How to Build an Outpost in Starfield

How to Build your first Outpost in Starfield! Outposts is a robust Building feature in Starfield, that allows you to create bases around the galaxy. You can create a homebase to visit and craft, several smaller Outposts to gather resources or bigger factory like facilities that can help you make Credits! You can even link every outpost you have created together to create a massive chain of resource gathering and production. Building Outposts in Starfield is a fun activity, where players can invest hundreds of hours!

How do you Build an Outpost
Where to Build an Outpost
What to Build in your Outpost
- Build a Resource Extraction Outpost
- How to Link your Outposts
How to Build a Base
- How to Place Items inside your Outposts
How to Assign your Crew
Best Skills for Outposts
Summary
More Starfield Guides

How Do you Build an Outpost in Starfield

Building an Outpost in Starfield is actually rather easy and you can do it shortly after you begin the game. All you need to do is find a good location and place an Outpost Beacon. Land on the planet you wish to build an Outpost, bring up your hand scanner and press “R” to place the Beacon. After that you can start placing buildings, extractors and other items. When you start the game you can build up to eight (8) Outposts, which is rather generous. If you unlock and rank up the Planetary Habitation Science Skill, you can build up to twenty four(24) Outposts!

Where to Build an Outpost in Starfield

This is where Outpost building becomes interesting! If you wish to build a homebase where you can just visit and chill, any location on almost any planet will do. As long as the scenery is beautiful and you enjoy your time on the planet. If you wish to extract and amass specific resources, then you will have to do some research. Every planet has a set of resources you can gather and use to create Weapon mods or other items. Some of the best resources you can gather are:

Aluminum
Iron
Helium 3
Beryllium
Water
Lead
Copper

Travel around, visit planets and moons and scan them to see what resources they have. Planets with three or four of the above resources are excellent for resource gathering. For your first Outpost you should aim to find a planet with Aluminum, Iron, Helium 3. If you are having a hard time finding all three resources you can setup an outpost to gather two of them and another outpost somewhere else to gather the third one. After all you can link all your outposts together and send the resources you gather to a specific location!

On the planet map you can see where each resource is located by its color. For the most efficient Outpost building you should place your beacon in an area where two or three resources are nearby. Like this you can setup different extractors and gather all available resources around.

What to Build in your Starfield Outpost

When you place the Beacon you can start building various structures and items. The various categories you can build from are:

Extractors
Power
Storage
Builders
Structures
Crafting
Defenses
Robots
Furniture
Decorations
Displays
Miscellaneous

Every category has important items and structures you can use, depending on the role of the Outpost and your needs. You can create a simple resource gathering facility or an impressive Homebase with landing pads and crafting facilities. For your first couple Outposts when you are still learning the ropes you should keep it simple.

Build a Resource Extraction Outpost in Starfield

Let’s assume that the goal of your first Outpost is to extract resources to sell or use. Every Outpost requires power to run! Interact with the Beacon and press TAB to enter building mode. Go to the power category and build a few sources of power. Wind Turbines or Solar Array are the best options early on. They provide power and require no resources to run. Later when you have some Helium 3 you can build Fueled Generators! Now place Extractors to gather resources. Two or three extractors for every resource you can gather nearby should be enough and provide a steady supply of the resource. Extractors require power to run so make sure you have enough for them. If you lack power just build more power structures. You may need to wire your Extractors to the Power sources to make them work.

Go near the Extractor(or any other structure that requires power) hold “F” to open the menu, pick Wire, then drag the wire to the power source of your choice. The Extractor will now have power to gather resources. You can visit each extractor and take the resources or even better you can build a Storage unit and link the extractors to it.

Toggle view from first person to top down, right click on an extractor and click on the storage unit. The extractor will now “feed” the storage with the resource it extracts. To make things easier build a second storage next to the first one and link the first Storage to it. Like this the first Storage will “feed” the second with the resources it receives from the Extractors. The Second storage will fill up first, making the whole process a lot more efficient. You can add more storage units if you wish. You can now gather resources and visit the Outpost to collect them. Or you can link your Outpost together and send your resources to one central location, your main Outpost!

How to Link your Outposts in Starfield

Open the Build Menu and from the Miscellaneous category build a Cargo Link. There are two options:

Cargo Link
Cargo Link – Inter-System

The Cargo Link structure will link Outposts in the same system while the Cargo Link – Inter-System will link Outposts in different systems! These two structures will save you valuable time from visiting each individual Outpost by sending all the gathered resources to a central Outpost! To make the Cargo Links work though you will need Helium 3.

First link your Storage Units to the Outgoing Container of the Cargo Link. The resources you gather will start filling it up. Place some Helium 3 to the cargo link and from its computer pick the Outpost you wish to send your resources to. The receiving Outpost should also have a Cargo Link Built. Now that your Outpost is ready do not forget to add some defenses and build robots. Defenses keep enemies and wildlife away while robots increase the efficiency of your Outpost!

How to Build a Base in Starfield

Now that your Outposts are up and running, gathering all the resources you are after, is time to build a proper Base for you and your Companions! From the Structures category first build an Outpost Airlock. Then pick a Hab of your choice to attach to it. With Q/T keys you can check the different variants of every Hab. Once those two structures are ready, you can enter the Hab and create a home for your and your Companions. This can be a small research or extraction Outpost or you can create a massive network of Hallways and Habs for your needs. You can build chairs, beds, crafting stations and other items inside the Habs!

build inside buildings starfield outposts — **Outpost Interior**

How to Place Items inside your Starfield Outposts

It is easy to place items inside the Hab of your Starfield Outpost but rather tricky. Interact with the Beacon and enter the Modify Mode. Enter the Hab(you can interact with Airlock doors while in this mode). Once you are inside the Hab, press Tab to enter Building mode. You can now build items, place decorations or storage crates inside your Buildings, as long as you have the required resources.

How to Assign Your Crew to your Outpost in Starfield

You can even assign your Companions or Crew members to your Outposts. First you need to build a Crew Station from the miscellaneous category. After that you can assign your Crew to your Outpost. Certain Companions or Crew-members have specialized skills for Outposts, so assigning them to one will increase their efficiency.

Best Skills for Outposts in Starfield

There are a few Skills you can unlock and rank up if you wish to invest more time in Outposts! These skills are:

Outpost Engineering(Science)
Planetary Habitation(Science)
Outpost Management(Social)

Outpost Engineering allows you to research and construct better Outpost Modules, Planetary Habitation increases the number of Outposts you can build and Outpost Management allows you to add extra links, assign extra crew members and build extra robots.