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Related:Starfield: The Hardest Achievements, Ranked
By raising your Ship Command level, you will gradually unlock the ability to have as many eight crew members aboard your vessel. Here’s why that matters - and what you’ll need to do to make it happen.
Why Crew Size Counts In Starfield
Your starter ship, theFrontier, has amaximum crew capacity of just two. As it happens, you’ll only be able to have three crew members in all without taking ranks in Ship Command, and you can’t do that at the beginning of your Starfield adventure. More on that soon.
With two crew members, you only have room to assign folks to two parts of the Frontier. Where they go is dependent on what they bring to the table;different potential crew all have their own specialties, and they’ll pitch in there, where they will naturally prove most useful. Potential crew includes Constellation characters, like Sarah and Vasco, so you ought to be able to hit that two-count from the get-go.
There’s also the fact thatbigger ships have larger maximum crew, and it’d be a shame if you didn’t take advantage of that to use them to their fullest. Plus, isn’t it neat waltzing around your ship, and seeing so many friends? We think so, at least.
But imagine, now, that you’re flying a ship with a max capacity of more than two. Say, four. That means you may assign four people, of course, which by proxy meansyou will be able to grant bonuses to four aspects of your ship. Bonuses differ, but they’ll oftenprovide extra protection, or restore critical systems via backups, during space battles. This form of combat can be quite tough, and crew specialties can really make a difference.
Someone with a second rank in Starship Engineering, for example, will grant your ship the buffs as if you had those two ranks yourself, meaning your ship will repair ten percent faster, and enjoys a 25 percent damage mitigation modifier. Handy to have around.
How To Increase Ship Command Level
The Ship Command Level skill is a Master-tier skill within the Social category. SinceMaster-tier skills require players to have spent a minimum of 12 points in their category before they unlock, you will need to be level 13 at minimum to get here, and that’s assuming a beeline. We don’t recommend beelining it, since there’s so much else you’re able to be taking ranks in early on that’ll help get you formidable enough to survive the early game.
Buteventually, you should work toward unlocking Ship Command. Sometime in your twenties, level-wise, seems a fair enough time, but there’s no harm in waiting later if you find yourself more thoroughly invested in a separate category, like Combat or Tech.
Once you have unlocked the Master tier, you’re ready to begin putting ranks into Ship Command. Here’s what each rank does, and what you’ll need to do after reaching it before you can put another skill point into it:
Requirement
One
you’re able to have up tofourcrew members aboard a ship at once.
Spend 12 skill points in the Social category.
Two
You can have up tofivecrew members aboard a ship at once.
Either board or destroy five ships with at least two crew aboard your ship.
Three
You can have up tosixcrew members aboard a ship at once.
Either board or destroy 25 ships with at least four crew or more.
Four
You can have up toeightactive crew members.
Either board or destroy 50 ships with at least six crew or more.
One last thing to remember.Even if you have all four ranks in Ship Command, you won’t be able to buy ships beyond Class A without taking the third and fourth
