How do you build the best Starfield outpost? The outposts system in Starfield allows you to create a base camp wherever you desire on almost every planet. Depending on the purpose of constructing these outposts, your buildings can range from miniature homes to full-blown resource generators.
There are over 1,000 Starfield planets to explore, many of which are resource-heavy and have been left uninhabited by any other species. Utilize these planets by building extractors and assigning your Starfield companions to help mine precious resources, giving you the materials you need for Starfield research projects to improve your equipment. Here’s what you need to know about Starfield outposts, including what it costs to build them and the best planets for extracting resources.
How to build a Starfield outpost
To build a Starfield outpost, travel to your desired location and open your scanner, then press B to enter build mode. Place an Outpost Beacon in the vicinity, then construct an extractor and power source to successfully harvest resources.
Many resource extractors can only operate when placed on a resource vein, which you can identify using your scanner. Your extractor harvests resources until its storage is full, at which point it stops working. To ensure that you’re continuously harvesting Starfield materials, build a storage container and right-click on it to create an output link between it and your extractor.
How to assign crew to a Starfield outpost
To assign crew to your Starfield outpost, first ensure that your outpost has a Crew Station – if it doesn’t, you can find it in the list of miscellaneous items in build mode. Once constructed, select your ship from the bottom left of the data menu and then press C to open your crew manifest. Select your crew member and assign them to the outpost you’d like them to manage.
Once built, Starfield outposts are maintained by crew members. While we’re pretty sure this constitutes a full-time job, you don’t actually have to pay them a regular wage – just a one-time payment for their time and effort will do. You can even use Starfield persuasion checks to negotiate the exact figure of their up-front cost.
A number of Starfield crew members are ideal for managing your Starfield outposts, including Heller, Supervisor Lin, and Rafael Aguerro. We highly recommend making these three NPCs your top choices for outposts, since their Starfield skills don’t make them particularly useful companions – especially when compared to the likes of Barrett and Sarah Morgan.
Best planets for Starfield outposts
The best planets for Starfield outposts contain Iron, Helium, and Aluminum, along with a range of other valuable crafting materials like Sealant and Fiber that can be harvested from Starfield plants and Starfield creatures on the surface. Equally, you should have no trouble reaching the systems of these planets, regardless of your ship’s grav jump capabilities or your own perks.
Here are the best planets to construct Starfield outposts and their resources:
Andraphon (Narion):
- Helium-3
- Aluminum
- Iron
- Beryllium
- Europium
Tau Ceti VIII-b (Tau Ceti):
- Water
- Aluminium
- Chlorine
- Iron
- Argon
- Chlorosilane
- Tantalum
Kreet (Narion):
- Iron
- Water
- Helium-3
- Lead
- Argon
- Hydromelonic Acid
- Silver
- Neon
Zamka (Alpha Centauri):
- Water
- Helium-3
- Copper
- Nickel
- Iron
- Uranium
- Cobalt
- Vanadium
Magnar (Delta Pavonis):
- Water
- Aluminum
- Nickel
- Lead
- Argon
- Beryllium
- Cobalt
- Silver
Eridani II (Eridani):
- Water
- Chlorine
- Copper
- Nickel
- Iron
- Fluorine
- Cobalt
- Gold
Zeta Ophiuchi I (Zeta Ophiuchi)
- Water
- Chlorine
- Iron
- Lead
- Silver
- Hydromelonic Acid
- Tantalum
- Ytterbium
If you want to make the most of the resources available on the best Starfield planets, it’s vital that you construct your outpost in an area where all the major resources intersect, so you can build multiple extractors within the radius of a single beacon.
Alternatively, you can pick up easy resources from the Starfield United Colonies faction if you’re only in need of one or two for your purposes – however, this method does leave you light on Starfield credits, so we don’t recommend making a habit of it if you can help it.
Starfield outpost resource costs
Here’s what it costs to build parts of your Starfield outpost:
- Outpost Airlock – 1 Aluminum, 1 Lead, 1 Sealant.
- Military Hab – 3 Titanium, 2 Lead, 1 Sealant.
- Small Hex Hab – 4 Aluminum, 3 Lead, 2 Sealant.
- Hab Round – 4 Aluminum, 3 Lead, 2 Sealant.
- Hydroponic Hab Round – 4 Aluminum, 3 Lead, 2 Sealant.
The size of your Starfield outpost depends entirely on the amount of resources you have to spare. Outposts consist of habitat modules and specific pieces of equipment that come in various shapes and sizes. If you’re just starting out, you won’t have enough materials to build an outpost to harvest materials. Given what we know about how long Starfield is, there’s a good chance you won’t be building outposts until you put at least ten hours into the game.
To build outpost parts, you will need to harvest materials using your Cutter, a laser tool that can extract materials from rocks. This method can be time-consuming as you only gain one material per resource-bearing rock. Some of the other building requirements we’ve spotted include Aluminum, Sealant, and Lead. This means you’ll have to break down some of your Starfield guns and Starfield armor to get hold of some of these materials.
Once you collect enough resources, you should aim to build a self-sustaining system that can mine resources for you.
Starfield outpost building limitations
You can build Starfield outposts almost anywhere, but you must be careful about your placement with certain structures, particularly on uneven terrain where it’s difficult to place specific pieces. As long as you build your main structures on flat land, you should be able to create an outpost without running into too many problems.
That said, the sheer variety of parts on offer means you may run into building limitations. One of the building limitations we’ve seen appear reads, “The foundation is too tall”, but this has a simple fix. If the structure supports it, you should be able to switch to a different variant that uses the same building materials. This variant might come with taller legs, making it easier to place on uneven terrain.
Starfield outposts resource generation
When you’re designing your base using the fly camera system, which provides you with an overview perspective of your structure, there’s an icon in the bottom right corner that reads “Production: 0/Min”.
Here are the four requirements needed to increase production on your Starfield outpost:
- Cargo
- Crew
- Needed Power
- Total Power
It’s important to note that you can also place and move items within your Starfield outpost; all you need to do is enter the building and go to select an item. You can place any decorative item you’ve just purchased in any room, including full rotational support, in case you’re searching for a specific design or look.
What can Starfield resources be used for?
Aside from constructing additional outposts, you can use the resources gained from each planet to help you with Starfield Research Laboratory projects. These projects include Starfield weapon mods to customize your guns with, helmet mods, and medical treatment to help you on your adventure.
Once you have enough resources at your disposal, you can create the Starfield ship of your dreams. Just be sure to equip some weapons; otherwise, you may find yourself in a pickle when you’re forced into Starfield space combat against greedy pirates.
That’s all you need to know about Starfield outposts now that the Starfield release date has passed. Find out how we approached outposts in our Starfield review, as well how to put down more permanent roots with a Starfield house that you can return to after a hard day of resource harvesting.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.