This Starfield mod offers a bunch of useful, better rewards for slaying Starborn

If you’re dissatisfied with the loot you’ve been getting from Starfield’s Starborn, a new mod is well worth giving a look.

Assuming you’ve gotten a decent way into the game’s main quest, odds are you’ve run into the Starborn, who serve as Constellation’s main competition in the mad rush to claim the mysterious artefacts strewn throughout the cosmos. Despite generally being pretty powerful, these faceless foes only drop a single dose of Quantum Essence upon death, which can feel pretty underwhelming.

So, with the aim of “making them more interesting to dispatch”, modder Netherworks has just released ‘Starborn's Bounty’.

“I initially created this mod to give you an alternative means to have to sink into (new game plus) runs, to raise or add new powers, but I felt why not give it random outcomes to make it more interesting,” they reveal in its description.

With the mod installed, whenever you take out a Starborn, one of three random outcomes will occur, giving you the chance to grab some more useful boons.

The first of these, and the most likely to happen in the default version of the mod, will make the Starborn die without disintegrating, allowing you to loot them as you would a normal enemy. This’ll generally snag you a weapon, which could be rare, epic or legendary, and some ammo, with small sums of credits or some science-themed goodies also popping upon occasion.

The other two possible rewards are both related to Starborn powers, with one granting you a new power or upgrading one you already have, while the third will simply give you more Quantum Essence per kill than the base game dishes out.

If there’s one of those you’re a particular fan of, you’re in luck, as Netherworks has created a bunch of different variants of their work which tip the percentage scales in favour of specific outcomes. There are also versions tweaked to only dish out one specific reward, in case you want to be sure of what you’re getting.

The modder has also provided a potential lore-friendly justification for the changes they’ve made to the Starborn, suggesting: “you (can) think of them (as sometimes) disintegrating due to you greatly absorbing their energy and at other times, you (don’t) absorb enough of it to vaporise them, allowing you to loot them.”

If you can’t get enough of Starfield’s strangely satisfying lockpicking mini-game, you might also want to check out the free browser game based around it.