The Starfield crew members you can recruit are absolutely vital to your journey through the universe, playing a key role in both your ship performance and outpost success. But how does the crew work in Starfield? Well, it’s quite the complex system, building upon the successes of Fallout 4’s settlers with astronomical improvements and innovations. So, here’s everything you need to know about Starfield crew, including all crew abilities, and how crew impact your ship and outposts in the game.
Starfield crew members are important for the daily runnings of your ship and outposts. While they’re similar to companions, they’re not quite as fleshed out. Their main function is to help you explore the Starfield planets and expand your interstellar settlements. Before the Starfield release date arrives, learn the ins and outs of the Starfield crew system so you’re prepared for your adventure through the stars in what could easily be one of the best RPG games.
Starfield crew explained
Starfield crew members are NPC characters that you can hire to work on your ship and outposts, providing various functions and bonuses to these features. They are similar to companions, although they do not have unique quests and are not romanceable.
Crew can be assigned to work in Starfield ships and Starfield outposts where they will provide various effects depending on their skills. So, when hiring and assigning your crew members, look carefully at the skills they offer. For example, some are skilled at Starship Engineering, while others are adept at Outpost Engineering, and various other beneficial areas.
Unfortunately, crew members are not quite as complex and dynamic as the companion counterparts. While companions are among the Starfield romance options and have full questlines to experience, crew members do not. Despite that, crew are still unique characters with names and skills, and they can accompany you as you explore.
All confirmed Starfield crew members
Here are all three confirmed Starfield crew members we’ve seen so far:
- Marika Boros
- Heller
- Adoring Fan (Hero Worshiped Trait)
Marika Boros and Heller are the only standard crew members we’ve seen in detail so far, and they certainly look like great additions to the team. The Adoring Fan, however, is a unique crew member in that they can only be acquired if you have Hero Worshiped, one of the Starfield traits. Remember, the Starfield companions can also be assigned to ships and outposts like crew members, so be sure to check out our guide on the topic for more information.
Marika Boros
Marika Boros is a crew member that can be hired at The Viewport spaceport, likely located in the Starfield New Atlantis city. She’s a capable ballistics expert, making her a great pick for an outpost crew member or to join you on expeditions.
Marika Boros skills:
- Ballistics 2
- Shotgun Certification 1
- Particle Beam Weapon Systems 1
Heller
Heller is a crew member likely recruited through exploration, as he seems to be stranded on a desolate planet during the Starfield Direct. Given his skill set, Heller makes for a strong outpost crew member but little else.
Heller skills:
- Outpost Engineering 3
- Geology 1
Adoring Fan
The Adoring Fan is a crew member that can only be hired if you picked the Hero Worshiped trait during Starfield character creation, making him a unique crew member. If you can put up with his incessant noise and compliments, then the Adoring Fan can actually be a strong crew member for exploration if you don’t want to bring one of the companions with you.
If you’ve played The Elder Scrolls Oblivion before, you might recognise the Adoring Fan. While they were a one-off character players could find while exploring in Oblivion, Bethesda have embraced the joke and brought the Adoring Fan back as a Starfield crew member.
Adoring Fan skills:
- Weight Lifting 2
- Scavenging 1
- Concealment 1
How to get Starfield crew members
Starfield crew members can be hired at spaceports throughout the galaxy or can be while exploring planets. For example, Marika Boros is recruited from The Viewport spaceport, while Heller is located on a desolate planet.
Given how you recruit new crew members, we recommend you explore every inch of the world that you can, especially spaceports. Crew will be looking for a new place to call home and they might just have the valuable skills you need to improve your ship or outpost performance. This is even more important given you can assign multiple crew members to a single ship or outpost, and can have several active outposts at any given time. Therefore, you’re going to need an expansive crew roster if you want a flourishing network of settlements helping the cause.
We expect that some crew will require you to first complete set tasks or reach certain milestones to unlock so as not to break the progression of Starfield ship customization and outposts by immediately acquiring the best Starfield crew.
Similar to Fallout 4’s settlement automatons and robotic security systems, it’s also likely that we will be able to build and craft robot crew members in Starfield. During the Starfield Direct 2023, we see a Security Mini Bot listed in the crew management interface. While it’s possible these can be found or purchased, there’s also a high chance we can construct our own using the crafting system.
Best Starfield crew
The best Starfield crew members are likely to be the companions, as these offer high rank skills in a variety of categories. However, if you don’t want to assign companions, then the best crew will have strong ship and outpost skills.
Since you’ll likely be exploring with companions rather than assigning them to work aboard your ship or even in other systems stationed in your outposts, having the best crew members is a great idea as these can be permanently assigned to these systems and don’t have other functions you might want them for. Companions will more often than not trump crew members when it comes to exploration as they have more unique and developed characters, so crew that have skills that aid exploration are generally weaker.
We’d recommend you instead focus on the unique specialism of crew as ship and outpost buffers and assign them to work at your facilities. Look for crew with skills like Outpost Engineering or Piloting to improve your outposts and ships respectively.
Considering you can establish trade routes between outposts, however, even the weakest Starfield crew characters can be useful. So, if you’ve got an unwanted or weak crewmate, you can always assign them to a far flung outpost. In fact, we’d recommend you do that to the Adoring Fan once they inevitably get on your nerves.
And that’s all you need to know about Starfield crew right now, from all the crew members confirmed so far, to how to get crew, and even the best crew members in the game. With upgraded facilities, you should be able to upgrade your Starfield armor and Starfield weapons even more.
Still looking for more? While a good Starfield wiki can be a handy source of information, our new Starfield Database goes further, offering you daily news, searchable databanks, and even interactive tools.
