Starfield Players Are Rediscovering This Way To Avoid Bounties

Highlights

A lot of players have forgotten aboutthis method for flying under the radar in Starfield.
Allocating power and prioritizing systems is crucial for success, especially when trying to remain undetected.
Players have found creative ways to use stealth mode, like avoiding pirate ships with bounties by jumping stealthily into new star systems.

It’s been more than seven months since the release of Starfield, and while Bethesda‘s space exploration RPG has had its fair share of critics, it still seems to have a dedicated fan base, probably thanks in no small part to its inclusion as a day-one release on Game Pass. Whether it’s the massive number of planets and moons the game gives you to survey or the detailed ship building and customization system, there are a lot of ways to make your Starfield experience your own.

But lately, a discussion has started about one mechanic that gets introduced fairly early in the game and then never forced on the player again, and it seems like a lot of players forgot it was even there in the first place.

Starfield Player May Have Stumbled Upon A Salad Fingers Reference

Well, someone certainly likes rusty spoons.

Ironically, Flying Under The Radar

The Abyss Trekker & Stats In The Shop Menu

The mechanic is question is one that you can take advantage of when you’re piloting a ship: stealth mode. Starfield actually instructs and encourages you to do this for an early-game mission that sees you trying to approach a satellite without alerting enemy ships to your presence, but it’s never really brought up or made mandatory after that.

… in stealth mode, you actually want to be using as little power as possible.

Flying ships in Starfield uses a pretty uncommon mechanic that has you allocate power from your ship’s reactor to six different systems at different levels. It’s unlikely that you can set all your systems to maximum power even if your ship has one of the best reactors in the game, so you need to prioritize your engines, shields, weapons, and grav drive power and decide which systems to boost in any key situation.

But in stealth mode, you actually want to be using as little power as possible. You’ll still need one bar dedicated to your engines if you want to keep moving forward, but the less power you’re routing to your ship’s systems, the less likely hostile ships in the area are to even notice you’ve entered their section of space.

Starfield Modder Creates 166 Mods In Order To “Keep The Game Alive”

From gigantic mech overlords to farming mods, this modder has created it all.

Finding New Uses For Stealth Mode

The ramp-up in discussion over stealth ships has peaked lately due to an ongoing conversation on Reddit. One player, who goes by the Reddit handle Adept_Ad5465, said they used stealth mode to grav jump to the Kryx System, the stronghold of The Crimson Fleet space pirate organization. The player’s character had a bounty there, but by powering down all systems prior to making a grav jump (excepting, one would imagine, the one bar to the grav drive required to make the jump), they were able to enter the star system without alerting any roaming pirate ships to their location.

This wasn’t a Johnny-come-lately player either. According to their post, they’ve already sunk more than 400 hours into Starfield, and they’d just recalled that they could use the stealth functionality after never really taking advantage of it before. Likewise, a lot of other players have responded that they forgot stealth space travel was even something that existed in the game, but many were grateful for the reminder.

While others have pointed out that the player could have avoided the pirates altogether by jumping somewhere else in the Kryx system rather than right into The Crimson Fleet’s orbital headquarters, jumping to a specific planet or moon only works if you’re not discovering a star system for the first time, so stealth flying could help a lot of players who’ve got bounties on their heads.