This Starfield trick makes ship design less frustrating

A Starfield player recently found a way to install ship modules without the game randomly deciding where to place the interconnected doors. Their discovery quickly circulated on social media, indicating that many Starfield fans were unaware of this newly shared trick.

The most flexible method to install spacecraft modules in the shipbuilding editor of Starfield is to use the "Add" action - by default, the A button on the Xbox controller or G on the keyboard - to select a new part before dragging it to the desired position. When using this method to connect two modules with walkable interiors, the game randomly determines the location of their connecting door. This is not a problem when dealing with individual blocks that only have a single entrance opening anyway, but it can lead to a frustrating experience when designing larger ship sections.

Fortunately, it is possible to prevent the game from selecting a random location for a connecting door by pre-determining such a spot. To do this with a mouse and keyboard, Starfield players simply need to select the hab node where they want to place the access entrance by left-clicking on it before pressing the Add button and choosing the desired module to attach. Using this trick with a controller is slightly more complex, as it requires hovering over the target door node using the analog stick, holding down both trigger buttons on the gamepad, and then pressing A to open the module selection menu.

This alternative method of placing ship modules was recently explained by Reddit user AlanCave, who apparently helped hundreds of players make their spaceship design efforts less frustrating, as indicated by the number of upvotes on their newly posted tip. The resulting implication that many fans were unaware of this trick is not particularly surprising, as Starfield does not actually explain the usefulness of this alternative module installation method, even though the shipbuilding editor's interface hints at its key and button combinations when hovering over a vacant node.

The ability to select connection points between ship sections will undoubtedly help players create impressive ship interiors with less trial and error. Even some of the most skilled engineers among the fans have previously complained about difficulties with this aspect of shipbuilding, including the player who created an astonishing Starfield replica of the Titanic.

As for the PC, the modding community is expected to enhance the accessibility of the game's spaceship building mechanics. While there are already Starfield mods that improve shipbuilding, they mainly focus on minor adjustments such as improving UI responsiveness and camera controls. Once Bethesda releases the Starfield Creation Kit in early 2024, more complex solutions of this kind should become possible.

Starfield is now available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.