If you make your way to the Porrima system in Starfield, you will receive a broadcast telling you about a mysterious ship that has been resting above the planet Porrima II.
This ship has made no reasonable effort to communicate with the planet below them, and their technology appears woefully outdated. As you likely already know, this is the beginning of the First Contact mission in Starfield.
There are spoilers for this quest in Starfield, so proceed with caution.
How to start the First Contact mission in Starfield
While listening to the broadcast from security officer Jiro Sugiyama will add the quest to your questlog, you can begin First Contact by landing to speak with him in his security office, or by immediately docking and boarding the mysterious ship. On it, you will be greeted by a woman named Diana Breckenridge who is the captain of the ship. Diana will explain her ship, called the ESC Constant, hails from Earth and has been traveling in space for over 200 years.
The ESC Constant is a colony ship, and generations have been born, lived, and died on the ship by the time it left Earth until now.
Upon speaking to Diana, you can decide to help her and the ESC Constant by making your way down to the planet Porrima II and talking to the inhabitants on their behalf. As the ESC Constant is over 200 years old, Diana and her crew don’t have the current technology to communicate with the inhabitants.
If you agree to go down to the planet, you will need to either convince the inhabitants to let the ESC Constant settle on the planet or figure out another solution.
When you make your way down to Porrima II, you will dock in the resort town of Paradiso. This is like a modern-day Sandals resort; it has palm trees everywhere you look, lush waters, and amenities as far as the eye can see.
At the Paradiso resort, you need to speak to Jiro Sugiyama about the ESC Constant. He’s found in his security office just outside and in front of the resort. After speaking with Jiro, you will be sent to the offices of the Paradiso Board of Directors to figure out a solution.
Related: Starfield: How to complete the Mantis Quest and solve the Password Puzzle
Travel to the Board’s offices, and you will be able to meet with the Board members. You’ll mostly be dealing with the CEO: Oliver Campbell. You can tell straight away Oliver and company only think in terms of business. When going over solutions with the Board, you will eventually be left with three possibilities:
- Allow the ESC Constant to settle on Porrima II, but they will essentially be indentured servants, forced to pay and work for Paradiso for their settlement privileges.
- Find a way to “make the ESC Constant disappear.”
- Pay for a Grav Drive so the ESC Constant can settle in another system.
What happens if you pay for a Grav Drive?
If you’re like me, you likely feel sympathetic toward the crew of the ESC Constant. They were dealt a bad hand, and really haven’t done anything wrong. As such, you might be compelled to pay for a new Grav Drive so they can settle in another system.
This decision will make Sarah Morgan happy if you’re traveling with her, which can be important if you plan to romance the leader of Constellation. However, it will also force you to travel to another system and land in the city of Hopetown. Here, inside the HopeTech building, you can meet with a man who has an old Grav Drive for sale.
While this sounds great, there is a major problem: the Grav Drive costs 40,000 credits, combining the costs of the part and labor. You can persuade the man to drop the labor cost, but this will still cost you 25,000 credits.
At the time of doing the First Contact mission in Starfield, I only had 75,000 credits to my name, so taking a third out of my account in one swoop was not ideal for me.
However, once you agree with a solution at the Board of Directors office, you are locked into that solution. So unless you don’t want to complete the First Contact mission, you will have to pay the 25,000 credits for the Grav Drive.
If you decide to fork over the cash, the man will install the Grav Drive and the people of the ESC Constant will be able to settle in a new system, all thanks to you.
What happens if you make the ESC Constant settle on Porrima II?
The alternative is to return to the ESC Constant and tell them the only way they can settle on the planet is to become indentured servants. This choice doesn’t make Sarah Morgan happy and the crew of the Constant are not thrilled either.
When you return to the ship with this offer, it will not go over well and you will be required to collect the following materials in order to make the offer sustainable:
- 10 Lithium
- 20 Sealant
- 40 Fiber
- 80 Iron
These quantities are no joke and can be even worse to acquire than simply paying the 25,000 credits for the Grav Drive.
Materials Found on Porrima II
If you do decide to deliver the grave news to the ESC Constant and plan to start collecting materials, you might decide you don’t want to travel too far to get the resources you’re looking for.
Luckily, Porrima II has Lithium deposits, fiber that can be gathered from a plant called Dunetangle or a flying creature called a Pack Seabat, and sealant that can be gathered from a different plant called Hecate’s Fireleaf or a large, scuttling creature called a Herding Leafbug Grazer.
The only resource Porrima II doesn’t have is, unfortunately, iron — the one you’ll be needing the most of. Fortunately, there are some nearby moons and a planet in the Porrima system that do have iron deposits. The planet Porrima I and its moon Porrima I-A both have iron, and the moon Porrima IV-C orbiting the planet Porrima IV is also iron rich.
What happens if you destroy the ESC Constant?
The final option you have is to blow up the reactor on board the ESC Constant. This will turn everyone on the ship hostile, and you will never see any of the crew again. In order to blow up the reactor, you need to follow the steps below:
- Go to the Engineering Bay on the top level of the ship
- Pickpocket Amin Kazemi’s Reactor Computer Terminal key
- Access the Reactor Computer in the Engineering Bay with the key
- Set the Reactor Computer to “Emergency Reactor Overdrive.”
- Go to the ship’s bridge and lockpick the Captain’s Bridge Computer.
- Select “Urgent Actions” and then “Confirm Request.”
This makes everyone on the ship aggressive towards you, but you can simply run to the exit and board your ship to avoid fighting everyone. Undock from the ESC Constant, and then the ship will explode behind you. This kills Diana and everyone on board the ship. To finish the quest, return to Oliver in Paradiso.
When speaking to Oliver again, don’t try and double your payment, as this will result in you getting nothing.
Which option should you pick in First Contact?
Believe it or not, the easiest option in this quest is to blow everyone up on the ESC Constant. This saves you 25,000 credits or a massive amount of materials.
However, if you don’t want to kill everyone, then I recommend buying the Grav Drive, as you can always earn extra money. I ended up buying the Grav Drive, and it certainly felt good watching the ESC Constant fly away in search of a new home after everything the crew had been through.
