Published , by Bill Lavoy
Published , by Bill Lavoy
The Outer Worlds will give players plenty of tough decisions to make throughout their journey, and one of them will come on Monarch. This is where players must choose who to give the Targeting Module to, MSI or the Iconoclasts, during the Canid’s Cradle quest. Luckily, I’ve navigated this tough decision so you can make a call that’s best for your play through. Major spoilers ahead, obviously.
Before we get into this decision, there are a few quests that should play a big part in a player’s decision. For me, I didn’t trust Graham, the leader of the Iconoclasts, one little bit. Giving him the Targeting Module was not something I looked forward to. At the same time, Sanjar, the MSI representative on Monarch, wasn’t much better. One had his head in the clouds, and the other had his head in spreadsheets, even if Sanjar did seem to be a good dude overall.
Before players get busy making this decision, it’s important they finish the following quests on Monarch:
For me, the quests listed above helped me make up my mind about who the best leader for Monarch was. In Pay for the Printer, Graham wanted me to help get his printing press working, whereas Zora was more concerned about her team. One person cared about people, the other about writing newsletters.
In The Commuter, Graham wanted me to spend leftover money on printing press rollers, where as Zora wanted me to buy food and medical supplies. For those keeping track, that’s two points for Zora and zero for Graham. Well, at least in my opinion.
Circling back, and you don’t have to do these in order, Sanjar wanted me to complete a quest called Bolt with His Name. The main point of the quest was to get him a BOLT-52 but forget that. Worry more about the objective to Wipe Any Terminals in the Building. Whether you wipe the terminals or not is irrelevant, but I suggest you read them first. Those terminals show that Graham, Zora, and Sanjar all worked together at one time. Graham and Sanjar didn’t have the best reviews, but Zora was recommended for promotion.
Once The Commuter and Pay for the Printer are done, Zora will tell players to visit her. Do so, and she’ll give you a quest called Sucker Bait. When you complete this quest Zora will (for good reason) begin to question Graham’s leadership capabilities. It turns out, Graham was responsible for the Amber Heights massacre some years ago. Hardly the guy to lead, right? Not someone to turn a Targeting Module over to.
Now, the final thing players need to tie off is Radio Free Monarch, a main quest that cannot be ignored. After the second to last step, Jump Start the Tower, a ship will crash, and players will be given the Canid’s Cradle quest. This is the quest where you can largely determine how life on Monarch plays out in the future.
If everything above is done, return to Amber Heights and go find Zora. If you try walking up to where you would normally find Graham, she should stop you. She’s going to suggest that you help her deal with Graham, which suited me just fine. The guy made awful decisions and was a huge part in getting people killed. Head up to Graham with Zora and support her. Insist he step down. I had to use force, but maybe you can word better than my character. Either way, I felt Graham had to go and that Zora was the best leader for Monarch.
That said, Zora wanted to attack Stellar Bay, and that didn’t appeal to me. Thankfully, you can convince Sanjar and Zora to negotiate. Zora will agree almost immediately, and Sanjar will agree after you give him Zora’s review from Cascadia. Once that is done, it’s up to players to complete the last step, which is to Oversee the Negotiation. You’ll have to keep each leader in check, but overall things should go smoothly, and the result is that Graham is gone, the Iconoclasts and Stellar Bay residents are safe, and Zora is ruling with Sanjar, and they make a pretty solid team.
The Targeting Module, for what it’s worth, becomes irrelevant by following the path I’ve outlined here. There are a lot more tough decisions to make, though, so visit The Outer Worlds guide and walkthrough for more help.