Starfield Basic Strategy For Good Start

Starting in Starfield requires you to prioritize early quests, quickly upgrade your ship, and invest in skills that boost combat and scavenging.

Jumping into a vast universe like Starfield can feel overwhelming, right? Everyone wants a smooth beginning, and a proper plan definitely helps with that. Following a Starfield basic strategy for good start makes a huge difference in your initial hours. Focus on understanding core mechanics and building your character to enjoy the game’s exploration.

Starfield Basic Strategy for a Good Start

So, you’ve finally jumped into the vast universe of Starfield! It’s an exciting place, but it can also feel a little overwhelming at first. Don’t worry, everyone feels that way. This guide will help you get a solid start, like a rocket blasting off the launchpad perfectly. We’ll talk about the things you should do early on to make your adventure easier and more fun.

Choosing Your Background and Traits

The first big choice you make in Starfield is about your character. It’s like picking what kind of hero you want to be. You’ll select a background and up to three traits. These choices aren’t permanent, but they do affect how your adventure starts. Let’s break these down:

Understanding Backgrounds

Your background is like your past job. It gives you three starting skills. These skills make some tasks easier at the start of your game. They give you a little leg up in specific areas.

Combat-Focused Backgrounds: Like the “Bounty Hunter,” these backgrounds give you a better start in fighting. You’ll be good at shooting and taking down enemies. This can be very useful if you think you’ll be doing a lot of fighting.
Exploration-Focused Backgrounds: Backgrounds like the “Explorer” help you with things like scanning planets and understanding alien life. If you like exploring, this will be great for you.
Social-Focused Backgrounds: Backgrounds like the “Diplomat” are good if you like talking your way out of things. You’ll have skills in talking and persuading people. This means you can get through some situations without fighting.
Other Backgrounds: There are also backgrounds focused on building and crafting, or even stealing. Each one offers something different, so pick what sounds most fun!

Don’t worry too much about picking the ‘perfect’ background. You can still become good at anything, no matter your starting skills. It just makes certain things a bit easier at first.

Understanding Traits

Traits are like little extra abilities or quirks about your character. You can pick up to three. Some can make the game harder, but they give you a bonus. Others might make things easier, but with a small drawback.

Positive Traits: Some traits give you more health, better crafting abilities, or even make you better with certain factions.
Negative Traits: Some traits give you a slight challenge. For example, one might give you extra money from your parents, but they check in on you often!
Combined Traits: Some traits come with both a positive and negative effect, and these can add flavor to your gameplay.

Read the descriptions of the traits carefully! Some are much better suited for certain styles of play, or for specific difficulty settings. The “Kid Stuff” trait, for example, is more involved than others, so it might not be ideal for new players, while the “Introvert” trait can be great if you don’t like companions.

Early Game Mission Focus

Once you’re in the game, you won’t be short on things to do. But at the beginning, it’s helpful to focus on the main story missions. The story will guide you through many of the game’s features and locations.

Follow the Main Questline

The main story questline is the fastest way to learn about the universe, gain levels, meet companions, and acquire useful items. Early quests will also show you how to do important things in the game, such as:

Mining: Learning how to extract resources from planets and asteroids.
Combat: Getting familiar with guns and fighting.
Ship Travel: How to fly and use your spaceship.
Crafting: Learning to make different things.
Building: Starting small outposts.

The early main story missions are like a tutorial that doesn’t feel like a tutorial! It gently shows you the ropes, giving you enough time to get comfy.

Don’t Rush Things

While it’s good to follow the main quest, don’t rush through it! Make sure to explore each location and talk to all the characters. This helps you gather extra experience, and learn more about the game’s world.

Resource Gathering and Inventory Management

In Starfield, resources are everywhere, and you will constantly be needing them. Understanding where to get them and how to manage them is very important. Good inventory management will avoid you spending too much time digging through all of your equipment.

Scanning Planets and Resource Deposits

Every planet has different resources available. It’s important to scan planets to figure out what materials are found there. These resources can be used in crafting, building outposts and selling for profit.

Planet Scanning: Pull out your scanner and aim it at the planet from your ship. This reveals the resources that can be found on the surface.
Surface Scanning: Once on a planet, walk around with the scanner equipped. It will highlight resources as you find them.
Resource Types: Resources can range from simple minerals like iron to more complex materials needed for advanced crafting.

The Importance of Mining and Harvesting

Early on, mining and harvesting are some of the best ways to obtain resources. You will need an item called the mining laser, so make sure to pick this up during your initial story quests.

Mining: Locate resource veins on the surface of the planet. Equip your mining laser and hold down the right mouse button to extract resources from veins.
Harvesting: Search out plant life and other organic materials which you can collect directly from the surface.
Be Thorough: It’s very useful to collect as much as you can from each place you visit, even if you think you don’t need it all.

Inventory Management Tips

Your inventory fills up quickly in Starfield. Knowing how to manage it can save you time and frustration. Here are a few tips to help you.

Use Storage: Store your items in containers inside your ship or at settlements.
Weight Matters: Pay attention to the weight of each item. Heavier items slow you down.
Drop Unneeded Items: Items that you think you won’t need, drop them. This will be better than being over-encumbered.
Sell Unused Items: Visit vendors in cities, and sell the items that you don’t need anymore.

Ship Management and Combat

Your spaceship is your home in Starfield. It’s important to understand how to use it and manage its systems effectively. It’s also essential to become competent in ship combat to survive in space.

Understanding Ship Systems

Your ship has different systems that are important for moving, fighting, and maintaining it. It’s essential to have some familiarity with those systems as you improve your ship.

Weapons: You will need to understand your ships’ different weapon types (lasers, missiles, etc.) and when to use them.
Shields: Make sure you are familiar with your shield power, as this protects you from enemy fire.
Grav Drive: The grav drive is how your ship travels between systems and the fuel that comes with it is used to make jumps.
Engine: Your engine controls your overall movement and speed, so learn how to manage that effectively.

Basic Ship Combat

Ship combat is a common part of Starfield. The beginning battles might feel a bit tricky, so here are a few things to keep in mind:

Targeting: Get used to targetting enemy ships, make sure you always focus on a single enemy rather than changing between ships.
Movement: Use your ship’s boosters to move quickly and dodge enemy fire.
Shield Management: If you’re taking too much damage, use your shield energy to help stay alive.
Weapon Types: Try different weapon types to see what works best against different enemies.

Ship Upgrades and Customization

As you gather resources and earn money, make sure to upgrade your ship! Upgrading your ship makes a huge difference when dealing with more dangerous enemies and locations.

Visit Ship Technicians: Visit ship service technicians at spaceports to upgrade parts.
New Parts: You can buy new weapons, shields, engines, and other components.
Customization: Change the paint job of your ship for something more to your liking, if you desire to do so.

Understanding Factions and Reputation

Starfield has multiple factions, which are like groups of people who live together. Each faction has their own goals and ideas. It is beneficial for the player to understand these, so that they can develop relationships with them.

The Importance of Factions

Factions in Starfield can offer you unique quests, items, and opportunities. You can either support one faction, multiple factions, or even be hated by most if you wish. Here’s why they’re important:

Quests: Factions give you unique quests that can lead to big rewards.
Relationships: How you interact with factions can change the way they see you. You can become their best friend, or their worst enemy.
Rewards: Some factions offer special rewards, like unique weapons or armor.

How to Gain Reputation

Your reputation with factions changes based on your actions. Talking to them, completing quests for them, or even attacking their enemies will alter their opinion of you.

Completing Missions: Doing quests for a faction will help you gain reputation.
Dialogue Choices: Your dialogue choices with faction members can also impact their reputation of you.
Fighting Enemies: Fighting alongside a faction will lead to a better relationship with them, and fighting against a faction will do the opposite.

Choosing Your Faction Path

You don’t have to choose a side right away. You can explore each of the main factions and see what they offer. You can also go through the game without joining any major factions, but this would make the game significantly more difficult.

Exploring Planets and Discoveries

Exploring the many planets of Starfield is a crucial part of the adventure. Each planet has different resources, alien life, and places to find!

Scanning and Planet Surveys

It’s important to use your scanner often to find interesting locations and resources on planets. Scanning all of the animals, plants, and minerals on a planet will allow you to complete a planet survey, rewarding you with experience and money.

Scanning Flora: Find and scan all of the different plants on the planet surface.
Scanning Fauna: Find and scan all of the different animals on the planet surface.
Mineral Deposits: Find and scan all of the different minerals that can be mined on the planet.

Finding Points of Interest

On each planet, there are several different locations to explore. These could be abandoned buildings, resource deposits, or even unique locations. Each of these will have a chance to contain valuable loot or even more content.

Abandoned Structures: Search through abandoned places for equipment, resources, and lore.
Resource Deposits: Discover new places to collect valuable materials.
Unique Locations: These could contain secrets or rare items, so don’t hesitate to explore them.

Dealing with Hostile Fauna

Not every creature on the planets of Starfield is friendly! Be prepared to deal with dangerous animals that will sometimes attack you.

Stay Vigilant: Pay attention to your surroundings, and be prepared to defend yourself from attacking creatures.
Choose Your Battles: Some creatures are far too powerful for an early character to defeat, so it might be better to run away instead of engaging in combat.
Study Enemy Weaknesses: Try different weapon types and tactics to find the best way to defeat each creature type.

Skill Progression and Leveling Up

As you progress through Starfield, you’ll earn experience, which will help you level up. Leveling up allows you to pick new skills, which improve your abilities.

Understanding Skill Trees

Skills in Starfield are divided into 5 trees. This allows you to pick the specific skills that you wish to specialize in. These trees are Physical, Social, Combat, Science, and Tech.

Physical Skills: Improves physical abilities such as stealth and carrying weight.
Social Skills: Improves social interactions and dialogue choices.
Combat Skills: Improves combat abilities with weapons and ship combat.
Science Skills: Improves ability to scan planets, craft items and build outposts.
Tech Skills: Improves ability to modify equipment and pilot ships.

How to Choose Skills

Choosing the skills you focus on at the beginning is very important, as they will affect your gameplay. Pick the skills that align with your overall play style.

Focus on Your Strengths: If you enjoy combat, prioritize combat skills. If you enjoy building, prioritize science skills, and so on.
Pick Early Skills: It’s important to start with skills that will help you in the early game.
Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment: You can always change your focus, so experiment with a few different skills to see what you enjoy.

Skill Challenges

To fully unlock all of the tiers in a particular skill, you will need to complete challenges, so it’s important to be aware of those.

Pay Attention to Challenges: Check the skill challenges to see what actions you need to perform to fully unlock each skill.
Plan Ahead: It’s usually best to plan your skills in advance, so you can get the full benefit from them.

Starting strong in Starfield is all about being smart with your choices from the very beginning. By understanding the importance of backgrounds, traits, missions, resource management, ship combat, faction reputation, exploring and skill progression, you will be set up for a fun and successful adventure.

Starfield: 15 Essential Tips and Tricks

Final Thoughts

Focus on the main quest early. Completing it awards crucial gear and experience, aiding your progression. Resource management matters, so prioritize collecting materials while exploring.

Engage with factions to gain reputation and unique rewards. This helps in gaining access to better equipment. Don’t neglect side quests, which provide valuable experience.

In essence, completing main missions, gathering materials, faction engagement and side quests are part of ‘Starfield basic strategy for good start’. Use these tips for a smooth journey into the vast space of Starfield.