Summary
- In Starfield, there are 20 distinct companions with their own skills and strengths, some suited for combat, diplomacy, or stealth-based scenarios.
- Crewmates can be assigned to follow the player, take care of the player's ship, or work at an outpost, and the choice depends on their skills and the specific needs of the outpost.
- There is a strict limit of one follower at a time for the player character on foot, but there are ways to exploit temporary followers to have multiple companions temporarily. There are also caps on ship and outpost crew sizes, but no overall limit on how many crewmates can be recruited.
There are tons of potential crewmates to be recruited in Starfield crewmates are looking for romance.
Whatever their particulars, each crewmate can be assigned to one of three tasks: following the player character, keeping an eye on their ship, or working at an Outpost. Each of these options has its advantages and disadvantages, and the right choice is very much situational. Some crewmates are better suited to Outpost work than space-faring adventures, and some Outposts are in need of crewmates with particular skills. However, there are numerical limits to all available posts, so there are a few things to keep in mind when recruiting and asg companions.
Starfield Has A Strict One-Follower Cap
No matter how many crewmates they've recruited, when they're on foot, the Starfield player character can only have one follower at a time. In order to swap them out, they'll need to send their current companion back to an outpost or ship, then find their preferred one wherever they're assigned and ask them to tag along. This has always been the standard for Bethesda RPGs, although Fallout games sometimes leave a little wiggle room by allowing players to have both a human and an animal companion at the same time. However, Starfield avoids that Fallout trope by not including any animal companions.
Now, the rules say that the player character can only have one follower at a time, but an exploit can allow them to turn a temporary companion into a semi-permanent one. Some quests require a particular NPC to tag along, usually one who has a personal investment in the mission. These short-term followers can still the party even if the player character has another crewmate with them. If the player character accepts one of these quests, takes on the conditional follower, and then puts off their objective as long as possible, the extra follower will stay with them until the quest is completed.
Of course, the major flaw in this strategy is that as soon as the temporary follower's quest is completed, they'll part ways with the player character. That's not an issue when they're tied to a minor side quest, but can disrupt more involved quest chains when kept up for a long period of time.
For example, Emma Wilcox of Freestar Collective and Mathis Castillo of the Crimson Fleet are both conditional companions who can the player character during their respective side quests "Where Hope Is Built" and "Echoes of the Past." However, these quests are necessary to complete the relevant Starfield faction storylines, so those will have to sit on the back burner while journeying with Emma or Mathis.
Starfield Has A Three-Crewmate Cap For Ships And Outposts, But It's Flexible
At first, Starfield imposes a strict limit on ship crew size, with only three crewmates allowed on the player character's ship at once. However, there are two ways to expand this. The first is the Ship Command skill, which is unlocked after putting 12 points into the Social skill. Each rank of the Ship Command skill adds one additional crewmate slot, eventually allotting space for up to eight people at a time. However, after the first point, it's not so simple. Each rank has a challenge that must be completed before taking it, like destroying 50 ships with a crew of six or more to the maximum level.
The second way to increase the number of crewmates allowed on the ship is by adding ship modules that increase available space. These include the Kon-Tiki B-500 Bridge and the Stroud Battle Station. By installing these, the crew limit can actually be increased to ten, beyond the Ship Command skill's cap of eight, but the player character will still need to have the requisite skill levels to add more than three crew to the ship.
Outpost caps work similarly, with a limit of three people per Outpost at the beginning of the game. This can be expanded with the Outpost Management skill, which only requires eight points in Social. Unlike ships, though, it's possible to have multiple active Outposts at once, which means that large numbers of crew can be spread out across multiple planets. There is, however, a maximum number of Outposts in Starfield that can't be exceeded. Players can start with eight, and can grow that number up to 24 by leveling up Planetary Habitation in the Science section of the skill tree.
Starfield Doesn't Put Limits On Your Overall Crew Size
Although there are limits to how many people can be assigned to a ship, outpost, or party, Starfield doesn't impose any kind of cap on how many crewmates can be recruited overall. There are 20 recruitable NPCs in the game, and it's entirely possible to pick up all 20 in a single playthrough. In fact, it's encouraged, since all of them have their own strengths, weaknesses, and dialogue options that are worth exploring.
However, it'd be inadvisable to zip around the galaxy recruiting all available crewmates before establishing multiple Outposts or leveling up skills that increase crew limits. Crew assigned to Outposts can make easy money in Starfield, so asg them to planets where there's no room on the work detail means wasting everybody's time.
Companion caps and skills may seem confusing at first, but in a normal playthrough, it's unlikely that anyone will run into issues with crew management. Still, the game doesn't take much time to explain how these systems work, so it's up to the player to learn what to look for when optimizing Outpost production and crewmate assignments. It's best to check up on Outposts and followers frequently in Starfield, investing in relevant skills and distributing crew evenly to ensure everything runs smoothly and turns a tidy profit.
