Best side quests to do in Starfield

The best side quests to do in Starfield tend to fall into the mix when there are so many things to do. However, these are the missions you should definitely keep an eye out for because these are really what hook you into the game. If you’re looking to really make Starfield memorable, then hunt down the best side missions we’ve found below.

Top 10 side quests to do in Starfield

Red Tape Reclamation

• How to start: Speak to a miner in the Cydonia region of Mars in the Sol System.

• Rewards:

  • 50 iron

  • Deimos Space Helmet

  • Deimos balanced pack

  • Deimos cap

  • Deimos spacesuit

  • 3,000 credits

This quest isn’t as fun and feels like a fetch quest, as you will be tasked with retrieving some mining equipment for the miners on Cydonia on Mars. You will need to speak to Trevor, the ship technician, and Hank Ferraro in order to complete the mission.

Be warned that there is a bug I found while playing this. You have to mine the iron yourself. The game won’t let you get away with just grabbing some spare iron. However, the armor is very much worth it if you just started the game.

Overdesigned

• How to start: Speak to Walter Stroud a few times and do missions for him before he brings this up.
• Rewards: This is based on your choices:
  • An ugly ship upgrade
  • A good looking ship upgrade

Essentially, this is one of the easier quests to start but stands out because it lets you get more creative. Walter Stroud, a fellow Constellation member, needs to design a new ship, and it’s your job to listen to everyone’s feedback and decide what goes into this ship. I would recommend saving before starting because you can end up with a pretty ugly ship by the end of this.

Related: 20 best custom ship designs in Starfield

Tourists Go Home

• How to start: Speak to Giuliana Lakota on New Homestead in the Sol system
• Rewards:
  • 1,800 credits
  • Monster costume (only if you follow our tip)

This one is more funny than engaging or action-packed. You’re gonna want to have done this one because it has classic Bethesda humor. You are tasked with scaring away a group of tourists who have strayed too close to New Homestead’s industrial machinery and methane pits. Essentially, you dress up like a monster and chase people around. Super enjoyable.

Our tip is to talk to Giuliana again and she will give you the costume to repeat the quest. You can just keep it and use it yourself from then on, but this might be a glitch.

In Memoriam

• How to start: Raise Sarah’s affliction for you high enough and speak to her while being slightly flirty.
• Rewards:
  • 10500 credits
  • To be in a relationship with Sarah Morgan or to have her loyalty

Yes, this is a side quest that is more for romance but is memorable. You help Sarah Morgan face her past by traveling to Cassiopeia I, where she lost her crewmates. Find the Genetags of her former crewmates and retrieve a power source for her escape shuttle. Also, you can explore the Dauntless crash site and make a huge decision that is a bit of a spoiler.

Related: How To Fix All Quest Markers Showing In Starfield

Groundpounder

• How to start: Go to the Altair system, near the planet Altair II. It starts with a random distress call from Research Outpost U3-09 on Altair II.
• Rewards:
  • 5,000 credits
  • Rare modified Peacekeeper weapon

During the quest, you must stop a spacer takeover at a Research Outpost. As soon as you arrive, you must find Private Mahoney and clear out the Spacers outside the infirmary. Then, speak with Corporal Lezama to learn that Lieutenant Torres has been locked down in the complex. To save the Outpost, you must kill Spacers both on the ground and in space.

It is by far the most action-packed side mission in the game, and you better come with a lot of ship parts and med packs because this one had me on the ropes. You get an amazing weapon that I was able to use for the next twenty hours.

Operation Starseed

• How to start: This starts in the Charybdis system on the planet Charybdis III.
• Rewards: It depends on your choices, it can be one of these:
  • 3,000 credits
  • 6,000 credits
  • 2,000 credits

If you keep the clones alive during this, you get Amelia Earhart as a companion.

To not spoil anything, you will meet with clones of Genghis Khan, Amanirenas, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. You will have to choose one of the factions to side with, which will determine who you have to fight in the next section.

This is more funny and intriguing than anything else. There’s a whole lore to this area that will have you looking for different outcomes and options, definitely worth going to.

First Contact

• How to Start: You can start it in different ways, but I did it by speaking to the head of Security on Porrima II in the Porrima system.
• Rewards: These vary based on your choices, but without spoiling, they can be one of these:
  • 3,000 credits, a unique ship upgrade, and access to the Constant’s resources
  • 6,500 credits and an unlimited pass to Paradiso
  • 4,750 credits, and access to both the Constant’s resources and Paradiso

This is a side mission involving a generation ship called the Constant that has been traveling for 200 years looking for a new home. The ship’s descendants have never seen the outside world, and they are initially wary of you, but they need your help.

Related: Should you rush through the Main Quest in Starfield?

Juno’s Gambit

• How to start: Random event.
• Rewards: Depends on your choices:
  • 3,500 credits
  • 1,200 credits
  • 7,100 credits

You will encounter a rogue AI named Juno who has taken control of a spaceship. You will need to decide whether to help Juno or destroy it. Despite being one of the shortest missions in Starfield, it has the most impact. You’ll see why as you listen to Juno’s arguments for why you should let it live without being changed.

The Audition

• How to start: Speak to Andrea in Neon on the planet Volii Alpha, Volii system.
• Rewards:
  • Stryker outfit

This is a great quest if you are a Neon Street Rat like me. In short, you get to take down a really murderous gang and join the Strykers, a gang that only exists to help members stay alive on the rough streets. Technically, this opens up other missions, but it’s not a faction mission, it’s really just multiple sidequests put into one. The whole thing even has a happy ending after a street shootout occurs.

Mantis

• How to start: Kill a spacer and loot their bodies until you come across a note called Once in a lifetime opportunity.
• Rewards:
  • Mantis spacesuit
  • Mantis ship

You need to go to the Mantis lair and get their space suit and spaceship, but you have to clear out spacers who have raided the place. Be warned, this story is pretty sad if you pay attention to the mother-son dynamic. Legitimately made me feel a bit hollow having to take a suit and spaceship that was meant for someone else. I ended up not using the suit because I knew it belonged to the son.

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