Being a captain of a vessel demands firm decisions. Following this, you must be able to decide which weapons best suit your ship module in Starfield. Building or upgrading a ship in Starfield is quite challenging if you do not keep track of your ship’s capability.
Key Takeaways
- To get the best result for ship weaponry, you must learn how to manage the ship while customizing or upgrading its weapons. Such as the weapon types, crew management, and ship’s performance.
- There are unique types of weapons for ships.
- Particle (PAR)
- Ballistic (BAL)
- Missile (MSL)
- Laser (LAS)
- Electromagnetic (EM)
- Every ship can be attached with two or a maximum of three different types of weapons, where every weapon is used for different damage output.
- If you are a new Starfield player, you should keep the PAR, BAL, and MSL weapon types on your ship. Following this, Disruptor 3300 Electron Beam, Mauler 104L Cannon, and Vanguard Tempest CE-13 Missile Launcher are your best options, respectively.
How To Customize Ship Weapons
Weapons adjustment comes as a part of ship customization. You will have plenty of options for managing your vessel’s weaponry. However, you must know that customizing the ship will definitely make specific negative changes.
Firstly, let’s get to ship customization. You must land in any major city and talk to a Ship Services Technician. Select the option of “view and modify my ships” from the dialogues.
After that, you can focus on the ship’s weapon. Remember that Starfield has very diverse mechanics in customizing a ship, including weapons. Therefore, it is advised not to take any confirmed step without knowing the outcome. This is because ship customization is substantially costly.
Here are a few essential things to remember while preparing your destruction machine. At the bottom of the screen, the ship’s status will be displayed. Ensure the ship’s “Mobility” and “Mass” traits are not majorly hurt. As you build a weaponized combat vessel, ensure you do not comprise mobility too much.
Whereas the Mass of the ship can reach a bit high number. You can resolve this by adding an Engine to your ship. Moreover, the modification can extend as you add Structure to your ship. Every structure has a unique capability for attaching different components to them.
Make sure you add the proper structure that supports the addition of weapons. But do not over-extend it as the ship will then fact Flight Check issues, preventing you from finalizing the ship’s upgrade. Therefore, the approach is to choose the Upgrade Ship option in the early game rather than the Ship Builder option.
Ship Weapons Dynamics
Before beginning, you must make sure that your ship is registered. Otherwise, upgrades and customization will not be available. You must realize that you can add weapons to your ship according to your current crew. Also, you must analyze how many weapon types your ship can carry.
In Starfield, you can have your ship carry around a maximum of 3 different weapon types. Although, there are options on which type you prefer.
- PAR (Particle Beam)
- BAL (Ballistics)
- MSL (Missiles)
- EM (Electromagnetic)
- LAS (Laser)
The more types you add, the more crew you require on your ship. Therefore, in the game’s early stage, you must prefer to stay with the default ship’s weapons. Following this, a ship may also come with only two primary weapon types. However, your ship’s Reactor can put more points in such cases as distribution will no longer happen in three different weapon categories.
Generally, I would prefer that you should have three different weapons rather than two. This is because it gives more edge in the fight. Turning the tides of battle much more efficiently. Moreover, each weapon type serves a different purpose in combat. Therefore, you should compromise impact over versatility.
To get the best possible outcome in space combat, you must first analyze the combat situation you mostly face. Due to the diverse selection of weapons in Starfield, there are no limitations on how you will shape your combat vessel. After all, players will face different scenarios in Starfield as per their gameplay style.
Weapons For Ranged Combat
If you wish to maintain your distance while delivering a massive impact on enemies, look for weapons good at covering range. Here, I suggest you keep the weapons that can rapidly deal damage in a specific time because you want to minimize the health of the enemy’s ship before it can close its distance on you.
Weapon | Category | Range | Fire Rate | Hull Damage | Shield Damage |
EMP 80 Suppressor | EM | 800 | 1.5 | 36 | 5 |
Atlatl 270A Missile Launcher | MSL | 4000 | 1 | 47 | 47 |
PB0-30 Auto Electron Beam | PAR | 3000 | 6.65 | 9 | 9 |
Now, I have learned from all the space fighting that ranged combats benefit when your ship has mobility. So, do not compromise mobility at any cost. All you need to do is maintain distance by spamming the boost.
Make sure the turn rate of your ship also improves after some time through the Piloting skill under the Tech tree.
Weapons For Close Combat
This is personally the most effective method to fight in outer space. But only if you are good at tailing other ships and not letting them go out of sight. I discovered the potential of this weapon style by getting swarmed by the fleet of high-level enemy ships—weapons for close-range focus on dealing burst damage to the enemies.
Weapon | Category | Range | Fire Rate | Hull Damage | Shield Damage |
EMP 80 Suppressor | EM | 800 | 1.5 | 36 | 5 |
Marauder 115N Railgun Turret | BAL | 800 | 1.5 | 89.09 | 26.4 |
Dragon 261 SX Laser Turret | LAS | 1000 | 1.5 | 18 | 59 |
This style is preferable because it allows you to deal immense damage, whereas you receive none. However, the trick is not that simple. Make sure you are at the tail of the ship that you want to blow up. In Starfield, ships can not shoot at the backside, giving an edge to the pilot doing the chase.
The most beneficial aspect of this style is that mobility is an exception. Although you might need to constantly catch up to the enemy ship, using the Boost will be sufficient. But lower the speed to cancel the boost, so you do not stray further from your target. As a result, you will manage the mobility issue without consuming the full boost gauge.
To make the impact more intensive, upgrade the Ballistic Weapon System skill under the Tech tree. The fire rate is surely upsetting, but it is a good trade for the damage numbers.
Best Ship Weapons For Early Game
A list of beneficial weapons in Starfield might be crucial for your ship in the early-game scenario. Overall, this stage can prove to be quite mandatory for every player. This is because you may face situations where enemies often surround you, and escaping is almost impossible. Furthermore, enemies will remove your Grav Jump first, minimizing your survival chances.
Therefore, learning which weapon is most useful in early-game situations will favor you.
Weapon | Category | Range | Fire Rate | Hull Damage | Shield Damage |
Disruptor 3300 Electron Beam | PAR | 3500 | 3.49 | 24 | 24 |
Mauler 104L Cannon | BAL | 800 | 3.49 | 14.3 | 4.4 |
Vanguard Tempest CE-13 Missile Launcher | MSL | 4000 | 1.5 | 33 | 30 |
These are considerably the most suitable ship weapons in Starfield as they favor new players in specific ways. These cheap weapons deliver good impact and are balanced for every range. Moreover, the most favorable aspect is that it does not affect your ship’s mobility too much. Therefore, you can maintain a sturdy course while taking on other hostile space travelers.
On the whole, space adventures in Starfield have a lot of exploration. Through this, you are required to be prepared for the worst scenarios. But most of all, it is to be noted that all the ship weapons will not be available right from the start. You will have to complete projects in the Research Lab to be able to unlock more devastating weapons for your ship.
Other than that, I have witnessed the ample possibilities in shipbuilding where players can utilize their weapons to deliver the impact at the utmost potential. However, it will require you to understand the basics and complexities of shipbuilding, which can be fun to explore if you are willing to become a dominant space traveler.
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