Starfield's latest must-have mod lets you become a professional spaceship designer
Finally, take on the career you had in mind when you got your useless degree in starship design.
If you’ve spent most of your time with Starfield so far creating and customising a fleet of spacefaring craft in the ship builder, a new mod is offering you the chance to turn your hobby into a career for your character.
That’s right, your encyclopedic knowledge of and passion for habs and thrusters now has the potential to actually earn you some credits, rather than solely leading your balance to suffer every time you see something new on offer from HopeTech or Deimos. And hey, it seems like a marginally less taxing occupation than bounty hunting or cargo hauling.
The mod that aims to let you earn a living as the cosmic version of those blokes from Pimp My Ride is called ‘Astroneer’ and is the work of modder Codegangsta and voice actor Elisabeth Saenz. As a “freelance ship designer”, you’ll be able to take new radiant quests at the game’s mission boards that revolve around building or modifying specific ships to match the desires/needs of a client.
“Whether it's maximising firepower for a Fighter or ensuring the opulence of a Luxury cruiser, each contract comes with its unique challenges and requirements,” Codegangsta explains. These are just two of the categories the mod divides ships into - these being “Explorers, Fighters, Haulers, Luxury ships, and Interceptors” - to ensure that different contracts will require you to make different modifications.
As you can see in this showcase video, when you take on these jobs, you’ll get to interact with a new fully-voiced NPC, Aria Collins, a fellow ship designer from Atlas Astronautics who’ll work alongside you and help you learn the ropes. As you successfully complete these gigs, you’ll earn XP, credits, and salvage resources as rewards, with the mod even offering some new ship parts, ship-themed research projects, and shipbuilding discounts to spend them on.
You can also apparently encounter ships that you’ve previously built or modified out in the game’s world, offering you the chance to appreciate your work or steal a ship you accidentally fell in love with while modifying it. So, dust off your overalls, grab your wrench (as well as the mods required to get Astroneer working, which you can find detailed in the mod’s description), and get to work!
Also, be sure to check out our coverage of other must-have mods for Starfield and Fallout 4, as well as our interview with the creator of Enclave-themed mod America Rising.