Credits are king in Starfield. From ammo to health packs, spaceships to sandwiches, you can buy anything your heart desires if you just have enough money. If you have social aspirations and want to take yourself from pauper to prince, then we have all the info you need on what to do to make those dreams come true.
How to earn money fast in Starfield
Here are some top tips when it comes to earning money quickly in Starfield. Some are obvious, and some are not, but all will help you stack up the cash.
Waste not, want not
The real trick to saving money in Starfield is similar to real life: you have to not spend it. There are no low-interest loans for you to take advantage of in the game, so you just need to be careful. Buying ammo and medical supplies is kind of a waste as you can get them so easily on missions. Ship parts can be gotten from enemy wrecks, and even entire ships can be gotten for free, but more on that later. Try to buy only what you need, as you can chip away at your savings pretty easily.
Understand the market with the Commerce skill
Investing points in the Commerce skill means you can buy items for lower prices and sell them for higher prices than you normally would get. This applies to everything in the game, making it very valuable for when you do need to spend credits. At max rank you can buy items for 20% less than usual and sell them for 25% more, a considerable difference.
Get a bigger backpack
One of the best sources of credits in the early game are armor, helmets, and weapons picked up from dead enemies. Take them to a vendor or Trade Authority Kiosk, and you can cash them in for good money. The more you can carry, the more money you will make. As such, be sure to load up your companion with everything they can carry, and invest in the Weight Lifting skill so that you can carry even more yourself. There are other important skills to level up early, but from a strictly business point of view, carrying more means earning more.
Explore buildings with your scanner out
This is a simple one, but highly important. When your scanner is out, it will highlight items that you might otherwise miss. These can be small items like Digipicks or credit sticks. The more of these credit sticks you pick up, the better, as they all contain a random amount of credits. As for the Digipicks…
Plain old thievery
While not an honest profession, being a thief can be lucrative. Digipicks allow you to hack novice safes, vaults, and locked rooms. By investing in the Security skill, you will be able to unlock tougher and tougher locks, getting better and better rewards. These can be credits, or can always be sold to get credits.
Don’t rush to buy a ship
Most folks will imagine their first big expense to be a ship, but what if you could get great ones for free? The Razorleaf can be obtained quite early, as can the Star Eagle. There are lots of other free ships to get as you play through the game, so don’t fret about that first ship purchase until you have been playing for a while. You can also steal other ships and sell them if you like. If you are in a fight with some Crimson Fleet or Spacers, use the VATS system in your ship to take out the engines, board them, and then try and steal the ship. You may need to work on your piloting still to really take advantage of this, however.
Planetary surveys
I find surveying the surface to take too long, but you can scan planets quickly from orbit and then sell the data to Vladimir at the Eye in orbit around Jemison. It’s some easy cash as scans can be done so quickly when you arrive at a planet via the planetary menu.
