15 Starfield Ship Building Tips & Tricks you NEED to know

The best C class starter ship to use when making an end game ship is the Kepler R.

Not only is the ship free, but it also unlocks the best C class engines in the game, of which you can attach SIX of them.

the engines should be unlocked by the main quest prior to getting the kepler quest (“all that money can buy”, on neon, with walter). the kepler R is… ugly AF, but it’s got some good pieces. the kepler S, which is the other option… is much less ugly… but doesn’t have any weapons, or the top-end pieces.

Just for the blue square as weapon mount alone this was worth it for me. I knew about the arrow and regular joiner – but could not work out why sometimes weapons would not stick.
Then I’d have to go buy some weapon mounts.
Be careful of using too many Hopetech joiners – those things are HEAVY – and can mess up mobility real fast.
If we could choose where to punch a door through I’d be such a happy person – random doors and ladders is really annoying.
I’d also love to be able to walk through a design to check it out prior to locking it in.

Yeah, I’d like to see the DEATH STAR being made. I know some of the obstacles will be the height and width. Another will be the curves in accordance with the limited height and width.

The best engines for C class are the Sal 6830 which you can get from the 6th main story mission involving Walter Stroud, in the mission there is a character who you can kill or ask Walter to make a deal with him. If you choose the deal option then the engines will be unlocked.

Easily the best engines in the entire game. Put 6 of these badboys on a ship even weighing 7000+ mass and you can still turn on a dime. I’m all about C-class brutes that can move like an A-class ship

i don’t think any of the “choices” during the negotiation actually count; the story just works around your choice to come out with the same effect anyway. i suspect only the final choice before you can return to your ship is what matters.

Yeah, getting 40 unique ship modules for Starship Design 4 seems daunting if you’re building a ‘natural’ ship. So it’s probably best to go to the unique shipyard locations, attach some giant 3×3 hab to the side of your ship and plaster it with structural decorations, then rinse and repeat at all 5 locations. It’s worth it for those final ship part unlocks. Otherwise you have to rely on capturing or purchasing ships with 1 or 2 of those parts…

“unique” in tihs case only means “a piece you haven’t gotten credit for this skill previously”… so just spam a bunch of cheap structurals to burn through it. each different cowling or wing, etc (for example) will work, but flipped/alternate versions don’t count. deimos belly aft could count… but then the deimos belly fore (flipped version of the same) won’t count.
and once you’ve gotten it, feel free to go back and delete, to recover a decent bit of what it cost.

I always use 3 weapons with EM as my third. That way I leave them powered down in most situations until I want to board a ship I can then just power down one of my other weapons and still leave everything else maxed out.

To prevent ladders where you don’t want them (assuming there is another pathway available) you can put an Equipment Plate on top of the Hab unit – this should stop a ladder from being created there.

I’ve tried doing this with structural pieces (Thruster Array, Horizon Weapon Mount, Deimos Wing D) single and on both sides and despite modelling these pieces inside the ship, it still creates a door…

You can also put Portholes in the floor, which strangely pleases me.

Ah good to know, thanks. I want to have more of a play with corridors and ladder blocking with my next build

Portholes are a common way to prevent doors/passageways from being created, using the flipping placement glitch to get habs to butt up against each other even though they’re not connecting. Companionways are an excellent way to force ladders at specific points. You can use a stack of 1×1 companionways to force a ladder from your landing bay up through all your levels to your docking port ( for that single-ladder build) and they also work to stagger spacing for habs too, like a spine/brace.

1. If you take the Bounty Hunter background you can capture the Crimson Fleet Ghosts that attack you during the tutorial. At the time I’m writing this though (31 Oct 23) the Ghost seems to be bugged and, if you alter it, it will occasionally revert back to it’s base appearance and can’t be used. You can “enter” it but you’ll be stuck in the deck and unable to interact with anything.

2. In addition to the salesroom on Neon, Stroud Eklund also has a shipyard in the Narion system (the one you start out in during the tutorial) orbiting Deepala. The salesman is a bit hard to find but check behind the office style privacy screen and he’ll be the one in the vest.

3. Until you do the Vanguard quest the 3300 particle beam cannon (sold by the technician on New Atlantis) is pretty potent. You can only fit 4 of them as they need 3 power but, combined, they’ll do 48 damage. The rate of fire is slow unless fully powered but if you can keep them powered they won’t ever pause for the reload/cooldown that other weapon systems have to deal with so they can be handy for long fights.

capture the ghosts, and then just sell them. ghosts are ugly and weak, plus you can’t get stuck in the deck of a ship you no longer own…. xD

I already know stuff about ship building, but I watched anyway thinking I might learn a thing or two from you, and sure enough I did! Thanks for the clear and thorough explanation.

All I want in life is a way to tell the game where I want my doors and ladders, dammit. I made the mistake of making a big ship (like the game tells me I couldn’t add more parts lol) and getting through that maze is a headache. I just always “go to cockpit” when I go in and “exit ship” when I go out, I don’t bother walking through the decks of that abomination at all lmao.

To be fair, at this point, so long as my workshop is right next to the landing bay door, and under-mounted slim docker, and cockpit, i’m good. I don’t even wander through the rest of my ship unless i need to talk to a companion who’s crewing it.

Tip: tayio has some top an boton hab with no conections on sides so, on can make side by side room with no conection. Also, stroud has some 1×1 habs with conection on one side only, didnt found any use for those but theres the option.

With ship weapons it is actually more important how much damage you can deliver per second. That’s why the Vanguard Obliterator Autoprojector is so damn good: because you can put 6 on your ship and deliver massive hull & shield damage up to 3000 meters away. 🤟
Same but shorter range (880 meters): Vanguard Hellfire Autocannon. I use 6 of these as backup or finisher at closer range. Because I don’t like missile launchers (take too long to reload, sometimes misses enemy completely). And the best part: both guns are available at level 1. 😎

You never have to put power in the gravity drive it will automatically put how many power pips you have left in you’re main bar which is great I always distribute my power then leave however many you want in the main bar then automatically jump without having to move power in and out of the gravity drive manually, when the game does it automatically.

I love the “Lego” style interchangeable pieces they went with.
I don’t like that I can’t preview walkthrough my ship at the shipbuilder.
I hate hate HATE that I can’t choose where doors and ladders go/spawn.
I’ve heard that the doors and ladders will spawn in a way that it creates the fastest route to both the cockpit and exits(docker and bay) from the placed hab. But either that just isn’t true or the game thinks I’m a rat searching for cheese in my ship.

The ship builder was awesome but after I finished my ship there was no reason to go touching it again. Kinda wish all the manufacturers weren’t available from start or something like that. There was so much choices I ended spending a looooooooooooot of time designing my dream ship. Tho on the plus side I’ve been able to progress the game on an awesome ship that feels like my own. Tl;dr I love ship designing but have no reason to do it anymore, sadge

Grav drives perform the same regardless if you have 1 power or 12 power assigned to it. So you can leave it at 1 power and use the rest of the power on a 3rd weapon type. It will still jump the same distance.

Also, power level does not affect weapon damage or fire rate. It only affects weapon reload rate. So if you use auto weapons, these have magazines and will fire at full speed and dmg even at partial power, but when the magazine empties, it will reload slower in one big slow reload. (Do note diff auto weapons have diff magazine sizes, from 26 to 33). If you use semi auto weapons (these are 1.5 fire rate), then a lower power will mean each shot is slower because it will reload after every single shot but the slow down is only marginal, although it will add up because it is every shot. So you need to consider whether you prioritize burst fire damage or avg damage over time. Your choice of auto vs semi auto weapons and power allocation will be determined by your priority. Personally, once you get to Obliterator Alpha Beams, burst fire is enough to destroy most ships and then reload while you switch targets.

Also, if you find controlling and aiming and shooting very difficult, then particle beam turrets are a godlike quality of life improvement for you. These turrets will auto aim and shoot on their own. They fire even when you cannot see the ship yet. I have 2 facing behind me and I’ve killed many ships without even looking at them. Also particle beams have insane 3km range and deal high dmg to both shields and hull. So you don’t need to even switch weapons. But it will make space combat easy to the point of boring and boarding ships become impossible because you cannot control where and when the weapon fires. So if you want to board, you need to kill the turret by powering it down to zero power and using a manual weapon like EM Suppressors.

Also, shields are always maxed, because you want maximum shields.

Also, one more Skill to have is the Aneutronic fusion skill (Vasco has this at level 1) as it will add up to 5 extra power to your reactor at max skill level. So you can have up to 46 power (Vasco +1 and yourself +5)

Just some things to consider when playing around with power allocation and ship design.

Good stuff there, thanks for sharing.

More power if grav drive does make it activate slightly quicker, but yea generally you can just stick 1 power in it when you need to use it unless you are in a serious hurry.

While it isn’t technically extra power, you do get a free pip of power in Engines and Shields by having Sam Coe and Omari Hassan assigned to your ship’s crew, respectively. So combined with A. Fusion it functions like having 48 power. And, as you said, auto weapons with magazines, and missile launchers in general, can be left at lower power without effecting their burst damage. Grav drives are fine at 1 power as well unless you need a quick escape.

What I need help understanding is the placement on weapons. For example, one placement will take the MKE-4 Gauss gun but not the MKE-9 Gauss gun. It’s the same weapon (class) just upgraded, but the game will not allow me to upgrade that placement. Instead, it wants to place that weapon where I would have, missile placements, which makes no sense at all.

Lol i recognize your ship i made the exact same one based on a derelict bireme i found and fixed lol. You can move your bay up one square to give you a little more room in the belly of the ship 🙂

I changed the cockpit/ bridge to the cabot too and put the cargo on the top in the same way. Lol i even have a very similar color scheme!

do NOT trust the game to move loose or contained items from your ship to your inventory..more often then not kiss those items goodbye. i have lost hundreds of thousands of resources and was unable to reload, more than once. now i NEVER leave things loose or in containers if i’m going to work on the ship in ANY way. full manual clean out of any and all items worth caring about.

“Starfield Ship Building Guide for Beginners” – So misleading! The opening minutes immediately mention obtaining skills! You do not need any skills from any tree to start building a decent and capable ship. You can find and use Class A parts from all the ship vendors and build a strong ship. That will last you up to level 30. (I have seen playthroughs with Class A ships only up to level 30. After level 30, all the playthroughs I have seen start using Class B parts because they have used all the Class A parts.

It is quite annoying watching these ‘shipbuilding’ guides and they always talk about obtaining skills or being at a minimum level. That is wrong. I have never played this game but I have watched a few playthroughs now. You do not need to be at a certain level to build a strong ship.

I stopped playing games years ago. If I was playing Starfield, I would never watch these guides! Playing the game is the only guide you will ever need. I only visit these guides to see if they are correct and not misleading. This video is not correct and is misleading. It is based partly on the opinion of the channel owner and his own experience.

My suggestion for anyone playing the game is to ignore these ‘guides’ and build a ship at the level you want. Only you will know if your ship is good enough by the way you play the game and the crew you use. Not a video on YouTube. Everyone plays the game differently.