How to steal ships in Starfield

Stephanie Zucarelli
How to steal a ship in Starfield

When playing Starfield, you need a powerful ship to progress efficiently from various planets and star systems to other cosmic locations, if you’re running out of Credits to purchase the best ships in the game, here’s how you can steal ships in Starfield.

Ships are some of the most crucial parts of your Starfield experience, and thankfully, the developers have added a detailed ship-customization system as well as vendors that trade ships and ship parts.

Since they’re so important, it comes as no surprise that upgrading a ship or buying a new one costs an arm and a leg. While there are many ways to get Credits in the game, the currency has several other uses and you might want to steal a ship instead of buying one to save yourself a decent chunk of money.

So, here’s how to get a ship without buying it in Starfield, or simply, how to steal a ship.

Starfield: How to get a ship without buying it

The easiest way to steal a ship in Starfield is to wait for somebody to leave theirs neglected while they go to explore an alien planet. To steal those ships, you can simply board them, kill their crew, and take off to another galaxy.

Docked ship in Starfield
You’ll be able to hear spaceships from afar before they land on the same planet you’re exploring.

Keep in mind that there are some ships that you won’t be able to pilot unless you have the proper skills. You can completely unlock your Piloting Skill by spending four skill points that you’ll get after destroying 30 ships.

You can also try finding ships while traveling through star systems and disabling them in combat. Use targeted lock-ons to take out its engines without destroying them and then board on them. After doing that, follow these steps:

  1. Clear the ship of NPCs.
  2. Go to the cockpit and interact with the pilot seat.
  3. Undock from your previous ship and take it to a spaceport. The ship you left behind will be added to your fleet.

If you want to modify, upgrade, or sell your new ship, remember that you’ll need to register it with the spaceport technician. Remember to also check the cargo hold of your new vessels, where you can discover credits, ammo, mission quests, and other valuable items.

For more on Starfield, be sure to check out our other guides:

Does Starfield have multiplayer or co-op? | Does Starfield have mod support at launch? | Does Starfield have New Game Plus? | Is Starfield on Steam Deck? | Will Starfield have DLC & story expansions? | Starfield Outposts explained: How to build bases | Every religion in Starfield explained | Starfield plants explained: All types & how to scan | Who is the Adoring Fan in Starfield? | Starfield jail system explained