The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition

The achievement unlocks during the main story quest Foundation once you kill the last automechanical in Edgewater. The journal entry reads, “Edgewater has become a leech on the colony's dwindling resources. Adjutant Akande wants you to wipe out the town.” Use the terminal in the Emerald Vale Geothermal Power Plant to send the termination protocol. Then, go to the town of Edgewater and kill the robots. The achievement pops when the last automechanical is killed. The quest is still not complete. You must return to Akande to conclude Foundation.

There are two prerequisites for Foundation:

1. Complete the main story mission, “Signal Point in Space.” This is on the Halcyon path where you notify the board you know the whereabouts of Phineas. You send a tracking signal or a corrupted tracking signal from Phineas’s Lab. Doing so, automatically initiates Signal Point in Space.
2. Edgewater must be viewed as unproductive in the eyes of the Board.

The easiest way to do ensure Edgewater is viewed as unproductive is, during the main story mission Come Now the Power, is to side with the deserters and put Adelaide in charge. Akande will say, “You handed Edgewater over to a band of dissidents. Adelaide McDivett and her dissidents have no place in the Halcyon that is to come. Edgewater needs to go. I want you to wipe the town out. No survivors.” This initiates the main story mission, Foundation.

However, if you sided with Spacer’s Choice and allowed Reed to remain in charge, Edgewater is viewed as productive by the Board. To create the precondition required for Foundation, BEFORE talking to Akande after completing Signal Point in Space, go to Edgewater and kill Reed. When you speak to Sophia, now that the town is leaderless, she will inform you Edgewater is unproductive and needs to be wiped out initiating Foundation.

To complete Foundation, follow the marker to the terminal in the Emerald Vale Geothermal Plant. Regardless of whether you sided with the deserters or with Spacer’s Choice, you’ll find Corporate Guards in the plant. Captain Hogarth will stop you. Use dialog skills—you have two Lie options and a Persuade option. One of the Lie options is low, around 35-40. The other options are high around 80-90.

Taking Nyoka and Ellie in the party will boost your lie skills substantially. Taking Felix and Parvati with you will boost your Intimidate skills substantially. Additionally, wear armor & headgear that confer dialog skills &/or lie or persuade bonuses. If you can’t pass a skill check, you can fight your way to the terminal.

Use the terminal to send the termination protocol. Afterwards, you are instructed to eradicate the automechanicals. Go to Edgewater and kill all the robots and drones. When the last one is killed, the achievement will pop.

This achievement and saving Edgewater permanently are mutually exclusive. You cannot save Edgewater if you diverted power to the Botanical Lab and/or put Adelaide in charge. You would need a separate playthrough to unlock the associated achievement. However, if you diverted power to Edgewater and allowed Reed to remain in charge, you can earn two mutually exclusive achievements. After completing Signal Point in Space and BEFORE talking to Sophia, make a hard save. Unlock this achievement. Load the hard save and work towards:

Missable Achievement

This achievement can be earned via the main quest "Foundation", however whether this mission is available to you depends on how you handle the Emerald Vale power crisis near the beginning of the game.

Here's how I did it:
* Redirected the power back to Edgewater.
* Convinced Reed to step-down and for Adelaide to take over as leader of Edgewater. (Comes Now The Power)
* Get the NavKey to Monarch (Passage to Anywhere)
* Learn the location of the chemicals (Radio Free Monarch)
* Steal the chemicals for Phineas (The City and the Stars)
* Plant tracking signal for Sophia (Long Distance)
* Meet with Sophia and agree to sort out Edgewater (Long Distance)

This should give you the mission "Foundation".

I believe there are multiple possible options that can differ from the above that you could take and still give you the mission. Turning in Phineas at the start of the game may short cut the time it takes. Although I haven't tried this myself.