In Starfield, you can build a base which will serve as the headquarters of your exploration endeavors. We’ve seen building in previous Bethesda games, but the system in Starfield looks like it’s been refined significantly. We only got a brief peek at the base building mechanics so far, but we’ll go into what we know below.
How does base building work in Starfield?
Base building in Starfield seems to work like a combination of the systems in Fallout 4 and No Man’s Sky. The first thing you have to do to build a base is to place an Outpost Beacon. Once placed, you’ll see a circular border in build mode that we presume is the extent of the territory in which you can build. Fortunately, unlike Fallout 4, an overhead view is available in build mode that makes placing structures much easier.
Each structure you place while building your base in Starfield requires materials. For example, in the gameplay reveal trailer, we saw that an Outpost Airlock costs 6 Aluminum and 2 Iron. We also got a small list of a few of the structures we’ll be able to build in the game:
- Four Wall Hab
- Hallway – Industrial
- Hydroponic Hab A
- Hydroponic Hab Round
- Military Hab
- Outpost Airlock
- Science Hab Small
- Small Hex Hab
- Watchtower
It appears that you’ll be able to have multiple bases, and each of them can be equipped to generate resources. These bases must also be manned, and you can hire NPCs you meet throughout the galaxy to do so. Presumably, they’ll have stats that affect how well they perform their tasks. Perhaps one NPC could be a whiz at hydroponics, while another is an expert researcher.
It also looks like there’ll be variants of base parts. So, while the ones that featured in the gameplay reveal were very industrial, we might find some that look organic or luxurious.
We’ll find out more about building bases in Starfield as we get closer to its 2023 launch date.
