*It says Z.A.S.A. on his suit, which is a play on the space program [[wikipedia:NASA|NASA]], or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
*It says Z.A.S.A. on his suit, which is a play on the space program [[wikipedia:NASA|NASA]], or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
*His damage output was increased in the [[Legends of the Lawn DLC]].
*His damage output was increased in the [[Legends of the Lawn DLC]].
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*For some weird reason in [[Garden Ops]], the Astronauts (if encountered normally) are seen wearing the science channel hats.
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**It would make sense for them to wear science channel hats in the "Sci-Fi Action Theatre" special wave, for theme-wise.
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**However if encountered normally in waves 9 or 10 in [[Crazy Mode|CRAZY]] mode or in the "For Science" special wave, the Astronauts are still seen wearing the science channel hats.
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***In ''Garden Warfare 2'', the Astronauts look back to normal, though.
*For some reason, in pictures of him, he wears both glasses and a space helmet, but in the actual game, it is actually impossible to customize him that way, as no glasses will appear in the helmet on the default. However, '''taking off the helmet''' gives him the glasses back, so it is peculiar.
*For some reason, in pictures of him, he wears both glasses and a space helmet, but in the actual game, it is actually impossible to customize him that way, as no glasses will appear in the helmet on the default. However, '''taking off the helmet''' gives him the glasses back, so it is peculiar.
**Also the glasses resemble Physicist's glasses, hence the picture of Physicist on the "Astronaut Glasses" accessory in the accessories menu.
**Also the glasses resemble Physicist's glasses, hence the picture of Physicist on the "Astronaut Glasses" accessory in the accessories menu.
The Astronaut Zombie claims that there is a secret Lunar Suburbia on the dark side of the moon - a place perfect for Zombie plundering. None of the other Zombies believe him.
In-game description
His fully automatic Moon Rock Launcher deals rapid-fire direct damage!
His primary weapon is the Moon Rock Launcher, launching a single moon rock when fired. Due to this weapon being fully automatic, it fires at an ultra fast speed and has a significantly increased ammo capacity. It deals 17 impact damage and 19 critical damage long range or 18 impact damage and 22 critical damage short/mid range. The Moon Rock Launcher can be effective at mid-range, but its slow launch speed makes it difficult to hit moving targets. Therefore, the Astronaut has trouble taking down Garlic Drones.
An alternate ability of Sticky Explody Ball, Mega Heal Bomb is a huge ball like the Sticky Explody Ball with a bigger radius. Heals all zombies in its radius by 50 health.
An alternate ability of Warp, Energy Warp allows the Scientist to transform into pure energy (he is invincible in this state). The Scientist is able to travel freely but cannot jump or attack. It also gains a small speed boost.
An alternate ability of Zombie Heal Station, Armored Heal Station heals at a slower rate than the Zombie Health Station, and self-destructs the same time as the Zombie Heal Station. Its incredible size allows players to jump on it to get to most buildings.
The Heal Beam of Science is the Scientist's first activatable ability. Similar to Heal Beam, it will heal any zombie targeted by it, healing faster the closer the Scientist is to the healed target.
An alternate ability of Zombie Heal Station, Armored Heal Station heals at a slower rate than the Zombie Health Station, and self-destructs the same time as the Zombie Heal Station. Its incredible size allows players to jump on it to get to most buildings.
An alternate ability of Warp, Energy Warp allows the Scientist to transform into pure energy (he is invincible in this state). The Scientist is able to travel freely but cannot jump or attack. It also gains a small speed boost.
An alternate ability of Sticky Explody Ball, Mega Heal Bomb is a huge ball like the Sticky Explody Ball with a bigger radius. Heals all zombies in its radius by 50 health.
Weapon upgrades
Airtight Reload Matrix
The Airtight Reload Matrix can reload faster even when not in Zero-G.
Moon Rock Capacity Booster
It's simple really. By storing more Moon Rocks the ammo capacity increases.
Less Crumbly Moon Rocks
By hand picking some of the Less Crumbly Moon Rocks the damage output has increased.
Strategies
This Scientist is one out of two that are able to reliably hit long range targets (the other one being the Paleontologist), making him ideal for players who prefer not to engage in close range combat. The projectile weapon nature of the Astronaut's primary weapon encourages players to stay away from close range combat and instead attack plants at mid and long range. He is particularly useful for taking down most variants with 100 health, such as the Sunflower variants (excluding Metal Petal), most Rose variants, Agent Pea and Hot Rod Chomper (unless he has a health upgrade). The ability to attack plants at long range without much damage fall-off gives this variant something that most Scientists do not have; the ability to fight back against, for example, a Cactus at long range.
The Astronaut is well-geared for mid range combat and is also hazardous at long range, its automatic firing (this is one of the three Scientists whose weapons are fully automatic, with others being the Zoologist and Dr. Chester) makes hitting moving targets easier but since the projectiles take some time to reach their destination, Garlic Drones and Artichoke Drones will in particular be hard to deal with since if the operator is skilled enough, he can dodge your shots while retaliating with little threat of being shot down. As such, leave drones to your teammates, if a drone starts chasing you exclusively, your best option might be to run away and hide (as shooting back is hard unless you are good at leading your shots), even if you cannot escape, you still have the option to fight back.
If you like to play it really defensively (by staying back and healing teammates while attempting to avoid combat altogether), this variant is good for that particular purpose since even if you try to stay out of harm's way, you can still help your team by attacking plants at long range. For maximum healing power, the following loadout is recommended:
This loadout gives you two ways to heal teammates as well as a method of getting out of bad situations but makes you unable to deal damage in any other way other than your primary weapon.
This is the only Scientist variant that is listed as Long Range in the Stickerbook.
The Moon Rock Launcher is primarily a projectile weapon and not a close-range spray weapon, unlike most other Scientists' primary weapons (most other Scientists release a small long-range projectile as well as the close-range spray when they fire).
It says Z.A.S.A. on his suit, which is a play on the space program NASA, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
For some weird reason in Garden Ops, the Astronauts (if encountered normally) are seen wearing the science channel hats.
It would make sense for them to wear science channel hats in the "Sci-Fi Action Theatre" special wave, for theme-wise.
However if encountered normally in waves 9 or 10 in CRAZY mode or in the "For Science" special wave, the Astronauts are still seen wearing the science channel hats.
In Garden Warfare 2, the Astronauts look back to normal, though.
For some reason, in pictures of him, he wears both glasses and a space helmet, but in the actual game, it is actually impossible to customize him that way, as no glasses will appear in the helmet on the default. However, taking off the helmet gives him the glasses back, so it is peculiar.
Also the glasses resemble Physicist's glasses, hence the picture of Physicist on the "Astronaut Glasses" accessory in the accessories menu.
Originally, he could wear the glasses inside the helmet, including other accessories and even beards. However, this was removed in the Garden Variety DLC.
This is also shared with the Moto-X Star, who has goggles that are not shown due to his helmet.
His Stickerbook entry is somewhat coincidental, as in Garden Warfare 2 there is actually a Herbal Assault map called Moon Base Z, and another gamemode-exclusive map called Lunar Landing, both of which are located on the Moon.
His HUD image in Garden Warfare 2 has the head of the regular Scientist instead of the Astronaut's head, because he was not added in the Graveyard Variety Pack DLC, while the other variant's heads were.