After more than a year of silence, Bethesda Game Studios has finally pulled back the curtain on Starfield’s big new update – Free Lanes – and the second story DLC, Terran Armada. Both are out on April 7th for all platforms (including the newly announced PS5 version), and offer plenty of reasons for new players and those looking for a reason to jump back in to revisit the Settled Systems. Let’s dive into some of the biggest additions, starting with…
Terran Armada
The second story DLC has finally been revealed, and as teased during Starfield’s second anniversary, it adds a new faction – the Terran Armada. Where they came from is a mystery, but they broadcast across the Settled System, telling its residents that they’ve forgotten who they are and that the Armada will remind them. Its forces consist primarily of assault bots, but you will encounter some humans as well, including Admiral Ode Balewa, who commands the fleet. Of course, as usual, new armor sets, weapons and ships also await alongside Incursions, a new mission type.
Enemy Modifiers
While new enemy types are a much-needed addition, the Free Lanes update also brings modifiers. Some enemies may have passives like Tricky, where there’s a chance to avoid damage, or Martyr, causing death to enrage nearby allies. The number of modifiers remains to be seen, but it’s still a nice way to spice up combat and maybe dip into your powers to combat them (especially since they’re getting some much-needed quality of life, which we’ll get into later).
New Crew Members
Another interesting addition with Free Lanes is the new crewmates, like the Model G or mini-bot, which, for all intents and purposes, is like a pet robot. You can change its personalities, trade gear and whatnot, though it’s not really meant for combat. That won’t stop you from bringing it and watching as it pokes enemies to death, though.
And while not technically new, you can now recruit Muria in New Atlantis to your crew and enjoy her special brand of humor all the time. Terran Armada also features a new crew member but details are sparse at the moment (mostly to avoid spoilers).
The Moon Jumper
Another new land vehicle has arrived to make planetary traversal that much more seamless. However, unlike the Rev-8, the Moon Jumper is built for more vertical exploration thanks to its jump jets. That makes it much easier to overcome or even catch a birds-eye view of the terrain. You also won’t be finding it at shipwrights but rather through exploration, which is one of the nicer incentives for experiencing the new encounters and PoIs. And of course, you can customize and paint it.
New Encounters, Points of Interest and Variety
Finding the Moon Jumper is only one of the new points of interest that players will discover in the Free Lanes update. You can expect several more alongside new encounters, dungeons and a “notable” increase to the amount of variety, thus addressing one of the major criticisms of Starfield’s random planets. But what about actual space?
Cruise Control
Bethesda has spoken about wanting to make space travel feel more rewarding, but another major pain point is that exploration between planets was little more than a glorified loading screen. With Free Lanes, you can now travel between the planets in a star system thanks to Cruise Mode. Your ship will start moving at a higher speed (with four different levels available) as you venture towards a planet. The best part? You can turn on autopilot and then get up to do other things, such as talking to crewmates, changing gear around, and so on, with the compass helpfully indicating how much distance remains until your destination. And while there’s a soft transition just before reaching, there are no loading screens while traversing the Free Lanes. Unfortunately, landing and taking off from planets remains the same but you can’t fault the amount of progress.
Close Encounters of the Free Lane Kind
While cruising through a system, events and points of interest may pop up that you’ll want to examine. Anomalies are one example, and they could lead to wreckage with loot. And Bethesda seems to be withholding more so that players can get out there and discover for themselves. But considering how these random encounters were previously confined to the orbits of planets, this goes a fair way towards making the systems themselves feel like actual star systems.
Additional Perspective While Flying
For years now, players have craved a wider perspective while flying, especially with larger starships. There have only been two until now, but with Free Lanes, Bethesda is adding a third with a much higher field of view level. Even if you haven’t supersized your vessel in a while, it gives much more room to spot nearby events or points of interest in Cruise Mode.
Outpost Improvements and Database
Different faction skins for your crafting benches to give them a new look? A new Milliewhale pet to play around with? Action figures that you can collect and display, like Fallout’s Bobbleheads, which provide buffs? Elevated habitats? All of that is pretty cool, but the outpost system has seen some major upgrades, including cross-outpost storage, which makes it so much easier to share resources. But even better is the new Database, accessed from the start menu. It keeps track of everything – resources, recipes, locations discovered – and provides quick access to all the outposts built thus far, so fast-traveling between them is much more seamless. And that wasn’t enough, you can unlock a base in a hollowed-out asteroid. Yes, at long last.
To Be X Tech
Having new stuff to chase courtesy of the Terran Armada is one thing, but there’s also a new resource – X Tech. Found in many places, including boss chests in dungeons, it can be used along with Credits to roll for Legendary Modifiers on your gear. You can roll for up to four Legendary Ranks, with the fourth granting brand new attributes specifically tailored towards different playstyles. For instance, Bloodthirsty grants health from killing enemies, Kismet has a 25 percent chance to triple your magazine size on reload, and Saboteur has a chance to instantly kill robots when dealing damage (perfect against the Terran Armada). Note that these Legendary Ranks aren’t just for weapons – they apply to armor and other gear as well.
New Quality Levels
But that’s not all, as weapons have two new quality levels – Superior and Exceptional. Both increase the damage and value of a weapon, making it that much stronger. Sure, it’s just another flat stat bump, but it allows for further improving a weapon beyond Legendary Ranks.
Upgrade Modules
And finally, there are the Upgrade Modules, which are brand new loot found in the Free Lanes. These are also straightforward stat bumps – the difference is that they’re focused on a single stat like accuracy, fire rate, ammo capacity, damage, aim speed, and whatnot. But you don’t have to pay any X Tech or Credits to use them. Simply equip, and your weapon becomes noticeably better.
New Ship Modules
It would be unfair if ships didn’t get some new modules as well. Thankfully, the Free Lanes are very giving, with enemy ships having a chance to drop the schematics. These include options like EM Pulse Shielding for a chance to trigger an EMP in a 1500-meter radius, disabling all shields, and Evasive Stealth Drive, where boosting will camouflage your ship, making it much harder for enemies to target you.
You can also use X Tech to optimize different aspects of your ship, like Hull Health, Hull Capacity (for more storage), Weapon Reload Speed, and more.
Quantum Entanglement Device
Without getting into story spoilers, New Game+ in Starfield meant essentially carrying over your character’s progress but not their items or credits. So if you happened to obtain several perfect weapon rolls after dozens of hours, you had to deal with leaving them behind. With Free Lanes, Bethesda has added the Quantum Entanglement Device, which, when built, lets you transfer over a select number of items into an NG+ playthrough. Not all items will qualify, but weapons and armor are certainly fair game. And for those who dread the thought of having to run through all those key locations once more, just to upgrade their Starborn powers, you can now spend Quantum Essence to do so. Quantum Essence will also drop more often (such as when destroying Starborn ships) and can even be favorited to use in the heat of combat.