Should You Keep the Engagement Ring in A Break at Dawn Mission in Starfield? – Answered

If you accept Sergeant Yumi’s proposal of becoming a part-time UC security guard, you get access to many different sidequests while enforcing the law in New Atlantis. One of these quests is A Break at Dawn, and it presents you with a few different outcomes depending on the choices made. Take a look at each and every possible outcome for the A Break at Down quest, and decide if you should keep the Engagement Ring in Starfield.

Starfield: How to Complete the A Break at Dawn Quest

After completing Yumi’s first assignment, he’ll eventually call you back to give you another small task for the United Colonies. Two men got into a fight in a bar at the Residential District, and the one they got arrested is now charging the other for stealing a ring. You’re tasked with recovering said ring, so take the train to the district and speak with the owner of the Dawn’s Roost bar to appraise the situation.

He tells you that one of the men involved lives nearby, so your next step is to visit him. After speaking with Hugo, you’ll get the gist of the situation. He and Octavio (the arrested man) were engaged, but Hugo discovered his partner was cheating on him, and they got into a heated argument inside the bar. The ring was a gift from Octavio, and he’s keeping it now.

Should You Keep the Engagement Ring?

From here, you have two options: either convince Hugo to hand over the ring or just let him have it as it was a gift anyway. But the best option will definitely be to keep the ring for yourself. To explain why this is the best choice, let’s break down all of the possible outcomes:

Let Hugo Keep the Ring

If you choose “Agreed. There’s no crime here. I’ll tell Seargent Yumi you’re free to go.”, Hugo will be glad you understood his side. When talking to Yumi, you’ll explain the situation and Hugo will be off the hook. You receive 2000 Credits and 100XP.

Persuading Hugo to Give You the Ring

If you choose “[Persuade] It’s still his propriety”, get ready to convince him. Green options like “What you’re doing is theft. Do you want to go to jail over this?” and “It’s evidence in a crime, and I need to confiscate it” are the safest, but I was able to succeed with the yellow option “Your gift is conditional. It’s only yours if you actually got married.” with only a Rank 1 Persuasion skill, so you might as well try that too.

Anyway, after you get the ring, return to Sargeant Yumi to give him the ring… or maybe not.

Related: How to Get a Free Ship Early in Starfield

If you hand him the ring, he congratulates you for doing a job well done, and you get 2000 Credits and 100XP. But you can also choose to say the ring was gifted without saying that you have it. Your rewards will also be the same, but you get to keep the ring.

With that, you should definitely keep the ring for yourself as it’s worth 675 Credits in merchants, which technically adds up to the total rewards for this quest with no negative consequences to you. 

If you do feel bad about lying over the ring, then you can just hand it over, but it’s all up to you and your own moral compass. It’s similar to the Alternating Currents sidequest situation, where it’s up to you to choose between Louisa and Zoe.