Playing Starfield Part 4: Upgrading Your Ship
These posts are all written after playing a lengthy session of Starfield. Often some of the points raised are clarified later. So, it would be remiss of me not to revise a comment I made previously about scanning when surveying a planet. It turns out that there is a surveying skill that you can invest points into that improve the efficiency of the process. Let it suffice to say that it does make things easier. Now that’s out of the way, I want to focus upon the necessity to replace your ship as soon as possible in Starfield. The Frontier, which is the first vessel you’re given access to in the game, has a lot of character but it doesn’t have much else. It is lacking in damage output and is therefore a bit of a liability in space combat, even after you’ve unlocked targeting in the skills tree. I therefore made it a priority to replace it as soon as possible.
There are three ship categories in Starfield. A, B and C. A is the default, B the intermediate class and C being the largest and most powerful vessels with the biggest cargo capacity. The categories are accessed via the piloting skill, and it requires 4 skill points to fully unlock. Upgrading your existing ship is the quick and easy way to improve your weapons, shields and engines. Highlighting any potential upgrade clearly shows if it offers any statistical improvements over your current item. Building is a more involved process where you can customise your ship in far more detail. However, each ship category has specific parameters, so you cannot add items indefinitely. Sometimes adding equipment means you have to relocate other items. You also have to consider how adding to your vessel affects overall power management. However, it is worth the time and effort as all the ships in the game have a very functional and industrial aesthetic. Like the Eagle transporters in Space: 1999 and the USCSS Nostromo from Alien.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that tinkering with your ship or buying a new one comes at a significant cost of credits. So if you are low on in-game funds, you can always play some specific missions that reward the player with a free new ship. Alternatively, you can steal them. So far, during planetary exploration, I have encountered three Crimson Fleet vessels that have landed for nefarious reasons. I subsequently boarded them, made my way to the cockpit, and killed the captain as well as the crew. I then claimed the ships. This is a good way to make money, but you must register a ship before selling it, so there’s a fee to be paid in advance that reduces your overall profit. However, it does not negate the value of this source of credits. Plus stealing “bad guy” ships does not upset the authorities. Another point to remember is that you can rename any of your ships. Go to the ship builder menu and you’ll find the rename option within the flight check window.
Don’t forget to assign crew members to your ship as each has skills that will buff specific systems. You can use your existing companions for this or go to a bar and recruit the local “scum and villainy”. These non-companion crew members must be paid. Remember, the bigger the ship the bigger the crew. My current ship requires seven and for some reason, when the ship is travelling, Vasco resides outside on the hull. As for the ship itself, it acts like a house, in so far as offering storage and research facilities. You can also decorate the interior by placing items on desks, shelves etc. However, this is a Bethesda game so it’s just as fiddly as in Skyrim. Personally, I advise decluttering your ship or else the crew and you will be forever knocking items on the floor. Finally, don’t forget to have a “look-see” around any new vessel. I found some weapons cases that came with it and they contained some fairly good gear.
