If you want to be effective in ship combat in Starfield, you need to learn how to balance your ship’s power effectively. You cannot keep all their systems at maximum power at all times. While cruising, combat systems such as weapons and shields take the back seat while you can put more power into engines. But in combat, you need all the power to offense and defense.
Therefore, you must know how to effectively allocate power on your ship in Starfield. This guide will show you exactly how.
How to allocate power in your ship in Starfield
To allocate Starfield ship power to different systems, you can use the Arrow keys on PC and D-Pad on the controller. By default, you have to hold down the Left-Alt key on the keyboard and then use the side arrow or W/D keys to switch between ship systems.
Once you have highlighted the system you want to allocate power to, press the up/down or A/S keys to increase or decrease power to that ship system.
The total amount of spaceship power available to allocate is displayed on the HUD below the power assigned to each system. All your systems have a maximum and minimum power level that you can allocate to the system. This limit can be increased by upgrading the ship with better parts.
What does allocating power to a ship system do in Starfield
Allocating more power to a certain ship system allows that system to perform better. More power to your engines and grav drive means you can go faster. More power to weapons means you do more damage, and more power to shields means you can tank more hits.
If one of your ship’s systems gets damaged during combat, allocating more power to it will allow you to repair that part of your ship.
Let us look at all the different systems players have in their ship’s HUD
| Ship System for Power Allocation | Description |
|---|---|
| Ballistics – BAL | Ballistic systems deal higher damage and more consistent damage. They also recharge faster. |
| Lasers – LAS | Charge lasers faster and deal additional damage. Better for destroying enemy shields. |
| Missiles – MSL | Deal additional damage and increase reloading speed. |
| Engines – ENG | Increase acceleration and stronger, longer boosts. |
| Shields – SHD | Increase the durability of your hull and your hull takes reduced damage. |
| Grav Drive – GRV | Increases charging speed for your Grav Drive required to make jumps. |
How to increase max power capacity for your ship
In Starfield, the total power of every spaceship is determined by its reactor. Each reactor has a ‘Power Generated’ stat which dictates the amount of power it can generate. The higher this stat the more power you’ll have. The ‘Repair Rate’ stat shows how quickly your ship recovers after it has been damaged.
There are three subclasses of reactors in Starfield, A, B and C. Reactors in the C category tend to be heavier but also have a faster repair when compared to B and A. A-class reactors generate lower power while B-class reactors strike a fine balance. To upgrade your ship power generation, we recommend the following from each category:
| Reactor | Class | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Spheromak DC202 Reactor | A | Power Generation: 33 Repair Rate: 2.25 |
| Tokamak X-300 Reactor | A | Power Generation: 29 Repair Rate: 2.25 |
| Z-Machine 2000 Reactor | B | Power Generation: 21 Repair Rate: 2.84 |
| 104DS Mag Inertial Reactor | B | Power Generation: 39 Repair Rate: 3.51 |
| Pinch 8Z Reactor | C | Power Generation: 40 Repair Rate: 6.44 |
