Starfield – Tips for Ship Combat

Ship Combat Tips

• If someone gets a missile lock on you, use boost. Boost breaks locks. They can still shoot at you but they don’t get lock-ons or auto aim while doing it.
• Upgrade your piloting skill to buy class C parts. Class C is the biggest parts you can mount and the most powerful weapons. You unlock piloting skills by winning space battles, if you need help finding battles either accept bounty board missions to hunt pirate ships or just from planet to planet and system to system in any star system that isn’t owned by UC or Freestar Collective.
• More gun. My primary weapon is 4 rapid fire lasers to mulch enemy shields. I recommend 1 of your 2 or 3 weapons should be rapid fire. Something with a fire rate of 4 or higher. I chose lasers because I HATE enemy shields.
• Enemies will use hit and run attacks. If you see your target running, chase them and don’t give them enough room to turn around. You will effectively keep them out of the fight if you don’t give them a chance to turn around. Their friends might still try to attack you though, but if you have good shields and enough offense power then they wont save their buddy in time.
• Switch out default weapons and go for particle beams; develop skills associated with particle beams for more damage, less power use
• Use the targeting mode to lock dangerous enemy, and develop skills associated with it
• Don’t hesitate to fire before you have lock at longer ranges. Particle beams have a long range, and I often find I can take out two or three ships at 2 to 3 km before I have a good lock. I save the lock for larger, more dangerous ships.
• Take the UC Vanguard mission to get access to their shield module (one of the best in the game)
• Always keep shields and weapons full powered, engines are not that important. If you get in trouble you can just boost and turn
• Focus on one enemy at a time and take them down as quickly as possible. Do not jump to another target; you need to reduce the number of enemies as quickly as you can so you are not taking fire from all of them, so killing enemy ships quickly should be the top priority at all times.
• In very large crowds, I turn 90 degrees out and boost twice to get far away from the center. Usually only a few of the enemy will follow, so you can take them out without taking fire from the other dozen or more ships in the crowd. Keep doing this until you whittle them down.
• Dodge missles by activating your boost (L shift).
• If enemies are flying at you head on, or from directly behind, dodge lasers/bullets by rotating (Hold A or D).
• If they’re hitting you from the side, you need to change directions to avoid getting hit – this usually disrupts my attack strategy too much so I just tank it until they’re in a more favorable location to dodge.
• If you’re having trouble rotating to face an enemy, remember to control your speed with W and S: There’s a “sweet spot” for turning speed marked by a blue line, at roughly 50% on the speed meter.
• I highly recommend playing in third-person for all space combat, it gives you a superior view of enemy.
• Upgrade your Piloting skill in the simulator.
• Invest points in Tech skill tree.

Try to steal a ship from a planet or by disabling it in space. Or buy a new ship. If you have enough money, don’t upgrade your ship, build it. That allows you not only to put habs which help you with crew size and crafting, but also to put living space for passengers to earn some very easy money from mission boards. Or cargo.

Right now, level 20 and Piloting 3, I built on an Ecliptic Stiletto and put Particle beams weapons on it with 3000 m range, and I actually almost stay put and fire a few times for all the ships to be destroyed, cause they can’t hit me at this range. Was very surprised to see that I don’t even need to maneuver the ship in fights because I love this part of the game.

Spoiler!!!

Also, there’s a quest line from the Mars mines, the one in which a miner asks you to help him improve their equipment, that I think it gives you a C ship, if you don’t choose to destroy it. (I’m not lvl 4 yet so I don’t know for sure that you can sit in its chair)

Also you can do the Mantis quest. secret outpost.