In order to join the Freestar Rangers, you’ll first have to show you’re worth your salt. Then – as is the way these things go – you’ll get thrown into the deep end. This mission has a fair amount of combat, XP, and some good rewards. If you’ve ever wanted to yee some haws in space, this is the place.
After finishing the mission, Job Gone Wrong when you first enter Akila City, the Marshal will suggest you speak to Emma Wilcox, in order to join the Freestar Rangers. She is in the Rock, which is a sort of capital for the Freestar Collective. It’s right in the middle of Akila City, but if you’re turned around, you can always follow your scanner.
Emma will be on the middle floor at the bar (Image 1). She will tell you that you might’ve gotten lucky with the bank job, and she needs to test your mettle again. In order to do this, she wants you to complete a mission from the Freestar Rangers mission board. The kiosk is conveniently located right inside the bar (Image 1).
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Complete a Freestar Ranger Mission
There are some options when you approach the mission board. Of course, you can choose whichever one tickles your fancy, but we preferred the quicker option. Here are the types of missions available (Image 2):
Kill Outlaw Captain – Travel to planet and land, then attack compound to take out the captain.
Kill Outlaw Gang Leader – Travel to planet and land, then attack compound to take out the gang leader.
Destroy the Crimson Fleet Captain – Travel to planet’s orbit and destroy crimson fleet ship.
Rescue Hostage at Ariel – Travel to planet and land, then find and rescue hostage.
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The quickest one by far is destroying the Crimson Fleet captain, because you only have to destroy one ship in a planet’s orbit. To make things easier, there aren’t even other ships you have to fight – just the one. However, if you really don’t like the space combat, then feel free to grab a different one, they’re all very straightforward.
Note: If you chose a different mission, then complete it and skip to Talk to and Follow Emma Wilcox.
Destroy the Crimson Fleet Captain
Once you accept the mission, you will get a separate mission from the main one in your missions tab to follow. Simply let the guide you to the system, then the planet where the pirate is cruising. They will attack immediately, and it should be over pretty quickly (Image 3). Even with the starting ship, this fight should be a breeze, but just in case you need some pointers:
Use your boosters – A faster target is harder to hit.
Use the correct weapon – Some weapons are only good against certain defenses!
Missiles (MSL) – Effective against shields and hulls, but slow reload.
Ballistics (BAL) – Effective against hulls, not shields
Lasers (LAS) – Super effective against shields, not hulls.
Electromagnetic (EM) – Super effective against ship systems.
Particle (PAR) – Effective against both shields and hulls.
The Best Defense is a good offense – Taking out enemies as fast as possible can be an effective strategy. Let your weapons recharge to full instead of shooting one shot every five seconds.
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A weird quirk with this mission is you cannot board the ship and kill the captain. If you board, you won’t find the captain anywhere. You have to destroy the ship in spaceship combat for the mission to complete. When that’s done, your main mission will also progress.
Talk to and Follow Emma Wilcox
Fly back to Akila City and Emma will be at her usual spot in The Rock. Tell her that the job was a success, and she will lead you up to the Marshal on the top floor. He’ll deputize you into the rangers and give you your gear. The Deadeye pistol is the main piece of loot you’ll get, and it will scale in power to your level – he’ll even give you some ammo for it.
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Even though you single-handedly solved a bank heist gone wrong and blew a Crimson Fleet captain out of the stars, they still want you to go through some training. Emma will inform you that you’re to help her with a farmer on Montara Luna.
Talk to Mikaela at Waggoner Farm
The Waggoner Farm is in the same system as Akila, so just hop on over to Montara Luna and land. You’ll be greeted by Mikaela at the farm (Image 5); she’s been having problems with some ruffians wanting to buy the farm. The scoundrels went out to the canyons behind the farm, and Emma thinks they must be close.
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Find the Ruffians by Examining Their Tracks
The next part has you following boot tracks through the canyons while dealing with the dangerous creatures residing there. You’ll see the first on a path leading away from the farm. It might confuse you, because it doesn’t go away when you walk past it. This is because you have to select the , and it will then tell you which direction the tracks are heading (Image 6).
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The animals you encounter are dangerous, so it’s a good idea to have a long and short range weapon at the ready. In most of the encounters, you can pick off the animals from the canyon walls, but eventually some will close the gap. That’s when you want a shotgun or SMG to protect yourself.
This is a pretty long trek through the canyons. Consequently, after finding two boot tracks, you will want to save your game. The bad men you’re tracking will have also left some mines, which are often placed right around ledge drops (Image 7). Fortunately, the gravity on Montara Luna isn’t very strong, allowing you to jump out of their blast zone easily.
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After you’re done following the through the canyons – while remembering to select each one of the -marked boot tracks – you will come to a clearing with the mean men. Make sure you save before approaching so you don’t have to go through the canyons again if you die.
Confront and Kill the Ruffians
You can walk up to the leader and chitchat about why they’re there, but you won’t learn much. There’s also no way to persuade them not to fight. They will start shooting at you, and there’s a good group of them. We liked focusing on the leader first, since he’s the most dangerous. Emma can’t die, so you can also sit back with a sniper and support her while she handles it (Image 8).
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Collect and Read the “Job’s Done” Slate
After disposing of the enemies, you can find the evidence of what they were up to on the leader’s body. The slate is called “Job’s Done”. You’ll need to read it from your inventory, under the “Notes” tab. It will say that their ship was stolen. Unfortunately, you can’t take their ship.
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Talk to Emma Wilcox and Mikaela Waggoner
Finish up this foray by chatting with Emma, who will be surprised that the ship was stolen from Hopetown. She’ll then say that y’all better tell Mikaela what happened. No need roughin’ it through the canyons again – you can easily fast travel back to the farm. Mikaela will be relieved, but also worried that more might show up (Image 10). Then Emma will chime in about reporting this to the Marshal, and the mission will finish.
Kelson is a spud head from out west. He is most happy when holding a milky tea with too much honey and playing a sprawling role playing game or reading a fantasy novel. His video game tastes vary but his main genres are looter shooters, RPGs, and real time strategy games.
guide you to the system, then the planet where the pirate is cruising. They will attack immediately, and it should be over pretty quickly (Image 3). Even with the starting ship, this fight should be a breeze, but just in case you need some pointers:
