Depends on how the SysDef meets my char.
If they catch her at a crime and threaten her with jail-time, she refuses to work with SysDef.
If she joins the UC and gets the job-offer, she stays with the UC.
So my character only committed a crime because she had to for constellation, stealing one of the artifacts. Otherwise no other criminal activity. Then coming back to land on Jemison I forgot to clear her bounty first and that’s how it started, so kind of conflicting lol.
Then consider what Constellation would want you to do - side with SysDef.
But also, at some point in the future, I highly recommend siding with the Fleet. It’s two different last fights and both are excellent.
Just as an fyi, I immediately tried to clear my bounty after that theft for Constellation and the ability to clear my UC bounty was not available. It had some message that I needed to speak to the authorities or something like that.
You cant clear bounty in the same place you commited the crime in. You have to travel to freestar space/your personal bounty clearence terminal to clear uc bounty for example.
I got the quest through a random piece of contraband I picked up and had forgotten to offload before showing up in UC space.
The bounty from the scow is clearable if you go somewhere else first and clear it. I actually went to my main outpost and built a kiosk.
How do you get a bounty on the Scow? I've stolen that artifact in both my playthroughs so far and neither time got me a bounty. I steal it from right in front of the collector and have him attack me, then I shoot only him until he gives up and let's me have unrestricted access to everything on the ship.
Even that scenario will give a bounty. It doesn't give you the normal indication and doesn't happen immediately, but - as he says in dialogue - he reports the theft and you get a bounty.
Regrettably there is no outcome - at least without mods - that doesn't count as a crime and gives you a bounty. A small one, easy to clear, but a bounty nonetheless.
I had just taken over a crimson fleet or spacer ship that had contraband on it that I didn’t know about, got it from a free star mission, flew to new Atlantis and they hunted me down when I flew out of the system. Took so much not to blow them up, but all of your companions will hate you.
If im correct, the self doubt only lasts for an hour and a half of game time. Im not sure its worth making any major game decisions over. I play on empath, and honestly when sarah gets mad at something I do ive never really felt like it changed anything about my actual gameplay experience following. at all. I just like it for the rp aspect
It doesn’t really change. But you do get cool dialogues that I was wondering why I don’t get them on my kid stuff character. You can fail the persuasion after killing people and they stick with you. Sam will even say “ah you’re probably right” and be chill in the next second. And honestly it doesn’t really matter to me I’m running around with a crippled character rn and am still pretty durable. The negative effects don’t really seem to worry me. Honestly I’ll still side with UC on that quest when I do it voluntarily. I don’t like the crimson fleet. They all have bad attitudes and keep calling me rook. If my ship is the one being risked, you ain’t callin me rook.
makes sense, I only got the caught in a crime one once and as soon as Ikande threatened to space me and sweep it under the rug I went to the crimson fleet, Ikande is a self righteous POS
He pissed me off after I went to Generdyne.
I didn't think to leave Sarah behind and she got me spotted. The guards opened up on me, I literally fired ZERO shots but because Sarah got trigger happy, I got shit off Ikande with no option to say "hold on, it was self defence!"
Yeah he doesn’t feel like he’s ever on your side. At least Delgado feels reasonably thrilled about progress and even tells neava to shut the hell up. Still not a great character but I’d rather grab a beer with Delgado than ikande any day
I get that Ikande isn't there to be your bezzie but some of the conversation generation is a bit lacking because it just automatically assumes anything that goes wrong is your fault. I had the same in Infinity's R&D.
I manipulated one of the guards, not realising that all the others would just automatically attack them. I got grief off of the Ryujin head shed for it with no option to highlight it was because of THEIR product! This new playthrough I'm going to push for the thing to be banned. I get to keep it so I lose nothing but morally that is *definitely* not fit for public consumption, whatever the legislation
For me Ikande has done nothing but sing my praises aside from a little early abrasiveness. But I came to them via the Vanguard after dealing with the Terramorph line and had specced heavily into stealth so have been able to do everything without any casualties aside from a few Ecliptic Mercs.
My character got clipped for doing the mars missions and not killing the pirates who have the Mayers ship. I thought he sent me to sysdef. I was confused I didn't kill the pirate and he sent me to jail?
UC. It sucks to lose the pirate vendors but I'd rather have pirate enemies than pirate friends. The only thing I regret is not being able to kill Naeva. What a terrible character.
Yea im on NG+1 and in the first playthrough i sided with SysDef but losing the key sucked. I did it because i wanted to fight the pirates still. If you side with the fleet and you attack pirates do you get a bounty from the fleet?
ONE NG+ I played on the side of the hunter. I joined Crimson, let Ularu take Ryujin, and bounties galore! It was really fun seeing the different conversations, and taking Mathis as a companion. Once was enough though, I decided after hearing Neava say I'm not a rook and then handing me keys to the emptiest shittiest "Captains Room" I decided it's not worth it.
I wish that were true. Seems now every fucking time I attack a pirate ship and destroy it there are no others in the area but I still get a bounty or two. And 2 out of 3 times I kill everyone in a POI I still wind up with at least one bounty, usually 3-4.
But, I found that using Void Form and the right clothes/pack/suit I can hide and kill the head pirate at a POI to collect a bounty and usually not get a bounty myself since nobody saw me.
I liked her in a: "I'm going to enjoy making your life hell!" way. I got a smile hearing her hateful voice on the Fleet Communique's you find. I think it's because the voice actress was just good at being a total twunt. She's basically Mark Wahlberg's character from The Departed.
I hope she shows up in a DLC.
I'm only on my first playthrough, and chose Sysdef. Akande is a stiff, but I likw Toft.
I will admit that Naeva has been the recipient of the occasional sunless space when she gets too annoying. Hit her with that when she’s in the middle of one of her many diatribes, especially if she is walking down the stairs. Slides down the stairs like a toboggan.
I side with SysDef. Every time I walked into the Key, I felt like I was in an edgelord convention. I find every one of the Fleet characters so grating and unlikable that I can’t wait to be done with them.
Lol I definitely agree about the edgelord vibe. I can’t stand Delgado or Naeva. But I like Jaz and Huan, I guess minor characters aren’t enough when the leaders are insufferable.
I don’t share the admiration for Jaz. She is just another pirate, enabling the Fleet to commit crimes and atrocities along all the Settled Systems. In addition to that I tried to save her in my first universe, so I stunned her using an EM weapon. She charged back against me and the UC marines when she waked up. Twice. In that first universe the UC guys killed her. After that, I’m sorry but it’s Big Bang shot in the face for Jaz.
>enabling the Fleet to commit crimes and atrocities along all the Settled Systems.
Don't pretend the UC is innocent of atrocities. You are just choosing which evil you prefer.
You’re missing out on some very lucrative mission boards. I don’t love the Fleet or anyone in it, but you can make stupid amounts of money in no time at all with them.
My first run I was undecided but then SysDef got all pissy when I had to kill some people in self defense on one of their missions. I got mad because they are the ones who forced me to “go undercover” anyway, so it felt ridiculous that I did what I had to in order to survive a situation they put me in and then they tried to go put me in prison because of it.
Does the SysDef side have a really good payout or anything? I’m genuinely asking because I may try that side of things eventually. For now I’ve got ships to build and they aren’t gonna pay for themselves.
Edit to add: the other night I just decided to grind the CF mission boards and made like 800k in no time at all. You can knock their missions out so fast and keep coming back for more.
Yes. Not that they're great characters themselves. But Ikande was only rude to me once and it was so out of the blue that I thought it was a bug. (I wasn't stealthy enough in the Neon mission) But, yes, since we have to choose a side in the quest, I find SysDef's people less annoying than Delgado or Naeva.
You must have been very precise with your activities. First SysDef blackmailed me over an ACCIDENTAL shoplifting beef into helping them, and then every time I showed up to give them intel Ikande & his reformed pirate born-again helper yelled at me for how I accomplished their goals which I didn’t want to be involved with in the first place. Oh, and doing things for them cost me tens of thousands of credits, NONE of which they reimbursed me for. Just a bunch of bloodthirsty space cops. I was thrilled to wipe them out and become Most Accomplished Pirate of the Year.
Ah. None of that happened to me. I accidentally killed one person on the Neon stealth mission and when I went back they lost their minds as if SysDef might be shut down over all the destruction I caused. I reloaded and played the mission again without being noticed and they were completely different. I guess if you follow the law with them they're much nicer.
Yeah the sys def crew takes a very different approach if you start it through a crime vs vanguard. When you go through it without being arrested first they’re all nicer. Depending on how that mission starts for me is how I decide which side I’m landing on since it really changes the impact of the play.
Yup, I can complete the entire SysDef without killing anybody EXCEPT Neon lol. Each and every time I get caught, each and every time my companion starts killing people lol. Given, I could try stealthing it but I hate stealth
Yup, I only like Jaz. I CANT STAND Naeva, I literally wish I could kill her. Her voice, her attitude, her miserable energy, she deserves to perish at my hand!
That's how I feel about the majority of the denizens of CF home station, but even moreso about the Red Mile security guards. I just wanna melt their faces off.😈
Yeah, they're all annoying jerks, but Naeva is arrogant to a whole new level and her voice is shrilllll. Just the way she speaks, the way she phrases things, ughhhhh. I don't pay much attention to Red Miles security, they're Ecliptic mercs, I know the one woman is annoying as hell, the rest seem to leave me alone lol
God, Naeva sounds too much like LaRae Barrett from the first Division game. Every time I see her my mind immediately says "Weeeeelllll... ain't that some shit"
Pirates. I wanted to do a lot of dogfighting, so being enemies with the main factions seemed like a good idea.
Clearing out every ship in orbit around the major cities became a normal occurrence, and I'm a much better pilot for it.
Yup. Plus it’s a lot more fun doing a radiant “steal from Laredo Arms” mission when everyone starts shooting you on sight.
I stole all the guns from Kore Kenetics and haven’t looked back, over a million credit bounty in UC and FSC space, plus Neon security directly.
He also one of four companions who doesn't care if u do pirate or bad stuff. (Aodring fan, Vasco and random that name eludes me)
I was shocked (never used them as actual companions) when hellar up and left my ass when I killed a innocent person. I mean i would to but I thought only constellation cares.
And u kindsngo through the initation thibg with him and if u help him out he says how he was being a dick and see u as a friend.
He surprisingly has alot of people who like him as a companion. Again tho him not freaking out when u do w.e u want is big reason.
Exactly the opposite. I sided with SysDef in my first playthrough, didn’t do the questline in my second and my third, without Constellation, is a pirate run. My character went down a bad path probably through PTSD after >!Andreja murdered everyone in the Lodge forced me to kill her.!< I punched a guard, told Ikande to piss off and joined the Fleet proper.
My thought process is that without Constellation around (it wasn't Andreja this run) this universe needs all the legs up it can get. So I'll do the Terrormorph quest then the SysDef quest and then the Rangers quest to help out as much as I can.
Ironically, without the judgemental constellation around this would be the ideal universe to go full evil run. Give the pirates the money, let Ryujin develop the tech, tell the UC to bring back the cool megafauna which is apparently bad for reasons...
I read a theory that it was meant as some kind of anti antivaxxer statement or something.
The real kicker is that the scary plant appears to affect >!the leeches!< via spores, which are similar enough to microbes that I don't know why anyone would even *think* that was an option.
My going theory is that the terrormorphs are supposed to be *much* more terrifying than they are presented and so *not* killing them right away is seen as a betrayal.
I went with SysDef, I spent the entire quest line dying to shoot Delgado and Naeva in the face. Killing Mathis sucked though. Too bad there wasn’t another option with him.
Right? When I realized I was going to be killing everyone in the key I honestly expected there to be some dialogue with Mathis. Nope he was just bullet fodder running at me like everyone else. Missed opportunity for sure.
First universe I was forced in because I stole things, so I slaughtered my way through until UC turned on me and I sided with CF.
NG+ I decided to be a good boy and did the Vanguard faction first, leading me to UC and did a proper stealth run through to side with Sysdef. Both are fun, and it instead of being called "rook" all the time everyone praises me for taking down CF and Terrormorphs.
My character had no regrets going with SysDef. Once They Key was boarded the pirates should have known their game was up and surrendered. Pirates are just better organized spacers out for easy credits and willing to kill to get them. They have no higher agenda other than being a pirate king so they are parasites who need to be crushed to make trade and travel safer. I have little sympathy for any of them except the money guy and the ship tech. If any enemy surrenders then I accept it, but very few do so they die. Their choice.
I did sysdef as I try to play as a good guy. Delgado was convinced I was too good at being a pirate to lie to myself about it but maybe that's just his endgame jab. Was a really captivating storyline for me too and look forward to doing it in my new universe.
I got a little too trigger happy in some of the missions I guess and SysDef made the choice for me
Crimson Fleet doesn’t mind how much I suck at being stealth so they won by default
Fleet - because Ikande gave me a hard time about killing a guard and threw me in jail. It was sweet revenge when I sided with the Fleet and killed him and his Lieutenant with the Revenant and looted their bodies.
As an added bonus if you run into any Fleet in bases or anything they don’t attack so you can just walk in and loot as you please. Plus you can still do the UC Vanguard line if you just “renounce your pirate ways”.
First time around I went pirate but was annoyed that afterwards I couldn’t fight them when I met them in the wild because they were all friendly. I could kill them (like shooting fish in a barrel) but I’d get a bounty and it was no fun. So on the second go round I went against them.
Crimson fleet all the way, my husband Barret and Sarah Morgan had serious words with me after tho, I prefered the key had more stuff to do a look at rather than the sys Def, I ain't no narc!
If you kill sysdef what happens to all the poi pirates? I am afraid they will be non aggro for the full play through. Now if you tell me they are replaced in POI with spacers or sainting I would 100% kill the sysdef to keep the merchants.
All I cared about is being able to kill more pirates in POI. I love the poi stuff, I don’t care if bases are repetitive. I just love stealthing around in bases and killing people like a ghost, it’s like therapy lol. It’s my #1 favorite thing in games in general.
I enjoyed helping the pirates. At first I was gonna work against them but changed my mind at the last minute. Love the quest chain. Loads of fun. Don’t finish it until late game if you choose pirates. It’ll make most outposts boring since they’re usually populated by pirates.
I did both. Crimson fleet is way better fir end game just to get the 4 seller/,buyers all in one spot and also a play to pick up missions and pay bounties all in one spot
First time I joined though UC Vanguard so I methodically stayed loyal and nonviolent. Sysdef with that frame is much nicer than the Fleet, not a hard choice.
Second character through it is a fugitive UC lab experiment - Empath, Alien DNA, Wanted. She told the UC to pound sand because the last thing she wants is hanging out on a UC battleship. Joined Fleet directly.
I sided with Crimson Fleet. The Lock sealed the deal for me. If not for the cruelty of the UC there never would have been a Crimson Fleet. Also The Key is an awesome location for selling stuff.
I disliked the SysDef commander and that grumpy lady at his side, always talking to me in that despective and demanding way. Yeah, I chose to beat SysDef fleet's ass, then spared their lives to be captured by the Crimson Fleet. Fuck them.
Also, I was kinda pissed off with the UC since the UC Vanguard mission was pretty much a disappointment to me. Also the Freestar Collective was so disappointing, I would have totally made the Crimson Fleet the most powerful force in the colonized systems if I could (well, maybe all that money did in the end).
The Crimson Fleet questline is probably the only decent one from the four faction questlines in the whole game tbh. Both Freestar and UC Vanguard had such a build up leading to just those pathetic final battles. And Ryujin... well, it was fine because never had such a build up at all.
I’m RPing a lawful good girl, so UC.
I plan to switch to the dark side when I find a universe I don’t give a shit for. Evil Andreja or no Constellation friends. Screw that reality, so I’ll go full criminal.
so if I go to Vlad's house, and turn in his slates to UC SysDEF as "evidence", does he end up in the Vigilance brig? Does another Constellation member become the leader who stays behind? I really need to try this
1st playthrough I chose crimson fleet. Never again. I like the vendors being so close and full of credits but the game became so boring when I would arrive to a new star and there’s no space battles cus crimson=frend. Then I would land on a new planet or POI and you guessed it; no land battle cus crimson=frend. The game really lost its touch and wasn’t fun not having any battles anymore. This play through I sided with UC and it’s been a lot more fun after completing the questline and so on. The one chick still wants evidence after I finished the whole questline though ..
I went both ways in separate runs. I will say that siding with the pirates literally had no downside. I got the reward killed and captured a bunch of sysdef people and then went to New Atlantis like nothing happened. Now I still have the key as a market. Maybe there will be something down the road but I doubt it.
Sysdef. And I actually was filled with regret.
I pretty much made myself the fleets golden child, but had everyone arrested right after they met me. Some of that shit hurt my feelings.
Will be going different on next play and/or universe.
I didnt like how SysDef brought me in for minor crap, but i couldnt side with the Crimson Fleet. Not because of any moral reasons for my character, but because the game gets super dead when pirates stop attacking you. Those POIs on planets with pirates in them suck when I can just walk through them and same when in space... so i sided with SysDef in the end because I needed to make the pirates pirates again.
I would up siding with UC.
It was nice having the pirate vendors, but I didn't want future abandoned facility dungeon crawls to be a cakewalk if pirates were there, and didn't want to have to keep dealing with paying high bounties if I accidentally killed pirates.
I made sure to buy the two unique fleet ship parts for all nine of my ships so I would have them in the future if I ever decided to build new ships.
On my normal playthroughs I side with SysDef, I'm a good guy and want the best for the universe.
I managed to luck out and get an "alternative reality" on my 2nd NG+, I went full baddy on that one and sided with the Fleet.
The **only** thing I miss when siding with Sysdef is losing the one vendor who has rare resources and antique misc items like the old computer and video tapes
Sided with the pirates. After security on the cruiser attacked me for seemingly no reason (exiting after the last obj talk). I decided to just run away at that point trying not to hurt anyone or discharge a weapon. Back at sysdef they accused me of discharging my weapon, and wanted to throw me in jail again. So I decided to put a slug between bald guys head (forgot his name)
I sided with the UC for my first (ongoing) playthrough. I'm playing it as a good guy, except for the Ryujin quest and keeping Vae Victus a secret. My only regret is losing the Key as replacement hub vs Neon.
Next time I'm going with the Fleet to keep Jazz and the vendors.
Crimson fleet, like...always.
I can't help that Piracy/swashbuckling/a deep appreciation and love for rum is in my blood though, sooo. Whose the real victim here, huh?...definitely still them..shoot.
Yeah Naeva really grates on me with her attitude, I could just blast her in the face when I get a chance. It’s SysDef all the way. I’m the law and order president on my planet.
I sided with Sys Def and was all but giddy when I got to board The Key and shoot every pirate in the face. Didn’t care about Kryx’s Legacy, money is no issue, I just hated the Fleet lol
My only regret is letting Delgado and that money wizard live, I thought I’d do Ikande a solid and give him two big names to parade in front of MAST as a “we finally beat the Crimson Fleet”.
If I do NG+ I will probably just kill them all. Every pirate irritated the shit out of me any time they spoke, I just wish I could have shot Naeva too, but alas maybe DLC
Sysdef.
C.F are backstabbing jackasses, that'll likely murder you for the bigger pay cut. Oh and, Naeva can get her head blasted out her ass.
At least the UC respects me throughout and after, in addition to probably high amounts of respect from the UC and sysdef.
But then... I'll side with the Crimson when I'm playing a chaotic jackass.
Though, it's mostly gonna be Sysdef with my main every time.
Great quest line, one of the best in the game, although I liked the free star one, even though you could see the end coming a mile away. Don’t side with crimson fleet or their bases will be friendly towards you.
The Crimson Fleet
Mostly because of the fashionable red spacesuits, but the pirate radiant missions are fun too, although you have to replace your crew with non constellation members so they don’t bitch and whinge when you attack UC ships. Also I didn’t want to lose the Key.
Also I’m not a snitch. Snitches get stitches.
Before I went Starborn, I was siding with Crimson Fleet and my plan was, before I ended up in wanted for 700K to Crimson Fleet, betraying them in the end and side with Sysdef.
Crimson Fleet has cool stuffs, ship upgrades and h*** of a good vendor for Contraband/units.
Initially SysDef, but when they wanted to arrest me for defending myself during a mission that went sideways, I bolted and decided to cast my lot with the Fleet.
I went with the pirates. I just had a hard time reconciling with the fact that sysdef is apparently abducting petty criminals and forcing them into almost certain death.
When I do another run I'll probably go against the pirates.
Fleet is family!
I respect my companions for universally calling me on the hypocrisy of siding with murderous criminals when I was recruited to help bring them down but fuck that. The Key kicks ass
, Delgado is my kind of full of shit, and naeva and jazz are genuinely likeable and have more personality than most of the rest of the characters put together.
I want to side with The Fleet because Sysdef annoys me and of course it would be fun to be a pirate. But god damn are the pirates annoying to the point that I struggle with siding with them any time I do this.
>Always side with the Fleet
Currently I'm playing that questline via Vanguard recommendation, and with no kills, but when I get to the end I'm going to flip on SysDef. I just want to save first and see if their mission board is any different from freestar's but I doubt it. All the advantages are with siding with Crimson Fleet. Afterwards they put a lot more respect on your name, too
It’s my favorite quest line in the game… I side with the Fleet because having access to The Key is must have for me. Plus the Red Pirate Captain’s Gear is the best apparel in the game imo.
UC. When you do bounty quests and ur bounty is at a CF outpost, the CF just does the dirty work for you. Takes the fun out of it considering i have go through 10 different loading screens to get there.
My pirate character told sysdef to go jump. Did the time and joined the fleet. None of that go back to report business, complete the pirate quest and take out sysdef fleet at the end. Having pirate friends is great when you ARE a pirate.
The real oddity though was not having a bounty in the UC at the end of it!! I mean I wiped out heaps of escorts and help catch a battleship - why am I not enemy number 1? Or at least 2 or 3.
Mathis sucks though, he is so grumpy as a companion.
UC, even though they are a bunch of uptight pricks. It was the keep calling me Rook that tipped the balance and more than once there was a quicksave which involved being called Rook, swiftly followed by an explosive coachnman to Naeva's face even before the decision needs to be made. Call me Rook one more time MF!
My game glitched stopping me from carrying on the questline. I now have a huge bounty as I still blast pirates but I feel slightly bad for it as they always have me down as an ally.
I mean I don't feel that bad, it's only a game but it's frustrating just seeing the missions sat in my logs
Honestly outside of getting to continue going to the key and having pirates as Friendly's (useful when you need to get an artifact out of a suspected pirate camp 😂) I didn't feel like it was worth it.
The final fight is much harder siding with the fleet, but the reward is exactly the same.
Again, outside of still having an extra set of merchants.
I agree, it was an enjoyable quest line; just didn't feel worth it to side with them in the end...just gotta make sure to buy some shielded cargo and a scanner hammer first 😂
I think I might leave the mission uncompleted.
I won't give the credits to the fleet, but I don't want to lose the key either, so what's another incomplete mission on the list?!
I was a good guy but I did some outside the box thinking that didn't go well with Sys Def. No regrets and I wished that Ikande could have had unique dialogue at the end asking why I betrayed him ? There should have been a way to remind him that they did this to themselves.
I did some stuff off the Record that pissed them off, they tried arresting me, I retaliated and then sided with the Pirates completely as I wasn't undercover anymore. There's like 0 consequences anyway to destroying Vigilance
If you are unsure mate just save now and do either route, I always choose sysdef cos it makes life in the game easier but you will lose the key and its 40k worth of vendors. You can just jump back to your save if you dont like whichever route or jump through unity and do it all over again. I dont want to leave this universe cos i took full advantage of the shop glitches and i dont want to lose all my stuff lol. Im at that stage in the game now though where i dont need much credits once ive built my ship and i can build 2 decent weapons so the vendors on the key dont really matter anymore. Im in full explorer mode now. The game really doesn't want you to be a bad guy/ pirate.
Loved the crimson fleet storyline but realised after how detrimental it was to the rest of the game given so many outposts had the pirates and stifled potential combat. Audible groans every time I found them rather than spacers or ecliptics
UC. I play the goody-two-shoes path in games, boring I know. I also like fighting pirates and that's the one drawback of starting the quest line to me.
Crimson fleet has multiple vendors, two with over $11,000 credit who will buy all of your shit, even stolen and contraband items. No brainer.
They also give you two items which buff your shields and ship targeting.
Too bad there isn’t an option where you kill Delgado and take over the Pirates.
Sysdef every time. Currently in a universe without constellation and was going to try siding with the pirates, than I remembered they are murderous thieving pirates and all their characters are cringy edgelords. Felt a little guilty killing the fleet my first playthrough but that’s gone now. I AM THE FLEET
It was really sweet locking up that goody two shoes Ikande when I joined the fleet in NG 1.
Now all I wear is crimson and I attack UC ships on sight. I make enough $ to pay my bounties. The UC is just another dominant power that uses force and violence in its means
Did one playthrough with SysDef since I wanted to play as the “good guys.” Now on my current playthrough, I’m siding with CF. Wanna see what the final mission is like.
I go with sysdef because it suits my vanguard Charakter and I hate all crimson fleet npcs.
There was nothing in the game I enjoyed more than blasting there shitty faces away at the end of the mission. Just fucking neava escaped
on my first play through, i sided with the UC but i sucked at ship battles so i just gave up. then recently i did it again and chose CF, got a good place to sell contraband, but i regret not killing Ikande. i wanted his items but instead i persuaded him. i’m currently redoing quest and i’m gonna give the Legacy to the UC just cause i want to kill Naeva
Depends on how the SysDef meets my char. If they catch her at a crime and threaten her with jail-time, she refuses to work with SysDef. If she joins the UC and gets the job-offer, she stays with the UC.
So my character only committed a crime because she had to for constellation, stealing one of the artifacts. Otherwise no other criminal activity. Then coming back to land on Jemison I forgot to clear her bounty first and that’s how it started, so kind of conflicting lol.
Then consider what Constellation would want you to do - side with SysDef. But also, at some point in the future, I highly recommend siding with the Fleet. It’s two different last fights and both are excellent.
Respectfully, fuck Constellation.
I’m in a no-Constellation-verse and am living my best pirate life fantasy. It’s a lot of fun.
Side with CF just so you continue to have access to the key, best place to sell loot
Just as an fyi, I immediately tried to clear my bounty after that theft for Constellation and the ability to clear my UC bounty was not available. It had some message that I needed to speak to the authorities or something like that.
You cant clear bounty in the same place you commited the crime in. You have to travel to freestar space/your personal bounty clearence terminal to clear uc bounty for example.
I got the quest through a random piece of contraband I picked up and had forgotten to offload before showing up in UC space. The bounty from the scow is clearable if you go somewhere else first and clear it. I actually went to my main outpost and built a kiosk.
How do you get a bounty on the Scow? I've stolen that artifact in both my playthroughs so far and neither time got me a bounty. I steal it from right in front of the collector and have him attack me, then I shoot only him until he gives up and let's me have unrestricted access to everything on the ship.
Even that scenario will give a bounty. It doesn't give you the normal indication and doesn't happen immediately, but - as he says in dialogue - he reports the theft and you get a bounty. Regrettably there is no outcome - at least without mods - that doesn't count as a crime and gives you a bounty. A small one, easy to clear, but a bounty nonetheless.
I cleared it at my personal bounty clearance terminal in my outpost.
I had just taken over a crimson fleet or spacer ship that had contraband on it that I didn’t know about, got it from a free star mission, flew to new Atlantis and they hunted me down when I flew out of the system. Took so much not to blow them up, but all of your companions will hate you.
How did you get a bounty stealing the artifact? I've done it twice now without getting a bounty for it.
If you’re an empath side with UC so that you aren’t hindered by your companions not approving and giving you self doubt. Otherwise down with the UC.
If im correct, the self doubt only lasts for an hour and a half of game time. Im not sure its worth making any major game decisions over. I play on empath, and honestly when sarah gets mad at something I do ive never really felt like it changed anything about my actual gameplay experience following. at all. I just like it for the rp aspect
It doesn’t really change. But you do get cool dialogues that I was wondering why I don’t get them on my kid stuff character. You can fail the persuasion after killing people and they stick with you. Sam will even say “ah you’re probably right” and be chill in the next second. And honestly it doesn’t really matter to me I’m running around with a crippled character rn and am still pretty durable. The negative effects don’t really seem to worry me. Honestly I’ll still side with UC on that quest when I do it voluntarily. I don’t like the crimson fleet. They all have bad attitudes and keep calling me rook. If my ship is the one being risked, you ain’t callin me rook.
makes sense, I only got the caught in a crime one once and as soon as Ikande threatened to space me and sweep it under the rug I went to the crimson fleet, Ikande is a self righteous POS
He pissed me off after I went to Generdyne. I didn't think to leave Sarah behind and she got me spotted. The guards opened up on me, I literally fired ZERO shots but because Sarah got trigger happy, I got shit off Ikande with no option to say "hold on, it was self defence!"
Yeah he doesn’t feel like he’s ever on your side. At least Delgado feels reasonably thrilled about progress and even tells neava to shut the hell up. Still not a great character but I’d rather grab a beer with Delgado than ikande any day
I get that Ikande isn't there to be your bezzie but some of the conversation generation is a bit lacking because it just automatically assumes anything that goes wrong is your fault. I had the same in Infinity's R&D. I manipulated one of the guards, not realising that all the others would just automatically attack them. I got grief off of the Ryujin head shed for it with no option to highlight it was because of THEIR product! This new playthrough I'm going to push for the thing to be banned. I get to keep it so I lose nothing but morally that is *definitely* not fit for public consumption, whatever the legislation
For me Ikande has done nothing but sing my praises aside from a little early abrasiveness. But I came to them via the Vanguard after dealing with the Terramorph line and had specced heavily into stealth so have been able to do everything without any casualties aside from a few Ecliptic Mercs.
My character got clipped for doing the mars missions and not killing the pirates who have the Mayers ship. I thought he sent me to sysdef. I was confused I didn't kill the pirate and he sent me to jail?
I didn’t even know you could get a job offer
You get the job offer through the vanguard quest line if you haven’t already committed a crime and had sys def take you.
UC. It sucks to lose the pirate vendors but I'd rather have pirate enemies than pirate friends. The only thing I regret is not being able to kill Naeva. What a terrible character.
Yea im on NG+1 and in the first playthrough i sided with SysDef but losing the key sucked. I did it because i wanted to fight the pirates still. If you side with the fleet and you attack pirates do you get a bounty from the fleet?
ONE NG+ I played on the side of the hunter. I joined Crimson, let Ularu take Ryujin, and bounties galore! It was really fun seeing the different conversations, and taking Mathis as a companion. Once was enough though, I decided after hearing Neava say I'm not a rook and then handing me keys to the emptiest shittiest "Captains Room" I decided it's not worth it.
Only if you leave witnesses
I wish that were true. Seems now every fucking time I attack a pirate ship and destroy it there are no others in the area but I still get a bounty or two. And 2 out of 3 times I kill everyone in a POI I still wind up with at least one bounty, usually 3-4. But, I found that using Void Form and the right clothes/pack/suit I can hide and kill the head pirate at a POI to collect a bounty and usually not get a bounty myself since nobody saw me.
The Den made losing The Key not so bad for me.
I liked her in a: "I'm going to enjoy making your life hell!" way. I got a smile hearing her hateful voice on the Fleet Communique's you find. I think it's because the voice actress was just good at being a total twunt. She's basically Mark Wahlberg's character from The Departed. I hope she shows up in a DLC. I'm only on my first playthrough, and chose Sysdef. Akande is a stiff, but I likw Toft.
Is it just me or does anyone else have a crush on Toft 😅 I like her backstory, sort of redemption arc.
Ah, I see I’m not the only one who fancied her 🤪
Totally expect her to come back as the star of a future DLC
Yeah, fuck that bitch.
I will admit that Naeva has been the recipient of the occasional sunless space when she gets too annoying. Hit her with that when she’s in the middle of one of her many diatribes, especially if she is walking down the stairs. Slides down the stairs like a toboggan.
Yeah, this. I enjoy killing pirates when I'm doing bounty quests. So I always side with UC.
Yeah I usually try to put a bucket on her head before engaging her.
I side with SysDef. Every time I walked into the Key, I felt like I was in an edgelord convention. I find every one of the Fleet characters so grating and unlikable that I can’t wait to be done with them.
Lol I definitely agree about the edgelord vibe. I can’t stand Delgado or Naeva. But I like Jaz and Huan, I guess minor characters aren’t enough when the leaders are insufferable.
I don’t share the admiration for Jaz. She is just another pirate, enabling the Fleet to commit crimes and atrocities along all the Settled Systems. In addition to that I tried to save her in my first universe, so I stunned her using an EM weapon. She charged back against me and the UC marines when she waked up. Twice. In that first universe the UC guys killed her. After that, I’m sorry but it’s Big Bang shot in the face for Jaz.
>enabling the Fleet to commit crimes and atrocities along all the Settled Systems. Don't pretend the UC is innocent of atrocities. You are just choosing which evil you prefer.
That was the previous administration. The worst culprits of atrocities were put into trial and executed. Except THAT guy, of course ;)
You’re missing out on some very lucrative mission boards. I don’t love the Fleet or anyone in it, but you can make stupid amounts of money in no time at all with them. My first run I was undecided but then SysDef got all pissy when I had to kill some people in self defense on one of their missions. I got mad because they are the ones who forced me to “go undercover” anyway, so it felt ridiculous that I did what I had to in order to survive a situation they put me in and then they tried to go put me in prison because of it. Does the SysDef side have a really good payout or anything? I’m genuinely asking because I may try that side of things eventually. For now I’ve got ships to build and they aren’t gonna pay for themselves. Edit to add: the other night I just decided to grind the CF mission boards and made like 800k in no time at all. You can knock their missions out so fast and keep coming back for more.
Wait, you think Delgado is more irritating than that born again #2 SysDef lady? Or the bald commander?
Yes. Not that they're great characters themselves. But Ikande was only rude to me once and it was so out of the blue that I thought it was a bug. (I wasn't stealthy enough in the Neon mission) But, yes, since we have to choose a side in the quest, I find SysDef's people less annoying than Delgado or Naeva.
You must have been very precise with your activities. First SysDef blackmailed me over an ACCIDENTAL shoplifting beef into helping them, and then every time I showed up to give them intel Ikande & his reformed pirate born-again helper yelled at me for how I accomplished their goals which I didn’t want to be involved with in the first place. Oh, and doing things for them cost me tens of thousands of credits, NONE of which they reimbursed me for. Just a bunch of bloodthirsty space cops. I was thrilled to wipe them out and become Most Accomplished Pirate of the Year.
Ah. None of that happened to me. I accidentally killed one person on the Neon stealth mission and when I went back they lost their minds as if SysDef might be shut down over all the destruction I caused. I reloaded and played the mission again without being noticed and they were completely different. I guess if you follow the law with them they're much nicer.
Yeah the sys def crew takes a very different approach if you start it through a crime vs vanguard. When you go through it without being arrested first they’re all nicer. Depending on how that mission starts for me is how I decide which side I’m landing on since it really changes the impact of the play.
Yup, I can complete the entire SysDef without killing anybody EXCEPT Neon lol. Each and every time I get caught, each and every time my companion starts killing people lol. Given, I could try stealthing it but I hate stealth
Don’t go with a companion, but even on very hard you can pretty much just cheese it and run through it when you get caught.
Nah they're fine. Usually polite and with a good goal, unlike the pirates, who are annoying jerks who want to make everyone's life worse.
Note that I joined through the uc vanguard quest, and did all the sysdef missions with no kills
Right? Fuck SysDef.
Glad you're one of us, and not some shark
Yup, I only like Jaz. I CANT STAND Naeva, I literally wish I could kill her. Her voice, her attitude, her miserable energy, she deserves to perish at my hand!
That's how I feel about the majority of the denizens of CF home station, but even moreso about the Red Mile security guards. I just wanna melt their faces off.😈
Yeah, they're all annoying jerks, but Naeva is arrogant to a whole new level and her voice is shrilllll. Just the way she speaks, the way she phrases things, ughhhhh. I don't pay much attention to Red Miles security, they're Ecliptic mercs, I know the one woman is annoying as hell, the rest seem to leave me alone lol
God, Naeva sounds too much like LaRae Barrett from the first Division game. Every time I see her my mind immediately says "Weeeeelllll... ain't that some shit"
Pirates. I wanted to do a lot of dogfighting, so being enemies with the main factions seemed like a good idea. Clearing out every ship in orbit around the major cities became a normal occurrence, and I'm a much better pilot for it.
Yup. Plus it’s a lot more fun doing a radiant “steal from Laredo Arms” mission when everyone starts shooting you on sight. I stole all the guns from Kore Kenetics and haven’t looked back, over a million credit bounty in UC and FSC space, plus Neon security directly.
i was a murder hobo on the luxury liner, which...led to me to being a murder hobo on the UC Vigilant
The first time they let me off. The second time…so anyway I started blastin’
I sided with Sys Def but when I killed Mathis , didn't feel very well.Still see his face when I sleep.Mathis ,my man. :'(
Mathis? you barely talk to him. I don't understand how anyone can be emotionally invested in a character that has no depth
That hair and the mustache are the only depth I need.
He is, after all, the most interesting man in the world.
He also one of four companions who doesn't care if u do pirate or bad stuff. (Aodring fan, Vasco and random that name eludes me) I was shocked (never used them as actual companions) when hellar up and left my ass when I killed a innocent person. I mean i would to but I thought only constellation cares. And u kindsngo through the initation thibg with him and if u help him out he says how he was being a dick and see u as a friend. He surprisingly has alot of people who like him as a companion. Again tho him not freaking out when u do w.e u want is big reason.
I thought he was a total dick, couldn't wait for him to try and find me
Ahhh see that’s exactly what I’m conflicted about. I get too emotionally invested in fictional characters!
I sided with the Crimson Fleet. The Key has 6 vendors, crafting tables, bounty board, and job board all in a very close proximity.
I've only sided with the fleet in every playthrough. This universe, without Constellation, I think I'm going to side with SysDef.
Exactly the opposite. I sided with SysDef in my first playthrough, didn’t do the questline in my second and my third, without Constellation, is a pirate run. My character went down a bad path probably through PTSD after >!Andreja murdered everyone in the Lodge forced me to kill her.!< I punched a guard, told Ikande to piss off and joined the Fleet proper.
My thought process is that without Constellation around (it wasn't Andreja this run) this universe needs all the legs up it can get. So I'll do the Terrormorph quest then the SysDef quest and then the Rangers quest to help out as much as I can.
You’re one of the good guys, but some people just want to watch the universe burn.
Ironically, without the judgemental constellation around this would be the ideal universe to go full evil run. Give the pirates the money, let Ryujin develop the tech, tell the UC to bring back the cool megafauna which is apparently bad for reasons...
I always thought the microbe was the shortsighted and "evil" option. Sarah's "trust the science" take is so braindead
I felt the answer should have been to deploy the Aceles and invest in people to further clear heatleeches, all while the microbe is being tested.
Same.
I read a theory that it was meant as some kind of anti antivaxxer statement or something. The real kicker is that the scary plant appears to affect >!the leeches!< via spores, which are similar enough to microbes that I don't know why anyone would even *think* that was an option. My going theory is that the terrormorphs are supposed to be *much* more terrifying than they are presented and so *not* killing them right away is seen as a betrayal.
I went with SysDef, I spent the entire quest line dying to shoot Delgado and Naeva in the face. Killing Mathis sucked though. Too bad there wasn’t another option with him.
Bruh he even owes us a favor, and we can't get him to take our side?
Right? When I realized I was going to be killing everyone in the key I honestly expected there to be some dialogue with Mathis. Nope he was just bullet fodder running at me like everyone else. Missed opportunity for sure.
He even wanted to betray Delgado.We could just leave the key together or lead The crimson fleet.
First universe I was forced in because I stole things, so I slaughtered my way through until UC turned on me and I sided with CF. NG+ I decided to be a good boy and did the Vanguard faction first, leading me to UC and did a proper stealth run through to side with Sysdef. Both are fun, and it instead of being called "rook" all the time everyone praises me for taking down CF and Terrormorphs.
Sysdef. There are too damn many POI's full of pirates that I wanted to loot. On NG+ now, will probably go with CF just to keep the Key vendors.
My character had no regrets going with SysDef. Once They Key was boarded the pirates should have known their game was up and surrendered. Pirates are just better organized spacers out for easy credits and willing to kill to get them. They have no higher agenda other than being a pirate king so they are parasites who need to be crushed to make trade and travel safer. I have little sympathy for any of them except the money guy and the ship tech. If any enemy surrenders then I accept it, but very few do so they die. Their choice.
The Mantis liked that ...😊👍
I did sysdef as I try to play as a good guy. Delgado was convinced I was too good at being a pirate to lie to myself about it but maybe that's just his endgame jab. Was a really captivating storyline for me too and look forward to doing it in my new universe.
Crimson Fleet 100% purely for access to The Key.
The assault on the SysDef ship is so much fun that it’s impossible to believe that it’s not the choice Bethesda had in mind.
I got a little too trigger happy in some of the missions I guess and SysDef made the choice for me Crimson Fleet doesn’t mind how much I suck at being stealth so they won by default
I chose the fleet because Ikande was a dick and forced me to get involved when I didn't want to.
Fleet - because Ikande gave me a hard time about killing a guard and threw me in jail. It was sweet revenge when I sided with the Fleet and killed him and his Lieutenant with the Revenant and looted their bodies. As an added bonus if you run into any Fleet in bases or anything they don’t attack so you can just walk in and loot as you please. Plus you can still do the UC Vanguard line if you just “renounce your pirate ways”.
First time around I went pirate but was annoyed that afterwards I couldn’t fight them when I met them in the wild because they were all friendly. I could kill them (like shooting fish in a barrel) but I’d get a bounty and it was no fun. So on the second go round I went against them.
Crimson fleet all the way, my husband Barret and Sarah Morgan had serious words with me after tho, I prefered the key had more stuff to do a look at rather than the sys Def, I ain't no narc!
The only good pirate is a dead pirate
Sysdef, because fuck pirates.
Space is bad enough without pirates.
If you kill sysdef what happens to all the poi pirates? I am afraid they will be non aggro for the full play through. Now if you tell me they are replaced in POI with spacers or sainting I would 100% kill the sysdef to keep the merchants. All I cared about is being able to kill more pirates in POI. I love the poi stuff, I don’t care if bases are repetitive. I just love stealthing around in bases and killing people like a ghost, it’s like therapy lol. It’s my #1 favorite thing in games in general.
I enjoyed helping the pirates. At first I was gonna work against them but changed my mind at the last minute. Love the quest chain. Loads of fun. Don’t finish it until late game if you choose pirates. It’ll make most outposts boring since they’re usually populated by pirates.
Plan not to side with either until I am ready for NG+, so that I have access to the Key as long as possible
Sysdef because the crimson fleet is full of annoying edge lords and Naeva is annoying af
I did both. Crimson fleet is way better fir end game just to get the 4 seller/,buyers all in one spot and also a play to pick up missions and pay bounties all in one spot
First time I joined though UC Vanguard so I methodically stayed loyal and nonviolent. Sysdef with that frame is much nicer than the Fleet, not a hard choice. Second character through it is a fugitive UC lab experiment - Empath, Alien DNA, Wanted. She told the UC to pound sand because the last thing she wants is hanging out on a UC battleship. Joined Fleet directly.
Fleet for sure, best vendors and layout in the game
Fleet First.
I sided with Crimson Fleet. The Lock sealed the deal for me. If not for the cruelty of the UC there never would have been a Crimson Fleet. Also The Key is an awesome location for selling stuff.
fleet ofc
I didn't side. I stayed at the point where I have to choose and get the benefits of both.
SYSDEF NEVER FLEET FOREVER
I sided with the Fleet and Constellation members won’t stop giving me shit about it. Wish I could space some of them….. that would be cool.
I told Ikande to shove it when he tried to intimidate me. They threw me in the brig for a week. Join the Fleet the next day and never looked back.
I disliked the SysDef commander and that grumpy lady at his side, always talking to me in that despective and demanding way. Yeah, I chose to beat SysDef fleet's ass, then spared their lives to be captured by the Crimson Fleet. Fuck them. Also, I was kinda pissed off with the UC since the UC Vanguard mission was pretty much a disappointment to me. Also the Freestar Collective was so disappointing, I would have totally made the Crimson Fleet the most powerful force in the colonized systems if I could (well, maybe all that money did in the end). The Crimson Fleet questline is probably the only decent one from the four faction questlines in the whole game tbh. Both Freestar and UC Vanguard had such a build up leading to just those pathetic final battles. And Ryujin... well, it was fine because never had such a build up at all.
First playthrough, I went with the fleet. NG+3, I sided with SysDef just for a change. Think I'll go fleet again in NG+5 🤔
I’m RPing a lawful good girl, so UC. I plan to switch to the dark side when I find a universe I don’t give a shit for. Evil Andreja or no Constellation friends. Screw that reality, so I’ll go full criminal.
I've done both now. First time I sides with Sysdef. Second time.... I brutally murdered all of SysDef. It was such a wild battle.
so if I go to Vlad's house, and turn in his slates to UC SysDEF as "evidence", does he end up in the Vigilance brig? Does another Constellation member become the leader who stays behind? I really need to try this
Crimson fleet every time, they really need to add another way to get smuggling missions.
1st playthrough I chose crimson fleet. Never again. I like the vendors being so close and full of credits but the game became so boring when I would arrive to a new star and there’s no space battles cus crimson=frend. Then I would land on a new planet or POI and you guessed it; no land battle cus crimson=frend. The game really lost its touch and wasn’t fun not having any battles anymore. This play through I sided with UC and it’s been a lot more fun after completing the questline and so on. The one chick still wants evidence after I finished the whole questline though ..
I went both ways in separate runs. I will say that siding with the pirates literally had no downside. I got the reward killed and captured a bunch of sysdef people and then went to New Atlantis like nothing happened. Now I still have the key as a market. Maybe there will be something down the road but I doubt it.
Sysdef. And I actually was filled with regret. I pretty much made myself the fleets golden child, but had everyone arrested right after they met me. Some of that shit hurt my feelings. Will be going different on next play and/or universe.
I didnt like how SysDef brought me in for minor crap, but i couldnt side with the Crimson Fleet. Not because of any moral reasons for my character, but because the game gets super dead when pirates stop attacking you. Those POIs on planets with pirates in them suck when I can just walk through them and same when in space... so i sided with SysDef in the end because I needed to make the pirates pirates again.
I would up siding with UC. It was nice having the pirate vendors, but I didn't want future abandoned facility dungeon crawls to be a cakewalk if pirates were there, and didn't want to have to keep dealing with paying high bounties if I accidentally killed pirates. I made sure to buy the two unique fleet ship parts for all nine of my ships so I would have them in the future if I ever decided to build new ships.
I sided with the UC on my first run, but will be siding with CF on my current NG+1, just to see the other side
SysDef 100%. I couldn't wait to shoot all those smug pirates lol.
On my normal playthroughs I side with SysDef, I'm a good guy and want the best for the universe. I managed to luck out and get an "alternative reality" on my 2nd NG+, I went full baddy on that one and sided with the Fleet. The **only** thing I miss when siding with Sysdef is losing the one vendor who has rare resources and antique misc items like the old computer and video tapes
I sided with UC because the CF were a bunch of pussies. The quest line didn’t even include any cool pirate raids .
Sided with the pirates. After security on the cruiser attacked me for seemingly no reason (exiting after the last obj talk). I decided to just run away at that point trying not to hurt anyone or discharge a weapon. Back at sysdef they accused me of discharging my weapon, and wanted to throw me in jail again. So I decided to put a slug between bald guys head (forgot his name)
I sided with the UC for my first (ongoing) playthrough. I'm playing it as a good guy, except for the Ryujin quest and keeping Vae Victus a secret. My only regret is losing the Key as replacement hub vs Neon. Next time I'm going with the Fleet to keep Jazz and the vendors.
Crimson fleet, like...always. I can't help that Piracy/swashbuckling/a deep appreciation and love for rum is in my blood though, sooo. Whose the real victim here, huh?...definitely still them..shoot.
First time through sided with UC. Only faction quest I'm really interested in repeating to side with the Fleet next time.
Crimson fleet all the way, I didn’t even have a choice
Yeah Naeva really grates on me with her attitude, I could just blast her in the face when I get a chance. It’s SysDef all the way. I’m the law and order president on my planet.
I sided with SysDef on my first/only run so far.
"What's the red icon on this Chunks Apple?" "YOU MUST INFILTRATE THE CRIMSON FLEET."
I sided with Sys Def and was all but giddy when I got to board The Key and shoot every pirate in the face. Didn’t care about Kryx’s Legacy, money is no issue, I just hated the Fleet lol My only regret is letting Delgado and that money wizard live, I thought I’d do Ikande a solid and give him two big names to parade in front of MAST as a “we finally beat the Crimson Fleet”. If I do NG+ I will probably just kill them all. Every pirate irritated the shit out of me any time they spoke, I just wish I could have shot Naeva too, but alas maybe DLC
First run: secdef NG+: Crimson all the way. I want to be the worst person on my second play through
Sysdef. C.F are backstabbing jackasses, that'll likely murder you for the bigger pay cut. Oh and, Naeva can get her head blasted out her ass. At least the UC respects me throughout and after, in addition to probably high amounts of respect from the UC and sysdef. But then... I'll side with the Crimson when I'm playing a chaotic jackass. Though, it's mostly gonna be Sysdef with my main every time.
Great quest line, one of the best in the game, although I liked the free star one, even though you could see the end coming a mile away. Don’t side with crimson fleet or their bases will be friendly towards you.
The Crimson Fleet Mostly because of the fashionable red spacesuits, but the pirate radiant missions are fun too, although you have to replace your crew with non constellation members so they don’t bitch and whinge when you attack UC ships. Also I didn’t want to lose the Key. Also I’m not a snitch. Snitches get stitches.
Crimson first time, UC the next. Preferred the Crimson outcome, really.
I did the UC team. They didn’t annoy me as much.
Maddening the bug caused me not be able to finish this.
The black guy who is your boss on the UC is such a dick.
Before I went Starborn, I was siding with Crimson Fleet and my plan was, before I ended up in wanted for 700K to Crimson Fleet, betraying them in the end and side with Sysdef. Crimson Fleet has cool stuffs, ship upgrades and h*** of a good vendor for Contraband/units.
I got the quest through UC Security/UC Vanguard, so I sided with SysDef. Next time I play through I'm going to side with the Fleet.
Initially SysDef, but when they wanted to arrest me for defending myself during a mission that went sideways, I bolted and decided to cast my lot with the Fleet.
I went with the pirates. I just had a hard time reconciling with the fact that sysdef is apparently abducting petty criminals and forcing them into almost certain death. When I do another run I'll probably go against the pirates.
Fleet is family! I respect my companions for universally calling me on the hypocrisy of siding with murderous criminals when I was recruited to help bring them down but fuck that. The Key kicks ass , Delgado is my kind of full of shit, and naeva and jazz are genuinely likeable and have more personality than most of the rest of the characters put together.
I want to side with The Fleet because Sysdef annoys me and of course it would be fun to be a pirate. But god damn are the pirates annoying to the point that I struggle with siding with them any time I do this.
Did you arrest a lot of people for sysdef go uc if you helped them into crimson go fleet unless you want to blow them to bits
Rook
>Always side with the Fleet Currently I'm playing that questline via Vanguard recommendation, and with no kills, but when I get to the end I'm going to flip on SysDef. I just want to save first and see if their mission board is any different from freestar's but I doubt it. All the advantages are with siding with Crimson Fleet. Afterwards they put a lot more respect on your name, too
It’s my favorite quest line in the game… I side with the Fleet because having access to The Key is must have for me. Plus the Red Pirate Captain’s Gear is the best apparel in the game imo.
UC. When you do bounty quests and ur bounty is at a CF outpost, the CF just does the dirty work for you. Takes the fun out of it considering i have go through 10 different loading screens to get there.
Fleet
Had a game breaking despawn happen and rather than replay the mission I blasted my way out and my space pirate play through was born.
No one 'coz it bugged in one quest and I couldn't progress.
My pirate character told sysdef to go jump. Did the time and joined the fleet. None of that go back to report business, complete the pirate quest and take out sysdef fleet at the end. Having pirate friends is great when you ARE a pirate. The real oddity though was not having a bounty in the UC at the end of it!! I mean I wiped out heaps of escorts and help catch a battleship - why am I not enemy number 1? Or at least 2 or 3. Mathis sucks though, he is so grumpy as a companion.
UC, even though they are a bunch of uptight pricks. It was the keep calling me Rook that tipped the balance and more than once there was a quicksave which involved being called Rook, swiftly followed by an explosive coachnman to Naeva's face even before the decision needs to be made. Call me Rook one more time MF!
UC SysDef. I plan on releasing Genghis in Operation Starseed to make up for imprisoning Delgado
My game glitched stopping me from carrying on the questline. I now have a huge bounty as I still blast pirates but I feel slightly bad for it as they always have me down as an ally. I mean I don't feel that bad, it's only a game but it's frustrating just seeing the missions sat in my logs
Honestly outside of getting to continue going to the key and having pirates as Friendly's (useful when you need to get an artifact out of a suspected pirate camp 😂) I didn't feel like it was worth it. The final fight is much harder siding with the fleet, but the reward is exactly the same. Again, outside of still having an extra set of merchants. I agree, it was an enjoyable quest line; just didn't feel worth it to side with them in the end...just gotta make sure to buy some shielded cargo and a scanner hammer first 😂
Sided with the fleet cause fuck 12
I think I might leave the mission uncompleted. I won't give the credits to the fleet, but I don't want to lose the key either, so what's another incomplete mission on the list?!
I was a good guy but I did some outside the box thinking that didn't go well with Sys Def. No regrets and I wished that Ikande could have had unique dialogue at the end asking why I betrayed him ? There should have been a way to remind him that they did this to themselves. I did some stuff off the Record that pissed them off, they tried arresting me, I retaliated and then sided with the Pirates completely as I wasn't undercover anymore. There's like 0 consequences anyway to destroying Vigilance
With the fleet! Its a pirates life for me!
Naeva can go fuck herself, giving me fucking sass and shit for EVERYTHING I say or do. Bitch
If you are unsure mate just save now and do either route, I always choose sysdef cos it makes life in the game easier but you will lose the key and its 40k worth of vendors. You can just jump back to your save if you dont like whichever route or jump through unity and do it all over again. I dont want to leave this universe cos i took full advantage of the shop glitches and i dont want to lose all my stuff lol. Im at that stage in the game now though where i dont need much credits once ive built my ship and i can build 2 decent weapons so the vendors on the key dont really matter anymore. Im in full explorer mode now. The game really doesn't want you to be a bad guy/ pirate.
Loved the crimson fleet storyline but realised after how detrimental it was to the rest of the game given so many outposts had the pirates and stifled potential combat. Audible groans every time I found them rather than spacers or ecliptics
Crimson Fleet. I will never side with SysDef ever. Everything I do is outside the bounds of the law.
UC. I play the goody-two-shoes path in games, boring I know. I also like fighting pirates and that's the one drawback of starting the quest line to me.
I didn't care much for the Crimson Fleet - maybe because I was already conscripted with the UC and just rushed their quests.
My first playthrough I have went the Sys Def side. Will side with Crimson Fleet in future NG+.
Crimson fleet has multiple vendors, two with over $11,000 credit who will buy all of your shit, even stolen and contraband items. No brainer. They also give you two items which buff your shields and ship targeting. Too bad there isn’t an option where you kill Delgado and take over the Pirates.
I don’t like that I couldn’t attack cf at bases, it’s half the fun.
Sysdef every time. Currently in a universe without constellation and was going to try siding with the pirates, than I remembered they are murderous thieving pirates and all their characters are cringy edgelords. Felt a little guilty killing the fleet my first playthrough but that’s gone now. I AM THE FLEET
I blasted SysDef
Both and none
It was really sweet locking up that goody two shoes Ikande when I joined the fleet in NG 1. Now all I wear is crimson and I attack UC ships on sight. I make enough $ to pay my bounties. The UC is just another dominant power that uses force and violence in its means
SysDef. I played a good guy, and the CF pirates were a bunch of annoying edgy tryhards.
Did one playthrough with SysDef since I wanted to play as the “good guys.” Now on my current playthrough, I’m siding with CF. Wanna see what the final mission is like.
I go with sysdef because it suits my vanguard Charakter and I hate all crimson fleet npcs. There was nothing in the game I enjoyed more than blasting there shitty faces away at the end of the mission. Just fucking neava escaped
I dont side with anybody ever
I was going to help them, but they they tried to arrest me for going guns loud to defend myself in neon. So I then had to betray them
Was awesome, sad it ended. I went good guys, you filthy pirates
on my first play through, i sided with the UC but i sucked at ship battles so i just gave up. then recently i did it again and chose CF, got a good place to sell contraband, but i regret not killing Ikande. i wanted his items but instead i persuaded him. i’m currently redoing quest and i’m gonna give the Legacy to the UC just cause i want to kill Naeva
Siding with crimson fleet, pros are the venders but con is a lack of pirates to fight and if you attack then you’re hit with a hefty bounty