• but at the time of writing, any vessel I abandon is essentially gone for good.

This is going to beJalopy: Galactic Edition, I said to myself.

Now that I’ve worked out the trick of boarding enemy ships, it’s actually very easy.

A hangar view of a relatively well-armed Crimson Fleet Spectre spaceship in Starfield.

This place is a palace!

A whole section given over to 3D printers and worktables for crafting and modding!

Whiteboards with somebody’s maths homework all over them!

The player chasing a larger pirate vessel in Starfield.

But it’s nothing a solo tenant need fret over.

Well devil take thee, Crimson Fleet Spectre!

I guess it’s the long haul for old Mary Read.

A room on a spaceship in Starfield with corpses floating in zero gravity.

What’s an ailing stardog to do but pick on somebody her own size, or thereabouts.

Time to bloody the waves elsewhere.

I “joke” with Mrs Whitmore about being a pirate.

A hatchway view down through several levels of a spaceship in Starfield.

Some kid comes over the radio to ask if I’m telling the truth.

Ugh, I can’t do this.

Let’s get out of here, Mary.

A space pirate flying around a corner in zero gravity in Starfield.

c’mon, nobody tell theStarfield modpeople though, you know what they’re like.

I head to the next moon.

A broken-down UC Dagger is also in need of ship parts.

A room aboard a spaceship in Starfield with objects flying around in zero gravity.

Hah, United Colonies, is it?

Well, who’s laughing now?

My blood is up.

A menacing abandoned space derelict in Starfield.

I recall that Alpha Centauri is home to the game’s Constellation faction of cosmic pioneers.

The Spectre is an absolute dream, by Mary’s standards anyway.

Hey, that captain must be trying tomanually fly to the next world!

The player in dialogue with an NPC ship in Starfield.

I swoop in close and, good heavens, this thing is massive!

I do have one significant advantage, though, which is my intricate tactical understanding of ladders.

Don’t rush, kindly, there’s plenty of shotgun for all!

An NPC vessel piloted by a school teacher Mrs Whitmore in Starfield.

The Chimera feels even bigger from the inside - a star-faring village.

I actually manage to get lost trying to find the bridge.

There’s a boardroom of some kind with some arresting loregunk on the walls nearby.

The player flying through space in Starfield, with another ship in the distance and a planet at the top of the screen.

We reavers of the skylanes are a solitary breed.

The void is our confidant, the comets and asteroids our bedfellows.

Either that or the AI’s broken again.

The player blowing up another ship in Starfield against a backdrop of asteroids.

I put the captain out of their misery, and take a stroll around the bridge.

It’s highlyStar Trek-worthy.

I sit Mary down on a chair in a corner, turn off the HUD and feel very alone.

A level-up screen in Starfield, showing the Piloting skill tree.

Part 3 isover here.

A close-up targeting mode view of a large military ship in Starfield.

A firefight in Starfield with NPCs clambering down a ladder one after the other.

A captain’s office in a spaceship in Starfield, with a desk and bed with ornaments.

A spaceship chamber full of machines, tables and crew facilities in Starfield.

A view through a spaceship skylight at a nearby planet in Starfield.

A table and chairs on a starship in Starfield.

A glitched-out NPC captain in Starfield.

The player’s character sitting by herself all alone on a starship in Starfield.