How Crafting and Research works in Starfield

If you’re going to head to the most distant reaches of Starfield’s universe to battle pirates, aliens, and goodness knows what else, you’re going to need some good tech. Then you’re going to want to modify that tech until it’s beautifully honed and looks good enough for NASA to hire you on the spot.

Starfield’s extensive crafting and research systems are there to help you achieve that perfection. If you have the right Skills, access to a few crafting terminals, and a pile of resources, you’ll be able to improve your spacesuit, tune your weapons, build better outposts and even become a better cook.

How? Simply follow this guide to crafting and research in Starfield and become the craftiest astronaut this side of the milky way.

How crafting works in Starfield

To craft an item in Starfield you simply find the right Workbench, choose the item you want, and then pay the required resources to craft it.

There are five types of crafting workbench scattered across the universe. Luckily you won’t have to go hunting for them too hard, as you can find a room with all five - plus a Research Station - in a basement on New Atlantis.

To get there, head to New Atlantis and fast travel to the Lodge. Just before the doorway leading through to the library (the one with the cool spinning anti-grav rings), turn right, go through the doorway pictured above, and take the stairs down. There you will find the following…

• Spacesuit Workbench - Craft and apply mods to your spacesuits, helmets and packs.
• Weapon Workbench - Upgrade weapons by crafting and applying mods to barrel, laser, optic, muzzle, grip and stock, magazine and battery, internal, and skin slots.
• Cooking Station - Make food and drinks for your journey.
• Pharmaceutical Lab - Craft chems and aid items to fix Afflictions and give you buffs in the field.
• Industrial Workbench - Craft basic manufactured components for use in Outpost construction. To craft more advanced components you need to set up Resource Extractors at Outposts you have already built.

The crafting process is the same across all of these benches. When you highlight a crafting choice, a display on the right will list all of the components you need. If you have all of the components, you can craft the item right away.

If you don’t have all of the components, press the Track button to help you find them. Once components are tracked a blue magnifying glass icon will appear next to these materials in the field.

How to unlock more crafting options in Starfield

In the beginning you might not be able to craft anything particularly advanced. To open up Starfield’s crafting options you need to advance the right Skills to unlock new research projects and then complete those research projects at Research Labs. Once the new mods are researched, they will be available to craft at Workbenches.

You will find all of the Skills you need in the Science Skill Tree.

Tier 1

• Research Methods doesn’t unlock any new mods to research, but it does reduce the cost of research projects.

Tier 2

• Spacesuit Design lets you research more spacesuit, helmet and pack mods.
• Weapon Engineering unlocks new weapon mod research options.

Tier 3

• Chemistry unlocks new Chem research options.
• Outpost Engineering Lets you research new Outpost modules at the Research Lab.

Now it’s time to research those new crafting options! You complete research projects at Research Lab terminals. Remember that some Aid items can help you to research more efficiently, so be sure to apply them to your character before you get started.

Once you have selected a research project you can contribute resources towards its completion bit by bit until all of the requirements are fulfilled. You can add resources to that project at any Research Lab you find, including the one on board your ship.

Every so often, Sudden Developments can occur. That may sound slightly alarming, but it’s a good thing. Sudden Developments reduce the amount of resources required for a project.

There are five Research categories to match the five types of Workbench you can find:

• Equipment lets you research new spacesuit, helmet and pack options.
• Weaponry includes new weapon mod research projects.
• Pharmacology covers new medical treatments and performance-enhancing chems.
• Food and Drink gives you more meal options.
• Outpost Development lets you research new Outpost modules.

Completing a research project can unlock further research options. Head to the Research Projects screen and look at the Research Tree to plan a route to the technology you really want.

That might sound like a lot of steps at first, but in practice it’s easy to do a quick lap of the terminals at the Lodge on New Atlantis, research a useful chem, craft a nice barrel for your space pistol, and then jet away to take on your next mission. We’re enjoying how many slots there are to tinker with on the game’s suits and weapons. What are your favourite mods?