How to Target Engines in Starfield

As you explore different systems and planets in Starfield, you’re going to come across spaceships and crews that aren’t happy to see you. So unhappy, in fact, that they’ll begin blasting lasers into your ship on sight. Now, you can do what any normal space flight enthusiast would do and light them up with all of your weapons until they’re in 12 pieces, but it’s both simple and inefficient. Instead, there’s a way to bring down their systems and cripple their ability to combat you. Here’s how to target a ship’s engines in Starfield.

How to Destroy the Engines of an Enemy Ship in Starfield

There are a few ways you can go about taking down an enemy ship’s engines in Starfield. The easiest way is to simply take down a ship’s shields and focus fire on its engines. This will work in some cases but can be inefficient and quite inconsistent. Trying to fire at the engines of a moving target is, naturally, a massive challenge.

Thankfully, Bethesda thought of this and included a way to target specific components. To access this feature, you need a point in the Targeting Control Systems skill, found under the Tech tree. You’re free to put more points into this skill, though it isn’t mandatory. The ranks of the Targeting Control Systems skill do the following:

• Rank 1: Unlocks ship targeting functionality.
• Rank 2: Time to lock onto enemy ships is reduced by 15%. Target-locked ships fire at you 25% slower.
• Rank 3: Time to lock onto enemy ships is reduced by 30%. You have a 10% increased chance of critically hitting a target-locked ship.
• Rank 4: Time to lock onto enemy ships is reduced by 60%. Deal 20% increased system damage in targeting mode.

With the point invested, aiming at a ship long enough will allow you to press a button to lock onto that target. This puts you in slow motion but allows you to focus on a component of your choosing. Provided their shields are down when you do this, that component should start taking damage until you destroy it entirely.

What Does Destroying a Ship’s Engines Do?

If you manage to take down the enemy ship’s engines, their ship will become a sitting duck and be open to a barrage of fire. If you’re trying to acquire some new hardware though, destroying the engines also lets you dock with their ship (if no enemy ships are around). This can be done by flying close to the ship and pressing either the R key on PC or X button on controller. From there, you can kill all hostiles within and sit in the pilot’s seat to jack their ship. Once you bring it to a spaceport, it’ll be part of your ship inventory. From there, you can use it, improve upon it, or sell it for some extra Credits.

If you’re looking into more details about that second use, check out our guide on how to hijack a ship in Starfield.