How to romance Sam Coe in Starfield
Learn how to romance Sam Coe in Starfield
Wondering how to romance Sam Coe in Starfield? If you want a space cowboy at your side in Starfield, then you'll want to romance Sam Coe. A member of Constellation that you meet on one of your first visits to the Lodge, Sam Coe is a loving father, a brave fighter, and one of the few romance options in Starfield. However, the romance mechanic isn't very clear in Starfield, as there's no way to see how much a companion likes you or what you should do to earn their affinity. Fortunately, we're here to help.
In this guide, we explain how to romance Sam Coe in Starfield. We cover Sam's likes and dislikes, so that you can easily raise his affinity score, and we also break down a full walkthrough for Sam Coe's companion quest. Finally, we explain how to marry Sam Coe by completing his commitment quest.
How to romance Sam Coe in Starfield
Below, we'll break down how to romance Sam Coe in Starfield:
- Complete the "The Empty Nest" main quest.
- Set Sam Coe as your main companion.
- Do good without demanding payment, respect his daughter Cora Coe, and support the Freestar Rangers to raise affinity with Sam Coe.
- Talk to Sam Coe whenever the objective pops up.
- Select the [FLIRT] option while talking to Sam Coe.
- When your affinity is high enough, you will unlock the "Matters of the Hart" companion quest.
- Complete "Matters of the Hart" and select the [ROMANCE] dialogue option at the end.
- Select the [COMMITMENT] dialogue option in your next dialogue with Sam Coe.
- Complete the "Commitment: Sam Coe" quest to marry Sam Coe.
To romance Sam Coe, you first need to complete "The Empty Nest", an early main quest, to unlock him as a companion. This will send you to Akila City alongside Sam in search of an Artifact, and completing it will allow you to set him as your main companion.
Once Sam Coe is your companion, you'll want to start simply travelling together, completing quests, and generally exploring the galaxy to raise his affinity. Affinity is a hidden score that you can't see in-game, and it determines the level of your relationship with each companion. You can, however, keep an eye on the top-right corner of the screen to look for "Sam Coe liked that" or "Sam Coe approved of that" messages, which indicate a rise in affinity.
To raise Sam Coe's affinity, you should aim to do good, and never demand payment where it is not offered by the questgiver. Sam Coe also travels with his daughter, Cora Coe, and you should be kind and respectful towards Cora at every opportunity. After all, she'll eventually be your stepdaughter! Finally, Sam Coe is a former Freestar Ranger and a supporter of the Freestar Collective, so show support for their independence from the UC whenever possible.
Of course, this also means you want to avoid messages that indicate a decrease in Sam Coe's affinity, such as "Sam Coe disliked that" or "Sam Coe hated that". These will naturally come from the inverse of the things noted above, but Sam Coe will also become unfriendly if you attack innocent civilians. So, if you want to romance Sam Coe, avoid any particularly heinous crimes.
As you raise Sam Coe's affinity, objectives will pop up in your activity log that read "Talk to Sam Coe". Whenever these are available, make sure to chat with Sam as soon as possible. These conversations will reveal more about Sam's background, and will also provide frequent opportunities to select [FLIRT] dialogue options. These will substantially increase Sam Coe's affinity further.
In these conversations, you'll speak about: his relation to Solomon Coe, how he raised Cora, his relationship with Cora's mother, his love of exploration, his past as a smuggler, his relationship with his parents, and Cora's concern for her mother's safety. During the final conversation, you'll get the "Matters of the Hart" companion quest.
Sam Coe romance walkthrough: "Matters of the Hart"
After speaking with Sam and Cora about Lilian's (Cora's mother's) safety, you'll need to dart over to Neon and check in on her.
Once you arrive, speak with Jaylen at the Freestar Rangers to learn more about Lilian's current case. Investigate her desk for more details, which will point you to a locked apartment elsewhere in Neon. There, you'll find Lilian's confidential informant dead, and learn from a Datapad that Lilian is undercover with the Syndicate and currently at Victor Compound.
Travel to Victor Compound, found on McClure II in the McClure system, and get closer until Sam contacts Lilian over the radio. Lilian will ask for an extract, so you'll need to infiltrate the compound and find her. Follow the objective through the compound, and clear it of any Syndicate Gangsters along the way.
After finding and saving Lilian, head back to your ship to chat with her and Sam. Here, Lilian will reveal that her mission is to take down a Syndicate boss called Valerie Mosquera. To track Valerie, you'll need to find the location of her shipment. You can get these records from a ship called the Dumas, which is currently at Rasalhague II.
When you arrive at Rasalhague II, hail the Dumas. It'll become hostile and attack, so destroy the ship and loot the "Message to Dumas" Datapad. This will reveal the location of Valerie's weapon cache on Andromas III, so head there next.
Select the Valerie's Cache landing site on Andromas III, and approach the cache once you land. Two Syndicate ships will land, so kill the attacking Syndicate Gangsters and then speak with Lilian and Sam. They'll argue, before finally reaching a resolution that's been years in the making. Then, Lilian will leave, and Sam will ask you to meet him on a balcony near Solomon Coe's statue in Akila City.
Meet Sam Coe on the balcony in Akila City to finally have a chat about your relationship, during which you can select the [ROMANCE] option to finally enter a romantic relationship with him and complete "Matters of the Hart".
How to marry Sam Coe in Starfield
With "Matters of the Hart" complete, keep travelling for a little longer until the "Talk to Sam Coe" objective pops back up in your activity log.
Sam will say that for the relationship to go any further, he'll need you to get Cora's approval. Chat with Cora to do so - there's no Persuasion check to pass here, so it's just a simple conversation in which Cora will express that she's happy with you marrying Sam.
After speaking to Cora, return to Sam and select the [COMMITMENT] dialogue option to propose. Sam will automatically reciprocate, and ask you to meet him at the Coe Estate in Akila City.
This will add the "Commitment: Sam Coe" quest to your activity log. Follow it to head to the Coe Estate, where you'll meet Jacob Coe before sprinting around the city to fetch Lilian Hart and Cora Coe, who are also meant to attend the ceremony. When you arrive back, speak with Sam Coe to kick off the wedding ceremony and officially get married.
Marrying Sam grants you the Emotional Security buff, which gives 15% extra XP for a short period after sleeping. This makes it easy to level up fast in Starfield, especially when you're making use of an XP farm.
That's all you need to know to romance Sam Coe in Starfield. If you want a different partner, check out our guides on how to romance Sarah Morgan, Andreja and Barrett. If you want to get a fancy new ship to celebrate the occasion, take a look at our guide on the best ships in Starfield. You can also take a look at our list of free ships, or check out our guide on the best ship designs in Starfield if you want to create something custom.