If you’re not the fighting type, Starfield has plenty of opportunities to avoid conflict with a little bit of persuasion. Your first opportunity to persuade is during your first intergalactic outing to Kreet’s research base. The pirate captain, Brogan, will stop you before the end of the mission for a quick chat that can lead to a battle to the death if you’re not careful. Here’s how to successfully persuade Brogan in Starfield.
How to Successfully Persuade Brogan in Starfield
Brogan essentially serves as a tutorial for the persuasion mechanic in Starfield. Unless you instinctively shot him before the cutscene triggered, as I did during my first playthrough. As long as you choose the green or yellow options, you should be able to persuade Brogan without any difficulty.
If you don’t want to risk it, these are the dialogue options I chose when I persuaded Brogan and skipped combat:
- “I’m with Constellation. You need to stop attacking our ship.”
- “[Persuade] There’s no treasure in my ship. Cut your losses before more people get hurt”
- “Hey, if you want to trade ships, that sounds good to me. The Frontier creaks when it turns anyway.”
- “Just take a moment and count how much you’ve already lost. You don’t want to lose more.”
If you didn’t choose the Diplomat, Space Scoundrel, Industrialist or Space Sculptor background, you can learn persuasion from the Skills menu.
My character has the Diplomat trait, meaning they’re naturally better at persuasion. Even so, other writers have told me they were able to sway Brogan’s hostility without the trait.
Once you finish your little chat, you can return to your ship without fighting a small army of pirates. That, or you can decide to kill Brogan anyway and bask in the 10 XP you earned for tricking him into thinking he got off easy.
Related: Starfield Persuasion Explained: How to Pass Speech Checks
What Happens if You Kill Brogan in Starfield?
If you can’t coax Brogan with your smooth talking, you’re forced into battle with him and his crew. You can also shoot him before triggering his dialogue or even when he stops being hostile.
Brogan is Level 6, which is higher than any enemy you’ve encountered so far. Despite this, he’s an easy kill when you explode the red canister he’s stood next to. However, his pirate crew will become hostile, so take any necessary precautions.
Brogan doesn’t drop anything special, so it’s up to you whether or not you want to take on his crew. Being the trigger-happy explorer I am, I decided to take his crew out on both of my characters. If you’d prefer to stick to pacifism, you can simply make your way back to the ship.
You’ll arrive on New Atlantis shortly after your scuffle with Brogan. Check out our guide on how to buy a fancy apartment once you get there. For more Starfield goodness, check out our Starfield tag page.
Author’s Note: This guide was written while playing Starfield on Xbox Series X.
