Starfield: Should you choose UC SysDef or Crimson Fleet in Eye of the Storm?

Starfield‘s ‘Legacy’s End‘ mission ends with an enormous amount of credits and a difficult decision: Should you side with the Crimson Fleet or the United Colonies? Whether you have dedicated yourself to one faction or have been playing both sides, you must now set your allegiance in stone and turn your back to the other faction. Before you make this choice, though, you might want to know how it plays out.

How to complete Eye of the Storm in Starfield

You’ll begin Eye of the Storm in New Atlantis after completing several other quests in the Crimson Fleet questline. Once in the UC capital city, you’ll want to locate Crimson Fleet leader Delgado and hand over the Connection Grid Data that came from one of your previous missions.

Delgado and fellow space pirate Jazz will tell you that you need to prepare yourself and your ship for acquiring Jasper Kryx’s Legacy near Bannoc IV. With both you and your ship prepared, you’ll now need to head to the UC Vigilance. Once aboard, you’ll talk with Commander Ikande, who will, naturally, ask that you bring Kryx’s Legacy to the UC. You’ll be able to think about which faction you’ll give Kryx’s Legacy to as you jump to Bannoc IV.

Once you get to Bannoc IV, you’ll dock with the Legacy and head inside to do lots of fighting, power rerouting, and, of course, looting. Once you’re done in the Legacy, you’ll have to make a daring escape before finally making a choice on which faction you’ll side with. No matter who you choose, you will need to betray and kill some of your former companions.

If you are stuck choosing between the two factions, whether it be based on morals, compensation, or ease, this is what you need to know.

What happens if you side with the Crimson Fleet in Starfield?

If you side with the Crimson Fleet in Starfield, you will either kill or imprison Commander Ikande and take over the UC Vigilance. To gift Kryx’s Legacy to the Crimson Fleet, you will need to travel to the Kryx system and hand over the credit chest to Delgado personally.

After this, your decision to side with the Crimson Fleet will be set in stone. You will fend off UC ships from your Defense Batteries and take on the UC Vigilance in a large-scale space battle. In my opinion, the Crimson Fleet side of this questline is much easier. The Defense Batteries are powerful weapons that will aid you during the fight, and overall, you will have more ships on your side.

Once the UC Vigilance’s defense is down, you will lead the Crimson Fleet’s charge, meet with characters you have recruited, and finally confront Commander Ikande. Much like Delgado on the other end of this mission, Ikande has initiated the UC Vigilance’s self-destruction. You can choose to

• Talk Ikande down.
• Attempt to halt the explosion yourself.
• Kill Ikande and rush back to your ship.

Of course, Delgado and the Fleet hope to add the UC’s crown ship to their collection, so they won’t be too happy if you let it explode. No matter what, you’ll be given a 250,000 Credit reward. Also, selecting the Crimson Fleet does not give you a bounty with the United Colonies faction, and you can still visit planets such as Jemison.

What happens if you side with the United Colonies SysDef in Starfield?

Choosing the United Colonies in ‘The Eye of the Storm’ lets you see the other end of this double-sided questline. If you select the UC, you will effectively end the Crimson Fleet, kill or imprison Delgado, and take back The Key from the Crimson Fleet.

As opposed to the Fleet’s side, the first task for a UC ending will be to destroy the three Defensive Batteries. The amount of help you get will solely depend on how much evidence you have gathered throughout the course of this questline. If you haven’t gained enough to warrant full-fledged support from the UC, your space conflict will be significantly more challenging.

Once the Crimson Fleet’s ships and Defensive Batteries are taken care of, you will invade The Key. Throughout your run in the station, you will be forced to kill many of the NPCs you met or recruited during your tenure with the Fleet. Delgado and Shinya Voss are the only two characters you can spare during your firefight. After dealing with Delgado, you can disarm Shinya’s bomb using the Captain’s computer.

Similar to the rewards of the Fleet side, you will be given 250,000 Credits. You might still encounter some remnants of the Crimson Fleet after this climatic fight, and it’s safe to say they won’t be too keen on letting you back in.

Should you choose UC SysDef or the Crimson Fleet in Eye of the Storm?

Despite it being the less moral choice, siding with the Crimson Fleet is the better choice in the Eye of the Storm quest. If you side with SysDef, you’ll be treated as a hostile anytime the Crimson Fleet encounters you, you’ll lose access to the Crimson Fleet mission board, and you’ll lose access to the Key. This is an enormous blow to those who want a nice selection of vendors that will buy contraband, not to mention a ship technician who sells shielded cargo containers and scan jammers.

If you side with SysDef, you won’t get a bounty of any kind, and the UC won’t treat you any differently. Again, siding with the space pirates may not be the best choice if you’re trying to not be a criminal, but no one hears the words “space pirate” and thinks they’re helping the good guys, right?