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Free Families Conflict Plot
Manoeuvring with Difficulty / Stoats not Goats
Description
Context
The Free Families Conflict plot in conjunction with the Hatikvah Trade Revolution plot and Paranid Civil War plot is one of the 3 main story missions introduced in the 3.0 “Lever to Move a World” update and the first to require a DLC (Split Vendetta). Along with the Paranid Civil War plot this mission chain has an opening linear plot chain before a player-made decision picks a path towards two different outcomes. In this guide the full range of outcomes will be outlined at the conclusion of each of the two branches.
Difficulty
With regards to difficulty, the first half of the plot is similar to that of the Hatikvah Trade revolution and Player Headquarters plots. The second half is far more involved and is more suited to intermediate players who have significant sums of money available (over a billion is a good target).
Themes
Thematically the plot centres on the control of the Free Families with forces of the Zyarth Patriarchy and the Court of Curbs both vying for control of the fractured feudal families.
Achievements
Two of the achievements in this plot require specific actions on multiple occasions, guidance and prompts from NPCs will not help in getting them so they have been made more obvious in this guide. These achievements are the “Yes, Yes, Very Interesting” which requires 4 correct dialogue choices and “In Authority We Trust” which requires certain conversations and flight behaviours as well as choosing to side with Zyarth.
General Recommendations
Without giving away the content of the plot too early, much of the missions (especially the initial unbranched section) will require a small ship so subjectively it may be best just to stay in a small fighter for the whole plot, or at the very least have one on hand to swap to if needed.
Starting Requirements
- Split Vendetta DLC
- Player Headquarters with Boso Ta
- Finished Hatikvah Trade Revolution plot (For help see Hatikvah Plot Walkthrough)
- A known jumpgate to the DLC sectors (If one hasn’t found Dal will ask for one to be found before the main story kicks off)
Arrival
“I have looked into and analysed the sociopolitical forces at play in the Split territories.” – Dal Busta
After completing the prerequisite plots and the reconnection of the Split systems to the gate network Dal makes an offer via video link to join him on the Player Headquarters and try and get influence in the Split systems. In person Dal reveals his plan to get an in with the split, Transport a Split smuggler called Fau t'Nnt (although he will go under another alias) to Split space so he can carry out his business. Its also important to note that the passenger is very choosy, he will only ride in an S sized ship.
Fau t'Nnt is located on a random friendly station in the basegame systems, flying and talking to the split provides an opportunity to get one point towards the required 4 for the “Yes, Yes, Very Interesting” achievement. This point can be acquired in the slavery dialogue topic “On Slavery…”, to get it choose the option that says “Will slavery ever be abolished?”, there will be no indication that this will have progressed the achievement (except by checking the save) but rest assured it has.
With all the talking with Fau t'Nnt wrapped up its time to take him home, mission guidance will select a random Split Sector to take him to. Upon reaching the first Split Vendetta system (It doesn’t have to be Split controlled) a Zyarth police Rattlesnake Class destroyer will intercept and order the transfer of the passenger (This ship is invincible and can’t be boarded so it can’t be fled from or fought).
As it turns out, Fau t'Nnt is actually a member of Zyarth’s secret police and is screening entrants to Split space. On the ship the passenger deigns to give the contact details of Yu t’Knk who can provide more information on Split culture and the current conflict.
Study
“This… vessel… appears to be… a rock!” – Boso Ta
Of course its no simple matter to just fly and chat to Yu t’Knk, as it turns out she has been captured as a hostage in an Argon slave revolt. The slaves have made off with a Cobra class frigate and are being hunted by the Zyarth police, Dal recommends beating the police to them and sorting out the hostage situation directly (again an S sized ship is necessary for this chapter, a fighter is probably the best choice).
The first stage is to locate the ship, Boso Ta will provide guidance to what he thinks to be the stolen frigate but it is another Cobra frigate that is a bit worse for wear but is unowned and Boso wants it claimed. After claiming the ship Boso outlines the possible locations of the stolen frigate based on logs extracted from the abandoned one.
There are a few false positives to start but a while the trail gets warmer and finally the stolen frigate is found in Tharka’s Ravine XVI. The escaped slaves do not like being found and suspect collusion with the Zyarth Patriarchy, they will then attempt to flee. Dal recommends attacking them to make them more compliant “Engage but don’t destroy that ship”. The frigate will understandably respond to any attacks in kind so its important when fighting it to stay under its belly where it doesn’t have any turrets a fast fighter is best for this because of how fast a cobra can be.
The Cobra will surrender once it is below 60% hull integrity and 80% shield integrity and grant docking privileges to negotiate. Docking will allow Yu t’Knk to board, her ship the “Slave Trader 3” will radio in asking for her to be transported back (Slave Trader 3 cannot be boarded and neither can the stolen frigate even after the hostage negotiations).
Dock at Slave Trader 3 and talk to the pilot Lae t’Shn, she will voice her displeasure at interference in Split affairs but will concede that amends can be made by bringing spacefly caviar (a Split delicacy illegal just about everywhere else) to a funeral for Patriarch Gau t’Pg of the Free Families. Spacefly caviar can be crafted from 25 spacefly eggs, the eggs can be pickup up as drops in areas where mining takes place (Second Contact 2 is always a safe bet).
The funeral is conducted from the docking bay of the “Funeral Service Ship” (along with all the other buffalos in the plot it can’t be boarded). The funeral service is held in within the superstructure of the Heart of Acrimony II deactivated accelerator. Have a chat with Lae t’Shn to deliver to caviar and then with none other than Fau t'Nnt (acting under another alias) who offers a job in finding evidence to support Patriarch Noa t’Hlp at his trial in the Hall of Judgement. After all dialogue options have been exhausted the funeral procession will commence sending a funerary ship into the now active accelerator, the accelerator will once again shut down after the funeral and the missions resume.
The next goal is to provide evidence of Noa t’Hlp’s financial records which requires a satellite for hacking into the Free Families Trading station (usually located in Tharka’s Ravine XVI). Satellites can be picked up from wharves, shipyards and equipment docks (the closest being located in Heart of Acrimony II) and usually cost around 4,800 credits.
Boso instructs to deploy the satellite near the station before scanning an exposed dataleak. Unfortunately, through Boso’s usage of the satellite it has mucked up the satellite network meaning the deployed satellite must be fixed before Boso can finish. Repairing the satellite is achieved in the same way as other repair satellite missions with the space-suit and repair laser (remembering that repair lasers have a range of 30m). While the satellite is being repaired Fau t’Nnt announces that it is too late and that Noa t’Hlp has already been executed.
Conspiracy
“We are your Curbs, decreed by Ghus t'Gllt” – Lae t’Shn
Its time to return to the Funeral Service Ship for Noa t’Hlp’s funeral, on this occasion though things are a bit different, Dal is there in person. En route Dal explains what the missing funds meant and how there could be something important lying behind the funerary accelerator. After landing on the Funeral Service Ship the first person to talk to is Fau t’Nnt (using yet another alias) that is quite angry that Noa t’Hlp was executed before the information could be obtained. Afterwards head to Dal on the docking bay, he and Boso explain the plan to break into the funeral coffin ship and use it to get through the accelerator.
The plan requires getting into the spacesuit, immediately after leaving the funeral ship the funeral coffin ship will launch and move slowly forward toward the accelerator before stopping. Place and detonate and EMP (provided by Dal) at the marked location and then scan a dataleak to gain entry to the ship (the docking port is on the underside) and watch the action unfold.
Well there is something big behind the accelerator, the “Ravenous Wight” in fact. Its a Raptor Class carrier complete with several wings of Balaurs. Throughout this section its impossible to leave the Funeral Coffin Ship. After the ship gets closer to the Ravenous Wight the game will cut to being in a jail cell aboard the Ravenous Wight. Lae t’Shn will appear and open the cell, from there it’s a matter of going to the Cabal of Curbs throneroom on the ship. Once there Lae t’Shn will explain the Court of Curbs.
Its time to join the curbs to be allowed to leave the ship. This isn’t actually siding with the curbs like later and doesn’t count towards either ending, all it does is progress the plot towards the choice. There’s also an opportunity to work towards the “Yes, Yes Very Interesting” achievement by asking them about the slave revolts. To join them they will ask of proof of dedication and proof of worth, proof of dedication is achieved by following through with the below mission steps and proof of worth is achieved by providing the curbs with funds when choosing what to pay them always go for the highest or second highest choices (picking the two lower choices will incense them and make them demand higher amounts).
The Curbs want to destabilise Zyarth by taking out some of Zyarth’s colonial presence and then hitting them in the heart of their operation, the Hall of Judgement located in Tharka’s Ravine XXIV. Before completing this mission though there is an opportunity to progress the stages of the “In Authority We Trust” achievement. After returning to Heart of Acrimony II have a chat to Dal Busta to ask to find Fau t’Nnt and warn him and let him know what the Curbs are planning, this will add two points to the required three to unlock the achievement, it will also give a reputation boost with the Zyarth Patriarchy.
Then pretend to attack the colonial police ships the Curbs want destroyed until they (having been tipped off by Fau t’Nnt) use their escape pods. For the second part of the Curbs plan to strike the Hall of Judgement a small ship is again required, this time to dock at Slave Trader 2 and report to Yu t’Knk.
Collaborate
“Split need you outside for minor maintenance. Take bombs.” –Yu t’Knk
Yu t’Knk wants bombs placed upon the ship’s cargo drones which she has kindly provided. Time to re-enter the spacesuit for the final time in the mission chain. The spacesuit bay is located in the bridge section of the ship so its quite far aft and the drones (only 3) will launch from the prow, once they’re in range deploy a bomb on each and then return to the ship, any misplaced bombs can be disarmed and placed again and in the event that something goes really wrong Yu t’Knk can always provide more. The drones may take some time to return to the ship so there can be a bit of a wait before the ship gets underway.
At this stage its okay to either wait until Slave Trader 2 docks or simply fly there independently (provided that reputation is sufficient with Zyarth to enable that). Either way, once on the station bombs need to be handed to an escaped slave hiding out on the station (Chatting to him about the separatists adds a point towards the “Yes, Yes, Very Interesting” achievement). A secure access pass must also be acquired to let out some prisoners being held on the station. The pass can be picked up from a random location on the main dock. To release the prisoners, use the transporter to get to the “Pen” and open the cells with the little buttons on the wall.
With a suitable amount of mayhem caused it’s a good time to get off the station especially since those rigged drones have taken out a significant portion of the station. Luckily the Argon have secured a getaway vehicle for escaping, it’s a Zyarth Chimera class heavy fighter.
They’ll hand over control of the ship and Lae t’Shn will request assistance with the getaway. Undock from the Hall of Judgement (now controlled by the Argon) and fly to Slave Trader 2. This section is another opportunity to progress the “In Authority We Trust” Achievement. To unlock it instead of complying with Yu t’Knk’s requests to defend Slave Trader 2 from approaching Zyarth police opt to fly away. This can be verified if its been done correctly by Yu t’Knk opening comms and voicing her displeasure “Pilot cowardly. Did not expect this”. This stage of the mission concludes when Slave Trader 2 either fends off the Patriarch’s police or is destroyed. Its now time to return to the Curbs’ lair aboard the Ravenous Wight.
“Patriarchs? Ha! Only dead Patriarchs here. This Cabal of Curbs” – Lae t’Shn
In the Curbs’ throne room they reveal their alternate socio-political structure to the traditional Patriarchal feudal structure. Asking about the Curbs’ position on Argon slavery “You collude with Argon slaves” adds a point towards “Yes, Yes, Very Interesting”. With everything out in the open and being in a good position to help either the Curbs or Zyarth in their goals of ruling the Free Families Dal wants to meet at the headquarters.
Choose
“Both, the Zyarth Patriarchy and the Cabal of Curbs have a chance of uniting the Free Families under their rule.” – Dal Busta
During conversation with Dal Busta on the headquarters a number of things occur. Dal presents justification for supporting each faction and some vague statements about how things might play out (For the objective results see the Curbs and Patriarchy rewards sections). A final extra point towards “Yes, Yes Very Interesting” can be awarded from asking about how each faction would treat slaves. Also at this stage the “Yes, Yes Very Interesting” achievement is awarded provided the minimum of 4 points have been earned from choosing the dialogue options.
 | Yes, Yes, Very Interesting: Learn all you can about slavery |
The final decision of which faction to choose is clearly marked by two final dialogue options, the options will be the lighter blue indicating that they progress a mission. After choosing a faction to support it cannot be undone (without reloading to an earlier save). Picking a faction also rewards the achievement:
 | Fires of Fate: Learn about the Split and pave the path for change |
For the Curbs plot outcome proceed to “Declaration of Curbs”
For the Zyarth plot outcome proceed to “Suppressing the Coup”
Curb Branch
Declaration of Curbs
“We are your Curbs, decreed by Ghus t'Gllt.” – Yu t’Knk
Its time to follow through with the Curbs’ plan to unite the Free Families under their rule. The Curbs want a fleet built to assure their strength and will ask for 1 Rattlesnake class Destroyer and 10 Dragon Raider Corvettes (all total it should cost around 50 million if bought at average price from shipyards). This necessitates either good relations with the Free Families to buy them or historically good relations with them to have gotten the blueprints to build them independently.
Note that if buying the ships from the Free Families (or possibly Zyarth in the case of the Rattlesnake chassis) that the Split factions’ economy can quite often be less robust than other factions due to their considerable frontage with the Xenon. It can be a good idea to supply the wharves and shipyards with the necessary goods for construction to reduce financial costs of buying them, enable their construction in the cases where building is simply unable to start and finally assure that they have the supplies to maintain their ships that they need to build.
For convenience the loadouts for all ships are noted here for reference (since 4.2 some mission loadouts are already available to choose from, unfortunately this is not one of those cases)
Rattlesnake SPL Travel mk1 engines All-round mk3 thrusters 1x Rattlesnake main battery 1x SPL L Shield mk1 1x SPL M Shield mk2 1x SPL L Beam turret mk1 1x SPL M Flak turret mk1 1x Repair Drone | Dragon Raider SPL Combat mk3 engines Combat mk3 thrusters 1x SPL M Neutron Gatling mk2 1x SPL M Shield mk1 1x SPL M Flak turret mk1 |
Once all the ships have been built send them to the designated spot in Heart of Acrimony II and accept the request to turn the ships over to Curb control. The fleet then moves through the accelerator to Heart of Acrimony I: The Boneyard to defend the Ravenous Wight.
The Curbs request attendance at their throne room as well as some more spacefly caviar before they make their declaration. Things get a bit haywire during the declaration with Zyarth attempting to crush the secession before things get out of hand. They deploy a fleet against the Curbs and mission guidance doesn’t instruct anything but its generally a good idea to protect the Curbs’ carrier to prevent it from getting destroyed.
Zyarth Withdrawal
With the declaration of the Curbs and a battle one against the Zyarth Patriarchy the Curbs seize a lot of Free Families factories (though not all) are again asking for financial support, this time it is for a sum of 400M Cr. Once that amount of money is available meet Yu t’Knk aboard a random ship and transfer her the money.
Next the Curbs want a random Zyarth-owned station destroyed to demonstrate their strength, because its random it could be either really easy or really hard (often it will be a defense station). A destroyer, fleet of destroyers or an Asgard is recommended for this role as they are best configured for station sieges.
With the continuing successful offensives by the Curbs they have seized control of more of the Free Families space and have expelled the Zyarth Patriarchy’s police.
To sustain their continued successes over the Zyarth Patriarchy the Curbs have requested a delivery of 1,000 units of weapon components and 10,000 units of missile components to either a Free Families or Court of Curbs controlled Trading Station (can be fulfilled in two runs by a Shuyaku Vanguard).
This comes at an average cost of 375,000 Cr which isn’t all that extortionate but yet again the Curbs will request more financial assistance and its an even more extreme amount that nearly comes to 800M (the exact value is 799,625,000Cr but that doesn’t make it much better). The latest instalment in excessive payments is to be delivered to Dal Busta aboard the headquarters.
After delivering the ordinance and money the Court of Curbs have become increasingly emboldened and want a Zyarth Patriarchy defense platform sabotaged. They have provided a Boa class trader (docked at the station where the munitions were delivered) to delivery bombs to one of their agents aboard the station. Docking at the defense platform shouldn’t be a hassle because the Boa features a Zyarth disguise mechanic.
Once aboard the station the agent will detonate the bombs enabling a slave revolt, the cover mechanic will not work after this point.
Victory to the Curbs
Zyarth had failed to subject the Free Families to his rule in light of the Court of Curbs’ rebellion, the Court’s enabling of Argon slave revolts aboard his stations, however, proved to be the deciding factor in allowing Patriarch Rhak to depose him and take the mantle of ‘Patriarch of all Split’ for himself.
Curb Costs
The Curb outcome is the most expensive of the two outcomes with costs coming close to 1.3 Billion Cr.
- 2 Spacefly caivars
- Satellite 4,800 Cr
- Cost of joining Curbs 1M Cr
- Curbs Fleet 50M Cr
- Pay Lae t’Shn 400M Cr
- Missile and weapon components delivery 375k Cr
- Pay Dal Busta 800M Cr
- Cobra frigate
- Tuatara small trader
- Chimera heavy fighter
- “Yes, Yes, Very Interesting” Achievement (provided 4 dialogue options were correct)
- “Fires of Fate” Achievement
- Boa medium trader
- “Curbed Ambitions” Achievement
Curbs Rewards
Generic Rewards
Curbs-Specific Rewards
Curbs-Specific Balance Effects
The Court of Curbs near-completely seizes control as the new government of the Free Families in Tharka’s Ravine, Family Tkr and Heart of Acrimony II. Thuruk’s Demise will remain governed by the Free Families. The Court of Curbs will field a full military and will properly militarise former Free Families space against Xenon agressors.
Zyarth Patriarch of all Split is toppled by Patriarch Rhak over his inability to quell the Curbs’ rebellion. All former Zyarth Patriarchy assets are reorganised into the Rhak Patriarchy. Patriarch Rhak signs a peace treaty with the Court of Curbs and withdraws all colonial police forces from Free Families space.
Zyarth Branch
Suppressing the Coup
Chat to Fau t’Nnt and profess support for Zyarth, afterwards its time to pretend follow through with the Curbs’ plan to unite the Free Families under their rule. Yu t’Knk wants a fleet built to assure the strength of the Curbs and will ask for 1 Rattlesnake class Destroyer and 10 Dragon Raider Corvettes (all total it should cost around 50million if bought at average price from shipyards). This necessitates either good relations with the Free Families to buy them or historically good relations with them to have gotten the blueprints to build them independently.
Note that if buying the ships from the Free Families (or possibly Zyarth in the case of the Rattlesnake chassis) that the Split factions economy can quite often be less robust than other factions due to their considerable frontage with the Xenon. It can be a good idea to supply the wharves and shipyards with the necessary goods for construction to reduce financial costs of buying them, enable their construction in the cases where building is simply unable to start and finally assure that they have the supplies to maintain their ships that they need to build.
For convenience the loadouts for all ships are noted here for reference (since 4.2 some mission loadouts are already available to choose from, unfortunately this is not one of those cases).
Rattlesnake SPL Travel mk1 engines All-round mk3 thrusters 1x Rattlesnake main battery 1x SPL L Shield mk1 1x SPL M Shield mk2 1x SPL L Beam turret mk1 1x SPL M Flak turret mk1 1x Repair Drone | Dragon Raider SPL Combat mk3 engines Combat mk3 thrusters 1x SPL M Neutron Gatling mk2 1x SPL M Shield mk1 1x SPL M Flak turret mk1 |
Once the ships have been bought purportedly for the Curbs they need to be rigged to explode by the Zyarth secret police so send the ships to the marked point in Heart of Acrimony II and have a chat with Fau t’Nnt aboard the Rattlesnake from the start of the plot which is now also in Heart of Acrimony II. After Fau’s team has sabotaged the fleet move it to where the Curbs want to receive it and wait for the fun to begin.
The fleet will fly through the Accelerator to defend the Ravenous Wight and the Curbs will ask for attendance in their declaration of Curbs. Instead of joining them place spacesuit bombs on the shield generator and the engine (4 in total, these will have to be bought or crafted). The charges should detonate upon the Curbs declaration and the Zyarth Patriarchy will bring in their fleet.
To prevent the Curbs from forming government, their mobile seat of government the Ravenous Wight must be destroyed. Destroying the Wight is made easier by Zyarth’s fleet and the incapacitated Curbs fleet but it can still be a chore because it only has destroyed engines and shields and still has a full wing of ships docked, bringing a destroyer can make it a lot safer and easier.
At the conclusion of the battle the Curbs rebellion has lost its ruling Court and is now known as the Cabal of Curbs. The Cabal seizes a significant portion of the Free Families assets, Zyarth steps up the police presence in Free Families space and will also seize all of the Free Families defense stations in one Free Families sector (other than family Tkr)
After the battle the Zyarth Secret Police want 400M Cr delivered to Fau t’Nnt who is now on a random Zyarth controlled ship. With the money handed over the Patriarchy requests some assistance in scanning a random Free Families station for a Cabal presence, this requires scanning a dataleak. The scan returns the presence of rebel Curb frequency communications, the station is ordered destroyed. There is no risk of reputation loss with the Free Families in doing this because the owner of the station will be revealed as the Cabal. A destroyer, fleet of destroyers or an Asgard is recommended for this role as they are best configured for station sieges especially as a general solution as the station could be unarmed, or incredibly defensible.
After destroying the station, provided that 3 correct choices have been made earlier, “In Authority We Trust” will unlock:
 | In Authority We Trust: Work with the Patriarchy Police during the Split storyline |
Victory for the Patriarch
Additionally, the station’s destruction will conclude the Free Families Conflict plot in favour of the Zyarth Patriarchy which will seize all defense stations in Free Families space (including wharves and shipyards and excepting Thuruk’s Demise). War will still continue to rage on between the Cabal and Zyarth but Zyarth will usually triumph as the Curbs don’t have wharves or shipyards to replenish their ships.
Concluding this branch of the plot unlocks:
 | Fists of the Empire: Complete the Split storyline and side with the Patriarchy |
Zyarth Costs
The Zyarth branch is the cheaper of the two (by 800M Cr) but is still incredibly expensive which is why the Free Families Conflict plot can take some time, especially the later half where everything escalates. The list of major costs is outlined below:
- 1 Spacefly caviar
- 4 Spacesuit bombs
- Satellite 4,800 Cr
- Cost of joining Curbs 1M Cr
- Sabotaged Curbs Fleet 50M Cr
- Pay Fau t’Nnt 400M Cr
- Cobra frigate
- Tuatara small trader
- Cobra frigate
- “Yes, Yes, Very Interesting” Achievement (provided 4 dialogue options were correct)
- “Fires of Fate” Achievement
- “Fists of the Empire” Achievement
- “In Authority We Trust” Achievement (provided all 3 events were handled correctly)
Zyarth Rewards
Generic Rewards
Zyarth-Specific Rewards
Zyarth-Specific Balance Effects
The Court of Curbs degenerates into the Cabal of Curbs and seizes most Free Families factories, they also field a number of fleets in an attempt to fend of Zyarth.
Zyarth seizes control of nearly all Free Families systems (with the exception of Thuruk’s Demise which remains under Free Families Control). This is achieved by taking all defense stations, wharves, shipyards and equipment docks. The Free Families will remain at peace with both the Cabal of Curbs and the Zyarth Patriarchy but Zyarth and the Cabal will continue to fight until the Curbs’ rebellion is eventually destroyed (this can take some time, and the Curbs’ rebellion can be extended by befriending them or Paranid Civil War Spoilers: making TRI go to war with ZYA).
Noting betrayal, Curbs relations with the player plummet to -30, this can of course be repaired but it would take some considerable effort and is beyond the scope of this guide.
The final Zyarth faction from this branch can easily become a superpower
Sources
- Extensions/ego_split_dlc/md/story_split.xml
- Me playing the plot to verify my interpretation of the MD
Credits
- Egosoft for making the game and plot
- V3T on the Egosoft discord for providing a suitable save to “roadtest” the Curbs branch of the guide
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