Starfield arrived last week, and players have already made some impressive ships. However, actually building ships can be a bit overwhelming at first glance. To better understand Starfield and its Ship Builder, we have this guide to assist you. We’ll teach out about important people and pieces (or Modules) for ship customization.
Starfield Ship Builder Quick Glossary
Before we get too far in the weeds with this, there are a couple terms to get straight:
- Ship Parts: A ship resource meant to make repairs to your ship midflight.
- Ship Modules: Ship pieces that you can use to design and customize your ship. There are various types of modules based on your needs.
- Ship Services Technician: The NPC players go to for ship updates or outright new ship purchases.
- Upgrade Ship: This choice in the Ship Builder lets you boost the parts you currently have on your ship.
- Edit Ship: This choice in the Ship Builder lets you pick and choose which parts you have on your ship, as well as where they’re positioned.
Step One: Find a Ship Services Technician
Every developed landing pad has a Ship Services Technician. You find one immediately when you first touch down in the main story right after the first mission, but more throughout the universe. This Technician serves as the storefront for ship-related purchases. They also have a terminal nearby for you to sell non-ship inventory if you’re also looking to lower your carry weight for credits.
When you find and talk to the Technician, you can ask for ship repairs (1000 credits), or to view their ships for sale and the ship builder. In the second menu, you can sell your own ships, but not other materials. Choose the ship builder option for updating your current ship.
Step Two: Viewing the Starfield Ship Builder Menu
After choosing the ship builder, you’ll see your ship on a diagram. You can either choose to “Upgrade” or “Edit” ship. In the upgrade menu, you’ll get to cycle/highlight your ship’s current modules and pay for the better version of that Module. On the other hand, you can edit your ship. This includes fully removing pieces, adding new pieces, moving pieces around, etc.
When you choose to upgrade the ship, you can cycle through each Module on your ship and highlight that Module to the next better model. Starfield features numerous different companies, like ship building ones, who each have their own modules and such. You can mix and match brands, but when upgrading, you stick with the same brand.
Finally for upgrading, when you’re ready to choose your upgrade, you pay individually.
Step Three: Selecting and Using Ship Modules
For more in-depth customization, choose the “Edit Ship” option. Here, you can select an existing Module or add a new Module on your ship. When you select a piece, you can move it, flip it, or delete it.
As you’re moving a piece, you need to connect it to the main ship body somehow. Connecting links between Modules show as white circles on each piece. If you hold the Module somewhere incorrectly, the piece will turn red. Conversely, if it hovers over an acceptable place it can join onto the ship, it will turn green.
To select a new piece, make sure your cursor is not hovering over an existing piece. Then click the select button (‘A’ for Xbox controller users). You’ll get a submenu that shows all Modules this Technician has for sale. Modules vary from Technician to Technician.
When you select a piece, its price tag adds to your current expenses, displayed in red and underneath your total credits and the Technician’s current credits. The current expenses tracks the total amount of credits you owe after finishing your updates to this ship in question. If you delete part of your ship during this process, its price will be deducted in the final sale.
Join the new Module to an acceptable spot on your ship.
Final Step: Passing the Flight Check
Starfield‘s wants players to build creative ships, but also needs those ships to pass a flight check. The flight check confirms that your ship can functionally fly, has all necessary Modules, and is built appropriately. You can get errors regarding lack of thrusters, weapons, etc..
If you fail the check, you can’t make the purchase. At that point, you can either go back to make tweaks to pass the check or you can straight up cancel the modifications.
For more on using ships in Starfield, check out our coverage on ship docking.
