What are organic materials in Starfield?

Crafting plays a pretty big role in Starfield, be it crafting food items, mods, or more. If you’re hoping to do plenty of crafting in your playthrough, then you are going to want to collect a fair amount of resources, including organic materials.

Resources are what you will be using to craft and you will need to obtain certain kinds of resources to make specific items or research upgrades. There are three different kinds of resources in Starfield: organic, inorganic, and manufactured. We are going to be taking a closer look at the organic resources in the game to see what they are, how they differ from the other kinds of resources and where they can be found. 

Organic materials in Starfield, explaine

Organic resources are, as the name suggests, materials that are taken from organic sources–such as alien flora and fauna. They can also be dropped by alien species. Not only can they be harvested directly from the source, they can also be found while scavenging and looting. Only around 10 percent of the planets in the game have life on them, which is why using your trusty scanner to identify the materials is a necessity. 

Organic materials to loot or steal in Starfield

Organic resources will usually be found stored in jars in various places, such as outposts, space stations, and settlements. If you are trying to do a good guy play-through, make sure that you aren’t stealing when you are about to pick up an organic resource from a settlement or outpost.

You will be able to tell if the organic material belongs to someone else by examining the item description that can be seen as you hover over the item you want to pick up. If there is a red, lock-like icon on the right hand side of the item name, then you will know for sure that it belongs to someone and that taking it will be an act of theft.

If you are all for that thief lifestyle, then simply grab it and hightail it out of there. We highly suggest investing in the Thief and Stealth skills on the skill trees in the game if this is a route you are planning to take, as they can be incredibly useful when it comes to stealing without getting caught. Thief will unlock the pickpocket ability, while Stealth will make you 25 percent harder to detect when you are sneaking and will also add a Stealth meter. Perfect abilities for getting away with some daylight robbery. 

Harvesting organic materials in the wild in Starfield

Gathering alien organic material is also possible while out and about on different planets, especially if you are trying to survey an area and identify all its resources. It is a simple process to take the resources from the various flora and fauna that you will come across.

When you begin surveying and harvesting, open up your scanner and any nearby resources will immediately be highlighted. Alien plants will have a bright blue outline, so they are hard to miss. Approach the plant and when you get close enough, the option to scan will appear on the scanner HUD at the bottom of the screen. Scan the plant and you will then find that the scan prompt has been replaced by a harvest prompt. Simply interact with the plant again and you will pick up any organic material that the plant has to offer. 

When it comes to harvesting resources from animals, all you need to do is collect it from their body, as taking them out is the only way to pick up their organic material (or taking it from a corpse that you come across while playing). You can still scan them and learn more about them though in the same way that you can do with the plants. 

It is useful to keep scanning alien plants and animals to find out more information about them and to make it easier for yourself to collect the organic materials from it in the future. You can only scan each individual plant or animal once, but if you keep scanning them as you encounter them, you will notice that the percentage of your scan will rise, as shown on the right hand side of the scanner HUD. As you continue to scan, more information about the plant or animal will be unlocked. 

Once you get to 100 percent for each plant or creature, the game will tell you exactly what resources can be harvested from them as well as what kind of biomes they can be found in. You will even receive a bit of information on the plants about their genetics and reproduction methods. Scanning each plant and animal that you come across to 100 percent is a useful thing to do if you are planning on collecting a wide range of organic materials for your crafting projects. 

Rarity tiers of organic materials in Starfield

There are also different tiers of rarity for organic material found as you travel the galaxy in Starfield. These tiers are pretty straightforward, with four tiers being available. The first tier is Common, which—as you might have guessed—is the easiest to find. You will find Common materials with very little issue, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t useful. Many crafting and research projects utilize a range of common organic resources, so don’t dismiss them. 

The next tier is Uncommon materials, which are also pretty plentiful but not as much as Common materials. Rare items are next and they can be very useful when it comes to crafting more unique and powerful items. The final tier is the Exotic quality organic resources. These resources can be used to craft the highest quality items and while they can be found anywhere, it is best to check in hidden areas such as caves to locate them first. They are also prone to appearing in areas near to the Artifacts that you will be collecting as part of Constellation during the main storyline quests of the game. 

Whether you collect it during your time surveying a planet or via looting or stealing, organic material of any rarity tier is an incredibly useful item in Starfield as it can be used in a wide variety of crafting and research projects.