Decide the fate of settlers from Earth who have traveled isolated in space for over 200 years searching for a habitable planet.
How to Unlock First Contact
There are two different ways to start the First Contact quest. The first involves receiving a distress signal from Chief Sugiyama as a random event or when you enter the orbit of Porrima II. Respond to the signal, land at Paradiso, and then speak to Chief Sugiyama to start the quest.
Alternatively, you can board the mysterious ship in orbit of Porrima II. Once you hail and board the unidentified ship, you can speak to the captain to start the quest.
First Contact Walkthrough
Hail the Unidentified Ship
If you hail the Unidentified Ship, you won't get any response and instead hear static.
Dock with the Ship and Enter
Dock the Unidentified Ship and make your way inside. You'll be greeted with a room full of people aiming their weapons at you.
Speak with the Ship's Captain
Captain Brackenridge will introduce herself and tell the story behind the ship and its people. They've been traveling onboard this vessel for over 200 years, looking for a suitable planet to inhabit.
Follow and Speak with Captain Brackenridge
Follow Captain Brackenridge to the command center and speak to her. She'll tell you about their current predicament in communicating with the people on the surface of Porrima II. She will ask you to go down and broker a deal that allows them to settle.
Speak with Chief Sugiyama
Give Chief Sugiyama an update on the situation; he'll direct you to the board of directors and ask you to discuss it with Oliver Campbell.
Speak with Keavy
Head to the elevator in the main Paradiso Resort building and head to the executive floor. If you try to enter, the receptionist, Keavy, will stop you. Tell him you're here to help, and he'll let you go through.
Negotiate with Oliver Campbell
Head inside the board room and speak to Oliver Campbell. A total of three different solutions will be proposed. We'll go over them all and what they entail.
Take the Settlement Deal
The first option was to allow the colonists to settle on Paradiso, but they would rack up debt for their settlement costs that would need to be paid through manual labor. This probably implies indentured servitude for a period which has not been specified.
If you pick this option, you'll have to tell Captain Brackenridge, and she'll agree immediately. However, you now have to gather a whole bunch of resources to facilitate the settlement. You can try a Persuasion check on Captain Brackenridge, and she'll send you to the cafeteria, where you can get a portion of the required resources from Daisuke.
You'll require the following materials:
If you're looking for resources, the quickest way to get all of them is to simply buy them from vendors such as the Trade Authority, UC Exchange, and Jemison Mercantile on New Atlantis. After you deliver the materials, the Settlers will relocate to Paradiso, and you'll see many of them roaming around and working.
Take the Grav Drive Deal
Next, we can fit the ECS Constant with a modern Grav Drive, allowing them to escape the Star System and find another suitable planet to settle on.
To get the Grav Drive set up, you first need to go to Hopetown, located on Polvo in the Valo Star System. Here, you need to go inside the Hopetech factory and speak to Bennu St. James. He'll offer to sell you the Grav Drive for 40000 Credits, but you can persuade him to take the price down to 25000 instead.
With the Grav Drive ready, you now need to head back to the ship and speak with the Chief Engineer.
He'll ask you to help prep the ship and needs you to do three tasks.
- Reroute the power from the port turbopump to the auxiliary cryogenic radiator
- Turn the plasma run-off inhibitor to 5%
- Decouple the Magnetic Flange Pipe Enclosure from the Auxillary Module Assembly
The tasks may sound confusing, but you just need to interact with the three marked computers and choose the relevant settings. Once you're done, the ship will be ready to leave, and you will need to talk to Captain Brackenridge once more to claim your rewards.
Blow Up the Ship
The last choice is to blow up the ship and make the settlers disappear. This is one of the most evil decisions you can make in Starfield, as the ship is home to a 200-year-old colony full of civilians, including children. However, it might also be the easiest way to complete the quest.
If you wish to go down the path of mass murder, you need to steal the ECS Constant Reactor Terminal Key from Amin, who you'll find in the engineering department of the ship.
Once you have the key, walk over to the terminal on the left side of the room and change the settings to Emergency Reactor Overdrive.
Before we can finish the overdrive request, we'll have to go to the ship's control center and hack into the Advanced lock on the Captain's terminal to authorize the request. Doing so will begin a meltdown sequence, and everyone on the ship will immediately become hostile towards you. Run past the hordes of hostiles and get back into your ship. Seconds after you undock, the ECS Constant will explode, killing everyone on board.
Head down to Paradiso and collect your rewards from Oliver Campbell, who will retain plausible deniability and offer you a lifetime pass at Paradiso.
First Contact Quest Rewards
For Settlement and Grav Drive Deal:
- XP - 300
- A bunch of Old Earth Antiques that can be sold or used as decorations
- Suppressed XM-2311
If you blow up the ship:
- XP - 300
- Credits - 6500
- Lifetime pass for Paradiso
That concludes our guide for the First Contact quest in Starfield. If you're looking for more quests on Paradiso, try the Proper Tea Theft quest.
- READ MORE - Proper Tea Theft Walkthrough
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