Part of the magic of Starfield is pointing to a planet in space and flying there with your trusty ship. It’s not a static ride, though. You can swap out habs, give it new landers, more thrust and mobility, or just strap more storage on the sides. Unfortunately, even a few upgrades can come with a hefty price tag. If you don’t want to deal with that hassle, then we’ll show you how to get all free ships in Starfield!
All Free Ships in Starfield and How to Get Them
The Frontier
Graciously loaned to you by the charismatic Barrett, the Frontier is your very first ship in Starfield. As far as aesthetics are concerned, it’s a good-looking ship. However, when it comes to performance, you can do a heck of a lot better with some of the other free ships you can get.
With that said, the Frontier is still a solid ship to get your journey going. You have enough crew stations to bring a couple companions, a good bit of storage, and a set of weapons. With just a few upgrades, you can use the Frontier throughout the entire game.
The Datura
One of the most easily missed ships in Starfield, the Datura is obtained during the Ryujin faction questline. If you’ve finished that questline and are thinking “I never came across that ship before,” it’s because it was part of an alternate outcome.
During the quest ‘Top Secret,’ you’re tasked with meeting an informant on Mars, in Cydonia. To get the information out of him, you can attempt a speech check, pay 10000 Credits, or do him a favor. That favor involves killing a bounty hunter, and in doing so, you not only take her gun, but her ship, the Datura for free!
Kepler R & Kepler S
As you get more acquainted with the members of Constellation, Walter Stroud—the “wallet” of Constellation—will ask for your help. It’s a series of quests, actually, one that involves an Artifact, but more importantly, it leads to the quest ‘Overdesigned.’
Walter thinks throwing a wrench into his design team will help shake up their creative juices, and you are the perfect wrench. If you shoot down the design team’s ideas and go with a lower budget, you’ll get the Kepler S; if you accept any and all ideas, along with convincing Jules of a bigger budget, you get the Kepler R.
Razorleaf
If you’re a space ace and you desperately want a more combat-oriented starship, the Razorleaf should be your top priority. It’s fitted with lasers, missiles, and a sweet particle beam weapon, which is pretty nice to have on a Class A ship. The good news is it’s really hard to miss; in fact, you probably have the quest for it right now!
Whenever you kill spacers—it doesn’t matter where—there’s a good chance one of them will drop the ‘Secret Outpost!’ recording. Listening to it will give you the ‘Mantis’ side quest, and following through the objectives will lead you to the Razorlead, along with some sweet gear. The best part of flying the Razorleaf is that some spacers will recognize the ship and fly away in fear!
Star Eagle
We both know how quickly your inventory fills up, so if you plan on hulling a bunch of cargo, you want the Star Eagle. The Kepler R has it beat by a sizable margin, but you need Class C clearance to fly it; the Star Eagle is only Class A. It’s not too shabby in combat either with its really strong missiles.
You can get your hands on the Star Eagle by joining up with the Freestar Rangers. The first time you land in Akila City, you’ll be notified by the guards of a hostage situation at GalBank. Should you get involved, you’ll get an invitation to be deputized, unlocking a faction questline that leads to you obtaining the Star Eagle as a reward.
UC Prison Shuttle
I’m going to be honest: the UC Prison Shuttle is a stinker. Out of all the free ships you can get in Starfield, it’s the worst. It doesn’t even have weapons, for crying out loud! The only positive qualities it has is having a lot of fuel, good cargo space, and its design is pretty unique.
The only good it does is being a getaway ship during the Crimson Fleet quest ‘Echoes of the Past.’ As you make your way through the prison, you’ll be led to a ship hangar. There are no other ships except the UC Prison Shuttle, so you have no choice but to fly it out and back to The Key. Unless you fit it with some decent weapons, you’re better off selling the ship.
Wanderwell
Unless you chose a very specific trait during character creation, you’ll never see the Wanderwell in Starfield. That trait is Kid Stuff, granting two very loving parents you can visit (and they even share some facial similarities). With how sweet they are, it’s definitely worth the very small amount of credits sent to them.
Dialogue aside, you can look at it as just you saving up for the Wanderwell. Whenever you visit your parents, they’ll give you gifts (like a firearm). Eventually, your dad will win a game of poker, and the prize is the Wanderwell, which he happily hands you the keys to. So, don’t be a stranger, and visit them often!
The Dagger
While you can purchase the Dagger from a wide variety of ship technicians, you can get one for free if you head over to the Jaffa system. There’s an outpost on Jaffa IV that the Ecliptic are using as a base of operations, called the Vulture’s Roost. If you clear out the outpost, the Dagger is yours!
As far as performance is concerned, it’s slightly better than the Frontier, with an emphasis on mobility. If you’re still using an all stock Frontier, it’s a marginal upgrade, though you’ll want to consider adding some extra storage. It’s only equipped with a measly 200 cargo!
Just Take Someone’s Ship
With the option to board ships, just about any ship you come across can be yours. And you don’t even need to resort to space piracy to do it, but I’d argue that’s more fun. You can also swipe someone’s ship on the ground, so long as you can access their cockpit.
If you want to avoid racking up a bounty, I suggest accepting bounty quests at a mission kiosk. These usually have you targeting the Crimson Fleet or Ecliptic spacers, often more than one ship. With a point in the Targeting Control Systems skill, you can target the last ship’s engine, get close, then board them and take it!
Starborn Guardian Ship
Finally, there’s the Starborn Guardian, the same kind of ship the Hunter flies. Unlike everything other ship in Starfield, this one you can’t hijack. Instead, it serves as a reward for beating the game and starting New Game+. You’ll start off the game inside this snazzy ship!
Out of all the free ships in Starfield, the Starborn Guiardian is definitely up there as one of the best, too. It’s fitted with two unique weapons, a lot of cargo, long jump range, and it handles like a dream. Unfortunately, you can’t alter anything on the ship; however, it does get upgraded the more you beat the game, just like the Starborn armor.
With that, we’ve covered everything there is on how to get all free ships in Starfield. Most ships serve as small upgrades from the Frontier, assuming you haven’t made any changes to it. For more related content, why not check out the top toughest enemies in Starfield?
