Grounded 2 Buggies: Everything you need to know

The Buggy System is one of Grounded 2’s many new additions. These Bug Companions take up versatile roles in Combat, Crafting, and Exploration. Here’s how you can get access to Buggies.

What are Buggies

Buggies, or the Tamed Bug Companion System, allow us to hatch and tame a selection of Bugs. These useful companions are great in and out of combat, packing tons of utility and other beneficial quality-of-life features.

Buggies allow for quick map traversal, which is excellent given how large even the currently available portion of the Park is. They’re fast enough to outrun a player on foot, even with the Natural Explorer Perk at Level 3. Each buggy type also has access to different shortcuts and alternate paths that even occasionally lead to secrets.

In addition to being exceptional mounts, Buggies nearly double our inventory space. This allows them to carry extra resources, gear swaps, and anything we may need. Hot Deposit will also deposit its inventory, so keep that in mind if having a Buggy hold supplies.

Buggies also cannot enter Ominent facilities or areas that apply Status Effects like Chill or Sizzle, so any gear swap or supplies we need from them will need to be carried by us instead.

Buggies are vastly better in combat compared to the pets of Grounded 1, even having unique abilities they can use in combat. Buggies will appropriately scale their damage and health to the game difficulty, good news for all the Woah Mode enjoyers out there. This keeps them useful in combat so long as their opponent isn’t several tiers higher and allows us to get more value from the new Combat Archetypes.

While they won’t revive us in combat if we go down, we can revive them. Upon taking lethal damage, they’ll enter a downed state. Failing to revive them will lead to them dying permanently, requiring us to obtain and hatch another Buggy Egg. Reviving them will count for unlocking the Reliable Friend Perk, and they become incredibly quick to revive when this Perk is maxed.

Buggies also provide a ton of Utility, in the form of opening new ways to get around as well as special abilities that help in and out of Combat. As an example, the Red Soldier Ant we get access to can chop grass far more effectively than we can when we obtain it.

All Buggies are limited to harvesting certain resources, based on their type. Using the Red Soldier Ant as an example again, they can only harvest Grass Planks from Grass and Weed Stems from Dandelions.

All Buggies have a Resource Gathering Mode, which helps to quickly vacuum up resources and will pick up anything from Plant Fibers to Bug Parts, and even larger items like Grass Planks after getting cut down. We’ll still have to point at them, but it does make the process quicker than having to mash a collection button.

Currently, there is a bug with collecting Bug Parts while mounted. Collecting Bug Parts in any way, either manually or through Collection Mode, will not apply the Luck Buff from stuffed creatures. This is good to keep in mind if we hunt smaller or harmless bugs for resources, as it may be tempting to not dismount the Buggy and save weapon durability.

How to Unlock Buggies

Unlocking a Buggy requires a few things: A Hatchery, a Nest, and a Buggy Egg. The Hatchery is a new building that can be unlocked in the Snackbar Anthill as part of the Missed Connection Main Story Quest by collecting the Turbo Optical Disk found in the chest next to the missing Ominent employee.

Upon returning the Turbo Optical Disk to the Ranger Station at any Ranger Outpost, the Hatchery will be available for purchase at the Ranger Station Science Shop.

This Turbo Optical Disk also conveniently comes with every recipe we need to prepare for our first buggy, the Red Soldier Ant.

Using the Hatchery

With the Hatchery Obtained, all we need to do is source an egg for the Buggy we wish to hatch and place it in the Hatchery. Once collected from a nest, enemies related to the Buggy will attempt to chase us down until we deposit the egg into a Hatchery or Egg Cooler.

Upon placing it in the Hatchery, it will begin an incubation process that takes 1 in-game day. Once Incubation is complete, if we have both the required nest and materials for its Saddle, we’ll be able to claim our Buggy.

All Buggy Egg Locations

Below is a quick Table detailing the Egg and Optical Disk Locations for every Buggy currently available in Grounded 2. This list and the known egg locations will be expanded as more content is added to Grounded 2.

Unlocking the Egg Cooler

The Egg Cooler can be unlocked by scanning Mint Shards at a Resource Scanner in any Ranger Outpost in the Park. This handy building will allow us to store a single Buggy Egg and prevent the Bugs from spawning to chase us down.

This is very helpful early on, as we’re very likely to find Buggy Eggs beyond the Red Soldier Ant but lack the recipes to hatch them. This keeps our Egg safe while we progress, allowing us to quickly begin the hatching process as soon as the Nest and Saddle Recipes are available.

All Buggy Skills

Currently, there are two available Buggies: The Red Soldier Ant and the Orb Weaver. Each of these has its utility for combat and traversal. This comes in the form of Passive and Active abilities that apply while mounted. Below is a summary of these details.

These perks end up providing a distinct role for each Buggy, generally keeping them relevant through progression. These are likely to be expanded upon as the Early Access Roadmap mentions Buggy Mutations and Progression as part of Future Plans.