As Starfield players make their way to the Porrima solar system, they will find an ominous and unresponsive ship stationary and in orbit around the planet Porrima 2. With the mission titled ‘First Contact’, and a worried settlement on the planet below, could this be the first sign of aliens in Starfield? Perhaps, or perhaps not, as players will soon see as they venture further into this quest.
Like most of Bethesda’s RPGs, choices matter, and dialogue and actions take the forefront of what’s possible. Players will be tasked with a decision to make in the Starfield First Contact mission, one that could see the loss of lives, or, the safety of them, depending on what decision they take.
Head To The Porrima System
A few solar systems to the right of Alpha Centauri, players can find the Porrima system, which is where players can find Porrima 2, the planet known for its wondrous vacation resort of Paradiso. From here, they will receive a distress call from the chief of security, Jiro Sugiyama, who will ask players to head to the surface of the planet and help him with this secret matter that’s scaring their residents.
Alternatively, players can hail the mysterious unidentified ship from orbit, to which they will find no response on their comms. However, they can get close to the ship to dock it and investigate for themselves before talking to security chief Sugiyama.
Investigate The Ship
Onboard the mysterious spacecraft, players will, sadly, not find aliens, but in fact, humans that have been charting space for the past 200 years. This space vessel was named the ECS Constant and has held human lives that have lived and died on board as they make their voyage to a new inhabitable planet. However, their mission saw them without advancements in technology, since they set out in 2100, meaning generations have passed since they began their journey, but they have arrived to find their potential colony already colonized.
Captain Brackenridge asks the player to head down to the settlement and negotiate with the Paradiso CEO, Oliver Campbell. Brackenridge wants the planet for her people to colonize and inhabit, but as a diplomat, the player might not be able to make everyone happy in this regard, which is why they should head for their ship and head back to Porrima 2 to negotiate with Oliver Campbell about the ECS Constant.
Negotiate With Oliver Campbell
Once players are back on the planet, they need to head to the Paradiso Hotel, which is just forward and to the right of the landing bay. This sprawling hotel holds an elevator, to which players will take to the Executive Floor in order to start their meeting with Mister Campbell, just be sure to clear the meeting with Keavy Andreas to proceed.
The board members, Balam and Salim will suggest that the colony waiting in orbit could be resettled in Paradiso, but it will cost them, effectively turning them into servants so that they can pay off their debts to live on the planet alongside the other humans. This might seem like a logical choice to give them jobs and share their new land, but being a corporate servant isn’t to everyone’s taste. They also suggest outfitting their out-of-date ship with a state-of-the-art Grav Drive, so they can find a new home in the infinite galaxy of planets, which might be a tad costly.
Lastly, the CEO suggests that things would be easier if the colonists simply “ceased to exist”, implying the worst, and giving the player the idea that they could just blow up the ship and make this problem go away permanently, even if this is perhaps the evilest choice of the bunch. Now that the three options have been laid on the table, players need to make a choice on what to do about the First Contact quest in Starfield.
Option 1: Buy A Grav Drive (Best Option)
The morally correct and most just decision to make is to purchase a Grav Drive for the ESG Constant. Doing the right thing can sometimes be costly, but for those who want to be the heroes of their story, Option 1 is for them, as it doesn’t involve blowing up their ship or relegating them to a life of servitude for a giant corporation. Players can leave the hotel and have a talk with Bennu St. James over at HopeTech, which can be located in the Valo system on planet Polvo on Hopetown.
Considering Grav Drives weren’t a thing by the time the ESG Constant set off for its cosmic voyage, it’s going to cost a few thousand Credits to fit something so modern into something so ancient. Players are looking at a whopping cost of 40,000 Credits if they want to buy the ESG Constant a Grav Drive. Alternatively, with the Persuade skill, players can haggle this 40,000 Credits down to 25,000 Credits, which is still a big ask, but that’s what heroes do.
Heading back to Porrima 2’s orbit, players can board the ECS Constant and head to the Engineering bay to talk to the chief engineer, Amin Kazemi about fitting a Grav Drive. Players can help prepare the ship for the Grav Drive by:
- Reroute power from the Port Turbopump to the Auxiliary Cryogenic Radiator
- Turn the Plasma Run-Off Inhibitor to 5%
- Decouple the Magnetic Flange Pipe Enclosures from the Auxiliary Module Assembly.
This is straightforward and just involves the Terminals in the Engineering bay. Players should do this right, otherwise they risk a fire, or worse. Now completed, players can speak to Captain Brackenridge and tell her the good news about the Grav Drive. For the reward, players will receive a few Antique Earth goodies that could sell for a large amount with the right vendor in mind.
Option 2: Settlement Deal – Indentured Servants
This solution will see the colonists end up as indentured servants, who owe their time and resources to the Paradiso staff. They will essentially be forced to work for Paradiso and its CEO for food, and shelter, and to feel at home with humanity again. It’s a rather harsh decision to make for the poor colonists who have spent centuries in space, traveling here, only to end up as workers for people they’ve never met.
Despite sounding like the obvious and peaceful solution, players will need to venture out and find the following resources before proceeding with welcoming these new citizens to the resort city:
- Fiber – 40
- Sealant – 20
- Iron – 80
- Lithium – 10
This solution won’t make the crew happy, and even the ESG Constant is not thrilled by the prospects available. Nevertheless, players can find these resources, which may take a while to grind for, only to essentially submit the lives of these space explorers into a life of permanent servitude, or until the Paradiso Group does not want their services anymore. There is no way to have the ESG Constant settle on Porrima 2 in Starfield unless they go for this option, which just isn’t good enough for the poor travelers.
Option 3: Overload The Reactor And Blow Up The Ship
Oliver suggests that a ship as old as this one could very well self-destruct if it is overloaded with too much power, which would be a perfect choice to override the safety systems in the reactor computer and cause the ship to explode, meaning no more colonists, and no more financial headaches for the Paradiso board members. This is very much a choice that followers and companions will protest toward, but the evil players out there, can head back to their spaceship and begin their diabolical plan.
Players will want to dock and board the ECS Constant and make their way to the Engineering room of the ship. To the left, they will find the Reactor Computer that requires a key. Players need the Pickpocket skill for this, as they will attempt to steal this key from the chief engineer, Amin Kazemi, who should be in the same room as the terminal. If they don’t care too much about stealth, feel free to kill him, loot it off his body, and proceed to the Reactor Terminal to initiate the Reactor Overdrive function.
Next, they will want to head to the captain’s bridge and hack the Captain’s Terminal, which requires advanced Lockpicking skills. Once inside, use the terminal to confirm the request on the Urgent Actions screen. This will initiate self-destruct, with no way to turn back now unless players use a save file before this action. Players can either fight their way back to their ship or run past the enemies to undock and escape.
What happens if players blow up the ship in First Contact? The crew onboard the ECS Constant die, and their ship explodes into nothingness, killing the history on board the ship, along with the men, women, and children who just wanted to find a planet to call home. Crew members will not be impressed in the slightest.
Heading back to Oliver, he will be amazed at what he has seen and will offer players 6,500 Credits, and unlimited access to the resort. If players try and ask for double, they will mock the player for trying to threaten him and will proceed to give them nothing in return.
Where To Find ECS Constant
Now that the First Contact mission has been completed, and if players have chosen the first option (purchase a Grav Drive) then they can actually meet up with the ECS Constant once more in the galaxy. To do this, they can track it from their Activity mission log to find the ‘Location of the ECS Constant’ The ECS Constant travels the stars, so players might have to skip a few solar systems to reach them. It’s worth noting that to do this effectively, players will want the best Grav Drive they can get their hands on, one that is capable of at least traveling 22LY (light years) will do.
Traveling through an ocean of stars, players will be able to find the ship that’s on its endless voyage to locate the perfect home. Yet, with the spaceship constantly traveling to new and uncharted planets, it’s oddly reminiscent of a Fallout Vault, with its occupants trapped inside, only knowing the life inside their ship and nothing else outside of it. If players can find the ECS Constant in Starfield again, they might find a mission or two waiting for them.
Starfield is available now for PC and Xbox Series X|S.