There are a lot of things that can happen in Starfield and encountering other ships is one of them but not everyone you come across is an ally.
You will often encounter hostile ships during your exploration and sometimes there is a need to take them out whether it’s to protect yourself or for other reasons.
Some of the reasons you may seek out more enemy ships are either to complete the challenge for the Piloting skill or if you are out to get more experience.
How To Find Enemy Ships?
To find enemy ships, you will need to explore the galaxy by moving from one planet to another or even better, jump between systems.
This can be done by opening your map and choosing a location to travel to and once you set a course and make your way to another destination, you may encounter enemy ships.
Enemy ships will not always appear but the more you travel from one system to another, the more likely you are to encounter them.
How To Destroy Ships?
Once you encounter enemy ships, they will begin to attack you if they have spotted you, making it time to do some maneuvers in space while shooting at them.
You will need to pilot your ship and damage it with whatever weapons it has while also avoiding taking too much damage from your enemies.
Defeating your enemies can be done easily if you lock on to them, which requires you to follow them with your crosshairs until you are locked on.
This will allow you to focus your attacks on their ship without having to focus too much on aiming and more on evading or pursuing.
Looting Cargo
Whenever a ship has been destroyed, it has a high chance of dropping its cargo, which you can loot to get whatever is inside.
This can be done by interacting with the cargo from a distance to lock on to it and once you are within 500m or less, you will be able to loot its contents.
Looting will not cause other ships to become hostile towards you, but you should make sure that the area is clear of enemies so that you don’t get attacked while gathering what remains.
Space Fight Events
Space fight events may occur from time to time, and this is when there is another party in the fight, which is often an ally.
You can team up with the hostiles to take their ships out and once the fight is over, the other ships will reach out to you to offer you a reward of your choosing.
The rewards for helping may result in you having the following dialogues:
- I could use some extra repair parts (Ship Parts)
- Credits would be appreciated (Credits)
- Salvage rights are enough for me (No reward)
- No need for payment (No reward)
Be careful when joining the fight as damaging an ally’s ship can turn them hostile towards you, which could lead to trouble or your ship getting destroyed.
Piloting Skill
The Piloting skill provides you with different bonuses once you have leveled it and each of these requires a certain amount of ships to be destroyed before you can increase its rank.
The following are the bonuses for leveling up the Piloting skill:
- Rank 1 – You may utilize ship thrusters.
- Rank 2 – Increased ship turning rate and maneuverability.
- Rank 3 – Unlock Class B ships.
- Rank 4 – Unlock Class C ships.
Verdict
Space combat is one of the shorter yet enjoyable features of the game, allowing you to fight different factions while piloting your ship.
Sometimes you may even get the chance to board an enemy’s ship and take over it or loot what is inside before destroying it.
It is best to upgrade your ship whenever you can to make sure that you are ready for the battles that lie ahead as some tough enemies are lurking in space.
