able to bring the Scanner to new areas without having to craft them all over again.
Once crafted, head over to the mining dig site. All mining dig sites will appear differently; an Organic mining site will have green fumes coming out of the ground, and an Enriched Metal mining dig site will have radiation around the location. The Poygonal Scanner will work with all forms of material dig sites: Metal, Organics, Minerals, Rapidum, and Enriched Metals.
Setting Up the Polygonal Scanner

Now it’s time to place the scanners at the proper spot on the site. Once you are in the mining spot, the game will automatically add the spot with a new marker on the map.
- Once you are in the mining spot, press Q to bring up the tool wheel and select Polygonal Scanner. You can also press 2 to automatically select the Polygonal Scanner.
Note: Each scanner is a common electric stick; placing two of them will create a single line. Our goal is to place four of them on the ground to form a square. The square area will be immediately scanned and visualised in detail, revealing the material underneath the ground. There is no additional scanning mechanic in the game.
- Once you have selected the Polygonal Scanner, place it on the ground to create a square. The square doesn’t have to be a specific spot, at first; you just place the scanners almost anywhere in the mining spot.
- The next step is to find the core region of the mining area. If you look at the scanned area, you will see the temperature of the materials underneath the ground.
Note: If the scanned area shows blue colour, it means you are far away from the core of the mining spot. If the scanned area shows a slightly red tone, then it means we are getting closer to the proper spot.
- So, if your scanned area results in blue colour, then get close to the centre of the mining spot, and place the scanner in the form of a square to find slightly redder areas. Once you have found the location, you are closer to the red core of the mining spot, which is always just a few inches away from slightly redder areas.

- Now press and hold R-Click to remove all the Polygonal Scanners from the ground, don’t worry, it will not remove the scanned area. Place them again until you get closer to the red spot. Do this multiple times until you find the sweet spot.
- Once you scan the proper spot, the entire mining area will show its temperature. Now it is ready for the outpost placement. Open up the tool wheel by pressing Q, and head over to the Mining Outpost and place it on the ground. It will automatically be placed on the core spot of the mining ground.
- The next step is to connect the outpost to the base, which can be done by placing Pylons, which work as a utility pole to power up the outpost with the energy from the base.
Set up the pylons and connect the outpost to the base, and you are done. Now you can head over to the mining outpost and start mining the metals quickly. Use the fast travel option on the side to get to the base once the shift ends.