Best Starfield Ship Builds: The Most Powerful Custom Ship Designs

Starfield offers an expansion of the creation systems we saw in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. Not only can players build multiple outposts on different planets, but gamers can also construct ships to ferry them to and from these bases. Alternatively, players can just purchase/acquire overpowered ships if they know where to look, but where’s the fun in that? Wouldn’t you rather pilot a ship you built…er, designed…with your own two hands?

The ship-building system in Starfield is robust thanks to its reliance on modules. If you’ve ever played with a Lego set, you kind of know how to create a ship in Starfield. However, you also have to take each module’s stats into account, especially when it comes to parts such as weaponry, power plants, engines, and cargo holds.

Few players fully grasp all the intricacies and nuances of Starfield’s spaceships, but those who do have created starship builds that surpass even Bethesda’s in-house ship gurus. We’re going to be sharing some of those creations with you today, and if you like them, be sure to check out their creators’ videos/instructions for detailed build guides and to give a lot of love to their incredibly imaginative designers.

The Unbeatable Ship

The first rule of any firefight is to aim for the center mass since it’s usually the easiest target. At the very least, that’s the part of the ship that Starfield‘s enemy AI is designed to aim for. But what if you don’t have a center mass? Hypothetically, enemies will miss every time. That was the thought process behind Reddit user Morfalath’s custom ship, which is little more than essential modules connected by 90-degree angles and straight lines. The result looks more like a stepping stool-shaped space station than an actual ship, and its interior is a series of hallways and ladders. However, the vessel’s “unbeatable ship” title is well earned.

When PC Gamer contacted Morfalath, the creator claimed that the ship’s hollow shape wreaks havoc on enemy AI since it is designed to generally aim for the center. Since Morfalath’s ship has no center, opposing ordinance harmlessly whizzes past the hull. Morfalath even provided a demonstration of a powerful pirate ship unable to get a lock on the corner-themed creation. However, Morfalath elaborated that this ship doesn’t fare well against enemies that attack from all sides since, statistically speaking, someone will land a hit. Infinite monkeys on typewriters, everybody. 

The X-21 Nexus Vin

While Starfield uses level scaling, the game still relies on some forms of gear checks. For ships, these are locked behind reactor/ship classes. Class-A ships are powered by Class-A plants and are the smallest, weakest, and fastest out there. Comparatively, Class-C ships run on Class-C reactors and are the largest, strongest, and slowest vessels available. Think of Class-A ships as early-game builds and Class-C ships as endgame battleships. And if you want a sleek powerhouse battleship, YouTuber Arrekz Gaming built one you might like.

Arrekz’s custom battlecruiser, which he dubbed the X-21 Nexus Vin, looks like a cross between a B-21 Bomber and the USCSS Nostromo from the movie Alien. Not only can the Nexus Vin take a beating, but it absolutely demolishes enemies (while also keeping them intact for boarding purposes) and can haul around 5000 mass worth of cargo. Arrekz’s ship mostly runs on Nova Galactic and Deimos modules, available in New Homestead and the Deimos Shipyard, respectively.  If you want this ship, Arrexz has provided a handy tutorial, but expect to spend around 350,000 credits on this behemoth.

The Upgraded Frontier

When you start Starfield, Barret hands you the keys to the Constellation’s only ship: the Frontier. She ain’t pretty or powerful, but she’ll get you where you need to go. Eventually, you will need to buy or build something to replace it, but why spend all your credits doing that when you can just slap a few new modules onto the Fronteir’s skeleton to give it a boost? Other than to transform the Frontier into your own personal Ship of Theseus, that is.

The upgraded Frontier (or just the Frontier for simplicity’s sake) is another one of Arekkz’s creations. Instead of being built from the ground up like the X-21 Nexus Vin, though, this ship is, true to its name, an upgraded Frontier. Arekkz expanded the ship’s width to accommodate more modules, such as the Nova Galactic Workshop and Science Lab, extra cargo holds, and Amun-1 engines. This build also replaces the NG160 Grav Drive with a Helios 300 model. The result is a larger ship that can haul more cargo without breaking the bank, which is crucial when starting out. Once again, Arekkz also posted a tutorial to help you build this starter ship 2.0. However, learn from his mistake and do NOT delete the starter habitat module, as it is unique and spawns the broken Constellation helmet.

Alternatively, many other gamers have their own take on the “Upgraded Frontier” ship idea. For instance, Z1 Gaming also crafted their own Frontier V.2, but instead of stretching it out on the x-axis, Z1 Gaming lengthened the ship’s y-axis. Furthermore, he opted for the Nova Galactic All-in-One Berth, Caravel V102 Cargo Holds, and the White Dwarf 1010 engines. Like Arekkz’s concept, Z1 Gaming’s upgraded Frontier increases the Frontier’s performance and storage space without burning a hole in your wallet. Plus, Z1 Gaming included a building guide for their design.

The Modified Shieldbreaker

As previously stated, the higher a ship and reactor class goes, the more it trades speed for size and firepower. Ergo, Class-B ships sit firmly in the middle of mobility and murderbility. Still, with the right modules and energy allocation, you can create a Class-B vessel that outclasses many other starships.

The Modified Shieldbreaker is a creation of TagBackTV, who described it as a “space tank.” That is an apt description. Not only can the vessel take a hit, but it is a chunky creation with habitat modules built into the wings to increase crew space as well as general aesthetic cohesion.

As the name suggests, this starship uses the Shieldbreaker for the skeleton, but TagBackTV adds so many components onto it that it’s downright unrecognizable. For instance, the Modified Shieldbreaker relies on a Z-Machine 4000 Reactor (available in Neon), as well as the Cabot C4 Bridge and Dunn-51 and 61 Engines (available in New Homestead). The rest of the ship is a collection of modules that come together to form a double-decker tank with all the amenities of a home. While TagBackTV has a handy guide to help you build your own, please note that will need to unlock Piloting Rank 3 and Starship Design Rank 4 before you can finish putting all the pieces together.

The Perfect Class-A Ship

Depending on the skills you pick and train, you might not unlock higher ranks of Piloting for quite a while, which will stick you with Class-A ships. As we’ve gone over before, these are the smallest and weakest vessels in Starfield thanks to their weaker reactors. However, some players have discovered overpowered combinations of modules that let ships punch well above their weight class.

TagBackTV has built more than an overpowered Shieldbreaker: he also constructed two stellar Class-A vessels. As with his Class-B creation, his powerful Class-A ships are built using existing ships as a skeleton, specifically the Razorleaf and the Star Eagle. For the retrofitted Razorleaf, TagBackTV opted for a Viking Cockpit, a 30S or 40S Protector Shield, four PB-30 Electron Beams, and a Spark 750 Suppressor, just to name a few. As for the souped-up Star Eagle, TagBackTV added a Cabot C3 Bridge, Deimos habitat modules, and either PB0-40  Electron Beams or Disruptor 3310 Proton Beams, among other modules. TagBackTV provided walkthroughs to build each, but no matter which ship you modify, if you follow their instructions, you can craft starships that melt most enemies.