The Outer Worlds Edgewater or Deserters: Should you redirect power to Reed Tobson or Adelaide McDevitt in Comes Now The Power?

Whether to redirect power to Edgewater or the Deserters in The Outer Worlds is
the first big decision you'll have to make, in the Comes Now The Power quest. You'll start it when you speak to Reed Tobson and meet your first companion, Parvati. While there are several steps the main choice is whether to redirect power to either Edgewater or the Botanical Lab in The Outer Worlds, shutting the remaining one down and which option should you pick?

Redirecting power to Edgewater

The Outer Worlds redirect power — (Image credit: Microsoft)

If you decide to redirect the power to Edgewater and force the Deserters to leave the Botanical Lab, at first, they're not going to be happy with you. That's not a big surprise. When you return to them and speak with Adelaide, she flips out on you, calling you a snake and claiming you've sentenced them to a "lifetime of slavery in Edgewater".

All is not lost, however! Adelaide says she will never return to Edgewater and would rather die than live under his management, but an opportunity presents itself. You can either try to persuade the Deserters to return to Edgewater anyway, or you can tell her you're willing to deal with Reed for her.

This presents two options: you can go back to the Saltuna Cannery and kill Reed Tobson, or if you have high enough stats, you can actually convince him to step down from his post and let Adelaide take his job. The decision is ultimately yours to make, as there's no special reward for either option. It's worth noting that if you do kill (or pickpocket) Reed, you may be able to get the keycard for his storage room in his office.

Redirecting power to the Deserters

Redirecting the power to the Deserters at the Botanical Lab quite obviously makes Reed Tobson mad, and he makes it so you need to kill a bunch of guards to reach the power regulator. That's on top of all the automechanicals you'll need to kill, so it's definitely the more chaotic option. No matter which you go for, after you pick up the power regulator, return to the person whose power you deprived to finish the quest.