Grunt Work – Starfield Mission


After completing Supra Et Ultra, you’ll be assigned your first mission to assist with communication repairs for a colony. Naturally, it won’t be quite that simple for you, recruit.

  • Quest Type: Faction
  • Location
  • Rewards
    • 9100 Credits
    • 250 XP
    • Calibrated UC Vanguard Pilot Power Pack
    • Calibrated UC Vanguard Spacesuit
    • Calibrated UC Vanguard Space Helmet

From your landing pad at New Atlantis, turn right and head to the landing pad in the far corner.

starfield grunt work starting location

You’ll be assigned this mission by Commander Tuala after completing Supra Et Ultra.

Speak to the crew chief in front of the ship on the corner landing pad. He’ll brief you on your mission, provide you with your starter pack, and send you on your way to Tau Ceti II.

From your Missions menu, you can select this objective and set course directly to it, allowing you to skip going to the map. However, if you prefer using the map you’ll find Tau Ceti to the left of Alpha Centauri. Once you’re in orbit, you’ll want to land at the Tau Gormet Production Center.

Walk into the nearby building complex and you’ll notice pretty quickly that something isn’t right. Proceed through the first building and head down the stairs towards the rest of the colony. On your way there, you should hear an ear-piercing scream.

starfield grunt work stairway to colony

Cross the landing pad with the ominous, destroyed ship and somebody will talk to you over the intercom. She’ll say she thinks ‘it’ knows your here and calls you inside. Walk towards the building and head up the stairs at the front.

starfield grunt work route to hadrian

Once inside, speak to the wounded woman. She’ll inform you her name is Hadrian and explain what happened to the settlers. It turns out that a Terrormorph is to blame, decades ahead of their usual life cycle. Unfortunately, a quick escape won’t be an option here since Hadrian needs a tissue sample of the beast.

In order to get the upper hand against the Xenomorph Terrormorph, you’ll have to reactivate the settlement security system.

You’ll have to make it to the middle of the facility to activate the system. Enter the building with the large blue sign that says “SECURITY” and interact with the computer inside. Choose the top option twice to activate the security system.

After activating, wait for a bit while Hadrian explains her plan of setting up kill lanes with the remaining turrets.

In the room past the security terminal, there will be a computer to control the livestock tracker. Interact with the computer and turn on the tracking system with the top option. Exit the computer, and interact with it again to tune the frequency. Select the top option twice and then choose 183.5 :: Targets (1).

starfield grunt work frequency tuner computer

After activating the tracker, an animal will emerge in front of the window and you’ll get to witness the Terrormorph’s destructive capabilities. Once the show is over, it’s time to put the plan into action.

The Terrormorph will start patrolling in a circle around your area of the settlement. A distance indicator will appear in the top right corner of the screen. Be sure to keep an eye on that number to avoid the alien until you’re ready to fight.

Technically you can just find the Terrormorph and kill it to move on; you don’t need to activate the kill lanes. If you feel confident, feel free to make a save and try hunting it. Below, we’ll activate just one of the kill lanes, since that should be more than sufficient to defeat the alien.

The first power breaker can be found in the neighboring building to the security office. Exit the office, walk straight for a bit and enter the building to the left. Inside, activate the power breaker.

After activating the breaker, proceed down the hallway behind it and enter the red door on the left to return to the security office. Head up the stairs in this building to get to the roof. Cross the bridge to the neighboring building and activate the second power breaker to get this kill lane operational.

With the kill lane activated, now you’ll just have to lure the Terrormorph into it. You have two options here: wait for it to come back, or hunt it down across the settlement and book it back to the kill lane. I suggest waiting for it, since you’ll want to preserve your oxygen levels.

Once it comes near your kill lane, shoot at it to force it into combat with you. The core strategy now is to run up and down the kill lane, boosting when necessary to avoid damage. With occasional shooting from you, the Terrormorph should go down quickly.

After the fight, loot the Terrormorph to collect a tissue sample for Hadrian. The Alien Genetic Material is also a great healing item, so I’d suggest grabbing that too.

starfield grunt work loot the terrormorph

Head back to the room where you first met Hadrian and give her the tissue sample. She’ll ask you to follow her downstairs to a microscope.

Hadrian will walk for a bit and once at the microscope makeo small comments about the inferiority of the technology.

After her analysis, Hadrian will explain why a Terrormorph at this settlement is a strange and intimidating predicament. Next, you’ll have to explain all of this to Commander Tuala.

To quickly return to New Atlantis, navigate to your missions menu and select Grunt Work. You’ll be able to set a course directly to the MAST District with the button shown at the bottom, by default button xbox x v2 / playstation square button / R. Otherwise you can manually return to New Atlantis and make your way MAST.

Regardless of how you get there, speak to Commander Tuala and he’ll commend you for your work, completing the mission.


Here the storyline splits into two options, continuing the Terrormorph story with the United Colonies or going undercover in the Crimson Fleet. Which do you plan on pursuing first? Let us know in the comments below!

Share this article:
Lucky Boop
Lucky Boop

Strategy game enthusiast, especially Paradox titles and the Civilization series. Whenever he's not writing he spends his time watching sports, enjoying coffee, or studying history.

Articles: 122
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments