Here is a guide with tips on how to create your Outposts in Starfield. Outposts and outpost management may not be for everyone and it's probably something you should focus on more once you have completed the main campaign. It can be time-consuming.
Starting an outpost
Before placing an outpost beacon, make sure you have scanned the planet's surface from orbit to find where the resources are.You will need to hover around the planet scanner to try and find the optimal landing spot based on what resources show up.
When considering a location for an outpost, look at where resources are close together or converge allowing you to have easy access to multiple resources.
Try and find a planet landing spot where there's Aluminum and Iron at the very least.
Once a place with multiple resources is found, land and bring up the scanner. Look at the Outpost key to place the marker.
Larger versions of extractors and structures are going to require more power and space so it's worth thinking about the space available around where you have selected to place an Outpost Beacon.
What Resources?
Resources you should look for include Aluminium, Iron, Copper, and Titanium. Aluminium and Iron are important as they allow you to create Adaptive Frames which are needed to create buildings and containers.Utilise shops in the major cities to get supplies needed for creating Outposts. Also, trade where you can for items that may help in your Outpost construction. Asteroids can also be destroyed to harvest minerals you may need.
What to Research
Start researching as soon as you can in the game at a Research Station either in the basement of the Lodge or on the Frontier. These are two stations you can access early in the game.What you can research will depend on prerequisites or where you have invested skill points (see section below).
You will need resources or manufactured items for research. Either loot them, buy them, or use a Manufacturing Station (there is one in The Lodge basement).
Skills Beneficial to Outpost Building
Science tree skills you need to help with Outposts include Research Methods, Geology, Botany (for farming), Zoology (Animal Husbandry), and Outpost Engineering.
Social skills should include Outpost Management, Gastronomy, and Commerce.
Note that if you are wanting to place farm buildings, you need to have scanned the animals and plants on the planet to open up the building options for Greenhouses or Animal Husbandry so they actually function.
Power
Structures need power so the type of power source chosen should suit the planet it is on. If there is not much solar on the planet due to its distance from a sun then solar would not be idea. If there is little atmosphere then wind might not be ideal. In other words, take note of the planet's characteristics.Use wires to connect structures if need be and add switches to turn things on and off if required.
Extractors
Place extractors down in the area where their matching resources are found. When placed, note the ring around the extractor, this is the area they will extract from and the rings from each extractor should not overlap to get the max from the resources in the ground.Storage
Add storage containers to hold resources that may be needed for production at the Outpost.Build a transfer container to access Outpost inventory directly from your ship and vice versa.
There are different types of storage containers for things such as liquids and gases. There are also different sizes available depending on what you have researched.
Make sure extractors are linked to resource containers to store the output. This is done by using the Create Output link button which will draw a red line to indicate the link is connected (similar to power wires).
Containers can be linked together to make an Output link chain for storage to flow into the next container when the first one is full.
Structures
These are the actual "crew" buildings. Note that when placing these and messing with walls you can use the Change key to change the option of the placement. For example, a wall can be changed to a wall with a window in it and so on.
Add crafting benches to Outposts inside your structures so you have easy access to all the crafting options.
Place a bed or somewhere you can sleep to accelerate time if need be.
Robots
Three robots are the the max per outpost by default but more can be added by upgrading the Putpost Management skill.There are many types of robots
- - Sanitation minibot - Increases production rate of inorganic resources
- - Garden minibot - Increase production rate of organic resources
- - Engineering robot - Increase production rate of manufactured items.
- - Logistic robot - Increase production rate of all resources by 5%
- - Power Management robot - Increases the output of all your generators
- - Security Robots - Security minibot is not worth it so use the two larger bots two-legged and four-legged versions for some security firepower.
Other buildings in Miscellaneous
Get a Scan Booster to increase the range of you hand scanner on the planet.A crew station is required for each crew member you assign to an outpost.
Cargo Link
Cargo Link will allow you to link up your different outposts to shift and share resources between them. Make sure you link the incoming and outgoing points in the Cargo Link to incoming and outgoing storage containers so the right stuff is coming in and out of an Outpost.Inter-system Cargo links also need to be linked to a Helium 3 gas storage container.
Use the console on the cargo link building to link the outposts together and resources will now be exchanged between the linked outposts.
Landing pads allow you to land and a large landing pad also allows you to customise your ship directly from the pad and also takes larger ships
Add mission boards and bounty clearance terminals so you can track and undertake missions directly from the outpost.
Defenses
Research defense to access different types of turrets.Each Outpost can have up to six turret placements.
Should structures get damaged in an attack, be sure to go to the structure and repair it once the attack has been fended off.
