A big chunk of combat in Starfield revolves around space combat, where it is your ship against the enemy. You’ll take on pirates, bandits, and all bad guys as you travel through space. Naturally, you’ll need to fight your way out. But for many, space combat can be too hard.
You can do a few things to give yourself the upper hand. These include equipping stronger shields, using the proper weapon type, and focusing your attack on certain parts. To help you survive, we have prepared some handy Starfield spaceship combat tips that should get you started.
Keep your shields up
Shields play one of the most important roles in Starfield ship combat, protecting you from oncoming damage. They take the oncoming hits, leaving your hull safe from damage. You must watch them during space combat and ensure they do not drop to zero.
Equipping strong shields will ensure your ship can tank more hits without damage. If your shields go down to zero, escape combat and relocate, and your shields will regenerate.
Equip different types of weapons
Certain weapon types excel at different roles in space combat in Starfield. Laser weapons are excellent for taking down shields, while physical weapons like ballistics and missiles are effective against ship hulls. To be effective, you must have different weapon types equipped on your ship so you can switch between them on the fly.
You can use lasers to take out shields and then switch missiles or ballistics to damage the enemy hull.
Focus fire on specific ship parts
You will receive the Targeting Control System skill after progressing through the main mission in Starfield. This skill will allow you to zoom in on the specific parts of a ship and target them.
This is important when up against valuable ships you may want to board and take over. Focus your fire on engines to hinder the enemy ship and then board it to take over. This is a faster and more efficient way of winning space combat in Starfield.
Rebalance ship power
in Starfield, you are able to reallocate power from different ship modules to modules that are currently in use. Doing this not only increases their effectiveness but also increases the rate at which they are repaired.
When in combat, direct power from modules like the Grav Drive and feed it into Ballistics, Lasers, and Missiles. You can also add more power to your shields to increase the damage you can take. On PC, you can use the arrow keys to reallocate power, and on controller, you can use the left and right D-Pad buttons.
Keep spare parts for quick repairs
Acquiring ship parts is another effective way to retain the upper hand in combat. Ship parts are health packs for your ship and can be purchased from several vendors across the galaxy. They are usually found in general stores, for example the UC store on Jemison.
Ship parts are quite pricey but are well worth it. They are listed under the aids section in your inventory. When you’re in ship combat and take too much damage, a prompt to repair your ship will appear near your ship’s health. On the controller, it’s the RS (right stick) button.
Never fight straight on
Lastly, you can work on your positioning to ensure you’re never in your enemy’s direct line of fire. Always keep your ship moving so you’re never in one position, and strafe your targets to ensure their projectiles have a high chance of missing you.
Keeping on the sidelines also ensures that your enemies won’t be able to attack you immediately and you can get some damage in before they reposition and start targeting you again.
