At the Starfield Direct, Bethseda showed off starship combat, alongside the game’s mindbogglingly massive number of other features. When you pilot your spaceship, you can allocate your power to the ships various systems, gaining benefits depending on whether you are fighting or exploring.
Space combat is a dance between your piloting skills and power allocation. #Starfield pic.twitter.com/Bw2t5vUz0d
— Bethesda Game Studios (@BethesdaStudios) June 11, 2023
For example, increasing your engine power will make your ship go faster, powering up your grav drives will shorten the amount of time before a “warp speed” jump, strengthening the power resources of weapons and shields will help you take less damage and deal more. How much power you can allocate, and what systems are available, is dependent on the layout of your ship (which is fully customizable by the way). There are also special abilities related to piloting. The ability “Targeting Control Systems” will let you target specific subsystems on an enemy craft, knocking out their shields or engines.
You’ll have to stay on your toes as you can be raided by pirates or raid other ships yourself. After destroying an enemy ship, you can loot the remains right from the cockpit. However, you can also board enemy ships by docking with them and take them over from the inside. The ship is then added to your fleet and you can take control of them at spaceports.