How to Target Engines in Starfield

If you’re trying to loot or commandeer a ship in Starfield, you must first ensure it can’t escape the fight. Disabling a ship’s engines is a precursor to any boarding plans you have in mind. You may, however, be wondering how to pull that off without blowing up the entire vessel.

This article will show you what you need to effectively down those engines and how to follow up your daring attack with a boarding party.

How to Target Engines in Starfield

You’ll disable your first spaceship’s engines early on in the game, during “The Old Neighborhood” quest, the second in the main storyline. While targeting the Moara’s engines is as simple as targeting the whole ship and firing on it, you’ll need to do a lot more to succeed in future space battles.

To begin with, you’ll need the right skills. Unlocking the Targeting Control Systems skill in the “Tech” skill tree will allow you to separately target different hard points on an enemy vessel, including the engines. If you don’t have this skill, ships will just explode from your attacks.

Once you have this skill, you can stop a vessel dead in its tracks. Here’s how to do it:

1. Enable your ship’s targeting mode by pressing E (PC) or A (Xbox). This will bring up a targeting reticle.
2. Maneuver your ship until the target craft is inside the reticle. Keep the ship in sight long enough to bring up the enhanced targeting mode with “Target Locked” appearing at the bottom.
   
3. Your reticle should zoom in on the target ship, and time will slow down briefly. Its stat bar should appear in orange at the bottom of your reticle.
   
4. Cycle through the ship’s hard points, using the E key or A button, until you reach the engines (ENG).
   
5. Fire your craft’s weapons until the engines are destroyed. If the craft has shields, they’ll soak up the first few rounds. The engines will be destroyed once the ENG bar is depleted.
   
6. The target ship will grind to a halt, leaving you free to loot, commandeer, or destroy it.

Once the enemy ship is immobilized, don’t leave it hanging in space for too long. The crew will start repairing right away and may get the engines up and running again. It’s also important to note that destroying a ship’s engines will still leave other systems functional, notably the weapons. It’s recommended to begin every battle by taking out all guns and missiles before tackling the engines.

The Best Guns for the Job

Ships in Starfield can outfit various weaponry, each with a unique role to play in pulverizing your enemy. When it comes to engines, you’ll need weapons that can do a lot of damage very quickly. There are four main weapon groups:

• Ballistic weapons are ideal for hull damage.
• Laser weapons are good for stripping shields.
• Missiles offer high hull damage with slow reload.
• Particle weapons inflict good all-round damage.

All of these will do the job when destroying engines, but there’s a fifth weapon you can attach to your craft, which will excel at it. The Electro-Magnetic (EM) weapon only comes in two versions but excels in quickly disabling a ship’s systems. It also does this with minimal damage, so you won’t accidentally blow up your target while in pursuit.

You’ll need to visit a Ship Services Technician at a spaceport to equip these weapons. You’ll usually find them close to the Trade Authority kiosks. An easily locatable technician can be found in New Atlantis on Jemison. Talk to one, choose the “I’d like to view and modify my ships” dialog option, and you’ll be taken to the shipbuilder menu.

When outfitting your ship in Build mode, you’ll need to have a high enough rank in both the Piloting and Starship Design skills to have access to all components and classes of the vessel. While you can build a vessel bristling with dozens of guns, you can only equip your ship with three types of weapons at any time. Place your guns from the Weapons tab onto any available slot on your ship to construct them.

Once you’re done, ensure that each weapons group is assigned its slot in the Weapons tab of Flight Check. This will give each weapon its own hotkey, simplifying things in combat.

Tips to Improve Your Space Combat

If you’re having a ball with ship combat and boarding every other vessel in your path, upgrading your Targeting Control Systems skill is a good idea. There are four ranks:

• Rank One: Allows you to target a ship’s systems.
• Rank Two: Reduces lock on time to a ship by 15%. The targeted ship will also return fire at a reduced rate of 25%.
• Rank Three: Cuts lock on time by 30%. You also have a 10% chance of scoring a critical hit on the targeted vessel.
• Rank Four: Lock on time is reduced by 60%, plus you deal 20% extra system damage while in target mode.

As with all skills in Starfield, the “Target Control Systems” skill requires a skill point to unlock the first rank and the completion of challenges to unlock the rest. You’ll be destroying a lot of ships to rank up.

• Destroy five ships while in targeting mode (for Rank Two).
• Destroy 15 ships in targeting mode (for Rank Three).
• Destroy 30 enemy ships in targeting mode (for Rank Four).

You can check your progress towards these goals via a handy counter under the Targeting Control Systems skill in the Skills menu.

How to Board the Immobilized Ship in Starfield

Once the engines are disabled and all other ships are dealt with, you can either destroy the vessel on the spot and gather the scrap or board it directly. Boarding it is similar to boarding any Starfield space station.

1. Keep the ship targeted in your reticle and move closer to it.
   
2. Once within 500m, the Dock prompt should appear below the ship’s name. Press the prompted button to dock.
   
3. After a brief cutscene, another menu will pop up, allowing you to board the ship directly, undock, or leave your pilot’s seat and move to the Docker manually.

Bring your best guns and companions along for the fight. Yes, you’ll have to kill all hostiles on board before you can safely loot or commandeer the target vessel. If you have trouble finding the last hidden enemy, they’ll appear highlighted in red on your targeting display.

With the last witness dead, you have the freedom to explore and loot whatever you want from the ship. You can leave the vessel adrift in space by returning to your ship, blowing it up for scrap, or commandeering it for your roster. You can sell a ship in Starfield to make money, though selling a hijacked vessel can be complex.

To commandeer a vessel, sit in the ship’s pilot seat. You’ll also need to ensure you have a high enough rank in the Piloting skill. To commandeer the larger Class B and Class C ships, you’ll need Ranks three and four, respectively. Otherwise, the ship’s systems will keep you locked out.

Once you’ve accessed the controls, undock your prize from your old ship, and the vessel is yours. It’ll immediately become your main vessel, and all vital systems and functions will be transferred. Don’t worry about the vessel you left drifting in space; it’ll be added to your roster, and you can switch ships in Starfield the next time you visit a Ship Services Technician. You can have up to nine vessels on your roster at any time.

Engine of Destruction

It’s easy to blow up a ship, but it takes skill to disable it. Targeting a ship’s engines may seem like a challenge in the heat of combat, but with the right skills and weapons attached, you’ll have them down in no time. Stay locked on to your target, and always aim for the engines to avoid accidentally destroying your prize. Before you know it, you’ll arrange a boarding party and charge guns blazing. To the victor go the spoils!