Starfield The Hammer Falls quest guide – should you kill Ron Hope?

With the Starfield The Hammer Falls mission, we’ve finally reached the conclusion of the Freestar Collective faction questline, and you’ve got a big choice to make. Having confronted Paxton Hull, you’ve got the evidence to pin the blame for the First Cavalry’s plans, and can finally bring an end to the whole saga.

Our Starfield tips and tricks guide is full of handy advice to make your life in the Settled Systems a breeze. And if you’re looking to take on the Starfield Operation Starseed quest, our guide has all the quest’s choices fully explained. With that, let’s go through the Starfield The Hammer Falls quest, and find out what you should do with Ron Hope.

The Hammer Falls walkthrough

With the Details of Arrangement slate you received from Paxton Hull in the previous mission, get back in your ship and head over to Hopetown on the planet Polvo in the Valo system. Once landed, head into HopeTech and through the doorway left of the front desk, and then head over to the platform where Ron Hope and Birgit McDougall are talking. Speak to them to let them know that you’ve obtained evidence to prove that Hope hired the First Cavalry to attack the farms on Montara Luna.

At first he will try to resist these claims, but will eventually admit to it, noting that HopeTech had fallen behind its competitors and tried to catch up by improving its chemical research. This research culminated in a failed experimental fertilizer which killed crops, but increased the mineral content of the soil it was used on. He then gave the fertilizer away to farmers, and hired the First Cavalry to scare the farmers away in order to mine the now mineral-rich soil, with some farmers being killed in the process.

Should you kill Ron Hope?

Having confronted Hope, it’s now up to you to decide how Ron Hope should be dealt with. There are three possible outcomes, and we will take you through each one.

Keep Ron Hope’s secret

You can offer to keep what Hope did a secret in order to allow him to remain as HopeTech CEO. First, select the option ‘I understand your position, but I have to do my job’. Hope will then argue that what he did was to protect HopeTech and Hopetown, attempt to guilt trip you, and eventually will threaten you.

In response to this, you can select the option ‘For your employees’ sake, I’ll keep your secret, but your scheme ends now’. Hope will take the evidence slate and promise to cease his criminal ways. When you meet up with Marshal Blake later, you will have to lie to protect Ron.

Accept Ron Hope’s bribe

Even better than the previous option because you’ll get paid for it. In attempting to evade justice, Hope will offer you a pretty sizeable 20000 credit bribe to forget this ever happened. Simply choose the ‘[Accept 20000 Credits] It’s too bad Hull died before he could tell my anything.’ option. Hope will take the slate and give you the credits, after which you can head back to the Marshal and lie about what you found.

Be aware that your companion won’t like this option, so if you want to avoid losing any affinity, make sure to tell them to wait behind before you come through to talk to Hope.

Killing Ron Hope

Probably the option he deserves the most, if you select the [Attack] dialogue option, you can kill him. After being threatened with jail time, Ron will actually try and threaten your life, and you can choose to fight him and his security guards. He’s pretty weak, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble with it. After this, you can either walk out or talk to Birgit, who will ruminate on whether or not he should have died, and will hope that Elana Nwanko, the company’s second-in-command will be able to successfully take over as CEO of HopeTech.

Talking to Marshal Blake

To finish up the quest, you’ll have to go and talk to Marshal Blake back in Akila City. If you chose to keep Hope’s secret or take his bribe, you’ll now have to lie to Blake about the actual goings on of the questline. If you killed Hope, you’ll have to give Blake the evidence slate to prove Hope’s guilt.

Whichever decision you made, you’ll receive the same reward of 12400 credits and 150 XP. In addition, for finishing the entire faction questline, you’ll be promoted from Freestar Deputy to Freestar Ranger and get some incredible gear, receiving the Ranger Spacesuit, Ranger Space Helmet, Ranger Power Pack, Justifier Shotgun, Ranger Duelwear, Freestar Ranger Badge, and one of our Starfield best ships, the Star Eagle Starship.

That’s everything you need to know to finish up the Starfield The Hammer Falls quest. If you’re not done questing, then you should take a look at the Starfield Delivering Devils quest, or the Starfield Absolute Power quest. And if you’re looking to build yourself a ship, our best Starfield ship parts guide is the guide for you.