Base Building is the core mechanics of Starfield gameplay. These bases or outposts are your homes on various planets spread across the galaxy. They also serve as a pit stop while you go exploring the vast wilderness of space and allow you to fast travel from one planet to another.
Starfield allows you to build only 8 bases at the beginning of the game. You can’t build a base on a planet that is already occupied by another faction or a group. In this guide, we will explain the very basics of base building and how can you maximize their advantage to your cause.
How to build a base in Starfield
Building and managing a base in Starfield is actually a 3 steps process, which is further divided into various sub-tasks. We will be discussing all three steps in detail below.
Finding a suitable planet
The most important aspect of building a base in Starfield is to find a suitable planet. You can’t build a base on harsh planets. Any planet that has extreme pressure, gravity, heat, cold or acid is off-limits to players in the early game sections. They only become available for base building once you unlock the Planetary Habitation skill and unlock all its Tiers.
The next important step is to scan the planet for its inorganic resources. You need to extract those resources to build your base. We don’t advise you to go on a shopping spree every time you come across a planet in Starfield where you can build your own base. Use the planet itself to fund your ventures.
The next step is to look out for the flora and fauna of the said planet. See how hostile or docile they are. What kind of benefits or organic materials you can farm from them. Producing native animals in your base results in big rewards.
Building a base in Starfield
Once you are okay with your planet selection, go ahead and select a place to plant a beacon. This is the first step towards base building in Starfield. After placing the beacon, we recommend that next thing you do is to place an extractor to mine inorganic resources from the planet.
Now, you must set up a power source for your base. You can either create a Solar Array or a Windmill (we recommend experimenting with both and see which one fits your base in question). After completing the power generation structures, start creating setups that provide food, water and oxygen. Find local animals and plants to grow them at your base for a constant supply of food and oxygen.
Now turn towards indoors. First, you need to create housing for your companions and crew members. The indoor structures that we recommend creating are in the following order.
- Walled Rooms (tetra/circular/hexa)
- Airlock
- Storage
- Laboratory and other workstations
Once the construction is done, put your crew members to work. They are invaluable elements of your base building in Starfield. They can produce/generate multiple resources at lightning speed and even protect your base from hostile elements.
Protect your base
The final step of building a base in Starfield is associated with its protection. You will end up losing a lot of precious resources and crew members if you can’t defend your base from enemies. They usually attack your bases at irregular intervals. The best thing you can do is to put up some defensive measures including Turrets and heavy artillery to stop their advances.
These are all the tips you can use to build your base in Starfield and protect it. We recommend that you follow these tips to have a much more pleasant experience. In the meantime, look at our Skills guide to unlock more bases, improve defensive measures, and conquer the harshest of the planets Starfield has to offer.
