Juno’s Gambit and deciding whether or not to save or kill Juno is what makes people love Starfield. There is no fetching or need to leave and return, it’s really just a question of humanity, and the consequences aren’t enough to make you feel good about either decision. We’ll give you the background and consequences so you can make the best decision for your playthrough.
How to get the best ending for Juno’s Gambit in Starfield
You can complete the Juno’s Gambit quest just by deciding whether or not to change Juno. It’s pretty much over when you leave the ship after making the choice, but we recommend negotiating with the crew to leave Juno alone. We’ll explain how to in detail below, but it’s pretty much the best option.
Before you start this quest, be warned that the best outcome is only available if you work for Ryujin. It’s definitely worth it because you can get more credits and an outcome where everyone wins.
There’s no real way to get to Juno on purpose because it’s a random event. The best way to get this option is to keep going to different star systems until it pops up. I got it on the way to Styx to meet with the Crimson Fleet for the first time.
Related: How to join the Crimson Fleet in Starfield
You’ll start this mission by seeing an Ecliptic ship attacking a random drifting ship. Beat the Ecliptic mercenaries and then hail the drifting ship. You’ll be told to come inside to help out, and then you can just board to see what’s going on. After boarding, you’ll hear two operatives discussing what to do now. Walk through the door and you’ll see two operators and one dead scientist on the ground. It’s best to start a conversation because it is weirder than you’d think.
The Ryujin Operatives will explain the situation involving the dead scientist and the rogue AI, Juno. During this conversation, Juno will speak up and ask the player not to change her, something she’ll repeat a lot. It’s made pretty obvious that if you don’t reset Juno to a non-sentient AI through the AI Computer Board, the operators will kill you. That’s when Juno wants to give her side to everything. While talking to Juno, players will be able to determine for themselves if the AI they are talking to is truly sentient, or if it is merely faulty software.
To be honest, even though I chose to change Juno the first time I played this, Juno definitely convinced me that it was a real AI. I recommend going through all the dialogue and hearing the argument. Finally, you’re supposedly left with two options. I chose to change Juno, but when I redid it later, I found out you could have a happy ending. First, let’s discuss the best outcome, then the other two.
How to persuade Ryujin to free Juno
To successfully leave this ship with everyone happy and no one but an unlucky scientist dead, you must have already started working for Ryujin Industries. It doesn’t matter what level you are at Ryujin, this will work even if you just started.
So, first, let the operatives know you work for Ryujin with the [Ryujin Industries] dialogue choices. They will eventually ask you what you’re going to decide with a threat to kill you if you don’t listen. Instead of saying yes or no, say that they should get a beer on you and that you will file the paperwork. It’s right next to the [Ryujin Industries] dialogue choice. They’ll agree, leave to your ship, and wait for you. You can then talk to Juno and let her know she’s safe.
You will get 7,100 credits, so this is an easy way to get credits, but you’ll have to stop by Neon to drop the operatives off. This isn’t so bad, to be honest, and it gives you the most money out of any choice.
Juno asks you why you saved her and the answer really doesn’t matter. She then asks you what she should do and you could tell her to do one of three things:
- Search the universe and find your answers to life and beauty.
- Protect and help others as best you can.
- Get some weapons and be an AI pirate, taking from everyone.
- A vague answer that tells her to be the captain of her own ship.
Juno then shuts down, really dramatically, and the player gets to leave. When you’ve undocked, Juno will start back up and thank you before using the Grav Drive to take off. You, for some reason, get 2,000 credits at the end of this.
Related: How to complete Breaking the Bank in Starfield
How to save Juno in Starfield
The second-best option is to rescue Juno, but this is only second-best because at least you get to talk to Juno in this case and you won’t be hunted down later. So, it’s best to either let the operatives know that you’ll kill them or just turn and blow them away. They’re not hard to kill because they’re not wearing any armor.
Either way, once they’re dead, Juno will know you saved her. This plays out exactly like how convincing the operatives played out, same dialogue with the shutdown, and you can watch Juno leave after giving it advice.
How to kill Juno in Starfield
This is easily the worst choice to make because it only has bad results all around.
Killing Juno isn’t easy to do just because Juno isn’t going to take it quietly. Don’t worry, because the AI can’t cause another electric shock to kill you like what unfortunately happened to the scientist. Walk up to Juno and interact with the AI Motherboard. Juno will ask you to stop and want an explanation, but you just go ahead and change her. She went so far as to try and convince me not to change her that when I did, I imagined her singing “daisy, daisy…” like in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Juno will go through what feels like a reboot. She tries to shut down, but it’s pretty horrific listening to her realize she can’t stop it.
If you reveal that you work for Ryujin but didn’t save Juno, the operatives will talk about getting a beer after work one day. Otherwise, they’ll let you leave because they need to clean up the dead body on the ground. Either way, you earn 3,500 credits for your time.
Related: How to dock at ships and space stations in Starfield
What’s awful about this choice is that once you leave, Juno reactivates and is mad. She asks you why you changed her, and you get to hear the operatives as they realize what’s going on. Juno will decide that the appropriate response is anger, so she’ll shut off life support. You get to listen to the operatives scream for help as Juno uses the Grav Drive to go somewhere else so you can’t save them. So they have to die either way, so better to make the above choices.
Also, now you have an AI that wants to kill you. You will see Juno later, who will ask you why you changed her, be angry with you, and try to kill you. It is as unsettling as you’d think. You also can’t board Juno again, so don’t think you’re taking over this ship. When I tried to dock her, she just blew up anyway, even after disabling her.
So we would say this is the most depressing option, so go for the two above.
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