Avoid rushing the main quest, invest in skills that match your playstyle, and don’t neglect your ship’s maintenance or cargo capacity, these are key ways for how to avoid common mistakes early in Starfield.
Jumping into the vastness of Starfield can feel overwhelming at first. It’s easy to get carried away by the sheer scale of things and make some critical errors that can impact your experience. Starfield how to avoid common mistakes early, becomes a primary question for many players beginning their adventure.
Many players tend to focus solely on story missions, neglecting valuable side content and skill building opportunities. Ignoring the ship’s systems can leave you unprepared for battles. So, it’s better to take a measured approach in the initial stages.
Starfield How to Avoid Common Mistakes Early
Starting a huge game like Starfield can feel a bit like jumping into a spaceship without a map. There’s so much to see and do! But don’t worry, everyone makes a few mistakes when they first start exploring the stars. The key is learning from those little bumps in the road, so you can have an amazing adventure. This guide will help you steer clear of some of the common pitfalls new players fall into, setting you up for a fantastic time in the Settled Systems.
Ignoring the Tutorial: Your First Steps Matter
It might be tempting to skip through the beginning and jump straight into the action, but the tutorial in Starfield is very helpful. It teaches you important things about how the game works, like combat, using your scanner, and how to build your ship. If you skip this, you might find yourself confused later on. Think of it like learning to ride a bike – you need to know the basics before you can zoom around the neighborhood!
Pay Attention to the Mining Tutorial
One key part of the tutorial is learning how to mine resources. You’ll be using these resources for crafting, upgrading, and building outposts. If you don’t learn how to mine well early on, you’ll make things much harder for yourself down the line. The tutorial will show you how to use the cutter effectively, and where to find different kinds of resources. Don’t rush it, and experiment with your cutter. You might find certain angles and distances work better for faster harvesting.
Understanding Your Scanner
The scanner is another crucial part of Starfield that the tutorial introduces you to. This isn’t just a tool to look cool while surveying plants and animals. It helps you spot resources, track mission objectives, and even detect enemies before they see you. Spend some time learning how to use it efficiently. You can upgrade the scanner later, which makes it even more useful. Practice switching to scanner mode often, so it becomes a natural habit.
Poor Skill Point Choices: Planning Your Character
Starfield uses a skill system that allows you to customize your character. It can be tempting to pick whatever sounds cool, but thinking ahead about your playstyle can make a big difference. Let’s look at a few common skill mistakes.
Spreading Skill Points Too Thin
Imagine trying to learn to play five musical instruments at once. You’d probably end up not being very good at any of them. Same goes for skills in Starfield. Spreading your points across too many different skills can leave you feeling weak and ineffective in all of them. Instead, pick a few skills that you enjoy and focus on making those stronger. For example, if you love sneaking around and using pistols, put points into Stealth and Pistol skills. This makes your character powerful in those specific areas.
Here’s an example of skills to focus on early game if you like to fight:
- Ballistics: Increases damage with ballistic weapons.
- Combat Medicine: Boosts your healing items’ effectiveness.
- Weight Lifting: Increases your carry capacity so you can haul more loot.
Ignoring Social Skills
Combat is a big part of Starfield, but it’s not the only way to solve problems. Social skills like Persuasion and Diplomacy can help you talk your way out of tough situations, negotiate better deals, and even recruit unique crew members. Don’t neglect these skills just because they don’t involve shooting lasers. You’ll be amazed how often talking can help you.
Some helpful social skills early on include:
- Persuasion: Makes it easier to convince people to agree with you.
- Commerce: Gets you better prices when buying and selling goods.
Not Planning for Your Playstyle
Think about how you want to play Starfield. Do you want to be a sneaky space pirate, a brave explorer, or a charismatic diplomat? Your chosen skills should reflect that. If you want to be a pirate, you’ll want to invest in things like stealth and weapons skills. If you want to explore, focus on skills that improve your surveying ability and survival skills. Take a moment to really consider your playstyle. Then you can choose your skills more wisely.
Neglecting Your Ship: It’s Not Just a Pretty Face
Your ship is your home base in Starfield. It’s more than just a way to travel between planets. It’s also where you’ll store your stuff, craft items, and even engage in space battles. Many players make the mistake of ignoring ship upgrades early on.
Ignoring Ship Upgrades
Don’t just fly around in the ship the game gives you at the start. You’ll quickly find that it’s not strong enough to handle the dangers of space. Upgrading your ship’s weapons, shields, and engine is important for survival, exploration, and taking down enemies. You can find ship parts at various vendors. Keep an eye on how your ship handles in battles and how quickly you can jump between systems. This tells you where you need to improve your ship first.
Here’s a list of upgrades to consider early on:
- Better weapons: More powerful lasers, cannons, or missiles to deal with enemy ships.
- Stronger shields: More protection against damage in combat.
- Faster engine: Allows for faster travel between systems.
- Cargo upgrades: Gives you more space for storing resources and loot.
Not Customizing Your Ship
Beyond upgrades, take the time to customize your ship. You can change the layout, add new modules, and even give it a cool paint job. You don’t have to be an expert ship builder, but it’s a good idea to learn the basics of ship customization. A well-designed ship can increase your carrying capacity, add more crew slots, and make your adventures more efficient. A better-organized ship will keep your space journeys from being a mess.
Ignoring Ship Combat Basics
Space combat can feel a bit tricky at first, but practicing will make it easier over time. Learn to use your ship’s thrusters to dodge enemy fire, and experiment with different weapons. You can often target specific parts of enemy ships to weaken them faster. Keep an eye on your ship’s health and shields, and don’t be afraid to retreat and repair if you need to. Learning these basics will help you stay alive in the vastness of space.
Inventory Overload: Managing Your Stuff
It’s very easy to collect a lot of stuff in Starfield. From weapons and armor to resources and junk, you’ll be finding all sorts of loot everywhere you go. However, if you don’t manage your inventory well, you’ll find yourself slow and bogged down.
Hoarding Everything You Find
It can be tempting to pick up everything you see, but most of the time you really don’t need it. Hoarding leads to an overburdened character that moves slowly. This is not good when you’re trying to run from enemies or just explore the world. Try to be selective about what you pick up. Stick to the items you know you’ll use, or that you can sell for a good price.
Tips for managing your inventory:
- Prioritize resources: Keep key resources like iron, aluminum, and adhesive for crafting.
- Sell unnecessary items: Visit vendors often to sell extra weapons, armor, and junk.
- Use storage on your ship: Your ship’s cargo hold is a safe place to keep items you don’t need right away.
Not Using Your Ship’s Storage
Like we mentioned earlier, your ship has a cargo hold that can store a ton of stuff. Don’t forget about it! Use this to store items you don’t need with you. This will keep you from becoming overburdened while you are exploring. Make use of the ship’s storage, it’s there to help you.
Skipping Dialogue: Missing Important Lore and Quests
Starfield has a great story and many interesting characters. Sometimes it’s easy to want to rush through dialogue to get to the action, but you might miss important details. It can make a difference in which quests you can unlock and even how the story goes for you.
Rushing Through Conversations
Starfield’s writers have put a lot of effort into making conversations immersive and interesting. Don’t just skip through all the dialogue. Take the time to listen to what characters have to say. They often give you important clues, offer side quests, or tell you more about the world around you. Taking the time to fully engage in conversations makes the game more exciting.
Not Exploring All Dialogue Options
When you talk to characters, you will usually have multiple dialogue options. Don’t always go for the quickest or easiest answer. Sometimes the longer and more detailed responses can help you uncover new information or get better rewards. Try out all of the dialogue choices when they appear. It’s part of the fun of exploring the game world!
Missing Hidden Side Quests
Many of the game’s quests are not marked on the map right away. Sometimes you need to listen closely to conversations to uncover hidden quests. If you’re always rushing through dialog, you might miss these opportunities. Exploring these hidden side quests can give you new adventures, great rewards, and make the game more fulfilling.
Forgetting to Save: A Lesson in Caution
Starfield, like many games, has moments where things can go wrong. Whether it’s a tough boss fight, a critical choice in a quest, or just a funny mishap, you’ll want to be able to go back to an earlier point if you make a mistake. That’s why saving often is crucial.
Not Saving Frequently
It might seem obvious, but a lot of players forget to save often, especially when everything is going well. Make a habit of quick-saving regularly, especially before entering a new area, starting a tough fight, or having an important conversation. This can save you a lot of frustration later on. Make it a habit to save every 15 to 20 minutes. You might be happy you did that if something unexpected happens.
Relying Too Much on Autosaves
Autosaves are helpful, but they shouldn’t be your only backup. Sometimes the autosave might be too far back, or it might happen after a mistake. Don’t fully rely on the game’s autosaves. Use quick saves so that you can go back to the exact point you were at in time. Having a manual save gives you more control.
Ignoring Your Crew: Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
As you play Starfield, you’ll meet many characters who can become part of your crew. These crew members aren’t just there to look good in the background. They bring unique skills and abilities that can significantly improve your adventures. It’s a common mistake to simply ignore them early on.
Not Recruiting Crew Members
Don’t rush through the game all by yourself. Recruit crew members to help you. Crew members have different skills that can be put to good use. They can be valuable assets on your ship, in combat, and at outposts. Look for crew members as you explore and start adding them to your team.
Not Assigning Crew Members to Roles
Once you have a crew, you have to use them wisely. Don’t just let them sit around doing nothing. Assign them to different roles on your ship and at outposts. Different crew members are good at different things. You might have a crew member who’s skilled in piloting, another who’s skilled in combat, or even one who’s skilled at outpost management. Using their skills wisely can make your adventures much easier.
Underestimating Resource Gathering: Don’t Skip The Grind
In Starfield, you need resources for pretty much everything: crafting, upgrades, and outpost building. Many new players underestimate the need for resources and focus more on fighting and questing. They soon find that their lack of resources holds them back.
Ignoring Mining
Mining may seem boring, but it’s actually really important for Starfield. Resources are everywhere you go. You can mine them with your cutter or send out mining drones. You need different resources for different crafting and building projects. Don’t skip the mining, or you’ll struggle later on.
Important early game resources to mine:
- Iron: Used for basic crafting.
- Aluminum: Important for ship building and upgrades.
- Copper: Needed for electrical components and outpost building.
Not Surveying Planets
When you land on a planet, use your scanner to survey it. This can show you where to find unique resources, plants, and animals. It also unlocks new crafting recipes and opportunities. Don’t just run to the nearest mission location. Take some time to look around with your scanner, and you’ll be surprised at what you discover.
Not Trading for Resources
Sometimes you’ll find that it’s quicker to just buy resources than mine them yourself. Keep an eye on the vendors you meet in your travels. They sometimes have the resources you need. Compare the cost of buying resources with how much time it takes to get them yourself. Trading is a great way to get resources quickly when you need them fast.
Disregarding Outposts: Your Own Little Corner of the Galaxy
Outposts are a really cool and helpful part of Starfield. They allow you to set up your own little bases and generate resources. However, it’s a mistake to completely ignore them, especially in the early part of the game.
Thinking Outposts are Too Complicated
Outposts may seem complex at first, but they are really useful once you understand how they work. Setting up an outpost allows you to automatically collect resources, store items, and even get access to research projects. You don’t have to create a huge, elaborate base at first. Just start small and learn as you go. Take some time to explore outpost building; you’ll be happy you did later on.
Not Choosing Good Locations
Location is key for an outpost. If you choose a spot that doesn’t have the resources you need, your base won’t be very efficient. Spend some time scanning the areas before you build an outpost. Look for areas with key resources that you need. A good location will make your outpost helpful in the long run.
Ignoring Research: Advancing Your Technology
Research allows you to unlock new items, upgrades, and crafting options. Research stations are found at your outposts or in certain cities. Don’t forget about this important feature, as it can make a big difference in how well you play the game.
Not Researching Early On
Research can make crafting, outpost building, and combat much easier. Try to start researching early in the game. Start by unlocking the basics, and you will soon get access to advanced research. This will help you improve your gear, build more advanced outposts, and improve your ship.
Focusing Too Much on One Category
There are several research categories like pharmaceuticals, outpost building, and equipment upgrades. Don’t just focus on one category. Try to spread your research around so you can benefit from all the different options. If you only focus on weapons, you might be weak in other areas. Try to use all the tools available to you.
Starfield is a massive game with a lot to learn. By avoiding these common early mistakes, you’ll set yourself up for a much smoother and more enjoyable adventure. Remember, everyone makes mistakes at first. The important part is that you learn from them. Now get out there and make the Settled Systems your own.
Don't Make These 5 Early MISTAKES In Starfield!
Final Thoughts
In short, focus on main quests early, avoid hoarding every single item and don’t neglect ship upgrades. These actions will greatly improve your early game experience. Understanding how to manage resources and prioritize objectives is essential.
You must pick your skills wisely; don’t spread points too thinly. These steps will guide you to success. Following them carefully will prevent early frustrations.
Therefore, learning to play smart will help avoid problems in ‘Starfield how to avoid common mistakes early’.
