Has anyone figured out how unlocking ship parts works?

[Agent Chieftain]

I've noticed some slowly becoming available over time, but it's mostly things like weapons, engines, reactors and grav drives. Haven't unlocked any actual hab or structure sets, besides the pieces that are available on a captured ship, which can't be duplicated.

[Alyce nChaynes]

Originally posted by Vyvyn:

EZMode:

Build outpost with 'Landing pad with ship building' Have access to most if not all parts.

You're welcome.

Not even remotely true, these parts are the generic parts you can literally access from the base ship technicians. For the exotic parts it's only by going to the respective dealer of a manufacturer. Or i have atleast never ever encountered the 3x3 and 4x3 bays and the massive 1 and 2 story cockpits in my outposts and i did several NG+ and all the story playthroughs.

[Volknochi]

Originally posted by Alyce nChaynes:

Originally posted by Vyvyn:

EZMode:

Build outpost with 'Landing pad with ship building' Have access to most if not all parts.

You're welcome.

Not even remotely true, these parts are the generic parts you can literally access from the base ship technicians. For the exotic parts it's only by going to the respective dealer of a manufacturer. Or i have atleast never ever encountered the 3x3 and 4x3 bays and the massive 1 and 2 story cockpits in my outposts and i did several NG+ and all the story playthroughs.

To add on, this is correct. All relevant skills have been maxed out, but even having a landing pad only gives me access to the generic parts. Some parts I can only access if I visit certain planets/cities. Some other people mention that leveling up also starts to unlock parts (a couple people talked about using console commands to get to Level 60 and 100, and they were able to access more parts than before).

[Mathias Giovanni]

Originally posted by MacGyver:

it's a stupid system so i got a refund. your ship is just a loading screen. so why bother

Then leave the forum. Thanks.

[Jaggid Edje]

Level is the main factor other than Skills. I've read that level 65 is the last level for unlocks, so once you are 65 or higher, you should have everything available. Just not all at the same location.

Your outpost landing pad has all 'standard' parts, but no specialty parts, so even if you have a large landing pad at an outpost and are level 65 you do have to fly around if you want any of those.

[Volknochi]

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

Level is the main factor other than Skills. I've read that level 65 is the last level for unlocks, so once you are 65 or higher, you should have everything available. Just not all at the same location.

Your outpost landing pad has all 'standard' parts, but no specialty parts, so even if you have a large landing pad at an outpost and are level 65 you do have to fly around if you want any of those.

I was actually about to edit my previous comment until I saw yours, so I'll just add on to it: yes, according to one article, found at https://dotesports.com/starfield/news/how-to-gain-access-to-different-ship-classes-and-parts-in-starfield, they say that Level 60 is what allows you to snag the best parts (location pending).

[alan0n]

Level gating is definitely happening. Fairly certain there are several quest unlocks as well.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by alan0n:

Level gating is definitely happening. Fairly certain there are several quest unlocks as well.

Yep, there's at least 2 of those that I'm aware, and I still have not done every quest in the game.

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Volknochi:

I was actually about to edit my previous comment until I saw yours, so I'll just add on to it: yes, according to one article, found at https://dotesports.com/starfield/news/how-to-gain-access-to-different-ship-classes-and-parts-in-starfield, they say that Level 60 is what allows you to snag the best parts (location pending).

I can accept that. I haven't seen any new parts since hitting level 60. Though I have not yet visited more than half of the places where you can build ships since then and don't have an outpost to make it easier on myself, yet. (I'm level 68 right now)

[Brian9824]

Yep its 100% level gated as to when parts unlock, easy to test. Just save, use console to increase level and then look at all the new parts.

[AlphaVictorKilo]

So as other people mentioned

1. Perks. Level up your ship related perks (like piloting for one, allows you to use higher class components)
2. Research. Just like with weapon and armor mods, gotta research some things to unlock everything
3. Not every ship yard has all the parts. They're "themed" so if you want deimos military parts, go to Mars/Deimos. Want stroud eklund parts? Neon, or their shipyard. Want some space cargo parts? Go to Hopetown.
4. Level up!

Also another thing people are pointing out: Building a landing pad with ship keeper (I think that's the name?) it'll have a lot of stuff, but won't have "uber" tier stuff (it'll have class C components, just not shipyard uniques kinda, if that makes sense)

[Machika]

How does one break down a ship for parts if we are able to do that? I have not done anything to any ship I've found abandoned stolen or quest.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by AlphaVictorKilo:

So as other people mentioned

1. Perks. Level up your ship related perks (like piloting for one, allows you to use higher class components)
2. Research. Just like with weapon and armor mods, gotta research some things to unlock everything
3. Not every ship yard has all the parts. They're "themed" so if you want deimos military parts, go to Mars/Deimos. Want stroud eklund parts? Neon, or their shipyard. Want some space cargo parts? Go to Hopetown.
4. Level up!

Also another thing people are pointing out: Building a landing pad with ship keeper (I think that's the name?) it'll have a lot of stuff, but won't have "uber" tier stuff (it'll have class C components, just not shipyard uniques kinda, if that makes sense)

Perks and research have nothing to do with parts being available. its SOLELY based on your level. The perks and research will just let you USE the new parts if there is a requirement.

The only factor other then level is ship yards where each ship yard has unique options. Like Deimos has a really cool bridge with 8 crew member slots, has brig module that New Atlantis won't carry for instance, and so on.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Machika:

How does one break down a ship for parts if we are able to do that? I have not done anything to any ship I've found abandoned stolen or quest.

You salvage all the other parts and build a ship around the parts that are left. Can't store them, but like if you capture a smugglers ship with contraband storage you can basically rebuild the entire ship and keep the parts of it you want

[Darkom]

Originally posted by naomha:

Go and find a Research Lab station and then as long as you're upgrading the right talents you should be able to unlock the different trees and upgraded parts, etc.

Nothing todo with research lab its the skill tree, under tech and starship design i u lvl that up u can install higher lvl stuff on your ship, but some parts , you need 2 skills like piloting 4 and starhip design 4 for example

[Soondead]

Originally posted by MadAsAHatter:

I have absolutely no idea whether this is a bug or a bad design choice.
You have one or two options for each part when you use "upgrade my ship" but there are hundreds of parts available when you use the ship builder. The game really doesn't tell you jack-sh*t how some mechanics work and you have to figure it out on your own.

I recently discovered that you can actually have up to three guns of the same type, adding to a weapon system's power. As long as you dont exceed the max power (10 bars), the builder doesn't complain.

I believe the idea is to have a deep system where there is no universally "best" option; you always have to improve your skills, experiment with what works for you and explore the universe to find the vendors that have what you're looking for. While I would certainly have wanted some options to filter and search for components within a certain class or category to make the list less intimidating, I believe the system does reward those who invest the time and effort. If all you had to do was click on the most expensive option, things would get boring really fast.

Besides, nothing stops you from saving the game, buying and testing a particular setup, then load the saved game if it didn't work out the way you wanted. It's a game, you're supposed to experiment and try different things.