Starfield: How to Dock in Space

Much has been said and will continue to be said in the coming years about how well Starfield implements specific aspects of its immersive galactic dimensions or not. Perhaps you believe it gets everything right; perhaps you think it botches a few things along the way, such as the planetary landing being tied to menu-driven systems.

One thing where Starfield scores points with these things is the orbital docking procedures. However, if you spend hours or even days exploring before reaching the early mission narrative that explains how it works, you may be clueless about how docking operates. That's where we come in.

The 500-Meter Rule

Depending on the situation, you may be able to contact another ship long before reaching a distance of 500 meters. Alternatively, it may not be possible at all. In any case, there is a constant: The prompt to dock only appears when you are within 500 meters of a ship. Otherwise, the distance is simply too great for the game to successfully predict that nothing will go wrong. In other words, why would your ship's controls initiate the docking procedure when the target is still just a small marker in your field of view?

There are different types of docking. Usually, space stations can dock automatically since they do not move. On Xbox, press the 'X' button or the corresponding PC key once you are within 500 meters. Voilà, done. (You can choose whether to get up from the cockpit and walk to the airlock on your ship or automatically board. It's a matter of immersion, but perhaps you have something stored in your cargo hold that you want to retrieve in advance.)

Docking with friendly ships works similarly. However, if you want to board an enemy ship, you'll need to disable its propulsion to render it immobile. It's not a bad idea to destroy their weapon capabilities if possible. Just be careful not to blow up the entire ship in the process. You're aiming only at their weapons as a defensive measure because it's a recipe for disaster to head directly towards a large warship while it can still fire its massive projectiles at you.

The option to "Board" should appear once the propulsion is disabled. Just be prepared to deal with the firepower of mercenaries, spacefarers, pirates, or other individuals whose ship you intend to steal. And don't worry about leaving your own ship behind when you steal the other one; it will appear in your available fleet, so someone on board your ship likely knew to fly it to another location after your raid.