Starfield: You Are Not Authorized To Pilot This Ship Explained

The ship you choose to fly will become your home away from home in Starfield. While there is a lot of fast traveling, your ship will always be with you, giving you a place to store your gear and keep your crew at the ready.

While you may grow attached to your ship, there are dozens of others in the galaxy, all ripe for the picking if you desire. Depending on the size and class of the ship, you may get a notification that “You’re Not Authorized To Pilot This Ship”, with no explanation on how to fix that problem.

Updated On October 24th, 2023 By Joshua Leeds: Your ship will be a major part of your journey through the galaxy in Starfield. Players will need to upgrade their ships or simply get new ones in order to survive deadlier encounters and reach farther planets. This article has been updated to include additional links to help players trying to upgrade their ships or obtain a new one.

What Does The Notification Mean

If you receive the “You Are Not Authorized To Pilot This Ship” message, that means your piloting skill is not high enough to pilot that class of ship. There are three classes of ships: A, B, and the highest, C. At the start of the game, you’ll only be able to pilot a Class A ship and need to upgrade your piloting skills to be able to fly a better ship.

What Is The Class Of A Ship

Ships are split up into three groups depending on the Reactor of the ship. The Reactor is the central part of the ship, and the ship can only have modules and parts attached to that same class as the reactor. While you can make upgrades to Class A ships to make them stronger, the upgrades for a Class B or C ship will always be better.

When trying to board and steal an enemy ship, you won’t always know the Class of the Ship until after you’ve boarded and cleared out the crew. Receiving the notification that you’re not authored can be frustrating as it is a clear indicator the ship is better than the one you currently have. Upgrading your Piloting skill early and all the way through early into your playthrough is key to avoiding these types of situations.

How To Upgrade Your Piloting Skill

Your Piloting skill is one of the first skills you can unlock in the Tech skill tree. Like all skills, it has four ranks, and you’ll need to destroy other ships in combat to unlock the additional levels in this skill. Always be sure to buy better ship parts to make these fights even easier. The requirements to level up your piloting skill are: