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It comes as no surprise that inStarfield, you can pilot your own ship and set sail across the sea of stars. With that freedom comes the risk of facing Spacers, the Crimson Fleet, and other threats you’ll need to defeat. Sometimes, though, it’s more beneficial to board a ship than it is to destroy it, but that requires disabling the engines first.
To disable the engines, you’ll need the right perks and skills with your ship controls. It takes a bit of practice to get right, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to loot ships as you please.
How To Target Engines
Before you may target engines in combat, you’ll need tounlock the Targeting Control Systems Skillfrom the Tech tab.
This allows you to lock on to different targets on a ship,such as the engines, shields, and grav drive.
Theship targeting functionalityallows you to do more than just blow ships out of the starfield. You candisable ships insteadand board them.
The more youupgrade this skill, the easier it will be to lock on to ships mid-combat.
How To Disable Ships In Combat
In combat, when up against other ships, you canlock onto shipsby pressing E (on PC) or A (on Xbox). Doing so will take a few seconds, but then you canpress R (on PC) or X (on Xbox)once the process is complete.
Certain quests will grant bonuses or additional loot for choosing to disable ships over destroying them.
This willslow down timeand allow you totarget the engines. Using thearrow keys (on PC) or the left stick (on Xbox), you can move betweenthe engines, the shields, or the grav drive, and fire at them.
Whenthey turn red, they are disabled.
How To Board And Loot Ships
Once the ship is disabled, you canmove in close and board. Doing so allows you onto the ship, where you cansearch the vessel for loot. You’ll have tokill the crew onboardoften times, but you cancommandeer the shipand claim it as your own.
If you do happen to gettoo close to a ship and it explodes, you’re able to interact with the wreckage toloot for parts. This lets you salvage the ship formaterials you can useto improve your own.
