Starfield’s Mantis quest will send you to a planet called Danebola I-B in the Danebola system, the hideout of a particularly brutal and famous vigilante. You will get the mission by fighting Spacers anywhere in the game, then looting them. If you get a dataslate called “Secret Outpost”, then you are in luck. The Lair of the Mantis is home to one of the most vicious enemies the Spacers have ever faced. When you arrive, the Spacers have gotten there before you, and you will need to fight through them to get some pretty sweet rewards. There is legendary armor and a new ship, the Razorleaf, on the line, so get ready to fight.
The Lair of the Mantis
First, you need to fight your way through the base. It is lousy with Spacers that should be between level eight and level thirty. These are common enemies in Starfield and will attack with an array of ballistic and energy weapons. Take your time and save often. The higher-ranking Spacers are likely to throw a lot of explosives and keep a close watch for enemies that try to rush you with Arc Welders. Be careful as you make your way through, as there should be some safes that will contain what appears to be randomly generated loot or large volumes of credits for the taking. After you deal with all the Spacers, you will find an unarmed man called Livvey. He tells you about the puzzle room, but he has somewhat figured it out.
It is filled with pressure plates that have corresponding letters. Step on the wrong one, and you will meet a sticky end. There are eight rows of pressure plates to walk across, and you will need to know what word to spell out to do it. The good news is that you should have found plenty of clues, such as audio logs, on the way. The Mantis’ motto was “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” and you will notice that Tyrannis has eight letters. To solve the Mantis puzzle, make your way across the plates, spelling out T-Y-R-A-N-N-I-S. Be careful, as some spilled paint makes some letters hard to read.
Watch out for the turret and robot combo
After you get past the puzzle room, you can hack the locked door to your right. Inside is a weapons cache, but don’t worry if you can’t get in there. It doesn’t contain any cool Mantis-related loot. Up next, you will have a turret to deal with. Crouch at the edge of the stairs, and you can head glitch it around the corner of the wall, making quick work of it. Make your way inside, and then it’s robot time. Multiple security robots and sentry dogs are on the loose, so move cautiously and take them all out. Get into the final room, and you’ll be just a few annoying robots away from the loot. There are three security robots and one sentry dog in the main hangar, so be careful, or they will easily gang up on you and take you out.
Once they are all dead, two waypoints should appear. One leads into the Mantis’ private area, and you will find their armor. This is a pretty cool setup, and it’s clear the Mantis had plenty of cash backing their operation. Grab the armor for the cash value, if nothing else, and then make your way to the main hangar again.
At the end of the hangar, interact with the console, and you can send the Razorleaf up to the landing pad above. Finally, leave through the elevator that will be marked by a blue waypoint, then make your way to the landing pad that contains the Razorleaf. The Mantis mission will be complete and will now be part of your stable of ships.
The Razorleaf stats
The Razorleaf is a solid little ship, depending on what you wish to do. It does have a very useful aspect for us as players, however. With a special cargo compartment, we can use this for smuggling goods, a pretty good way to make some extra cash in the game. It’s the only way I have found to get this particular type of cargo hold without joining the Crimson Fleet, although I am always on the lookout for new ways to engage in some space piracy.
- Reactor: Class-A
- LAS – Max 6 draw (6)
- PAR – Max 6 draw (16)
- MSL – Max 3 draw (36)
- Crew – 2
- Cargo – 420
- Shielded Cargo – 160
- Jump: 16 LY
- Shield – 390
The only downside to the ship so far is a small cargo hold, but it’s definitely better at quick hit-and-run fights and smuggling. It also only has two crew spots, so you won’t be able to bring many of your companions with you.
