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Mechanic Concepts

Use this page when a route step mentions a system and you want the deeper explanation while the idea is fresh. Concepts are practical first, then mechanical.

Progression, access, and field work

Research and CraftingResearch, mods, resources, workbenchesResearch turns resources into options, while crafting turns those options into better weapons, suits, food, aid, and manufactured parts.

Short answer

Research is the unlock layer. Crafting is the use layer. Marty spends resources at Research Labs to open new recipes, then uses workbenches to make weapon mods, spacesuit mods, food, chems, industrial components, and outpost pieces. The mistake is treating every mineral as either junk or sacred. The right approach is to research one useful project, craft one useful thing, then let the next missing material create a small exploration or outpost goal.

Why it matters

  • Build power: weapon mods and spacesuit mods keep gear relevant when loot is uneven.
  • Achievement pressure: Marty needs broad crafting progress, weapon mod progress, high-end equipment work, and resource use.
  • Outpost connection: outposts become meaningful when they feed research and mods instead of producing random bulk.
  • Economy: buying every material is expensive, but hoarding every material makes play sluggish.
  • Learning value: research shows which resources actually matter to the build.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Unlock basic weapon optics and muzzle attachments, and spacesuit pocketed mods for carry weight. Put 1-2 ranks in Research Methods to reduce material costs immediately.

Middle: Research advanced spacesuit shielding and weapon ammo modifications (Armor Piercing, Depleted Uranium). Level Weapon Engineering and Spacesuit Design to rank 2-3.

Late: Max out engineering ranks for master-level mods. Put 1 rank into Special Projects to unlock exotic materials needed for high-tier outpost components.

Key mechanics

Research Methods: Reduces resources required for crafting and research by 10%, 20%, 40%, then 60%, with rank 4 also making sudden research developments more common.

Weapon Engineering: Unlocks improved, superior, cutting-edge, and master-level weapon mods through ranks and research.

Spacesuit Design: Unlocks better spacesuit, helmet, and pack mods. Useful after weapon mods or when survival, carrying, or environment handling feels limiting.

Special Projects: The high-end manufactured-component skill. It matters late, when rare and exotic components become part of the build.

Gastronomy and Chemistry: These extend cooking and chem crafting. Good for experimentation, but not automatic early picks unless the consumable loop is fun.

Practical loop & examples

Common mistakes

  • Hoarding raw crafting minerals on your character instead of transferring them to ship cargo (workbenches pull automatically from the ship).
  • Crafting expensive mods on low-tier weapons that you will replace after the next major quest.
  • Selling rare or exotic resources (like Aldumite or Indicite) that are difficult to locate later when high-end projects unlock.

For Marty

Marty should use research as a reason to touch other systems. If weapon mods need a missing resource, that can become a survey stop. If multiple projects need the same material, that can become an outpost. If a crafted item does not improve his current fights, travel, or economy, leave it for later.

Related concepts

Outposts: Provides the raw materials needed to feed high-tier research projects.

Food, Aid, and Chems: Unlocks recipe options for Gastronomy and Chemistry research lines.

Verified sources

Surveying and ScanningPlanets, resources, traits, survey dataSurveying makes travel productive by turning planets into resources, XP, sellable data, outpost leads, and deliberate landing choices.

Short answer

Scanning from space tells Marty what a planet or moon might offer. Surveying on the ground confirms resources, flora, fauna, and traits. A full survey is not mandatory every time, but deliberate scanning keeps exploration tied to XP, credits, outposts, crafting materials, and route knowledge.

Why it matters

  • XP generation: Completing 100% planet surveys yields large amounts of XP, making it an excellent non-combat levelling path.
  • Economy: Survey data slates can be sold to Vladimir on The Eye for a premium credit rate.
  • Outpost preparation: Pinpoints specific resource overlaps to ensure efficient extraction sites.
  • Achievements: Pairs naturally with Stellar Cartography, The Stars My Destination, and Boots on the Ground because a good survey route also visits systems and lands on useful planets.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Survey small, gas-free moons (only 2-3 resources, 0 flora/fauna) for quick 100% completions and easy initial XP/credits.

Middle: Target temperate planets. Put points in Surveying to add scanner zoom so you can scan hostile beasts and flying creatures from safety.

Late: Use Astrophysics to scan moons from orbit system-wide, discovering planet traits directly from your ship cockpit.

Key mechanics

Surveying: Adds hand-scanner zoom and increases scan distance from 20 metres at rank 1 up to 50 metres at rank 4.

Scanning: Improves orbital resource detection from uncommon through unique inorganic resources, and gives better ship information at higher ranks.

Astrophysics: Extends planet and moon scanning from local moons to system-wide and long-range scanning, while adding a chance to discover traits from space.

Practical loop & examples

  • Before landing, scan from orbit to locate resource biomes (coloured patches). Land on the border between two biomes to find overlapping resources.
  • Keep the scanner active while walking to points of interest to automatically spot resources, life forms, and scan anomalies.
  • Use your boost pack to get a high vantage point when scanning fast-moving or flying animals.

Common mistakes

  • Wasting hours searching for the final swimming creature in a planet's oceans without realising you need to land in a 'Coast' biome zone.
  • Scanning gas and ice giants on foot (they can only be scanned and 100% completed from orbit).

For Marty

Marty should not full-survey every rock on sight. He should use surveying like a field professional: scan when it informs an outpost, resource need, POI route, achievement total, or safe XP detour. If a survey starts feeling like homework, turn it into a bounty, resource, or discovery loop with a clear stopping point.

Related concepts

Outposts: Using scanning biomes is critical for placing efficient outpost beacons near resource seams.

Verified sources

Mission Boards and BountiesRepeatable work, XP, credits, bounty hunter identityMission boards and bounty loops give Marty structured reasons to fight, travel, loot, scan, clear locations, and level without forcing one questline to carry the whole run.

Short answer

Mission boards are the cleanest way to turn free-form play into a job. A bounty or board job can send Marty to a space fight, hostile location, delivery, survey, or target hunt. The listed reward is only part of the value. The real value is the combined package: mission turn-in, kills, ship combat, discoveries, locks, loot, scans, and skill challenges.

Why it matters

  • Progression spine: Provides a reliable source of XP and credits to fill the gaps between major story milestones.
  • Skill challenges: Space combat contracts feed Piloting and Shield challenges, while ground POI jobs feed combat and security skills.
  • Loot loop: Bounty targets spawn as high-level bosses with guaranteed rare/legendary loot drops.
  • Theme integration: Directly matches Marty's identity as a Bounty Hunter generalist.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Pick up jobs in Cydonia or New Atlantis bars to secure extra credits and level up to unlock essential baseline skills.

Middle: Focus on Freestar Ranger mission board jobs (Akila City) for themed roleplay and space combat contracts to level up your ship skills.

Late: Unlock Trackers Alliance missions and high-level bounty targets in level 60+ systems for elite gear drops.

Key mechanics

Mission Boards: Found in spaceports, bars, and faction headquarters. You can also build them at your outposts.

Bounty Kiosks: Allows clearing active faction bounties for a small fee, provided you are not currently in that faction's space.

Practical loop & examples

Common mistakes

  • Treating board jobs as filler. They are best when they support a skill challenge, achievement total, faction mood, or resource need.
  • Taking too many at once, then turning the route into marker cleanup.
  • Expecting the mission reward alone to be the whole XP plan.
  • Ignoring the travel path. The best board job is often the one near another thing Marty already wants to do.
  • Taking Class B/C space bounties early in a basic Class A ship, leading to instant hull destruction.

For Marty

Marty should use mission boards like a working bounty hunter, not like a spreadsheet. One job between story beats is often enough. If he is under-levelled, take a job that creates several kinds of progress at once: a hostile POI with locks, a space target with ship challenge progress, or a survey job near a resource he wants.

Related concepts

Ships: Provides space targets to level Piloting and ship combat mechanics.

Security, Locks, and Computers: Dungeon bounties are heavily gated by locked doors and safes.

Verified sources

Security, Locks, and ComputersAccess, loot, terminals, digipicksSecurity is early route insurance: it turns locked doors, containers, safes, and computers into normal content instead of missed content.

Short answer

Security is not just loot. It is access. It lets Marty attempt harder digital locks, bank more auto attempts, and eventually handle Master locks. In an all-content route, every locked room is a potential route, reward, computer, note, shortcut, or skill challenge.

Why it matters

  • Loot access: Opens weapon crates, credit vaults, and contraband caches containing high-tier gear.
  • Tactical advantages: Terminals allow you to reprogram or disable hostile turrets, security cameras, and robots.
  • Quest routes: Unlocks shortcuts and alternate doors in key story locations.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Take Security Rank 1 immediately to open Advanced locks and start collecting digipicks from vendors.

Middle: Reach Security Ranks 2 and 3 before running main dungeons to ensure no Expert or Master lock blocks your progression.

Late: Rank 4 allows spending an extra digipick to eliminate key shapes that cannot fit, speeding up end-game cleanup.

Key mechanics

Rank 1: Allows Advanced locks and 2 banked auto attempts.

Rank 2: Allows Expert locks, 3 banked auto attempts, and blue ring hints when a pick can slot.

Rank 3: Allows Master locks and 4 banked auto attempts.

Rank 4: Lets Marty spend a digipick to eliminate keys that are not required, with 5 banked auto attempts.

Practical loop & examples

  • Buy digipicks from every general store vendor (like Jemison Mercantile or Shepherd's) whenever you visit a city; they are lightweight and essential.
  • When picking, align all your key segments visually for both the outer and inner rings before slotting the first pick (pressing slot commits the move).
  • Use banked auto-attempts on complex Expert or Master locks to immediately solve a difficult ring.

Common mistakes

  • Backing out of a lock interface after slotting picks. This wastes one digipick and resets the lock.
  • Wasting auto-attempts on simple Novice locks.
  • Not slotting keys in a ring because you rushed the first key that fit, leaving the remaining ring unsolvable.

For Marty

Security 1 belongs in Marty's first earned points because it changes the whole game immediately. Security 2 and 3 should come as challenges allow. The goal is not to roleplay a thief, it is to make a professional who does not walk away from evidence, pay, access routes, or useful systems because a door blinked red.

Related concepts

Mission Boards and Bounties: Locks are heavily integrated into bounty dungeons and facilities.

Verified sources

  • Starfield Wiki / Fandom, Security:Checked 2026-07-06. Used for Advanced, Expert, and Master lock gates, auto-attempt limits, rank 4 key elimination, and challenge counts. https://starfield.fandom.com/wiki/Security

Social routes, risk, and survival tools

Persuasion and DialogueSpeech checks, quest routes, social accessPersuasion is how Marty turns conversations into content access, safer outcomes, cleaner quest routes, and roleplay texture.

Short answer

Persuasion increases Marty's chance to pass speech challenges. It does not replace combat, but it often opens the path of least resistance: fewer fights, better quest handling, alternate solutions, calmer faction work, and richer companion or city scenes.

Why it matters

  • Friction reduction: Avoids massive credit bribes or unnecessary gunfights in tight spaces.
  • Quest options: Unlocks peaceful resolutions and unique dialogue pathways.
  • Progression: Advances Persuasion rank challenges and keeps social routes open across quests.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Take Persuasion Rank 1 early so challenge opportunities in early cities are not wasted.

Middle: Utilise consumables and clothing to boost success rates during important faction dialogue points.

Late: Reach Rank 4 for a flat 50% boost to success chance, trivialising high-stakes negotiations.

Key mechanics

Rank 1: 10% increased chance after 3 successful speech challenges.

Rank 2: 20% increased chance after 5 successful speech challenges.

Rank 3: 30% increased chance after 10 successful speech challenges.

Rank 4: 50% increased chance.

Practical loop & examples

  • Always choose low-difficulty green (+1 or +2) options first if they are safe, rather than risking a red (+5 or +6) check unless you have a critical success boost active.
  • Drink Wine or consume Hippolyta (+20% persuasion) or Paramour (+25% persuasion) before engaging in dialogue with named targets.
  • Equip clothing with social bonuses (like the Fitted Business Suit or Neoluxe Apparel) before talking to quest givers.

Common mistakes

  • Forgetting that companion presence can offer unique dialogue overrides that bypass persuasion checks entirely.
  • Failing to save before major conversations if a specific quest outcome is desired.

For Marty

Marty talks before shooting when the job calls for it. Persuasion suits a bounty hunter who can read a room, negotiate a surrender, pressure a suspect, or keep a client useful. It is one of his main all-content skills because it keeps social routes visible.

Related concepts

Companions and Affinity: Companion reactions are heavily tied to Marty's choices during dialogue.

Verified sources

Companions and AffinityFollowers, crew overlap, relationship progressCompanions are not just passengers: they add combat support, moral pressure, commentary, crew value, affinity, and Starcrossed progress.

Short answer

Companions are the narrative side of Starfield's follower system. Some can fight beside Marty, react to choices, comment on the world, build affinity, and become romance options. Crew overlap with companions, but crew is broader: some recruits mainly provide ship or outpost bonuses without the same relationship depth.

Why it matters

  • Narrative & Quests: Unlocks unique personal questlines and lore for Constellation members.
  • XP Boosts: Sleeping in a bed with a romanced companion active grants a temporary +15% XP sleep buff.
  • Operational Support: Passive skills improve ship shields, engine speed, and outpost production.
  • Achievements: Essential for Starcrossed and The Family You Choose.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Choose one primary follower (such as Sarah) and keep them active across main quests to build affinity consistently.

Middle: Assign secondary companions to ship or outpost crew slots that match their skill specialties.

Late: Hire generic crew at bars to reach the 10 companion recruitment requirement.

Key mechanics

Companion: Constellation members with reactive narrative layers, moral codes, and personal quests.

Crew: Recruitable specialists with fixed passive skill ranks who can staff stations but lack relationship depth.

Active Crew Limit: Determined by your ship's crew stations, module capacity, and your Ship Command skill.

Practical loop & examples

Common mistakes

  • Committing crimes (theft, assault) with moral Constellation members active, causing them to leave or dislike you.
  • Swapping active followers constantly, which dilutes affinity gains and prevents unlocking the Starcrossed quest.

For Marty

Marty should have a main companion for the story of the run, and a working crew for the ship. Those are related but not identical goals. Taskmaster makes the crew layer more interesting, while Starcrossed asks for real time with one person.

Related concepts

Ships: Ship efficiency depends heavily on assigning matching crew to cockpit and reactor stations.

Outposts: Outpost managers and crew increase resource extraction rates.

Verified sources

Contraband and SmugglingIllegal cargo, scans, shielded cargo, clean savesContraband is profitable but legally noisy, so Marty should treat smuggling as a planned job rather than a surprise in the cargo hold.

Short answer

Contraband is illegal cargo marked with a yellow symbol. It can be valuable, but entering controlled space with it can trigger scans, confiscation, fines, and trouble. Smuggling is the deliberate version: use the right ship setup, know where you are selling, and save before scan risk.

Why it matters

  • Credits: Contraband items sell for high amounts relative to normal loot.
  • Achievements: Required for the I Use Them For Smuggling achievement.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Avoid scanner systems by jumping directly to The Den in the Wolf system to sell contraband to the Trade Authority vendor.

Middle: Install shielded cargo holds and scan jammer modules purchased from the Red Mile or the Crimson Fleet.

Late: Build custom smuggler cargo ships to transport bulk illegal components with better odds, after a hard save, into major faction capitals.

Key mechanics

Shielded Cargo: Protects contraband from scans, but only if the items are placed in the ship's cargo hold (not your personal inventory).

Scan Jammers: Add a passive percentage boost to your scan evasion chance.

Bypass Probability: Calculated based on contraband weight relative to shielded capacity. Fuller holds are less reliable.

Practical loop & examples

  • Always transfer contraband to your ship cargo hold using the cockpit inventory screen before initiating a grav jump into settled space.
  • Make a named hard save before jumping into scanned orbits (like Jemison or Akila).

Common mistakes

  • Keeping contraband in your character's personal inventory when entering orbit (ensures a 100% scan failure rate).
  • Attempting to sell contraband at normal automated kiosks (only Trade Authority human merchants will buy illegal goods).

For Marty

Marty does not need to become a full-time smuggler. He does need to understand the system well enough to complete I Use Them For Smuggling cleanly, avoid losing valuable goods by accident, and decide when a dirty job fits the character.

Related concepts

Ships: Requires specialized modules (shielded cargo and jammers) to smuggles successfully.

Food, Aid, and Chems: Some illegal chems (like Aurora) are classified as contraband.

Verified sources

Food, Aid, and ChemsHealing, buffs, Alien DNA, consumable testingConsumables are field tools for Marty: healing keeps him alive, food and chems test useful buffs, and Alien DNA makes Medicine matter earlier.

Short answer

Aid is not clutter if Marty uses it before the reload. Medical items are the reliable healing lane. Food and drink can heal and add smaller or stranger buffs. Chems can be powerful but carry more risk. The point is not to hoard everything, it is to test what changes a real fight, survey, carry problem, or recovery window.

Why it matters

  • Immediate survival: Heals HP and cures environmental or physical afflictions (fractures, infections).
  • Combat performance: Damage increases, damage reduction, and slow-time combat enhancements.
  • Exploration utility: Boosts O2 recovery rates and increases carry capacity.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Rely on Med Packs and basic food. If using the Alien DNA trait, invest in Medicine early to overcome the healing penalty.

Middle: Research and craft basic stimulants like Amp (speed and jump height boost) for faster planetary surveying.

Late: Unlock Chemistry to synthesize high-end combat drugs (like Aurora) and Gastronomy for complex meal stat buffs.

Key mechanics

Medicine: Improves Med Packs, Trauma Packs, and Emergency Kits by 10%, 20%, 30%, then 50%, while also increasing healing speed by the same rank bands.

Nutrition: Improves food and drink effectiveness by 10%, 20%, 30%, then 50%.

Alien DNA: Provides extra health and oxygen but reduces the healing efficacy of food and medical items by 50% unless offset by skills.

Practical loop & examples

  • Craft Amp at a pharmaceutical lab using common resources (Argon, Benzene, Toxins) to keep a steady supply for exploration.
  • Keep specific affliction cures (like Bandages or Injectors) favourite on your quick-slot wheel for instant use in combat.

Common mistakes

  • Hoarding heavy food items that only heal +2 or +3 HP.
  • Ignoring chem addiction warnings (cured by taking Addictol or visiting a medical clinic).

For Marty

Marty should use consumables like kit, not trophies. Wanted ambushes, faction fights, expansion enemies, and high-level POIs are exactly when to spend them. Medicine is the reliable early investment. Food and chems are the learning lane: test, keep favourites, sell the rest.

Related concepts

Research and Crafting: Research projects unlock advanced chemical and gastronomy recipes.

Verified sources

Main-story systems

Powers, Artifacts, and UnityConstellation, temples, Starborn, NG+Powers are optional but strong, artifacts drive Constellation, and Unity is the save-protected point where Marty decides what this universe is worth keeping.

Short answer

Artifacts are the main-story objects that pull Marty through Constellation. Temples unlock powers, which use a shared recharging energy bank rather than ammo. Unity is the late main-story threshold that can move the character into a new universe, so it deserves a named hard save before entry.

Why it matters

  • Utility & Combat: Starborn powers provide massive exploration and combat abilities (e.g. Personal Atmosphere yields infinite oxygen).
  • Endgame & Lore: Reaching Unity advances the main story and unlocks New Game Plus (NG+).
  • Achievements: Essential to collect Quantum Essence and cross into Unity.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Collect artifacts with Constellation to unlock your first few temples and obtain Personal Atmosphere.

Middle: Defeat Starborn enemies to harvest Quantum Essence, accelerating your power bank recharge rate in combat.

Late: Complete all side content and make a named hard save before entering the Unity to transition to NG+.

Key mechanics

Powers: 24 total powers that draw from a regenerating Starborn energy bar.

Temples: Located by scanning for orbital anomalies. Floating through light clusters inside them unlocks the power.

Unity / NG+ Transition: Wipes all physical inventory, credits, ships, outposts, and quest progress, keeping only character levels, skills, and powers.

Practical loop & examples

  • Favourite 'Personal Atmosphere' on your quick-slot wheel; activate it when over-encumbered to sprint without draining O2.
  • Use 'Void Form' for stealth-heavy missions to become practically invisible.

Common mistakes

  • Entering Unity without creating a dedicated hard save, permanently deleting your access to the first universe's outposts and ships.
  • Neglecting to visit Vladimir between missions, resulting in missing temple coordinate leads.

For Marty

Marty should not rush Constellation just to become Starborn, but he should not ignore powers until the very end either. The route works best when Freestar and UC establish him as a real person first, then Constellation opens the stranger half of the game. Before Unity, make a named hard save and finish anything you want preserved in this universe.

Related concepts

Research and Crafting: Advanced weapon mods and chemical buffs can be combined with Starborn powers in combat loops.

Verified sources

Ships, travel, and crew

ShipsTravel, combat, cargo, crew, upgradesShips are Marty's second build sheet: they decide how safely he travels, how he wins space fights, how much he hauls, and how captain-like Taskmaster feels.

Short answer

A ship is not only transport in Starfield. It is Marty's space-combat loadout, mobile storage, crew platform, boarding tool, smuggling setup, and one of the largest credit sinks in the run. The right ship plan is simple: keep one reliable working ship, upgrade it around real problems, and let the Star Eagle carry the middle game before spending heavily on custom designs.

Why it matters

  • Identity: Marty starts as a Bounty Hunter with Piloting, Targeting Control Systems, and Boost Pack Training. Ships are part of the character from minute one.
  • Achievements: Chief Engineer needs a ship modification, Fleet Commander needs 10 ships, I Use Them For Smuggling needs a successful contraband run, and Fully Equipped involves a spaceship equipment module schematic.
  • XP and challenges: ship fights feed Piloting and Targeting Control Systems challenges while giving the route another XP source between ground content.
  • Economy: upgrades compete with weapons, aid, research, homes, and outposts for credits, so ship spending needs a purpose.
  • Roleplay: Taskmaster makes a crewed working ship feel like Marty's real professional base, not just a fast-travel menu.

What the ship actually does

Reactor: The power budget. More reactor power means more systems can run strongly at once, but power still has to be allocated between weapons, shields, engines, and grav drive.

Engines and mobility: Engines affect how the ship handles. Cargo, habs, and heavier parts can make a ship useful but sluggish, so check mobility after adding mass.

Weapons: The practical question is not which weapon looks coolest. Marty needs a setup that breaks shields and hull reliably, and he may want EM damage if boarding becomes a real goal.

Shields and hull: Shields are the first survival layer in space combat. Hull and repair parts matter when shields fail, but a good ship tries to avoid living there.

Cargo: Cargo makes looting, resource hauling, outpost work, and crafting less annoying. Too much cargo too early can make the ship expensive and slow.

Grav drive and fuel: These control travel reach. Upgrade them when route distance becomes friction, not just because the number exists.

Habs, cockpit, and crew stations: These shape layout, onboard stations, passenger feel, and how many crew the ship can support alongside module crew capacity and Ship Command.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Modify the Frontier once for Chief Engineer, learn power allocation, and take manageable ship fights. Do not try to solve the whole space game with early credits.

Middle: Push Freestar early, earn the Star Eagle from The Hammer Falls, then turn it into Marty's working ship for bounties, cargo, crew, boarding experiments, and longer travel.

Late: Build or tune a specialist ship only after Marty knows the job: heavy combat, smuggling, cargo hauling, ship collection, or completion clean-up.

A practical first upgrade pass

  • Repair the habit first: carry ship parts, learn when to power shields and engines, and stop entering space fights with a cargo hold full of unsold loot.
  • On the Frontier, make one cheap, useful edit: a better weapon, more cargo, a shield improvement, or a small layout change. This teaches the builder and unlocks Chief Engineer.
  • Do not heavily customise the Frontier if the Freestar route is coming soon. The Star Eagle is a strong free Class A reward and should become the real middle-game platform.
  • After receiving the Star Eagle, test it before spending. Fly a few fights, board or disable something if the opportunity is clean, haul resources, and see what actually annoys you.
  • Upgrade the annoyance: if fights are scary, improve shields or weapons. If looting hurts, add cargo. If travel feels cramped, adjust habs and crew space. If range blocks routes, improve grav support.

Combat and boarding

Power allocation: A ship with good parts still performs badly if power is sitting in the wrong system. In a fight, shields and weapons usually matter more than a fully powered grav drive.

Targeting Control Systems: This unlocks subsystem targeting. For Marty, the key use is learning to disable engines or weapons instead of only destroying ships.

Boarding: Boarding is useful for loot, ship acquisition, roleplay, and Ship Command-style progress, but it is not always safer than destroying the target. Disable deliberately, save when stakes are high, and watch companion reactions if crime is involved.

Ship class: Piloting rank 3 unlocks Class B ships and rank 4 unlocks Class C ships. Bigger classes can mount stronger parts, but they are also more expensive and can push Marty into a ship he cannot afford to maintain.

Skills that change ships

Piloting: Rank 1 gives thrusters, rank 2 improves handling, rank 3 unlocks Class B ships, and rank 4 unlocks Class C ships. The challenge is destroying ships, so it grows naturally if Marty takes space fights.

Targeting Control Systems: Rank 1 unlocks targeting mode. Later ranks reduce lock time and improve target-locked combat, which supports boarding and precise disabling.

Shield Systems: Ranks 1-3 increase shield capacity by 20%, 40%, and 60%. This is a strong survival lane once ship fights become common.

Starship Design: Unlocks improved, superior, cutting-edge, and experimental ship modules through ranks. It is powerful, but credit-hungry, so it belongs after Marty has a ship worth investing in.

Starship Engineering: Improves ship system repair and damage mitigation. Useful for hard fights, but less urgent than better shields, weapons, and pilot habits.

Payloads: Increases cargo capacity through skill ranks. It is useful for a cargo-heavy Marty, but often competes with the simpler solution of adding cargo modules.

Ship Command: Raises active crew limits from 4 to 8 across ranks, provided the ship itself has the required crew capacity and stations. This is the long-term Taskmaster captain lane.

Crew and Taskmaster

Crew are recruitable NPCs who can follow Marty, work on ships, or work at outposts. On ships, they provide passive bonuses tied to their skills. The practical rule is to assign crew around what the ship is doing now: combat crew for fighting, payload or engine support for hauling and travel, and companion crew when the ship is also a roleplay home.

Common mistakes

  • Spending all early credits on a custom Frontier right before earning the Star Eagle.
  • Adding cargo until mobility collapses, then wondering why every fight feels awful.
  • Buying expensive parts without checking reactor power, class requirements, and whether Marty has the skill to pilot the ship.
  • Ignoring power allocation during fights and blaming the build for a piloting problem.
  • Treating boarding as always optimal. Sometimes the clean bounty hunter answer is to destroy the hostile ship and move on.
  • Taking every ship skill early. For Marty, Piloting, Targeting Control Systems, Shield Systems, and practical upgrades matter before luxury shipbuilding.

For Marty

Marty should feel like a working captain. The opening Frontier teaches the controls and gets one practical modification. The Star Eagle then becomes the middle-game answer: a strong free Class A ship with cargo, crew room, shields, and weapons good enough to make the Freestar-first route feel rewarding. After that, shipbuilding should follow jobs. Bounties need weapons and survivability, outposts need cargo, smuggling needs a planned setup, and crew needs stations and Ship Command before it becomes a true endgame system.

Related concepts

Companions and Affinity: Crew assigned to ship stations provide crucial passive performance boosts.

Contraband and Smuggling: Smuggling requires installing specialised shielded cargo and scan jammer modules on your ship.

Verified sources

Settlement, production, and logistics

OutpostsProduction, storage, crafting, logisticsOutposts are small player-built bases that become useful when they solve a real resource, crafting, storage, or achievement problem.

Short answer

An outpost is a player-built base on a planet or moon. At its simplest, it can be a landing spot with a beacon and a few workstations. At its most useful, it becomes a small production site: extractors pull resources, power modules run the machinery, storage containers hold output, crafting benches turn materials into gear progress, and cargo links move resources between outposts.

Why it matters

  • Achievements: Home Sweet Home needs an outpost, Industrialist needs 500 resources produced from outposts, and Shipping Magnate needs 5 outposts connected with cargo links.
  • Crafting: outposts give Marty a reason to gather resources and feed research, weapon mods, spacesuit mods, food, aid, and manufactured components.
  • Economy: a small resource loop can reduce shopping trips and make ship or gear upgrades feel earned.
  • Exploration: choosing a site makes planetary scanning and landing matter instead of becoming checklist travel.
  • Roleplay: for Marty, an outpost is a working depot, not a palace. It supports contracts, repairs, research, and resource hauling.

What you can build

Beacon: The claim point. Place this first to establish the site and open the outpost build area.

Extractors: Resource machines placed on matching deposits. They need power and somewhere useful for output to go.

Power: Solar arrays, wind turbines, generators, and later reactors keep modules running. If a machine is idle, check power before assuming the site is broken.

Storage: Solid, liquid, gas, warehouse, and transfer storage make production manageable. Storage is what turns a single extractor into a loop you can return to later.

Crafting benches: Industrial, weapon, spacesuit, cooking, pharmaceutical, and research stations let the outpost become a work site instead of just a mine.

Cargo links: Logistics pads that automate resource transfer. Standard cargo links work inside a star system. Inter-system cargo links move goods between systems and need Helium-3 support.

Crew and robots: These come later. Crew stations and robot construction matter more once Marty knows what the outpost is actually producing.

Early, mid, and late use

Early: Build one simple outpost for Home Sweet Home. Pick a safe, readable planet with one or two useful resources, add power, one extractor, storage, and maybe a workbench. Do not overbuild.

Middle: Choose resources that feed projects Marty already cares about. If weapon mods need one missing material, build around that. If ship or research goals need manufactured components, make a small production chain.

Late: Turn the system into achievement and logistics clean-up: produce 500 resources from outposts, connect 5 outposts with cargo links, and only then consider broader networks or hostile-planet bases.

A practical first outpost

  • Land on a planet or moon with common building resources visible from orbit or easy to scan.
  • Place the outpost beacon somewhere flat enough to read and expand.
  • Build power first, then one extractor on a useful deposit, then matching storage.
  • Add a transfer container or workbench only if it makes the site easier to use right now.
  • Return after a few missions, collect output, and decide whether the resource is actually feeding research or mods.
  • If the site is useful, add a second resource or a cargo link. If it is not, leave it as the Home Sweet Home starter and build the real depot later.

Common mistakes

  • Building a huge base before knowing which resources Marty needs.
  • Treating cargo links as mandatory early. They are powerful, but they are not useful until there is a real logistics problem.
  • Forgetting that extractors need power and storage to feel worthwhile.
  • Selling bulk resources before checking research and mod requirements.
  • Taking Outpost Management, Outpost Engineering, or Planetary Habitation just because they sound thematic. They are good only when Marty is actually using the system enough to justify the points.
  • Trying to make outposts replace exploration. They should send Marty back into the world for missing resources, survey targets, ship work, and contracts.

Skills that change outposts

Scanning: Helps reveal higher-rarity inorganic resources from orbit as ranks improve. This is useful before choosing a serious production site.

Outpost Engineering: Unlocks improved, superior, and cutting-edge outpost modules through ranks and research, then reduces module build costs at rank 4.

Outpost Management: Expands the management side: cargo links, robots, crew assignment, and extractor speed at rank 4.

Planetary Habitation: Lets Marty build in more extreme environments and increases the maximum number of outposts. It is a late luxury unless a hostile planet has a specific resource or roleplay reason.

For Marty

Marty should treat outposts as working infrastructure. The first one teaches the interface and unlocks Home Sweet Home. The second useful one should support a real project: weapon mods, suit mods, research, cargo hauling, or ship work. He does not need a factory empire unless outposts become fun. The good Marty version is a network of practical depots that support a bounty hunter who travels, fights, researches, upgrades, and hauls.

Related concepts

Research and Crafting: Outpost extractors provide the constant stream of resources needed to feed advanced research lines.

Surveying and Scanning: High-tier planetary scans are necessary to spot resource overlaps before placing an outpost beacon.

Verified sources