Starfield Shipyards list: Ship Manufacturers & Shipyard locations for unique ship parts
A huge part of your identity in the universe of Starfield is your starship, and thankfully your method of space exploration is as customizable as you’d hope for such an expansive RPG. To make something truly your own you’re going to make use of all of the ship manufacturers, however - which means knowing all their shipyards and shipyard locations.
When Starfield introduces you to ship ownership, it shows you to a friendly ship technician on the landing pad of New Atlantis - but it doesn’t actually explain the full depth of the system, and how it interacts with the lore of Starfield. In particular the different companies that make parts for ships will play a huge role in what sort of ship you can design.
Not all ship manufacturers in Starfield are equal - each has strengths, weaknesses, and specializations. If you want to mix-and-match parts to build the best ship, you’ll need to criss-cross the galaxy to visit different manufacturers at their dedicated shipyards. Thankfully, that’s what this guide is here to help you with; consider it a companion piece to our Starfield Ship Building guide.
All Starfield Shipyards: Ship Manufacturers, Shipyard Locations, and what they sell
Before we get into the Shipyards and Ship Manufacturers of Starfield, it's important to make clear that there's a major and important distinction to be made between the big and small ship parts creators - and between specialist shipyards and general ship technicians. Allow us to explain.
While Starfield has almost 20 unique ship manufacturers, only five of them truly matter in terms of building a unique, notable, original ship.
Basically, the five main, major companies each have their own design and speciality, and these are always in the areas that determine the outward-facing appearance of the ship - structural elements, cockpits, and even the ship’s inside spaces, aka the ‘habs’. For habs the manufacturer difference is particularly important, as explained in our Starfield ship habs guide.
The other ship companies are all more generic, and make things like weapons, fuel storage, and cargo hold ship inventory expansions - basically, stuff that has less of an impact on the overall style of your ship. Furthermore, the ‘generic’ ship parts can be found almost anywhere, including at most places that you find ship techs, which is the landing bays at all major and even some minor settlements.
Unique parts can be purchased, however, from the major companies. To do so you have to visit their bases of operations - be that staryards, showrooms, or offices. The major ship manufacturers are as follows:
Starfield: Ship Manufacturer Shipyard Locations for Unique Parts
As well as parts for adding to custom ships, each of these manufacturers sells their own off-the-peg ships in their unique house style - so if you’re not into customization as much, paying them a visit is also worthwhile.
If you're customizing, you can't just 'buy' the parts and fit them later - you'll have to fit them to a ship, and then fly somewhere else to mix-and-match from different suppliers. Each supplier is in a different location - some in dedicated space-bound shipyards, and some on the surface of planets, served from a landing pad.
- Deimos: Deimos Staryard, Orbit of Deimos (Moon of Mars), Sol System
- You’ll need to hail the Staryard before you can dock with it. Board, and downstairs inside you’ll find Nikau Henderson, who will sell you parts.
- There’s exclusive cockpits, landing gears, structures, and some large-sized habs all available here.
- It’s worth noting that the Deimos branded habs often have less workbenches and crafting stations than their peers, but in return have more storage space such as chests.
- Hopetech: Hopetown, Planet Polvo, Valo system (attached to Nairon System)
- Simply land at Hopetown and chat to the Ship Technician next to the town’s Trade Authority kiosk.
- You’ll find the usual here, plus Hopetech exclusive cockpits, dockers, landing gears, structure pieces, and a large number of habs.
- Hopetech has a few very unique cockpit pieces that can be entered from beneath, which means they can sit at the top of your ship without a hab behind them, with ladder access. This is quite rare.
- Hopetech also has some quite unique ‘fuselage’ shaped hab elements.
- Nova Galactic: New Homestead, Titan (Moon of Saturn), Sol System
- Famous for its Habs, Landing Gears, and Structural parts.
- The technician on the Landing Pad of New Homestead is a Nova Galactic employee and has a huge range of exclusive ship parts.
- This includes enormous 3x2 habs, and a brilliant 3x2 cockpit, plus one of the most powerful landing gears in Starfield.
- Stroud-Eklund: Stroud-Eklund Staryard, Orbit of Dalvik (Moon of Deepala), Nairon System
- Inside a small sales cubicle, Havershaw will sell you any parts you need.
- You’ll be able to buy a unique landing bay, cockpits, dockers, landing gears, and more.
- Taiyo: Ryuijn Offices, Neon, Volii Alpha, Volii System
- You’ll need to enter the Ryujin office building and take the elevator to the Taiyo offices. In the Sales Room you’ll find Veronica Young, the vendor.
- You’ll find unique Bays, Cockpits, Dockers, and Habs, plus structural parts with Taiyo’s unique sense of style.
Generic Ship Manufacturers & Companies
As previously mentioned, there are many other ‘generic’ manufacturers - these have a variety of names, but these companies aren’t ones you can visit specific offices for. Instead, you’ll find their products scattered across all of the various Staryards and Landing Pad Ship Services technicians you can visit across Starfield’s Galaxy.
These generic ship part manufacturers are and specialize in the following:
- Amun Dunn: Power Reactors
- Ballistic Solutions: Ballistic Weapons, Fuel Storage
- Deep Core: Grav Drives, Cargo Storage
- Dogstar: Cargo Storage, Reactors, Shields
- Horizon Defense: Weapons
- Light Scythe: Energy Type Weapons
- Nautilus: Fuel Storage, Shields
- Panoptes: Engines & Cargo Storage
- Protectorate Systems: Cargo Storage
- Reladyne: Grav Drives, Engines
- Sextant Shield Systems: Shielded Cargo Bays, for hiding Contraband
- Shinigami: Energy Type Weapons
- Slayton Aerospace: Grav Drives
- Xiang: Power Reactors
Ship Landing Pad Shipyard Locations
In addition to the Shipyards, there are of course the standard Ship Landing Pads in Starfield - which typically have Ship Technician attached who acts as a vendor for designing and upgrading ships. Expect these technicians to have less specialist stock than the Shipyards - though exactly what they have available for ship building does vary from one Ship Technician and Landing Pad to the next.
Here are all of the Ship Landing Pads and Ship Technicians we know of - which will allow you to adjust your ship in lieu of a visit to a true Shipyard:
- Akila City Landing Pad: Akila City, Akila, Cheyenne System
- Cydonia Landing Pad: Cydonia, Mars, Sol System
- The Den: In the orbit of Chthonia, Wolf System. Also a great place to Sell Contraband.
- The Key: In the orbit of Suvorov, Kryx System. You must join the Crimson Fleet to dock here.
- Neon Landing Pad: Neon, Volii Alpha, Volii System
- New Atlantis Landing Pad: New Atlantis, Jemison, Alpha Centauri System
- Paradiso Landing Pad: Paradiso, Porrima II, Porrima System
- Red Mile Landing Pad: Red Mile, Porrima III, Porrima System. This is also a great place to Sell Contraband.
It bears mentioning that while they're more generic than the proper manufacturer-exclusive shipyards, not all landing pad ship technicians in Starfield are equal - even when they’re not attached to a specific company.
The ship technician on Porrima III at the Red Mile sells shielded Cargo Bays, for instance. So too does the ship tech aboard The Key if you join the Crimson Fleet.
Plus, once you unlock a landing pad on your outpost and assign crew to the outpost, you'll get your own ship tech who tends to have particularly broad stock.
While the major companies listed above are worth visiting for their unique and exclusive ship design elements and parts, it’s worth checking in with all ship techs you pass to see exactly what they have to offer you.
Best Ship Manufacturers for Parts
So, is there a best manufacturer in Starfield? The answer, as you might expect in a game this large, is complicated. In fact, the answer is probably no - but the truth is, it really depends on exactly what you’re after.
I made a beeline for Nova Galactic, for instance, because I loved their giant two-storey, Star Trek-esque bridge, which was unique to them. Those who want to focus on a more militaristic look might want to instead prioritize Deimos. Stroud-Eklund has some of the best cowling around, however, and are directly responsible for the Star Eagle, arguably the best pre-built ship in the game other than the New Game Plus unlock.
This goes on and on. All of the Ship Manufacturers are worth a visit, as all have something unique to offer. Visit them all, figure out what will best work for you.. And get to building!