Who do you want as your friend? And what about enemies? The Outer Worlds will present you with a fair few important choices as you progress through its story, and one of the earliest “big” questions you’ll face is whether to divert power to Edgewater or the Botanical Lab. You’ll change the course for a few different characters with this decision, so knowing the result in advance can be handy. In this guide we’ll break down the outcomes of sending power to Edgewater or the Botanical lab in The Outer Worlds.
Send power to Edgewater or Botanical in The Outer Worlds
This choice arrives as part of the Comes Now the Power quest as you work to get the Unreliable back online. The choice here can earn you influence with either the Deserters or Spacer’s Choice factions, but there’s more at stake here than that. We’ll detail the result of both choices below, then provide our suggested option.
Power the Botanical Lab
If you choose to power the Botanical Lab you’ll increase your reputation with the Deserters, and lower it with Spacer’s Choice. In addition you’ll gain a chunk of experience. However, choosing this route involves fighting or intimidating Reed as he’ll confront you as you head to the lower floor of the Cannery. You’ll need a high Intimidate score (around 30) to pass this check.
Power Edgewater
If you return power to Edgewater you’ll gain reputation with Spacer’s Choice and lose it with the Deserters. You’ll also get the same chunk of experience. However, if you head to Adelaide after picking this option you won’t need to fight her. Tell her that she needs to return to Edgewater, but she won’t go while Reed is still there.
In our view, returning the power to Edgewater is much more sensible than the Botanical Lab. There are plenty of innocent people in Edgewater who’ll suffer without power, and it’s possible to convince all the Deserters to return if you have the right stats and items. Tell Adelaide that you’ll get Reed to step down, then speak to him with a Persuade or Lie skill of 10 or 20, respectively, and you’ll be able to convince him to leave the post if you tell him Adelaide’s growing a garden. Simply follow the conversation choices below. Of course, you can also kill Reed, but that won’t go down well with others.
- I spoke to Adelaide. She won’t come back so long as you’re here.
- Your town’s a mess, Reed.
- Adelaide’s people aren’t getting sick with the plague.
- Have you people ever eaten a vegetable?
- I’m pretty sure it’s your food that’s making you sick. You need Adelaide’s garden.
- Adelaide’s found a way to grow food. She’ll come back if you step down. [Persuade 10]
- Look, Reed. All I know is that it involves some really complicated math, and it works. [Lie 20]
Once Reed is gone, go back to speak to Adelaide to let her know she can return. The rest of the Deserters can all be convinced to return with the right mix of items or conversational choices. Do it all right and you’ll not need to kill a single soul and will get everyone back into the town. Even if you don't convince Reed to step down, you can still convince the other Deserters to return, even without Adelaide.
Now that you know if you should power Edgewater or Botanical you can continue with the main story of The Outer Worlds. Keep an eye out for more guides for the game arriving soon!
