Landing a ship in Starfield on a landing pad or spaceport is nice and all but what if you wish to enter a space station or enter a ship in space? How are you supposed to enter a pirate vessel when there is no landing pad? Well, that is where ship docking comes in. All spaceships have a docking port in Starfield that you can use to connect two ships, acting as a bridge so you can travel between them if you know how to dock your ship in Starfield.
Starfield leans heavily into incorporating ship docking as a core gameplay mechanic, one that you will cultivate greatly over the course of your journey through the stars. Generally, you can dock with hostile spaceships you encounter in Starfield (or neutral spaceships you decide to plunder) or the plethora of space stations scattered throughout the galaxy.
How to dock with and enter an enemy ship in Starfield
Once you have your own ship, docking a ship comes with a few extra steps compared to space stations. The major difference is you must first render the ship immobile by damaging the engines. For this, you will need the Target Locking system unlocked from the skill tree. Lock on to the enemy ship, enable Target Lock and then focus fire on the enemy engine.
Once you have damaged both engines enough, you can tell the ship has been immobilized if you can see the ‘ENG’ symbol indicating engine failure. As you come closer to the ship, the ‘Dock’ prompt will become visible. Same as with docking the space station, hold the relevant button and after a cutscene, you will be in the ship. Be ready as you will have to fight the crew before you can gain control of the ship.
You fight the crew and eliminate them all one by one. Your reward for your troubles is complete access to the ship and the ability to pilot it. If you wish to take this ship as your own, just fly it to a nearby spaceport and it will be added to your fleet of ships.
In some cases, you may be tasked with breaching a ship that was hijacked by space pirates. In this case, you kill the pirates and rescue any hostage aboard the ship, usually as part of a quest.
How to dock with a space station
Docking your ship with a space station is a simple matter of locking in your destination with your crosshairs and waiting for the relevant prompt. Simply aim your ship towards the space station and activate your targeting (default is E on PC)
Docking a space station tends to go like the picture above. With your destination focused on your aiming reticle, continue closing the distance. Make sure your speed is sufficiently slow as crashing into a space station can get you killed.
Once there is only a 500m distance between you and your docking destination, you will notice a new option will pop up next to ‘Hail’. With the ‘Dock’ option now visible after crossing the 500m distance mark, simply hold the associated button (R for PC), to initiate a docking cutscene.
After the cutscene plays out, you will return to the game with your ship docked, and a couple of prompts to decide what you want to do:
Holding the relevant button for ‘Board’ (X on PC) will then have you enter your docking destination. In the case of derelict ones with only scavengers aboard, you can take your time pillaging the remains for any noteworthy loot. Or following wherever the objective is leading you, usually searching for clues pertaining to the quest focus deeper in the station e.g., the whereabouts of a missing person.
However, in the case of active space stations, you can speak with various crew members, and even find vendors peddling some helpful items for you to choose and stock up on.
