Complete Guide to Spaceships in Starfield

Spaceships are the backbone of your Starfield journey, offering a diverse range of functionality—from exploration and cargo hauling to dogfighting and smuggling. This comprehensive guide will walk you through every aspect of spaceship mechanics, including acquiring, customizing, upgrading, and optimizing your vessel to match your playstyle.

Getting Your First Ship

Early in the game, you’ll receive the Frontier, a starter-class ship. It’s reliable but basic—perfect for learning the ropes. As you progress, upgrading or replacing it becomes essential to handle more advanced systems, longer jumps, and tougher enemies.

Why Spaceships Matter

Ships are more than just transportation—they impact nearly every major system in the game:

✈️ Travel: Reach distant star systems and planets.
📦 Cargo: Store loot, materials, and mission-critical items.
💥 Combat: Engage hostile ships and defend against pirates.
🛠 Customization: Tailor performance and aesthetics to suit your goals.

Your ship’s functionality is closely tied to your character’s skills, particularly those in the Tech, Science, and Social trees.

Key Skills for Spaceflight Mastery

Invest in these skills to enhance ship efficiency and unlock powerful upgrades:

Piloting: Enables handling of advanced ship classes.
Starship Design: Grants access to high-quality ship modules.
Astrodynamics (Science): Increases Grav Drive jump range.
Payloads (Tech): Boosts cargo capacity.
Deception (Social): Lowers contraband scan detection rates—crucial for smugglers.

Acquiring and Managing Ships

Every major settlement has a Ship Services Technician, who can:

🔧 Repair: Fix hull damage after tough fights.
⬆️ Upgrade: Improve weapons, shields, grav drives, and more.
💰 Buy/Sell: Purchase new ships or sell those you no longer use.

Alternative Acquisition Methods

Steal: Board enemy ships, kill the crew, and claim the vessel.
Find: Discover derelict or hidden ships during exploration.
Commandeering: Disable enemy ships mid-combat and take control.

⚠️ Note: Stolen ships must be registered before sale, which incurs a fee and lowers resale profit.

Upgrading Ships

Upgrades allow you to improve your ship without building a new one. Prioritize upgrades based on your goals:

Weapons: Deal more damage or diversify attack types.
Shields: Absorb more incoming fire.
Engines: Increase speed and maneuverability.
Grav Drives: Enable longer interstellar jumps.
Reactors: Supply more power to support advanced systems.

More powerful reactors = more energy distribution = better performance in battle.

Shipbuilding 101

The Ship Builder menu allows deep customization and full-scale design. To construct a working vessel, you need the following core modules:

Essential Components

Reactor: Powers the entire ship.
Grav Drive: Enables long-distance jumps.
Fuel Tanks: Supply the Grav Drive.
Cockpit: Pilot interface.
Landing Gear: Required for planetary landings.
Docking Bay: Enables station or ship docking.

Customization & Layout

Add structural pieces for design flair.
Install cargo bays to boost storage.
Expand crew capacity with hab modules.

Use the Flight Check feature to ensure your design meets basic flight requirements. Errors must be fixed; warnings (e.g., no shield system) are optional but risky.

Weapon Groups & Combat Readiness

Ships can equip up to three weapon groups. Organize weapons based on function:

Lasers: Effective against shields.
Ballistics: Ideal for hull damage.
EM Weapons: Disable systems and allow for boarding.

Assign weapon groups strategically in the builder to optimize combat flexibility.

Advanced Ship Stats to Monitor

🛡 Shield Strength: How much energy your shields can absorb.
💠 Hull Integrity: Your ship’s overall durability.
📦 Cargo Capacity: Storage for materials, gear, and contraband.
🚀 Jump Range: How far your ship can Grav Jump.
🎯 Mobility: A mix of engine power and ship mass—affects maneuvering and speed.

Larger ships require multiple landing gears—don’t forget to install them.

Smuggling & Cargo Management

Contraband and valuable loot require thoughtful handling:

Managing Legal Cargo

Access your cargo from the ship menu or directly through crafting stations.
Use “Store All Resources” for fast offloading of crafting materials.

Smuggling Tips

Equip Shielded Cargo Holds to reduce detection.
Level up the Deception skill to pass scans undetected.
Always scan planets before landing if you’re carrying illegal goods—getting caught can result in fines or arrest.

Spaceship Combat Essentials

Starfield’s space combat is skill-based and strategic:

Use lasers first to break shields.
Follow up with ballistics to damage the hull.
Employ EM weapons if you want to board and claim enemy ships.
Keep an eye on power distribution—divert energy where it’s needed most.

🛠 Use Ship Repair Kits during battle to restore hull integrity and avoid explosive ends.

Crew Management

Recruit crew members or assign companions to ships for passive skill bonuses.

Crew Benefits:

Crew skills can compensate for your character’s weaknesses.
Assign them via the Crew Menu and they’ll automatically contribute when on board.

Final Thoughts

Spaceships in Starfield offer a robust, customizable experience whether you’re a trader, bounty hunter, explorer, or pirate. Between deep customization, layered upgrade systems, and space combat strategy, mastering your vessel is key to dominating the stars.

✨ What’s your favorite ship design or strategy? Drop it in the comments! For more Starfield tips and deep-dive guides, make sure to follow, subscribe, or check out our full ship-building breakdowns.

Happy flying, Captain. 🪐