Beach Ball

Beach Ball is a collectible decorative item in Astroneer. It appears as a spherical object and is part of the game’s set of novelty props rather than a tool, resource, or progression item. The item family includes three visible variants: Zebra Ball, Checker Ball, and Leopard Ball.

These objects have been used for physics and lighting testing, and they were left in the game after that work was finished. Because they are round, they roll easily and settle in the lowest point on a surface. That makes them more than just a cosmetic collectible: players can use them as a simple alignment aid when working on a perfectly flat area with the Terrain Tool in Flatten mode, since the ball will show the point closest to a planet’s core.

• Zebra Ball has white and black stripes wrapped around it in a zebra-like pattern.
• Checker Ball has a simple checkerboard pattern.
• Leopard Ball is covered in black spots of varying size in a leopard-like pattern.
• The balls can be useful for finding the lowest point on a flat platform or floor.
• Mini Zebra Balls exist as tier-1 sized versions of Zebra Ball and have only been seen in the SES: 005 blog so far.

Beach Ball is also related to the Gateway Portal platform in a few practical ways. Players do not consume Oxygen while standing on the Entrance Portal platform, but the Hydrazine Jet Pack and Solid-Fuel Jump Jet do not function there. In Creative Mode, players can teleport to the entrance portal and keep flying, but they cannot re-enable flight after landing. The Odd Stone in the center of the platform is not used for travel in the Gateway Fast Travel network.

Once all Gateway Engines have been activated across the seven planets, the player must bring a Geometric Triptych from each planet. Placing all seven triptychs into the correct slots activates the portal, which then allows interaction with the Odd Stone in the center and triggers the final scene and credits.