A large Ship Crew size in Starfield is one of the most critical parts of your journey. When venturing into different galaxies, you cannot deal with the emptiness of the soundless planets on your own. Hence, there is a need for a Ship Crew that accompanies you throughout your expedition.
Starfield’s increased ship crew size can be challenging. You must populate your ship with certain members to travel across different planets during your journey. Having only two crew members will not do the job for you.
Regardless of how much time you invested in building your ship in Starfield by adding additional storage slots, you cannot increase the crew capacity without spending on skills. Below, I have arranged the methods required to increase the Starfield crew size.
1. Upgrade your Ship Modules
Once you buy your ship, the modules in stock will not sometimes reach Starfield Max Crew Size. This is done intentionally by ship manufacturers to focus space more on equipment that will help during combat. Similarly, some manufacturers focus more on exploration and research.
To solve this issue, you can upgrade your ship modules by buying new ones from the ship Technician that cover all your needs. Just be mindful before buying ship modules that the info about each module will be displayed on the left side of the screen.
From there, you can learn about the maximum crew carrying capacity of the modules and decide. You can also add multiple ship modules if your required crew-carrying capacity is not achieved from one module. You can also combine reactor, weapon, ship, and shield modules to increase your crew size.
- Reactor: Add +3 Crew Capacity.
- Weapons: Each weapon adds +0.5 Crew Capacity.
- Engine: The engine will add +0.25 Crew Capacity.
- Shields: Adds +0.5 Crew Capacity.
2. Upgrade Payload Skill
Payloads are a part of the Technical Skill Tree in Starfield. They allocate additional space to your ship, which helps fill compartments with crew members. Thus increasing the Starfield Ship Crew Size.
However, they are locked by default. Therefore, you must spend at least 4 Skill points to the Technical Tree to unlock this skill. You can even go as far as increasing 50% of your maximum capacity on your ship.
3. Upgrade Ship Command Skill
Ship Commands are a part of the Social Skill Tree in Starfield. These are Master Tier skills that allow you to increase the overall size of your ship per rank. Therefore, it is one of the best skills to invest in.
However, like Payloads, Ship Command skills are locked by default. You can unlock them by investing 12 Skill Points into the Social Skill Tree. As you progress your Ship Command Skill level, the capacity to haul crew members will increase as mentioned below:
- Rank One – “You can have up to four active crew members.”
- Rank Two – “You can have up to five active crew members.”
- Rank Three – “You can have up to six active crew members.”
- Rank Four – “You can have up to eight active crew members.”
4. Use Cockpits and Habs
Another method to increase ship crew size in Starfield is by using cockpits and habs. Your ships are assigned to have multiple habs. You can use these habs to insert multiple crew members easily.
The best hab for extra space is Stroud Battle Station 2×2. You can buy this hab in Neon from the Stroud-Ecklund shop. It is capable of increasing the crew size by +6 in Starfied.
Additionally, cockpits are another way of adding more crew to your ship. Although each ship can only have a single cockpit, it is enough to contain +6 crew members. The Starfield’s best cockpit for more crew is the Kon-Tiki B-500 Bridge. You can buy this cockpit in Neon from the Stroud-Ecklund shop.
How to increase Outpost Crew Capacity in Starfield
If you have a big crew, you can also run out of space in the Outpost, which can quickly be resolved by adding more “Crew Stations” inside. If one Crew Station does not fit your whole crew, you can have as many stations as you want according to your needs.
You must head to the outpost building mode and enter the Misc tab. After getting inside, you will find Crew Stations. Moreover, increasing your Outpost Management Skill will also help you accommodate more crew members inside the outpost.
But before you increase your outpost crew size, make sure first to know the existing crew size of the Outpost. The Outpost cre size can be increased by following the steps given below:
- Open the Crew Menu from the Ship Overview pause screen.
- Select the Crew Member you want to move, and then choose the “Assign” option.
- A list will appear showing all the Outpsts that you can assign the Crew Stations to. Meanwhile, you can also see the current crew size of the Outpost on the right side.
Crew Stations vs. Crew Capacity
Crew stations are not the same as crew capacity. crew capacity is how many members can be assigned to different areas of your ship like weapons, reactors, etc. It is affected by the Ship Command Skill which provides only 3 capacity at the base level.
Crew stations are how many areas your crew can work at. They both go hand in hand and both require investment if you want to increase your Max Crew.
How to get more Crew Members
There are two ways you can get more Crew Members in Starfield. You can start by picking up free recruits and companions at the Constellation HQ. They are available pretty early on in the game and can manage pretty much anything you throw at them. You can also swap them out on any planet without hassle since they are connected to your ship.
Another way is to visit the local bars, spaceports, and hotel lobbies as you will come across many specialists willing to work with you at the right cost. They are quite expensive to hire and fill your ranks quickly. A few good places to look are the Astral Lounge in Neon City, Viewport on Jemison, and the Broken Spear in Cydonia.
If you are still in the early game or don’t have work that requires their specialties, we recommend sticking with your companions instead.
