A Comprehensive Walkthrough of Starfield‘s Thought-Provoking First Contact Side Quest
Skirting along the outskirts of the settled Porrima system, you detect an unidentified and apparently distressed ship drifted into orbit around Porrima II. This seemingly routine investigation swiftly becomes an eye-opening first contact with humans lost among the stars for 200 years. How you navigate the tricky negotiations that follow may determine the fate of these vulnerable colonists.
This guide offers an in-depth walkthrough of the memorable First Contact side quest – from activating it to dealing with the lost ECS Constant crew across the best and most shocking outcomes it presents. Having played through several times along with watching streams, I‘ll provide expanded analysis into the history, choices, and consequences at hand while advising the most rewarding paths to chart.
Origins of the Wayward ECS Constant Colony Ship
The unidentified ship is revealed to be the ECS (Earth Colony Ship) Constant, constructed centuries ago during early humanexpansion efforts. Their original mission: settle the distant Tau Ceti system.
However, disaster struck when an asteroid collision caused catastrophic damage, leading to cryosleep pod failure. With only a handful of crew left unfrozen, the crippled Constant has drifted aimlessly through space for 200 years. Life support systems and reactor integrity remain operational, but communications are completely shot.
Without aid, these last 60 lost colonists face slow demise alone in space. It‘s a shocking discovery – both that fellow humans endured such tragedy and that some continue clinging to life. Their fate now rests squarely on your first contact decisions.
Initial Investigative Objectives on the Constant
Your first contact objectives start simply – attempt to hail the vessel while identifying its nature – after Paradise II security chief Jiro Sugiyama alerts you to its unauthorized presence.
However, upon boarding the antique Constant, the profound stakes become clear. Captain Diana Brackenridge warmly greets you, recounting their bleak situation and colonization dreams dashed. She pleads for aid settling somewhere habitable.
It‘s a tall ask to find resources and space for 60 extra settlers, but abandoning them to the cold void of space seems morally wrong as well. Three dialogue options manifest to shift the quest‘s direction:
- Negotiate Settlement Deal: Convince Paradise authorities to absorb the Constant crew
- Install Gravity Drives: Fund upgraded drives so they can resettle freely
- Destroy Their Reactor: Sabotage the reactor at Paradise II direction
The choices presented reflect difficult wider debates around resource constraints, moral obligations to aid others in need, and respecting autonomy. Your role now turns from investigator to arbitrator of the Constant‘s future.
Quest Walkthrough: Settling the Lost Colonists in Paradise
Settlement Deal Overview: Accepting displaced colonists always strains local resources, but Paradise II likely can support 60 additional residents. However, convincing leadership and upgrading aging colony infrastructure won‘t come cheaply. It‘s the most ethically clear option though if successful.
After an initially skeptical reaction from resort director Oliver Campbell on strains to shelter and employment, he agrees – provided substantial shipment of construction materials and repairs to the Constant‘s damaged shuttle. With supplies secured and shuttle restored for safe atmospheric entry, you can finally guide the homeless vessel to a gentle landing outside Paradise‘s capital city.
There the crew disembarks onto firm soil for the first time in centuries, greeted by a world that Left Earth before their ancestors were even born. Captain Brackenridge offers solemn thanks plus antique mementos from humanity‘s early space age – a baseball, piggy bank, and family photos among other curios.
With the crew safely beginning new lives and your vessel notably heavier from earned artifacts, supporting this stranded colony vessel to a happy landing proves profoundly fulfilling. But it requires extensive materials and idealism exceeding most rational self-interest.
Quest Walkthrough: Installing Grav Drives for A Free Future
Grav Drive Overview: Perhaps less immediately satisfying than seeing the crew safely settled, providing revolutionary grav drives grants the Constant near limitless freedom to chart their own course. But earning the drives requires greater personal risk and investment during perilous installation.
When selecting this dialogue path, Director Campbell connects you with legendary engineer Bennu St. James over at the distant HopeTech facility. His brilliance developing experimental grav drives makes him the only hope for upgrading the volatile Constant reactors.
After negotiating your way inside to meet the eccentric St. James (no small feat!), he agrees to construct two brand-new grav drives for 40,000 credits. With early persuasion checks passed, you can convince Bennu to waive his labor fees, reducing payment to 25,000 for just the custom parts.
With drives financed and en route, St James prepares an expert team to accompany you back for installation. Here the real danger sets in. The aging Constant reactors were not built to channel extreme gravitational forces. One wrong power adjustment could trigger catastrophe.
Working carefully alongside anxious engineering officer Amin Kazemi, you redirect multiple power systems, recalibrate exterior shielding, jettison nonessential modules, and run exhaustive containment checks until finally the reactor proves ready for grav drive initiation.
With installation complete, you bid the reinvigorated Constant crew good luck. Captain Brackenridge again compensates your efforts with a few vintage artifacts as the now grav-propelled ship vanishes beyond the stars toward all-new frontiers. It‘s a bittersweet godspeed to a liberated allied vessel.
Quest Walkthrough: Sabotaging the Reactor
Reactor Sabotage Overview: Perhaps the most chillingly pragmatic option hits at Director Campbell‘s core argument – eliminating the unplanned immigrant ship neatly avoids resource drains and employment shifts from its needy crew. But stealthily condemning 60 oblivious souls to an unjust explosive demise leaves a permanent moral stain.
If choosing to internally destabilize the Constant‘s reactor, you‘ll need to covertly steal the key and access codes from engineer Kazemi before breaching the control room. Inside, manually overriding the console unleashes a cascading overload destined to crack their aged reactor wide open.
Guards soon force you into a frantic firefight retreat back to your ship for liftoff. From a safe distance, you‘re left watching the horror unfold as uncontrolled explosions first jettison living quarters then rupture the hull itself until only scattered debris remains. Just like that, 60 fellow humans simply cease to exist based on your actions.
On the surface afterwards, Director Campbell processes little remorse beyond mild disappointment you‘ll have no salvage rights to the annihilated wreck. He instead pays a measly 4,000 credits I swiftly feel too guilty to even spend in the local trader. This efficient but ethically bankrupt conclusion provides sobering perspective on the lengths corporations may go removing "problems".
Concluding Thoughts on the Memorable First Contact Quest
Through whichever path taken, Starfield‘s First Contact side quest presents an impactful human story that lingers across multiple playthroughs. I most recommend attempting early settlement deals or upgrading drives scenarios to redeem the lost Constant crew before evaluating darker alternatives for completeness. Just brace for lasting emotions from witnessing lives ended by your own hand.
Overall this unscripted first contact marks a clear standout quest thanks to unpredictable stakes, ethical dilemmas, risk/reward balancing, and potential for both inspiration and tragedy seldom matched in open world space adventures. I eagerly look forward to future equally surprising emergent stories certain to emerge wandering Starfield‘s frontiers.
