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Starfield art spaceship

A ship landing on an alien world

A ship, also called a spaceship or a starship, is the primary means of interplanetary and interstellar transportation in Starfield.

Overview[]

Starfield ship jumping

A ship making a jump

In Starfield, all ships are equipped with a Grav Drive, a device that enables faster-than-light jumping and facilitates rapid travel between stars and planets. Ships are also capable of ground-to-space travel, so travelers can board a ship on a terrestrial planet, fly to space, and jump to another star system all with a single vehicle.

Due to the prevalence of criminal and radical organizations such as the Crimson Fleet, Ecliptic, and Va'ruun Zealots, space travel can be dangerous even in highly-secured systems such as the United Colonies capital system of Alpha Centauri. To defend themselves from attacks, or carry out attacks themselves, ships can be equipped with various types of weapons and shield generators.

Ships can be acquired as quest rewards, can be bought in spaceports and shipyards, and they can be captured in space or on planets. Captured ships require a registration fee to be paid.

Piloting[]

Ships can be piloted from a first-person or third-person perspective when the Spacefarer is seated in the cockpit.

Power Allocation[]

A ship's reactor determines how much power it has available to run its various systems. The Spacefarer must determine how this finite amount of power is distributed through power allocation. Power allocation options include:

  • W0: 1st weapon system
  • W1: 2nd weapon system
  • W2: 3rd weapon system
  • ENG: Engines
  • SHD: Shields
  • GRV: Grav Drive

Power allocation can be changed on the fly as desired. When no power is allocated to a system, it will not function. Conversely, when a system is receiving the maximum amount of power it can handle, it will exhibit superior performance. The maximum limit of a system depends on the quality of the module installed, so some modules may require more power than others to perform to their full potential.

Since available power is limited, situations may arise where the Spacefarer might prefer to increase power to some systems at the expense of others. For example, a ship's Grav Drive serves little purpose in combat except to allow the ship to escape the area. So, power can be diverted from there to other systems, such as weapons for greater offensive firepower or shields for more resilience against enemy attacks.

Ship Crew[]

NPCs can be assigned to crew the Spacefarer's ship provided it has sufficient crew capacity. Crew capacity can be increased by adding more Hab modules to a ship. Crewmates assist in managing the vessel, or can be brought along for ground missions.

Constellation's members can be staffed as crew. Other potential crewmates can be hired at spaceports or found on missions. Crew members have skills, and these skills make them better at certain functions. The player can also opt to send the crew to outposts instead of ships.[1]

Ship Class[]

The Spacefarer's ability to pilot a ship depends on their rank in the Piloting Skill and the reactor class of a ship. At ranks 1 and 2, the Spacefarer is restricted to Class A ships, which are small and boast exceptional speed yet limited firepower. Rank 3 grants the ability to pilot mid-size Class B ships, which balance speed and firepower, and rank 4 grants the ability to pilot lumbering Class C ships, which are usually slow but can wield the most powerful weapons. Capital ships, designated Class M, cannot be piloted.

Boarding and Capturing[]

NPC ships can be boarded and captured. In space, this is accomplished by disabling the target ship's engines, then approaching to within 500 meters and docking. Eliminate all NPC crew inside the ship, then take control of it by sitting in the pilot's seat in the cockpit. Once the ship is under control, it can be registered for a fee based on its overall value, or flown to a spaceport and stored indefinitely without registering it. Note that registering a ship is required in order to edit it in the ship builder interface or sell it to a ship vendor.

When on a planet's surface, the Spacefarer can walk to a landed ship and board it through its bay entrance, avoiding the need to disable it. Once inside, the landed ship can be captured the same way as a ship in space. Be aware that a landed ship may launch into the planet's orbit with the Spacefarer inside it, but this does not affect the Spacefarer's ability to capture it.

Ship Customization[]

Main article: Ship Customization

The Spacefarer can own multiple ships and customize them through ship technicians, who are found at spaceports. Some customization options may require certain Skills to install. The Spacefarer's starting ship is the Frontier.

Ship Models[]

Main article: Category:Ships

There is a wide variety of ship models, some of which are specific to certain factions. Most generic NPC ships lack unique names, but occasionally they may be distinguished by a numeral II, III, or IV, e.g. "Crimson Fleet Ghost IV" and "Spacer Coyote III", which indicates an upgraded version of the base ship. While the Spacefarer can assemble custom ships as desired, and some NPCs have unique ships, most ship models are products of the five main staryard corporations:

The Spacefarer can obtain different ship models by purchasing them from vendors such as Ship Services Technicians, or by boarding and capturing them. A few missions also offer unique ships as rewards.

Notes[]

  • To be precise, a “spaceship” is any crewed vessel that can travel in space, while a “starship” is a spaceship that can travel from one star to another. Technically speaking, all Grav Drive-equipped ships in Starfield qualify as starships, although the terms spaceship and starship appear to be used interchangeably within the game.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Bethesda Softworks via Youtube. Starfield Direct -Gamplay Deep Dive. Uploaded 11 June 2023.
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