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The best ship weapons and parts in Starfield

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If there’s one thing every space game needs, it’s cool ships. Starfield‘s main new feature compared to the studio’s prior work is focused on letting you feel like a true captain of a ship by allowing you to build, buy, and completely customize your very own ship. While you could get through the game only doing the bare essentials for your ship, treating it more like a glorified fast travel system, there’s an entire game’s worth of mechanics waiting to be played with when it comes to building and piloting your ship. Because it is so deep, and there are so many weapons and parts to consider for different purposes, it can start to feel like rocket science. To simplify the process, here are the best ship weapons and parts to get in Starfield.

Best ship weapons

A ship fires at a space pirate in Starfield.
Bethesda Softworks

Ship weapons in Starfield come in four types: ballistic, lasers, missiles, and particle weapons. Each one is better-suited to damaging either shields or hulls, with positives and negatives associated with each. However, a few stand out as simply better than the rest.

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Atlatl 280C missile launcher

This missile launcher is perhaps the best ship weapon in the game, bar none. Each missile has a range of 4,000, deals 264 damage to both hull and shields, and boasts a max power of 4. The two downsides are that it has a fire rate of 1, plus, as a missile launcher, you have to first get a target lock before firing to avoid missing.

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Torch-P 250MW UV Pulse Laser

As a secondary pick, the Torch-P is designed to absolutely shred enemy shields. Hull damage is a measly 8, but that’s where your missiles or ballistic weapons come in. While dealing 25 shield damage at a fire rate of 5, you’ll watch that shield bar melt as long as you can sustain a constant stream of hits for a few seconds.

Turrets

No turret is going to be as good as a traditional weapon in terms of stats, but simply having them fire themselves is enough to make them essential for any ship. There are dozens of them to pick from, so choose one that best suits your current weapon loadout. For example, if you have a build that has great hull damage, go for a turret like the Scorch-S 80MW Pulse Laser Turret that focuses on shield damage.

Best ship parts

A player customizes a spaceship in Starfield.
Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda

Parts are a bit more intimidating to mess with on your ship since they completely change how your ship handles and performs.

Poseidon DT230 Engine

The engine is the heart of your ship, and the Poseidon, while being very expensive and requiring a high Starship Design rank, will never fail you. The thrust power is an insane 34,520 and maneuvering thrust is 11,600, which are the highest we’ve found in the entire game.

SF40 Sheared Flow Reactor

Again, this reactor remains the statistical best we’ve seen in the galaxy. You’ll need both rank 4 in Starship Design and Piloting to use this powerhouse, but in return, you get 40 power to play with. Odds are that will be more than enough to power all your systems at all times.

Assurance SG-1800 Shield Generator

If you want to be assured your shields will last, look no further than the Assurance. This generator protects your hull with a crazy 1,600 points of shielding at a 5% regen rate.

J-52 Gamma Grav Drive

Grav Drives aren’t as important most of the time, but are nice to allow easy travel from one end of the game to the other. This drive allows for the furthest distance jumps at a thrust of 50, plus it has a ton of health so enemy ships won’t be able to take it offline easily.

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Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
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