Starfield: No Sudden Moves [Walkthrough & Bugs]

Learn about how to recover the artifact from Petrov in No Sudden Moves Starfield and determine the best course of action.

As part of the Constellation, players in Starfield are expected to collect mysterious Artifacts throughout multiple missions. “No Sudden Moves” in Starfield is a similar mission that sends you to a scavenger ship called the Scow to retrieve an artifact. You have various ways to board the ship and retrieve the artifact from the captain in the mission. Depending on your choices, the events on the vessel may change completely.

Key Takeaways
  • “No Sudden Moves” in Starfield is an artifact recovery mission assigned by Vladimir.
  • The mission’s goal is to steal an artifact from a collector unwilling to trade.
  • To complete the quest, players must travel to the Procyon A star system and dock the Scow (scavenger ship).
  • The quest involves multiple dialogues with choices for passive or hostile approaches.
  • Some bugs, like difficulty after leaving the Scow, have troubled players attempting to complete the quest.

No Sudden Moves Quest Location

Vladimir in No Sudden Moves Starfield.
A dialogue with Vladimir in No Sudden Moves. [Image credit: eXputer]
The No Sudden Moves mission starts once you talk to Vladimir after the events of mission nine. After you have completed mission nine, go to the Eye (Constellation ship) orbiting Jemison. Here, Vladimir will brief you about your next quest. 

For this quest, you must recover a piece of an artifact with a fellow member of the Constellation. The artifact is located on a scavenger ship. Since the captain of the vessel is refusing to cooperate, you must recover the artifact by force or by using the persuasion system. Vladimir will have three crew members of the Constellation, helping him expand the ship’s functionality.

How To Board The Scow

The Scow No Sudden Moves Starfield.
The Scow orbiting the Procyon V-B in Starfield. [Image credit: eXputer]
After you have heard the mission briefing from Vladimir, take your companion and head to the Procyon V-B (the moon of Procyon V in the Procyon A star system.) You will find a scavenger ship called the Scow orbiting the moon here. Hail at the ship and start the dialogue. The crew will tell you that they are not taking any visitors.

You will get the following three options:

  1. [Persuade] I have business with Pertov. It’s important.
  2. [Attack] Prepare to be boarded
  3. Leave as instructed.

Since you can’t leave without securing the artifact, you have only two ways to dock the ship in Starfield. You can try to persuade the crew to let you board the ship peacefully, or you can directly attack the ship.  However, if persuasion fails, you will have no option but to use the hostile approach.

When attacking the Scow, you must destroy the particle turrets surrounding the ship and then target the ship’s engine. Once all threats have been neutralized, you will be clear to dock the Scow.

How To Reach Petrov

Scow crew members in No Sudden Moves Starfield.
A dialogue with Tao Xun on the Scow. [Image credit: eXputer]
After docking the ship, you will head inside its airlock and open a door using the button on your right. Take the one in front of you and turn left. Here, you will start your second dialogue with the Ship’s Crew.

From this point, there are two primary ways to complete the mission:

  1. Attack the crew and Petrov to retrieve the artifact. 
  2. Persuade the crew to let you see Petrov.

Attack The Crew

If you decide to attack the Ships Crew, it will turn all members onboard hostile. You must fight Petrov and make him surrender to stop the chaos. 

Here’s my recommended method of getting to Petrov’s location:

  1. Get past the initial crewmembers you encounter and reach the end of the hallway
  2. Open the door at the end of the staircase and head into the next room.
  3. You will come across two doors; take the one on your left.
  4. Keep heading straight until you reach two yellow-colored rooms
  5. From here, you need to follow the pathway on your left with the red floor.
  6. Keep following the same path until you see a room on your right with various items in display cases.

Captain Pertov is at the back of the vast room. Once you attack Pertov and deal sufficient damage, he will surrender and ask you to take anything you want. You can kill the entire crew or comply with this request. 

  • If you comply with Petrov’s request, you can leave with anything you want to loot from the ship. 
  • Killing Petrov and his crew members will produce the same outcome, but you must fight for the artifact. 

Persuade The Crew

If you successfully persuade the crew to let you meet Captain Petrov, you can peacefully head to the captain’s room and talk to him personally. When you reach Petrov, meeting him will trigger another dialogue, and again, you will have the option to persuade or attack him.

  • Attacking Petrov will generate the same two outcomes in the previous section.
  • If you persuade him to show you his collection, he will lead you to a locked room where he keeps his possessions. 

Once you are inside the locked room with Petrov, it is still impossible to convince him to give up the artifact. Ultimately, you must attack him inside the room to surrender the item. After you have acquired the artifact, you can safely leave the ship to complete your mission. 

Bugs In No Sudden Moves Quest

Starfield No Sudden Moves bug.
Scow Arilock in No Sudden Moves. [Image credit: eXputer]
Amidst all the exploration and quests, Starfield is prone to bugs and glitches like any other game. Many players have shared their experiences with bugs during the mission.

Some of the primary complaints from users include the following:

  • A user on Steam Community Post reported a No Sudden Moves bug that made it impossible to complete the mission after you leave the Scow without recovering the artifact in Starfield.
  • Another user in the comments reported that their ship disappeared after logging out during the quest, which made it impossible to leave the Scow.

This concludes my guide on completing the No Sudden Moves mission in Starfield. Apart from the main quest, there is a lot more to explore in Starfield. Therefore, I suggest you learn about the best Starborn armor and the exploits in Starfield. You can also read about the money glitch and the best religions in Starfield to improve your playthrough.

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Awais is a Guides Writer for the newly released games on eXputer who loves keeping up with the gaming and technology industries. With several years of experience in writing game guides, he critically knows what problems a gamer faces and what solutions to provide them with. You can also catch Awais playing tons of PvP games, both solo and with his pals. To get in touch with Awais, check out his Steam profile! Experience: 3+ years || Education: Bachelor's of Science in Physics || Written Over 100+ Articles

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