In Starfield, thriving means knowing where to find doctors, ship technicians, weapon merchants, and more. Our expert, with over 300 hours in-game, shares where to boost your resources, fulfill basic needs, and discover key places.
Quick Guide to Starfield's Essential Spots: (TLDR):
At the start of the open-world RPG Starfield, everything seems to follow the familiar Bethesda formula. However, this initial impression is deceptive. After a few in-engine cinematic sequences and a fierce firefight against the Crimson Fleet pirates, the protagonist takes to the skies in the spacecraft of Constellation member Barrett. This marks the beginning of many more flights to come.
While Starfield doesn't require players to regularly refuel their ship's impulse drive and thrusters as No Man's Sky does, it introduces its own set of necessities and even a compulsion to upgrade. This is particularly true when preparing for space dogfights. The game emphasizes the importance of enhancing your spacecraft with better weapons, shields, and increased cargo space, along with the need for repairs, indicating a strategic depth to space exploration and combat not initially apparent.
For the battles in Starfield, players need to prioritize upgrading their ship's weapons and shields. Additionally, expanding the cargo space and repairing damage become significant aspects of gameplay.
Beyond the ship itself, ensuring the hero's body is well-protected, healed, and physically prepared is crucial. This reliance on services and merchants to maintain and enhance both the player's ship and character makes Starfield more dependent on these elements than Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Therefore, it's crucial to know where to find specific services and offerings in Bethesda's new universe. However, let's first discuss which of these are essential for a smooth gameplay experience without mishaps.
Exploring alien planets and completing both main and side missions in Starfield requires familiarity with the following services and locations:
That essentially covers the basics, as neither building bases nor resource gathering plays a significant role in Starfield. While some job boards in Starfield do offer optional missions involving the delivery of raw materials, the collection of these materials is primarily beneficial for accelerating the hero's character level progression.
By crafting products from raw materials, the player gains experience points relevant for leveling up. However, this isn't strictly necessary, as the player character can level up quickly enough without needing these additional experience points.
| Pro Tip: Pursuing legendary weapons rarely proves worthwhile. You're better off keeping a keen eye on merchant inventories. Occasionally, you'll find ordinary but modified weapons that significantly outperform their legendary counterparts in terms of damage. |
Now that you're equipped with the knowledge of what to look out for in Starfield, it's time to get more specific. Here's a guide on which cities or settlements across different planets you should visit to ensure you're always prepared for your cosmic explorations.
The Trade Authority provides the fastest means of turning unwanted items, including smuggled and stolen goods, into cash. This efficiency is due to its presence across Starfield through both branch offices and vending machines in all major cities.
These machines boast the significant advantage of being installed close to spaceports or directly near players' landing sites. This strategic placement saves space travelers considerable time and effort. However, their fixed base capital of 5,000 credits is a downside, limiting their usefulness for higher-value transactions as players progress in the game.
This limitation doesn't render them entirely obsolete in the later stages of the game, but rather repositions them as a source of quick cash for items of modest value. As players progress through Starfield, they increasingly encounter items of significant worth, some of which can exceed the 5,000 credit threshold on their own.
The Trade Authority, seemingly indifferent to the origins of goods, has branches even within the headquarters of the criminal Crimson Fleet. This includes a former space station of the United Colonies known as "The Key," prominently floating in the Kryx System's space. Beyond this, the locations of the Trade Authority vary by city and planet.
The branches of this somewhat dubious trading organization offer the advantage of being able to trade goods valued up to 11,000 credits.
If you've read the section about the Trade Authority, you might have guessed what the biggest issue with selling items is: many vendors have limited funds. However, as you progress in the game, you often find yourself carrying loot worth 30,000 credits or more. The question then becomes, where do you sell all this stuff?
It's clear that you'll need merchants with high credit limits, but you'll rarely encounter a seller with more than 12,000 credits to spend. Moreover, finding such merchants is a challenge in itself.
Where to Look for Vendors: Starfield realistically ties shop budgets to their surrounding neighborhoods. In simple terms, the poorer the area, the smaller the vendor's budget. Therefore, selling goods in impoverished districts is generally not worthwhile. The notable exception is the previously mentioned branch of the Trade Authority in New Atlantis.
To make your search for vendors even easier, we've compiled a table below featuring the wealthiest, in other words, the best merchants available. This includes branches of the Trade Authority as well. You can find a separate article on the "Best Shops" in Starfield here.
| Vendor | Budget | Location (Star System, Planet, City, District) |
| Zuri Abara (Zuri’s Essentials) | 25.000 Credits | Kryx, Suvorov, The Key (space station) |
| Vladimir Sall | 20.000 Credits Planetary scans only | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, The Eye (space station) |
| Anya Griffon (Centaurian Arsenal) | 12.500 Credits Weapons only | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, Residential Disctrict |
| Frank Renick (Neon Tactical) | 12.000 Credits Weapons only | Volii, Volii Alpha, Neon, Neon: Core |
| Aludra (Aludra’s Weapon Shop) | 12.000 Credits Weapons only | Kryx, Suvorov, The Key (space station) |
| Kaminski (Trade Authority) | 11.000 Credits | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, The Well |
| Manaaki Almonte (Trade Authority) | 11.000 Credits | Sol, Mars, Cydonia |
| Kolman Lang (Trade Authority) | 11.000 Credits | Volii, Volii Alpha, Neon, Neon: Core |
| Author's Tip: For balance reasons, it takes a while for a vendor who's run out of funds to replenish their budget. Therefore, avoid selling items to shops you've recently cleared out. If in doubt, store your goods on your home ship for the time being. In the endgame, you should shift your strategy to only picking up the most valuable items. |
Certainly, Starfield boasts an extensive array of healing items and tools for temporary ability enhancement. But all these supplies have to come from somewhere and unsurprisingly, doctors are your go-to source for medical materials, offering a wide variety. Whether it's bruises, radiation exposure, burns, or simply the need for more health points, a doctor can provide the necessary assistance.
To locate a doctor, you should look out for individuals in white coats within the facilities of the Settled Systems. However, not every supposed "miracle worker in white" is actually a doctor. This is also true for the "Clinic," even though it is a medical station orbiting Deepala, a planet in the Narion System. See the image below for reference.
Generally, you can find doctors in every city and settlement within Starfield, and most of them are relatively easy to locate. The NPC doctors typically work for "Reliant Medical," a name that's prominently displayed on the signs of their medical practices. So, keep an eye out for these signs.
Purchasable properties in Starfield include, as mentioned, apartments, suites, and even small houses, with some residences available only as rewards for completing quest series. For example, after completing the entire UC Vanguard quest line, the United Colonies gift you a luxurious penthouse in New Atlantis's Mercury Tower. This grand apartment serves to cement your citizenship within the UC.
In total, nine properties await your occupancy within the game. Those are:
| Home | Location (Star System, Planet, City, District) | Cost / Conditions |
| Room in the Lodge | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, Mast District | Membership in the Constellation |
| The Well Apartment | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, The Well | 30.000 Credits Available through Realtor Zora at Aphelion Realty in New Atlantis |
| Midtown Apartment (House) | Cheyenne, Akila, Akila City, Midtown | 45.000 Credits Sold by Realtor Ngodup in front of the Colonial Villa in Akila City |
| Premium Sleepcrate (Room) | Volii, Volii Alpha, Neon, Neon: Core, Ebbside | 6.500 Credits From Izna Sundaraman in Ebbside by the Sleepcrates |
| Sky Suite | Volii, Volii Alpha, Neon, Neon: Core, Trade Tower | 235.000 Credits Offered by Boone Morgan, the bartender at the Astral Lounge in the Trade Tower |
| Penthouse (4-room apartment) | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, Residential District | Citizen of the UC From Realtor Zora at Aphelion Realty in New Atlantis |
| Core Residence (House) | Cheyenne, Akila, Akila City | 78.000 Credits Available from Realtor Ngodup in front of the Colonial Villa in Akila City |
| Dreamhouse | Olympus, Nesoi, Landing Site | 500 Credits per week to the GalBank + selection of the "Dreamhouse" trait in the character editor (here's an explanation of the Dreamhouse trait), and completion of the story up to the visit to "The Eye" (part of the Constellation quest series) |
| Parental Apartment | Alpha Centauri, Jemison, New Atlantis, Residential District, Pioneer Tower | Selection of the "Kid stuff" trait in the character editor |
To more easily navigate to the mentioned apartments and houses, take a look at our illustrated directions provided in this article.
What do I need a home for? Having a permanent residence in Starfield isn't crucial for survival, but it's incredibly useful. The main reason is that it allows you to place most of your daily tools and aids in one location, saving you from having to travel back and forth to access them.
Additionally, apartments and houses provide space for several storage crates, offering a solution when your inventory or your spaceship's cargo hold is overflowing. Unfortunately, the practical benefits of owning a home are primarily limited to these utilities, as there isn't much else you can do within them.
Thus, items like dartboards or other non-utility items are not interactive, leaving you with the options of simply sitting on a couch or sleeping in a bed while at your residence.
Occasionally, a main, side, or companion quest in Starfield may require you to visit a specific location on a planet. Similarly, you might wish to return to a previously visited quest site out of interest, whether to see how your actions have altered the place or to complete a missed objective.
It's important to note that it's not always possible to revisit all story-related scenes. A well-known example of a "one-way trip" is the military ship SY-920, which you board during the "Better Than Best" mission. This quest is part of the SysDef's surveillance of the Crimson Fleet. More information on this can be found via a link provided below.
Regardless, we've identified a selection of potentially interesting or visit-worthy locations in Starfield and noted the correct routes to reach them.
In this context, our article "All 111 Star Systems in Starfield: How to Reach Every Corner of the Universe" might be of interest to you. As the title suggests, it provides an overview of the location of all the systems included in the game, as well as information on how you can reach even the most distant collection of stars.
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