Starfield Guide – Where to Find New Recruits and How to Increase Crew Size

Building a spaceship is one of the main selling points of Bethesda’s Starfield, but there’s more involved than just selecting modules and cargo space. You also need a crew to help manage it. Said crew members are also ideal for outposts and providing resources through the universe. If you’re in it for the long haul, having crew members to watch your back is good.

The members of Constellation – Sarah Morgan, Barrett, Sam Coe and Andreja – will join after completing some of the main story quests. They form the traditional companion system that Bethesda games are known for. However, other unique characters can become crew members and bring their skills to the table.

You’ll encounter the likes of Lin, Vasco and Heller throughout the main story. However, other named characters are in specific locations in the major cities. Speak to them and pay a one-time fee to bring them into the fold.

How to Hire Recruits

Here are the locations for all other named companions, their costs and Skills:

Marika Boros

Located in The Viewport at New Atlantis. She costs 13,500 Credits and has Shotgun Certification (Rank 1), Ballistics (Rank 2) and Particle Beam Weapon Systems (Rank 1) Skills.

Gideon Aker

Also found in The Viewport. He costs 18,000 Credits and specializes in Ballistic Weapon Systems and Missile Weapon Systems (both Rank 2).

Simeon Bankowski

Also found in The Viewport. He Costs 15,000 Credits and has Sharpshooting (Rank 1), Sniper Certification (Rank 2) and Marksmanship (Rank 1) Skills.

Rosie Tannehill

Found in The Hitching Post on Akila. She costs 18,000 Credits and specializes in Medicine (Rank 1) and Wellness (Rank 3).

Omari Hassan

Also in The Hitching Post and costs 13,500 Credits while having Shield Systems (Rank 3) and Starship Engineering (Rank 1) as Skills.

Mickey Caviar

Located in the Astral Lounge on Neon. He costs 13,500 Credits to hire and specializes in Gastronomy (Rank 1), Wellness (Rank 2) and Incapacitation (Rank 1).

Adoring Fan

The irritating fan from The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion returns. He specializes in Weight Lifting (Rank 2), Concealment (Rank 1) and Scavenging (Rank 1).

How to Hire Unnamed NPCs

You can also find regular unnamed characters to hire. They usually hang out in clubs and other social areas in the major cities, just like the named companions.

If you need a specific Specialist, their appearances are random. You can’t control who appears when. Otherwise, the same method for employing them remains the same. Talk to them, pay a one-time fee, and they’re yours to command (though you can use speech checks to reduce their asking price).

The locations of those discovered thus far and their locations are as follows. Please note that their locations are randomized so there is chance you may not find them here. 

How to Increase Crew Size

When assigning crew on your ship, having more Skills is generally preferred, especially when getting into ship battles. However, there’s a limit to how many characters can be assigned as crew. You’ll start with two but can increase them using specific Skills and modules.

First is Ship Command, a Master Social Skill that increases your active crew size to four. Rank 2, allows for five; Rank 3 allows for six; and Rank 4 allows for eight. To rank it up, simply board or destroy ships with the required crew members, which increases with each rank. It can take some time to level up and earn the Skill Points necessary to unlock Ship Command, so check out our guide for quickly earning XP.

Here’s the kicker, though: Ship Command alone isn’t enough. You must have the right combination of weapons, cockpit, Habitat Module, reactor, shield and engines to accommodate additional crew members. Each has a different crew capacity. Add the total of the cockpit and Habitat Module and the sum of the reactor, shields, engines and weapons. Whichever is lower will ultimately determine the total number of crew members.

The best way to have the maximum number of crew members is to first equip a Kon-Tiki B-500 Bridge (cockpit) and then the Stroud Battle Station 2×2, both purchased in Stroud-Ecklund in Neon. These result in a total of +12 crew capacity. Add one reactor, which counts for +3; 12 weapons, each counting for +0.5 (you can equip multiples of the same model type and three model types in total); one shield for +0.5; and two engines for +0.25 each to get +10 crew capacity.

Even though Ship Command only allows eight active crew members at Rank 4, this will allow for ten at a time. It’s unknown if this is a bug, but this is the ideal setup.

Starfield is available via early access for Xbox Series X/S and PC players and goes live on September 6th for Standard Edition owners. Check out our review for more details. If you’re keen on becoming a space pirate, check out our guide here. You can also check out the best early skills to unlock and how to build an outpost here.