This "essay", roughtly stitched together from separate notes and ideas, started as a dive into the latest Bethesda RPG entry - to seek glimpses of what Fallout 5 can be.
But along the way I formed some thoughts on how Starfield can became a more internally coherent experience. In my humble opinion, of course.
Turning a Hollow Colossus into a Dreadnought. Thoughts on how to make Starfield a truly systemic game
Starfield is undoubtedly a game of impressive scale. Industrial outposts with production chains, modular shipbuilding, some degree of factional economies, decoratable housing, gear modification, and so on.
All the systems are there, deep and intricate. But they are disconnected from each other – you can interact with every system, or ignore all of them, with the same outcome.
This is why a term “Hollow Colossus” came to mind – a world that feels huge but has no internal system.
I do not want to redesign Starfield – not even to the rumored 2.0 version. I see a way to expand it without breaking what’s working - the game already has all the pieces, you just need an incentive for the player to assemble the puzzle.
The idea is simple in structural terms – introduce a single element that creates demand, and let everything else reorganize around it.
From a single thought (already partially introduced by the modding community) – a buildable Dreadnought-class ship – a “roadmap” for a three-stage expansion cycle was born.
DLC 1. Orbital shipyard.
Introduce a dormant orbital shipyard – unfinished, abandoned (because the war ended before it was finished). Its restoration shoild be a challenge – you need to create reliable inflow of rare materials and connect it to the shipyard – making both cargo links and outpost defence meaningful.
The shipyard also becomes the ultimate base. Gives the player that feeling of ownership. A customizable housing (a penthouse in a spire maybe – literal and figural pinnacle of Starfield’s “NASA-punk” design). Plus, the operating shipyard will introduce a lightweight “management" game loop that generates passive income, freeing the player from the usual Neon Strip vendor run.
DLC II. The Dreadnought
When the shipyard is ready, it unlocks building of a literal Dreadnought. To make the system accessible, players can start with pre-designed variants (by joining one of the major shipbuilders - the existing design schools) or build one from scratch.
To not to break existing mechanics, Dreadnough souldn’t be able to land on planets. Reaching a planet will require a hangar module and a specialized shuttle (or Class A/Class B fighter). Early-game shipbuilding returns as a vialble and necessary element of the endgame.
This also affects space combat. Dreadnought is a mobile base. You can command from the bridge, or assign follower as XO. You can engage into dogfights on smaller ships, and eventually into CQB inside the ship itself. Terran Armada DLC already presented all the mechanics and assets needed.
Damaged Dreadnought has to be repaired – not just by paying 1000 credits at the spaceport, but with delivery of materials and resources, maybe a variety of radiant repair quests.
DLC III. Starborn resoultion
To add narrative weight (and internal logic) to the idea, the player should choose to integrate the Armillary into its reactor, sacrificing the possibility of transitioning to Unity. As a conscious narrative / RP choice to remain in this world.
That makes the Dreadnought a target for other Starborn, locked in this universe by the player’s choice. And attack on the ship is a separate event, incorporating all the gameplay loops player got familiar with earlier. With some cinematic flawour – the dreadnought is overwhelmed, player's fighter is critically damaged and crashes inside the hangar. Fighting continues in the corridors and halls, then on the bridge. And eventualy (in a scripted way) – the defense falls, forcing player and his crew to evacuate.
Then comes the recovery.
First step – a non-companion NPC (or companion left behind) piloting one of the player's old, forgotten ships, saves him/her.
Second step – the player searches the scattered crew, revisiting (reintroducing) characters and locations (ME Citadel DLC effect, but less sentimental).
Third step – the player needs to form an alliance to retake his lost Dreadnaught. Revisiting and summing up all the faction-related choices.
Final step – coordinated cinematic (as far as CE allows) attack on the Starborn-controlled Dreadnought. Scaled up from what we have seen in Terran Armada. With segments with zero-G combat, active usage of Starborn abilities by enemies, and a climactic resolution scene on the bridge.
Aftermath
After our precious Dreadnought is under our control, we have a new evolution stage of the endgame (for the moment) sandbox. The Dreadnought creates a new technological paradigm that reignites political tension.
Future expansions could extend this to Cold War dynamics – “regular” (non-Armillary-driven) dreadnoughts appear in each major political faction Fleet, espionage, sabotage, territory expansion, resources control and trade routes defense.
In my opinion Starfield convincingly simulates reaction on the player-facing micro-level. But it lacks coherent interaction between its systems. And, judging from the Nexusmods stats, it lacks large ship building.
But most importantly, by using elements that are already in the game, Bethesda can “reactivate” all those intricately crafted assets and gameplay loops into one elegant system.
