Starfield Guide – How to Farm Credits

Next to XP, Credits are going to be a hassle in Starfield. They’re required to buy items, weapons, ammo, armor, ships, parts and specialists. Given the amount of stuff to do in the game and how often you’ll need something as simple as ammo, it helps to have plenty of Credits on hand. Worry not because, for as many uses as there are for Credits, there are also plenty of ways to earn them.

Let’s go over all the ways to farm Credits in Starfield without having to cheat (or resort to smuggling contraband, but head here for more details on how to do so). Some methods require picking certain Skills over others, and while you could do a bit of everything, it’s a good idea to settle into one or two farming methods early on. You can branch out and try other things after leveling up enough.

How to Farm Credits in Starfield

Pick up and Sell Everything

It will be obvious for anyone who’s played The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim or Fallout 4, but pick up everything. Get the Weight Lifting Skill for 10 kg additional carrying capacity, complete its challenges (which involves sprinting for X meters at 75 percent maximum weight capacity) and rank it up. At Rank 4, you get an additional 100 kg of inventory space for picking up things. It also helps in storing more items, ammo, weapons and resources.

Once you’ve picked up everything conceivable (stealing is optional – said items will have a red icon), go to a Trade Authority kiosk and sell them. Remember the locations of different vendors in the big cities and sell to them. Vendors have a limited amount of Credits (which refreshes every 24 hours of in-game time), so offloading everything at once is difficult.

To further maximize profits, get the Commerce Skill, which lets you sell items for 10 percent more at Rank 1 and 25 percent more at Rank 4. It also reduces the cost of items purchased, which is good when you need to restock on ammo or find an expensive weapon.

When exploring different locations, activate your scanner to make it easier to find loose Credits and Digipicks (which can also be sold). There should also be chests with items and Credits inside. Also, for any plants and organic material, visit Noel at The Lodge in New Atlantis to sell them to her.

Loot/Pickpocket Enemies

Again, this seems a given, but it bears repeating. You’ll run into your fair share of encounters through the Settled Systems and kill plenty of enemies. They’ll have ammo, Credits, weapons and other items, so it’s worth checking the fallen after a battle. Even if you can’t sell their belongings to vendors due to the Credits being capped, they may have Credits on their person.

Alternatively, try pickpocketing. You need the Theft Skill or a background as a Gangster or Cyber Runner to unlock the ability to pickpocket others. At Rank 4, you have a 50 percent chance to pickpocket enemies (which includes their holstered weapons). If you’re in the mood to save ammo (which also saves money), pickpocketing is the way, and you can do so on regular NPCs as well. Make sure you’re ready to reload if you happen to get caught.

Sell Ships

If you’re tired of rummaging for weapons and other items from enemies and want to go bigger, there’s always ship selling. By speaking to the Ship Technician in a city, you can offer to sell your ship. You don’t want to sell the Frontier (which is impossible at the outset), but as you unlock more ships, it can be beneficial to offload any unnecessary vessels.

Ships are purchased and earned from completing specific quests, but there’s a faster method – stealing. Engage in space combat and target a hostile ship’s engines (using the Targeting Control Systems skill). It will disable and prevent the ship from grav jumping away. Board it and kill everyone onboard. Loot them, of course, since they could have Credits and other rare items.

Once done, undock from your ship and fly with the captured ship to a spaceport. Store, change back to your previous ship, and visit a nearby Ship Technician. If the ship is unregistered, you need to pay a small fee to register it. After that’s done, sell it for some easy money. Ship Technicians carry more Credits than the average vendors, which makes sense since ships sell for a lot more. You can also sell any unwanted ship modules.

Depending on the Class, you can’t pilot certain ships without unlocking and increasing the Pilot Skill. It must be Rank 3 for Class B and Rank 4 for Class C ships. Keep that in mind when you’re trying to steal something grand, and it won’t budge.

A space pirate’s life can also prove lucrative if you’re keen on a more high-risk, high-reward lifestyle. Check out our guide for more details.

Planetary Surveys

It might not be the most exciting method for those looking for action, but planetary surveys are a nice side hustle while exploring a location. Scan the various flora and fauna present – get the Surveying Skill to increase the overall scan distance and add zoom levels. At Rank 4, it allows for scanning 50 meters while adding a 5x zoom.

After scanning everything, you’ll complete the survey and can sell it for Credits. Make sure to scan gas giants as well – you don’t need to (and can’t) land on them and can net completed surveys with little hassle. It’s a great way to earn XP while traveling the Settled Systems.

Build an Outpost

Outposts are good for many things, whether storing your contraband or as an additional item storage source. All you need is an autominer for a resource like Iron, Water or Aluminum, storage for the same and power. Build one on a planet in the Olympus system since it’s very close to the major cities, and let it mine resources.

You can then sell these at vendors and Trade Authority kiosks in said cities. Since it’s entirely passive and doesn’t require your input, outposts with autominers are a great way to rake in Credits while you’re off doing other things. Check out our guide for outpost building here.

Trade Commission Requests

Aside from Mission Boards, which can award Credits upon completing their tasks, you can also take on requests for the Trade Commission. Go to The Well in New Atlantis to pick some up. Like Mission Board requests, they’re straightforward and usually involve objectives like destroying hostile ships while awarding Credits and XP.

Starfield is available for Xbox Series X/S and PC while also being playable on Game Pass. Check out our review for more details. In addition to the Skills mentioned above, you can read our guide for others to get early.