Starfield’s expansive open world offers hundreds of side missions. False Positives is an optional mission that takes place in and around Akila City and will have players investigating internal corruption while also engaging in a dangerous wilderness search party.
This mission is the middle mission in a series of three—it is preceded by Defensive Measures and followed by Leader of the Pack. Upon completing all three, players will receive Despondent Assassin, a legendary rifle.
How to start False Positives in Starfield
Before you can complete False Positives, you’ll need to have completed Defensive Measures. This prerequisite mission can be started by turning left immediately after passing Shepherd’s General Store upon entering Akila City and approaching the NPCs at the top of the stairs. Defensive Measures is a fairly straightforward mission, but you can check out our comprehensive walkthrough linked below if you find yourself stuck at any point.
Upon completing Defensive Measures, False Positives will automatically be started.
Starfield: False Positives mission guide
The first part of this mission is daunting: you must wait for a whopping 24 hours. At the end of Defensive Measures, Keoni will tell you that she needs 24 hours to interpret the data from her sensors, and False Positives will begin. Pass the time however you like—if you want to get straight to it, there are a number of outdoor benches and chairs in Akila City that can be used to wait for 24 hours.
Speak to Keoni
Once 24 hours have passed, your mission journal will automatically update and tell you to return to Keoni, and she will be given a mission marker to easily locate her. Upon speaking with her, she will inform you that there is something off with the data gathered from her sensors and that she suspects human interference.
If you ask for more information, she will explain that she is certain the sensors are not faulty, but that what they’ve picked up doesn’t match up with known Ashta habits. Keoni will continue by saying that she suspects Davis sabotaged her sensors, and that he is understandably angry with her for going behind his back by placing the sensors.
Keoni will ask you to speak with him since nobody from the Akila City security force will speak with her.
Speak with Davis
You’ll be given a marker for Davis, who can be found atop the wall on the other side of Akila City. Upon speaking to him, you’ll be given several different options—you can outright tell him that Keoni asked you to speak with him, you can lie flat out, or play both sides by admitting that you’ve spoken with Keoni while also stating that you’re simply concerned for your own safety and want his opinion.
No matter which option you choose, the conversation will ultimately end the same way. Davis will admit that the Ashta are indeed acting strangely, and while he will at first blame the sensors, he can be convinced that they are likely not the cause of the strange behavior.
Afterward, Davis will ask you to accompany him on an investigation to get to the bottom of the Ashtas’ behavior and tell you to meet him at the east gate of Akila City when you’re ready.
Meet Davis at the East Gate
This is the only leg of the quest that you will not receive a quest marker for, however, the gate is just below the wall that Davis is positioned on. Turn around and head directly back to the stairs. After continuing for about 30 feet, you will see that Meet Davis at the East Gate has been completed, and your new objective is to speak with him once more. If you look left as soon as you get this prompt, you’ll see the East Gate.
The East Gate is really less of a “gate” and more of just literally a door that leads out of Akila City. At this point, you’ll get a marker on Davis, however, if you try to speak to him before he arrives at the gate, he will tell you off and continue his very slow walk towards the gate.
Once he does finally arrive, he will ask you to confirm one final time that you’re ready for the surveillance run. All you actually need to be ready for is dealing with three Ashtas, so you shouldn’t have to do anything out of the ordinary.
Follow Davis out of Akila City and tag along while he examines Ashta tracks. Davis will say several times that the tracks are out of the ordinary—confirming what Keoni said after interpreting her own gathered data from the sensors. After examining a few track sets, Davis will lead you to a destroyed robot, which in turn will prompt an Ashta attack.
Deal with the Ashta (there are only three), and then speak with Davis again.
Investigate the barracks
Davis will tell you that the robot the two of you found is from the barracks in Akila City and that a city guard must have programmed it to exit the city and disturb the Ashta. Davis will ask you to investigate by checking a terminal in the barracks to see who used it last.
Follow the quest marker back to Akila City and into the barracks, and then simply activate the terminal within. The second option on the terminal, Robot Updates, will advance the quest by showing that Bailey Kirklin was the last person to give a command to the robot in question.
You may remember Bailey from the start of Defensive Measures—she was there and arguing on Davis’ side. Your next quest marker will be to confront Bailey. No matter what is said to her, she will ultimately confess and admit that she tampered with Keoni’s sensors because of how worked up Davis was getting—her plan was to frame Keoni so that she would be out of Davis’ hair.
At this point, return to Davis as prompted, and the mission False Positives will be completed. You will also automatically begin the mission Leader of the Pack, which is the final mission in the Defensive Measures series. After completing Leader of the Pack, you will receive the Despondent Assassin (a fantastic legendary rifle) as a reward.
Published: Sep 15, 2023 04:26 am