Starfield's latest must-have mod transforms boring space battles into frenetic and intense clashes
Think your dogfighting skills aren’t being properly put to the test?
If, like me, your Starfield character prides themselves on being one of the top pilots in the Settled Systems and has reduced scores of ships to wreckage, a new mod looks like a great addition to your load order.
While the space battles in the vanilla version of Bethesda’s interstellar RPG can sometimes make for a challenge - especially if you’re outnumbered three or four to one - they just as often leave a little to be desired. Thankfully for those seeking more of a thrill from their skirmishes in the stars, modder AshkaariElesaan’s latest work looks to deliver just that.
Dubbed ‘APOGEE - Starship Combat Overhaul’, their mod is designed to provide a substantial overhaul of Starfield ship combat system, with the aim of “making for a much more intense experience” by “emphasising higher engagement speeds and new equipment options”.
“Balancing and diversification of engines make (ship) building choices more meaningful,” AshkaariElesaan writes of their changes, “and a host of new weapons designed for accuracy by volume of fire will assist (you) in dealing with enemy ships, which are now much more capable of avoiding and evading incoming fire.”
In addition to making the each engine you add to your ship factor into its top speed and throwing new functional manoeuvring thrusters - smaller engines designed to increase your craft’s mobility - into your building toolkit, the mod also ensures that all of the parts offered by the game different ship manufacturers have more distinct and varied stats and effects.
“No longer will a single manufacturer dominate as the objective best choice,” the modder writes, “you are encouraged to examine all the options and choose which components provide the most benefits to what your starship needs.”
In the weapons department, you’ll find more auto-lasers and gatling cannons perfect for taking out nippy little fighters at your disposal, as well as vanilla laser and ballistic armaments that’ve been buffed to make them just as effective as particle beams.
If you want an idea of the kind of effect all of these changes will have on battles, you can check out this showcase video.
Plus, for those who want even more ship-building options to play with, it looks like AshkaariElesaan’s mod can be used alongside the reactor and ship module-focused elements of gpgpgpgp2019’s ‘Ship Combat Overhaul - Modular ESMs’.
So, hop into your pilot's seat and hunt down some spacers to blow to smithereens!
If you’re keen to read more about Starfield, be sure to check out our coverage of its latest patches and must-have mods, as well as our chat with the train enthusiast who swapped all of its ships for Thomas the Tank Engine.