Starfield How To Prepare For A New Game

Starfield How to Prepare for a New Game

So, you’re ready to jump into the vast universe of Starfield? That’s awesome! But before you blast off into the unknown, let’s make sure you’re properly prepped. Just like an astronaut needs to pack the right gear, a space explorer needs to prepare their game plan. This guide will help you get ready for your Starfield journey, covering everything from choosing your background to understanding the game’s core systems.

Understanding Your Character

Your character is your window into the world of Starfield. The choices you make here will impact your gameplay, so it’s important to think carefully. Let’s explore the aspects of character creation.

Choosing a Background

Starfield lets you pick a background for your character, and each background comes with three starting skills. These skills are like having a head start in certain areas. Think of it like choosing a specialty. Here are some examples of backgrounds and how they can help you:

• Diplomat: If you like talking your way out of situations or negotiating deals, this background, with skills like Persuasion, is a good fit. You’ll excel in conversations and interactions with others.
• Bounty Hunter: If you enjoy action and combat, the Bounty Hunter, with skills like Targeting and Piloting, is great. You’ll be skilled in tracking targets and engaging in space battles.
• Explorer: Do you like to go where no one has gone before? Explorer backgrounds, with skills like Surveying and Geology, will be good for you. You’ll be good at discovering new resources and understanding planets.
• Chef: This background, with skills like Gastronomy, is for the players who like to create and help in food crafting. You will become a master of culinary arts in game.

Take some time to read through the background options and see which one fits your play style. Don’t worry too much about picking the “perfect” one – it’s your unique journey!

Selecting Traits

Traits are like extra bonuses or challenges that give your character a unique spin. They can have positive and negative effects. Here’s how traits work:

• They are optional: You don’t have to pick any, but they can definitely make your game more interesting.
• Pick up to three: You can select a maximum of three traits during character creation.
• Some examples:
  • Introvert: You’re better alone, but suffer when traveling with companions.
  • Extrovert: You’re better when traveling with companions, but weaker when alone.
  • Taskmaster: Your weapons deal extra damage to low health enemies, but weaker to high health enemies.

Traits can add a lot of replay value, so feel free to experiment with different combinations in new playthroughs. If you are not sure, you can always play without them for your first game, just to get a hang of things.

Understanding the Game Mechanics

Starfield has a bunch of cool systems that make the game engaging. It’s beneficial to understand these before you start playing. Let’s look at some of them.

Skills and Leveling

As you play the game, you’ll earn experience points (XP) and level up your character. When you level up, you gain a skill point that you can spend to improve your skills. Here’s how skill system generally works:

• Skill Trees: Skills are organized into different skill trees, such as Combat, Science, Tech and Social.
• Investing Skill Points: Every time you level up, you can invest skill points in the skills in these skill trees.
• Higher Tier Skills: Some skills might require you to invest a certain number of points in the lower-tier skills first before you can choose them.

Plan how you want to build your character based on your playstyle, by choosing the correct skills. If you want to be a spaceship pilot then invest points in piloting and related skills. If you like combat then invest points in weapons and related skills.

Crafting and Resource Gathering

Starfield features a crafting system that allows you to create weapons, armor, mods, and resources. You’ll need resources to do this. Here’s how you can get resources and use them:

• Mining and Surveying: You can find resources on different planets by scanning and mining them using your scanner and mining laser.
• Purchasing: Resources are also available to purchase from vendors.
• Crafting Stations: You can use crafting stations to create new items by using the resources you found.

Gathering resources is essential for building items, and also for building outpost, so get to know the resource gathering mechanic so that you are not short of materials when you need them.

Ship Building and Combat

Your ship is your mobile base in Starfield, and you’ll have the option to customize and upgrade it. Here’s how ship building generally works:

• Ship Modules: You can change or upgrade your ship’s modules like engines, weapons, cargo hold, and shields.
• Purchasing Parts: You can buy ship parts from ship technicians and upgrade your ship.
• Ship Combat: You will be engaging in ship combat. So building a strong ship will give you edge in this area.

Learning how to build and customize your ship will be a key element in your overall experience. Get to know the ship editor and customize your ship according to your playstyle.

Outpost Building

If you like building bases in games, you will like this system. In Starfield you can build bases called outposts. Here’s how outposts generally work:

• Selecting a location: Pick an ideal location for building an outpost on any planet.
• Building structures: Build different structures like resource harvesters, habitat modules, and crafting stations.
• Managing outposts: You can assign crew to the outposts to automate resource gathering or other tasks.

Building outposts can be fun, and they can provide resources for you and your journey. Get familiar with the outpost system so that you can build bases in different locations.

Setting Up Your Game Environment

Before you dive into the game, it’s a good idea to adjust some settings for the best experience. Here’s what to consider.

Graphics Settings

The game may have preset graphic options from low to ultra. Here are some options you might want to consider:

• Resolution: Set the resolution based on your monitor. if you have 1080p monitor set the resolution to 1080p, similarly if you have a 1440p or 4k monitor then set the resolution accordingly.
• Graphic Quality: You can choose preset settings like low, medium, high and ultra. If you are unsure what to choose, try selecting the medium preset, and then customize from there based on your preference.
• Frame Rate: Aim to run the game at a frame rate your system can smoothly handle, for example 30fps, 60fps or 120fps.

Finding the right balance between visual quality and performance is key for having a smooth gameplay. Play around with graphics settings until you find the performance you like.

Audio Settings

Sound is a major part of the Starfield experience. Here are some settings you might want to consider:

• Music Volume: Adjust the music level so it enhances the game without distracting you.
• Sound Effects: Make sure you can hear the important sound effects, like footsteps, shooting, or spaceship sounds.
• Dialogue Volume: Set the dialogue volume high enough so that you can clearly understand the characters while you are playing.

Having a good audio setup will help you feel fully immersed in the world. If you have headphones, you may want to enable surround sound settings so that you can get the complete experience.

Control Settings

Starfield allows you to customize your controls. Here are some things you may want to consider for setting up your controls:

• Keybinds: Make sure all the keys are easy to access, and the controls are intuitive. Change the control keys if they are not to your preference.
• Controller Sensitivity: If you are using a controller, make sure that controller sensitivity feels right. Adjust it so that you can easily navigate the game world.
• Accessibility Options: If you need any accessibility options to improve the gameplay, take your time to explore them, and activate them.

Setting up your controls right will make gameplay much smoother and fun. Take some time to explore control options to make sure you are comfortable with the controls.

Planning Your First Steps

The first few hours of any game are the most important. You want to make sure that you are getting familiar with the core concepts. Here are some steps you can take for a good start:

Follow the Main Quest

The main story quest is a great way to learn the basics of Starfield. It will take you through important gameplay elements, show you the game world, and introduce you to the important characters and the lore of the game. For your first playthrough, try focusing on the main story initially.

Explore and Experiment

Starfield has a vast world to explore. Don’t be afraid to explore different planets, talk to NPCs, discover different locations, and test out all the mechanics you come across. See what interests you. There is no one way to play this game, so feel free to explore and experiment with all the options that are presented to you.

Don’t Rush

Take your time to fully learn all the mechanics that are presented in the game. Take time to explore and learn the skill system, inventory system, resource gathering, crafting, ship combat, outpost building, and other similar systems. Rushing will mean you are not getting the full experience that this game has to offer.

Engage in Side Activities

Starfield also has a bunch of side quests and activities that you can engage in. Try to do some side quests to gain some experience, resources, and rewards. You can also take on ship contracts, explore different locations or experiment with outpost building. Don’t just focus on the main story, instead also explore side content.

Manage Your Inventory

Your inventory is the place where you will have your items. Try to manage your inventory by picking up useful items and removing the unnecessary ones. You don’t want to be over encumbered, especially during combat encounters.

Make Use of Saving

Starfield has an autosave feature, but it is always better to manually save your progress often. That way if you make a mistake or want to go back on your decisions you can easily go back to previous saves.

By taking these steps, you’ll get a good grasp on the game mechanics and will be well on your way to a good journey. Remember to have fun, explore the world and make the game your own.