Space Combat help

[TM2 Bashar]

I am only level 5 and every time I go form the surface of a planet to space there are these three space. I think they are a bug, as they always have the same names and and show up every time I go into space, even if I am on a settled world with a defense fleet. The issue is, I am not good at space combat. At all. And trying to fight three ships at the same time never goes well for me. I spend half my time playing getting blown up as soon as I take off, and that is discouraging. If it was only one ship, or even two, I think I would be fine, but as off right now I always get destroyed not long after taking out one of the enemy. What I normally try to do is jump away before I get destroyed, but now I am spending so much money on repairs that I literally can not do anything else. Any advice?

[Tenoshii]

Could you be more specific about what ships are attacking you and at which planets this is happening. I have the Wanted trait and I have yet to encounter a situation where enemy ships are "following" me no matter which planet I travel to.

In terms of general ship combat, these things tend to help:

• Get Piloting Rank 1 so you can use strafe (spacebar). It allows turn your ship quickly while still moving in the direction you were going before strafing. Helps a lot when you are trying to turn and get behind a ship that has gone past you.
  
• Add more guns to your ship in an effort to max out the weapon power of your guns.
  
• Get Engine Systems Rank 1 so you can boost (it's a toggle, so you don't need to hold down L Shift). Boosting allows you to go significantly faster for a brief amount of time so that you can get some distance between yourself and the enemies. From there you can reposition and re-engage the enemy.
  
• Don't be afraid to use A and D keys to "spin" your ship. While it won't make the enemy miss all their shots, it will make you harder to hit.
  
• Keep ship parts in your cargo hold so you can press "O" (the letter not zero) to repair while in combat (it's like a medpack for your ship).
  
• Make sure you distribute power to your systems appropriately at the start of the fight. I notice that after switching ships (including when you board another one) it resets the power distribution.

It still will take some practice, but those things should help improve your chances of success.

[SickTag]

Did you pick Wanted perk?

[Zunnoab #931]

The lock on feature is a game changer too. It slows down time and lets you spam an attack on your system of choice on the targeted enemy.

[Halcyform]

Don't need piloting, more weapons or anything for early space combat.

Here's what you do: Divert some power from the engine and gravity drive (if it has some points in it) and put those points into the shields.

Next, anything you are trying to fire upon, click on it. This will select it, make it easier to hit as well as get lock ons for your missiles. Once you have a ship in your sights, pound away with laser and then ballistic weapons. As soon as you have a "lock on" pound away with missiles as well.

Poof. Space confetti. Rinse repeat.

Diverting some power away from engines might seem counter-intuitive but it will help you if you aren't good at space combat. The lower speed will make it easy to manage turns without over correcting and your enemies will be coming to you anyway so you don't need to chase them. If you need more speed for whatever reason, use your boost. The stronger shields you get from diverting more power towards them makes the overall process more forgiving as you can now take more hits before taking on hull damage.

For later space combat, the only thing you need to add is repair parts for the ship. Some later battles will be harder and you'll need to repair mid combat. That's it until you decide (and can afford) a better ship.

[MisterPool]

Don't make the mistake of using the WASD keys to maneuver. It will affect your ship's speed. You want to keep it in that sweet spot where the fat white bar is in the middle of your speed gauge. Use just your mouse to maneuver. Once I got over that hump space combat became much easier.

After that upgrade your ship's systems when you have enough credits and start sinking points into the tech tree. When you get piloting you can lock on to a ship and target specific systems after you take down it's shields. It's a bit like V.A.T.S. for space combat and will help you get through fights with more opponents.

Last, but not least, if you're not prepared for a battle you can always try to jump out of the system. Quicksave early and often in case you get stuck somewhere that you can't jump away from and need to backtrack a little bit.

Edit: Combat is a bit of rock, paper, scissors. Use energy weapons on shields, ballistics on hull, and missiles for even more hull damage when they are available.

[Doctor Zalgo]

If you're struggling with space combat you can build yourself an invincible ship: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2023/09/starfield-players-keep-building-ugly-starships-the-ai-cant-destroy/

[Zunnoab #931]

Originally posted by MisterPool:

Don't make the mistake of using the WASD keys to maneuver. It will affect your ship's speed. You want to keep it in that sweet spot where the fat white bar is in the middle of your speed gauge. Use just your mouse to maneuver. Once I got over that hump space combat became much easier.

After that upgrade your ship's systems when you have enough credits and start sinking points into the tech tree. When you get piloting you can lock on to a ship and target specific systems after you take down it's shields. It's a bit like V.A.T.S. for space combat and will help you get through fights with more opponents.

Last, but not least, if you're not prepared for a battle you can always try to jump out of the system. Quicksave early and often in case you get stuck somewhere that you can't jump away from and need to backtrack a little bit.

I didn't know you can run. I got a silly "you can't fast travel in combat" message. Clearly I didn't know what I was doing.

[MisterPool]

Originally posted by Zunnoab #931:

Originally posted by MisterPool:

Don't make the mistake of using the WASD keys to maneuver. It will affect your ship's speed. You want to keep it in that sweet spot where the fat white bar is in the middle of your speed gauge. Use just your mouse to maneuver. Once I got over that hump space combat became much easier.

After that upgrade your ship's systems when you have enough credits and start sinking points into the tech tree. When you get piloting you can lock on to a ship and target specific systems after you take down it's shields. It's a bit like V.A.T.S. for space combat and will help you get through fights with more opponents.

Last, but not least, if you're not prepared for a battle you can always try to jump out of the system. Quicksave early and often in case you get stuck somewhere that you can't jump away from and need to backtrack a little bit.

I didn't know you can run. I got a silly "you can't fast travel in combat" message. Clearly I didn't know what I was doing.

Yep. Hit your M button to bring up the system map right away before combat starts and jump to another destination. Once you've engaged though it may not let you jump, so you have to do it pretty quick.

[TM2 Bashar]

Originally posted by SickTag:

Did you pick Wanted perk?

I did not pick the wanted trait, and I am only just starting so I don't think I've made anyone angry yet. The issue started in the Altair system where I picked up a quest to destroy some spacer ships. Now, when ever I leave planet, any planet, three spacer ships spawn and attack me. It's funny when it happens on a civilized world, but a pain everywhere else.

[Tenoshii]

Originally posted by TM2 Bashar:

The issue started in the Altair system where I picked up a quest to destroy some spacer ships. Now, when ever I leave planet, any planet, three spacer ships spawn and attack me. It's funny when it happens on a civilized world, but a pain everywhere else.

Hmm, interesting.

[TM2 Bashar]

Well now I have a new problem, I had picked up another space combat quest and now the spacer that I need for the first quest are gone. Can't find them, and I know I didn't kill them. That quest won't let me progress.

[ian26uk]

https://digistatement.com/starfield-groundpounder-quest-bug-is-there-any-fix-yet/
It's a quest bug.

[TM2 Bashar]

Originally posted by ian26uk:

https://digistatement.com/starfield-groundpounder-quest-bug-is-there-any-fix-yet/
It's a quest bug.

OK, it looks like it is exactly that bug. But those corrective actions have not worked. I think I may not be able to complete the quest.