Paladin Ship Guide
An end game ship intended to show UC’s Vanguard that Deimos is not really all that. Very fast, extremely powerful and can handle anything a ship needs to do in the game, plus I think it looks great.
This character is over 60, has maxed Piloting, Starship Design, Engine Systems and Shield Systems as well as 3 ranks in Aneutronic Fusion (which adds capability to the reactor) and when I get that last level in that last skill my fighting profile will have full power shields, engines and both particle weapon arrays. At top speed she will run at 280 m/s and boost to well over 1000 m/s. At half speed, even with a couple of pips missing (if needed… guns and shields are most important) she can easily outmaneuver any pirate in the verse.
This is a design philosophy that might be considered min/maxing and/or overkill, but my ship designs should all be able to easily handle the pirate swarm at the Key. Obviously, a very similar ship can be built with lower grade parts if you like the general aesthetic but don’t have the capability to use all the parts yet. In fact, at a much lower level you could ditch the turrets and do just fine with whatever disintegrators you can use, or feel free to use a less powerful mix of lasers and ballistics if you wish, and you can still make do with much less power distribution than offered by the reactor I’m using. The jump drive and shield are B class and the engines are class A, so you can downgrade the reactor to B and do the best with the weapons are you are able.
In this design, if you intend to capture a ship you should power your turrets all the way down and power your EMP devices all the way up. You may not even need to worry about their shields… just blasting them at full power with the suppressors alone usually annihilates engines very quickly, shields or no. If you can build this ship, however, you are likely past the point that capturing space trash is worth your time.
The Habs were all chosen to maximize aesthetic appeal and a general feel for my particular tastes. I really like the overall look and design of Nova habs, so I tend to prefer them to other manufacturers, though I try to fit whatever works best. This particular ship design only has a reasonable amount of actual cargo space. This greatly improves mobility, which is much more important than having all your stuff with you at all times. I would rather have more jump fuel and less cargo if I need to trade for mobility.
I strongly suggest that you get in the habit of using an outpost for mass storage and crafting. Just build a ton of all four types of storage bins, link them all to a Transfer in the reverse order that you normally would, and then you can easily transfer all resources by dumping them into the lift directly from your inventory or your ship. No need to sort anything if you plan on just using it all to craft stuff… just dump it all in and whatever you need to make stuff will be available to you at any nearby crafting station or in your ship on the pad.
I try my best to use and orient habs in a way that minimizes ladders, deletes as few important furnishings as possible and provides a nice flow. I don’t hate ladders. I have a jetpack. I particularly love the Nova Captain’s Quarters and the pool table and weight benches in the living space. There are plenty of beds and tons of stuff for your crew to do. This is a military exploration ship that is designed to support a team of scientists and engineers on a long mission into the unknown, but also to keep them safe with enough firepower to stand its ground and enough speed to run away if needed. I think the cargo bay really fits in this case, but you can make that area whatever you want if you can’t stand it.
The colors I used are shown in the pictures, but each hab manufacturer has lighter or darker base tones, so you may have to make adjustments to saturation and/or brightness until the top of the ship looks approximately the same color. I picked a blue and gold theme to make it look like it belonged in a space navy, but make it your own.
I did have the Landing Gear mod installed when I built this, but it should be fine without that. Just in case, you may need to install this: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/1479 to eliminate the requirements. I don’t think this is at all game-breaking, but you do you, person that is looking at the Nexus. Personally, I put whatever gear that looks the best, and my ship can hover if I want that.
