Sci-Fi Games With Spaceship Customization So Deep It Feels Like A Second Job

Building and customizing spaceships in science fiction games has become incredibly immersive, often captivating players for hours on end. What sets these games apart is the level of freedom they offer. Instead of simply choosing a ship and playing, you start with a small vessel and can gradually transform it into a unique and powerful machine through experimentation. Players might tweak the engines to improve handling, install extra generators to power demanding weapons, or completely redesign the interior layout to ensure essential resources like power and oxygen reach every part of the ship.

Many of these games require players to use problem-solving skills similar to those of an engineer, carefully managing things like temperature, weight, supplies, and crew requirements before launching into space. It can feel like a real job, and surprisingly, a lot of people find it incredibly enjoyable.

Avorion

Block-By-Block Starship Construction

Players build ships from modular blocks.
Ships can be scaled and upgraded as play progresses.

In Avorion, you start with a collection of building blocks and the goal is to assemble them into a functional spaceship. You can design ships in countless ways – from sleek, long-range vessels to heavily armored battleships. Inside, you place everything from living quarters and power generators to storage and essential systems, piece by piece. Because the way you build affects how the ship physically behaves, balance and protection are crucial. Adding too much weight to one side will make it slow to turn, and insufficient armor will leave it vulnerable.

While exploring, players will discover improved materials and technology, letting them constantly refine their creations. A small, basic ship can grow into a massive capital ship packed with weapons and defenses. Players can also save their favorite designs – like a well-built wing or engine – and reuse them in new ships, saving time and effort.

Space Engineers

Hands-On Voxel Engineering In Space

Shipbuilding is voxel/block-based with distinct small and large grids.
Functional customization (power networks, conveyors, gyros, landing gear, weapons) is as important as looks.

In Space Engineers, building a spaceship starts with choosing a grid size – either small or large – which acts as the ship’s framework. From there, you connect blocks one by one to create all the necessary parts, like armor, cockpits, engines, and power sources. The grid size you choose affects what kind of ship you can build. Small grids are good for making small, detailed spacecraft, while large grids are better for building massive ships and space stations.

What makes building ships in Space Engineers so unique is how realistic it feels. Ships behave like actual physical objects – too much weight will keep them grounded, and poor engine placement can cause instability in flight. Even how you connect internal systems matters; a poorly designed conveyor system can hinder weapon reloading or resource transport. Because the game treats ships as true machines, players often design detailed internal structures like ventilation, fuel lines, and maintenance corridors.

Cosmoteer: Starship Architect & Commander

Modular Ship Design With Full Internal Layouts

Ship design is the core loop of the game.
Players lay out rooms and place modules (weapons, engines, shields, crew spaces) on a grid, and internal layout directly affects combat flow.

Unlike other ship games where you just add parts to the outside, Cosmoteer requires you to design the inside of your ship first. You need to strategically place rooms for your crew, hallways for them to move through, and essential systems like power, ammunition, and shields. A poorly designed interior will leave your crew disorganized during battle, making even the most powerful ship vulnerable.

Ships in this game are equipped with weapons on the outside, but where you put them is crucial – it impacts how well they fire and how power flows through the ship. Cosmoteer is all about detailed ship design, letting you tweak every aspect until it’s just right. Players often spend hours perfecting their creations, because even small things like a door or hallway can significantly affect performance.

Kerbal Space Program (KSP)

Rocket And Spacecraft Building

Craft construction happens in the VAB/SPH.
Customization is engineering-first rather than purely cosmetic.

If you’ve ever wanted to experience what it’s like to run a small aerospace company, Kerbal Space Program is the game for you. You build rockets and spacecraft by attaching different parts – engines, fuel tanks, cockpits, and more – and every part you choose affects how well your creation flies, from liftoff to landing.

Kerbal Space Program realistically simulates orbital mechanics, so building rockets requires careful planning, some calculation, and a lot of experimentation. Players don’t usually settle for just a working rocket; they constantly improve their designs by adjusting engines, tweaking launch sequences, optimizing fuel flow, and refining aerodynamics until everything works perfectly.

Starfield

Customizable Hulls, Bays, And Ship Roles

Built around reshaping a ship until it feels personal, whether it becomes a traveler, a fighter, or a freighter.
Each piece added or removed changes the ship’s role, style, and performance in noticeable ways.

Starfield lets you customize your spaceship in a really detailed way, almost like you’re directing a movie. You can change everything – the cockpit, engines, and even little details – and it’s so in-depth that you could easily lose hours just building and tweaking your ship. Players might find themselves spending more time designing their ship than actually flying it!

As soon as you’ve finally perfected your spaceship in Starfield, the game encourages you to improve it further. New parts become available, making your previous design feel obsolete, and many players will want to completely rebuild. While not required, players aiming for a ship that’s both effective in combat and visually appealing will find themselves constantly redesigning it.

PULSAR: Lost Colony

Crew-Focused Systems And Upgradable Ship Modules

The ship serves as a shared project where upgrades and system setups decide how well the crew can operate.
Players adjust stations and ship parts to improve combat ability, travel speed, and day-to-day performance.

PULSAR offers a unique way to customize your spaceship compared to many other games. Rather than building a ship from individual parts, you focus on upgrading the internal systems that affect how it performs. Ships generally have slots for key components like reactors, shields, weapons, and engines, and you can swap these out for different versions with varying strengths and characteristics.

The ship’s different systems all work together, so even a small change can have a ripple effect. For example, upgrading the reactor for more power might create extra heat, forcing players to also upgrade the cooling system, adjust power distribution, or modify shields. The crew’s roles add to this complexity – engineers, weapons officers, and pilots all affect how well a ship performs, meaning teams often need to refine their ship setups after each mission.

EVE Online

Builds Its Entire Combat And Exploration Around Careful Ship Fitting

The heart of the game lies in fitting ships so they match a specific combat or support role.
A ship’s entire identity comes from modules and rigs chosen by the player, shaping how it behaves in the wider universe.

EVE Online features a vast array of over 100 different ships. Each ship has various equipment slots – high, mid, low, and rig – and is limited by its CPU and powergrid capacity. Because of this complexity, fully customizing a ship – deciding on the best equipment and configuration – can take significant time, often hours or even days, before it’s ready for use.

EVE Online is a spaceship game where players take on the role of captains and are free to make their own decisions. However, every choice you make has a ripple effect, impacting other aspects of your ship. For example, adding a powerful new weapon might strain your ship’s energy supply, forcing you to weaken your shields. Or, upgrading your engines could limit your ability to improve tracking systems. Designing a successful ship requires careful planning and compromise, as you constantly balance different components to achieve optimal performance.

Elite: Dangerous

Allows Players To Tune Performance By Swapping And Engineering Every Major Module

Encourages swapping ship modules to match different goals, such as exploration, trading, or combat.
Small changes in parts can transform how the ship flies, fights, and survives long journeys.

At first glance, Elite: Dangerous seems simple: almost any ship can be customized with new parts like engines, weapons, and utilities. You might think it’s just a matter of picking what you want and installing it. However, these parts come in different qualities and sizes, which impact a ship’s weight, power usage, performance, and how much heat it generates. If you’re not careful, you can overload your ship’s power supply and cause serious problems.

Elite’s realistic physics and flight controls are incredibly detailed. Even small adjustments can significantly change how a spaceship handles. Players often spend hours perfecting their ship, like optimizing it for long-distance travel and then meticulously reducing its weight to gain just a little extra range.

Empyrion: Galactic Survival

Total Freedom To Construct Huge, Fully Walkable Starships

Players build huge, walkable ships where exterior design and interior layout both matter.
Every chamber, system, and device is placed by hand, giving each ship a unique personality and purpose.

In Empyrion: Galactic Survival, players begin by constructing with a single starting block and then carefully build their ships block by block. They fit essential components like cockpits, generators, fuel tanks, thrusters, and weapons onto a 3D grid until the ship is both functional and visually appealing. Because the game uses a block-based building system, how you arrange the interior is just as important as the exterior design. You need to ensure there’s enough space for reactors and fuel, make sure cargo and construction areas are accessible, and position thrusters correctly to achieve the desired movement.

Getting the right performance from a ship is a constant challenge. Builders have to carefully manage its weight, engine power, fuel consumption, and how its weapons fire. Where the engines are placed and the ship’s balance point determine if it will fly smoothly or spin out of control, meaning that even small changes to things like armor or cargo can require a lot of adjustments to the engines and steering.

Star Citizen

Detailed Component Management Where Every System Affects How A Ship Behaves

Build components that affect power, shields, weapons, and onboard tools.
Players can tune and upgrade these parts to change how the ship performs in travel, combat, and exploration.

Unlike games where you build ships from blocks, Star Citizen features highly detailed, pre-built ships. However, you can still customize them extensively. Almost every part that affects how a ship performs – including shields, engines, power sources, drives, thrusters, weapons, and computers – can be replaced with upgraded versions offering different capabilities.

You can customize your ship to focus on different strengths, like being stealthy, conserving energy, dealing quick damage, being very durable, or traveling long distances – it all depends on the parts you choose. The game also lets you personalize the look of your ship with paint jobs and decals, and future updates will add even more options for customizing the interior.

2025-11-29 06:07