Starfield Fast Travel: Learn how to quickly and efficiently travel in Starfield using new methods. This guide provides helpful tips to make your fast travel experience smoother.
Navigating the realm of Starfield fast travel can significantly simplify your journeys between previously explored locations within the vast expanse of star systems. While Starfield offers a convenient fast travel feature, it’s crucial to know the ins and outs of its mechanics, as there are several methods to use and a couple of essential rules to bear in mind.
Though it may occasionally require some maneuvering in the Starmap menu, the Scanner tool streamlines the process for shorter trips.
There exists a surprisingly varied array of Starfield fast travel options, each accompanied by its own set of considerations. Our guide aims to elucidate these methods for you.
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Starfield Fast Travel Tips
Starfield’s fast travel system is surprisingly versatile, hinging on just two fundamental rules that necessitate your attention:
- Fast travel is exclusively available to planets and systems you’ve previously visited. Otherwise, you’ll be compelled to execute a full Starfield grav jump.
- While overburdened, you cannot engage in on-foot fast travel. However, you retain this capability while aboard your spaceship.
These rules imply that you can use the Starfield fast travel functionality to swiftly traverse from one planet to another or even from system to system, as long as you’ve already set foot on your intended destination. However, things might get a bit intricate as two primary methods for initiating fast travel exist.
In general, you can typically trigger Starfield fast travel either via your Starmap or through the Scanner, depending on whether you’re exploring on foot or piloting your spacecraft. To provide a concise overview, here are the steps to execute fast travel in Starfield through two primary avenues:
1. Planet Fast Travel:
In Starfield, you can seamlessly leap between planets, streamlining your interplanetary journeys. Executing Starfield fast travel to planets is straightforward:
- Press the ‘M’ key to open the map.
- Select your desired planet for fast travel and press ‘X.’
- Hold down the ‘X’ button after pressing it once to initiate fast travel.
- Following the ‘X’ button hold, your spaceship will autonomously navigate to the designated planet.
2. Ship Fast Travel:
Starfield extends the convenience of fast traveling to your ship. This feature proves especially handy when exploring a planet. Here’s how to execute Starfield fast travel to your spacecraft:
- Press the ‘F’ key on your keyboard to activate the Scanner.
- Direct the Scanner toward your ship’s location.
- While targeting your ship, press ‘E’ to initiate fast travel to your vessel.
Alternatively, you can use the surface map to expedite travel to your ship. Open your Scanner and press ‘G’ to reveal the surface map. Then, press ‘R’ to trigger fast travel to your ship.
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Starfield Fast Travel Methods
The Starfield fast travel methods can be broadly categorized into two types: local planet jumps and star system grav jumps. You’ll unlock this mechanic fairly early in the game, particularly when you undertake a mission on the planet Kreet. However, more options become accessible once you reach New Atlantis, the capital of Jemison within the Alpha Centauri system.
Fast Travel on Planets:
Fast traveling on a planet in Starfield is as uncomplicated as opening the menu and selecting the map located in the upper-left corner of your screen. The initial map view provides an overview of key points of interest on the planet or moon. By merely selecting a landmark, landing area, or ship, you can navigate to your chosen location. It’s worth noting that this functionality remains inactive during combat, when you’re overburdened, or while inside another facility or area, such as a cave within a base.
New Atlantis boasts six Starfield fast-travel locations: the docking area, commercial district, residential district, MAST district, the Lodge, and your ship. Should you opt to exit this selection group, you’ll encounter additional outposts. Additionally, you have the flexibility to select any area on the planet, enabling swift landings, as long as the chosen spot is suitable for a spacecraft’s landing – you won’t be able to land in the middle of an ocean, for instance.
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Reaching Other Star Systems via Grav Jumps:
The alternative method of Starfield fast travel involves venturing to different star systems. As is customary, you’ll begin by opening your map and subsequently navigating to the galaxy view, often referred to as the star map. This view enables you to pick a distinct star system for your journey. However, it’s essential to note that you can only embark directly on a course to a star system if you’ve previously discovered the associated path or node.
Furthermore, the distance you can cover depends on your ship’s fuel and grav drive. In certain scenarios, you might need to execute multiple jumps.
Below we have elaborated further on the grav jump process for reaching other star systems:
- While in orbit, you must allocate power (indicated by the little pips) to the grav drive (GRV), situated in the lower-left section of your screen.
- This may necessitate reallocating power from other systems, such as weapons, engines, or shields.
- The more power you allot, the shorter the countdown before the grav jump initiates. For instance, with +3 power, the jump occurs after a four-second countdown.
- This operation can be performed even during combat situations. It’s almost a necessity if you encounter hostile forces upon arriving on another planet, as engaging them in battle might not be a viable option.
- If you’re prepared to fast travel to your active quest, you can instantly set a course and fast travel to the appropriate star system (or docking station if you’re already on the right planet) with a single button press in the pause menu. On Xbox controllers, this default button is ‘X.’
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Using Starmap and Scanner for Starfield Fast Travel
Utilizing the Starmap for Starfield fast travel:
The Starmap plays a pivotal role in your celestial navigation and fast travel endeavors. What sets it apart is that you don’t need to be within close proximity to your ship to utilize it – you can swiftly access the Starmap by holding the pause button. It excels in facilitating swift planet-to-planet or system-to-system journeys but does involve traversing various menus.
Use one of the following Starfield fast travel methods based on your intended destination – using any of these methods will relocate your ship accordingly:
- Fast Travel to a Different Location on the Current Planet: Access the Starmap to view your present planet. Opt for any location on the planet, even if you haven’t explored it previously. Essentially, you can designate nearly any spot on a planet as a landing area, provided it’s suitable for a ship’s landing – avoiding areas in the midst of oceans, for instance. Once you’ve made your selection, follow the ‘Travel’ prompt to initiate fast travel to the chosen location.
- Fast Travel to a Different Planet Within the Same System: Open the Starmap and press ‘B’ on your controller to shift to the system view, which displays the entire star system you’re currently in. Within this system view, you can select a planet you’ve visited before, and even pinpoint a landing site. However, if this represents your initial visit to the chosen planet, you must initially establish an orbit course. After successfully entering the planet’s orbit, you can then employ the Starmap to select a landing location.
- Fast Travel to a Planet in a Different System: Activate your Starmap and press ‘B’ on your controller twice to transition to galaxy view, a panoramic perspective showcasing all star systems. Pick a star system you’ve previously explored and subsequently select a planet or location within that system that you’ve previously visited. Follow the landing prompt to effectuate fast travel amidst the stars. Please note that journeying to an uncharted system necessitates a grav jump beforehand.
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Utilizing Your Scanner for Starfield fast travel:
When you’re traversing the surface of a planet or moon on foot, or soaring through the cosmos in your spacecraft, you can swiftly fast-travel to a location you’ve previously visited, which is visible on your Scanner. This eliminates the need for utilizing the Starmap, proving particularly advantageous if you wish to maximize your ship-based travel. The functionality varies slightly depending on whether you’re on foot or on your ship:
Starfield fast travel when on Foot:
- Activate your Scanner using ‘RB’ on your controller.
- Focus on the icon representing your desired destination.
- Press ‘Y’ to initiate fast travel. Alternatively, you can invoke the Surface Map by pressing ‘RB’ again and manually selecting a location using the cursor.
Starfield fast travel when in Your Ship:
- Activate your Scanner and click on your chosen destination on the planet’s surface or an adjacent planet with ‘A.’
- A prompt will appear, inviting you to travel to the selected destination.
- However, it’s important to note that traveling to other star systems still mandates the use of the Starmap and a grav jump.
When you employ the Scanner or the Surface Map for on-foot fast travel, your ship remains stationary, but returning to your spacecraft is easily accomplished through either method. Simply gaze at your ship’s icon on the Scanner, or open the Surface Map and press ‘Y’ to instantly warp back to your ship. Of course, ensure that you’re not overburdened before initiating this process!
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