If you decided to defer the Gorgon and Eridanos DLCs until after finishing the main story and unlocking the Supernova achievement, skip ahead to the Kept Secret But Not Forgotten heading. Later, after completing the Gorgon and Eridanos DLCs, come back here and play the introductory part to mop up the remaining achievements.
Mad Scientist
Fast travel to Fallbrook on Monarch. We want to deliver the coup de grace on an enemy to kill it while it is under the status effects of at least four different science weapons. The science weapons can be equipped on the player-character and/or one or both companions.
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We’ve collected a total of 11 science weapons in the game although one doesn’t count. The Employee Benefits handgun does not work on hostiles—its purpose is to heal allies. The duration of science weapon status effects is very brief. To ensure the target is inflicted with four different science weapon status effects, it helps to equip science weapons on both companions.
This will be a throw-away. You know the drill. On the ship, make a manual save. This is your supernova save file of record. Do NOT overwrite it. Change the difficulty to Normal and make a new manual save. This is your throw-away save file. As always, we adhere to our policy of never over-writing a supernova save file with a save of lesser difficulty.
Story mode may not give us enough time to inflict four status effects. Hard mode requires too much time—status effects are likely to wear off. Ultimately, the decision is yours. Your experimentation might determine Story or Hard is more appropriate. If so, you can change the mode.
If you followed the leveling consideration in the Eridanos guide, you will have an unadjusted Medical skill of 60. This increases the status effect of all weapons including science weapons by 50%. Your adjusted science skill increases the duration of the effects of the Gloop Gun.
If your unadjusted Medical skill is below 60, this is not a hard and fast requirement. Do not respec your character unless you have difficulty popping the Mad Scientist achievement.
We’ve patiently waited to work on the Mad Scientist achievement. This is because The Needler, acquired late in the game, is ideal. It is a ranged, rapid fire science weapon and simplifies this pesky achievement.
Equip The Needler (if you have it) and the Gloop Gun. For the other two science weapons, I recommend taking Nyoka and Vicar Max with you. Equip Nyoka with the Spectrum Gatling and Max with the Special Delivery (his science skill increases its range) provided you have played the DLCs and have acquired their science weapons. If not, you'll have to make do with the base game's science weapons.
Set both companions to ranged and medium distance. Direct both companions into the Defensive posture. We want them to attack only when ordered to do so. Ensure you have your best long-range, non-science weapon in the active slot—by now, it should be the Mag-2-Melt Deadeye III—with the Gloop Gun and The Needler in two other slots. Leave the fourth slot vacant.
Optionally tinker the science weapons. Make a save before you do so in case you have to reverse your efforts at the workbench. Doubling the science weapons default damage will make the job a little easier. Do NOT make the Science weapons too powerful. We don’t want to kill the enemy before all four weapons hit the target.
We’re going to target the mega-Mantiqueen on a small island just left, in the river, as you exit Fallbrook. I like to use the mega-Mantiqueen because of its slower speed in comparison to other large enemies.
When you’re ready, exit the ship with Nyoka and Max. Head out the main Fallbrook gate. A little ways in front of you is a mega-Mantiqueen accompanied by several Mantisaurs and/or Mantipillars. Make a hard save before engaging. Kill the lesser enemies at a distance from stealth using your long-range sniping weapon.
After all lesser enemies are dead, save—overwrite the save you made upon entering the river. Switch to the Gloop Gun as the active weapon. Unequip any weapon other than the Gloop Gun and The Needler.
Ensure the mega-Mantiqueen is not alert. Sneak up behind it until you are in the Gloop Gun’s range. Once you are in perfect position with the enemy still unalert, save again. We may have to try more than once. We will start the action not in TTD and activate TTD later.
When ready, shoot the mega-Mantiqueen with the Gloop Gun. It will launch in the air—one of the Gloop Gun's effects. Immediately switch to The Needler and direct your companions to attack by pressing up on the d-pad 
. NOW, go into TTD. Fire The Needler slowly taking your time between shots.
You can check the enemy’s status bar to ensure the status effects are active. While in TTD, the info panel on the bottom left of the screen provides a clearer display of the status effects.
If and when the mega-Mantiqueen lands, switch to the Gloop Gun to relaunch the enemy. Return to The Needler when it is launched again.
By alternating weapons in this manner with your companions contributing with their two science weapons, you have a very good chance of killing the mega-Mantiqueen while under the effects of four weapons and the achievement will pop. However, the effects wear off rapidly—hence the benefit of the 50% increased status effect duration provided by the unadjusted Medical skill of 60.
Thus, it is possible that the enemy will expire at an inopportune time. If this happens, load your save and try again until you unlock the achievement.
- Mad Scientist
Killed an enemy under the effects of 4 science weapons.
3 guides
This is, perhaps, the most challenging achievement in the game not counting Supernova. It is particularly awkward with melee science weapons and bizarre effect ranged weapons like Shrink Ray and Mandibular Rearranger. Gorgon and Eridanos provide us with better alternatives but, if you don't play the DLCs, you'll have to settle for the base game's science weapons.
You’ll need three Adrena-time syringes for the next event. Hopefully, you already have them—Gorgon and Eridanos had them in abundance. If you haven't played the DLCS or, otherwise, do not have Adrena-time, loot the mega-Mantiqueen—she should yield the three you need. If not, go to the nearby Abandoned Relay Station. Kill and loot the mega-Mantisaur there for the syringes.
Confirming you have the 3 Adrena-time syringes, fast travel back to your ship. We’re still on our throw-away file. The Sunburn achievement results in a Game Over so there’s no sense doing it on supernova. We’ll reload our supernova save file of record once we pop it.
Sunburn
Go to the Nav terminal. Travel to The Hope. Make sure you have at least three Adrena-Time syringes in inventory and at least one bottle of Spectrum Vodka Brown. Make Kept Secret But Not Forgotten active. Exit the ship. Take Felix and Parvati with you for their lock picking bonus.
The achievement we’re going for is not overly complicated. It is, nonetheless, more elaborate than most. You might find the below video guide of use in helping you visualize the narrative in the walkthrough. The video guide shows a supernova player. If you need to sustain a concussion (see the below discussion), note that concussions persist until resting only on Supernova. If you don't need to sustain a concussion, you can change the difficulty to Story or Normal since we're doing this on a throw-away file.
We have to dumb ourselves down—lower our intelligence to below average. When you leave the ship, consume ONE syringe of Adrena-Time. Adrena-Time’s effects (increased movement & melee attack) wear off after 15 seconds. Afterwards, the withdrawal inflicts a -1 penalty to all attributes including intelligence.
The withdrawal can be stacked 2 more times for a total of -3 to all attributes including intelligence. You must wait the 15 seconds after each Adrena-Times use for the primary effects to wear off in order to get the withdrawal.
Our character-build set intelligence to very high. We need to adjust it downwards by four notches and stacking Adrena-Times can only get you a max of -3 attribute points. There are two other ways to reduce intelligence. One way is to imbibe Spectrum Brown Vodka, the other is to sustain a concussion.
Provided you have played, the Murder on Eridanos DLC, the easiest way to lower intelligence is with Spectrum Brown vodka. If you've played the DLC, this is easier than sustaining a concussion, and will be the method we use. Spectrum Brown provides Mind Attributes -2—one of the mind attributes is intelligence. Drinking more than one bottle increases its 2 minute duration by 2 minutes, with each successive bottle, up to a maximum of 10 minutes.
Note that, once the Spectrum Brown effects wear off, there is a +1 mind attributes withdrawal effect. This creates the opposite result to the one intended. Thus, we need to wait until the right moment before we consume the vodka.
If you have not played Murder on Eridanos, you'll have to sustain a concussion. A concussion provides a -1 penalty to all attributes including intelligence. On supernova, the concussion penalty lasts until the player-character sleeps aboard the Unreliable. This is the reason we’ve been leaving undetonated mines—as a failsafe in case we need to induce concussion.
Accordingly, if you do not have access to Spectrum Brown Vodka, sustain a concussion by detonating a nearby mine or by getting pummeled by a Primal. You should have undetonated mines in several places including Emerald Vale. Emerald Vale also has Primals that are capable of concussing the player-character.
Once you are set by either having sustained a concussion or having Spectrum Vodka Brown in inventory, on The Hope, follow the quest marker to the nearby terminal. Access it to repower The Hope’s skip drive. Afterwards, follow the quest marker but stay far left to avoid the sentry. Pick the lock. Enter. In the second room, obtain a UDL ID disguise cartridge for your holographic projector.
Crouch. Unbar the door. Sneak up behind the guard, Quincy Duncan. Pickpocket him for a Hope Bridge Keycard. Consume the second Adrena-Time syringe. Remember to use just one.
Follow the quest marker to a terminal. Use it to patch ADA into the Hope’s comm system. Consume your third and final syringe of Adrena-Time.
Proceed to the Hope’s main control terminal. If applicable, consume the bottle of Spectrum Brown Vodka before accessing it. This will result in -2 to all mind attributes including intelligence. If you check your character stats, intelligence should be at minimum.
Accessing the terminal. During the dialog, first say, “I’m skipping it myself.” Choose either Terra 2 or Tartarus as the destination, select, “[Dumb] Stand back, ADA. I know numbers real good.”
This [Dumb] option is required for the achievement. It is only available if the player-character's intelligence is below average or minimum.
After some dialog between ADA and the Hope, a cutscene shows the Hope flying into the sun concluding with a “The End” banner. The credits roll and the achievement pops:
- Sunburn
Skipped the Hope into the sun.
3 guides
The video guide above begins on the Unreliable after the supernova player-character sustains a concussion from a primal behemoth reducing all attributes by -1. This results in his very high intelligence being reduced to high.
The guide shows traveling to the Hope and the dialog with ADA upon arriving. It, then, shows a way to stealth through the Hope with no enemy or sentry encounters—gathering an ID cartridge and bridge keycard along the way.
The player-character periodically takes 3 Adrena-Times waiting more than 15 seconds between each dose. This results in -3 to intelligence reducing it to below average and satisfying the prerequisite.
Though not necessary, just before the main control console, the player-character imbibes Spectrum Brown Vodka (Mind: -2) further reducing intelligence to minimum. The ensuing dialog shows the player-character’s choice to skip the Hope himself, popping the achievement when the credits roll.
Once you pop this achievement, reload your supernova save file of record. Use the Navigation terminal to go to the Hope. You’ll be going to the bridge, as before, activating two terminals along the way. This time, it will be much more straightforward, and you won’t need to alter any attributes.
Kept Secret But Not Forgotten
Upcoming key decisions
- Select Terra 2 as the destination—NOT Tartarus
- Direct ADA—NOT you—to skip the Hope
Since we’re back on supernova, sleep, eat, and drink as appropriate. There is NO required fighting from here on out till the end of the game. So, there is no need to further modify or tinker with weaponry.
Make Kept Secret But Not Forgotten active. Exit the ship with Felix and Parvati. Take the same route you used previously. Get the ID cartridge and the Bridge Keycard. Stop by the two terminals to repower The Hope’s skip drive and patch ADA into the Hope’s comm system. When you reach the Bridge, tell ADA to skip The Hope to Terra 2. You will unlock:
- Lost and Found
Skipped the Hope.
1 guide
The following is a video guide in case you’d like more detailed instructions.
ADA will tell you she cannot contact Phineas. The quest is not over. Follow the quest marker and return to your ship. Since you don’t have to access any more terminals, look at your map and take the most direct route back.
Once aboard, use the Navigation terminal to go to Phineas’s lab. Exit. Take no companions with you.
Soldiers have occupied the lab. You can snipe and kill them but, you’ll recall, I said there was no required fighting till the game’s completion. They are not very observant. Sneak by them and shut the door as soon as you enter Phineas’s inner sanctum.
Hack the terminal and use it to open a secret panel. If you can’t hack it, loot the nearby Cystypig corpse for the passcode. Follow the quest marker to the secret panel and get the Tartarus Navkey.
If you loot the area, you can get the named, unique weapon: Phin's Phorce off a small table. We have already unlocked the Patient N achievement. Had we not, this N-ray weapon would have been ideal for popping the achievement. As it is, it comes to us to late in the game to be of much practical use.
This will concludes Kept Secret But Not Forgotten and initiates the main story quest Brave New World. Make it active.
Brave New World
Return to your ship. We can avoid combat in the final confrontation if we can pass adjusted skill checks of:
- Persuade: 90
- Science: 90
- Intimidate: 150 if the DLCs are installed otherwise 100
- Charm: Very High
With our 100 unadjusted science skill, that is golden. We’ll be taking Max and SAM with us and they will provide a massive boost to Intimidate. The Chimaera with the Armor Master perk would give a +20 boost to both Persuade and Intimidate. A Nice Hat (Persuade +14 with Armor Master) or Intimidate +5 (+10 with Armor Master) headgear can provide another boost if needed.
If you can’t meet the prerequisites, you can use the vocational competence respecification machine on your ship to respec your character. There, you can reset your skills as necessary. The machine is above the workbench. Use the ladder in the workbench area to find it.
Note that the charm requirement is very high. Our character build only has high charm—not very high charm. Charm cannot be altered in the respec machine. So, we'll increase charm another way. Put alcohol like Spectrum Vodka Red (but NOT brown) in an inhaler slot.
Just before the final confrontation, I'll direct you to use the inhaler or consume the alcohol manually. This will boost all personality attributes including charm.
Alternatively, The Concierge Livery (acquired on Eridanos (if you've played the DLC)) provides a Personality +1 boost which will increase our charm to very high. Unlike alcohol, the effect is permanent as long as the clothing is worn. However, if you wear the livery, you can't wear the Chimaera so the choice is yours.
Once you’re properly equipped, sleep, eat, and drink. You want to be fully rested, hydrated, and well-fed so that negative effects don’t degrade your skills. Make a manual save.
When you're satisfied with your preparations, approach the Navigation terminal and choose Tartarus as your destination. When you arrive at the prison planet of Tartarus, you uhlock:
- Hard Time
Landed on Tartarus.
2 guides
ADA notifies you she's receiving a message from the prison's docking authority and patches the officer through. Pass a dialog skills check of just over 100 to obtain his Labyrinth Security Personnel ID cartridge for your holographic shroud.
Both your persuade and your intimidate skills should be high enough to convince him to comply. Without being able to roam freely through Tartarus, your task would be much more difficult.
As with The Hope, the mission here is not overly complex, but it is more elaborate than most. Accordingly, a video guide is provided below to help you visualize the written instructions.
Exit the ship. Take Vicar Max and SAM with you for their bonuses to intimidate. Don't be concerned with the fighting throughout the ship.
Because you have high rep with quite a few factions, you have many allies who have come to help. The combatants will ignore you but you can get damaged in the crossfire. Be cautious as you proceed following the quest marker.
The marker first directs you to an elevator. Take it down and cross an area to a lift. Take it up.
At the top, take an immediate right into an unrestricted area. Go forward a short ways into the Pit. It's another restricted area but you'll start out with a refresh to your holographic shroud.
Go to your left and lock pick a door (skill check around 55). Go through. When you reach another lift, take it up. At the top, go to your right.
The quest marker directs you to a large bay door. Enter it. The gauge on your holographic charge will be close to depletion. To ensure you are not blind-sided and forced into combat, approach a guard directly as the gauge runs out. Pass the dialog skills check to refresh the gauge.
Continue to follow the quest marker through a couple of unlocked doors. Use the terminal to the right of the locked door to open it. Enter.
You'll encounter Chairman Rockwell:
This is not a critical confrontation unlike the one coming up with Sophia. The dialog choices don't matter. He will let you through regardless. The following is a suggested approach:
- Chairman Rockwell, I presume.
- Please. Phineas would rather die than cooperate.
- That crackpot is saving the frozen colonists YOU gave up on.
- You'd prefer to keep riding this downward spiral? I can fix this place.
- [Persuade 90] With your resources and some of the folks on the Hope, we could do a lot.
You don't convince Rockwell. Rather, he decides to play both ends against the middle and offers his assistance in case you win. Exit through the door on the far side and take the lift on the right.
At the top, turn right. Follow the quest marker across a bridge to your left. Sanjar and his MSI combatants will be on this floor. Thanks to you, he has matured into a man of courage. The combatants will not interact with you or bother you, but stay out of the crossfire.
Important: BEFORE exiting the elevator at the top, consume alcohol to raise your charm to very high.
At the end of the bridge, enter an elevator. As soon as you exit at the top, you will encounter Sophia. So, BEFORE you exit the elevator, consume alcohol. I find it convenient, as stated earlier, to put alcohol in an inhaler slot. Thus, I only need to press left button 
.
At the top, once you consume some alcohol, exit the elevator and walk forward for an encounter with the final adversary of the game—Sophia:
Unlike the Rockwell exchange, dialog choices here are critical. If you deviate from the path below, you could find yourself on a branch where you can't pass a skill check. That will cause you to either load the recent auto-save made when transitioning into the Pit or fighting a boss-type battle against an auto-mechanical and its minions.
At your current level, you can easily defeat it but why bother with a messy alternative when you can win the war with words. Accordingly, use these dialogue options:
- It's over, Sophia. Stand down.
- I'm here for Phineas. Let him go.
- Let's talk about this.
- [Charm] I don't want to fight you, Sophia. You're one of the only rational people left.
- Halcyon is changing, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It's time to let go.
- We can still work together. All you have to do is stand down.
- [Persuade 90] [Science 90] Dr. Welles and I are both scientists. We believe Halcyon can still be saved.
- It's going to take a miracle to save Halcyon, but we can do it if we work together.
- [Intimidate 150] I've left a lot of corpses behind me, Sophia. You sure you want to be next?
- Thank you. I'm glad we could settle this without violence.
Note: If the DLCs are not installed, the above Intimidate dialog check is only 100 rather than 150.
After Sophia backs down, enter the door to your right. Follow the quest marker through the hall and up the stairs to the office Sophia has just vacated. Pick up the keycard lying on a corner of the large marble table. Use it to free Phineas.
During the conversation, to get the best ending, when Phineas says, "We're going to need a leader..." do NOT accept the position. The colony needs to learn independence. Answer with, "I'm going to do what I've always done, whatever I want, all the time."
Phineas is pleased with your answer. With some final commendable words, he concludes the conversation. When the narrator starts the post-game report, you unlock the coveted Supernova achievement:
- Supernova
Completed The Outer Worlds on supernova difficulty.
3 guides
It stacks with the achievements for finishing the game and for playing the game on Hard or greater difficulty:
- The Outer Worlds
Completed The Outer Worlds on any difficulty.
1 guide
- Hard
Completed The Outer Worlds on hard difficulty.
1 guide
The following is a video guide through the Tartarus:
If you skipped past the Gorgon and Eridanos DLCs and want to play them. Go back to page 11. Play through pages 11, 12, and the introductory part on page 13 to finish the game. If you have played through everything on one go, congratulations on your 100% completion.
Post-Game Report
We have gone for the 'best' ending. We always took the upper-most moral high ground as possible.
Post-Game Report: Going for the good endings on Gorgon and Eridanos boost the report card substantially. Most of the choices are obvious. Only a few are somewhat murky.
- In the conversation we just concluded, the player-character is not shirking responsibility by declining the leadership offer. The post-game report reads slightly more favorably if the colony learns independence and abandons the previous personality-cult type leadership.
- The Chimerist's Last Experiment is the most ambiguous decision in the game. In the walkthrough, I let Dr. Chartrand live but the post-game report gives a slightly better accounting of the colony if you kill her. We assessed this thoroughly on page 9—Byzantium to allow you to make the choice you were most comfortable with.
- In Edgewater, it might appear that Adelaide is the better leader. This is not the case. Adelaide is spiteful. In the post-game report, she takes a pound of flesh out of all who did not follow her without question. Most of these were simple people who had neither the strength nor the knowledge to buck their superiors.
- Adelaide turns out to be the stereotypical target-fixated zealot. She refuses to listen to others. She sub-optimizes because she dismisses anything or anyone that does not conform to her rigid ideology.
- In contrast, the post-game report gives Reed high marks. He is the right choice for the Edgewater leader. He was sincere when he said he wanted to atone. Both productivity and quality of life improve under his tutelage.
12. Murder on Eridanos
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