Develop Related Skills

There are several Skills that are either required or recommended in order to construct Outposts that will chug along efficiently:

• Outpost Engineering in the Expert Tier of the Science Tree

Proper construction of habitation modules is essential to one’s survival on any alien world.

• Research Methods in the Novice Tier of the Science Tree

By skilfully employing both new and time tested methods, a researcher may complete projects faster, and even gain unexpected insights.

• Planetary Habitation in the Master Tier of the Science Tree

While outpost building is always challenging, doing so on a world with a dangerous environment requires specialized training.

• Outpost Management in the Expert Tier of the Social Tree

While constructing an outpost offers its own challenges, properly managing that outpost takes a special personality type, and specialized training.

Gather Resources

You are going to need a significant pool of resources, either mined or purchased, in order to begin construction of an Outpost. You may not necessarily find all required resources on any given planet itself, so you may have to ship it through, in your Cargo Hold.

Select A Location

Your best bet when choosing a location for your Outpost is a planet where a relatively rare resource is available for passive mining. This will serve you well in the resource gathering metagame and let you focus on questing instead of mining.

Set A Beacon Down

Head out on foot on the planet and deploy the Hand Scanner. Keep an eye on the grayed-out ‘Outpost’ prompt at the bottom of the UI. Once it goes white, that indicates that the location is suitable for placement of the Outpost Beacon. Initial Beacon placement also determines where you spawn in each time you fly to your Outpost, so take care not to place it in the vicinity of environmental hazards. They also cannot be placed in close proximity to predetermined planetary landmarks i.e. Points of Interest.

Start Mining

Your first priority is recouping your investment, and you can do this by placing an Extractor over the nearest valuable resource. You will require support structures for this:

• Fueled Generator to power your modules.
• Storage container that corresponds to the type of resource you are extracting.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have your first basic Outpost up and operating. A few things to bear in mind:

• There is a cap on the number of Outposts that you can construct across the universe, based on your Planetary Habitation Skill rank.
• The various modules are closely interconnected in terms of running costs and dependance, and you will need to take note of those requirements.
• While the overhead fly cam is great for major planning, you should walk around on foot as well, especially when decorating.
• Crew and Companions can have some bearing on the effectiveness of your Outpost, so consider staffing them, as well as other hireable NPCs.

That is a complete guide to the basic building concepts for Outposts in Starfield.