The achievement unlocks when you
complete The Chimerist’s Last Experiment Sublight Faction quest. It is the last in a series of 3 sublight faction quests. To complete them, the player-character must gain access to Lilya Hagen. Once the interaction begins, she gives a series of quests culminating with
The Chimerist’s Last Experiment. When it is completed, whether or not to Lilya’s satisfaction, the achievement pops.
The earliest you can accept a mission from Lilya, on the 6th floor of the Groundbreaker, is after you have acquired access to
Stellar Bay. If you buy a Navkey from
Gladys, she will say, “You should have a chat with Lilya Hagen in the Sublight Offices.”
You can also learn about Lilya and Sublight by reading the messages on the terminal near the Groundbreaker MedBay—specifically one entitled,
Seeking Contractor: Sublight Salvage. So, the Sublight Faction quest line can be completed on the Halcyon Path where you do not get the Stellar Bay Navkey from Gladys but receive it later in the game.
Hawthorne, the deceased captain of the Unreliable, had previous dealings with Sublight in general and Lilya in particular. So, the player character will be allowed access after taking the elevator to the left of the Spratwurst vendor (not to be confused with the elevator in the center of the Groundbreaker Promenade.
Talk to Tobias Oyama or pick the lock to Lilya’s office to get in to see her. Depending how far the player has progressed in the game, Lilya may immediately give you the first faction quest,
Space-Crime Continuum. If she doesn’t, you will first have to accept her task,
Salvager in the Sky. Go to the Saltuna loading dock in Stellar bay and get the Alta-Vitae gas. Report back to Lilya on Groundbreaker. This completes the quest and gives you the Faction Quest:
Space-Crime Continuum.
Return to Stellar Bay. Follow the quest marker and exit the back of the Saltuna loading dock to find the corpse of a sublight contractor behind some crates. Loot his body to get a Bloody Note with a passcode. Go to
Catherine Malin in Fallbrook and give her the note.
Catherine sends you to Cascadia where you must syphon Alta-Vitae gas from the lab into your auxillary ship's fuel tank. She, also, has an additional side quest, Slaughterhouse Clive. Completing it to her satisfaction will increase your Sublight rep but is not required for the achievement.
Parvati and/or Vicar Max in your party will help you pass Engineering &/or Hack skill checks. In Cascadia, go through Rizzo’s Secret Laboratory and follow the quest marker to a terminal that will allow you to talk to ADA and land your ship.
The quest updates and you follow the quest marker to another terminal. Use it to connect the storage tanks to the refueling system that services the ships on the landing pad. If you can’t pass an Engineering or Hack skill check (about 40 or 60 respectively)—you can brute force the system. Go back to Groundbreaker and report your success to Lilya who gives you the second faction quest,
The Ice Palace.
You must use an override code to
commandeer the HRS-1084 station for Sublight. Travel to the station and follow the quest marker to the terminal and insert the override cartridge. You’ll have to deal with automechanicals and human enemies as well as other impediments. You can rely on force or your hacking and/or persuasion skills. When you’ve commandeered the station, report back to Lilya who will give you the final Sublight faction quest
The Chimerist’s Last Experiment.
The more you deal with Lilya the more you become aware that she might be somewhat unhinged. She wants you to kill the figure she believes is behind an alien conspiracy. She gives you the keycard to gain access to the target.
It is best you have first done some missions for the Board and are on good terms with them. This will allow you to use dialog skills to deal with the guards. Talk to the ‘mastermind behind the alien conspiracy’ and make up your mind which of three options you’re going to take. (If your relationship with the Board is poor, you may have only one option—brute force.) Report back to Lilya. All three options successfully conclude the quest and unlock the achievement.
The decision is up to you. If you’re working towards the ‘best’ ending of the game, choose Phineas. To improve your dialog skills to deal with the guards and ensure you can execute all three options, take Felix & Parvati in your party to give you a substantial persuasion boost. Wear the Chimaera Armor and Top Hat or other armor & helmet combo that gives a bonus to persuasion or dialog skills.
The following is a discussion of your options with heavy spoilers regarding them and the game’s ending. Note that this has no bearing on achievements—any choice will do. Moreover, it is completely up to you to enjoy the game as you see fit. You are under no compunction to work towards the game’s best ending. In fact, a darker approach is completely in the spirit of the game’s film noir tone.
*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***When you meet Eva, you learn she has nothing to do with aliens. In fact, she is working on dietary supplements to save the colony from starvation. This assumes you have the opportunity to talk to her. If your reputation with the board is poor, your only option might be to attack. Assuming, the area is benign, your conversation leads to the following choices:
- You know Phineas Welles? If you work with him, I’ll spare you.
- Keep working with the Board on a plan to save Halcyon. I’ll leave you be.
- Attack! I can’t let this go on. Sorry, Doc.
If you have companions with you, you will get a couple of dialog choices asking their input. Nevertheless, the outcome still boils down to the above three choices.
If you kill Eva, you get the best rewards. Lilya makes you a vice president and gives you the unique, named armor Sublight VP Armor—Intimidate +10 with Silver Tongue Mod (Dialog Skills +10 & Leadership +10). You gain positive rep with Sublight (and a small negative hit with the Board. And, of course, you pop the achievement. The ramifications at the end of the game are that Sublight thrives. From what we know of Sublight, this is not a good thing.
If you let Eva live, whether working for Phineas or the Board, Lilya is not pleased. However, you get full XP for the quest and pop the achievement. Aside from listening to Lilya’s snarky comments, there is no downside other than a slight negative reputation hit.
However, it is likely that your positive reputation with Sublight will be revering. In fact, you can ensure it will be revering if you completed Catherine’s optional side quest to her full satisfaction. Additionally, if you asked Eva to work with the Board you will receive an increase to your rep with the Board. You take a negative hit with the Board if you ask Eva to work with Phineas.
In the game’s ending, if you let Eva live, Lilya’s alien conspiracy paranoia consumes her and an arranged accident disposes of her. Sublight’s criminal enterprise is diminished and its future is uncertain.
From what we know now and what we will learn after this point, the Board is not to be trusted. It is best that Eva’s work on dietary supplements to ward off starvation be entrusted to Phineas. This supports the game’s best ending which includes, in part:
Dr. Welles was able to save every scientist and engineer aboard the Hope. Over the next decade, nearly all of the Hope's remaining colonists were successfully revived. Halcyon saw a period of rapid technological and scientific advancement. Breakthroughs in dietary supplements saved the colony from starvation. Geo-engineering projects and social reforms began to change the structure and character of the colony.