How to Avoid Subpar Performance in Starfield’s Fishy Business

Anastasios Antoniadis

How to avoid “Subpar Performance” in Fishy Business and get an “Excellent Performance” prompt and a Credits bonus!

How to Avoid Subpar Performance in Starfield's Fishy Business

During Starfield‘s side mission, Fishy Business in Neon (the follow-up to Loose Ends), you must apply to work for Xenofresh Fisheries. Xenofresh Fisheries is the only legal manufacturer of the drug Aurora in the Settled Systems. First, you will go through a tutorial on how to manufacture Unprocessed Aurora, but once you do so, you will have to produce three batches of Unprocessed Aurora as part of your shift at the job. If you do everything perfectly, you will see a prompt reading “Excellent! Perfect Performance. Bonus Dispensed.” and receive 900 Credits for each Unprocessed Aurora unit you produce.

If you don’t do everything perfectly, you will receive a prompt reading “Supbar Performance.” and receive only 400 Credits. Let’s see how you can avoid that.

Note: Credits rewards vary based on game difficulty and character level.

How to Avoid Supbar Performance During Unprocessed Aurora Production

To avoid seeing the Subpar Performance prompt and receive the maximum rewards and bonus, you must do two things:

  • Select the exact materials and amounts required to craft Unprocessed Aurora from the Ingredient Hopper.
  • Produce Unprocessed Aurora within 30 seconds by crafting it at the Pharmaceutical Lab and depositing it in the Assembly Hopper.

I recommend save scumming here with Quicksave and Quickload to avoid missing out on the full bonuses.

Get the Exact Amount of Ingredients from the Ingredient Hopper

Unprocessed Aurora Recipe - Xenofresh Pharmaceutical Lab
Image Credit: Bethesda/Meta Game Guides

Unprocessed Aurora requires the following ingredients to craft:

  • Hallucinogen x2
  • Chasmbass Oil x1
  • Benzene x1
  • Stimulant x1

When you reach the Xenofresh Ingredient Container, don’t press “E” on PC or “A” on Xbox to “Take” the ingredients! Instead, use the Transfer option “R” on PC. This will allow you to get the exact amounts of each of the four ingredients. Be careful, and don’t take more or less than you need, even if you already have the ingredients in your inventory! That’s all you have to do here.

Xenofresh Ingredient Container Contents
Image Credit: Bethesda/Meta Game Guides

Complete the Three Tasks in Under 30 Seconds

Xenofresh Aseembly Hopper
Image Credit: Bethesda/Meta Game Guides

You have 60 seconds to produce the Unprocessed Aurora. At the 30-second mark, Valentina Gurov will announce “30 seconds remaining.” If you hear this message, reload the game and start from scratch!

The most challenging part of doing all this in 30 seconds is grabbing the ingredients (the timer keeps running as you do so). Learn to do this really fast and grab the exact amount of materials from the Ingredient Hopper‘s Xenofresh Ingredient Container.

Then all you have to do is run to the Pharmaceutical Lab and press and hold Craft as Unprocessed Aurora will be the only recipe you see. Once done, run to the Assembly Hopper and press “R” on PC or “X” on Xbox to open the Transfer menu and deposit the Unprocessed Aurora unit. The whole process can be done within 15-20 seconds. Be patient and master it!

Anastasios Antoniadis
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