Why Starfield's Crimson Fleet Is The Best Faction | Video Essay
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.ย. 2023
- Starfield has some of the best faction questlines since Fallout New Vegas; what makes them so great is instead of simply doing missions for an organisation that wants to rule the world like Elder Scrolls or Fallout.
Each faction has its own independent goals, which help to flesh out Starfield's universe; Ryujin deals with the corporate side of intergalactic society.
The vanguard is about protecting people from threats to their safety,
While the Freedom Rangers are about hunting down the criminals of the galaxy
But my favourite faction questline by far is the Crimson Fleet because they explore a facet of space that's rarely explored in media: space pirates.
#videoessay #bethesda #starfield - เกม
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Actually im a Fleet member, and i do fleet bounties all the time- i just walk in with zero resistance, sneak around and assassinate the NPC, the walk out with no one aware- just be quiet and careful and you’re good. Plus it fits with the whole Pirates conspiracing against eachother vibe
FYI you don’t even have to be a mole for SysDef if you don’t want to. When you initially meet them just act like you are going to work with them up until you are directly face to face with their commander on the second floor. After that if you select the attack option you can easily run towards the elevator go back to the first floor and then make a run for your ship. After that just grav jump away and then the mission will update telling you to seek out the crimson fleet on your own. Everything basically proceeds as it normally does with going to Mars and stuff from there only you will not have to deal with SysDef and can just be a pirate no strings attached. Also ensure that after you successfully escape from SysDef and grav jump away do not go directly to the key like I did. That was a mistake. You still have to go to Mars first and complete the initial missions to join up otherwise the fleet will still be hostile.
Why so you are skipping sys def? My question is will they attack you if you enter thier airspsve ?
If you get arrested by SysDef they will ask you to go under cover and if you decline and walk around mars a fleet member will ask if your interested in joining the fleet
Lol I made the mistake of going to The Key as a noob before the initiation quest and got my ass handed to me 🤣
Fuuuuuu...
Why didn't I think of that?
Now I'm emotionally conflicted when I could've just killed them immediately after they roped me for a stolen book.
i heard that if we get caught by UC in Cydonia, we can refuse the offer, go to jail and then after jail time, just talk to the dude at the broken spear but idk how true that is
You can voluntarily join if you escape UCsec. And never have to be a double agent
My plan is to play the game 95% of the way and then only join the Crimson Fleet questline just before the endgame. That way I can still kill pirates all during most of the game, and don't have to worry about them becoming friendly and losing access to all that sweet, sweet XP.
You can still attack them to make them hostile...
Join them early you get 250,000 from completing the story
@StoneColdScoutRECON but you get murders and bountys.
@@Dormul Exactly! Attacking "friendly" factions really piles up the bounties. Yes, you can pay it off at the New Atlantis terminal. But who want to piss away 300K paying off bounties? I'd rather spend that money upgrading my ship.
I should've done that. I hate that they don't attack me. It gets really boring
Your ultimate gripe is that you are punished like a pirate for being a pirate? I went in fully expecting to be enemies with the whole galaxy, except for my pirate mates. That’s the role playing aspect and I’m loving it so far
Fair point, I just thought essentailly locking you out of all the major cities so you can't progress any other questlines was a step too far. especially since their aren't other questlines at the key to replace them
@@GamingOpinions I feel that I just ended up choosing a faction to go to war with and now I have like a 200k bounty for the freestar collective lol
@@GamingOpinionsI just read someone say that apparently you can do all the factions, the only time you have to choose is between crimson and UC at the end of the crimson quest line but only makes the uc in that quest an enemy and not the whole faction, can anyone confirm this? no spoilers please as I’ll be doing it soon anyway
Can confirm, there are no consequences to betraying the UC, you'll sill be able to visit new atlantis.
however this will also make the fleet friendly towards you, so if you enjoy doing mission board quests they won't fight you and you'll gain a bounty everytime another mission forces you to kill one@@XILPIX
@@GamingOpinions thanks man, appreciate it
You can't kill Del early, the choice doesn't branch out. It's just a plan you make that doesn't pan out because of how you have to leave that location. Same as how the character that suggested it backs off the plan if you say no. The only branches in the faction quests come in the form of final decisions. Overall except for a few minor choices effecting what you do in the moment the full story is actually very linear and set, it is very much not a BG3 situation.
Thanks for that, I was suspicious as it would seem like a lot of extra work
@2fast4theWinjust going with what’s been out recently. This years been pretty good in the RPG department so far!
@2fast4theWinwhat’s the point of comparison if not to compare two similar things? BG3 and SF are both RPGs with choices. The difference is BG3 feels like a modern game and SF’s approach to “choice” feels a decade out of date. It removes player agency in a way BG3 doesn’t.
@2fast4theWin at no point have I acted like that was ever their strong suit. I just pointed out that they haven’t grown and kept up with more modern games in that regard.
@2fast4theWin nah. Limited player agency feels terrible compared to BG3. Shoot someone and they stay down for a minute then just pop back up. BG3 they’re just gone along with their quest line. There’s a reason this isn’t rated anywhere nearly as high.
Counterpoint, if I side with the fleet like 70% of the enemies suddenly become friendly and it makes getting xp a pain.
yeah i brought that up at the end, the mission borads are toatlly useless to me now, because i can't kill fleet members without a bouty.
@@GamingOpinionsseems like I’m better off not finishing the quest line, don’t really need the money anyway
Bro then join the uc
If you join sysdef you are welcome in all major cities, stick to the original enemy’s , (pirates) mission boards are not useless if you join sysdef the uc will still respect you and so will fre star collective. Your moral compass is high so you won’t be attack uc or FR
You can join the fleet and kill the pirates. Do it stealth and with a silencier, receive the XP and take their guns. If you kill one pirate and another see it they will atack and generate a bounty. If you deal with just one pirate starship and make it quickly, it wont generate a bounty. Sometimes even board their ship. You can kill stealth civilians and all the other factions if you are in a place without many NPCs. Works most of the times.
Despite being pirates, you've got to admire Delgado's determination. I'm a big fan of Jasper Kryx.
I admired it from outside his jail cell haha
I actually found when I took a UC mission to attack a fleet captain since I was in the fleet I just went and talked to him and then the quest had been completed
My friend thought I was hyping up the fleet too much and he said he was ready to say the faction is mid but after an hour with them he agrees they are the best and we nicknamed Delgado big D lol
Gay
Dark Brotherhood was IMO by far the best faction storyline in Skyrim, so not surprised they did pirates well.
Do the legacy quest line. I did it and at the end you pick to allow the CF to exist or not. Me personally I want as many enemies as possible. So I betrayed the fleet so that pirates remain hostile
New sub from me and damn can't believe Injust found another great channel.
Hey I’m new to these type of games and love this story and I joined the Fleet can I still do quest for them after?
Great video btw
2:37 you can refuse to work for Ikande, and walk up to a Pirate to ask to join.
They’ll let you in because they learn they refuse it.
I feel there should be a deeper dive into picking the crimson side where in very late game you can work your way into taking over command of the fleet.
The character faces in the key look real good idk why if its the reddish dark lighting but outside or in other lighting the character faces look kinda funny
I think it really becomes a hard decision when you do the UC vanguard, form an attachment to being the good guy, then get recruited thru the vanguard, to sysdef. Go undercover after saving the settled systems from terrormorphs
Easiest decision in all of my gaming. I sped thru the quests just to finally kill everyone on the key. They were worse than the Thalmor
There’s more ways to join other than being good by joining the Vanguard and telling them that you’re going to be a double agent and then don’t be a double agent, you automatically join the suite or shoot in one of those space cops in Atlantis
This guy has the voice of a small woodland creature
There is a way to join the fleet without going in as a spy. If you refuse to take on Ikande’s mission you are then thrown in jail then invited to the fleet.
The only things I didn't like about the questline was Neava and the only reason people was in the fleet was for money and I was hoping there were characters in it for Glory or that they want to fight the UC
That'd require character development and good writing. The best we can hope for is one-dimensional characters within modern U.S. game development. Our universities aren't known for fostering creativity.
Agreed. The CF still flees VERY one dimensional. They're all there just to be the "evil" faction you can join. Even if it's the best faction in the game, it's still a bad faction honestly.
As a pure hunter killer player between the CF, Spacers, Ecliptic and Va'run my combat kills now are at 14500 and 2700 elites killed. So I want to thank the crimson fleet for their generous donation of thousands of bodies that met my bullets.
I still feel that the sysdef and crimson fleet quest line, had a better climax than the main story. Hopefully we get a expansion on them
I heard if you get caught smuggling Aurora and are arrested, you can be invited to join the Fleet.
If you get arrested for any reason, you can be invited to join the fleet.
@@stevengaddis6564in fact the main quest even gives you an in depending on what you do. Without spoilers, just know that you'll get a bounty for stealing the thing from the guy and he'll call you a pirate. I then went to New Atlantis to head to the Lodge and got stopped on my way there.
Del is such a great character, I really do wish he could be a companion or at the very least part of the crew
So as fun as the questline is theres not many enemies to replace them as the usual threats?
Nope, joining them is awful currently and needs either a mod or an official change to make it not feel like shit.
I honestly think the only change they need to is to remove the bounty system, especially because starfield has quests that encourage you to incur a bounty, when skyrim never did@@xredrumx5150
Just so you all know joining them soft locks you out of like half the combat in the game. Main missions, side missions, exploration etc. It feels like shit and breaks the flow of the actual story. Doing a main quest where you need to clear out a facility and gather an item well...just walk on through and pick it up at the end because they won't shoot you. If you do however attack them enjoy incurring a 15k bounty per kill. It desperately needs a change and feels like shit in its current implementation. Zero quest immersion, miniscule xp, next to no combat on most planets, just save yourself the time and dont bother doing the quest.
I believe you can join the fleet without being with the UC if you go to mars with contraband
that's weird, I didn't have to escape or be a double agent. I just rejected the SysDef job and talked to the Crimson Fleet guy on Mars and started the storyline then
You’d be a double agent… not a triple agent. And seems like it’s not worth cuz half the enemies in the game are friendly now
Love being with the Crimson fleet and being a Pirate ☠ but I dislike that the IA don't follow the story, like constellation and my companion, Andreja, clearly disagree with my choices but hey I would have think that Andreja would at least think about my choices and be less judgemental than that because of her past, and she is always criticising me and where I decide to spend my time, but she shouldn't... And it's like, I've done the Crimson fleet main quest and everybody at constellation hating me for that and right after it's like if nothing happened... I find all this is breaking the immersion in the game and I find it sad cause I really like solo rpg bethesda's games and I always does, but the IA and interactions is lacking of deepness in my point of view.
If you don't agree with UC after arrest, you can go to Cydonia and you'll be requited.
This video still getting a lot of traction so I'll comment to common response, I now know that you can join the fleet through arrest and I think if I had done this the fleet wouldn't be my favourite faction anymore because i'd never get over how I got roped into this huge quest for stealing a pen or something.
but that goes to show how great starfield's narrative framework is as it can completely change your outlook on an entire faction just by having multiple methods of approaching it.
The biggest problem with choosing to side with the pirates is that you are eliminating one of the enemies you will fight against on various planets as they will now be friendly. If I play another playthrough, I won’t choose the pirates because of this.
It is a big issue as many dungeons and quests are under the impression that you are fighting AGAINST the pirates. Doesn't account for you joining them.
Once more showing how well Bethesda writes side content.
You can join the fleet without being a spy.
You refuse Ikandes offer, go to prison, then you get a dude come up and talk to you with an offer to join
For me Crimson fleet is the best side quest I've ever played so far, even it's better than most games nowadays.
OK you should never be able to approach the admiral of the fleet. You should’ve been able to reach out to a captain John under one of the captains which there are plenty captains that have names do a couple of jobs for them for the mission boards, and then got the boss attention and started the quest to improve the Crimson fleet, but it should’ve been something like they did with oblivion with the thieves guild with you, then a couple of side quest before having to do it faction made mention I’m not saying they should do this for every mission but at least to start off the first one
I completed it then it crashed and all my saves for it were gone kinda killed my whole thing for the game
It’s not the only way to join the pirates
If you refuse to work for the UC to go undercover you will be approached by a man on Cydonia that will give you a slate to recruit you for the crimson fleet.
The second in command was mean so i blew them up, its her fault
“Bethesda’s fantastic policy of letting the player be whoever they want” yeah sure, dude.
You can join by flat out refusing to work with sysdef and going to jail. You'll be approached when u get out
*Freestar Rangers! Not Freedom Rangers lol
I don’t understand how any rational human didn’t want to annihilate the whole fleet after every second in their presence. More insufferable than the Thalmor in Skyrim. Killing everyone on the key was the best part of the game hands down.
I sort of disagree with almost all of the points made her. Not in an aggressive combative way, just I see things differently. I think the factions in Starfield are mostly pale imitations of TES factions, only with far superior animations and voice actors. Ryujin as far as a "Faction" is not really a faction, however, the writing and voice acting in it was the best I have seen so far and the ending was satisfying.
Having said that, the Dark Brotherhood quest line in Skyrim is superior to all the quest lines in Starfield IMHO. Also the Morag Tong in Morrowind is a close second.
The Crimson Fleet is just space pirates for the sake of having space pirates, I found nothing about their story or motivations or attitudes to be anything but generic. If you want to just attack neutral ships for loot, you can pretty much experience the exact same gameplay by betraying the Crimson Fleet and then attacking Spacer, Ecliptic, Crimson fleet and REDACTED for the same thrill and use the Trade Authority to smuggle and sell stolen good.
The way the Crimson Fleet is written is sort of why I find the faction to be just a bunch of low life's with zero personality or conviction aside from being a stereotype of gangbangers. Like the Crimson Fleet is one note as fuck. So is the UC but even in the UC there are multiple mini factions so not all of them are super fascist stereotypes.
If you want huge bounties and lame loot, sure, go full Crimson Fleet. I wish there was more of a Privateer style faction and less of a "Fuck you rook, we are Evil because fuck the UC!" Faction.
Also, I wish doing one bad thing did not instantly alert the entire Universe in less than 1 second. How does the UC know it was me if I am in an unregistered ship and destroy a vessel in under 5 seconds? Space Magic?
Right now my top is the freestar rangers and im about to give pirate a real shot, but rangers are the shit, u like the vanguard which will let anyone with a ship join the ragers are the elite of the freestar collective which is why there are only 12 of em with a army of militia behind then which to me feels very rewarding, the star eagle is a beat the ranger uniform wth the space suit that has a badge on it to your badge you get I just feel it's really rewarding that your 1 of the chosen few, I'm about to go full pirate and see what's up but as it stands I'm a ranger to the death, now if they actually gave us a good 4 pirate crew members with good ship stats like the constelation then it would be way better but hopefully they fix this.
Not the only way to jooin them, say no to the UC and there's at lease two other ways to join them
If we’re being honest, the crimson fleet is less of a pirate, organization, and more of a syndicate
“Starfield has some of Bethesda’s best factions to date” I don’t know about that.
They were alright until I heard about Sona
Actually u can tell Ikande NO I'll take my chances in jail.
Then u will be approached by a member of the Crimson fleet and start your faction quest if u choose to.
And no reporting to sysdef..u do gain them as a enemy though ;)
After all a TRUE pirate type would never let themselves be manipulated into working for the Law.
I had almost given up on Starfield as i had been doing the main quest first and trying to explore the planets that i was on anyway. Then i got nabbed for contraband by Ikande, who i found very unlikable. But then i found the fleet and i really started enjoying Starfield. I much prefer the Crimson Fleet yo the Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood factions in Skyrim. I can well se myself doing a play through where i ditch the main quest and NG+ and just run with the fleet
Crimson Fleet = dark brotherhood
Freestar Rangers = fighters guild
UCsec / Vanguard = imperial legion
Ryujin = thieves guild
Constellation = mage guild
Very well put
We hang pirates
I love the idea of factions in Bethesda games, however it makes absolutely no sense to me that you can join all of them at the same time as they are actually opponent to each other. If you joined the UC you can literally snitch on them openly, destroy their gear and support the fleet and they won't give a shit and accept you still being a vanguard. The game should put more weight on your decisions.
Also I would've loved if you could immerse more into choosing the fleet with more social interactions and romance options.
What i find irritating is that none of the companions are crimson fleet friendly. They all whine at you for joining them. None of them give you a pat on the back for obvious reasons i guess.
I was a self-serving asshole to everyone during the playthrough of this questline and there were zero repercussions for my behavior. So after I got my cut at the end I shot the whole place up on my way out incurring a 180K+ bounty because fuck them and nothing will every happen.
Are you a kiwi youtuber
Yes, I am. Auckland born and raised
I knew going into it being a smuggler/pirate wouldn't be the easy route. But it's better than playing the vanilla main quest.
Don't ever compare this shit to the masterpiece that is new vegas
This quest is a 5 out of 10. The other quest are way better
Wish we had a companion that encouraged us to be A**holes!
You’re really trying to tell me the best faction in the game is the one who treats everyone like shit, even each other, who live in a shitty old stations held together with chicken wire and duct tape, where no one knows what soap is used for and would kill you just to watch the blood run on the floor?
Loooollllllolol pass
You're just wrong. If having to listen to Del's demanding yelling all the time doesn't make you want to destroy him - you're not an alpha pirate, you're a beta.
You also don't have to join the Crimson Fleet via the UC
I sided with SysDef. I cant let pirates roam around, stealing from good people. Fleet first? Nope. The fleet doesnt even clean up the key first.
They are *fake people.* I don’t care, but you don’t need to take your morals in account when playing a game like Red Dead, or Starfield, of course.
@@jnk5212 I don't have to but I do. I always pick good over evil in games like this.
@@steelresilience I can respect that.
There are moral consequences to choosing to align with an evil faction. Why does that surprise you?
Ugh if you like the crimson fleet you like money and that's it.
Crimson fleet.?? Im not sure if you call it best... I don't fall in love with evil. Unless your heart is evil. 😅
Okay now that we have starfield ..... SKYRIM 6 AND FALLOUT 5?!
You just tell him no and then join later without being undercover and your whole rant was super annoying.
I disagree the rangers are by far the best faction.
Bro, it’s just UC without being a pirate, and also more dirtier. Like, you get sand covered every single step you take in Akila. Ain’t no one wanna work for an old man just to get a ship and an overrated gun, bro.
Delgado is cool but otherwise crimson fleet are just a bunch of whining idiots who think they’re hot shit. Sysdef sucks and I’ll still always side with them just because crimson fleet sucks so much more. I love the game but crimson fleet is just a worse dark brotherhood/thieves guild with none of the appeal
Bland boring faction of a-holes. Really poorly written villains. Wiped them out without a second thought.
Non of these characters are interesting very basic
Coz revenant op!
Where are rounds sold😭
Faction quests should have permanently cut you off from other factions. Freestar should have cut you off from UC, UC should have cut you off from Freestar, Crimson Fleet should cut you off from both and make both permanently hostile towards you without the ability to resolve it, Ryujin is fine as it is.
If people really knew what Pirating really is about and just how horrible they are. I could never go the route of the evil or worst I can be. Now you do you and I support that, this is why I love Bethesda so much. No company in gamming today gives the player more options. Good guy, Bad guy or Someplace in the middle guy Beth gives you those tools and tells go play have fun. Gaming is an expensive hobby both for the PC and Console players. The average cost of a game today is $100.00 2 years ago $60.00 and believe me when I tell you that it will get worse. So buying a game I know will last and stand up to the test of time, Skyrim for example. Now with mods on Xbox and Play Station you have endless possibilities.
Rockstar.