Starfield - The Colander Disaster Explained

The Colander is one of the most disturbing encounters in Starfield and proves how it's possible to have a real horror aesthetic in the game. You'll find a derelict vessel named the Colander and be greeted with gruesome sights aboard a mysterious, dimly lit ship. To make matters worse, something still seems alive and aboard with you. Let's find out what happened on the Colander and how to navigate the ship.

Where to Find the Colander?

You can find the Colander when you Grav Jump to the Schrodinger Star System. The Schrodinger Star System is located to the right of Cheyenne, home of the Freestar Collective. However, the Schrodinger Star System is branched off, and getting there will require the average ship to make several Grav Jumps through neighboring systems.

When you enter the Schrodinger Star System, the Colander will be the first ship you'll run into.

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What was the Purpose of the Colander?

While the purpose isn't explicitly stated, we can gather some information based on the clues left behind by the previous residents. First, the Colander appears to have belonged to a team of scientists trying to research alien creatures. They are searching for a variety of interloper aliens that have evolved. Fortunately, they seem to have found what they were looking for. Unfortunately, this was a discovery they'd be better off without making.

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What Happened on the Colander?

It appears that the crew aboard the Colander found a genetically enhanced or evolved version of the Interloper species. It had boarded their ship as a stowaway, but the crew managed to contain it in a cell.

They seem to have discovered the creature at a young age and decided to let it grow. There's some talk of a cut and profit going on here, as some crew members might have been performing unethical research and enhancements on the creature to make it even deadlier. However, these enhancements seem to have cost them their lives when the creature disabled all their systems and broke out of captivity.

Trouble aboard the Colander began when the crew members noticed malfunctions in the life support vents. Emails reveal that the ship went into lockdown a month after the first reported issues.

Many players have compared this ship to the movie Alien or even suggested that behind the creepy presentation, this ship is just an Among Us reference, complete with the whole layout of the first map's areas, vents, and life support systems.

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Navigating the Colander

The Colander is a dungeon. When you enter, you'll be greeted by a corpse with a slate that says they've locked some creature down. Furthermore, your companion won't spawn with you unless you sleep in a nearby bed or ask them to follow you.

Move into the main lobby, which is working on backup power. Here, you'll find corpses of crew members and logs from the rest of the team.

Loot the main area and open the workshop with the keycard beside the bed. You'll want to head to the ship's right side and down a latch on the floor.

Here, you'll find a computer where you can check the status of all the ship members. Unfortunately, they're all dead.

You can walk ahead, and you'll be able to find some useful materials in this area. You'll also find a Master difficulty-locked door with a creature behind it. We'll get to that. If you don't want to lockpick this door, head to the opposite side until you find a narrow tunnel.

Head inside this area, loot the corpse on the left, and enter the latch on the floor on the right. Now, you need to deactivate the security lockdown. Return to the first area and enter the open door on your left. Head downstairs, and you'll come face to face with the creature responsible for the massacre aboard the Colander.

The Creature

The creature, XL-069 Interloper, is a level 85 Alien that is extremely powerful and will easily one-shot any spacefarer who isn't prepared. This creature is quick, can glide, and has powerful melee attacks. It can also throw ranged webs to slow you down and deal a good chunk of damage. Lastly, it can even teleport around if taken out of its range.

Any easy way to kill the XL-069 Interloper is to exploit the fact that its range seems bound to the Control Room. Bring it to this boundary and unload at it from a distance using your best weapons and grenades. It doesn't drop any cool loot, but there's a science crate and weapons case on the floor, so be sure to collect those. A heavy Contraband cache is also in a vent on the top floor.

Once you're done, feel free to escape this creepy alien-infested ship. We want to blow it up so that the pulsing tissue in the lower deck doesn't birth more monstrosities, but it isn't possible as the ship doesn't take damage.

That's all you need to know about the mystery of the Colander and how to clear this ship.

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