I went into Starfield basically blind. I barely watched any of the pre-release content on it, so I knew very little about the game. I knew it was a space RPG, had around 1000 planets, some curated and some not, and that I would play it for basically eternity.
That said, there are a few things that I wish I knew beforehand, and I would have saved a little (or a lot of time) by knowing some of these things right as I started. So here’s my hat in the ring for this topic, spoiler free and mechanic-heavy.
Take the Dream House trait
The Dream House trait sounded really difficult the way I read it. I had read it as you had to pay 125k creds weekly to keep the house. Turns out it’s a 125k cred mortgage, and your “weekly” payments (that only need paid when you show up to your house or the bank) are 500 creds. That’s def doable, and I would have taken this trait had I known it. You get a banger house.
Scanning is a bit different than No Man’s Sky
Scanning took me a while to figure out, and I was not doing it right, or at all really. To scan, you need to target what you want to scan. You need multiple scans of every flora/fauna/resource to fully survey it. Something that’s unscanned will be outlined blue, scannable will be outlined bluish-green, scanned will be filled in blue, and fully surveyed will be green.
Take the Targeting Control Systems perk right away
You need this perk under the Tech tree very early on in a main story mission. I had to reload a save when I hit that point, find some side quests to complete, level up, and take that perk to continue.
Repairing your ship is the letter O, not the number 0
I kept wondering why in combat my ship wouldn’t repair when I mashed the number 0, just like my med pack. Turns out that’s because it’s the letter O. Doh.
Anything without a description is sellable junk
…Except Digipicks. At least I think except only that. Comment if you know of more useful Misc pickups that don’t have a description.
The storage box in The Lodge behind the Research Station is infinite
Use it for resources, and don’t take up that precious cargo space in your ship. Resources are mostly used for crafting and research anyways, so they will always be right there.
Use your scanner to find loot
Loot and resources will be highlighted, so you’ll spend less time foraging for things that aren’t there. This is especially helpful for dark areas.
Sleeping even 1 hour gives an XP boost and heals
Yes, I know. Even Skyrim had this. I forgot. Plus I’m pretty sure in Skyrim you had to rest for more than 1 hour. But the Well Rested (XP boost) timer will show in your character menu, and you’ll heal to 100%.