If you encounter an enemy ship during your adventures, you need to know how to target their ship engines in Starfield. This allows you to disable them completely. You are otherwise going to destroy the enemy ship to smithereens.
Disabling engines puts an enemy ship at your mercy. You can then decide to either contact and force them into negotiations or board them to loot their cargo.
The only problem is that the ability to target engines is a skill-based mechanic in Starfield. You not only need to fire your weapons with pinpoint accuracy but also unlock specific skills from your skill trees.
How to target engines in Starfield
The first thing you need to do to target engines is the “Targeting Control Systems” skill in Starfield. You can find this skill in your Tech Skill Tree. It belongs to the first tier of Tech skills, so unlocking it should not be an issue.
Targeting Control Systems allows you to zoom in while firing on an enemy ship. This way, you can focus your crosshair on specific parts or sections of the enemy ship such as its engines.
Do note that you only need the first rank of Targeting Control Systems to zoom in on engines. You can save your skill points for something else. Investing more points into this skill only increases your lock-on speed and damage to locked-on ships—more on that to follow.
Now that you have the required skill, you need to engage an enemy ship. During a space dogfight, use your lock-on button (E/A on PC/Xbox) on the enemy ship. Once the target is successfully locked, hit the weapons-ready button (R/X on PC/Xbox).
If you have the Targeting Control Systems skill, you will begin zooming into the enemy ship while time slows down. You will now be able to spot the different parts of the ship including its engines. They will be highlighted with text prompts. Target their engines and immobilize them without destroying them in Starfield.
