Groundpounder is an action-packed side quest in Starfield. You will come across a call for help that will take you across the galaxy to save an entire Star System.
With foes coming together to fight a common cause, rescue missions, space combat, and many mysteries to uncover, Groundpounder has it all.
Let’s look into how you can become a hero and a key to saving the Altair Star System in Starfield.
How to unlock the Groundpounder mission
There are no prerequisites you need to do to unlock the Groundpounder side mission in Starfield.
Instead, you will get a distress call while en route to Vectera, Moon of Anselon in the Narion Star System from Alpha Centauri.
This message will be from a Freestar MULE which will mention the status of Altair crawling with Spacers. You can take up the offer of helping them out which will automatically update your Mission HUD, adding Groundpounder under the MISC Tab.
How to complete Groundpounder in Starfield
While traversing the space you will receive a distress call from Private Mahoney and you take it upon yourself to investigate the nearest Freestar Collective Research Outpost.
To complete Groundpounder in Starfield you will need vigilance, patience, and tactics to rescue Private Mahoney and save Altair from the hands of savages.
Land at Research Outpost U3-09 on Altair-II
The first step to this lengthy mission is to locate where the distress call is coming from. For this, you will need to set your course to Altair-II in the Altair Star System and land on Research Outpost U3-09.
As soon as you exit your ship, you will be attacked by Spacer Punks and Troublemakers so get ready to engage in combat. Defeat all the enemies in the area and make your way to the Research Station U3-09.
Find Private Mahoney
You will find out that the Research Station has been ransacked and is filled with personnel’s bloody bodies lying around.
Enter the Research-01 room on the right, clear out the enemies, and head to the Security room. At the back, take the stairs down to the Server Room leading to the Storage. Open the door to the Storage to find Private Mahoney inside.
She will explain the situation that as she was communicating Lt Torres’s orders, the outpost was attacked by Spacers. She then sends you over to find Lezama and help him out with the situation.
Find Corporal Lezama
Head straight from the Storage to the Servers and clear out the Spacers surrounding the area. The door in the back will take you to the stairs leading to the Ground Floor. Fight your way to the Coms Center where you will find Corporal Lezama keeping the remaining scientists safe.
Meet Dr. Adamou Moussa, the head of this Research Center, who will explain how Spacers have been harassing them for months to get their hands on this territory.
Lezama will cut your conversation short and hand you a master key to break Lt Torres out of the complex. He was last seen near Dr. Moussa’s office on the third floor protecting his troops.
Rescue Lieutenant Torres
You can finally set about to rescue Toress in Groundpounder in Starfield. Take the stairs on the right behind the closed door, and head up to the Head of Research office.
Take the Spacers out on your way there to make the journey back easier. You will find Lt Torres inside along with Sergeant Dasari defending their post.
They will share Captain Myeong and her troops of UC Marines came to help them but were separated and currently stranded in the building.
Despite the conflict between the Marines and Freestar, Lt Torres pushes to put their differences aside for now and work together against the Spacers.
Dasari shares that she has the security override key that can be used to open the doors and allow the marines to reach the other side where they can be rescued.
You have successfully rescued Lt Torres in Starfield, and now with all on board you move on to your next Starfield rescue mission in Groundpounder.
Rescue Captain Myeong
According to Sergeant Dasari’s Intel, you will find the Captain one floor down. After leaving the room, take the stairs on the right down to the next floor. Fight along with your team and defeat the Spacers in the office to save Captain Myeong and the Marines.
Myeong is a legend among the people and will explain how the whole situation is unsavory thanks to the Spacers. For now, however, there are still civilians in the field that need to be protected.
You will be tasked to take your spaceship to clear out as many Spacers as you can while the team works here to get the defenses back online.
Take your ship to the Research Camp
Get back to your ship and clear out the premises surrounding the Research Camp. Head inside after you’re done to find the Freestar militia and scientists.
The militia will take the civilians to a nearby cave to keep them away from the battle about to come while you report back to Lt Torres and Captain Myeong about the good news. They will be on the landing pad of the Research Outpost, so take the ship for the fastest way back.
Defeat the Spacer Invasion
To defeat the Spacers you need to first cut out their air support and strand the ground units on Altair II to have a fighting chance.
Captain Myeong will share that the enemy has been reinforcing the ridge so you need to take out their ships in Altair I and V’s Orbit as soon as possible. After you’re done with aerial combat, come back to Aerial II to take care of ground troops.
Recoup with your team to mourn the losses but also celebrate becoming heroes of Altair II.
Starfield – Groundpounder mission bugs
Groundpounder has been extensively reported to be bugged in Starfield. Unfortunately, even after clearing out the enemies, it will not register as the mission being completed stranding the players on a specific part.
It has been reported by players that the cause of these bugs can stem from killing UC Soldiers or exiting the mission area without completing the quest but it’s hard to say why there are so many issues being reported specifically to this quest.
The most reported ones are with NPC Lezama where he does not open the door or the key card not functioning even after defeating surrounding enemies.
The other one is when flying in Altair V’s orbit where either enemies don’t appear or the mission simply does not progress after the landing.
Unfortunately, there have been no reported solutions or patch-ups to counter them so players will have to wait a little for the official update.
Starfield – Groundpounder mission rewards
Despite the friends, you made along the way, successful completion of Groundpounder will reward you with 5000 Credits, 300 XP, the Peacekeeper weapon, and ammo in Starfield.
