Starfield is an action RPG where you control spaceships that roam the universe, smuggling, building outposts, and collecting all sorts of artifacts (and learning the great secrets of the universe). There are many systems and mechanics, and the tutorials don’t cover everything. Below, I’ve collected a couple dozen tips that will make it easier to dive into this amazing sci-fi world from Bethesda.
The passage of some missions is randomly generated
Sure, any 4X RPG has some “your choices have consequences” elements, but Starfield goes much deeper than that. The populated planets and major cities you visit in the story are predetermined, so they are the same for everyone, but some smaller objects on planets (like caves or bases) seem to be randomly generated and have a random location. So in some missions, the systems, planets, and moons you visit will be different for every player. We continue our guide to Starfield on the gaming portal StopGame.Ru.
What does a character’s background influence?
During the first mission of Starfield’s story campaign, “One Small Step,” you’ll be asked to choose a backstory (a character that also determines the three skills you start with) and up to three abilities (additional perks that help or hinder your character). Don’t get hung up on these choices. Yes, they will affect whether or not you get additional dialogue options, but they’re minor and won’t affect the overall story. Instead, focus on choosing the skills you start with.
You can join any faction
There are four main factions in Starfield to join: the United Colonies Vanguard, the Crimson Fleet, the Freestar Rangers, and Ryujin Industries. Each faction offers unique gear, potential experience points, and missions that are more interesting than the usual quests (and in some cases, more engaging than the main story). And the best part is that you don’t have to choose just one faction. You can join all of them from the very beginning of the game.
The passage of the sides is at your discretion!
I don’t want to go into too much detail for fear of spoiling anything, but I recommend playing through the main story missions before completing the “Into the Unknown” quest. After you complete the first two missions, three new quests will unlock, which can be done in any order. It might be worth taking a break from the main story for a while to do some side activities and level up your character. You can still complete the story without having to deal with side activities, but you will occasionally encounter high-level enemies that can be a challenge.
Many functions are blocked by skills
Skills in Starfield don’t just improve abilities. Many gameplay mechanics are tied to the first level of the corresponding skill – meaning you’ll have to invest at least one skill point into that particular skill to even be able to activate that ability.
This includes things like pickpocketing (Stealth), using a booster pack, viewing your stealth meter (Stealth), targeting specific enemy ship systems (Guidance Control Systems), and several types of upgrades for your suit, ship, weapons, and outposts. All of this will be unavailable until you level up the relevant skills. We continue our guide to Starfield on the gaming portal StopGame.Ru.
Unlock the Boost Pack Training, Security and Persuasion skills as soon as possible
There are a total of 82 skills available to your character in Starfield (four ranks for each). In addition to the three skills you get from choosing your origin, it is important to take a few others that will make the game easier. In particular, we are talking about Boost Pack Training, Security, and Persuasion. I will go into more detail about these in a separate guide.
Use autohack and autopersuasion as often as possible
Once you master the skills of persuasion and security, there will be many more ways to win in various difficult situations. As you pick locks and convince more people, the options of “auto-persuasion” and “auto-hack” will be added. This will happen quite quickly. The first one allows you to automatically convince the interlocutor, the second one – it makes hacking easier. You can see if you have any auto-hacks or auto-persuasions in your stash by looking at the bottom right corner of the screen.
Get used to the navigation menu and quick travel
Navigating the stars of Starfield’s populated systems is complicated by a multi-layered menu system. It takes some time to get used to it. Fast travel options are plentiful (both on planetary surfaces and between systems and planets) but they take time to unlock, and there are some restrictions on where you can and can’t go.
Set Course is the most useful feature in the navigation menu.
As I mentioned above, be patient, as Starfield’s navigation menu takes some getting used to. At least until you discover the Set Course button, which is located in the lower right corner of the pause screen. When you press it, the game will automatically display the fast travel location or planet for the currently active mission. This is a great way to quickly return to the Constellation Lodge or get to a planet you’ve never been to before.
During the first hours of the game I didn’t notice the Set Course button, but once I found it, moving around the star systems became much easier. We continue the guide to Starfield on the gaming portal StopGame.Ru.
Use a scanner
Once you reach the planet or ship where your next mission takes you, the interface will display markers for your current objective(s) and any additional objectives. You won’t be able to tell the difference, though. By activating the scanner with the F key on PC, you can see what each blue diamond is pointing to.
The scanner also (usually) indicates the route you need to take to reach your next (optional) objective. This is great because Starfield’s cities are confusing, ships are deceptively difficult to explore, and multi-story buildings only add to the confusion. Having a highlighted path makes things easier. However, the scanner doesn’t always work correctly, especially if there’s no direct route to your objective.
Follow the signs and directions
There’s no minimap in Starfield (and the surface map is useless for navigating around town), so you’ll have to spend some time exploring the towns. First, there are yellow information kiosks scattered throughout each major town. These usually have a section called “trade” that lists all the buildings and businesses.
Once you know what you need, study the signs on the buildings. There are also signs and arrows in the cities that direct you to various attractions. You won’t be able to navigate using the mini-map, so you’ll have to rely on signs and signs.
Some doors are mechanical, others are electric.
Navigating the various bases and outposts you’ll find in populated systems is a challenge in itself (as I mentioned above, using a scanner is important). However, as you make your way around these structures, you’ll come across doors that you can’t open. Most doors can be opened by simply walking up to them and interacting with them. Some airlocks work the same way. However, sometimes you’ll come across doors that don’t have an “Open” prompt. In these cases, you’ll need to look for a switch or button (or, even more rarely, a computer) nearby.
You can equip different weapons
Obviously, it won’t happen right away, but you won’t have to open your inventory and go through five different submenus every time you want to change weapons. Using the Favorites feature, you can equip multiple weapons in the quick access menu – technically up to 12 options, although you can dedicate one slot to meds. We continue the Starfield guide on the StopGame.Ru gaming portal.
There are many types of ammunition in the game.
Starfield’s weapons require a specific type of ammo, and there are dozens of them in the game. Keep track of what ammo your weapon of choice uses and stock up on it whenever possible. And don’t worry about overloading, because…
Ammunition (and some other things) weigh nothing
Luckily, all ammo has zero mass, so it will never cause the character to exceed the load capacity. In general, pick up all the ammo you see. The same goes for first aid kits and lockpicks, which weigh nothing. Always pick up all these things.
Free first aid kits
While you’re scavenging in populated systems, keep an eye out for the presence or absence of a small red arrow next to the item you’re examining. If it does, you shouldn’t take it, as it will be considered stealing and could get you in trouble. A useful exception to this rule is, for the most part, medkits. There are plenty of medkits around. In most cases (but not always), a medkit or other medical supply located inside boxes can be taken without thinking twice. So loot any green lockers located on the walls for free healing. And keep an eye out for the red icon!
Show/hide spacesuit
Agree, any suit looks much better and more aesthetically pleasing than a spacesuit. In the inventory on the “Spacesuits” tab, you can press the specified key or button to show or hide the spacesuit while in the settlement. Thanks to this, you will be able to walk around the city in normal clothes (submenu “Clothing”). The same can be done with the helmet on the tab of the same name. We continue the guide to Starfield on the gaming portal StopGame.Ru.
Value and selling price are different things
In Starfield, you will constantly be collecting loot (from enemy corpses, from various containers, etc.). Some of the items you find will be better than the ones you already have, so you will use them as basic pieces of equipment. But other, unnecessary ones will mostly become goods for future sale. When examining any item in your inventory, you will see its value – the amount of credits that can be received when selling the item. However, it is important to note that the value is not the same as the price the seller offers you. The selling price starts at about 13% of its value. You can improve these indicators by investing skill points in trading. In general, weapons and equipment (suits, helmets, and backpacks) are worth the most, but are also the heaviest items.
Use the kiosks
Finding the best price to sell your collected items is half the battle. The problem comes when the seller runs out of credits to buy all your items. Many sellers in Starfield have low cash reserves, and specialty shops only accept some of the available items – for example, you can’t sell a gun to a tailor, and so on.
However, on each planet (where there is a spaceport), you can find a yellow trading kiosk. You can sell everything in your inventory there, even stolen items. The kiosk’s supply of money is refreshed daily. So, even if the kiosk runs out of money, you can return to it the next day and sell the remaining goods.
Mine resources from asteroids
Starfield doesn’t say anything about it, but you can shoot asteroids with your ship’s weapons. When they’re destroyed, they’ll leave behind useful resources. If you target them and get within 500 meters, you’ll be able to pick up the resources. Usually, it’s iron and/or water.
You can get a house right from the start
If you choose the “Dream Home” trait during character creation, you will have a free house. You only need to pay 500 credits per week, but if you stop doing this, you will lose the right to buy it out. We continue the guide to Starfield on the gaming portal StopGame.Ru.
The lantern is too dim
Hold F on PC or LB on console to turn on the flashlight (when on the planet surface). The flashlight’s range is limited, so you’ll likely need to turn up your screen brightness when traveling through dark caves.
There are console commands on PC
Unfortunately, Xbox owners will have to make do, since the console commands officially only work on the PC version of Starfield. With their help, you can get billions of credits or turn on god mode to avoid a difficult battle, although this will lead to the loss of the ability to get achievements. The console line is activated by the ~ key. Many console commands are similar to games such as Skyrim and Fallout, so they are well known to veterans and long-time fans of Bethesda games. This concludes the guide for Starfield beginners on the gaming portal StopGame.Ru.