[Spoilers] The Definitive Post on Infection Game Mechanics Discussion spoiler
The ideal time to secure many wrecks is while you are not infected, because warpers will not be aggressive. During a recent hardcore playthrough, I managed explore most of the map without infection, but then, while casually grabbing quartz in the grassy plateaus, my PDA advised a self-scan. I wasn't bitten by anything, and couldn't identify any real reason. I needed answers - specific answers.
Searching the internet yields a lot of extremely bad information. Lore-wise yes I'm sure "YoU WeRE inFEctED thE MomENt yOU JumPEd iN thE WAteR". But it's simply not true in terms of gameplay mechanics. The lack of definitive information regarding infection mechanics was frustrating. So I set out to determine exactly what causes infection, and only the game itself had that information so I cracked open the assembly and looked under the hood.
Things that will result in infection: