How often do you scan an enemy?

[Ommamar]

I just found a helmet that has an effect that raises the damage by 20% if I scan an enemy. I have never really bothered with scanning an enemy, is there a base increase to damage or do you just see things like health pool and what damage they are susceptible to?

[Skumboni]

That scan is for critters you have scanned and show up green instead of blue, nothing to do with scanning pirates and other 2 legged baddies.

[bortas]

Since >90% of enemies are human, its basically just a waste of time to scan enemies you will probably never encounter again anyway. Just kill them and move on.

[DawkinsForest5]

I don't do it because I deleted this game a month ago

[DANEDANGER]

To my knowledge this actually connects to the scopes and not the actual scanner. In over 500 hours i have never been able to use the regular scanner to scan an humanoid target like i can with creatures.

There is the Recon Scope, it wil show enemy's behind cover by turning them orange and visible trough wals, i think this is what they ment by scanning an enemy as their healthbar and lvl shows up too at such a moment

[dtt.scanner]

Good point. It would definitely make Recon scopes more valuable. There's no way to really see the added damage though. Too many factors go into a sniper shot. In general, a sighted shot will do more damage than a hip shot even without the added bonus.

[sarcastic_godot]

Originally posted by dtt.scanner:

[...] There's no way to really see the added damage though.[...]

Well, there's those funny little numbers you see after each hit...
You might have to enable them from the Menu (Settings - Interface - Show Damage).

[Ommamar]

Originally posted by Skumboni:

That scan is for critters you have scanned and show up green instead of blue, nothing to do with scanning pirates and other 2 legged baddies.

The effect reads you will do 20% more damage to scanned enemies, now it might be as mentioned to do with the recon scope or the targeting skill which seems to do the same thing with a very limited range. I am thinking the skill is for hip shots or melee/unarmed builds while the scope is to help snipers.

I haven't really used the scanner for anything except alien animals, plants and resources but maybe I should scan all enemies before engaging in them. Of course this would work best for someone invested in the cutter since that is the only "weapon" you can use with the scanner up.

[Cyg]

Originally posted by DawkinsForest5:

I don't do it because I deleted this game a month ago

Must have felt like a liberation. So many good games released in 2023 and Starfield is not even in the top 50.

Who cares about the enemies anyway in Starfield. They are blind and the dumbest a.i I have ever seen in a game.

[indigo]

Originally posted by bortas:

Since >90% of enemies are human, its basically just a waste of time to scan enemies you will probably never encounter again anyway. Just kill them and move on.

They are? I must be doing something wrong then. 90% of what I kill has more than 3 legs, and frequently either spits something toxic and noxious or screams so loud it is both painful and can knock you down.

Thanks for letting me know I've been playing this all wrong since the beginning.