Just because Starfield is full of ships doesn’t mean you will get to fly them all from the start of the game. The first type of ship you will get access to is Class A, and you can fly them automatically from the start of the game. If you want to fly Class B and Class C ships, then you’ll need to upgrade the right skills.
How to pilot Class B and C ships
To pilot Class B and Class C ships in Starfield, you will need to rank up your Piloting skill. This can be done by leveling up, then going to the skills trees and adding a point to Piloting. After the first rank-up, you will need to destroy set amounts of ships in between each rank-up. As such, prepare to engage in a lot of space combat to get all the way to Rank 4, when you will be able to fly Class C ships.
The bad news is that this is only applicable to flying new ships. It does not apply to building them. That is a whole different thing.
How to install Class B and Class C ship parts
Just like piloting, this all boils down to ranking up the right skill. You will need to rank up the Starship Design skill to install Class B and Class C parts. The higher the rank, the better the part you can install.
- Rank 1 – allows for improved ship modules.
- Rank 2 – allows for superior ship modules.
- Rank 3 – allows for cutting-edge ship modules.
- Rank 4 – allows for experimental ship modules.
For the most part, the real issue for getting the Class B and Class C ships will be time. They cost a lot of money, and it takes time to skill up to get them. The good news is that there is at least one Class C ship you can get for free, the Kepler R.
Another important thing to understand is that the Class A ships are not bad by any means. They can actually be fantastic; there will just be a performance difference between them and the other ships, and it will become more evident in the late game. I would suggest finding some solid, free ships in the early game, then using your credits to invest in a Class C beast like the Narwhal from Taiyo Astroneering in the late game.
For earlier game ships, you can get the Razorleaf quite early, and you can get the Star Eagle by completing the faction quests for the Freestar Collective.
