The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

The achievement is unlocked when you complete the side quest The Doom That Came to Roseway by giving the research to the quest giver, Anton Crane. You do not have to give the research to Anton—and there are advantages and disadvantages to this option—but, if you don’t, you will miss the achievement. You can, however, pop the achievement, revert to a previous save and replay the end of the side quest keeping the research for yourself.

The quest can be tricky and there is the potential to botch it. Accordingly, sequence is important. The sequence begins on Groundbreaker. You must talk to Gladys to obtain a Navkey as part of the main story. It’s expensive. To pay for it, Gladys offers you a way to earn money in the form of a side quest: The Distress Signal. Gladys wants three sets of company secrets. You must talk to 3 scientists—Anton Crane, Orson Shaw, & Vaughn Cortes—and report the results.

Each scientist will give you a side quest (Anton will give you two). You can either help the scientist or Gladys. Your decisions have consequences and there are tradeoffs depending on whom you help. As a special option, in Vaughn’s case, you can help both him and Gladys.

The R&D settlement of Roseway is run by Auntie Cleo’s faction. Anything you do there on behalf of Gladys has the potential to increase the hostility of the Roseway residents. They could even attack you on sight. Anton, instead of giving you the side quest for the achievement, could refuse to talk to you and attempt to kill you. Your only options are to kill him before he kills you or escape. Either way, the achievement would be missed.

Speaking to Anton first, though not essential, is a good way to keep relations with Auntie Cleo cordial enough for you to go about your business. With The Distress Signal as the active quest, you’ll have three markers. If you need to improve persuade skills take Felix &/or Parvati in your party; if you need help passing a science skill check of 50 take Vicar Max &/or SAM in your party. Taking Felix and Vicar Max would give you bonuses for Persuade, Lockpick, Sneak, Hacking, Intimidate, & Science.

Follow the marker to Anton. Exhaust his dialog options. He’ll want you to find his research, initiating the side quest The Doom That Came to Roseway. Additionally, he’ll want you to find Jameson, his missing protégé. This will initiate the side quest By His Bootstraps. Then talk to Vaughn and accept his side quest The Amateur Alchemist but leave it for later.

Make By His Bootstraps active. It is time sensitive. Follow the marker to Auntie-Biotics Lab and rescue Jameson. It is important this is the first facility you enter. Otherwise, you’ll find Jameson failed to hold out against the Raptidons when you discover his corpse. While in the facility, hack a terminal on the first floor (skill check around 25). This gives you the passcode to the Storage Facility.

After rescuing Jameson, make The Doom That Came to Roseway active. Follow the marker to the Covert Lab. Talk to Porter and exhaust the options. Use Persuade (skill check about 45) to get his office keycard.

Go to Porter’s office and use the keycard (or pick the lock) to enter. The lockpick skill check is only about 20 so you should almost certainly be able to do it if Felix or Parvati is with you. Use the terminal to make a lab security card.

Find and pick up 3 sedative gas canisters as you make your way through the corridors. Place the canisters at the prompts in the raptidon incubation chamber. This will put the raptidons to sleep, instead of killing them, accomplishing the Deal with the Raptidons optional task.

Find Vaughn’s lab and go to the terminal. This is where passing a science check of around 50 is of value. Vicar Max and SAM in your party each boosts science skills as does armor and helmet with technical or science bonuses. Certain consumables also provide a temporary boost and can be used just before a skill check.

Science is influenced by Intelligence (Mind) and Charm (Personality). Caffeinated drinks boost mind. Alcoholic beverages boost personality attributes. The skill check must be performed before the hangover sets in—the adverse effects include Charm -1 that would decrease Science. If you’re not situated to pass the science skill check now, you can return later with the right set up.

Pass the science skill check to recalibrate the experiment. This doubles the normal output and allows you to satisfy both Vaughn’s and Gladys’s quests giving them each one batch of the total yield.

Find and release Cassandra with the lab security card you made. Talk to her and pass a low level skill check to persuade her to give you the research.

Return to Anton. Give him the research data and the achievement will pop. Taking care of the outlaws and humanely dealing with the raptidons are added bonuses. Inform Anton you rescued Jameson. To get the best outcome, persuade him to rethink Byzantium. If you take the high road, you can find Anton later on in Byzantium. However, if you’re snarky and conclude the conversation with, “[Medical 30] Reducing the appetites of people performing physical labor is potentially life threatening” and “[Persuade] Your life won't have meaning anywhere. You're empty, and bitter, and will be wherever you go;” he will commit suicide.

The fact is that, although the above comments are hurtful and lead to Anton’s suicide, they are accurate. The best outcome for Halcyon and for your rewards is to reload the most recent save made before the achievement. This time, take credit for taking care of the outlaws, dealing with the raptidons, and rescuing Jameson. Most importantly, persuade Anton to rethink Byzantium.

When all that is done, make sure you say, “I have your research, but I’m keeping it.” If you lie and say the outlaws took it, he will commit suicide. But, if he feels you are profiting off his research, it validates the research’s value and he feels vindicated.

Nevertheless, when you report back to Gladys, and turn in the research, do not say it is toothpaste because it’s a health hazard. Instead, say that it is rocket fuel. Gladys will reward you fully, more so than Anton would have, and people will not be bamboozled into buying into a snake oil (or raptidon oil ) scam.

Although the achievement pops as soon as Anton gets his research, we still have to complete The Distress Signal that set everything in motion. Talk to Vaughn Cortes. Give him one batch of the musk you made at his terminal in the Covert Lab. Talk to Orson Shaw. He’ll ask you to get the weapon schematics he left in the Storage Facility which you can access using the passcode you got by hacking a terminal in the Aunti-Biotics Lab.

This initiates the Vulcan's Hammer side quest. Your choice. If you give the schematics to Orson, not only do you get the immediate reward but, later in the game, he contacts you and gives you a special handgun. Nevertheless, I recommend botching the side quest and giving the schematics to Gladys.

When you have completed your business on Roseway, return to Groundbreaker and report to Gladys. As previously stated, give her Anton’s research but refer to it as rocket fuel. Give her the second batch of raptidon musk you made at Vaughn’s terminal and the schematics you recovered from the storage facility.

To sum up, the achievement is simple. Give research to Anton. However, his side quest is interconnected with several others that have significant consequences. So, make the choices that best suit your gaming experience. I have provided my suggestions but it’s your game to enjoy the way you want to. After all, these are all side quests and do not directly affect the main story decisions.