Just a quick guide on how to start your mission, find your shells, prepare your terrariums, and caring for your new pets.

Getting started

According to the release for this update, you must start a new game, however that is not the case and you can get your new friends in an old game.

To get started:

• Go to your mission log and begin the mission “Bait and Switch,” which requires you to gather 3 Sphalerite.
• Once you complete the mission, you will be given a “strange object.” Plant this item into the ground on your base. HEADS UP: when you unpack it, there will be scrap all around it, so you might want to place it a little removed from other items.
• Unpack the item and it becomes your Xenobiology Lab.
• Install the provided Oxygenator.
• Power your lab (I used one RTG).
• Use Data Log to activate Xenobiology Lab’s tracker.

Xenobiology Lab:

There will be various missions as you go along using the lab (proving more power – though you will not need to do so if you powered with a RTG – and giving it three EXO chips).

You will also need to add your galastropods into the scanner after you get them as part of finishing the mission. This will unlock more. As these missions are very straight forward, I won’t address them further.

Sylvie (Sylva)

Sylvie can be located on the planet Sylva and is the first mission.

Buff: Illuminates an area

Favourite Food: Mutant Hissbine Seed (makes the buff last longer than other seeds)

To get Sylvie, you must first get a terrarium for them.

You will need to scan five shells that can be located in the forest areas of Sylva.

Once you have scanned five shells, return to your landing pad and completing the mission through the log will provide you with an empty terrarium and a small horn.

You must now prepare your terrarium for Sylvie. You will need:

• A container of soil
• Zinc
• Bouncevine seed

Once you place all three items, the terrarium will change into a little biome for Sylvie. Attach the horn and a song will play, which will make Sylvie appear.

Personally, I always started the process at my base, but your call.

Dance once for Sylvie. They will be happy and then dig down, vanish, and then reappear on the map. They are easy to find to start, but later planets will have them go farther away (especially on Glacio and Atrox). Use your compa*s to locate them:

Dance three times for Sylvie and then they will wait and sing. Place the terrarium next to them, hover over it, and hold down the activation key (F on keyboard on a PC for example) to “befriend” which will put Sylvie in the terrarium. If you have not removed the horn first, it will be ejected off.

Usagi (Desolo)

Usagi can be located on the moon Desolo.

Buff: Marks certain nearby Curosities on the Compa*s

Favourite Food: Mutant Hissbine Seed

Shells for Usagi can be found on the lower terrain areas on the surface of Desolo and look like this:

After scanning the five shells and collecting the empty terrarium, you will need:

• A container of soil
• Tungsten
• Daggeroot seed

Usagi requires three dances to tame.

Stilgar (Calidor)

Stilgar can be located on the planet Calidor.

Buff: Pa*sively produces oxygen that fills tanks and tether networks.

Favourite Food: Mutant Spiny Attactus Seed, Mutant Volatile Attactus Seed

Shells for Stilgar can be found underground, attached to stalagmites:

After scanning the five shells and collecting the empty terrarium, you will need:

• A container of soil
• Copper
• Wheezeweed seed

Stilgar requires three dances to tame.

Princess (Vesania)

Princess can be located on the planet Vesania.

Buff: While carried in the backpack, prevents all forms of damage aside from suffocation.

Favourite Food: Mutant Cataplant Seed

Shells for Princess, like on Sylva, can be found lying on the ground in the forests. Forests on Vesania are on top of the mountains:

After scanning the five shells and collecting the empty terrarium, you will need:

• A container of soil
• Lithium
• Lashleaf seed

Princess requires three dances to tame.

Rogal (Novus)

Rogal can be located on the planet Novus.

Buff: Generates power.

Favourite Food: Mutant Noxious/Volatile Cataplant Seed

Shells for Rogal are located underground and found in “crumbling stone” that you “open” by holding down the activation key (F on keyboard on a PC):

When you extract the rock, you will receive one shell and one resource (clay or quartz):

After scanning the five shells and collecting the empty terrarium, you will need:

• A container of soil
• Iron
• Thistlewhip seed

Rogal requires three dances to tame.

Bestefar (Glacio)

Bestefar can be located on the planet Glacio.

Buff: While attached to the Terrain Tool, improves its width, boost, and drilling ability.

Favourite Food: Mutant Boomalloon Seed

Shells for Bestefar are found underground in ice chunks.

You must use dynamite to destroy the ice chunks. You can dig them out and move them, thus put several together and blow them up all at once. Each one will give you one shell and one resource (quartz or hematite).

After scanning the five shells and collecting the empty terrarium, you will need:

• A container of soil
• Argon
• Popcoral seed

Bestefar requires four dances to tame.

Enoki (Atrox)

Enoki can be located on the planet Atrox.

Buff: While carried in the backpack, increases jump height, sprint speed, and reduces movement penalty for carrying heavy items.

Favourite Food: Mutant Noxious Spewflower and Mutant Elegant Spewflower Seeds

Shells for Enoki are found inside Spewflowers in the higher elevations. Use your compa*s, which will mark the flowers with a brown shell icon:

It’s VERY handy to take a fed Princess with you on this mission to protect you from all the dangerous plants. Uproot the spewflower to get a shell.

After scanning the five shells and collecting the empty terrarium, you will need:

• A container of soil
• Helium
• Spinelily seed

Enoki requires four dances to tame.

Completing the mission

Once you have all the galastropods, you will place them all in the ring on top of the lab.

They will sing a song for you, and then you are done.

Collect your rewards: RTG, 2 mini-RTGs, and a lab suit:

You have now completed the missions and have your new pets!

Here we come to an end for the How to start your mission, find your shells, prepare your terrariums Guide – ASTRONEER guide. I hope this guide has helped you with your gameplay. If you have something to add to this guide or believe we forgot some information to add, please let us know via comment! We check each comment manually by approving them!