Starfield discussion thread

[Frag_Maniac]

Updated my ship a bit - lowered the cargo, so my ship now has 99 mobility - will make one dedicated entirely for cargo later.

How the heck are you getting 4480 on Shields, or is that just the shipbuilder being buggy with stats again?

I noticed my Razorleaf at 100 mobility is noticeably more agile at staying tracked on enemy ships than my Star Eagle was last playthrough at 82, which I'm finding is far better than evading when Engine skill is maxed due to enemies not being able to track you while boosting, which also lasts longer.

It's really not that big of a deal to just switch ships when doing cargo runs, but you're still slowed down by the horribly slow transferring of resources. I'd like to see them add a feature like a shuttle service you could pay for to have your resources dropped off at a location of your choosing. I mean if you can sell goods straight from your ship without being anywhere near it, why not also be able to shuttle resources?

 

[thesmokingman]

i think it is safe to say we were hoping for skyrim in space and got fallout 4 in space. it was fun and i can only hope dlc and stuff will make the game more dynamic. also, less loading please...

Yea, the depth is a bit low and the there isn't much drawing me to replay. And about the loading concur, thanks gawd for the no transitions mod.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

You say you've played it a lot, but when you say things like this I have to wonder what you've been doing. Just halfway through my 3rd playthrough on NG+ level 2, I've been cutting through enemies pretty easily even on Very Hard with just a bit of work on researching weapon parts and upgrading my weapon design skill. With only a bit over 80,000 credits I've also upgraded the Razorleaf to handle space fights very well, and I can easily make it even better, as I only upgraded one weapon slot.

If you're just stealing or buying ships and not upgrading them, that's the problem. Same on hand carry weapons. I'm currently at player level 67, but I've yet to even use Phased Time, let alone spam it like many talk about doing once it's maxed at level 10, which pretty much makes every fight like child's play. It's all in the skills , powers, and researching and upgrading you do if you want to stay ahead of the enemy. No pun intended, but it's not rocket science.

As for feeling powerful, I don't mind that, but I'd still rather be facing powerful enemies when I am. Being overpowered just makes things boring.

With a statement like that I wonder what you have been doing? I have been cutting through enemies since I first spawned in the game. The AI is stupid easy, ship fights are easy. I am supposed to be some multi-dimensional god with super natural powers, but I pretty much feel the same level of power the entire game. I also didn't buy a single ship. I used Mantis ship and the reward for being a space cowboy. Nothing else was needed. Ship jump distance is meaningless because I can just fast travel as far as possible, enter a system, and then jump again. So no need for massive amounts of jump distance. Meaningless. Same as environmental effects, meaningless. For those that don't want to run NG+ 10x use these commands.
Hit ~

Spoiler: Then type in these commands

Paste in -
player.modav PlayerUnityTimesEntered 10

Then to max out skills to lvl 10.

Here's a list of all the powers and how to get them up to max level (10/X). Just run the commands multiple times for a higher level.

Reactive Shield | player.addperk 0025e19e
Alien Reanimation | player.addperk 0025e19d
Anti-Gravity Field | player.addperk 0025e19c
Create Vacuum | player.addperk 0025e19b
Creators' Peace | player.addperk 0025e19a
Earthbound | player.addperk 0025e199
Elemental Pull | player.addperk 0025e198
Eternal Harvest | player.addperk 0025e197
Grav Dash | player.addperk 0025e196
Gravity Wave | player.addperk 0025e195
--------------------------------|--------------------------------------

Gravity Well | player.addperk 0025e193
Inner Demon | player.addperk 0025e192
Life Forced | player.addperk 0025e191
Moon Form | player.addperk 0025e190
Precognition | player.addperk 0025e18f
Parallel Self | player.addperk 0025e18e
Particle Beam | player.addperk 0025e18d
Personal Atmosphere | player.addperk 0025e18c
Phased Time | player.addperk 0025e18b
Sense Star Stuff | player.addperk 0025e18a
Solar Flare | player.addperk 0025e189
Sunless Space | player.addperk 0025e188
Supernova | player.addperk 0025e187
Void Form | player.addperk 0025e186

Enjoy not running it 10x. Have true freedom to build, explore and quest and not worry about losing everything each and every time you start a NG+.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

With a statement like that I wonder what you have been doing? I have been cutting through enemies since I first spawned in the game. The AI is stupid easy, ship fights are easy. I am supposed to be some multi-dimensional god with super natural powers, but I pretty much feel the same level of power the entire game. I also didn't buy a single ship. I used Mantis ship and the reward for being a space cowboy. Nothing else was needed. Ship jump distance is meaningless because I can just fast travel as far as possible, enter a system, and then jump again. So no need for massive amounts of jump distance. Meaningless. Same as environmental effects, meaningless. For those that don't want to run NG+ 10x use these commands.

Well, it did seem odd you said this though...

Enemies scale with you so you will never feel powerful like you should.

...and it's not like I misread the meaning of it. It makes it look like you wanted to be even MORE OP than you're now describing, makes no sense really. You go from saying you NEVER feel powerful, to implying you feel overpowered from the start. MAKE UP YOU R MIND dude!!!

Never feel powerful MY ARSE! Everything you're saying now states exactly the opposite!

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

I guess you just didn't understand what I meant...

You never feel more powerful than when you started the game. Enemies scale and remain at a consistent level of difficulty regardless of your power. So there is no point in leveling or gaining powers because whether you do or don't the enemies will always be in the same place...power/competition wise? Does that make sense? So now I do 100% more damage, but the enemies have a 100% more defense/health...so same position as when I was 100% less powerful. As another example..I started off doing "50 damage" but the enemies had 100 health so took 2 hits to kill. End game I can do 10,000 damage, but the enemies have 20,000 health and still take 2 hits to kill. The numbers are just place holders so don't go into those please.

 

[Dragam1337]

How the heck are you getting 4480 on Shields, or is that just the shipbuilder being buggy with stats again?

I noticed my Razorleaf at 100 mobility is noticeably more agile at staying tracked on enemy ships than my Star Eagle was last playthrough at 82, which I'm finding is far better than evading when Engine skill is maxed due to enemies not being able to track you while boosting, which also lasts longer.

It's really not that big of a deal to just switch ships when doing cargo runs, but you're still slowed down by the horribly slow transferring of resources. I'd like to see them add a feature like a shuttle service you could pay for to have your resources dropped off at a location of your choosing. I mean if you can sell goods straight from your ship without being anywhere near it, why not also be able to shuttle resources?

1600 shield + maxed shield skills + companions with shield spec. So it's accurate

9k cargo is plenty for missions etc, but need more when doing basebuilding - need 20+ k for that.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I guess you just didn't understand what I meant...

You never feel more powerful than when you started the game. Enemies scale and remain at a consistent level of difficulty regardless of your power. So there is no point in leveling or gaining powers because whether you do or don't the enemies will always be in the same place...power/competition wise? Does that make sense? So now I do 100% more damage, but the enemies have a 100% more defense/health...so same position as when I was 100% less powerful. As another example..I started off doing "50 damage" but the enemies had 100 health so took 2 hits to kill. End game I can do 10,000 damage, but the enemies have 20,000 health and still take 2 hits to kill. The numbers are just place holders so don't go into those please.

No, I fully understood what you meant, as you DID make mention of enemies scaling with you, something any of us who've spent any length of time playing already know. As I said though, the player can easily account for that by the way ships are built/upgraded, and how weapons are upgraded. I'll put it this way, I actually stooped to playing space battles on Very Easy at first, because I didn't know how to use the ship builder or even level system power. With just that little bit of knowledge my Very Hard playthrough has felt easier than Very Easy mode by comparison.

Aside from that, if you level the Phased Time power all the way to 10, you can pretty much spam it non stop and enemies won't even be able to fire back. Therefore I see the exact opposite problem you do, I feel one has to be careful what powers they use, even just on a third playthrough, and even how well you equip your ship. Otherwise it's just too damn easy, even on Very Hard. I'm hoping Bethesda will take these comments to heart and give us a harder mode to play on eventually, like 4A Games did with Metro.

I agree with you that the enemies are too easy, what I don't get is why you'd want them to be even easier, especially after getting to know the game well. To me that would just make the problem even worse.

Currently I'm playing Ghostrunner 2, because I simply got a bit burned out on tearing through enemies. I played the first GR and loved it, and this one is even a bit more challenging.

1600 shield + maxed shield skills + companions with shield spec. So it's accurate

9k cargo is plenty for missions etc, but need more when doing basebuilding - need 20+ k for that.

Odd, I checked NPCs with shield skills both online and in game, and only saw level two for Vasco. Even when I had him onboard I had nowhere near that amount even with shield skill maxed and the best shield in game. So I have to ask, what companions with shield skills are you referring to?

 

[Dragam1337]

No, I fully understood what you meant, as you DID make mention of enemies scaling with you, something any of us who've spent any length of time playing already know. As I said though, the player can easily account for that by the way ships are built/upgraded, and how weapons are upgraded. I'll put it this way, I actually stooped to playing space battles on Very Easy at first, because I didn't know how to use the ship builder or even level system power. With just that little bit of knowledge my Very Hard playthrough has felt easier than Very Easy mode by comparison.

Aside from that, if you level the Phased Time power all the way to 10, you can pretty much spam it non stop and enemies won't even be able to fire back. Therefore I see the exact opposite problem you do, I feel one has to be careful what powers they use, even just on a third playthrough, and even how well you equip your ship. Otherwise it's just too damn easy, even on Very Hard. I'm hoping Bethesda will take these comments to heart and give us a harder mode to play on eventually, like 4A Games did with Metro.

I agree with you that the enemies are too easy, what I don't get is why you'd want them to be even easier, especially after getting to know the game well. To me that would just make the problem even worse.

Currently I'm playing Ghostrunner 2, because I simply got a bit burned out on tearing through enemies. I played the first GR and loved it, and this one is even a bit more challenging.



Odd, I checked NPCs with shield skills both online and in game, and only saw level two for Vasco. Even when I had him onboard I had nowhere near that amount even with shield skill maxed and the best shield in game. So I have to ask, what companions with shield skills are you referring to?

Do you have the shield booster from crimson fleet aswell ?

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Do you have the shield booster from crimson fleet aswell ?

If you mean the Conduction Grid, of course, and last playthrough I kept it on the ship. About the only thing I think I was missing after looking at the info on the INARA guide is Omari Hassan, whom has level 3 Shield skill. The only other one listed with Shield skill is Vasco at level 2.

I think the problem is, most of the time the damn ship builder doesn't even show the right stats, so I may have had better shield capacity than I thought. I'm torn between using the Razorleaf or Star Eagle. The former is not great for crew size, and the latter sucks for mobility once upgraded, and no engine I pick accounts for it. I might try adding side thrusters though.

I can't believe with like 3 major updates they've done so far they still haven't even fixed the shipbuilder stat problem. I find it extremely annoying, because you don't really know what you have, even after spending a ton of time doing quests, scavenging, trading, etc, then building a ship, only for their damn builder stats to wind up looking like a roll of the dice lottery.

 

[Dragam1337]

If you mean the Conduction Grid, of course, and last playthrough I kept it on the ship. About the only thing I think I was missing after looking at the info on the INARA guide is Omari Hassan, whom has level 3 Shield skill. The only other one listed with Shield skill is Vasco at level 2.

I think the problem is, most of the time the damn ship builder doesn't even show the right stats, so I may have had better shield capacity than I thought. I'm torn between using the Razorleaf or Star Eagle. The former is not great for crew size, and the latter sucks for mobility once upgraded, and no engine I pick accounts for it. I might try adding side thrusters though.

I can't believe with like 3 major updates they've done so far they still haven't even fixed the shipbuilder stat problem. I find it extremely annoying, because you don't really know what you have, even after spending a ton of time doing quests, scavenging, trading, etc, then building a ship, only for their damn builder stats to wind up looking like a roll of the dice lottery.

It's simple... when you are on the ground the companion bonuses aren't applied... when you are flying they are.

If you want a really good ship, then you either gotta take basis in a C class ship and upgrade it, or build one from scratch yourself. A class ships aren't ever going to be really good, unless you essentially rebuild it from scratch...

 

[Frag_Maniac]

It's simple... when you are on the ground the companion bonuses aren't applied... when you are flying they are.

If you want a really good ship, then you either gotta take basis in a C class ship and upgrade it, or build one from scratch yourself. A class ships aren't ever going to be really good, unless you essentially rebuild it from scratch...

Like I've said before, I HAVE built the Star Eagle into a fairly hefty C Class ship. I mean it's not hard once you max Starship Design skill and put in a C Class Reactor, because then you can put in any C Class part you want. All I was really missing, as mentioned above, was Omari Hassan and her level 3 Shield skill.

The one thing that makes any of this "hard", is Bethesda's whacky AF shipbuilder that can't show stats consistently if it's life depended on it! So I blame them for their lazy attitude and it makes me not even want to bother with anything but recruiting that one NPC. I've got better things to do than wonder what my ship stats are, and I've been doing fine in battle with what I've built so far anyway, even on Very Hard mode.

 

[Dragam1337]

Like I've said before, I HAVE built the Star Eagle into a fairly hefty C Class ship. I mean it's not hard once you max Starship Design skill and put in a C Class Reactor, because then you can put in any C Class part you want. All I was really missing, as mentioned above, was Omari Hassan and her level 3 Shield skill.

The one thing that makes any of this "hard", is Bethesda's whacky AF shipbuilder that can't show stats consistently if it's life depended on it! So I blame them for their lazy attitude and it makes me not even want to bother with anything but recruiting that one NPC. I've got better things to do than wonder what my ship stats are, and I've been doing fine in battle with what I've built so far anyway, even on Very Hard mode.

Well, going by the video you posted, your ship isn't maxed out at all. But you do you.

 

[Vayra86]

With a statement like that I wonder what you have been doing? I have been cutting through enemies since I first spawned in the game. The AI is stupid easy, ship fights are easy. I am supposed to be some multi-dimensional god with super natural powers, but I pretty much feel the same level of power the entire game. I also didn't buy a single ship. I used Mantis ship and the reward for being a space cowboy. Nothing else was needed. Ship jump distance is meaningless because I can just fast travel as far as possible, enter a system, and then jump again. So no need for massive amounts of jump distance. Meaningless. Same as environmental effects, meaningless. For those that don't want to run NG+ 10x use these commands.
Hit ~

Spoiler: Then type in these commands

Paste in -
player.modav PlayerUnityTimesEntered 10

Then to max out skills to lvl 10.

Here's a list of all the powers and how to get them up to max level (10/X). Just run the commands multiple times for a higher level.

Reactive Shield | player.addperk 0025e19e
Alien Reanimation | player.addperk 0025e19d
Anti-Gravity Field | player.addperk 0025e19c
Create Vacuum | player.addperk 0025e19b
Creators' Peace | player.addperk 0025e19a
Earthbound | player.addperk 0025e199
Elemental Pull | player.addperk 0025e198
Eternal Harvest | player.addperk 0025e197
Grav Dash | player.addperk 0025e196
Gravity Wave | player.addperk 0025e195
--------------------------------|--------------------------------------

Gravity Well | player.addperk 0025e193
Inner Demon | player.addperk 0025e192
Life Forced | player.addperk 0025e191
Moon Form | player.addperk 0025e190
Precognition | player.addperk 0025e18f
Parallel Self | player.addperk 0025e18e
Particle Beam | player.addperk 0025e18d
Personal Atmosphere | player.addperk 0025e18c
Phased Time | player.addperk 0025e18b
Sense Star Stuff | player.addperk 0025e18a
Solar Flare | player.addperk 0025e189
Sunless Space | player.addperk 0025e188
Supernova | player.addperk 0025e187
Void Form | player.addperk 0025e186

Enjoy not running it 10x. Have true freedom to build, explore and quest and not worry about losing everything each and every time you start a NG+.

The idea of running it more often is that you invest in the story and characters, not so much in the whole broken stat game it has.
These types of games were always broken AF stat/RPG progression wise. The AI was never good enough to be a real threat. I think though Starfield has some potential scary moments in firefights if you're unprepared. But yeah... difficulty? Knowledge is everything in a Bethesda game. I think that's also kinda what @Frag_Maniac is pointing out. The scaling is of little relevance, but still needed because you scale up too. Without it, the game would have no progression curve, no goals to chase on that axis. It would have been just the game with its 10 stories.

And yeah... the absolutely broken ship traversal in space... its hilarious. They basically plopped a UI and some pseudo stats over a shipbuilder but never really worked out the details. But there's stuff like that all over the place. I think that whole galaxy is just there for the immersive idea of space travel. In the end we're really just looking at small maps between loading screens with extremely limited scope.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Well, going by the video you posted, your ship isn't maxed out at all. But you do you.

And as you failed to mention, neither does it NEED to be in that part of the game, regardless of difficulty mode. I also clearly stated that it was NOT the main ship I plan to do the endgame fight against the Starborn with. I choose not to side with either because I've read if you do, you give up being able to further level your powers the next NG+. I DO feel though that with a bit more tweaking, the Razorleaf is adequate for the Crimson Fleet stuff.

Yep, you do you, take an overbuilt ship against anything you want, because it's no problem on the default mode. You've made it clear how you play the game, I just would get bored playing it that way. In fact, one can get a bit bored no matter how you play it because quite frankly the game doesn't have nearly enough epic quests and the AI are far too easy. Mass Effect was miles better in both those regards. The only thing it was lacking was the dog fights.

For someone who claims I don't read your posts as often as you do, you sure miss a lot.

 

[Space Lynx]

@Frag_Maniac the rts aspect I was talking about was just a neat idea to spice it up imo, and Todd is on record saying he wanted to do some new things with Starfield, so I don't really accept your answer of its not how they make games. they just got rich quick and cashed out. looking forward to the expansion and a proper full playthrough, my expectations are pretty low. regardless it was free for me thanks to the 7900 xt bundle so its all cool.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

...so I don't really accept your answer of its not how they make games...

I was specifically referring to RTS type games. Pretty sure they've NEVER done such a thing, and "do some new things" in no way implies they plan to start delving into RTS. I think you read WAY too much into what he said. Besides, I don't feel Bethesda would even be good at RTS features. They lack the ability to even keep a much less complex AI structure from being buggy.

 

[Dragam1337]

And as you failed to mention, neither does it NEED to be in that part of the game, regardless of difficulty mode. I also clearly stated that it was NOT the main ship I plan to do the endgame fight against the Starborn with. I choose not to side with either because I've read if you do, you give up being able to further level your powers the next NG+. I DO feel though that with a bit more tweaking, the Razorleaf is adequate for the Crimson Fleet stuff.

Yep, you do you, take an overbuilt ship against anything you want, because it's no problem on the default mode. You've made it clear how you play the game, I just would get bored playing it that way. In fact, one can get a bit bored no matter how you play it because quite frankly the game doesn't have nearly enough epic quests and the AI are far too easy. Mass Effect was miles better in both those regards. The only thing it was lacking was the dog fights.

For someone who claims I don't read your posts as often as you do, you sure miss a lot.

There are plenty of good quest lines (in particular the faction questlines), but as in any singleplayer game, they obviously get boring if you replay the game multiple times...

 

[Frick]

I honestly think the majority of quests have been pretty solid. Some were even quite good. The problem is there's too few of them, at least it feels that way. It's pretty weird. I have close to 90 hours now, but it doesn't feel like it. The game balances so well between forgettable and good that I'm not even sure what I've done in the game that took 90 hours. I mean I sort of know, but I also don't.

 

[Space Lynx]

I honestly think the majority of quests have been pretty solid. Some were even quite good. The problem is there's too few of them, at least it feels that way. It's pretty weird. I have close to 90 hours now, but it doesn't feel like it. The game balances so well between forgettable and good that I'm not even sure what I've done in the game that took 90 hours. I mean I sort of know, but I also don't.

This is how I felt in my 30 or so hours of playing, some of the quests were a lot of fun, but a lot of my time felt lackluster. Again, for being free, I can't complain. I still love my 7900 XT, so I'm pretty happy with the way it all worked out. I wouldn't have paid $99 for it though.

 

[phanbuey]

The quests are the really the best part of this game -- i kind of rushed it to get to ng+, but I think that was a mistake. Gonna replay a playthrough taking my time with the planet and companion quests.

But they definitely have that "walk into town, figure out what's going on" type of thing. Every system feels like an episode of firefly.

They definitely have a solid base with this game, and if they can expand the weapons, add content in the systems (kind of like what outer worlds did with the expansions) they will be really successful.

Bethesda did make Shivering Isled during the OG oblivion days, and that expansion is still something I remember to this day.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

My play-through was interrupted around the 40 hour mark and I feel disconnected from the game and the character I created. I've opened it up a few times but feel like I'm missing something.

Unfortunately, I still remember enough that I don't feel like starting over at the moment. I guess I need to give it some time and then give it a go again.

 

[Space Lynx]

The quests are the really the best part of this game -- i kind of rushed it to get to ng+, but I think that was a mistake. Gonna replay a playthrough taking my time with the planet and companion quests.

But they definitely have that "walk into town, figure out what's going on" type of thing. Every system feels like an episode of firefly.

They definitely have a solid base with this game, and if they can expand the weapons, add content in the systems (kind of like what outer worlds did with the expansions) they will be really successful.

Bethesda did make Shivering Isled during the OG oblivion days, and that expansion is still something I remember to this day.

yep we have a lot to look forward to imo, I still think its best to shelve this game, wait for patches/mods/official expansion release.

My play-through was interrupted around the 40 hour mark and I feel disconnected from the game and the character I created. I've opened it up a few times but feel like I'm missing something.

Unfortunately, I still remember enough that I don't feel like starting over at the moment. I guess I need to give it some time and then give it a go again.

I would uninstall it and pretend it doesn't come out for another two years, thats pretty much how I treat all games these days.

Hell, Baldurs Gate 3 just got another patch today with over 1000 fixes. 1000. this is like third patch that fixes over 1000 things for BG3... so yeah, when I do get around to playing all these new great games, they will be polished as hell and really fun experiences.

my backlog is so vast though I am still enjoying really old games, but they are polished and upscale great, so I am having fun anyway.

 

[phanbuey]

yep we have a lot to look forward to imo, I still think its best to shelve this game, wait for patches/mods/official expansion release.



I would uninstall it and pretend it doesn't come out for another two years, thats pretty much how I treat all games these days.

Hell, Baldurs Gate 3 just got another patch today with over 1000 fixes. 1000. this is like third patch that fixes over 1000 things for BG3... so yeah, when I do get around to playing all these new great games, they will be polished as hell and really fun experiences.

my backlog is so vast though I am still enjoying really old games, but they are polished and upscale great, so I am having fun anyway.

yeah exactly, by then you will get so many performance patches and such. Finewine gaming.

 

[Frick]

This is how I felt in my 30 or so hours of playing, some of the quests were a lot of fun, but a lot of my time felt lackluster. Again, for being free, I can't complain. I still love my 7900 XT, so I'm pretty happy with the way it all worked out. I wouldn't have paid $99 for it though.

I wouldn't call it lackluster though. The fact that I'm still playing and is thinking "ohh look another thing to do" says it is a good game, but the fact that i afterwards can't really recall anything says it's a bad game. I enjoy it, but I'm not sure why.

 

[phanbuey]

I wouldn't call it lackluster though. The fact that I'm still playing and is thinking "ohh look another thing to do" says it is a good game, but the fact that i afterwards can't really recall anything says it's a bad game. I enjoy it, but I'm not sure why.

i think the writing is really good, the bit of it that is there. So it's like a show, kind of pulls you in because you want to know what other story there is to unravel.

the quests are excellent. They're flanked by a bunch of loading screens and faffing to get to the systems/planets but if that doesn't bother you it's really a good game.