They say many hands make light work, which is why you’re going to want to know how to increase crew size in Starfield. Whether it’s to bring aboard skilled crew members, or companions to rizz up and romance, we’re here to take you through the ways in which you can expand your Starfield crew size on PC and Xbox.
Before we dive in, be sure to familiarize yourself with our Starfield crew explainer to ensure you’re bringing in the right bods for the jobs. You’ll also want to dig into the Starfield ship customization options – but more on that later. With the basics nailed, it’s time to learn how to increase crew size in Starfield – possibly the best Xbox RPG game of 2023. Check out our Starfield review to learn more.
How to increase crew size in Starfield
There are three major elements which affect crew size in Starfield:
- Ship Command skill
- Combined Cockpit and Habitat module value
- Combined Engine, Reactor, Shield, and Weapon module value
Unfortunately, you can’t simply increase your Ship Command skill, or focus on your Cockpit and Hab module values to dictate your crew capacity – the lowest of the three values will define how many homies you can have aboard. You’ll be stuck with two crew members for quite some time.
Read on to find out more about how to increase your crew size in Starfield, so you can have the best ship in the universe.
Kicking off with Ship Command, then, you’ll want to invest into this tier 4 Social skill when you can. Each rank offers an active crew size increase of +4/5/6/8. To attain rank-ups, complete the skill’s challenge – in this case, destroy or board ships with a number of crew members.
Unfortunately, since this is a tier 4 Social skill, you’ll need to invest quite a few skill points in this tree before you can unlock this skill. Take a look at our guide to the best Starfield skills for ideas of what to spend your valuable points on, though Persuasion is a good place to start if you’re looking to reach Ship Command quickly.
Next up we have Cockpit and Habitat modules. While ships can only have one Cockpit, multiple Habs can be tacked onto it. However, not all Habs increase crew capacity, and the top tier ones can’t necessarily be attached early on due to certain restrictions – namely skill requirements. As such you will need to work on your Starship Design skill to access the best modules, and the Piloting skill to get your hands on bigger ships.
Finally, you’ll need to roll the crew values of multiple modules – Engines, Reactors, Shields, and Weapons – into one. While only one Shield and Reactor module can be equipped, you can equip multiple Weapons and Engines, provided you stay within model and power limits respectively. This is a great way to increase crew size if you’re limited on the Cockpit and Habs you can install, as you’ll likely have more options for these parts towards the start of the game.
If you’d like to skip some of this grind, you can also buy or steal higher quality ships, some of which will already come with some of the above upgrades pre-installed. This will save you some effort, especially if you’ve got credits to spare.
And that’s how to increase crew sized in Starfield. If you’re after even more Starfield knowledge, then be sure to get to grips with the various Starfield skills outside of those mentioned here. Additionally, make sure you know how to dock in Starfield, lest you crash it into the Starfield planets.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.