Outposts let you turn Starfield’s procedurally explored planets into a working industrial network, extracting raw materials automatically and shipping them across star systems without you lifting a finger once everything is set up. It is one of the more involved systems in the game, blending base building, logistics, and crafting into a single loop that rewards planning. This guide covers how to build your first outpost, manage power and resources properly, and eventually automate supply chains between multiple outposts using cargo links.
Placing your first outpost
To build an outpost, you need an Outpost Beacon, which you can craft or purchase early in the game, then deploy it on a planet’s surface from your inventory. Once placed, the beacon opens the outpost building menu, letting you construct extractors, habitation modules, storage containers, and power sources within a set building radius. Before committing to a location, check the resource scan of the planet or moon, since different bodies contain different combinations of extractable materials, and the outpost location determines exactly what you will be able to harvest automatically.
Power comes first
A common beginner mistake is placing extractors before securing enough power to run them, which leaves the extractors sitting inactive. Starfield gives you three main power source options: a Solar Array, a Wind Turbine, or a Fueled Generator, and each has different strengths depending on the planet’s environment. Solar power works well on planets with strong sunlight and is often sufficient for a single starter extractor, while a Fueled Generator provides steady power regardless of conditions but consumes fuel to run. The best practice is to build your power source first, confirm your available power budget in the build menu, and only then add extractors one at a time so you never overdraw your supply.
Resource extraction basics
Extractors mine a specific resource directly from deposits on the planet’s surface, and placing one requires standing near a marked resource deposit detected during your scan. Different resource types need different extractor buildings, so a planet rich in iron will need iron extractors, while one with helium-3 deposits requires gas extractors instead. Early on, prioritizing common but useful materials like iron, aluminum, nickel, copper, and lead sets up a foundation for crafting weapon and spacesuit mods, as well as outpost expansion materials, without requiring rare finds. For a broader overview of how outposts tie into the rest of the game’s systems, check out our complete Starfield guide.
The Outpost Engineering skill
Outpost Engineering, a Science category skill, directly controls what tier of outpost modules you are able to build. Rank 1 unlocks improved outpost modules and lets you research additional ones at a Research Lab. Rank 2 and Rank 3 progressively unlock superior and cutting-edge modules as you invest further skill points. Rank 4 is especially valuable for large-scale outpost networks, since it reduces the resource cost of building outpost modules by half, which matters a great deal once you are constructing dozens of extractors and storage units across multiple planets.
Botany and Zoology for organic resources
Not every resource comes from mining. The Botany skill, at Rank 1, lets you produce plant-based resources at outposts, while Zoology does the same for animal-derived materials. These skills are worth picking up if you plan to feed resource chains for cooking, chemistry, or certain research projects, since they open up entire categories of materials that extractors alone cannot supply.
Storage and organizing your outpost
Once resources start flowing in, you need containers to hold them. Linking an extractor’s output directly to a storage container keeps materials from piling up uncollected, and organizing storage by resource type makes it far easier to track what you have stockpiled when you are ready to craft or ship goods elsewhere. As your outpost grows, adding a Cargo Landing Pad lets your own ship dock directly at the outpost to load and unload cargo manually, which is useful before you have automated cargo links running.
Building cargo links between outposts
Cargo Links automate the transfer of resources between two outposts within the same star system and do not require fuel to operate. Building one requires a mix of iron, aluminum, beryllium, and zero wire, and it is found under the Miscellaneous tab of the outpost build menu. For transfers across different star systems, Inter-System Cargo Links serve the same purpose but require a Comm Relay and a steady supply of Helium-3 as fuel, since the cargo ship needs to make an actual grav jump between systems.
Setting one up involves creating an Output Link at the sending outpost, connecting an extractor or storage container’s output directly to the Cargo Link’s outgoing container. At the receiving outpost, you then activate the Control Console on your own Cargo Link and select the sending outpost from the available list. Once configured, an automated cargo ship periodically lands, loads or unloads resources over a few in-game minutes, and departs, moving materials between your outposts without any manual hauling.
Designing an efficient outpost network
A well-planned outpost network usually starts with two or three key resource-rich planets close together within the same system, connected by standard Cargo Links, before expanding outward with Inter-System links once you have the fuel infrastructure to support them. Centralizing storage and crafting stations at a single “hub” outpost, with satellite outposts feeding raw materials into it, keeps your operation organized and makes large crafting projects, ship part construction, and even weapon or spacesuit modification far more efficient than constantly traveling between scattered, disconnected sites.
Outpost building rewards patience more than any other system in Starfield. Start small with a single powered extractor, expand into Outpost Engineering ranks as you level up, and only invest in cargo link automation once you have a clear sense of which resources you actually need flowing between your growing network of outposts across the Settled Systems.