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Diabolical Drones of Doom is an Outer Worlds 2 side quest you might have trouble with either because you've found it as a 'mentioned' option and don't know what to do with it. Or because it's been bugged for a few people. It's easy to start and complete, though, netting you some rewards that include money and an Advanced Decryption Key. So here's how to deal with the Diabolical Drones of Doom in Outer Worlds 2 and how to collect the bounty.
How to complete Diabolical Drones of Doom in Outer Worlds 2
The Diabolical Drones of Doom in Outer Worlds 2 first appears as a quest when you hear some troopers talking about it after you land, getting it tagged as 'mentioned' in your journal. If you head into town you'll also meet Corporate Trooper Coetze who mentions a bounty for some rogue machines. Ask her about it, and she'll tell you there's a Bounty Terminal outside the Fairfield Jail you can use, here:
However, it's possible to not speak to her, or quit the conversation without asking about the bounty, leaving it marked as 'mentioned' with details about a Trooper Faulkner on duty by a barn.
At this point you can still just go to the Bounty Terminal, or you can speak to Faulkner who's guarding a gate at the Northwest of town near Ethel Tinsley's lab. You can also talk to Trooper Erickson in the doctors office about the drone attack that put him there.
However you get there, once you trigger the Bounty Terminal you'll finally get a map marker to the drones' location:
All you need to do now is reach the coast (you might pass Redactor Quesnel for the Outer Worlds 2 In Pursuit of Purloined Propaganda quest here) and, specifically, a power station-like building set into the side of the rocks. You'll know when you're in the right area as you'll get attacked by Protectorate Wasp drones. However, it's only the drones you'll find inside the base area that seem to count.
Some people have reported issues here where, after an initial wave of attacks, no more drones seem to spawn and the quest hangs. In some cases starting the attack from stealth seems to cause a problem, while reloading and trying again can unstick it.
For me, I actually found a rogue drone tucked away around a corner that was hidden and needed to be killed to complete the mission. It was by an equipment locker you can hack to get a Bandolier Uniform, Shock Rod and Bypass Shunt, and a terminal you can use to complete the mission by deactivating the drones if you have Engineering 2 in your Outer Worlds 2 skills, or Manual Reset or Electro-Therapist from the list of Outer Worlds 2 perks.
With that all done you can now return to the bounty terminal in Fairfield and claim your rewards:
- Auntie's Choice rep
- 360XP
- Advanced Decryption Key
- 350 Bit Cartridge
For reasons I won't spoil here, this is one of the missions you can lose access to, along with Outer Worlds 2 Schemes of the Secret Smugglers, when you reach a decision where you have to choose between Fairfield or Westport in Outer Worlds 2. There's a big spoiler warning for that last guide so ignore it for now if it means nothing to you. But just be aware that you can be shut of this and other missions in certain circumstances.
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