Starfield's Terran Armada story DLC will let you recruit a robot who is 'not evil' but also 'definitely not good'

The big news out of Starfield right now is the Free Lanes update, a patch that will finally let players fly between planets in a system by activating a "cruise mode", as well as adding a bunch of quality-of-life improvements, upgrades, and a pet. But Bethesda also took the opportunity to tease an upcoming story DLC called Terran Armada, which pits us against people who think they're the true inheritors of Earth's legacy, and who have an army of robots to prove it.

Those robots can hop out of pods to attack while you're in the middle of exploring one of the Terran Armada's bases, which makes them seem a bit like Skyrim's draugr. Although one of them can be recruited to join your crew as a companion, and I get a bit of an HK-47 vibe off him. "He's not evil," writing director Emil Pagliarulo says in the deep-dive video above. "But he's definitely not good."

Completing a particular sidequest in New Atlantis will also let you recruit a ModelG mini-bot to your crew, which seems a bit more pet-like and malleable—it can be repainted and have its personality reconfigured to your liking.

The other big new feature in Terran Armada are incursions, which represent the Armada's progress invading the Settled Systems. They pop up on the starmap and it's up to you whether you fly over to deal with them, though if you do they can disable your ship's grav-jump and leave you unable to fast-travel away until you've finished dealing with them. They can also yoink you right out of cruise mode, which seems rude.

Terran Armada also brings new ships and ship parts, as well as gear that's a bit more real-world and less sci-fi. If you've been hankering for a straight-up machine gun in Starfield, here's where you get one. You also get more outpost decorations, and a pre-built outpost that's ready to drop on whatever planet you like. It comes fully decorated though it can be customized if you don't like the furniture.

Terran Armada will be out on April 7, just like the Free Lanes update. It'll cost $10, but if you previously bought the premium upgrade it's being thrown in with that as well, which is nice.