Breaking the Bank is a mission in Starfield that you can undertake as part of the pirate group Crimson Fleet while working undercover for the UC in an attempt to infiltrate this band of deadly space bandits.
This mission will need a touch of subtlety if you want the best possible outcome. If you go in all guns blazing, you will only create a panicked frenzy and draw attention to yourself. This isn’t too big of a deal if you are planning to join the ranks of the Crimson Fleet later on, but if you want to stay on the UC’s good side, you will definitely benefit from some negotiation and persuasion skill points here. Even if you are a Crimson Fleet pirate through and through, this mission will be much easier if you put the gun down (just for a little while).
With this in mind, let’s go through what you need to do to complete the Breaking the Bank mission in Starfield.
Head to the Siren of the Stars ship and get docked
Your first task is to travel to the Aranae system and dock with the luxury liner cruise ship called the Siren of the Stars. The ship is huge, so it is difficult to miss. Once you have docked, you will enter the crew area below deck.
Talk with Captain Rokov
You will be stopped by your man on the inside as you make your way through the crew area. The man in question is Captain Evgeny Rokov, who will start asking you rather intrusive questions about your mission. You can choose to tell him or decline his nosy requests.
If you offer credits to him, you will find out he is actively trying to return to the Crimson Fleet. You can try and help him get back into the pirate group by offering to speak to Delgado—the Crimson Fleet leader—about him. You don’t have to be completely honest with Rokov about it, but if you at least offer your help, he will be a useful partner during this mission.
Rokov will give you the Starview Access Pass, which lets you go anywhere on the Siren of the Stars that isn’t specifically locked down.
Optional decisions on the Siren of the Stars
There are two major decisions that you have to make during your time on the luxury ship.
- The first is whether you want to try and nab the ES Award, which Naeva—a high-ranking Crimson fleet member—will have asked you to try and steal for her.
- The other choice is whether you want to kill or spare Larry Dumbrovsky, the main target of this mission, who has the GalBank credentials you need.
If you do decide to try and grab the ES Award, it can be a lucrative item to have in your possession. Even if you give it to Naeva and cut Captain Rokov in to share some of the credits with him, it’s still not an amount to be scoffed at.
When giving the award to Naeva without telling Rokov, you will get 6,000 credits. If you do tell Rokov, you get 3,000 credits. The award will be worth more if you hold onto it for a little bit longer to sell yourself, with it being worth between 8,000 and 9,000 credits if you do so. You can make even more than this if you have the Commerce skill leveled up.
I would definitely suggest trying to get the ES Award while on the Siren of the Stars, and to do so, you will want to speak to Sheila Holbrooke. Holbrooke is the head of the awards committee and can be found at the bar. She will be marked as an optional objective on your map with a blue mission marker.
You first need to find out a little more about the award, and Sheila will tell you what you need to know. You will discover that the award is safely locked away in the master safe, guarded by the Purser. This isn’t the last time you will speak to Sheila, but for now, it’s off to the Purser’s office.
Speaking with Chief Purser Murata
Head to Chief Purser Murata’s office by following the optional mission marker, and she will explain that you will need a specific access code to get to the award. You can either head back to Sheila or speak with Murata a little more. If you have a high persuasion skill and choose the right dialogue options, you can get a bit of extra information about Rokov and his connection to the Crimson Fleet from Murata.
Return to Sheila, and you should be able to talk her into handing over the access code for the reward if you have high persuasion or manipulation stats. You will need to complete six bars in the persuasion check to do so.
With the code in hand, all you need to do now is to head back to the Purser’s office, use the computer to enter the code, and then take the ES Award from the safe in the back room. There are some credits in the safe as well that you can nab for good measure.
Find out more about Dumbrovsky from the ship guests
With that optional choice out of the way, it’s now time to get to the main meat of the mission: finding out what you can about Larry Dumbrovsky. To do this, head to the Starview Ballroom and start asking around. Some guests will give you similar answers—most of which point to Dumbrovsky being a somewhat slimy individual. But, eventually, one of the guests will tell you to speak to a woman named Klaudia Swist, who Larry has been spending a lot of time with. Swist can be found upstairs sitting outside the guest suites in a seating area, so head up there and approach her to start talking.
Bribing or persuading Klaudia Swist
You will have to either bribe or persuade Klaudia to get the necessary information. The outcome isn’t any different depending on what you choose to do; you will just be leaving with your pockets a bit lighter if you fork over your credits rather than trying to convince her.
Much like with Murata, you can get a little more information out of Swist if your persuasion skill is high, to the point where she will tell you what she really thinks about Dumbroksy and what she has been doing to manipulate him. This gives you a little more backstory for when you make your decision on whether to kill or spare Dumbrovsky later.
Klaudia will suggest speaking with a corrupted United Collective security officer called Gabriel Vera, who was working with Swist and Dumbrovsky to scam GalBank.
- You will find Vera working security in the ballroom downstairs, but he isn’t willing to talk with you no matter how high your persuasion ability is.
- You can ask him a few questions, but he will deflect and get more irritated, so there isn’t much point in staying long.
- Go back to the Captain, and he will come up with a plan to stage an emergency with the life support on the ship to force the guests back into their rooms, giving you the chance to confront Vera in private and possibly get something more concrete out of him.
- To do this, Rokov will suggest heading down to the engineering deck and speaking to Chief Engineer Sandin to get into the life support systems.
- Follow the map marker below to the engineering deck and initiate a conversation with Sandin. The only way he will let you through is either through bribery or by bringing up a gambling debt that Rokov mentioned. Rokov told you beforehand that you could allow Sandin to consider his gambling debt with Rokov gone if it meant he would let you into the life support area, but there are some other ways to get him to leave his post, too.
The only ways he will let you through is through bribery, by bringing up a gambling debt that Rokov mentioned or by having specific personality traits.
If you have the Space Scoundrel or Empath personality traits, there will be special dialogue options that will make Sandin leave his post, allowing you to access his computer and open up the door to the life support systems. Otherwise, you will have to pay him or get Rokov to wipe away his debt.
Trigger the lockdown
To trigger the emergency lockdown, simply hit all three switches in the life support area just beyond the door. The alarms will sound, and the guests will have returned to their rooms by the time you leave the engineering deck. Now is the time to get to Vera.
Confront Gabriel Vera
Go back upstairs to the guest suites and go to Gabriel Vera’s room, where you will be able to choose how to deal with him once you have told him about Dumbrovsky cheating him out of his pay. There are also choices regarding what you tell him: bribing or attacking him.
| Bribing Gabriel Vera | Attacking Gabriel Vera | |
| This gets you a handy piece of evidence to use against Dumbrovsky | Doesn’t change mission outcome but makes all security forces on the ship hostile toward you |
Killing or sparing Larry Dumbrovsky
With all that out of the way, it is time to deal with Larry Dumbrovsky. As expected, he will try to cut you a deal. This is where you will decide whether you want to spare Dumbrovsky or kill him.
- If you negotiate, you have the chance to swap the damning transaction log slate from Gabriel Vera for the GalBank credentials that you need from him. This is the better option for those avoiding open violence and conflict, as well as those in deep cover for the UC who want to stay on their good side.
- Killing him is an option, too, which will be appealing to those who like to get straight to the point. But, much like with Vera, killing Dumbrovsky will put a huge target on your head. You will have to fight your way off of the Siren of the Stars, and this won’t be an easy task. The UC will also be furious at you, but the end result is basically the same, so the decision will depend on your preferred playstyle.
Once you’ve decided Dumbrovsky’s fate, have a quick chat with Rokov again before you leave—he will be waiting around the exit of the guest suite area—and you can let him know that you will put in a good word for him with Delgado.
Going to the GalBank Archives
Undock your ship from the Siren of the Seas and plot your course to New Atlantis with your GalBank Credentials in hand. GalBank is in the Commercial District of New Atlantis, and it is hard to miss, thanks to the bright green neon lights on the building. Once inside, use the elevator to go down to the Archives.
In the Archives, you will find one guard behind the desk, and it won’t take long to notice that something isn’t quite right when you start talking to him due to his odd behavior. If you keep pressing him, he will tell you that he is being held hostage by the mercenary group Ecliptic and that they are waiting to ambush you. Prepare yourself for a firefight.
There isn’t a huge number of Ecliptic in the vaults, but if they get the jump on you, you might find yourself struggling in this fight. Make sure you are completely prepared with your weapons and armor before you enter the vaults.
Once the Ecliptic mercenaries are eliminated, follow the blue marker to the GalBank vault computer, where you will be able to access the files you need. Navigate to the tab on lost ships, and you will find the information that you need on the Legacy and the Supremacy, both of which are necessary to complete certain missions.
Head back to The Key
With all the information you need ready to go, fly back to The Key and report in with Delgado and Naeva. You have the choice to recommend Captain Rokov to Delgado due to his help with the mission, and—if you do so—this will reinstate him as a member of the Crimson Fleet.
After Delgado and Naeva have spoken with you, Naeva will then ask you to follow her somewhere more private so you can speak about the ES Award. You can choose to lie to her if you do have it so you can try your luck at selling it for more. You can also hand it over. Whichever you choose to do, having the award on your person will lead to at least a few thousand extra credits, which is always handy.
All that is left to do now is report back to the UC Vigilance with your findings. Speak to Commander Ikande, but prepare to get chewed out if you went for the more violent approach.
Breaking the Bank rewards
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to speak of in terms of rewards for completing this quest. You do get 350XP, but there’s no credits reward. Unless, of course, you include those you get from choosing to use the ES Award in some way.
Any of the loot that you acquire while adventuring through the quest could count as well, but if you’re hoping to receive a big boon for completing Breaking the Bank, you’ll be disappointed.
That’s everything you need to know about finishing the Breaking the Bank mission in Starfield. Once you have reported back to the Vigilance, Breaking the Bank will be complete, and you will be ready to move on to the next step in your Crimson Fleet infiltration mission: The Best There Is.
