There is a seemingly endless deluge of quests in Starfield, and whilst not all of them are epic space encounters or thrilling battles of wit, most of them are well worth doing. Heck, most of them are simply found by accident whilst out and about doing other things. ‘Failure To Communicate’ is one such quest.
Sometimes you are minding your own business and you will get a distress transmission that leads you down one heck of a rabbit hole. It’s always up to you whether you get involved in these things, of course. In this guide, we are going to walk you through how to complete ‘Failure To Communicate’.
Note: This quest involves a lot of space combat. Upgrading your ship, obtaining a new ship, and unlocking ship-based Skills will greatly help you on this quest.
More Starfield content:
Best Skills | Best Ship Upgrades & Mods | All Companions | All Romance Options | All Settlement Locations | Join All Factions | How To Pirate Ships | Secret Companion | Secret Ship & Suit
How To Start ‘Failure To Communicate
This quest is started when you receive a distress call during your travels. Specifically, if you are heading through the Araneae system you will get a call for aid. As far as we are aware, there is no need to be timely when it comes to starting this quest, despite the urgency expressed. We found that several Starfield quests send you through Araneae, so you may receive this quest just by playing the game naturally. Of course, you can manually head there at any time too.
With the distress call heard, head to Araneae II to get more information. You will meet a man called Alban Lopez and the appropriately named Lopez Farm. Spacers have caused chaos in the system, and since Araneae is a LIST System (Lead Of Independent Settlers) they don’t have many options when it comes to dealing with them.
First things first, he wants you to repair the satellite in orbit.
Repairing The First Satellite
Return to your ship and take off. You will come across a small satellite that needs to be repaired. This can be done by flying close to the Satellite (try not to crash into it) and interacting with it. Unfortunately, Spacers are waiting to kick your butt for daring to help Alban out.
The Spacers in this area are made up of Scarabs and Ravens. Of the two, the Ravens are more powerful. We recommend focusing fire on them first and blitzing them down before they have an opportunity to do much damage. Remember you can use Target Lock to pinpoint key weapon systems. You can also use Boost to break any locks your opponents have on you, making you much harder to hit.
With the Spacers defeated, loot their ships for resources and then activate the satellite for Alban. He will thank you for your help, and then ask you to do the same for the other families in the system. You will need to head to Araneae IV-A, IV-C, and V.
Repairing The Other Satellites
This part of the quest is just the above, repeated at different locations. Araneae IV-A has no enemies, so jump there, activate the Satellite, and then move on. Araneae IV-C and V on the other hand are defended by Spacers. Take them out using the same strategy as above.
Alternatively, if you are still running your basic Frontier ship, you could aim to disable one of the Ravens, board it, and take it as your own. Ravens are not the best ship in the game, but most ships in Starfield are better than your starter ship.
Meeting On Jackie’s Ship
Once you have re-established the communication network between the Araneae settlements, it’s time to meet them all in person and discuss a way to prevent this from happening again. Jackie suggested meeting on her ship and also made it very clear she hates Alban. Getting these guys to work together might be difficult.
Turns out Alban scammed most of the other families, and Jackie in particular has not let go of that grudge. Alban claims that he was in Araneae first and was very bitter when other families decided to settle in his patch. He seems genuinely sorry for how he acted back then and wants to make amends. Before he can do that, he needs to unite the families to keep the Spacers from picking them apart one by one.
He proposes a Mutual Defense Pact and wants you to help convince the other families to join in. He is also very grateful for your help so far and will pay you 2500 Credits, which is a nice mid-quest reward.
Establishing The Defense Pact
The crux of the issue here is Jackie. Upon talking to her, she reveals that she has by far the most manpower out of all the other families. This means she has the most to contribute and the most to lose if things go south. She is very confident she can defend herself from Spacers and she is naturally very wary of Alban.
If you want Jackie onboard (and you want Jackie on board), you have two options:
- Persuade her
- Pay off Alban’s debt
Persuading her is very difficult, so we recommend saving before you attempt it. Without any experience in Persuasion, you will be forced to pick riskier responses to hit the persuasion threshold. Just picking Green will fail. Go big or go home here. It’s doable, it just requires a bit of luck.
If you don’t want to deal with that, you can pay her 2000 Credits and that will get her on board. This is a pretty big payout considering Alban just paid you 2500 Credits. Still, we would say that having Jackie’s cooperation is well worth the investment.
Thankfully the other family joins without any issues at all.
Taking The Fight To Araneae IV-B & Araneae IV-D
With the pact established it’s time to expunge the Spacer plague from Araneae. To do that you need to eliminate the patrols around Araneae IV-B and IV-D. These battles are far more difficult than the ones you have done before. Since you have the families united, however, you can request they chip in and help with this. You can also do it alone, but we noticed no negative side effects for asking for aid here.
The Spacers in these two locations are more powerful. Not only do they have more Ravens, but they have a new type of ship – the Racoon. These are slightly more dangerous, so bear that in mind. Oh, and there are more ships in general, so bringing some friends along will help keep the heat off you.
Focus down their more powerful ships whilst your fleet distracts them and then mop up the remaining Scarabs. With both planets clear, rendezvous with Alban on Araneae II.
The Final Battle
Alban will reveal the last location that needs clearing – and it’s quite the doozy. Araneae III seems to be their base of operations – a large space station heavily defended by Spacer ships. The plan is to clear out their fleet, dock with the station, and eliminate all remaining Spacers on foot.
This is the hardest battle yet, so be sure your ship is repaired and as upgraded as it possibly can be. You will have your fleet as backup, thankfully.
Once you arrive at Araneae III, a large group of Spacers will warp in. These are nothing you haven’t dealt with before, so use the same strategy of taking out the more powerful ships first. Remember, Boosting and Target Lock are two mechanics that can make every battle easier.
With the Spacers defeated, a second large group will warp in. Rinse and repeat. Before you board the Station, be sure to loot the wreckages for some extra resources.
Dock the station and stick to cover. There are at least 20 Spacers onboard, with multiple minibosses scattered throughout. There are two whole floors of Spacers to contend with, and they can very easily overwhelm you if you go in guns blazing. Take it slow, stick to cover, and pick them off one at a time.
There are plenty of medical supplies to loot as well, so be sure to restock as you go.
Reward
With the Spacers finally defeated, return to Alban and company. He will thank you for your help and give you the following:
- 5000 Credits
- 100 EXP
Considering how much combat was in this quest and the amount of credits gained via looting and mid-quest rewards, ‘Failure To Communicate’ is incredibly lucrative. Well worth your time and effort.
That’s all we have on Starfield for now. Be sure to check out our other guides, lists, and walkthroughs for more Starfield content.
