Aurora is a controlled substance that you will likely first encounter in the city Neon, which is on the planet Volii Alpha, in Starfield. The administration of Neon has only given one company, Xenofresh Corporation, the ability to produce and sell Aurora through regulatory channels.
However, as you might discover in your time on Neon, you are actually able to make Aurora in Starfield.
This obviously leads to the question of making money with Aurora. After all, it’s a highly sought-after drug that people on other planets will likely be very interested in. However, since Aurora is considered contraband, you will have to smuggle it off Neon and then onto another planet.
Is making Aurora a lucrative side hustle for you in Starfield?
Making Aurora in Starfield
First and foremost, you will need to make your way to Neon for the first time. Going through the security gate at first, you will see a man named Neshar be taken away by the authorities for trying to smuggle Aurora. This starts a new quest in Starfield called Loose Ends, which you can now track. This leads you to Neshar’s prison cell, where you can speak to him and find out about his little smuggling operation.
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Continue to follow the quest and you will eventually meet a man named Legrande, who runs Legrande Liquors on Neon. If you talk to Legrande about learning more regarding his Aurora smuggling operation, you will be able to eventually join Xenofresh Corporation.
This leads to a job as a chemist at the company, where you are directly responsible for producing Aurora at a pharmaceutical station. Once you complete one run of producing Aurora, you can now craft it at a pharmaceutical station anywhere in Starfield.
Of course, in order to craft it, you will need the ingredients for Aurora, which are:
- x1 Benzene
- x1 Stimulant
- x1 Chambass Oil
- x2 Hallucinogens
In order to get these ingredients, I would visit any Trade Authority store or a general vendor in Starfield, such as Shepherd’s in Akila City. At these locations, you should be able to buy everything you need to make a few batches of Aurora. However, you can also take them right off the conveyor belt when you are working a shift for Xenofresh. The only issue is you won’t be able to get enough of certain ingredients by doing this, so you will still need to visit vendors and buy the ingredients you need.
Once you have all your ingredients, you can go to a pharmaceutical lab, which can be built at an Outpost or accessed at The Lodge, and make however many batches you want.
Smuggling Aurora in Starfield
After you have some Aurora, you will notice that it has been marked as contraband in your inventory (the little yellow symbol). This means that when you enter a faction-controlled system, such as Alpha Centauri, Cheyenne, Volii, etc., you will have to surrender all contraband when your ship is scanned.
There are two ways around this, allowing you to easily sell the Aurora you have. First, you can simply go to a system that isn’t controlled by a faction. Visiting the Crimson Fleet’s The Key base is a great spot to sell contraband, but any Trade Authority stores you can find will work too. Of course, most Trade Authority stores are within faction-controlled systems, so you have to find one that isn’t. You can always make the Aurora and sell it to the Trade Authority on the same planet as you, thus avoiding the contraband scans in space.
The other way around this is to outfit your ship with equipment that lets you evade contraband scans. You can purchase a Jammer
Frequency and a Shielded Cargo Hold from a ship services vendor in the Ship Builder menu, both of which give you a decent chance at keeping your contraband. I found that the ship services vendor in Red Mile in Porrima was the earliest vendor to sell that equipment for your ship.
Remember, though, you want to put the Aurora in your ship’s cargo hold if you install a Shielded Cargo Hold, as that’s the only way it can avoid detection from the scan. Then, once you’re on the surface, take the Aurora out of the cargo hold so you can sell it to a vendor.
Is it worth smuggling Aurora in Starfield?
In my opinion, no, it’s not worth trying to smuggle Aurora. For starters, there’s quite a lengthy process in making, smuggling, and then selling the drug. Moreover, you need to keep purchasing ingredients for the recipe and try to avoid contraband scans constantly.
All of this is in an effort to sell the Aurora that only goes for around 100 credits a pop. But if you want to truly be a space pirate, then smuggling Aurora could be worth it to you. At least now you know exactly how to pull it off in Starfield.
Published: Sep 11, 2023 04:09 pm