How to dock a ship in Starfield

Docking ships in Starfield is an easy process, but one that isn't thoroughly explained in-game

An in-game shot of the players first ship- The Frontier- from the space opera RPG Starfield.
The Frontier, your first spaceship. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Starfield is all about deep space exploration. So, of course, you can be sure there will be plenty of traveling around the galaxy in your spaceship. 

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Flying and exploring aren’t the only ship-related activities that you will be taking part in during your time with the game, though. You will also find yourself engaging in space battles, managing your cargo hold, and even hijacking other ships if you so choose. One particular aspect of spaceship travel that you will come across in the game is docking

Docking in Starfield refers to when you want to connect your ship to other ships (which you will need to do if you want to engage in some of that aforementioned hijacking) or space stations to climb aboard. 

It can be a tricky process and while there is a tutorial on how to do so, you might find that you come across a side quest that requires you to dock another ship before you have learned the ropes. 

In this guide, we are going to go through how to dock your ship so even if you haven’t reached the part of the game where you receive instructions on how to do so, you should be able to get docked with ease. 

Docking ships in Starfield, explained

  1. The first step is to approach the ship or space station that you are planning to dock. If you are on Xbox, press the “A” button and this should prompt the Dock feature to appear. If you are playing on PC, press the “E” key to trigger the prompt. You need to make sure you are within 500 meters of the vessel you are trying to dock. Otherwise, the prompt will not appear. 
  2. Once the prompt has been activated, hold down the “X” button/“R” key. This should trigger a cutscene wherein your ship will start to make contact with the other vessel. 
  3. Assuming the other steps have been followed correctly, you will be given three different choices at this point. You can either board the docked vessel, depart from the docked vessel, or access the vessel via a manual entrance through the airlock
A visual demonstration of the docking process between the player's ship and another vessel in the space RPG video game Starfield.
Permission to come aboard, Cap’n. Image via Bethesda
  1. You should now have complete access to the vessel and be successfully docked.

Related: How to fast travel in Starfield

That’s everything you need to know about docking your ship in Starfield. Whether you choose to use this ability to fight deadly pirates and save hostages or rob unsuspecting space travelers is entirely up to you. We promise we won’t judge. 

Author
Image of Antonia Haynes
Antonia Haynes
Antonia Haynes is a freelance general gaming writer for Dot Esports who resides in a small seaside town in England where she has lived her whole life. Beginning her video game writing career back in 2014, and having an avid love of gaming since childhood, she became a staff writer in 2018 before becoming freelance in 2023 with her role at Dot Esports. Her ideal day would consist of junk food, fluffy pyjamas and video games because quite frankly going outside is overrated.