Ship combat inStarfieldis pretty straightforward, but there are some nuances that players will want to know about. One such unexplained ship-fighting mechanic is that hostile vessels can be disabled without pushing them to the brink of destruction.
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While it may be better to just destroy an attacking pirate or spacer ship, there are some advantages to simply disabling them instead of blowing them up. In some instances, knocking out a ship’s systems inStarfieldis the best approach. Here’s how to go about doing this.
How to Disable Ships in Starfield
Early on, the game teaches players to aim for an enemy ship’s engines to immobilize them. This carries the risk of destroying the targeted ship, preventing players from boarding it. The non-lethal alternative to this is blasting ships withEM weapons(like the Disruptor 3300 Electron Beam), which are specifically designed to deal more damage versus ship systems while in targeting mode.
EM weapons deal very little direct damage, but they can decimate internal ship systems in just a few hits, minimizing the risk of destroying the target. This is important for two scenarios:dogfights against multiple vesselsand hostage rescue missions.
Oftentimes, it’s much faster to destroy a ship’s weapons, shields, and engines than to destroy the vessel itself. Using EM weapons takes enemies out of the fightmore quickly, albeit temporarily. This can be a useful strategy when fighting two or three ships at once, as it will let players focus on burning them down one at a time.
If players go to Freestar mission boards, they may find some hostage rescue missions where they’ll be tasked with boarding enemy ships and saving civilians inside. Naturally, blowing up the target ship will result in the death of the rescue targets, so players will have to do everything they can to prevent this from happening.
EM weapons make for good alternatives to missile launchers. Players have to strip enemy shields first before they target important systems, so make sure to have strong lasers. Also, keep in mind that enemy shipscannot be boarded while in combat with other ships.Always have weapons that can destroy hulls, likecannons or particle weapons.
Disabling ships can be a lucrative source of Credits as most spacer and pirate vessels tend to have contraband and other sorts of loot. The ships themselves cannot be sold until they are registered, and the registration fee is normally not worth paying for. After boarding and looting a ship, it may be best to destroy it for ship parts instead.
Starfieldis available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
