The new space RPG from Bethesda, Starfield, features a choice-driven side quest called First Contact. This mission tasks players with mediating a tense situation between a mysterious spaceship full of Earth colonists and a corporation that owns the planet the colonists wish to settle on. The decisions players make will have significant impacts on the fate of the colonists, offering multiple outcomes depending on how the player chooses to handle the negotiations. Follow our First Contact mission complete guide for Bethesda’s Starfield to avoid any pitfalls.
Bethesda’s Starfield: First Contact Mission Guide
Investigating the Mysterious Spaceship
Upon arriving at the planet Paradiso in the Porrima system, players will receive a distress call from the planet’s security chief about an unidentified ship lingering mysteriously in orbit. Players can choose to hail the ship themselves before heading down to the surface.
Boarding the ship reveals that it is actually an old Earth colony vessel called the ECS Constant, filled with generations of colonists who left Earth hundreds of years ago to settle Paradiso. The ship’s outdated technology has left them adrift in space for centuries. Now they wish to complete their original mission and settle on the planet but find it already inhabited.
Negotiating With the Paradiso Corporation
After learning the colonists’ story, players must visit Paradiso Resort on the planet’s surface to negotiate with Oliver Campbell, CEO of the Paradiso Group which owns the planet. Campbell presents 3 options:
- Convince the colonists to work as indentured servants to pay for their settlement.
- Buy the colonists a new Gravity Drive so they can find a new home.
- Overload the ship’s reactor to destroy it.
Each option has very different consequences for the fate of the colonists.
#Option 1 Settlement Deal: Resources Needed
Choosing the settlement deal will require the player to collect resources to build housing for the colonists:
- 40 Fiber
- 20 Sealant
- 80 Iron
- 10 Lithium
This can take substantial time if the player does not already have access to these materials. While the colonists accept this outcome, becoming indentured servants means their freedom is significantly limited.
#Option 2 Buying a Gravity Drive
Purchasing a Gravity Drive is the most ethical option, allowing the colonists to freely choose a new homeworld. However, this choice requires paying Bennu St. James 40,000 credits for the drive. With high persuasion skills, players can lower the price to 25,000 credits.
After installing the new drive, the ECS Constant will leave Paradiso in search of a new home, allowing players to later find them traveling the stars. Captain Brackenridge and her colonists are most appreciative of this decision.
#Option 3 Destroying the Colony Ship
If the player follows CEO Campbell’s suggestion to destroy the ship by overloading the reactor, they must sneak aboard and hack the reactor control systems. This will cause the ship to explode, killing all aboard.
This morally corrupt choice earns the player 6,500 credits from Campbell and resort access. However, companions will strongly dislike the unprovoked mass murder of innocents.
Summary of Outcomes
| Decision | Consequences |
|---|---|
| Settlement Deal | Colonists become indentured servants, players must gather resources |
| Buy Gravity Drive | Most ethical, costs 25k-40k credits, colonists leave freely |
| Overload Reactor | Murderous, but earns 6.5k credits and resort access |
In the end, the First Contact mission offers players an impactful choice about how to handle the sudden appearance of this lost ship of Earth colonists. Will you exploit them for your own gain, or make sacrifices to help them find a new home? Your options are wide open in this memorable Starfield side quest.
This is what happens when you spawn 10,000 milk cartons in SPACE in Starfield, 0 gravity is fully simulated with Bethesda’s insane physics engine pic.twitter.com/HKhfXzhYhe
— Ameer (@SynthPotato) September 12, 2023
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