Struggling with The Frightened Engineer in The Outer Worlds? In my experience, much of Obsidian's latest RPG is well signposted, sometimes to a fault. However, it's understandable to be having trouble when it comes to completing The Frightened Engineer quest in its entirety.
Finding three volumes for Thomas Kemp in the Botanical Gardens seems simple on the surface, but you have to do some digging to find every book. You see, Kemp is a bit of a hack, so he needs these volumes to help him actually be of some use around the camp.
The Outer Worlds: The Frightened Engineer - how to find every volume
The Outer Worlds sure loves its signposting: the first two volumes will be immediately available to you once you accept the quest. For the first two, all you have to do is head to the community center and the cemetery just outside of Edgewater to grab them. Follow the green arrow until you arrive in front of them. It’s quite the trek across Emerald Vale, but once you get there, you really can’t miss them.
The difficulty comes with the third volume, which Kemp cannot find for the life of him. He says Parvati’s dad will know something about it, though. Head to the Edgewater Cannery and talk to Reed Tompson and Parvati. Get her to join your party and chat with her about the situation for clues. Then head downstairs and check the terminals. To cut to the chase, head to the Geothermal Power Plant, where you make the crucial decision of sending power to Edgewater or the Deserters.
Enter via the front door and you’ll see a terminal on a desk with a Spacer’s Choice logo hovering above. Open it and read the logs to find that the final volume is in the repair bay. Follow the green arrow that appears and it leads you to a note on a table that says that the volume is in “the pit,” and that it's property of someone called C. Higgins. Follow the arrow, head down to the second ring and descend the ladders until you get to Higgins. The volume will be on the floor beside him. Pick it up, take it back to Thomas Kemp at his camp to complete the quest and earn the Electro-Charged Surface armour mod.