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The Starfield Juno’s Gambit side quest has players dealing with a pretty unique situation involving grappling with the potential future consequences of artificial intelligence. With a big decision to make, we’re here to give you the details on this choice to help you make sure you make the right one.
Check out our Starfield tips and tricks for some handy advice that will help you throughout your playthrough. And if you’re in need of some gear upgrades, our Starfield best weapons and Starfield best armor guides have got you covered. For now, let’s take a look at the Starfield Juno’s Gambit quest and whether you should kill or spare Juno.
How to start the Juno’s Gambit quest in Starfield
This side quest is assigned randomly, and there is no sure fire way to start it. At some point, while travelling through various star systems, you may begin this quest. It is rumoured that this quest is more likely to appear in the orbit of Tau Ceti III in the Tau Ceti system, Shoza III in the Shoza system, and Khayyam II in the Khayyam system.
Before you get into the quest properly, we would recommend joining the Ryujin Industries faction on Neon first. This is because being one of the Ryujin employees unlocks a secret third option in the mission, letting you take a pacifist route, as well as earning you a larger reward at the end.
Talking to Juno
Once you’ve got the quest, you’ll find a mysterious ship being attacked by an Ecliptic Falcata ship. Destroy the hostile Ecliptic ship and then dock on the drifting ship and board it. Inside, you’ll find two Ryujin Industries operatives talking next to a large computer.
Talk to Operative Khambatta, and they will explain that the computer hosts Juno. Named after the real-life Juno probe, they are a rogue AI that has seemingly gained sentience and killed the last technician who tried to control them. The Ryujin operatives ask you to shut down Juno, before Juno interjects and asks to speak with your themselves.
Talking to Juno, you’ll have the chance to ask it questions, determining whether you think it is a sentient AI, or just a malfunctioning robot. Juno will ask the player not to disable them and to make the Ryujin Industries agents leave them alone. This leaves the player with the deciding vote: kill Juno, or spare Juno.
Should you kill or spare Juno?
Assuming you’ve joined Ryujin Industries, there are three separate outcomes to this quest, which we will go through now.
Option 1: Killing Juno
If you ignore Juno’s request, you insert the Control Board into the to destroy Juno’s circuits. Juno tries to shut themselves down in an effort to save themselves, but will inevitably fail, experiencing fear for the first time.
You may now return to your ship as the Ryujin agents clear up. As you undock from Juno’s ship, Juno reactivates and turns off the oxygen supply, killing both of the agents. Feeling anger, she bids the player goodbye, and grav jumps away, completing the quest and rewarding the player with 3500 Credits.
Option 2: Killing the Ryujin agents
If you decide to save Juno, you can kill the two agents. They aren’t particularly strong, and can be easily defeated, at which point Juno will ask why you save them. They will then ask what they should do with their newfound freedom. After leaving the ship, Juno will bid farewell and grav jump away, completing the quest and rewarding you with 2000 Credits.
Option 3: Persuading the Ryujin agents
This option is only available to you if you are a member of Ryujin Industries, and is the best choice in our opinion. When talking to the agents, you will receive the [Ryujin Industries] dialogue option, which will persuade the agents to leave the ship and allow Juno to live. The dialogue between you and Juno plays out the same as in option two, but this time you will need to bring the Ryujin agents back to Neon.
Once you return the operatives to Neon, the quest will complete and reward you with 7100 Credits, making it the most lucrative choice too.
That’s everything you need to know about the Starfield Juno’s Gambit choice. If you’re after ship upgrades, check out our ship manufacturers, best ships, best ship parts, best reactors and starship weapons guides. For quests, we have guides for Sabotage, Delivering Devils, Surgical Strike, Operation Starseed, Absolute Power and Alternating Currents. And if you need resources, check out how to get adhesive, lubricant, adaptive frames, high tensile spidroin and microsecond regulators too.
Starfield Juno’s Gambit FAQs
What is the best choice in the Juno’s Gambit quest in Starfield?
The best option is to use the Ryujin Industries faction to convince the operatives to let Juno live.
Should you spare Juno’s life in the Juno’s Gambit quest in Starfield?
The choice you make has no bearing on the story, but convincing the operatives to leave and sparing Juno’s life with earn you the most credits.
