Starfield, one of the most eagerly anticipated video game releases in living memory, launched on September 6 for Windows and the Xbox Series X/S platforms. By September 7, Bethesda announced that Starfield has over six million players, making it the company’s biggest launch. Fastforward to September 19, and Starfield’s player base hit the magical ten million mark.
It is impossible to argue that Starfield has not been a massive commercial success during its infancy despite some critics complaining that Bethesda has released Starfield in an unpolished state; concerns remain about the game’s frequent loading screens and lack of space exploration. Starfield is a massive game with the potential to be a true masterpiece, and it is easy to see why sites offering sports betting in Florida and farther afield have Starfield as a favorite for the coveted Game of the Year award.
Unless you are a seasoned Role-Playing Game (RPG) veteran, Starfield’s sheer scale and size are likely to be daunting. There is so much to do, explore, and see that it can be overwhelming. You may invest too much time and in-game credits on one particular area or not know how to build a bankroll that allows you to purchase new weapons or modifications for your ship. Thankfully, we have five Starfield tips for beginners based on mistakes the game’s early adopters made.
Don’t Spend Too Long on Character Creation
In true Bethesda style, Starfield allows you to fully customize your character when you start a new game. The catalog of options is remarkable, allowing you to create a character that looks exactly how you want. However, your character’s appearance does not affect your Starfield experience because it is purely cosmetic. In addition, most settlements have a cosmetic surgery store called Enhance, which allows you to completely alter your appearance for just 500 credits.
Your character’s background is more important than what it looks like, as are the traits you can select. There are no downsides to backgrounds, although they do unlock some boosts. Traits come with positives and negatives attached. For example, Alien DNA grants you more health and oxygen but sees weaker performance of healing items. You do not have to select any traits; many power users suggest you forgo traits altogether.
Manage Your Inventory By Buying and Selling Items
Inventory management plays a crucial role in every RPG, but the system is clunky in Starfield; it is one of the significant bugbears of reviewers and players. Carrying too many items causes your character to become encumbered, causing you to move slower, decreasing oxygen levels quickly while moving, and increasing health-damaging CO2 levels.
You can store gear and consumables at the Lodge, in your ship’s cargo hold, or have a companion carry your burdens, but you should also look to sell items to traders frequently. Be aware that vendors only have a set amount of currency until it replenishes over time. Sell items that have become underpowered or that seemingly have no use.
While selling your unwanted wares, purchase any medical supplies a vendor has. You will find med packs and medicines that cure specific diseases, both of which are in relatively short supply when you embark on some exploration. Lockpicking digipicks are also quite rare, so ensure you buy them whenever you see a vendor has them for sale.
Take Full Advantage of the Scanner
Your character has an extremely useful handheld scanner, so use it all the time! The scanner assists you by directing you to a waypoint for mission objectives and finding items littered around Starfield’s gigantic environments. Scanning an area or room will often highlight easy-to-miss small but valuable items such as credit sticks and digipicks, saving you a small fortune and the inconvenience of locating a vendor.
Scanning local fauna, flora, and mineral resources is critical to completing a survey of the planet you are on. You can sell your scanned information for much-needed credits like No Man’s Sky players do. Want another scanner-related tip? Find your Constellation colleague Vlad because he pays better prices for observed data.
Complete Tasks to Level Up Your Character
Leveling up your character is crucial to success in any RPG, especially in Starfield. The game is open-world, meaning you can travel to any location anytime. Sometimes, you will discover a new planet that has enemies with a far greater level than yours, making you an easy target and almost guaranteeing an untimely death. If you are the type of player who loves exploring and not much else, you are putting yourself at a significant disadvantage by not leveling up.
Discovering and exploring new planets and star systems helps your character gain experience, which eventually translates into skill points. Those skill points are spent in any of the five skill trees, each with several tiers. Assigning a skill unlocks a set of challenges that further enhance the skill. For example, you may improve lock-picking, and the game sets lock-picking challenges for you. Complete these, and your lock-picking skills increase even more.
Scanning fauna, flora, and mineral deposits helps you gain experience, as do other activities, including killing enemies, crafting items, picking locks, completing persuasion minigames, and completing tasks; the latter usually sees the most significant experience gains.
Never Stop Moving in a Space Battle
Outer space is a dangerous place filled with bandits, pirates, and other evil space travelers. Thankfully, you can build a spacecraft armed to the teeth and engage your soon-to-be-dead foes in epic space battles. It is vitally important that you never stop moving when engaged in combat. It can be tempting to slow down or stop to line up a shot of your missiles or lasers but never do this.
Slowing to a standstill makes you an easy target for other fighters to attack you, and attack you they will. Hitting a moving target is difficult in real life, and this carries into the Starfield universe. Always move to make it challenging for others to hit your ship with their weaponry.
Also, your brain is a deadly weapon in a space dogfight. Your ship’s shield regenerates a short while after not taking damage, so instead of taking on a tough fight head-on, consider boosting away from the fray, allow your shields to recharge, and return to the fight once you are fully protected.