Ships are expensive. It's no secret that ships and their upgrades are some of the most expensive purchases in Starfield. The only things that come close are late-game weapons and purchasing a house. If you're a pirate eager to get their hands on a ship without paying up, consider the best ships to steal in Starfield.
How to Steal Ships?
To steal ships consistently, you need the Targeting Control Systems skill. This skill will let you target the engines of enemy ships and force them to halt. This allows you to fly up to those ships and dock them. You can also disable engines with EM cannons, but it's much harder to pull off consistently.
Once you have them stranded, dock their vessel and make your way inside. You'll have to kill the crew on board the ship. Make your way to the cockpit and sit in the captain's seat. Now, you can set this as your home ship by opening the main menu and clicking on the bottom left. You can also register it under your name by paying a few Credits.
To change back to your other ships, visit a Ship Technician at any spaceport. Note that you also need levels in the Piloting skill to pilot Class B and Class C ships. There's another secret method of stealing ships that we'll cover ahead.
Best Ships to Steal?
Ships are spawned based on a bunch of RNG, including their weapons and load-outs. As such, there is no specific best ship to steal. However, some ship types are more valuable than average ships and will have more advanced upgrades. Here is our list of the best ships to steal in Starfield:
Crimson Fleet Ships
The first target on your list should be the various Crimson Fleet ships. The best part of stealing Crimson Fleet ships is that you won't get a bounty from attacking these space raiders. Go to higher-level systems with Crimson Fleet presence to get more powerful ships to spawn. Crimson Fleet vessels are unique as you're more likely to find Contraband on them, which means even more profits!
Galbank Ships
Did you know that Galbank has its own banking ships? Currency isn't totally digital, even in the future. If you successfully intercept and hijack a Galbank Vessel, you're looking at a very well-upgraded vessel, filled to the brim with thousands of Credits and several weapons and armor for you to pick up. If you leave no survivors, you won't even get a bounty!
Va'ruun Ships
Va'ruun ships get mentioned on this list due to how reliably you can spawn them in the Serpentis Star System. This Star System has a fairly high level, and you are guaranteed a Va'ruun ship spawn every time you Grav Jump here. These ships are pretty high-level and can pose quite a threat in dogfights. However, with the right ship upgrades, you can take them down quickly. This makes them great as some of the best ships to steal and for general XP farm.
Class C Ships
Class C Ships are easy to identify as these are the largest vessels roaming around. This means they're the biggest and most heavily upgraded ships roaming the Settled Systems. If your goal is to get a load of credits and get your hands on powerful ships, you can't go wrong with targetting Class C Vessels.
How to Steal Staborn Ships?
Starborn ships are extremely powerful, especially the Starborn Guardian VI. This method isn't unique just to Starborn ships, but you can essentially steal these ships if you arrive at the spot they land at before the crew gets off. This is easier said than done; you'll have to be extremely quick to make it. However, you can pull this off reliably with the proper setup. Here's what you need:
- Amps
- Aurora (Contraband from the Astral Lounge in Neon City)
- Blend
- Runner's Rush (From the Red Mile)
- Phased Time (Power)
To get Starborn enemies to spawn, you can do a couple of things.
- Keep Artifacts on your person.
- Go to high-level Star Systems.
- Land on different planets and wait for the boom sound for 30-40 seconds until you get a Starborn Vessel to spawn.
Once you know a Starborn Ship is trying to land in your vicinity, try to gauge where it's landing and rush towards it. Pop your amps and use your Aurora. Use Phased Time while you make your way towards it. You aim to reach the ship's door before the Starborn can exit.
Usually, once they land, you can't access the Ship door. However, while the enemies are exiting, there's a brief window where you can interact with the door and enter the ship. Once inside, sit in the captain's seat and register it like you would any ship. Just so you know, Starborn ships can be costly to register, so please keep that in mind. Thanks to DecoysDungeon for putting together a comprehensive method.
That concludes our guide on the best ships to steal in Starfield. You might also be interested in our Ships Hub, Advanced Shipbuilding Guide, and list of best Cheap Ships.
As always, stick with the Starfield Portal for more Starfield.