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If you want to explore the stars in style (and relative safety), you’re going to need to build yourself the best ship possible, and that means using the best ship parts money can buy. Whether you need better armor to protect yourself from spacers or a faster engine to outmanoeuvre them, it can be a hassle finding the exact parts you need.
That’s where we come in. During our time with the game, we’ve put together a comprehensive list of the very best parts in every category. From speed and fuel capacity to shield generators and storage space, we’ve got you covered for every metric. If you’re looking for the best ship weapons, we’ve got a separate guide for that so be sure to check that out too, but for now, let’s get into the best ship modules.
Best ship parts for every category
We’re only going to be talking about the very best of the best here. All of these parts and modules are going to be Class C, meaning you’ll need to have levelled up your Piloting and Starship Design skills enough to use them. If you’re underlevelled, be sure to check out our guide to levelling Piloting fast. With that, let’s take a look at all of the best parts in every category.
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Best reactor – SF40 Sheared Flow Reactor
The beating heart of your ship, your reactor provides power to everything. If you have a Class C engine but only have a Class A reactor, you won’t have enough power to get the most out of that engine, so this is the most important part. From our time with the game, we found no better reactor than the SF40 Sheared Flow Reactor. With 40 max power, you can power whatever you want, but you’ll need Rank 4 in Piloting and Starship Design to make the most of it.
If you’re not quite at those ranks yet, take a look at our best Starfield reactors guide for some Class A and Class B options.
Since all your other ship modules are powered by your reactor, it’s the first thing you should look to upgrade. There’s no point having incredibly powerful engines if you can’t fully power them!
Best engine – Poseidon DT230 Engine
The Poseidon DT230 Engine is hands-down the best engine we used in Starfield. With 34530 engine thrust and 11600 maneuvering thrust, there’s simply no other engine we found that comes close to what this can do. While a 4,0280 credit price tag might seem like a lot, it’s a great investment as you’ll never have to upgrade to another engine again, and it gives you a massive top speed, all the mobility you need, and decent engine health, too.
Best grav drive – J-52 Gamma Grav Drive
There’s only one thing you actually need from grav drives, and that’s to send you as far as possible. With the maximum 50 jump range provided by the J-52 Gamma Grav Drive, that’s exactly what you’ll get. If you’re feeling a bit cheap, the Apollo GV300 Grav Drive provides the same jump thrust for cheaper in exchange for lower grav drive health, but why skimp out on the best? For us, this is a must have for space exploration.
Best shield generator – 104D Guardian Shield Generator
The best shield generator we came across is the 104D Guardian Shield Generator. While it takes the most power to reach its full potential of any shield generator, the maximum 1350 shield health you get from it is massive, making you capable of taking much more shield damage in space combat before you start taking hull damage. If you prefer a lower shield health and higher regen, then the Warden SG-400 Shield Generator is a great choice, too. Regardless of your pick, as long as your shield lasts longer than your enemy’s shields, you should be good to go.
Best fuel tank – 900T He3 Tank
When it comes to fuel tanks, the bigger the better, and you can’t get any bigger than the 900T He3 Tank. This behemoth of a tank can store 650 grav jump fuel, which is a massive 100 more than the next closest competitor, while also being lighter. Not only is this the best fuel tank, but it’s the best by some margin, and an absolute no-brainer in our playthrough.
Best cargo hold – Galleon S204 Cargo Hold
With a cargo size of 1480, the Galleon S204 Cargo Hold is the biggest one currently available in the game. If you’re the kind of person who loves to hoard their loot and is always shipping around tonnes of resources, then you’re not going to want anything on your ship smaller than this.
Alternatively, if you’re a big smuggler, then you’ll be after a Shielded Cargo Hold instead. If that’s the case, then the best cargo hold for you might be the 10ST Hauler Shielded Cargo Hold which is sold by vendors, such as in the Red Mile on Porrima III.
Best docker – 100DP Slim Docker
This one is mostly up to personal preference, but we prefer the small appearance of the 100DP Slim Docker over its larger counterpart. If you would prefer a port docker instead of a top one, then we would recommend the Connect-Pro Docker – Port instead.
Best cockpit – DS40.2 Ares Bridge
The cockpit is only something you should really worry about if you’re planning on having a ship full of crew members. But if you are, then the DS40.2 Ares Bridge is exactly what you should be looking for. With the maximum of 8 crew stations, you can pack this cockpit with crew members, while the 360 cargo capacity is pretty handy to have, too.
Best landing gear – NG-20 Lander
There’s not much in it when it comes to the different types of landing gear, but based on stats alone, the NG-20 Lander set is the best around. It has the highest thrust of any landing gear, and the highest hull health. To be honest, we would rather go with looks over stats when it comes to landing gear, but if you’re maximising stats, then this is your best bet.
Best landing bay – Ship Bed 200 Landing Bay
Same as with landing gear, the Ship Bed 200 Landing Bay is technically the best when it comes to stats, but the difference is so minimal that you’re probably better off just choosing based on aesthetics unless getting 3 hull health instead of 2 is really that important to you.
Best habs – whatever you want
It’s impossible to choose an outright best habs, because what habs you should use depends entirely on what you want on your ship. Some have crew stations, some have passenger slots, some have research stations and workbenches for crafting. Prioritise what’s important to you to have on your ship, and then choose your habs accordingly.
Where to buy the best ship parts
The best ship parts can all be bought from Ship Services Technicians at various spaceports around the Settled Systems. Places like New Atlantis on Jemison, Cydonia on Mars, Akila City on Akila, and specialists like the HopeTech at the Hopetown Shipyard in the Valo system and Deimos Staryard in the Sol system all have ship technicians selling parts like these. If you’re interested in checking out specific Starfield ship manufacturers, check out our guide.
What are the most important ship parts to upgrade in Starfield?
The outright most important part is your reactor. This determines how powerful your other parts can be, so you’ll want to upgrade this first. Strong shields are also a must to help you in combat, as well as good engines to increase manoeuvrability. If you’re a hoarder and pick up everything you find, you should have some hefty cargo bays to store it all. And lastly, you don’t need one, but a better grav drive will help you fast travel to faraway star systems much more efficiently.
Starfield
- Platform(s): PC, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s): Adventure, RPG, Science Fiction, Space