We’ve gotten so far ahead into Starfield that even a new game mode has arrived with a plethora of features, and small things like piloting and smuggling seem nowhere near challenging anymore.
However, some players still have certain issues with the game. For example, when you excitedly find and try to pilot a new ship, an issue arises with the prompt, “You are not authorized to pilot this ship.”ย Heck, even if you have all the piloting skills, this happens.
It is frustrating, isn’t it? If you’re one of those players encountering a similar issue, we’ve got the perfect solution for you.
Why Does the Piloting Error Occur in Starfield?
Typically, these types of games are meant for freedom, so facing a particular piloting error, such as not being able to steer a specific ship, may seem like it disregards the whole purpose.
However, Starfield is a systematic game where everything goes according to how much work you put into it.
So, if you find yourself in a situation where you’re not authorized to pilot a ship, then it is most likely your piloting skill is low. Thus, you can’t access ships from Class B and C.
There are also other issues, but we’ll discuss them after fixing the main problem at hand.
How To Fix the Piloting Error in Starfield?
If you have your Piloting Skill at a low level, you need to increase them to ride better ships as they simply don’t authorize vessels beyond your character’s control.
So, basically, Piloting skills are divided into four ranks: Rank 1, Rank 2, Rank 3, and Rank 4. To level up your rank, you must finish the skill challenges, and here’s what happens when you do it.
- Piloting Rank 1: Automatically unlocked, and you can utilize the ship’s thrusters.
- Piloting Rank 2: You must destroy five ships to level up to Rank 2, naturally increasing your maneuverability and turning rate.
- Piloting Rank 3: You must destroy 15 ships to unlock Class B piloting, which only happens once you reach Rank 3.
- Piloting Rank 4: Destroying 30 ships will unlock Class C piloting ships and will immediately grant you Rank 4.
As you can see, every rank gives you more authority and control over ships, and if you succeed in eliminating 30 enemy ships, you will be automatically given Rank 4, where you can easily pilot most Class C ships.
Even if you level up your Piloting skill to Rank 4, there are some instances where you just can’t ride a specific ship regardless of your levels. While there are vessels that are permanently locked out, we’re only discussing the authorized ships.
Other Starfield Issues That Forbid You From Piloting Ships
- Game Progress: If you don’t meet all the requirements to pilot a ship, the game won’t let you helm several available ships.
- Faction-Based Ships: If you’ve got on the wrong side of a particular faction and attempt to steal or ride their ship, the result would be losing your access to that ship. So, better clear your bounty to fix the issue.
- Licensed Ships: If you chance upon an unauthorized ship that can only be piloted by the owner or specific personnel from a certain faction, you might want to look for another ship or simply find a quest that lets you ride it.
Many of these issues don’t occur quite often because if you get even the tiniest bit further into the game, it makes you vary of many options, giving you the freedom to have access to almost any ship within your rank.
So, we recommend you try to raise your Piloting level first, and if that doesn’t work, look for the issues we listed above. If you’re still facing the same issue, don’t worry; we still have another ace up our sleeve.
Just recruit a crewmate specializing in Piloting, like Sam Coe or Amelia Earhart, and delegate the task of running the ship to them.
So, what are your thoughts on these fixes? Did they work? Let us know your opinions in the comment section below.
