Starfield Groundpounder Side Mission Walkthrough

Groundpounder is an action-packed side mission in Starfield, and to complete it, you must stop a Spacer invasion at a Research Outpost.

You will have to kill a bunch of Spacers on the ground and in space to save the Outpost, but the good news is that you’ll be assisted by UC and FC soldiers, which is weird because the two factions fought against each other in a past war.

The mission can be pretty simple if you have a good ship and some good loot because you’ll be fighting for most of it.

Also, if you get stuck at any point, don’t hesitate to check the Starfield Groundpounder side mission walkthrough below.

How To Start the Groundpounder Mission in Starfield

The mission’s starting point is random because, at one point, while jumping from system to system, you’ll receive an incoming hail from a UC Rambler ship.

If you haven’t met this ship yet, don’t worry; you’ll eventually do because the chance is pretty big, and it should occur early in your Starfield adventure.

Upon accepting the incoming transmission, the UC Rambler will warn you to avoid the Altair system because it’s filled with Spacers.

As such, you can now head there and see for yourself what the situation is.

To reach the Altair system quickly, open your menu, select the mission objective, and set a course by pressing X on your Xbox controller.

Immediately after arriving in the Altair system, you’ll receive a distress call from a Private Mahoney, who says Research Outpost U3-09 is under heavy fire and could use some assistance.

To continue, you must land at the said Outpost and find Private Mahoney.

Where To Find Private Mahoney in Groundpounder

As soon as you land, you’ll be greeted by hostile Spacers, which you must take out.

Then, assuming you’ve tracked the Groundpounder mission from your menu, you must follow the blue marker and enter Research Station U3-09.

Once inside, you can see that the blue marker leads underground, so you must find some stairs going down.

Thus, head through the door on the left side, the one that says RESEARCH 01 above it, and you’ll run into more Spacers.

Clear all the mobs, and don’t forget to loot their corpses. Also, make sure to check all the rooms thoroughly because you can find more loot if you do so.

Note that there is a chance you’ll find a note that says Secret Outpost! on one of the Spacers, and if you pick it up, you’ll start the Mantis side mission.

Now look for the stairs going down near the COMMS CENTER door, which should be locked.

When you reach the lower level, go through the door to the left and follow the blue marker, clearing all the Spacers that stand in your way to reach a STORAGE door where Private Mahoney is hiding.

Talk to Mahoney to learn that before the Spacers broke into the Outpost, she was relaying orders for Lieutenant Torres, who, along with the UC Marines, had been very helpful until now.

To continue, you must clear the Spacers outside the infirmary, which is set up on the ground floor.

Then, talk to Lezama, who is their only help.

Starfield Lezama’s Location

To get to the infirmary, you must follow the blue marker again, and when you reach the objects blocking the hallway, go around, through the left.

Then, continue, and you’ll reach the other side of the hallway, where you must open the door on the left and go up the stairs.

Once up, you’ll need to take out the enemies with the blue markers to clear the way to the infirmary.

After clearing the mobs, open the door to the COMMS CENTER, where the infirmary is based, and then talk to Corporal Lezama, the red-haired Marine.

Lezama will tell you they thought they were done for until you came, and that the Freestar’s CO, Lieutenant Torres, is locked down in the complex.

Where To Find Lieutenant Torres in Starfield

The Lieutenant was last seen on the third floor, and you should have no problems reaching him with the key Lezama gives you, which opens everything except the security doors.

Therefore, you should get back to the hallway, then head right, and when you reach the wall, you should open the door to the left, the one with the STAIRS sign above it.

Now head upstairs, where you’ll have to deal with more Spacers, then follow the blue marker and go up another level.

Once up, surprise, surprise, more enemies! Take care of all of them, then go through the HEAD OF RESEARCH door to find Lieutenant Torres and Sergeant Dasari.

Talk to the two, who are surprised you’ve managed to defeat that many Spacers, and you’ll find out that UC Captain Myeong needs help.

Then, you’ll witness a small argument between Torres and Dasari because the woman claims Myeong is not one of their own.

However, Torres says that because Myeong and her men tried to save the Outpost, they should return the favor and try to save her.

Groundpounder Mission Captain Myeong Location

As such, you will all go together and try to save the Captain and the rest of the Marines, who can all be found down one floor.

Next, Sergeant Dasari will give you the security key and tell you to take point.

So, head back to the stairs you used to get to this level, and instead of going down, follow the corridor and turn left when you reach the wall.

Now get down these stairs, open the two doors in front, and, along with your allies, defeat the wave of Spacers coming your way.

Then, speak with the Captain, who will tell you she won’t forget that you saved lives today, but you are not done yet because Spacer reinforcements may arrive at any moment.

Also, Torres has an even more pressing matter: his troops and civilians in the field might be in trouble.

Since Captain Myeong needs all the trained soldiers to fortify and get the defenses back online, it is up to you to head to the Research Camp and clear any Spacers you might find to save what remains of Torres’ men.

Where To Find the Starfield Altair II Research Camp

To quickly get to the Research Camp in danger, open your menu, select the mission’s objective, press Y to open the map, and, if needed, use the right stick to rotate the map until you spot the blue marker.

Next, hold X to travel to the Research Camp, and prepare to fight because you’ll be attacked as soon as you get there.

After clearing the area of enemies, head to the airlock with the blue marker, open it and get inside to find some survivors.

Talk to the survivors to learn that they will hide in a nearby cave until the fighting stops, as Mahoney told them.

Considering that the people here are safe, it’s time to get back to Lieutenant Torres and Captain Myeong to see what’s next.

Thus, open your map, select the Research Outpost, travel there, and follow the blue marker to the Lieutenant and the Captain.

How To Stop the Spacers From Sending Reinforcements

It seems Myeong came up with a plan; you basically have to take out their ships to stop them from sending reinforcements.

So, select one of the two objectives for the Groundpounder mission, press Y to show on the map, and you should see the Altair system.

Note that two planets, respectively Altair V and Altair I, have blue markers above them, as shown in the screenshot below.

Select one of them and hold X to travel to it, then blast the Spacers’ ships.

Then repeat the process with the second planet with the blue marker, and don’t forget to grab the loot from the remains of the ships you destroy.

After you destroy all the Spacer ships orbiting the two planets, you’ll get a message from Mahoney saying that you need to get back fast because the Outpost is under attack.

How to Defeat the Spacers Invasion in Groundpounder Misc Mission

To continue, you must, of course, head back to Research Outpost U3-09 to stop the Spacers once and for all.

When you reach the Outpost, follow the blue markers because they will lead you to the enemies.

After defeating the Spacers in the Outpost, you must head to the remaining blue markers.

The markers will take you to a Spacer ship that landed a little further outside of the Outpost.

Defeat all the Spacers in this area as well to finally get rid of them for good, then head back to your new friends and speak with them to complete the Starfield Groundpounder side mission. Nice fighting, friend! But if you have more in you, start another side mission, like The Great Laredo Caper.