Triumph of Technology is the third mission of the third chapter of the campaign.
F.A.T.H.E.R.'s ships are provided with an energy shield that makes them invincible. However, Professor Dr. Salman Devi believes he can develop an EMP device that will temporarily deactivate the energy shield. Tech buildings are available.
S.A.A.T. will provide you with a tech island intended to research the EMP cannon. You will first need 200, then 500 and finally 1000 Power to gain access to the three components of the EMP Cannon. Once you have completed the EMP Cannon, you have to use it on F.A.T.H.E.R.'s ship and then destroy it.
One of the side objectives is to build a hydroelectric dam, which provides 500 power. To do this, you would normally require the often hard-to-find prototype, the Alwinic Anion Catalyst. Fortunately, in this campaign mission, this requirement is waived. All you need are 150 licenses and 8,500 credits.
Tips[]
- Except the hydroelectric dam, you can also use solar tower generators or, more usefully, a nuclear power plant by shipping down your uranium/explosives/fuel rods from your Uranium Island, if you're that way inclined.
- Another vastly useful tactic is to buy Hijackers from Rufus Thorne's Ark for 350 licenses and use them to capture F.A.T.H.E.R's ships in the sector. By doing this, you can gain access to F.A.T.H.E.R's Armadillos. These are ideal ferries to the northernmost islands, where another Armadillo will quickly swoop in to patrol. They are also useful in the final mission as warships. Ensure that the first ship is lured to a safe area before hijacking because Father's guard replacement will attack you during the hijacking (you're paralysed during this time) if it sees you. Note that the most frequently sold cheap hijackers are too weak to hijack the ship, in that case you will likely lose your attacking ship. A quicksave-quickload will get you your prize in the end.
- If F.A.T.H.E.R's shielded ship attacks you before you get the EMP cannon, it is possible to use two Vipers and a pair of repair docks to keep the ship occupied and away from your cargo ships. Simply set one viper to attack the shielded ship, while the other is repaired. Alternate as necessary so that neither is destroyed.
- When you get at about 600 of energy, F.A.T.H.E.R will send 2 or 3 Choppers to your tech island, which can be promptly sent to see Davy Jones if you have 2 hovercrafts, a couple of flaks and repair docks.
- Once you have met the energy requirements in each quest, it is advisable to shutdown all surplus solar generators/nuclear plants/hydroelectric dams to keep costs down.
- Mr. Thorne sells Pulse Bombs frequently. They freeze F.A.T.H.E.R's ships, and disable their shields. Then the ships can be destroyed safely. This way it is possible to obtain the quest items many times without risking capture and even before you are given the quest itself, though these items have no value in licenses.
- If you have buildings not producing items like fishing productions put it on passive sale for money. Watch your production closely or else you will just waste time not making anything and wasting money at the same time.
- Don't expand too quickly underwater or your hard-earned credits will be gone.
- The new island to the northwest bears grape fertility, enabling you to produce champagne for your Tycoons so they can progress to Executive level.
- Once you've settled the underwater plateaus, you can sell crude oil straight to Thorne. Furthermore, you're finally able to produce all the Tycoon and Eco Executive goods yourself, which turn in a great profit at Rufus' and Yana's Arks respectively. You'll need a high wealth to sustain research.
- If you slow down time (see Oil Spill section below for instructions) and get all your academies to each produce the first quest module (only 1k Credits!) eg. 5 times, you'll have prototypes pop up like mushrooms. Your gaming style will determine which formula you'll benefit from most (mine was wind park power production increase, Weather Control Station upgrades and maintenance reduction of public buildings and depots, as I like to stick Weather Control Stations and offshore wind parks everywhere).
- Consider making sugar seeds in your academy to sew on your Tech island for all-local Functional Drink production.
- It is possible to build a Leisure Center and/or a Corporate HQ in this scenario. Once completed, the quests come thick and fast, often with worthwhile payoffs. Unfortunately, the only way to shut Banes or Green up is to demolish the monument. Moving onto the final mission doesn't shut them up, either.
Video Walkthrough
The Oil Spill[]
Regarding the possibly overlooked oil spill near the end of the previous mission: the player's immediate top priority is to buy an Effluent Pump from the Yana's Ark with the fastest/nearest ship, send it to the beaches of the bottom left island, then activate the process by clicking on the bottom right icon. The oil spill that took place when the ambushed NPC tanker was capsized gives that island a crippling -500 ecobalance penalty, which will halve the production rate of all farms on the island, and can very quickly lead to complete chaos. This -500 penalty cannot be reduced through any other method such as Weather Control Stations or Ozone Generators. It is strongly recommended to raise the Functions panel by pressing F11, and selecting the "slow motion" option if the situation has already become critical in order to assign emergency supply routes until the oil spill can be cleared up.