Carrying contraband can be a tempting proposition in Starfield, but deciding whether the risk is worth it isn’t always easy. The new space-faring RPG wouldn’t be a Bethesda game if it didn’t feature some illegal ways of making money, and smuggling contraband from planet to planet has an undeniable piratical appeal. Attempting to make an illicit profit without first understanding the system, however, is a fast ticket to an arrest that will see a downward turn for finances instead.
Contraband can be acquired in a number of ways in Starfield, whether lifted off of other smugglers or found in abandoned labs. A yellow marker distinguishes contraband goods in the inventory, making it easy to keep track of items that will flag security and result in legal troubles. Locations under the stewardship of the United Colonies or Freestar Collective are not safe to approach with detectable contraband, whether approaching by ship or fast traveling to the surface. Resisting or evading arrest will trigger a bounty, which places a target on the protagonist’s back for security to act on until the bounty is cleared.
Smuggling contraband into United Colonies or Freestar Collective planets without any relevant upgrades is a fool’s errand in Starfield, as arrest is a certainty. Unlocking Crimson Fleet quests is the best way to make contraband a viable path to profit. Shielded Cargo Holds or ships that feature them can be purchased at the Crimson Fleet’s base, which will hide a select amount of cargo from scanners. It’s also possible to acquire Shielded Cargo upgrades (but not ships built with them to begin with) on the planet of Porrima III. The final method is to commandeer a ship that already has one to make use of its illicit capabilities.
Even a Shielded Cargo Hold doesn’t reduce the chance of discovery to zero, with a percentage chance of discovery rising depending on how full the shielded section is. Two other methods that can help hide contraband in Starfield and lower the odds of detection are upgrading the Deception social skill and purchasing a scan jammer, which comes in both lower and higher-efficacy variants. The superior dual-frequency jammer both costs more and requires the Ship Builder skill, making the single-frequency option easier to obtain in the early game. Heavy smugglers might want to combine all the possible upgrades to make their work as safe and easy as possible.
Smuggling may not be a completely safe proposition, but it is a solid path to easy money in Starfield that incurs generally minor financial risks. However, there’s absolutely no point in embarking on the venture until acquiring some form of protection from scans, as the failure rate at the start of the game will be an unmitigated 100%. As long as a Shielded Cargo Hold is installed or jammers and Deception have raised the odds to look favorable, carrying contraband on a Starfield ship is a worthwhile venture.
2023-09-01 23:24:03
Link from screenrant.com
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