Despite its already large number of mechanics, Starfield’s base-building function could be made better by the implementation of a single feature. In Bethesda’s space RPG, players are able to traverse the universe and explore a plethora of planets by using their spaceships. Some planets are somewhat acceptable to civilization, such as Jemison, which holds the city of New Atlantis, while others impose harsher conditions on life, like Mars, which holds the perilous mining colony of Cydonia. Even though some planets have established areas that players and other characters can call home, there is yet another option for space adventurers: building an outpost.
This base-building feature ultimately allows players to create a small station on nearly any planet they desire, and decorate it as they please. These planetary outposts in Starfield tend to be a great source of income, as they can serve as a farming and processing plant for resources. Players are also capable of creating outpost XP farms in the game, which can then help them level up their abilities and gain new skills. While outposts are already one of the better features available in the massive space RPG, there is one big function that could be added to further improve players’ experience with them.
Is There A Maximum Number Of Starfield Outposts You Can Build?
Outposts can be a great way to farm resources, have a variety of features, and are a worthwhile investment, but how many are players allowed?
Starfield’s Outposts Should Allow Taming Rideable Creatures
The outposts in Starfield should allow players to tame local planetary creatures and, depending on their size and scale, ride them as mounts across the planet in which they live. In a sense, this would be somewhat similar to the creature-focused feature in Ark: Survival Ascended or its predecessor, Ark: Survival Evolved. Starfield has a large roster of interesting alien creatures that could be explored in more depth with the addition of a taming process. Currently, they are treated as overlooked fauna in these diverse ecosystems and often act as enemies. They could, however, get a better treatment if they were to have more amicable interactions with players’ characters.
Exploration Could Be Improved In Starfield
With the addition of tameable creatures and mounts, the game’s overall navigation could be improved, at least when it comes to planetary on-surface exploration. The maps for each planet tend to be vast and, quite often, empty. Moving around to find the ideal place for setting an outpost can take time and, if players do not build it near resource deposits, moving around can take extra time. With mounts, this could be improved, as riding creatures would help players move around each of these planets in a much quicker manner. With the current lack of land vehicles and mounts in Starfield, this would be of great benefit to players.
Even moving around for some missions can be quite annoying. Reaching the Spacers-ruled base on the outskirts of Cydonia from the main mining settlement takes some long minutes and there is not much to do on the way there other than potentially getting a disease or harming oneself due to the harsh climatic issues. This general nuisance could easily be avoided if traversing with a mount. Not only would players reach it quicker, but they could also even avoid the problems that arise from simply taking a stroll. Perhaps these alien creatures in Starfield could even be deployed into battle as a supporting companion, for instance.
Starfield Terrormorphs: Should You Choose The Microbe Or Aceles?
When playing through the United Colonies questline in Starfield, players may encounter a difficult decision on how to deal with Terrormorphs.
In general, the exploration of the planets that are commonly deemed empty could be improved by the presence of tameable mounts added as a feature in outposts. Traversing large areas of the planets’ maps could be done more swiftly, which would then reduce the feeling that the uncivilized planets are as empty as they are. This could also come with an increase in the general wildlife present on each planet, depending on its ecosystem, which would make it more rich in terms of content and also facilitate the taming process itself. There would be much to gain if rideable creatures ever made their way into Starfield.
Breeding Mounts In Starfield Could Open Up Endless Possibilities
In addition to simply heading out and taming wild creatures, this beast-focused mechanic could also have a breeding feature added to outposts. This would allow players to create custom creatures based on pre-existing models, much like in the Ark franchise. This could result in extravagantly different colored aliens with diverse stats, even if not ever creating new lifeforms, per si. Breeding mounts in Starfield would expand the simple otherwise simple mechanics of tameable creatures and give them more depth and, in turn, offer players a big reason to stick to the game for a longer time. This, of course, would not be an obligatory thing.
Like all other missions and skill sets in the game, everything should be optional. The main selling point is that players can tackle their experience in Bethesda’s RPG in any way they want, and as much as they please. Because of this, the presence of tameable and breedable alien mounts should also be optional. Of course, this would significantly improve the player’s gameplay and exploration experience outside of combat in Starfield, but it should not be forced upon the player. As much as it would be a notable bonus and a fantastic one at that, the player would have to choose to use it actively.
How To Create Your Own Outpost XP Farm In Starfield
Players can gain levels quickly in Starfield by setting up an Outpost designed to output a lot of XP very quickly without much effort.
Despite being released to critical acclaim and a large roster of incredible questlines, Bethesda’s big space RPG does lack the feeling of immersion when it comes to planetary exploration – especially when compared to the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the studio’s most well-known and beloved game so far. There is at least one DLC planned for Starfield, but the game would largely benefit from an outpost-focused expansion. In a sense, a second DLC for the game could be like Skyrim’s Hearthfire add-on, which is focused solely on the housing aspect of the title.
Starfield already has custom housing through outposts, so the focus of an eventual secondary expansion could be on improving that experience and addressing one of the game’s main points of negative criticism. The game was released quite recently, so there is still space and time for improvements in the world of Starfield, even if Bethesda has not teased it yet.
Starfield
- Platform(s)
- PC , Xbox Series X/S
- Released
- September 6, 2023
- Developer(s)
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
- Genre(s)
- Open-World , RPG , Sci-Fi
- ESRB
- M
