Starfield is a complex and massive game, and there are certain things I wish I had known before, so here is a beginner guide on what you should consider when starting.
Starfield is an upcoming open-world role-playing game (RPG) developed by Bethesda Game Studios, the same team behind popular titles like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. Set in space, Starfield promises to deliver an immersive and expansive experience, allowing players to explore distant planets, engage in space exploration, and unravel mysteries in a sci-fi universe.
Key Features:
Getting Started in Starfield
Make sure your gaming system meets the required specifications for Starfield. Check the official website or platform you plan to play on for these details. The game requires 125 GB of free space.
Here are ten essential tips and tricks when you start a new game in Starfield. We discuss them in detail below:
You Start Satrfield with Character Creation – Background & Traits
In Starfield, you should first consider how you want to play, who your characters are, and what path they want to take. When you start, you’ll be transported to thecharacter creation menu, and in addition to complex appearance selections, there are21 differentbackgroundsand 16traitsto choose from. Players can pick onebackgroundand up to 3traits; some can’t be combined.Backgroundsare a starting classenhanced by varioustraits.They give your character personality and can help you in your preferred playstyle.
Among many options, there arebackgroundssuch as Beast Hunter, Bouncer, Bounty Hunter, Chef, Cyber Runner, Cyberneticist, Combat Medic, Diplomat, Explorer, Gangster, Homesteader, Industrialist, Long Hauler, Pilgrim, and Professor. For example, as a Diplomat, you may want to solve misunderstandings peacefully and will have fewer starting abilities focused on combat. While leveling, you’ll fill that gap quickly, but the environment and other NPCs will still recognize and react to your origin.
Not every NPC’s reaction to yourcharacter’sorigin may be positive. Some may accuse you of crimes if they learn you are a bounty hunter or they simply don’t like your Diplomat politics. And you never know when yourbackgroundcan become useful and will gain you an advantage. You may be on the street, shopping or exploring, recognized as a Bounty Hunter or someone’s former professor. Also, your knowledge or training connected to thebackgroundmay help you complete quests and offer new missions.
Startingtraitssuch as Neon Street Rat or Raised Universal can give you lower prices in the area of control of a specific faction you were raised in or other bonuses. Extrovert will help you in persuasion and dialogues, but can’t be taken if you want introverttraits. So,sometraitswill conflict with each other.
Understand Leveling and Skills
Starfieldskillsystem includes multipleskillsspread between 5 categories of skills:Physical,Social,Combat,Science, andTech. Skills from every category will upgrade, customize, and enhance your Starfield character playstyle. Allskillscan make your protagonist more powerful in combat, efficient withweapons, a better negotiator and ship pilot, or even increase your base statistics like health or endurance.
Levelsin Starfield describe your character progress. Each time you complete a quest, kill enemies, or discover an uncharted planet, you’ll receive experience points. When you gather enough experience, you’ll level up and get a skill point to spend.
In Starfield, you may getlevelsand experience points from the following sources:
However, you’ll need to complete challenges to unlock some higher-rankingskills. Challenges depend on what skill you would like to unlock. For example, if you want your character to be able to open complex digital locks, you’re able to invest in the Securityskillfrom theTech skill tree. To unlock Security Rank 2, you must Pick 5 locks to complete the challenge, and so on.
The best and most crucialskillin Starfield you should take is Boost Pack Training.
Inventory Management and Merchants
Inventory management is very clunky in Starfield, and it takes a moment to get used to. You can hold only a limited number of items, counted by the weight your character can carry, so you need various storage and help successfully manage your inventory. However, there are some tips and tricks to make it easier and faster.
Starfield is full of items to collect, and you will quickly fill your backpack with items andweaponsto sell. Merchants have limited amounts of gold and buy items the same as they sell, meaning thearmorvendors will not buy yourweaponsand sell onlyarmor. The best way to overcome this mechanic is to travel to a few planets with more than one merchant in the city and sell items to them.
Best cities to sell your items:
Sell yourweaponsonly toweaponand gun vendors,armorto armor vendors, and all the rest to general merchants. This way you will be able to sell more items at once in one city. Many stores also have Trade authority kiosks that can buy your items. The idea is the same here.
Additionally, buy resources, ship parts, and med packs from General Merchant each time you visit. All those items are extremely useful, including resources that will help you become powerful, upgrade youroutposts, and boostweaponswithweapon mods. you may get resources from Mineral vendors and med packs from Medic Vendor. There are different med packs depending on your level.
Here are the best tips for Starfield inventory management:
Navigation, Scanning, and Surveying
Exploring and traveling to and from quest objectives offers several approaches. The galaxy and planets are massive, so exploration and traveling will become a big chunk of your playtime. The Starmap, accessible through the Data Menu, serves as both your guide and a valuable resource for obtaining detailed insights about your surroundings.
The Starmap offers multiple views:
Travel in Starfield
Helpful Tips for Navigation and Swift Travel:
Scanning and Surveying
Scanning and Surveying are valuable, providing information about the planet’s distinctive attributes and qualities. While in orbit around a planet, Hold LB (Xbox)/R Key (PC) to initiate a scan. This scan unveils the presence and locations of resources on the planet and crucial details.
Scanning can provide the following details:
During your surface explorations, your scanner becomes the instrument for surveying and collecting native flora, fauna, and resources. The more you scan, the greater the insights unveiled about specific native elements, life forms, or resources. To achieve a full 100% completion of specific specimen information, you may need to do multiple scans of the same flora, fauna, or resource. Completing scanning at 100% can also get you fantastic rewards or even credits! There are planets with many different biomes and wonders to discover.
Uncovered all flora, fauna, resources, and planetary attributes can be traded for credits. It’s a fantastic way to earn some extra cash for dedicated explorers. While many vendors purchase survey slates, remember that Vladimir offers a premium price for them.
Companions Enhance Your Gameplay
Within the vastness of space, you’re going to need all the help you can get to keep your outposts functional and to helpcrewyourstarships.Companionscan also play a vital role in exploration and questing. You can customize yourcompanionswith differentweapons, outfits, spacesuits, and helmets. To do so, interact with yourcompanionand choose the “Let’s trade gear” option, then equip specificweapons, outfits, spacesuits, or helmets from their inventory by pressing Y (Xbox)/B key (PC).
Companionsandcrewfeatures in Starfield:
Above is a screenshot of thecrewRoster UI, where you can see the full list ofcompanionsandcrewyou have access to. It also shows where each of them has been assigned. Those who are unassigned can be sent to whichevershiporoutpostyou need.
Significantly, not only will certaincompanionsplay important roles in the main story, but allcompanionscome with their own unique set of abilities. Ensure that you assigncompanionsto jobs and tasks they are good at. Choosing the rightcompanionto accompany you on your adventure or mission may make all the difference when it comes to combat encounters. While assigning othercrewmembers to specific tasks can enhance yourship’sperformance oroutpostproductiveness.
The best companions in combat areSarah MorganandBarrett, thanks to theirtraitsand special abilities. Equip them with best and powerfulweaponsbecause they don’t require ammo to shoot so they can use freely anyweaponswith no ammo limitations that the player constantly battles.
Starshipsare a vital part of gameplay, but you gain access to all robust customizations later in the game, so just like you progress your character, you need to slowly upgrade and enhance yourship. Whether your gameplay focus is exploration, the main quest, combat, settlingoutposts, or evencrafting, that progression will require the use of astarship.
Ship Features Mechanics
Here are the most importantshipmechanics and features:
Outposts & Reserch
Outposts,research, andcraftingare both mid-to-end game features worth utilizing. In Starfield,outpostsare your safe bases, a home you’re able to design however you want. You can build and placeoutpoststructures on any planet or moon and have as manyoutpostsas you need. Their primary purpose is to produce resources, rest, repair, and refuel before traveling out into space again.
You should create your firstoutpoststraight away, and we advise you to start on the first planet you’ll visit, Jemison. It’s easy to access and will serve as your safe port when you regularly come back. The game will allow you to start crafting atConstellationLodge, but it’s not a good idea. Storage there is not linked, so you can’t access it from yourship, and tocraft, you will need to carry items manually on you or yourcompanion.
After establishing anoutpost, you may assigncrewandcompanionsto work there for bonuses. The next thing to do is tocraftand place all possiblecraftingand cooking stations, unlocking various upgrades for your character, otherwise unavailable. Also, ensure to link youroutpostwith yourstarshipto make bigger jumps between planets and systems. You can link multipleoutpostsandships, so you will have access to big storage and more resources at your disposal.
Inoutposts, you can also enable transportation of any cargo that regularly travels between your bases and other spaceports. These regular shuttles can earn you credits, and yourcrewwill be there to help you with it.
Outpost Features Mechanics
The following list presents the best tips and mechanics related tooutposts:
Combat and Guns
Weaponsare a big part of Starfield and the best thing about combat. In the game, you’ll encounter many different types, shapes, damage, and rarity ofweapons, but not all are good choices, mainly because of the statistics each weapon can provide. When choosing your gun, you want to consider accuracy,weaponrange, and fire rate as the main and most important statistics. But the hardest to find areweaponswith good and many special perks that will boost your weapon damage and provide special bonuses.
There are four different rarityweapontypes, from worst to best: white, blue, purple, and gold. The gold, Legendaryweaponshave the three extra perks, and whiteweaponsdon’t have any. So, when choosing theweapon, pick the best you have and what best aligns with yourbuildand playstyle. Also, we advise always to have four preparedweaponsfor every situation.
Best way to organize yourweaponsin Starfield:
You can further increase your weapon efficiency withmods. They can increase range, damage magazine size, and much more, but they are hard to get.
Lastly, don’t buyweapons! While exploring, you’ll find many fantasticweapons, and what merchants offer is usually weaker unless you are really lucky and find something truly unique in shops. Also, don’tcraftmodsforweaponsthat don’t have good perks or multiple perks. It’s simply a waste of resources.
A cutter is extremely important during exploration. Use it with the scanner for optimal results, cutting locks and vaults and extracting minerals. Always keep it on you.
Weapon Mods
Resources will allow you to get bettermods, and Mods are OP, vastly increasing your combat efficiency and damage. Start withmodifyingyour weapon’s barrel. It’s the cheapest upgrade. The internalmodslot is costly but will greatly boost your weapon damage. Each weapon has eightmodslots in Starfield, such as:
Combat in Starfield
The list below includes the most useful combat tips in Starfield:
Favourite Items and Easy Access During Combat
Ensure you set up your to set up your favorite items to easily access them, especially during combat, which should beweaponsconsumables, aid kits, and powers. The best way is to start withweaponsat buttons from 1 to 5, then healing items and anything that will give you more damage or utility in combat. Lastly, slotPowersthat complement yourbuildand playstyle.
Powersare a fantastic way to boost your character efficiency and make the playstyle more enjoyable. Those unique abilities can make you more efficient in battles, so it’s worth spending extra time on exploration and visiting as many temples as possible to gain access to strongerpowersthat will complement yourbuild.
Additionally, searching for temples is a fantastic method to get some experience and level progression while unlocking thepowers. You can start working towards unlocking them as soon as you receive the Power from Beyond quest that will set you on the path to locate temples and access newpowers. To locate these temples, you’ll need to identify anomalies and track distortions on certain planets where the temples are situated, as shown in the picture above.
Contraband, Bounties, and Crime System
Engaging in unlawful actions, such as attacking innocent civilians, theft, or smuggling, will put a bounty on your head. For a quick resolution, you can settle your bounty using a Self-Service Bounty Clearance Terminal. These terminals are conveniently located within numerous Spaceport Bars, including spots like the Astral Lounge onNeon, the Broken Spear in Cydonia, or the Viewport inNew Atlantis.
Contraband
Crime and contraband can be beneficial, and you can find many opportunities to earn extra credits. The whole experience can be enhanced by picking a Bounty Hunter or other crime-associatedbackground. Contraband refers to illegal and valuable items encountered during your travels in Starfield. These items are distinguished by a yellow icon next to their name. They can be sold for substantial credit at vendors with a shady reputation, such as theCrimson Fleetspace territory or their representatives in special kiosks. Another great place to sell your contraband isNeon City.
However, it can have consequences. When approaching major settled planets, the security forces of the controlling faction will perform scans. If Contraband is detected aboard your ship, you’ll face a choice: pay a fine, submit to law enforcement, or engage in a confrontation to evade capture.
How long is Starfield, and what to expect?
Starfield offers a versatile gameplay experience that can cater to different playstyles and approaches. Themain storyalone can be completed in approximately 20 hours if you choose to focus solely on its progression. However, for those who relish exploration,shippiloting,outpostbuilding, and a more immersive engagement with the game’s features, the experience can extend significantly to a range of 300-500 hours.
We advise aiming for the right balance between exploration and progress. Taking your time to savor the game’s challenges and not rushing through is key. The initial playthrough, while fulfilling, is merely a precursor to the captivating content that unlocks a new game plus option.
Notably, Starfield introduces a new game-plus feature with distinct advantages. This second playthrough addresses two primary concerns experienced during the initial play: improved inventory management and enhanced travel mechanics. This enhancement makes the second playthrough notably more enjoyable and efficient.
In essence, Starfield offers an expansive adventure that caters to both efficient completion and comprehensive exploration, with the second playthrough offering refined mechanics and a more gratifying experience.
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