The majority of side quests in The Outer Worlds are simple. Speak with an NPC, follow the objectives, done. Make sure when you are attempting a specific quest, that it is selected in your journal. You can only track one quest at a time, so you want to ensure you’re chasing the correct markers.
The Distress Signal Quest Guide
You obtain this quest if you ask Gladys to detail her opportunity when looking for a Nav Key during Passage to Anywhere. You will be asked listen to a Distress Call, but this can only be done from the Unreliable and it will be inaccessible until you have talked to Udom Bedford and resolved your ship’s impounding.
Once you can use the ship, go to ADA and ask her to play the Distress Call. You will receive 2000 XP and unlock the quest The Doom That Came to Roseway. You will now also be able to travel to Roseway in Terra 2.
Enter Roseway
After landing at Roseway Landing Pad, you’ll make your way through a desolate street and enter Roseway proper. Here you will meet Berke, a tarmac guard. He says Anton Crane is in charge, and that somehow Raptidons got loose and attacked the town.
If you speak with Orson Shaw and offer to help then you will get the objective to get a hold of his weapon plans. These can be found in the Storage Facility to the southeast of Roseway. Head there, defeat the marauders and loot it from the basement wall.
Head to Roseway Communications Room and you can meet Anton Crane, who sent the distress call. He reveals that his work might not be entirely legal, so corporate cannot know of what has happened. You can intimidate (25) to get him to tell you what is going on. He’s tasked with formulating new and improved dental gel, and they accidentally discovered an appetite suppresant. He claims a group of malcontents attacked them, freed the Raptidons and stole his research. You will get 3300xp for agreeing to help, and obtain Anton’s Lab Keycard and Anton’s Pass Code.
He will also mention you should not kill the Raptidon mother, and that the old lab has Jameson, his protege. Agree to find him and you’ll obtain the quest By His Bootstraps.
Go back outside and you can meet Weldon, who will not say anything quite useful, and then enter the apartments outside and go upstairs to unlock Anton’s room. You can browse his terminal to read his personal journal and learn more about him and his motivations. There’s also a workbench and vending machine nearby. Downstairs, you can talk to Vaughn Cortes, who seems eager to get back to work. He hints that he left something important at the lab. Offer to help and you’ll learn he’s harvesting Raptor Musk for an aphrodisiac. He asks you don’t say anything to Anton. Accept and you’ll receive the quest The Amateur Alchemist.
Leave town and go to Roseway Garden. You’ll be attacked by a group of Raptidons as you approach Auntie-Biotics Lab 0013, where you can do By His Bootstraps. Then make your way southeast towards the Cover Lab. Inside you’ll need to speak with Cassandra O’Malley. You can kill her or make a deal with her, but she has Auntie Cleo’s Research Data.
Near Cassandra through a door you’ll find Vaughn’s Research and the Unique Weapon: Rapti-prod. Use the terminal to determine what do with the data, but if you want it then you won’t destroy it.
You can complete this quest by giving Gladys all or none of the secrets, though if you are going to give her one the best one to do is the toothpaste because it will cause you to complete The Doom That Came to Roseway. Whereas, either of the other two will Botch their Quests and you will gain no XP, only Bit Cartridges