11 Best Outpost Upgrades To Get First

Building an Outpost in Starfield can be done relatively early in the game, but making it stand out and upgrading it to become a force to be reckoned with will take a little more work. There are a few different components to upgrading an outpost, including various research paths, Skills, and mods to build. However, if players want to get serious about their Outpost game, there are some things they will want to do first.

The map of Starfield is filled with planets waiting to be explored for resources and new things to discover. But before players can get very far in their Outpost building, they will have to start some research and development, which can be done at the Research Laboratory on the ship. Players will want to start any research they can and look at the requirements for more research before they start gathering the rest of the upgrades on this list, as that will determine what they can build. The following list is organized in order of what upgrades to get first.

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1 Zoology Skill

Zoology is a Tier 2 Science Skill and one that you can acquire on the way to being able to unlock the Outpost Engineering Skill. This skill is required for a fair number of the Outpost research paths and will be crucial to making sure your Outpost performs optimally and planet research moves along accordingly. It will also allow you to gather more organic resources from creatures without harming them and produce animal resources at the Outposts.

2 Botany Skill

The Botany Skill is also required for several of the Outpost research paths and is also a Tier 2 Science Skill. It will allow players to get more resources from plants in general, get more information from the scanner, and allow players to cultivate certain plants in their Outposts. This can give players a nice greenhouse, but it also aids in the production of resources as it does.

3 Outpost Engineering Skill

To truly upgrade an Outpost, players are going to want to focus on earning the Outpost Engineering Skill. It is a Tier 3 Science Skill, and Rank 1 of this skill is required for most of the initial Outpost Research options. Others will require higher and higher ranks, so building this skill as quickly as possible will be an important component of upgrading any Outpost. The previous skills can be acquired on the way to unlocking this one, which will give players a head start when they want to start their research.

Extractors are one of the first things you will want to add to your Outpost, and upgrading the type of Extractors you can use will help earn more resources. The first Extractor you will be able to use is an Aluminum one, and it will allow you to produce a lot more Aluminum than mining it by hand will.

Get the Extractors chugging to create a lot of resources to sell or use for crafting as this will allow you to build the rest of the items on this list quicker as well. Or, if you want to sell the resources to gain credits faster that will be of benefit as well.

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5 Scan Booster

The Scan Booster will be very helpful for players who want to focus on exploring planets to complete scanning profiles. It will increase the range of your hand scanner and allow you to see more of the planet. The resource requirements are fairly easy to get near the beginning of the game and this can help you find even more resources, so it is a good modification to add early on.

6 Transfer Container

The Transfer Container is a quality-of-life upgrade that allows players to transfer cargo while on the ship. This can allow players to move resources as they see fit, without leaving the ship and saving some time for exploring more of the galaxy, as they will be spending plenty of time in Starfield to complete it anyway. This can help streamline resource production earlier in the game than it might otherwise happen.

7 Cargo Link

The Cargo Link will be something to add once you have more than one Outpost and may help with the monetary gain from Outposts. This allows players to transfer cargo between their Outposts, which can quickly move resources to where they want them the most at the time.

This will be very helpful and can help with the problem of having too little storage space for all the resources the Outposts are producing. Make sure to check any storage containers often in order to make sure there is room for more.

8 Crew Station

Assigning Crew to an Outpost can greatly upgrade the production and management of that location. Crew members can increase various stats, and having crew members at Outposts all the time will make them seem more alive and bustling when you visit them.

9 Workbenches

While players can find other workbenches in the world, having a set of them in place at the Outposts where players will be visiting frequently anyway can be very convenient. They are not necessary to the development of the Outpost, but they are a very nice thing to have available as you can make crafting components, food and beverages, medicine, weapon, and spacesuit mods, and conduct research from one location if you include the workbenches in your Outpost.

10 Robots

Robots are not just a cool thing to have around, but they can also greatly increase production at the Outpost. This includes things like an increase in organic and inorganic materials, but they can also produce manufactured items as well. Building the robots will fill the Outpost with buddies for the Crew assigned there, and the increased production will make the Outpost wealthier as well.

11 Laser Turrets

There are several types of turrets available, but the Laser Turrets look the coolest. This can help defend your Outpost from Spacers or other hostiles – such as mercenaries if you take the Wanted trait, and it gives the Outpost a nice Star Wars aesthetic that will make it quite pleasing. While this is the last item on the list, players may want to consider it earlier depending on how many enemies they choose to make early in Starfield.