Starfield A Quick And Easy Start Guide

Starfield: A Quick and Easy Start Guide

Okay, space explorers! You’ve just jumped into the vast universe of Starfield, and it might feel a bit overwhelming at first. Don’t worry, that’s totally normal! This guide is here to help you get your bearings and start having fun without getting lost in all the details right away. We’ll break down the important stuff, so you can quickly move from a newbie to a space-faring pro. Let’s get started!

Character Creation: Your Space You

Before you even set foot on a planet, you’ll need to create your character. This is a big step, because this is the person you’ll be spending hours with in Starfield. Here’s a look at what to think about:

Choosing Your Background

Your background is like your character’s past life. It gives you three starting skills that will help you in different areas. Some good choices for beginners include:

• Combat Medic: This is great if you like shooting and staying healthy. You get skills in Medicine, Pistol Certification, and the ability to use a Shotgun.
• Bounty Hunter: If you see yourself as a bit of a lone wolf, this background is perfect. It includes skills in Piloting, Targeting Control Systems, and Boost Pack use.
• Diplomat: If you want to persuade your way out of trouble instead of fighting, you might like this one. It gives you skills in Persuasion, Commerce, and Wellness.
• Explorer: Want to explore and discover? This background gives you skills in Geology, Surveying, and Astrophysics.

Don’t stress too much about this choice. You can always improve other skills later in the game. It just gives you a head start in certain areas. Also you will pick traits too, we’ll discuss this below.

Selecting Your Traits

Traits are like extra personality quirks or bonuses that you give your character. Each one comes with both a positive and a negative effect. Here are a few to consider, keeping in mind the positive might come with a negative:

• Extrovert: You’re better when adventuring with companions, but struggle if you’re on your own.
• Introvert: You’re better on your own, but not so good when with companions.
• Taskmaster: Your crew is more effective in some cases, but costs more to keep them happy.

Take a moment to read each trait’s description carefully before you choose. You can pick up to three traits, but you don’t have to take any. You can always change these if you start a new game, so don’t overthink it too much the first time.

Appearance

Go wild with the character creator! You can change everything from hairstyles to eye color and tattoos. This is all about making your character look like who you want to be in Starfield.

Early Game: Getting Your Feet Wet

Okay, you’ve made your character, and now the real adventure begins. The start of Starfield has a pretty linear story path to help you grasp the basics, so follow it closely. Here’s what to expect in the first few hours.

The Mining Job

Your journey starts at a mining facility, where you’re doing a routine job. Pay attention to the tutorial prompts that pop up on your screen. They’ll teach you basic movement, how to use tools, and interact with the world around you. Here are a few key things:

• Scanning: Use your scanner to identify resources and items around you. This is super important for crafting and building.
• Mining: Use your laser tool to extract resources from the mineral deposits.
• Looting: Don’t forget to search containers and enemies for extra resources, weapons, or armor.

Meeting the Crew at Constellation

After finishing at the mining area, you will be brought to Constellation. This is where the main story really kicks off, and you will meet other characters who become part of the core story. Constellation is the major group of explorers and researchers you will be working with. These are a few of them:

• Sarah Morgan: The leader of the group, she is an explorer and historian.
• Sam Coe: A cowboy who is an adventurer who’s great with ships.
• Barrett: A quirky scientist who’s always up for experimenting.
• Andreja: A mysterious character with secrets.

You will begin to work with them, and they will help you explore the Settled Systems.

Understanding the User Interface (UI)

The user interface (or UI for short) is what you see on your screen – all the menus, bars, and numbers. It might look like a lot at first, but here are some of the main elements you’ll want to understand:

The Main HUD

• Health Bar: See this on the bottom right, and make sure to keep it full so you can stay in the fight. If it goes all the way down, you’ll have to load a recent save.
• Oxygen/CO2 Meter: Oxygen tells you how much air you have before you will suffer damage, and CO2 is your exhaustion meter.
• Compass/Mission Tracker: Located near the center of your screen, this is where you can see the main path you are on or other important information.

The Inventory Screen

This is where all your collected items are stored. You can access it from the menu. Here’s what you can do here:

• Weapons: Change what gun you have out and equipped.
• Apparel: Switch your spacesuit, helmet, or any other clothing.
• Aid: Use medical items to heal yourself, or other things to give you buffs.
• Resources: See all the items you collected.

The Menu System

The menu is where you find a ton of things in Starfield. Here are the main sections:

• Skills: Upgrade yourself using skill points and make your character more powerful.
• Quests: See the quests you are working on and which direction to go for them.
• Ship: Upgrade your ship to make it more powerful.
• Data: Read documents or listen to conversations you’ve collected.

Combat Basics

Starfield has a mix of gun combat and some melee attacks. Here’s how to get comfortable in a fight:

Aiming and Shooting

• Use cover: Hiding behind objects can help you avoid getting shot.
• Aim for the head: Headshots usually do extra damage to enemies.
• Use different weapons: Experiment to see what you are comfortable using in combat.

Using Your Boost Pack

Your boost pack can help you move quicker and gain extra height. It can be extremely helpful to maneuver in fights:

• Short Bursts: Use short bursts to quickly move between locations.
• Combine with Jumping: Jump and boost to get over obstacles.
• Evading Attacks: Boost to dodge incoming fire and reposition yourself.

Healing During Combat

In Starfield, you have to manually heal yourself by using Aid items you have collected. Here are a few of them:

• Med Packs: The basic item to heal damage.
• Trauma Packs: A more powerful healing item.
• Other Aids: Various other items can give you other effects.

Use them at smart times, if you are taking a lot of damage, don’t hesitate to heal.

Exploring the Settled Systems

Starfield has multiple different planets and star systems you can explore. Here’s what you need to know to get around:

Grav Jumping

To travel between star systems, you’ll use something called a Grav Jump. To do this, you’ll need a ship with a Grav Drive and enough fuel, and can open the starmap and plot a course.

Landing on Planets

Once you reach a planet, you can pick a landing spot from the map. Some of these will be specific quest areas, and others can be selected to allow for free exploration.

Scanning Planets

Once you’re on a planet, use your scanner to collect data on all the different resources, plants, animals, and other locations. This is essential for resource collection, crafting, and understanding your surroundings.

Building and Crafting

Starfield allows you to build outposts and craft a lot of different items. This is crucial for progressing through the game effectively.

Outposts

Outposts let you create bases of operations across the galaxy. Here are some basics you need to know:

• Resources: Gather resources and then deposit them into storage.
• Build Habitats: Build habs for your crew to live in.
• Build Stations: Create other stations to help with mining and production.

Crafting Items

Using the resources you collected, you can craft new weapons, armor, and aid items. Here are some basics:

• Workbenches: Use different workbenches to craft different items.
• Research Projects: Research new crafting recipes to get better items.

Ship Combat and Customization

Your ship is your home in Starfield. Here’s how you can keep it safe and efficient, and how to customize it:

Space Combat

Ship battles are fast paced and require a bit of practice. Here’s how to get a grasp on them:

• Lock Onto Targets: Use the lock on feature to target ships.
• Use Thrusters: Use the thrusters to move and evade incoming fire.
• Shields: Make sure your shields are up to avoid taking damage.

Upgrading Your Ship

Visit a ship services location to change parts of your ship. Here’s what you can improve:

• Engines: Get better engines to increase your ship’s speed and mobility.
• Weapons: Upgrade your guns to do more damage.
• Shields: Increase your shield capacity to take more damage.

Ship Customization

You can also customize the look of your ship with different paint jobs and modules.

Tips for a Smooth Start

Here are some quick tips to help you do well in the early game:

• Do Main Quests: The main quests will teach you a lot about the game mechanics.
• Explore: Go to the different planets and locations to get resources and experience.
• Talk to NPCs: Talking to Non-Player Characters will give you quests and information.
• Manage Your Inventory: Keep your inventory organized and sell what you don’t need.

With these guidelines, you’re well on your way to becoming a spacefaring pro in Starfield. Remember to explore, experiment, and most importantly, have fun! The universe is vast, and there are plenty of adventures waiting for you.