Scrap Mechanic Survival Mode: Mechanic Station & Points of Interest
Trustworthy and I are already considering base designs to deal with persistent robot raids and random sneak attacks, but for now we’ve made a settlement out of the mechanics station nearest to the crash site where players first land. Let’s do a quick tour of the base itself, it’s features and in the video below sbeginner survival SUV building basics because we’re going to need something for exploring this huge map. Especially if we want to haul any resources around.
- Mechanic Station Tour
- Craft Bots
- Exploration: Biomes, Warehouses and other Points of Interest
Locating the Mechanic Base From the Crash Site
If you’ve not already found this location in the game but you can find the crash site, follow the dirt path lined with ember trees and keep going straight until you find a clearing with an abandoned building with a parking lot.
Continuing a jog down this road way will eventually get you in the near vicinity to see a cluster of red structures with a glowing wrench fixed on top the main building. This is where we can find the other craft bots the game has to offer so we can really get some projects going.
But before that, gotta find a battery to power them up, conveniently enough this location’s battery is on site. Along the big garage shop is three cylinder shaped housings, the battery is located in the second room but so is a haybot. So careful when opening the door. It goes a bit survival horror when this thing residually creeps on you. Check for it every few days to respawn.
Craftbots
The large building at the mechanic station houses the console for a variety of crafting bots. Inserting the battery from housing room 2 will activate the console and the mini craft bot already pre installed into the wall. The selection consists of the core craft bot with all your craftable parts, you may already have the materials for it and it’s the best investment you can make.
The likely second not to prioritize crafting is the cookbot, this expands your menu to foods that restore 100 hunger. Resource collectors are also helpful tools, that aren’t just a fancy looking chest but one that will auto vacuum the resources you’re carrying from a few yards away. Convenient when beginning to collect large amounts of wood, stone and metal. This way you don’t have to refine by hand but can take it back to the refiner. There is also the dress bot, which utilizes cotton and garment box loot for random clothing appearances you can swap onto your mechanic.
Map & Points of Interest
The map is generated procedurally but in the mix we’ll get mostly the foresty and green landscape. Paint flowers and wax can be found everywhere and regenerate quickly. Noteable biomes are the charred burning forests where you can hammer down trees for timber needed in considerable crafted items.
In the autumn biome it’s cotton that becomes readily abundant and the areas are identifiable by the sharp contrast of landscape turning shades of brown hue, fading green and purplish reds. But be mindful around these areas for the large and rather tough to kill farmbots.
The abandoned and crumbling buildings are filled with basically bots and loot, these will respawn within a few in game days if you’re away from that area. There will always be more circuit boards for farm.
But for a harder challenge there is warehouses. I went one once, only once, learned after getting shot dead in the face the first time that a spud gun was sort of a barrier to entry here. We’re not far from that goal and I’ll definitely do a quick video on what all that entails.
Other map points of interest include a second mechanic station, identical to the one we toured earlier and activated the same way. There will be 4 packing stations for produce involved in the objective of trading with what seems to be one of the few humans on this planet. At least it’s the only human with an interactive menu. If you haven’t already stumbled across these stations, keep following the road ways as all of them are located along the road at opposite ends of the map . Two are for vegetable packing and two for fruit. The vegetable station found nearest to the mechanic station base is a good starting point in which to find the trader, his home is nested in the hills to the north, behind the veggie packing station. As you get around the back keep driving straight and you’ll start to see signs to “Keep Out”, that’s how you know you found the trail.
When in need of chemicals, take a road trip and see if you can find the other Mechanics Station, on the way you’re likely to spot a cluster of large tanks that have a glowing pinky sludge around it. This is a convenient pick up for chemical when you’re trying to mass produce something such as concrete. There will also be oil pools on the map, where much in the same way, you can throw down a container with vacuum pump to stock up. Recommend taking along a beacon to mark the oil pool, I still haven’t been able to relocate the only one I found earlier. Don’t be a sad panda like me.
If you’re feeling super brave, two other noticeable points of interest are the Silo District and Ruins City. In both these zones the enemy bot force is fierce and includes the rather giant farm bots, hopefully you have a spud gun when you go or creep very carefully. The Silo District has a somewhat ground exterior appearance similar to the entrance of warehouses, but the distinct difference is the large network of what looks like a chemical processing plant instead of a several story building. Ruins City is densely packed dilapidated buildings like the ones you explore throughout the map connected with a road system. As a patient sniper you could get some good loot just by hanging out from above. Without a vehicle, getting to these locations would be extremely time consuming but you can make it out there in around an in game day.
The log book is obtained in the initial crash site by looking in the wreckage of the ship after you’ve activated it with a battery. This log already has programed beacons for the crash site and nearest mechanic station. It will also be where you can highlight beacons you’ve previously placed so locations will show the icon you assigned on your interface.
Happy exploring virtual mechanics!
