Get to level 100 in just 5 hours with this Starfield farming technique

Starfield screenshots
(Image credit: Bethesda)

A Starfield player has found a savvy way of earning XP that lets you gain 100 levels in just five hours.

The technique, discovered by YouTuber Patrick Maka, isn't available right away, as you'll need some skill points in Science and the Outpost Engineering skill to pull it off. It also involves a fair bit of repetition and a generous supply of resources, but is well worth the effort if you're looking to earn oodles of Starfield XP in a short space of time. 

To begin with, research Power Generation and Resource Extraction at a research lab once you're able. You'll also need a ship with at least 2,000 to 3,000 cargo space and the following materials: 18 Adaptive Frames, 124 Aluminum, 24 Beryllium, 30 Copper, two Fiber, 99 Iron, and 24 Tungsten.

With these in hand, the next step is to make your way to the Narion System and locate Sumati's moon, Andraphon. Scan the planet and travel to the exact location Maka highlights in the video. Here, you'll need to create an Outpost in an area where you can reach aluminum and iron deposits at the same time. Place six aluminum extractors and six of the iron variety. You'll also want to put down 10 solar arrays to power your 12 extractors.

The resources you extract have to go somewhere, so place storage containers and link these to the extractors as shown in the video. Then, simply craft an industrial workbench and a bed and go to sleep for 24 hours. "The cool thing about this moon is that for every one hour of local time, you will feel about 6 hours of universal time, "Maka says, "which means that time goes by six times faster on this moon, meaning your resources are also gathered six times faster."

Once you wake up, you'll find your containers packed with resources. You should then use some of your aluminum and iron to craft more storage and link these together as before.

Next comes the XP. Go to bed for another 24 hours, then visit the industrial workbench and start crafting Adaptive Frames. "Every frame you create generates 1XP, and we should be able to generate between 1,000 and 2,000 frames every time we sleep, so about 1,500 XP every minute or so," the YouTuber explains.

It's worth noting that you'll be granted a 10% XP bonus for sleeping (15% if you share a bed with a max relationship companion). "At this point, you can just basically repeat this process as long as you want, gaining twenty levels for every hour you do it," Maka says. 

You can make the experience-boosting process even faster by establishing a similar outpost on Venus. The steps you'll need to take to do this are also outlined in the video.

Starfield officially arrived last week, on September 6, and managed to surpass six million players on launch day, making it Bethesda's most successful launch of all time.

Feeling a little lost after reaching the credits? Check out our Starfield ending guide for more on the finale.

Anne-Marie Ostler
Freelance Writer

Originally from Ireland, I moved to the UK in 2014 to pursue a Games Journalism and PR degree at Staffordshire University. Following that, I've freelanced for GamesMaster, Games TM, Official PlayStation Magazine and, more recently, Play and GamesRadar+. My love of gaming sprang from successfully defeating that first Goomba in Super Mario Bros on the NES. These days, PlayStation is my jam. When not gaming or writing, I can usually be found scouring the internet for anything Tomb Raider related to add to my out of control memorabilia collection.