Boarding ships is tricky in Starfield. If you want to take control of another ship, you need to meet a few requirements, which can be tough in the heat of battle. It’s a confusing process that isn’t explained well in the game, but if you follow this guide, you’ll be able to board ships, disable them, and take them over every time.
How to board ships and take control of them in Starfield
There are a couple of requirements you have to meet to be able to board a ship in Starfield:
- The target ship must have its shields and engines disabled at the minimum.
- No other hostile ships can be present.
You can disable a ship’s subsystems with regular weapons fire, but it’s much easier to do so with EM weapons. These are more expensive than your run-of-the-mill lasers and ballistics, and they’re specialized for disabling ships. Unfortunately, this means taking up one of your three weapons groups with a device that is worthless in normal combat.
You can use EM weapons against other ships when their shields are up to knock out their Grav Drive and prevent them from fleeing. However, you’ll want to take down their shields to make your EM weapons more effective when you’re taking down their other systems. So, it’s best to pair them with a strong laser-type weapon. In fact, if you’re going for a build specializing in disabling other ships, you can entirely forgo ballistic and missile-type weapons.
Once you’ve disabled a ship sufficiently, you’ll get the option to dock with it. Now, to commandeer a ship in Starfield, you’ll need to take out the crew. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a way to do this non-lethally. So, you’ll need to kill them if you want to take over their ship.
Alternatively, you could rob them blind and return to your ship. The Captain’s Safe and cargo hold usually have some good loot, and you can just knock out the crew if you take this course.
Once you take over a vessel, it will become your new home ship, and you can take it to a technician to register it. Once you do, it’s yours to keep forever.
Starfield Boarding Ships FAQ
A: To board a ship in Starfield, you need to ensure the target ship’s shields and engines are disabled, and no other hostile ships are in the vicinity. EM weapons are especially useful for disabling ship subsystems, although they’re not as effective in general combat. After disabling the ship, you’ll have the option to dock with it. To fully commandeer it, you must eliminate the crew.
A: As of now, there’s no non-lethal method to take over a ship’s crew. If you wish to commandeer the ship, you’ll need to kill the crew. However, if you’re only interested in looting, you can incapacitate the crew, access the Captain’s Safe and cargo hold, and then return to your ship.
A: After commandeering a ship, it automatically becomes your new home ship. Once registered, the ship is yours to keep indefinitely.
