The Planetologist advanced training quest line is one of the most interesting and unusual quest chains of the five classes. Unlike the other four quest chains which are relatively straightforward, the Planetologist chain takes you on a bit of a ride.
While the Planetologist quest starts out fairly easily, you might begin to scratch your head as you realise that you have no idea where to go to progress to the next stage!
In this quest, we’ll give you a simple rundown of the quests, and, crucially, how to start each quest in the chain. The actual quests are fairly simple, but finding them is the tricky part.
Quick Links:
- Quest 1 - "Minimic Film Recovery"
- Quest 2: "Buried Archives"
- Quest 3: "Adhering to Hierarchy"
- Quest 4: "Science Unlocked"
- Quest 5: "The Search for Kynes"
- Quest 6: "A Reasonable Routine"
- Quest 7: "Clues from the Past"
- Quest 8: "The Planetologist Report"
- Quest 9: "The Final Piece"
Quest 1: "Minimic Film Recovery"
You can find out the full guide to the first quest in our How to Unlock the Planetologist guide.
Your first major task from Derek. Enter Testing Station No. 2 and locate a secret door behind a glowing sliver on a bookcase. Inside is the first Minimic Reel. Return it to Derek to unlock the Planetologist skill tree.
Quest 2: "Buried Archives"
Travel to Testing Station No. 197 in West Vermilius. You will find Derek at the bottom of the pit. Talk to him to get the quest. The Minimic Film is found by taking the right-hand path down the ramp. Once you enter the large room, it’s to your left in a small room on the right side of the door, as shown below. Hand it back to Derek at the start of the entrance to the Testing Station. Finally, return to Derek's original location in South Hagga Basin.
Quest 3: "Adhering to Hierarchy"
Go to Arrakeen and speak with Cyprian Io in the Salusan Bull bar, he is upstairs. He refuses access to Kynes' research. Report back to Derek in South Hagga Basin to progress. Derek will ask you to return later, Instead, we can find him at Station No. 76 in a tight spot.
Quest 4: "Science Unlocked"
Now head north to Jabal Eifrit, to Station No. 76. Derek is caged inside; he is a little tricky to see, but he is next to the red exit gate. If you go down the stairs, you’ve gone too far, as he is right before that. Speak to Derek, who will explain how he got stuck, and ask you, once again, to retrieve something for him hidden deep in the facility.
Pro Tip: You have two chances to grab the key, once after speaking with Derek and once at the end.
Retrieve keys in the room after the stairs on the left-hand side near a book, as shown in the left image below. For context, we are facing the stair door in the image (there is a chance it spawns in different places in this room). You will find the Minimic Film deeper in the facility after the boss in a room overlooking the room with a small broken window. Enter the window to find the hidden door. We have shown the broken window below, if you go into the large loot room, you've gone too far (this is the room that has the schematics in).
Note: We are updating this guide as we progress; anything beyond this point is from our early beta testing and may have changed.
Quest 5: "The Search for Kynes"
Pro tip: Beyond this point, it gets much harder to get to the locations. The location is in the far top left of the map, and it will take a long time without the use of an Ornithopter.
Head back to where we first met, Derek, next, above Testing Station No. 2 in the first zone to the East of Griffin's Reach. Speak to Thufir Hawat in Arrakeen. Follow the trail to Sietch Tarl and collect a note near the canyon entrance. Then return it to Derek to complete this step of the quest. Sadly, no new skills are unlocked here, but the story progresses is progress. You can see the location of the ruins below.
Quest 6: "A Reasonable Routine"
Find Derek at Station No. 29 in Northern Hagga Rift. You'll find him just inside the entrance to the Testing Station, he's easy to spot this time. Work your way through the Testing Station, it's fairly short, and when you reach the end you will see another hidden room indicated by the orange glowing light on the door (see image). This door is in the same room as the purple ID bracelet you need to exit.
Grab the Minimic Film, return it to Derek at the start of the station and then head back to meet him at the original location in South Hagga Basin. When you complete this Quest you will unlock Level 3 Planetologist Skills (woohoo!) and the Spice Surveyor skill.
Quest 7: "Clues From The Past"
Next you'll find Derek at Station No. 71 in The O’odham. This is in the top left corner of the map, shown in the image below. Once again he's waiting for you at the entrance just inside the Testing Station and this time he will ask you to collect Reserach Notes and a Minimic Film. This Testing Station is short and pretty simple. Head left first and collect the first ID band. The Minimic Film is located in this room, behind another hidden door with an orange light.
Clear the rest of the Testing Station to reach what looks like a sacrificial chamber. Kyne's Research Notes will be in a little room on the right once you enter (see image, it's the middle set of books). Travel back to Testing Station 2 in South Hagga Basin once again to meet up with Derek and close out the quest.
Quest 8: "The Planetologist Report"
Derek will now request that we return to Cyprian Io in Arrakeen. Fast Travel there from any tradepost (Griffin Reach Tradepost if you are doing these back-to-back). As a reminder, Cyprian Lo is located on the top floor of the bar 'The Salusan Bull' and will be indicated via the quest icon on your map. Cyprian is up to some shenanigans so it's time to rush back to Testing Station 2 in South Hagga Basin to make sure Derek's ok.
Derek is missing when we get there and you'll be tasked to take out two sniper teams. These are easy to locate via the quest icon on your map/compass. Clear them out and head back to Derek's home to find a note he left behind.
Quest 9: "The Final Piece"
The final quest requires us to travel to Testing Station No. 163 in The O’odham, shown in the image below. This is super close to Testing Station 71 that we visited in Quest 7 (Clues From The Past). Derek's waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, beyond the entrance to the Testing Station. Derek gives us one final quest to obtain the recording of Kynes.
The Testing Station is fairly linear, a little spicy if you don't have mostly Mk4 armour and weapons but not too bad. In the final room you'll see a purple hologram that you need to interact with - that's the recording. Deliver it to Derek who's waiting outside that room at the entrance and receive your reward, an excellent Stillsuit.
And that’s it, the Planetologist quest chain is complete, and you are now the one true Planetologist, congratulations!
Hope this helped! We also have full Advanced Trainer Quest Guides for all other classes:
