Starfield essential early start techniques revolve around completing the initial quests to acquire a ship, gathering resources, and prioritizing skill point allocation to improve your capabilities rapidly.
Stepping into the vast universe of Starfield can feel overwhelming at first. Knowing where to focus your efforts during the initial hours drastically changes your gameplay experience. Focusing on these key areas will ensure you are equipped to handle the challenges ahead. These Starfield essential early start techniques will set you up for success.
Prioritize completing the initial main quests first. Gaining your own ship and a basic crew gives you freedom to explore. Also be sure to gather as much loot and resources as you can; they’re essential for crafting. Spend your skill points on abilities that will benefit you the most.
Starfield Essential Early Start Techniques
Getting a great start in Starfield is super important! The game has so much to see and do, and making good choices early on can really set you up for a fantastic adventure. Think of it like building with LEGOs – a strong base makes everything that comes after way more fun and easier to handle. We’ll break down some simple, but very useful, ways to make your first few hours in Starfield super successful. Let’s dive in!
Choosing the Right Background and Traits
Before you even step foot into the vast universe of Starfield, the game asks you to make some key decisions about your character’s past. This is where you pick your background and traits. These choices aren’t just for show; they give you some perks or sometimes, even a few small challenges. Let’s explore how you can make the best decisions here for your character’s start in the game.
Backgrounds: Setting Your Character’s Foundation
Your background in Starfield is like choosing what kind of job your character had before becoming a space explorer. Each background gives you three starting skills. These skills will give you an edge in different situations. It’s a good idea to look at what skills each one gives you and select the one that you think will best help how you plan to play. For example:
- Combat-focused Backgrounds: If you like fighting, the ‘Bounty Hunter’ or ‘Soldier’ backgrounds are good. They’ll give you starting skills in combat weapons and armor.
- Exploration-focused Backgrounds: If you want to travel and see new worlds, ‘Explorer’ or ‘Diplomat’ background is a nice pick. They focus on skills to help you scan, persuade people, and survive in tough places.
- Other Options: There are other ones too. ‘Cyber Runner’ is good if you like being sneaky, while ‘Chef’ gives you some fun crafting skills from the beginning.
It’s worth taking some time to read about each background. Think about the kind of space adventurer you want to be. It’s much easier to develop character when you start with your strengths. Think carefully! If you start out focusing on skills you’re actually going to use you will have a much smoother start than if you randomly choose.
Traits: Adding Personality (and Challenges!)
Traits are extra things you can add to your character that provide both benefits and drawbacks. It’s like choosing a special rule for your game. Some traits might make you stronger, but also come with a small difficulty. You can choose up to three traits.
- Good Traits: For example, ‘Introvert’ means you’re better on your own. Or, ‘Taskmaster’ gives you crew bonuses. These are great if you have a plan on how to use them.
- Traits with a Downside: ‘Hero Worshipped’ means a fan will follow you around sometimes, which can be a little annoying. Another is ‘Kid Stuff’, which means you have parents that occasionally check in with you for credits, which some players don’t like.
It’s really important to think about the downside of any trait before selecting it. Some downsides could be something you don’t like dealing with. You might find that a slightly weaker character without these drawbacks will ultimately be more enjoyable. Try to pick traits that will help you the most, and try to avoid ones that seem like they will get in your way when playing.
Early Skill Point Allocation: Where to Focus First
Once you are in the game, you start earning skill points. Skill points allow you to level up your skills. Where you spend these points in the beginning is super important for how smoothly the game starts for you. It’s a good idea to think about which skills will help you get the most from your game from the start.
Essential Skills for Beginners
Some skills are especially helpful when you start. Focusing on these first can make your game much easier and a lot more fun. Here are a few great ones to prioritize:
- Boost Pack Training: This is super important! The boost pack lets you move around quickly in combat and travel faster on planets. Leveling it up to level 1 should be a very early priority.
- Piloting: Flying is a big part of Starfield, and with this skill you can get access to better ships, but also boost your performance in the ships you have. Putting a point in piloting early will give you the ability to use your ship’s boost ability in combat.
- Ballistics/Lasers: Get better at handling the weapons you will use early on by investing in the appropriate skill tree, or a mix of both.
- Scanning: Starfield’s exploration is one of its best parts. Get a boost in scanning planets and wildlife by allocating a point in this skill early on.
- Persuasion: Talking your way out of trouble can be a good move. Sometimes it is better to talk your way through a situation than it is to just fight. Leveling up persuasion early will give you more options and be useful for questing.
It’s important to note, that your skill point allocation isn’t permanent. You will be able to earn more skill points throughout the game to invest into other areas. So, think of this initial point allocation as just a beginning to the rest of your playthrough. Try to pick options that allow you to feel more powerful early on, and that make your play through smoother overall.
Understanding Skill Trees
Each skill in Starfield belongs to a “skill tree.” Think of these like branches on a real tree, where each branch is a category of skills. When you want to level up a skill in a certain category, you sometimes need to invest points in the skills that come before it in the tree. So, if you want a super strong combat skill you might need to first invest points in other related combat skills before you can get to the one you want.
This means it’s good to have a plan about how you want to build your character long-term. If you see a skill you want later, then it’s best to invest in the path that leads to that skill. Be careful when you invest, because your skill points are limited in the early game.
Resource Management: Gathering and Using Items
In Starfield, gathering and managing your resources is super important. You can’t just run and gun in the game. You’ll need resources to craft, build, and upgrade. You will also need a lot of credits to pay for these things, so learning how to manage both items and your money is very important. Learning how to do these things early will make your game easier as you go.
Looting Wisely
When you explore, there will be lots of objects to loot, or pick up. It’s very important to pick up everything you can carry, especially early on in the game. You never know what might be useful later. Some things you find will be useful to craft, while others are useful to sell.
- Don’t Ignore the Small Stuff: Even things like paperclips, tape, or food can help later. They often contribute to making other items.
- Sell What You Don’t Need: if your inventory is getting full, go sell it at any trader. Just try to keep important items, especially things you will use for crafting.
Getting into the habit of looting thoroughly will keep you well-stocked and help you make more progress overall.
Crafting and Research
Crafting and researching are major ways to get new gear in Starfield. This makes it important that you understand how it works from the beginning.
- Use Workbenches: Look for the crafting workbenches at settlements and in the Starship. Here is where you’ll craft different objects and items. You can craft weapons, suits, ammo, and different types of modifications that will make your weapons and armor better.
- Research: Sometimes, you need to research before you can craft something. Research stations look like workbenches but have screens. Here, you can use the resources you gather to research and learn to build new kinds of gear.
- Experiment: Don’t be afraid to use the crafting and research systems. There are a lot of cool things to make, and sometimes just trying different combinations is useful.
Early on in the game, you won’t have access to every kind of blueprint, but just being used to how the crafting system works will make you much more effective as you progress and gain more options.
Credit Acquisition: Getting Space Bucks
Credits are the money of Starfield. You’ll need a lot of them to buy new gear and pay for ship upgrades. It’s really important to know how to earn them quickly.
- Selling Loot: A quick and simple way to get credits is to sell items to merchants. It’s very important to keep looting because the items you sell quickly add up.
- Completing Missions: Missions are a great way to get money and experience. They also often give you a blueprint or some very useful new equipment.
- Exploring Planets: You can also sometimes find containers or chests hidden on planets. These often contain rare and valuable items that you can sell, or use.
It’s good to get the habit of doing missions, exploring planets, and selling loot at the start of the game. Credits quickly become important for upgrading your gear.
Early Missions and Exploration: Where to Start
With so much to see and do, Starfield can seem overwhelming at the start. It’s important to follow the game’s beginning missions. You will be doing a lot of learning about the game, and these missions are very good for that. The game will start with a few simple missions that you should definitely do.
Following the Main Quest
The main quest in Starfield is called “One Small Step.” Following this mission and its subsequent tasks will introduce you to the game’s world, characters, and overall story. The quest also unlocks many new systems in the game, like crafting, base building, and ship building. The quests give great rewards, like blueprints, new weapons, and even better armor. Follow the quest carefully, and learn all the information that you are given.
Side Quests: A Great Way to Get Started
Don’t forget the side quests! Side quests are missions that are not part of the main story, but they are still very helpful. They are very useful when you start.
- Talk to NPCs: You can find missions by talking to people in cities. There are often several side quests that you can find in a city.
- Explore Different Locations: Side quests can take you to new and different locations, helping you learn about the world and get experience.
- Build Experience: Side quests also give you experience to level up, and give you credits and items as well.
Side quests can help you get a lot stronger as a character very quickly and also are a good way to become comfortable with the game mechanics.
Planetary Exploration: Finding Hidden Treasures
The planets are full of hidden treasures. You can find resources, items, blueprints, and sometimes even abandoned bases.
- Use Your Scanner: The scanner is super useful when you land on a planet. It’ll show you where resources are, and where animals are located.
- Visit Points of Interest: Use the scanner to locate points of interest. These points often lead to hidden bases, items, resources, and sometimes even quests.
- Be Ready for Combat: When you go into places on a planet, make sure you’re ready to fight. Sometimes, there are groups of pirates in hidden locations.
Exploring every planet, or even just the starting planets, very carefully will help you find amazing resources, and sometimes very strong new weapons and armor. A good explorer will always have an advantage in Starfield.
Ship Combat: Basic Tactics and Upgrades
Ship combat in Starfield is a huge part of the game. Getting comfortable with flying and fighting is important. The early ships you get won’t be the strongest, but you can learn how to make the best out of them with some simple tactics and a few upgrades. You also can acquire better ships, and learning these tactics early will be helpful for when you have better ships to fly.
Simple Combat Tactics
You’ll have to learn some simple tricks for your ship when fighting other ships in space.
- Use Your Boost: Your boost is super important in combat. It can help you get behind enemy ships.
- Targeting Engines: Sometimes, hitting an enemy’s engines is a great way to slow them down, making them an easier target to shoot.
- Keep Moving: Never stay in one place. Always move. If you stay in one place, you will be an easy target to shoot.
The best way to learn space combat is to do it. The more you fight in space, the better you will get. Practice using the different techniques and you will quickly be an expert.
Upgrading Your Ship Early On
Upgrading your ship is important if you want to be better in combat. Luckily, you can upgrade your ship using credits or ship parts.
- Better Weapons: Upgrading the weapons on your ship can increase the damage it does in combat.
- Better Shields: Upgrading your ship’s shield will allow you to stay in combat longer.
- Better Engines: Getting new engines can increase your speed in combat, which will allow you to move quickly to where you need to go.
Investing in these upgrades will increase your overall combat effectiveness.
Early success in Starfield is all about making smart choices from the start. By choosing the right background and traits, investing in important skills, and learning the best techniques, you’ll have a very strong start to your intergalactic adventure.
Starfield Guide: 15 Things You NEED To Do First
Final Thoughts
Prioritize main quest missions early for powerful gear and skill points. Resource gathering provides crucial crafting materials and credits. Explore planets methodically, but do not overextend yourself.
Engaging in combat helps level up faster, therefore use the skill points to fit your gameplay. These Starfield essential early start techniques must be understood.
A thoughtful approach in these key areas will prepare you for the challenges ahead and establish a strong foundation.
