Summary
A recently releasedStarfieldmod aims to make in-game space exploration much more unpredictable by expanding the RPG with a wide variety of extra content. To that end, the mod adds dozens of new space encounters toStarfield.
Bethesda’s latest RPG has been touted as a space exploration game ever since its reveal. The way the developer delivered on that promise was by going all-in on making the Settled Systems as vast as possible, with the day-one version of the game ultimately featuring over 1,000 explorable planets. And while the company’s decision to double down on procedurally generated points of interest remains a polarizing topic among the fandom, a more commonly accepted point of criticism is thatStarfieldmissed a big opportunity with explorationby not offering more space encounters.
Dark Universe - Crossfire Mod Adds 50 Space Encounters to Starfield
A newly released add-on by Nexus Mods user Kaosnyrb addresses some of those grievances. CalledDark Universe - Crossfire, this mod adds 50 new space encounters to the game. It introduces ten types of events in total, most of which revolve around some kind of warfare betweenStarfieldfactions. One such category of encounters offers players a chance to stop pirates from taking over a ship, while several others will see them engage in two- or three-way spacecraft battles. A few involve following distress beacons, never knowing exactly what kind of threat triggered them.
Aside from adding skirmishes, Dark Universe - Crossfire also extends the game’s list of space encounters with lost unmarked shipments containing a wide variety of randomized goods. Boss battles are also part of the package, catering to players eager to seize more opportunities to engage withStarfield’s ship combat mechanics.
Elaborating on the reasoning behind the mod, Kaosnyrb explained that they never felt like the game made “space-only characters” particularly viable. Adding a bunch of combat encounters that are a great source of both loot and experience points is the modder’s attempt at remedying that perceived shortcoming.
Crossfire is the third add-on in Kaosnyrb’s Dark Universe mod series, which is generally geared toward making meaningful difficulty changes to the game that are specifically aimed at experienced players. The first of those, called Black Sea, completely eliminates friendly space encounters from the game, making ship exploration a much more unforgiving experience. That add-on was followed by Dark Universe - Hull Breach, which prevents players from magically fixing their ships by simply pressing a key or button during combat. Although some recentevidence pointed toStarfield’s Creation Kit 2 being on the horizon, Bethesda has yet to launch the game’s official modding tools as of mid-April 2024.
Starfield
WHERE TO PLAY
Starfield is the first new universe in 25 years from Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4. In this next generation role-playing game set amongst the stars, create any character you want and explore with unparalleled freedom as you embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery.The year is 2330. Humanity has ventured beyond our solar system, settling new planets, and living as a spacefaring people. From humble beginnings as a space miner, you will join Constellation – the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy – and navigate the vast expanse of the Settled Systems in Bethesda Game Studios’ biggest and most ambitious game.
