Starfield best ship designs – our favourite builds so far

Starfield’s ship-building feature is one of the space RPG’s best features. Players have been hard at work creating some brand-new new designs, while others have been drawing on established real-world vehicles and iconic sci-fi media. With the plethora of design options, we’re seeing a ton of creative and cool spaceship designs from the game’s community.

We’re going to keep this article constantly updated as we discover more favourites, so be sure to come back often for more brilliant designs from the Starfield playerbase. But if you fancy making your own creations, check out our Starfield ship customization guide. If you want to go even further with your customisation, read our Starfield mods list, how to install and best mods on Nexus Mods guide.

The Black Pearl (Pirates of the Caribbean)

This one is a little different, as rather than replicating the infamous ship from Pirates of the Carribean, it’s actually an original creation inspired by the series. But snakemuho has done a great job at invoking exactly that vessel’s feeling with this pirate-ship themed creation even without a regular ship’s traditional sails. It’s also the perfect accompaniment for those making their own facsimile of series lead actor Johnny Depp.

Thomas the Tank Engine

Anyone with even a passing interest in the Skyrim modding scene is likely familiar with the hilarious mod that transformed the dragons into beloved children’s TV character Thomas The Tank Engine. So it was perhaps inevitable that someone would try and recreate him in Starfield. MrCainer332 delivers with more reliablity than your average UK rail operator, but you’ll have to provide your own sound effects – for now.

The ‘Unbeatable’ Ship

This one’s in our list more for practicality than it is design, but it’s no less an impressive feat of engineering mastery. According to its creator Morfalath, this Starfield ship is undefeatable by AI – so if you want to cruise around the galaxy without fear of Spacers or indeed, any enemy – this is the ship for you. Even if it looks about as aerodynamic as a Tetris block.

Planet Express Ship (Futurama)

Good news everyone! SP7R on the StarfieldShips subreddit has created their ode to animated comedy Futurama with their recreation of the Planet Express ship. Even better, they’ve also done a full video tutorial so you too can cruise the galaxy while telling those Spacers to bite your shiny metal behind.

Pelican (Halo)

While one fan has been updating players on the continued development of their “budget Millennium Falcon,” that’s not the only sci-fi ship to make its way over to Starfield, as one player shared their Pelican build on TikTok. Inspired by Halo’s iconic troop transport, the design offers a more realistic look at the ship in Starfield’s world.

SR-17 Blackbird

Some players have even taken to adapting some current-day vehicles into spaceships, with one player sharing their SR-17 Blackbird design on the Starfield Reddit. Funnily enough, it looks like the Saber from Halo Reach, which would put it right at home with the previously mentioned Pelican.

However, it seems to be spectrexgaming who has really been taking Starfield’s ship-building feature to the next level, creating iconic sci-fi ships such as The Razor Crest from The Mandalorian, the Daedalus from Stargate and the Milano from Guardians of the Galaxy.

However, two ships that really stand out are the X-Wing and mini Star Destroyer from Star Wars

X-Wing (Star Wars)

spectrexgaming’s depiction of the X-Wing might be a little bigger than the actual ship itself, and while it doesn’t feature the iconic expanding wings giving it the name we all know it’s certainly a great build nonetheless. What really elevates the build is its attention to colour detail, with the noticeable traces of red and yellow that really make the ship stand out when contrasted with its white shell.

Star Destroyer (Star Wars)

How could you not love the look of this ship? Its shrunken-down design and duel bridge make it the perfect ship design if you’re looking to terrorize the galaxy. This one might set you back a few credits as it features a fully two-storey ship with enough room for your crew to relax, chat and strategize.

Normandy SR-2 (Mass Effect)

It’d be easy to see that this is our favourite build in the Citadel, but it’s certainly up there. Neok182’s recreation of Shepard’s ship the Normandy SR-2 from the Mass Effect series is spot on, and invokes powerful memories of blasting around the galaxy with our favourite crew members. Now, if only we could find a very model of a scientist Salarian.

Firefly Class (Firefly/Serenity)

Those of us who have fond memories of the Nathan Fillion-led sci-fi series Firefly will instantly recognise this next creation, also from Neok182. Here they’ve also made this wonderful model of a Firefly Class ship, the same one as the Serenity that led the show and also gave the name of the concluding movie. Just be careful you don’t speak too soon about your flying prowess after a close call emergency landing… (Sorry, Wash fans).

Frankfurter (Hot dog)

This one isn’t based on any property, but we just thought it was a brilliant use of the Starfield ship building tools to make something entirely unexpected. vr989 has created this literally tasty little number, looking just like the delicious summer BBQ favourite. Now we just need a rather large bottle of ketchup and mustard to go with it.

Crab

Again, another wildly creative original creation here, as a user by the name of covfefepoops has somehow managed to make a craft that looks… well, as the title suggests, just like a big red crab. It’s an amazing bit of design work, complete with claws. Now of course the only question is – does it fly sideways?

Now the game is fully released to everyone, we expect the number of amazing ship designs to only increase in number, so we’ll be keeping our eyes out for more favourite ship designs, and will update this piece as we spot them. Fancy taking some sweet photos of your ships? Check out our Starfield Photo Mode guide. If, however, you should find yourself in need of some vital repairs, be sure to check out our ship repair guide. Finally, check out our picks for the Best GPU for Starfield 2023 – our top picks.

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