Starfield First Contact – what is the best choice?

The Starfield First Contact side quest, issued by Jiro Sugiyama, shoulders you with deciding the fate of the unidentified ship as it orbits the Porrima II planet in the Porrima System. Should you source a grav drive for the colonists, barter a settlement deal, or blow up the ship? Your moral compass, or at least that of your character, will define what’s the best option, but there is a ‘best choice’ in the Starfield First Contact quest that satisfies all parties involved, including Captain Brackenridge, and avoids killing anyone.

For more quest help, check out our Starfield Alternating Currents walkthrough and High Price to Pay walkthrough. If you’re still finding your bearings in Bethesda’s latest RPG, read up on where to get Digipicks, where to sell ships, and our Starfield tips and tricks beginner’s guide.

Starfield First Contact – best choice

The best choice in the Starfield First contact quest is to buy a Grav Drive for the colonists. The main benefit is that the crew stays alive and are free to find a new home for themselves without owing a huge debt to the corpos up on the executive floor of the Paradiso resort. You’ll also bump into the ECS Constant later on in your journey across the Settled Systems for a few minor quests.

Select the ‘I’ll buy the Grav Drive and convince them to settle elsewhere’ option when talking to CEO Oliver Campbell and the board members. Hop into your ship and head for Hopetech in Hopetown, which you’ll find on the planet Polvo in the Valo System. There, you can buy a grav drive from Bennu St. James. We recommend trying to persuade Bennu to nearly halve the asking price from 40,000 credits to 25,000 credits. 

Grav jump back to Porrima, hail and dock with the ECS Constant in Orbit around Porrima II, then chat with head engineer Amin Kazemi to install the grav drive. Finish off the drive setup by interacting with the three terminals in the engineering room as follows:

• Engineering Control Computer Alpha – Turbopump Port and Auxiliary Cryogenic Radiator
• Engineering Control Computer Beta – Plasma Run-off Inhibiter and 5%.
• Engineering Control Computer Gamma – Magnetic Flange Pipe Enclosure, Decouple, and Auxiliary Module Assembly.

Talk to ECS Constant captain Diana Brackenridge to complete the Starfield First Contact mission. You’ll be rewarded with Antique Earth Baseballs, Antique Hockey Sticks, an Antique Piggy Bank, Antique Earth Soccer Balls, an Antique Earth Basketball, .45 Claiber ACP ammo, the Scout’s XM-2311 weapon, and 300 XP.

Deal and destroy options

Choosing either the deal or to blow up the ECS Constant ends badly, not to speak of the extra leg work needed to set up these two options. The settlement deal involves sourcing a stack of resources (Lithium, Sealant, Iron, and Fiber) and shuttling some colonists down to Paradiso. Go for the fireworks option and expect a whole lot of pickpocketing, persuading, hacking, and running around the ECS Constant to trigger the emergency reactor overdrive to blow up the ship.

The blowing up option, in particular, comes with some hefty consequences, namely that you’ll seriously damage your reputation with your Constellation companion and the reward of a few thousand credits isn’t worth the trouble. You’ll also have to carry around the guilt of knowing you obliterated 200 odd people simply looking for a place to call home.

For more help on your interstellar journey, check out the best Starfield skills, Starfield quest list, Starfield powers list and how to unlock them, and the Lair of the Mantis puzzle solution if you’re after a fantastic ship early on.