Starfield Essential Things To Play Better

Starfield Essential Things to Play Better

Okay, space explorers! You’ve probably jumped into the vast universe of Starfield, and it’s a lot, right? There are planets to visit, ships to fly, and bad guys to, well, deal with. But how do you make sure you’re not just surviving but actually thriving? That’s where these tips come in. We’re going to go over some key stuff that can help you play Starfield better, from getting the best gear to understanding how to explore properly.

Understanding the Skills System

First things first, let’s talk about skills. In Starfield, your skills are like your superpowers. They make you better at everything, from shooting to talking to flying. But you don’t get all of them at once. You have to earn them.

How to Earn Skill Points

Skill points come from leveling up. You earn experience points (XP) by completing quests, taking down enemies, and exploring new places. Each time you level up, you get one skill point to spend. Choose wisely!

Best Early Skills to Grab

At the start, you won’t have many points. So, what should you pick? Here’s a simple guide:

• Combat Skills: Get a basic combat skill like ‘Pistols’ or ‘Rifles’. This helps you do more damage right away.
• Stealth: If you like being sneaky, ‘Stealth’ is super helpful. Sneaking allows you to avoid fights and get the drop on enemies.
• Persuasion: Talking your way out of trouble is often better than fighting, so ‘Persuasion’ is great for dialogue.
• Medicine: Being able to heal yourself better and more efficiently with aid items means you can explore for longer.
• Piloting: Want to fly better? Increase your ‘Piloting’ skill. It lets you use better ship systems and fly more advanced vessels.

Don’t try to grab every skill. Focus on the ones that match how you like to play. You can always get more skills later!

Mastering Ship Combat and Customization

Your ship is your home, your ride, and your weapon in Starfield. So learning to fly it and fight with it is very important. Flying your ship can be a lot of fun, but you have to understand some basics to do it well.

Essential Combat Maneuvers

• Boost: This is like a super-fast burst of speed. It’s great for getting away from enemies or catching up to them. Use boost to move very quickly in one direction and to help turn and face the enemy ships.
• Targeting: Learn how to lock onto your enemies. This makes your weapons more accurate.
• Shields: Keep an eye on your shields. They protect your ship from damage. When the shield gets low, take cover or find a boost to quickly retreat.
• Power Management: In your ship menu, you can put more energy into different areas, like engines, weapons, and shields. Figuring out how to move power around in combat can be the difference between winning and losing.

Customizing Your Ship

Want a better ship? You can customize it! Find ship technicians at spaceports. You can change your ship’s:

• Weapons: Add more lasers or missiles to pack more punch.
• Engines: Better engines means you can fly faster and jump further.
• Shields: Stronger shields mean you can take more hits.
• Cargo: Upgrade your cargo hold so you can carry more resources and loot.

Customizing your ship to your fighting style is very beneficial, but it can be costly, so make sure to explore and complete quests so you can get the credits to upgrade your ship.

Exploring Planets Like a Pro

Starfield has so many planets to explore, it can be overwhelming. But there is a method to the madness. Here’s how to explore like a pro.

Scanning and Surveying

Use your scanner often! It helps you find points of interest, like resources, caves, and enemy bases. When you scan everything on a planet, you get extra experience and complete surveys.

Always scan all plant life, minerals, and wildlife, to complete planet surveys. This can be tedious but you can use your scanner to easily see what you have and haven’t scanned yet. Completing surveys on planets will lead to more experience, more credits, and will make your next trip easier when you can see how to navigate the terrain using the scanner.

Resource Gathering

Planets are full of resources you can use for crafting and upgrading. Keep an eye out for minerals and plants. Mining them with your cutter or gathering them by hand is important, to give you resources to help with research, and making better equipment at crafting benches.

Finding Unique Locations

Don’t just stick to the main paths. There are a lot of hidden places on planets, like caves and abandoned buildings, with treasures and special gear to help you. Sometimes these places will have special enemies or loot that can be beneficial.

Be Aware of Your Surroundings

Planets have all kinds of dangers, like strong enemies and environmental hazards. Always be aware of your surroundings and look around before you go rushing in. Make sure you pack the proper equipment for hostile environments, such as space suits that protect against radiation and heat, and always carry med packs to heal from any injuries you may get from hostile lifeforms, or falling off ledges.

Use your scanner to easily tell if an area is too dangerous, or too hazardous for you to traverse without specific suit upgrades.

Combat Tactics That Work

Fighting is a big part of Starfield. Here are some tips to get better at it.

Weapon Variety

Don’t just stick to one type of weapon. Try using different weapons to find what works best for you. Some enemies are weak against certain types of damage, so having multiple weapons to switch to is a great strategy for defeating enemies quickly and safely.

Using Cover

Always use cover to protect yourself from enemy fire. Hiding behind objects gives you a chance to heal and plan your next move. It also allows you to take pot shots at your enemies, before rushing in, making enemies a less dangerous threat.

Aiming for Weak Spots

Enemies often have weak points. For human enemies, it is usually the head, but you have to learn the weak spots for different types of enemies to ensure you deal the most damage.

Using Grenades and Mines

Grenades and mines are great for dealing extra damage and controlling the battlefield. If enemies are bunched up, you can take them all out with a well placed grenade. Mines can be placed in doorways or pathways that the enemies will travel, dealing damage and stunning the enemies.

Movement and Positioning

Don’t just stand still! Move around during fights. This makes it harder for enemies to hit you and lets you get the upper hand. Use your boost pack to get to higher ground or quickly move to a better angle.

Understanding the Faction System

Starfield has many factions or groups you can join. Each has their own quests, rewards, and storylines. Think of them as clubs you can become a part of. Choosing the right faction to join is an important decision and will impact the game, and the storyline.

What Are Factions?

Factions are organizations that have their own goals and views. Some are good, some are bad, and some are just trying to survive. Factions will give you various missions that will change your standing with the different groups, and with the universe.

How to Join Factions

You join factions by completing quests for them. Some factions you’ll run into by following the main story missions, while others you will need to seek out, usually by exploring in cities and spaceports.

Benefits of Joining Factions

Joining a faction gives you special rewards and equipment. Some factions can give you better ship parts, armor, or access to unique quests. Each faction has their own unique skill tree that will help you progress in the game, so pick factions that benefit how you play the game.

Which Factions to Join

There are many factions in the game, and it can be hard to decide which one to join, but here are a few examples of factions you can join and what benefits they offer:

• Constellation: This is the faction you start out with. They are explorers and scientists. Joining this faction is part of the main quest and will help you unlock most of the core mechanics of the game.
• The United Colonies: They are the main government force in the game. They give you access to a lot of side quests and can give you some of the best weapons in the game. They also have a police force that you may want to avoid if you want to be a bad guy.
• The Freestar Collective: They are the second main group in the game. They are more rugged and believe in self governance and freedom. They offer a very different quest line compared to the UC, and have some unique rewards and side missions.
• Ryujin Industries: This faction is focused on corporate espionage and stealth, and if you like to sneak around and be sneaky, this is the faction for you. They have unique quests that involve corporate intrigue and stealing secrets.
• Crimson Fleet: This is a faction of pirates. You can do a quest to work with the UC to infiltrate the Crimson Fleet, or become a pirate yourself, and do all the quests for the Crimson Fleet. This quest line can make you a space pirate that raids and steals to get ahead in the game, and if you choose the pirate path, you will have a reputation in the world as a bad guy.

You can join multiple factions, and it is always better to try them all to get a better feel for the world. Completing faction quests also leads to better gear, weapons, and unlocks more game mechanics.

Crafting and Research

Crafting and research are important parts of Starfield that you will need to do to get better gear and upgrades. They might seem a bit confusing at first, but they are actually pretty easy to understand.

Crafting Basics

You can craft items using resources you gather on planets. You can craft things like med packs, ammo, and weapon mods. You need to find a workbench, like a weapon workbench or a cooking station, to start crafting.

• Weapon Workbenches: Used to create and upgrade weapons.
• Spacesuit Workbenches: Used to create and upgrade suits.
• Industrial Workbenches: Used to create components and other parts.
• Cooking Stations: Used to create food and drinks that will give you buffs.

Researching Upgrades

Research is how you create new crafting recipes and unlock new technologies. You need to use a research lab to do this. Find a research lab in a city, or build one at an outpost.

• Start by Gathering Resources: Look for the proper minerals, fauna, and flora to research different technologies.
• Go to a Research Lab: Interact with a research lab and select a project to start researching.
• Complete the Research: You will need different resources to complete the research, and the more complex the research, the more resources you will need.

Why Bother?

Crafting and research allows you to make better gear and weapons that will make you more powerful and allow you to progress further in the game. They also allow you to create items that can help you explore more efficiently.

Outposts: Your Home Away from Home

Outposts are your bases in Starfield. They are great for resource gathering and crafting, and for building a home for yourself. They are a lot to take in, so let’s go over the basics.

Building Outposts

You can build outposts on almost any planet. Pick a flat and clear area, and then you can create buildings. You can put buildings down with the proper resources.

Why Build Outposts?

• Resource Gathering: Set up automated mining rigs that will gather resources while you are away.
• Crafting and Research: You can place crafting stations and research labs for your convenience.
• Storage: You can store all your loot and resources in your outpost.
• Crew Stations: You can assign crew members to your outposts that will help you keep them running, and can add to the total output.

Managing Your Outposts

• Resource Links: You can link your outposts together to make it easier to move resources around.
• Assigning Crew: Assign crew members to manage and help increase efficiency of outposts.
• Defense: You can place defensive turrets to protect your outpost from invaders.

Outposts are great ways to increase your resource gathering potential, and can help make the game easier. You will have to gather a lot of resources to create a big and fully functional outpost, but it is worth the effort.

Making the Most of Dialogue

Talking to people is a very big part of Starfield, and using dialogue wisely can benefit you in the long run. Here are some ways to get better at dialogue.

Persuasion

Persuasion is very important to get through certain quests and get the outcome you want from different situations. A high persuasion skill will allow you to get the best outcomes from dialogue, and give you more opportunities to get information, rewards, or avoid fighting all together.

Gathering Information

When talking to people, pay attention to what they say. They might give you clues, hints, or even special quests. Try to exhaust all dialogue options with NPCs to make sure you don’t miss any important information.

Being Mindful of Choices

The choices you make in dialogue can have lasting effects. Think before you speak and pick the options that best match how you want to play the game. Your choices will change the game and your interactions with different people and factions.

Staying Organized

With all the gear and items you gather in Starfield, it is important to stay organized and have an efficient way to manage your inventory.

Using the Inventory

Use the inventory to view all your items, sort by category or weight, or even by type. Having a well organized inventory will make it easier to find items quickly, and prevent you from having to scroll through a massive list. Use the filters to find the types of items that you need.

Dropping Items You Don’t Need

Don’t be afraid to drop items you don’t need, or put them in your ships cargo hold. This will help keep you from becoming encumbered and from having to walk around very slowly. If you need certain resources, you can always return to where you have been and find them again.

Using Storage Containers

Storage containers are your best friend in Starfield. You can store items in containers in cities, at outposts, and even on your ship. Make sure to use containers to keep your inventory clean and easy to navigate.

By staying organized in your inventory and resource management, you will make exploring and questing so much more enjoyable, and will help you to spend more time in the game exploring instead of spending time in the menus.