Starfield Beginner Guide: Your First Steps

Starfield Beginner Guide

So you’ve just jumped into the vast universe of Starfield, huh? It can feel a little overwhelming at first, with so much to see and do. Don’t worry; everyone feels like that when they first start! This guide is your friendly roadmap to help you get comfortable with the game and start exploring like a pro. We’ll go over everything you need to know, from making your character to flying your spaceship and fighting space pirates. Let’s get started!

Character Creation: Setting the Stage

Before you even see the stars, you get to make your character. This is super important because it determines how your adventure will unfold. You get to choose how you look, pick your background, and choose traits that give you special abilities and disadvantages. Let’s break it down:

Choosing Your Appearance

This part is all about making your character look the way you want. You can change things like:

• Face Shape: Make your face round, square, long, or whatever you like!
• Hairstyle and Hair Color: Go for a short buzz cut, long braids, or anything in between. Pick a color that suits you, too.
• Eyes, Nose, and Mouth: Tweak these features until they’re just right.
• Skin Tone: Select from a variety of skin tones to match your style.
• Body Type: Choose a body type that fits your image.

Take your time with this part. You’ll be seeing this character a lot!

Selecting Your Background

Your background is like a starting job or hobby that affects your skills. It gives you a boost in certain abilities, like:

• Combat Skills: Good for people who want to fight a lot.
• Social Skills: Helpful for talking your way out of trouble or getting better prices.
• Science Skills: Great for crafting and exploration.
• Tech Skills: Useful for upgrading your ship and equipment.

Think about the type of player you want to be. Do you want to be a smooth-talking diplomat or a fearless space warrior? Your background will nudge you in that direction.

Picking Your Traits

Traits are like special perks, but they come with a downside. You get to pick a few, and they do things like give you better health or make you an expert with a specific type of weapon. But they also come with challenges, like lowering your stamina or causing more damage from certain enemies. Look at your traits carefully because they can change how you play the game. Here are some examples:

• Extrovert: You’re better when you have a companion, but worse when you’re alone.
• Taskmaster: Get more healing from healing items, but are more prone to the negative effects of some status effects.
• Kid Stuff: You send money back to your parents on Earth.

Make choices that feel fun and interesting to you. It’s okay to make mistakes. You can always change things in later playthroughs!

Understanding the User Interface (UI)

Okay, you’ve got your character all set up. Now it’s time to learn what’s on your screen. This is called the User Interface or UI. The UI gives you all the important information you need, from your health bar to your inventory. Let’s take a look at some key elements:

The Main HUD (Heads-Up Display)

The main HUD is everything you see while playing. Here’s what to look for:

• Health Bar: This shows how much health your character has. If it hits zero, you’re in trouble!
• Shield Bar: This shows how much your character’s shield can take before health damage.
• Stamina Bar: This shows how much energy you have for running and melee attacks.
• Compass/Mini-Map: This helps you navigate the world.
• Quest Tracker: This tells you what to do next in the game.

Keep an eye on these things while you play. They give you important clues about your character and your surroundings.

The Inventory Screen

This is where you keep all the stuff you collect in the game, like weapons, armor, food, and crafting materials. Here’s what you can do in your inventory:

• View Items: See everything you’ve picked up.
• Equip Items: Put on weapons and armor so you can use them.
• Consume Items: Eat food and use healing items to recover health.
• Drop Items: Get rid of things you don’t want. Be careful not to drop things you might need!
• Craft Items: use raw materials to make new stuff.

Your inventory is like your backpack. Keep it organized and check it often to see what you have.

The Map

This is where you can explore the planets and see what’s around you. The map has different levels. You can use:

• Local Map: shows you the area that you are in
• Planet Map: Shows you the details of an entire planet.
• Star Map: This lets you travel between different star systems.

Use the map to find new places and plan your adventures. You can see important locations, quest markers, and other points of interest.

Basic Gameplay Mechanics

Now, let’s talk about how to actually play the game. Here are some core mechanics you need to know:

Movement and Exploration

Moving around in Starfield is pretty straightforward. You use the joystick or keyboard keys to walk, run, and jump. Here are some important things to remember:

• Running: Hold the run button to move faster, but be careful because your stamina will drain.
• Jumping: Press the jump button to jump over obstacles.
• Crouching: Press the crouch button to move silently. You can also hide behind obstacles.
• Scanning: Your scanner will show you all kinds of things like plants and resource deposits.

Explore every nook and cranny. You’ll find hidden treasures and resources if you look closely.

Combat: Fighting the Good Fight

Combat is an important part of Starfield. Here are some tips to help you win battles:

• Weapon Types: There are different types of guns, like pistols, rifles, and shotguns. Each has its own way of fighting.
• Aiming: Practice aiming for headshots to do more damage.
• Cover: Use objects like rocks and walls to protect yourself from enemy fire.
• Reloading: Make sure to reload your gun often, especially when you have a lot of enemies nearby.
• Healing: Use healing items to stay alive.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different weapons and tactics to find what works best for you.

Inventory Management

Your inventory is the place where all your stuff sits, and it’s important to keep it in check. You can find resources, weapons, outfits, and other items. You should do the following things:

• Organize your inventory: Sort your items so you can find them easily.
• Upgrade your inventory: Buy upgrades from shops so you can carry more stuff.
• Sell items: Sell extra things to get more money.

Keep your inventory in tip-top shape, and you’ll never be caught off guard!

The Starfield World: Navigating the Cosmos

Starfield takes place in a massive universe with lots of planets and stars to explore. Here’s how to get around:

Space Travel

Traveling between planets is how you get around in Starfield. You’ll need a spaceship and a few things to remember:

• Getting into your spaceship: You get into your ship from a landing pad and then get into the cockpit
• Take Off: Once in the cockpit, you must press a button to leave the planet and into space.
• Space flight controls: Use the joystick/keyboard to move your ship and manage the flight controls.
• Grav Jump: To get to different solar systems, you have to jump.

Remember to refuel and repair your ship regularly. It’s not fun to be stranded in the middle of space!

Planet Exploration

Once you arrive at a planet, you have to do the following things.

• Landing Zones: You land your ship at specific landing zones.
• Resource Collection: Look for resources like metals and plants. You’ll need these for crafting.
• Research: Scan all the flora and fauna to learn about the planet.

Each planet is different, so be ready to adapt to different climates and environments.

Star Systems

Starfield has many different star systems. Each system has many different planets, different ships, and different locations. Here are some important things to remember:

• Each system has different levels: Some systems will be more difficult than others.
• Use the Star Map: Use the star map to plan out the best way to reach your destinations.
• Don’t be afraid to explore: There are many hidden treasures and challenges in every star system!

Make sure you’re prepared before traveling to new star systems.

Missions and Quests

Quests are what drives the story forward. They’re the things that give you something to do and they’re a good way to get rewards and learn new things. Let’s check out some different types of missions:

Main Story Missions

These quests progress the main story. They take you to different locations and they usually have a bunch of dialogue.

Side Missions

These are extra missions that you pick up from different people in the game. They can lead to some good rewards and interesting stories.

Faction Quests

There are different factions in the game and you can join any one of them. They will provide quests that focus on the group and its goals.

How to Find Missions

You can find missions by talking to people in towns and cities or from notices on message boards.

Following the Quest Markers

The compass and quest tracker point to the places you need to go for the quest.

Always check out all of your different types of missions and see which one you want to focus on at the time.

Crafting and Resources

Crafting is important to make new things in Starfield. Here’s a quick guide:

Collecting Resources

You can find resources in many places by mining them on planets or taking them from plants. There are many types of resources, such as:

• Metals: Used for making ship parts and weapons
• Organic Materials: Used to make healing items and food
• Gasses: Used in specialized equipment

Make sure you collect any resources you find. They’re very useful.

Crafting Stations

You need a crafting station to make things. There are usually many different types of stations:

• Weapons workbench: Make new weapons and upgrade your existing weapons.
• Spacesuit workbench: Make and upgrade your spacesuits
• Research station: Used to research new crafting blueprints

Go to these stations to make new items.

What You Can Craft

You can make a lot of things in Starfield. You can make weapons, ship parts, healing items, and many other things. Find blueprints to learn to make new items.

Skills and Character Progression

As you play the game, your character will get stronger and learn new abilities. This is how it works:

Leveling Up

When you do things in Starfield like fighting enemies and finishing quests, you gain experience. When you get enough experience, your character will level up.

Skill Trees

When you level up, you get to pick a new skill to learn in a skill tree. There are five different trees, each one focusing on different abilities:

• Physical: Increase health, stamina and other physical abilities.
• Social: Improve interactions with people in the game.
• Combat: Increase combat abilities.
• Science: Increase ability to research and use technology.
• Tech: Improve ability to pilot, repair and modify ships.

Choosing the Right Skills

Think about your playstyle before picking the skills you want to learn. If you’re a space pirate, focus on combat and tech skills. If you’re a negotiator, focus on social skills.

Remember that it’s ok to make mistakes. You can always try out different skills in later playthroughs. But for your first playthrough it is always good to focus on one main tree.

Tips and Tricks for New Players

Here are a few tips that can make your adventure in Starfield a little easier:

• Talk to everyone: You can learn a lot by talking to people. You will get more background information on the world and even learn about new quests and locations.
• Take your time: Don’t rush through the game. Enjoy the journey and explore everything you can.
• Save often: The game does have an autosave feature, but if you are doing something challenging or want to make a particular decision, it is always good to save first.
• Experiment: Try different weapons, ships, skills, and everything else to see what you like.
• Don’t be afraid to fail: If you die, it’s ok! You will learn from your mistakes.

The universe of Starfield is vast, and there is so much to experience. Now that you’ve got these beginner tips, you’re on your way to becoming a Starfield explorer. Good luck out there!