Star Core

The star core is a quest item

Background
The STAR (Systemized Telemetry for Automated Robot Control) cores, were designed for robot control across the entire park, based in the Galactic Zone. The actual technology utilized a series of highly redundant, interchangeable telemetry modules, known as "star cores." At runtime, the cores would establish a radio communications interlink between the mainframe and the linked robotic systems, allowing the mainframe to coordinate their actions and issue commands irrespective of their underlying operating protocols.

After the Great War, the Galactic Zone became a ground for traders from Nuka-Town USA to acquire scrap materials for use and trade. Eventually, the traders came across the Star Control mainframe and its star cores. Kendell Alston, thinking his daughter Tiana Alston's explanation that the cores were "redundant" meant they were okay to take and sell, removed most of them from Star Control's mainframe. However, it was around this time that Colter and the Nuka-World raiders took over Nuka-Town, leading to the idea that Star Control mainframe's defensive mode would be able to defend them from the gangs.

Shortly thereafter, Tiana realized that they had taken too many cores and that it was unsafe to activate, and sent other surviving traders to gather enough cores to safely activate the defensive mode. However, Kendell decided they needed the defenses online sooner, and despite Tiana's warning and assurances they only needed an hour to gather enough cores, Kendell activated Star Control. As the robots and defenses in the park came online, they began attacking the traders within the Galactic Zone.

Characteristics
Star cores are redundant multi-purpose control panels consisting of a black circuit board with glowing red lights. They are necessary for taking over the Galactic Zone during the quests Star Control and The Grand Tour, but they can also be picked up during normal exploration. Only 20 of the total 35 star cores are required for the quest. Collecting the full set unlocks the display case which holds the Quantum X-01 power armor, provided Nuka-World's power has been restored by completing Power Play or Open Season.

Locations
There are 35 star cores in total.


 * Six can be found at Vault-Tec: Among the Stars.
 * One in the Arcturus Prime display area guarded by protectrons, behind a locked door.
 * One in the living room, behind an Expert locked door.
 * One in a highly irradiated room accessible through the living room.
 * Three in the observation center adjacent to the main office, behind a Master locked door (a key is available, behind another locked door that also has a key).
 * Six can be found at RobCo Battlezone.
 * Two in the control room overlooking the arena. Behind the locked door in the seating area to the left of the entrance.
 * One in the souvenir shop underneath the seats, on a shelf.
 * One in the tunnels underneath the arena, on a console, guarded by a Sentry Bot.
 * Two in the arena. Entering the arena will release three waves of combat robots.
 * Four can be found at Starlight Interstellar Theater.
 * One in the men's restrooms directly left of the entrance, next to a body inside of a damaged wall section.
 * One through the kitchen to the right of the entrance, inside the walk in freezer.
 * One in the theater proper, on a console opposite the screen.
 * One in the control room on the upper level.
 * Seven can be found at Nuka-Galaxy.
 * One in the boarding area, behind a door on the right side a short distance down the tracks.
 * From the last room, follow the tracks to a large room with many large asteroids. On the opposite side are some stairs leading down. The door across this room leads into a corridor, halfway through which another core can be picked up from a console.
 * Down that corridor, and take the elevator to the left. Once in the basement, enter the next room through the opening left of the elevator and pick up the core from the console straight ahead.
 * Past the rocky environment, climb the long set of stairs behind the hidden door. Once back on the ride track, the core can be found on a console up some stairs directly to the left.
 * One in a console at the end of the ride near the disembarkation zone (opposite the mannequin wearing the Nuka-Girl rocketsuit), together with a key.
 * One in the office on the upper floor, accessible through a door that can be opened with the aforementioned key.
 * One in the small control room with some destroyed protectrons near the office.
 * Five are scattered around Starport Nuka.
 * One in front of the mainframe, next to a body.
 * One on the upper level above the mainframe, in a locked display case. The key is on a desk, next to the manager's terminal in the Employees Only Novice locked room nearby.
 * One on the ground level past the locked gate, next to a body near the dumpsters.
 * One on a console at the bottom of the long curved ramp known as the Spacewalk.
 * One on the Starport's top floor. This core can only be accessed once power has been restored to the park after completing Power Play or Open Season, or with jet pack equipped power armor.
 * Two are located in other parts of the Galactic Zone.
 * One in the Splashdown control shack directly right of the Nuka-Galaxy entrance.
 * One in the ArcJet G-Force, top of the high staircase.
 * Five are scattered throughout the whole Nuka-World park.
 * One in the Nuka-Town market, on a table to the left of Shelbie Chase.
 * One in the Nuka-Cade, on a weapons workbench in the employee area.
 * One in the Nuka-World junkyard, on the large barn's second level.
 * One in the Dry Rock Gulch, next to a cooler and two dead traders south of Doc Phosphate's Saloon.
 * One in the World of Refreshment, in the Nuka-Cola Quantum bottling area, next to a dead Gunner by a metal double door.

Bugs

 * The star core at Dry Rock Gulch respawns after several in-game days. The terminal at Star Control will show -1 star cores outside the Galactic Zone when it has been picked up twice. This makes it possible to get the Quantum X-01 power armor before finishing the add-on questlines.
 * One star core may spawn in Abernathy farm, on the ground in the middle of the tato crops, very close to the place after fast travel to that farm. It can be picked up and will be marked as a quest item.
 * One star core may spawn near the house at Nordhagen Beach.

Behind the scenes
When first accessing the Star Control mainframe with no star cores placed, the mainframe will display a screen that includes the scripting variables, Token.ValueInt=DLC04GZ_StarCoresInstalled and Token.ValueInt=DLC04GZ_StarCoresTotal, for tracking how many star cores have been installed. This is also a fourth wall break as the variables include the prefix DLC04.