Starfield‘s dual Crimson Fleet and United Colonies quest line comes down to one crucial moment, where the player may choose either to kill or persuade the pirate leader Delgado. As the captain of the Crimson Fleet, Delgado has been the player character’s first point of contact with the pirate legion since the very beginning of their business relationship. This is intertwined with another faction quest line: that of the United Colonies. UC’s SysDef requires the Starfield player character to infiltrate the Crimson Fleet, reporting back to the interstellar trade regulator with knowledge of the pirates’ activities and ultimate goals.
But there’s one catch. The Crimson Fleet is after Kryx’s Legacy, a treasure left behind by the faction’s founder. Once the player character finally finds it, they have a choice to make in the quest “Legacy’s End“: side with SysDef or the Crimson Fleet in Starfield by bringing the data either to Delgado, or to UC Commander Ikande. Whomever the player sides with, they’ll have to attack and destroy the other’s base, putting an end to that faction for good. They’ll come face-to-face with the leader of the enemy faction, who’ll threaten to activate their base’s self-destruct function. They can either talk them down or kill them outright.
What Happens If You Kill Delgado In Starfield?
The player character may have to fight Delgado during “Legacy’s End” if they either choose any threatening dialogue option in their conversation with him, or try and fail to make him surrender. He’s not the easiest opponent, with a decent suit of armor and the unique Tempest rifle, but he’s not the hardest, either. He doesn’t have any special Starborn powers like the player character or Starfield‘s final boss, though. He’s just a normal human being with an abnormal amount of combat experience, but he goes down pretty easily in the end.
Players should use everything at their disposal against Delgado, since once they’ve chosen this option, there’s no going back. Weapons, explosives, and Starborn powers are at their disposal, and all of the above should be used to burn Delgado down as quickly as possible.
Don’t forget to check his inventory, as fighting Delgado is the only way to gain his computer password, along with the unique Tempest rifle. With 19 base physical damage and a fire rate of 90, Tempest hits hard and fast. It also has the special ability Handloading, which provides it extra damage, but sometimes causes rounds to fail at random. That makes the Tempest something of a gamble; it can hurt, but it doesn’t always hit its target. However, its relatively high accuracy for an automatic rifle should offset the issue enough to make it viable in combat.
After Delgado, one final wave of pirates will surge forward in an attempt to prevent the player character from shutting down three reactors. After Delgado, though, these last few are a cakewalk. The player character can then head for Delgado’s office, finishing the quest by finally aborting the self-destruct sequence at his computer.
What Happens If You Persuade Delgado In Starfield?
Winning Persuasion checks in Starfield provides an easy way out of many situations, and this final confrontation with Delgado is no exception. Occasionally during a dialogue scene, one of the options in the list will contain the modifier “[Persuade].” Choosing this begins the Persuasion mini-game. A “Persuasion” bar appears at the bottom of the screen, with a number of segments that represent how difficult it’ll be to convince the target to do something. A “Turns” counter also appears, tracking how many dialogue options the player character will be able to pick before the check automatically fails.
Each dialogue option in the Persuasion mini-game has a number next to it, representing how many of the Persuasion bar’s segments it’ll fill in if it succeeds. Failure may also dock the player a segment or two.
Each choice also includes a colored bar, in green, orange, or red, representing the likelihood of success. Green options almost always succeed, but usually only fill in one or two segments. Orange options fail more often, but may fill in three or four. Red options are the least likely to succeed, but can fill in five or more segments of the Persuasion bar at once. It’s important to balance risk and reward here. The best course of action is to start with the safe, green options, then proceed to riskier oranges and reds if the first ones fail.
Delgado gives the player character three turns to fill eight segments, which is pretty standard for some of Starfield‘s most difficult, late-game Persuasion checks. In most cases, it’s impossible to fill all eight with green options alone, so players will have to take a few risks to convince Delgado to stand down. However, with the Manipulation skill, which can either be obtained by spending a Perk point at level up or by joining Ryujin Industries in Starfield, there’ll be a few extra green options available, each adding four points to Delgado’s Persuasion bar.
If the Persuasion mini-game fails, Delgado attacks anyway. If it succeeds, however, the quest ends immediately as Delgado shuts off the self-destruct sequence. He and the remainder of the Crimson Fleet turn themselves into SysDef, and can later be visited in the brig aboard the UC’s flagship, Vigilance. However, choosing this option means missing out on all Delgado’s unique loot, including Tempest.
You Should Kill Delgado In Starfield
It may not be nice, but killing Delgado provides the best outcome. Keeping him alive means he’ll spend the rest of his life (or at least the rest of the game) rotting in a UC cell, which is hardly the future this adventurous pirate imagined for himself. Other than that little Easter egg, there’s no special benefit to forcing his surrender.
Persuading Delgado also means the player character never gets a chance to help themselves to his equipment, missing out on an Advanced Pirate Corsair Spacesuit, a Pirate Raiding Balanced Pack, and of course, his unique rifle, Tempest. While most of the other items in his inventory can be obtained from elsewhere, Tempest is unique, and can only be found by killing Delgado or by activating console command cheats. Even if they have no use for it, the player character can always punt it over to a companion, or sell it for up to 11,480 credits.
Players stand nothing to gain by convincing Delgado to surrender of his own will, except the satisfaction of a successful Persuasion check and maybe a point towards the next rank in Speech. Killing him is just the more practical option, as it grants access to a unique, valuable weapon that can’t be found anywhere else in-game. On a repeat playthrough, it’s even possible to side with Delgado instead, attacking Commander Ikande for his unique weapon, the pistol Unfair Advantage. Starfield‘s unique, cyclical structure and robust New Game Plus mode allow for all possibilities to be explored in difficult decisions like these.
