Starfield Captain’s Bounty: Should You Attack or Persuade the Tracker?

Soon after landing in Hopetown in Starfield, players can encounter a nervous captain looking for help. They’ve run into a bit of a problem, and now they’re being hunted by a member of the Tracker’s Alliance. Players can help them in one of two ways.

Aiding this stranger starts the Captain’s Bounty quest. It seems like a small, insignificant Activity at first, but there’s a choice to be made here that can define a player’s reputation in this location moving forward. It’s always best to go into these situations well-prepared.

Related: Starfield Complete Guide – Quest, Lore, Story & Trailers

Should You Persuade or Attack The Tracker Ernesto in the Captain’s Bounty Quest in Starfield

Adella Faheem needs players to help her in Captain’s Bounty in Starfield. She’s hit a spot of bother with a few factions, and now someone has put a bounty on her head. As a result, a Tracker has come looking for her.

She requests that players enter The Pit Stop bar and claim to be captain Faheem. This way, the Tracker will turn on them and try to take them in. At that point, players are presented with a choice to either persuade or attack and kill the Tracker.

We’ve outlined what happens with both choices below. Note that there’s no way to turn Adella in as the real target. The Tracker Ernesto won’t believe players and will instead focus on the player more as the individual they intend to apprehend.

What Happens if You Persuade the Tracker in Captain’s Bounty in Starfield

If players manage to persuade Ernesto the Tracker to leave Adella alone in Captain’s Bounty in Starfield, then he’ll do just that. He lets players go, and they’re free to leave. After telling Adella about the situation, she will disappear, even though another Tracker is likely hot on Ernesto’s heels.

Ernesto lets slip that Adella fired her way out of a spaceport with medical supplies heading to an orphanage or something similar. This could be a lie added to the bounty by whoever placed it on Adella, but it seems pretty real to us.

Adella admits nothing when confronted about stealing medical supplies and shooting her way out of the spaceport. It’s hard to say if this is the best outcome for the quest morally, but it’s the one players get the most Credits for. A total of 3,800 Credits as a reward.

We’re unaware of any wider impact on Starfield’s story. However, if we discover there is, we’ll add it to this guide as soon as we find out how it impacts the world.

What Happens if You Attack and Kill the Tracker in Captain’s Bounty in Starfield

Things can get pretty heated if players attack Ernesto the Tracker in Captain’s Bounty in Starfield. At first, only Ernesto will become hostile to the player, meaning it’s possible to kill him without any repercussions. The bar’s owner knows things get heated from time to time, so he’ll calm everyone down once Ernesto is dead.

If, like us, players are careless with their shots, they can down the bar owner and start a fight with every patron in the bar. At that point, it doesn’t matter if Ernesto is alive or dead. Everyone attacks the player. This makes it very difficult to do anything in Hopetown, let alone report back to Adella.

When players return to Adella after killing Ernesto, and we advise everyone to load the auto save from entering the bar if they accidentally have to kill all the patrons too, Adella goes on the run. She thanks players for helping, though not as well as if they persuade the Tracker to leave her alone. The total reward for killing Ernesto in the Captain’s Bounty quest is a much lower 2,500 Credits.

While we haven’t seen any wider impact from this decision just yet, it’s possible that something will pop up. We’ll add to this guide if we make any discoveries that are a direct result of a choice made here.

What is the Best Outcome in the Captain’s Bounty Quest in Starfield

We believe that the best outcome to the Captain’s Bounty quest in Starfield is to persuade Ernesto the Tracker to leave Adella alone. This nets players the most experience overall and the most Credits. It’s a win in every sense, and Adella seems pretty happy with it too. While the person players help may have been a criminal after all, we still see this as the morally good ending.

How to Start Captain’s Bounty in Starfield

To start the Captain’s Bounty quest in Starfield, players must visit Hopetown and speak to Adella Faheem. Hopetown is located in the Valo system, and players will be guided there as part of the Freestar Rangers questline.

Adella is standing in front of the garden situated by the entrance to the Hope Tech building. She’s chatting to herself and isn’t sure what she’s going to do. When players speak to her, she reveals that she had a cargo mishap, jumped away from the system, and is now hiding in Hopetown. That’s when players can get involved and try to help.