Starfield Omnibus Thread

[Craig H]

2 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

I jokingly said on stream at the start of the game "no Shepherd, don't touch that artifact." 

It's way more than just that. It's...

Spoiler

Just nearly blatantly stealing the entire genocide quest except with Starfield, there's zero ambiguity as to whether or not genocide is the right choice. It's essentially the only choice or you let the galaxy get overrun by Terrormorphs. You just wind up choosing how that genocide happens. I went the slow and steady route and I'm curious to see what the ramifications of that are.

Although, despite doing that side quest, which lasts for hours depending on how much other stuff you do during it, before the main story, Sarah has more than once referenced my actions during that side quest so that's pretty cool.

It's just a very different way I've seen these games play where I seemingly fell into a different experience getting Sarah to tag along with me nearly endlessly during a bunch of side quests and now that I'm going backwards or sideways into the main story, she's now talking about things she's seen me do before I went back to the main story.

[Raziel]

Taking Sarah along for the Freestar quests is friggin annoying as you have to do some finesse work and she's, well, pretty binary in her views.  I seem to be hitting the end of that line, so once I get my ship and start playing around with building I'm going to mop up some stuff I've seen that I've missed, then do a bit more main quest before bouncing off.  

It is kinda turning into New Vegas/Skyrim for me where while the main quest is lore rich and I know has stuff I really should get first, I'm just way more interested in the side stuff that's distracting me (like jumping into a system and getting a "HELP US" message that I feel more urgency to finish than whatever quest I was doing)

 

I'm still pissed that since the Frontier is shit at combat and I took too long to start messing with redesigning to make it not shit that I didn't have the spare ship parts to help the 6th Grade class.

[Craig H]

Sarah is very, very, very pro science, even experimental science, feels a little anti-government while also supporting the governing body of the UC, and is pretty lawful for the most part. Really lawful even. She wasn't happy that I have two or three times now helped folks with smuggling shit in or out of holding areas. Weirdly enough, she was happy that I turned on the guy in, I think, Neon that has the liquor store and threw him under the bus for the main gangster running things.

With a lot of these characters, I try to compare them to who they would be on the Expanse. She's like Chrisjen if Chrisjen gave more of a fuck about science.

[RIPPA]

I grabbed Marika as I was going past Viewpoint since she is at least happy with life. Gideon and Simeon can go fuck themselves (at least for now)

I also ran into The Hunter who I am assuming I will be seeing again

I really need to build an outpost just so I can get The Adoring Fan off my ship

[J.T.]

2 hours ago, Craig H said:

With a lot of these characters, I try to compare them to who they would be on the Expanse. She's like Chrisjen if Chrisjen gave more of a fuck about science.

God, Avasarala was such an insufferable asshole, but to be fair she was also surrounded by insufferable assholes.  If you are trapped in the game, you've got no choice but to be the best player possible.

Sounds like my in-game life partner will be the Starfield equivalent of Bobbie Draper if there is such a person.

And on the Expanse tip, I believe that Naomi Nagata's magnificent faux-hawk is an available hairstyle for Starfield character models.

Edited September 12, 2023 by J.T.

[Raziel]

10 minutes ago, J.T. said:

God, Avasarala was such an insufferable asshole, but to be fair she was also surrounded by insufferable assholes.  If you are trapped in the game, you've got no choice but to be the best player possible.

Sounds like my in-game life partner will be the Starfield equivalent of Bobbie Draper if there is such a person.

And on the Expanse tip, I believe that Naomi Nagata's magnificent faux-hawk is an available hairstyle for Starfield character models.

There's actually a recruitable merc on Neon that looks like she was straight up modeled on Naomi.

[J.T.]

3 minutes ago, Raziel said:

There's actually a recruitable merc on Neon that looks like she was straight up modeled on Naomi.

My Ronin is a Neon Street Rat so I might have to look this merc up when I get that far in the story.

Edited September 12, 2023 by J.T.

[Shadow]

I don’t know why I didn’t think about doing this earlier but I put points in weapon crafting but I would always be short one element. I forgot you can just buy them in stores. Between that and digipicks, I am going to make this game dumb easy.

[RIPPA]

If you invest in Geology - you get more resources from mining

[The Man Known as Dan]

Oh yeah, my entire build is focused on only 2 things: Making my ship as good as possible while keeping my speed fast, and making scanning and resource gathering as easy as possible. Geology, Zoology, and Botany are fun skills for that sort of build. As is surveying really, which was weirdly the first thing I maxed. Now most of my skills for gathering info are going into Astrophysics and Scanning.

Of course, that is being delayed. Now that I can access level 4 science perks, Aneutronic Fusion is the truth. I got to Piloting 4 today and bought a 50,000 credit rank C reactor. My reactor power is now high enough I can keep 12 in engines and shields and still move around 6 points into my weaponry or Grav.

 

The science tree is incredible for my character, and I haven’t done nearly enough doing research stuff. Or even made an outpost yet. Need to look into the proper means to do that stuff now. And also make up my mind on my ship weaponry direction. EM seems obvious, but need to look at other plays.

[J.T.]

4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

I jokingly said on stream at the start of the game "no Shepherd, don't touch that artifact." 

You jest but you also don't hear about anyone complaining about helmet toggle in this game.

[Death From Above]

Funny I haven't touched ship skills at all. My guy is big on persuasion, putting some points in the physical side too, and security. Pistols and lasers. Classic space rogue shit. I don't have a single point in the science tree yet, though I think whenever I do a second character I might to a more academic person.

I'm in deep with this game now. I honestly don't know what people expected from Bethesda in space but I'm definitely getting what I wanted out of this. There are so many quests to do that I will definitely be busy for a very long time.

[J.T.]

You can totally still attack dudes that you have talked down / persuaded.  Reverted to my Kreet save to test a theory.  Was able to get Brogan to stand down and then lobbed a frag at him while he and his boys stood there chumps.  Vasco did not seem disappointed with my dirty tactics..

Brogan dropped a Legendary rescue axe that does bonus bleed damage and also does bonus damage to enemies with full health, so the do-over was kinda worth it since I am still in the market for decent melee weapons.

I still have two more flora to discover on Kreet and I need to scan more Stalkers to finish the survey profile, but I'll do that after I get some stuff done in New Atlantis.  I don't want to wander around and happen on the fucking Terramorph at Level 3.

It took forever to find a Neon sample on Kreet.

Edited September 12, 2023 by J.T.

[odessasteps]

For some reason, I was just unmotivated to play. Was gonna start Sam Coe mission but just said nah. 

[Death From Above]

I know people are all like "hurr Starfield look bad unga" but, like, I really like this screencap I got of Mars:

Spoiler

 

[Craig H]

Man, I got the Ambassador so freaking early and I'm still using it. It's such a good gun. Holy shit.

[J.T.]

For you dudes other than me who are embracing melee as well as ranged combat, the Morrowind Drunken Fist system seems to be in place.  

Most alcoholic beverages in Starfield provide Damage Resistance at the cost of reducing oxygen (stamina), so chugging a precautionary beer or taking a shot of bourbon before mixing it up CQC is a viable option if you don't have any stims / buffs like Amp or Heart+. 

Be mindful that there is a penalty to oxygen when you drink alcohol so if the dude takes off running, your pursuit will be less than impressive.

I normally hate wielding weapons akimbo and know it's not in Starfield, but it really would be nice if I could use two melee weapons in combat.  I'd be pretty nasty with a combat knife in either hand.

Well, fuck.  I wanted to get in good with the Trade Commission, but it felt wrong not to give Louisa the hacker's files I downloaded during the Alternating Currents mission.  I'll have to find another way to get into Zoe's good graces.

Now to see what the fuck is up with this scientist standing under a tree.  After that, I go find out what the bug up Representative Chisolm's ass is.

And double fuck.   Looks like I'll have to eventually build an outpost in order to efficiently extract gaseous crafting mats like neon and argon.  I can "interact" with vents on a planet's surface and harvest the gas myself, but at the risk of burning my face off or being eaten by the local fauna (Trope:  Everything In Outer Space Wants to Kill You).   Outposts have mineral and resource extractors that can do the job far better than I can.  I wonder if I can hire Lin to be my outpost chief?

Edited September 13, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

Oh, and whomever said that ships need infinite storage was right on the money.  it is pretty stupid that I cannot store a spacesuit in a locker on my fucking spaceship so that I don't have to lug it all over the city..  I haven't tested the Captain's Locker on the Frontier to see how much it can hold, but it does not look like it has space to let.

Edited September 13, 2023 by J.T.

[Shadow]

Weapon Modding: If you're going to upgrade your weapons you are going to need a good amount of titanium, adhesive and lubricant. From the Ryujin questline, you can get a neurojack that gives you +50% chance for sudden discovery. You can get minerals you need from UC Distribution Center on New Atlantis and Sieghart's Outfitters on Neon.

I also found about 20k credits in the Neon Security building where they confiscate contraband. There were 10 artwork in a trunk. Pretty much made my money back that I spent in buying minerals. If you going into the area where the Seokguh Syndicate are, there is a door on the second floor that opens into a elevator shaft type area where you can get some black market organs to sell as contraband as well. I am getting close to having enough credits for the Narwhal, but I have to put more points into piloting.

Edited September 13, 2023 by Shadow

[Raziel]

I finished up the Freestar Ranger questline last night and got the Star Eagle.  Holy shit it's orders of magnitude better than the Frontier in every category.  Sadly, I can't do any modding to it until I get Starship Engineering 4.  But I'll take 4 times the cargo, 5 crew member bonuses and the EM cannons.  

[J.T.]

55 minutes ago, Shadow said:

Weapon Modding: If you're going to upgrade your weapons you are going to need a good amount of titanium, adhesive and lubricant. From the Ryujin questline, you can get a neurojack that gives you +50% chance for sudden discovery. You can get minerals you need from UC Distribution Center on New Atlantis and Sieghart's Outfitters.

You also need neon and argon(?) for laser sights and I think that sealant is also in one or two weapon mod recipes.

Ronin get bonus damage while using suppressed weapons thanks to Stealth being a core skill, but vendor-furnished suppressed weapons are pretty expensive in the early going.  Weapon modding may be the better route to take.

Edited September 13, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

26 minutes ago, Raziel said:

I finished up the Freestar Ranger questline last night and got the Star Eagle.  Holy shit it's orders of magnitude better than the Frontier in every category.  Sadly, I can't do any modding to it until I get Starship Engineering 4.  But I'll take 4 times the cargo, 5 crew member bonuses and the EM cannons.  

That begs the question of "do you really have to do everything yourself?"  If one of your companions has Starship Engineering 4, you should be able to bum off of their skill when you build.

You can't possibly be good at every skill so that's where hirelings should come in.  Otherwise, what is the point of hiring people if their only purpose is combat?

Edited September 13, 2023 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

So of course yesterday after saying all that stuff about Sarah - I ran into a point where to finish a quest, I had to do something she HATED

Thankfully it wasn't that far from my ship so I ran back, swapped to Vasco, did it and then went back to Sarah

[Raziel]

1 hour ago, J.T. said:

That begs the question of "do you really have to do everything yourself?"  If one of your companions has Starship Engineering 4, you should be able to bum off of their skill when you build.

You can't possibly be good at every skill so that's where hirelings should come in.  Otherwise, what is the point of hiring people if their only purpose is combat?

I might check this later, because I have Barrett on my crew and assigned to my ship, but when I was at the Shipbuilder, it was telling me that I need Engineering 4 to mod the Eagle, and Barrett has Engineering 4.  But I get all the perks of Sarah, Vasco, and Barrett on the Ship.  I might need to have the companion be my actual follower to get the perk.

[Craig H]

I don't think the companion matters when it comes to shipbuilding. I thought that was one of the big wish list items people were asking for where if you have people on your crew skilled at shipbuilding, running weapons systems, etc. then it should allow you, at the very least, to maybe have a boost to shipbuilding a level or two above where you're currently at. Maybe some things are still gated off, but for the most part, just open it up. It's a single player game. And if you have people on your ship skilled at using weapons systems and you're a pilot, then they should be handling running weapons or directing energy flow for where it needs to go.

That's not possible with my current ship, the Razorleaf, because there's only the pilot's seat and then a couple jump seats for people to hitch rides on. For the other ship I stole though, it has seats for multiple systems. I shouldn't have to do everything. I know they're big on getting people immersed in the game, but you already cut the legs out on that by nixing manual ship travel to and from the planet or just across the planet. At least give people the option with the caveat of, well, this person may be good at running weapons, but they may not be as good as you and they could cause you to lose a battle. 

I'm also at the start of Coe's questline and just got to the early part in it where you have to go through the bandits camp to get to the caves. Once again, I tell my companion to stay put because I'm going to sneak my way in and as I'm sneaking around, this dickhead goes running in guns blazing and my whole strategy for stealth goes out the window.

Bethesda, please work on some patches for this stuff!