In Starfield, you can build an outpost, but is it worth it? Building a base on a planet is a resource-intensive activity, and many players are wondering if the benefits are worth the cost. Below, we’ll take a look at whether outpost construction is beneficial outside of being neat.
Should I build an outpost in Starfield?
Building outposts in Starfield is an evolution of the construction system in Fallout 4. You can choose a spot on practically any planet (though some require specific skills first) and plop down a base. Like with ships, you can assign NPC crew members to work on your outposts, and there are plenty of building options to make anything from a tiny stopover to a sprawling mining and manufacturing complex.
However, Starfield’s outposts don’t have the same allure as Fallout 4’s settlements. With settlements, you could recruit people to live there, build houses, assign beds, have stores, and give people jobs. All that functionality is gone. Instead, outposts are primarily just a way to generate resources. The crew you assign to them just kind of wanders around and adds any skill bonuses they have. You can’t give them a particular task or even assign them living quarters.
Ironically, outposts mostly exist to support building more outposts. They’re fairly resource-intensive to construct, which means you need to mine mass quantities of materials. You need so few resources for anything else that building an outpost is a waste. You get so many credits from missions and loot to sell from exploring that you’re better off just buying what you need from merchants for mods and research.
So, at launch, it’s not worth it to build an outpost in Starfield. Hopefully, through either mods or DLC, you’ll someday be able to make them into full colonies and recruit NPCs to live there. If that were the case, we’d be all over it. But spending so much time and effort to have a place where a handful of crew members can aimlessly roam around just isn’t ideal.
Starfield Building an Outpost FAQ
A: You can build outposts on almost any planet in Starfield, but some planets require specific skills before you can establish a base there.
A: Unlike the settlements in Fallout 4 where you could recruit residents, build homes, and assign jobs, Starfield’s outposts are primarily for generating resources. You can assign crew members to them, but you cannot give them specific tasks or living quarters.
A: At launch, it isn’t worth building an outpost in Starfield. They are resource-intensive, and their primary purpose is to support the construction of more outposts. Instead of spending resources on outposts, players can earn credits from missions and sell loot from exploration, making it more efficient to buy what you need from merchants.
