During the last mission of the UC Vanguard questline in Starfield you're asked to pick between the microbe or aceles solution to the Terrormorph problem.

Sometimes Starfield has lasting consequences to its decisions, and sometimes it doesn't, with this aceles or microbe decision falling somewhere in between.

To give you a bigger picture of the consequences of this decision, we've gone over everything we know about what happens should you choose the aceles or microbe solution below.

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Should you pick Microbe or Aceles in Starfield?

You get the same rewards and XP for either decision, but there are two main consequences of the microbe or aceles decision in Starfield:

The reaction of your Constellation companions.The behaviour and actions of NPCs.

Microbe or aceles constellation companion reactions

The first immediate consequence of picking the microbe or acceles solution is in the reaction of your Constellation companions. Generally, if you pick the aceles option, your companions won't like this, but if you pick the microbe options, your companions will like this.

This means you can get some easy 'likes' to boost your affinity with Sarah, and Barrett in particular, as long as you pick the microbe option. Remember to take the 'Paramour' item before talking to them if you want to boost their affinity even more during the conversation.

Andreja and Sam seem to favour the aceles option, but this can vary depending on how high their affinity is with you.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda Softworks

You can avoid getting 'dislikes' from your companions by saving before having a conversation with them, then finding the dialog choice that doesn't give you a negative response. The 'agree to disagree' option should work for all four of them, but this could vary depending on how high their affinity is.

You can't avoid having this conversation with your Constellation companions (unless you plan on never speaking to them again), as they will bring your decision up as soon as you initiate a conversation, even if its just to access their inventory.

Microbe or aceles NPC behaviour and actions

In our playtime, we haven't received any follow-up quests dependent on what Terrormorph solution we picked, but there are consequences to how NPCs behave and what they do depending on what option you picked.

For example, if you pick the aceles solution, you will actually see aceles creatures on some planets you travel to - and you'll also see them fighting Terrormorphs. Characters around local towns might have something to say about this if you walk past them, or initiate a conversation, and you might even see members of the UC Vanguard bringing Aceles to certain habitats on a planet.

Image credit: Eurogamer/Bethesda Softworks

So although the choice doesn't seem to have any major consequences to your game's universe, there are some small touches that it changes that you might want to consider when making the microbe or aceles decision in Starfield.

If you would like more help, we've got pages on the best weapons, best ships, and outposts.

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