As an RPG fanatic with over 100 hours passionately playing diplomat, smuggler, and negotiator-style characters in Starfield early access, I‘ve become an expert on persuading my way through many tricky scenarios.
Whether you favor words over weapons or just want to keep a laser pistol as an absolute last resort, mastering the art of persuasion is essential for peaceful conflict resolution. This comprehensive guide will teach you everything I‘ve learned about successfully swaying NPCs to your cause.
Persuasion 101
During certain conversations in Starfield, you‘ll see a "[Persuade]" dialogue option appear, triggering a complex persuasion event with great potential risks and rewards.
As revealed by Bethesda developers, you must strategically select from colored dialogue choices to fill up a persuasion meter within limited failed attempts:
- 🟢 Green: Safest options that almost always succeed.
- 🟡 Yellow: Riskier choices with moderate chance of success.
- 🔴 Red: High risk but high reward if successful.
Carefully building meter points while avoiding too many failures determines success or failure, with major consequences either way.
This creates intense risk/reward tension, requiring expert persuasive instincts. That‘s why studying the following mastery tips from my hundreds of hours of first-hand experience is so valuable…
Expert Tips from an RPG Persuasion Veteran
I‘ve negotiated everything from banking loans to bandit alliances. Here are my top tactics for persuasion success:
1. Choose Your Words Carefully from the Start
Early dialogue choices lay the foundation for persuading an NPC later. Even subtle phrasing differences can open or close potential outcomes down the line.
I once missed out on an amazing plasma rifle by poorly framing an initial question to an arms dealer. I naively asked "How much?" rather than "Might you be convinced to offer a discount?" – precluding any persuasion opportunity.
So closely consider your words at every exchange to steer conversations toward an outcome with persuasion possibilities. It‘s like a subtle dance, moving partners toward where you want them to go without them noticing.
2. Lean Heavily on Green…at First
When a persuasion event starts, spam those green dialogue choices to quickly build your meter safely. I like reaching at least 50% on greens before mixing in riskier options.
Occasionally, however, you‘ll hit a string of lower point greens that don‘t move the meter much. That‘s when calculated yellow risks in the 10-15 range help accelerate progress once you have some safe baselining established.
| Color | Points | My Risk Tolerance |
|---|---|---|
| Green | 2-8 | Spam away |
| Yellow | 10-15 | After ~50% meter |
| Red | 20-25+ | Last resort |
3. Save Your "Get Out of Jail Free" Cards
You‘ll occasionally acquire consumable items like alcoholic drinks granting free persuasion meter points or extra failed attempt chances. The tendency is to burn these too early as a crutch – I strongly advise against that!
Instead, hold them in reserve as a "Hail Mary" last resort if you get deep into a crucial persuasion event and start hemorrhaging failures. That emergency boost can quickly tilt a desperate situation your way for a comeback win.
4. Reload, Retry, and Take Notes
I always quicksave before a persuasion event starts so I can reload and retry different strategies as many times as needed to nail down an optimal approach.
I document what works and especially what fails with each NPC personality type in my captain‘s log. That way I learn their idiosyncrasies for next time. Maybe Flux the Bartender responds well to jokes, but militant Demari hates humor and only respects shows of strength.
Through repeated failures, I build a "persuasion profile" tailored to each NPC for future encounters.
5. If At First You Don‘t Succeed…Switch Tactics
Sometimes you just can‘t persuade someone no matter how artfully you phrase arguments. When that persuasion progress bar barely crawls despite your best efforts, it‘s time to pivot.
Don‘t waste items trying to force unworkable persuasion – instead reload and change approach entirely. I‘ve had great success swaying seemingly impossible targets by:
- Gathering intel on them first to find potential bribe options or quest tasks.
- Bringing companions with complementary social skills like Intimidation or Lying to tackle issues from different angles.
Learning alternative tactics to win over strong dissenters also greatly improves your overall mastery and flexibility.
Outcomes When Persuasion Fails
Despite your best efforts, sometimes you just can‘t smooth talk your way through a hostile scenario. When words (or bribes) lose their power, you‘ll need to consider more aggressive solutions with their own consequences.
Your options when the gift of gab fails include:
| Approach | Risk & Consequences | Ideal Builds |
|---|---|---|
| Intimidation | Breeds resentment Companions may disapprove | Solo mercenary Junkyard dog |
| Weapons Blazing | Turns skirmishes into wars Authorities may pursue | Combat specialist |
| Creative Problem Solving | Takes time and resources Might enable bad actors | Well-rounded generalist |
Note some companions like Vasco the space pirate approve of aggression, while others like altruistic Elena strongly dislike violence and ruthlessness. Seek out teammate synergies complimenting your preferred confrontation style.
Ultimately any approach can work, but comes with pros, cons, and roleplaying considerations. And there‘s no one right way – a crafty negotiator might succeed at the exact same scenario where a ruthless merc failed. My advice is persist, get creative, and keep an open mind!
Master Persuasion to Unlock Starfield‘s Potential
I hope these expert tips distilled from countless hours of persuasive Starfield runs help you avoid common pitfalls while opening up new opportunities.
Mastering the nuances of negotiation, deception, flattery, and just telling people what they want to hear opens up Starfield‘s expansive mission and faction systems, unlocking rewards and endings not accessible to brute force fighters.
But most importantly, compromise, understanding, and seeking non-violent solutions whenever feasible keeps more sentient lives intact across the settled systems. And that‘s a marginal win I‘ll keep fighting for one persuasion attempt at a time!
What persuasion tactics have worked for you in Starfield? Let me know in the comments!
