Highlights

  • Stealing ships in Starfield while traveling with one's own crew usually results in high bounties due to all the extra witnesses.
  • But one player discovered that it's possible to get away with space piracy by knocking out any given ship's crew members before executing them.
  • While cold-blooded, the method appears to be a highly efficient way of stealing ships with minimal penalties and prep work.

One Starfield fan has recently devised a peculiar ship-stealing strategy that requires some precision and cold-bloodedness to execute but is ultimately surprisingly effective, and works with fairly minimal prep work. The newly detailed methodology may help convince some Starfield players to give the idea of space piracy another go.

Taking over ships in Bethesda's latest RPG isn't a particularly convoluted process. But as is the case with all the other types of criminal activity that players can perform, stealing ships in Starfield is way easier to accomplish when traveling alone. That's primarily because docking a ship and killing its crew while having one's own crew present will usually result in some fairly high bounties due to all the extra witnesses. Since the game heavily incentivizes always having a staffed ship with its system of useful crew bonuses, many players may eventually give up on piracy altogether, finding it to just not be worth the hassle.

Starfield giant ship shooting at asteroids with orange background color swap edit
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However, it turns out there is a way to intercept and steal spacecraft without traveling solo, all the while avoiding having one's crew witness any bounty-worthy misdeeds. The method, discovered by Reddit user glow162, has a straightforward setup, as it merely requires a combo of a non-lethal Starfield weapon like a Novablast Disruptor and a lethal one that can dish out some serious damage. It may be better if the latter is focused on single-shot damage instead of DPS because it's going to be used for the most cold-blooded part of the plan, executions.

The process itself comes down to docking whatever Starfield vessel the player sets their eyes on, then taking out its crew with the non-lethal armament. As long as the player docks the ship solo, they won't incur a bounty for using something like a Novablast Disruptor on its crew members. That's not to say any of them will survive the encounter, as the next step in the plan is to execute them one by one. This is where having a powerful weapon comes into play, as dealing damage to unconscious enemies will wake them up, so it's crucial to finish them off quickly to avoid a bounty.

How To Steal Starfield Ships While Having a Crew and Without Incurring a Bounty

  1. Have a non-lethal weapon and a very powerful lethal one.
  2. Board a ship solo.
  3. Knock out its crew with the non-lethal weapon.
  4. Quickly execute the unconscious crew members with the lethal weapon.

Given the intricate steps involved, it's possible that Bethesda didn't intend for such disturbing execution sprees to allow players to avoid bounties while stealing ships. After all, merely attacking conscious crew members with a lethal weapon still incurs the regular penalties, even if the player gets rid of all the witnesses.

Given that state of affairs, it is possible that this method gets patched out in one of Starfield's future updates, especially if it ever gets popular enough for Bethesda to take notice of it. In the meantime, glow162's discovery may help some players dabble in space piracy with minimal prep work and bounties.