When it comes to playing My Time At Portia, there will be many characters that will be introduced to you and although many of them will become candidates for marriage, there are some characters that will simply add different amounts of utility to the game.
While many characters are introduced to the player very early in My Time at Portia, there will be some characters who will make their first appearance in the game from mid to end. One of the biggest revelations in My Time at Portia is the addition of the character Ack. Although at first players will not be able to do much with Ack at first, as they will have to progress quite a bit through the story before it is useful to the player.
Once Ack arrives, he becomes quite welcoming to Arlo and Toby, spending most of his time in the Civilian Corps until he finally joins the Portia community, spending a fair amount of time on Main Street, cooking on their grill. Although the story mentions that Ack was formerly a chef, it is ultimately a harbinger of the tasks he will be able to complete for players shortly.
The following guide will contain a lot of spoilers when it comes to Ack and take you through everything you need to know about what you can do with him as an ally.
DEVELOP A RELATIONSHIP WITH ACK
While in the early days players will only have access to Ack in the Civilian Corps, they will be thrown into a series of tasks they can complete to get to know Ack better. Some of these tasks will include trying to fix Ack and trying to make sure Ack feels welcome on his arrival in Portia.
Although players will have these tasks at first to help bond with Ack, they will soon have to take matters into their own hands if they hope to develop a strong relationship with him. I recommend you think about boosting your relationship with Ack as soon as possible, as it won’t be long before it’s relatively useful to you.
If players want to be quick in elevating their relationship with Ack, I recommend the following items, as they are fairly easy to grow:
15 RELATIONSHIP POINTS
Advanced
motor
Industrial motor Silicon
chipset 10 RELATIONSHIP POINTS Copper coil 8 RELATIONSHIP POINTS
Ruby
7 RELATIONSHIP POINTS
Small silicon chip
5 RELATIONSHIP POINTS
Aluminum
wire
4
RELATIONSHIP
POINTS
Copper
wire
Simple circuits
Topaz
3 RELATIONSHIP POINTS
Old Powerstone
Parts
I would highly recommend giving Ack Advanced Engines and Industrial Engines, because they are going to be the most useful to advance your relationship with it. Although it seems like they would be too “expensive” to give up, you’ll get an overwhelming amount of them, especially if you spend a fair amount of time in the ruins and personally never missed out on either.
HIRE ACK TO DO YOUR DIRTY WORK
When you’ve reached Buddy status (2 stars) with Ack you can start hiring him to perform tasks, including:
Grasping wood
from tree branches
Collecting stone from rocks
Completing objects at craft stations
Harvesting items from plants, trees, or farm animals
Although players will not be informed, players will complete The Lonely Robot Mission when they have reached friend status with Ack, and this is represented when he visits the Lara model that players build daily.
Although players may not
want to place the Lara model on their base, because she is not the most attractive, she will be required to have Ack hired and continue his work in his workshop. Ack
costs players 1,200 Goals each month to hire and while this may seem like a bit of a steep price, if players know how to grind Gol efficiently, this won’t be a problem.
Players will need an auxiliary storage box to properly use Ack, although once hired, Ack enters and leaves the workshop, since he won’t spend the whole day there. Whatever Ack completes will always be placed in the delivery chest next to the player’s mailbox, so be sure to check it regularly, although Ack will usually tell you he’s completed a job.
DISCOUNTS FOR BEING FRIENDS WITH ACK
Players will start receiving discounts with Ack when
they become best friends with him, receiving the following discounts:
10% discount on rental price when Friends with Ack (4 stars) 20% discount on rental price when Good Friends with Ack (6 stars)
25% discount on rental price when Best Friends with Ack (8
stars)
LET ACK COOK FOR YOU
As much as I understand that food is going to be one of the most important resources to have on hand in My Time at Portia, I have to admit that I really hate doing it.
I have to say that much of my willingness to cook comes from the fact that I was spoiled in My Time at Portia by having most of the automatic recipes, simply pulling the items you need from the chests you’ve kept, but cooking is a little different, acting similarly to the assembly station and requiring players to throw every ingredient into the cooking set.
I
have to admit that I ended up grabbing a mod for the Cooking Set because I couldn’t stand having to cook every recipe from scratch and instead wanted the Cooking Set to act like other Craft Stations.
Ack will be able to cook
new recipes that are unique to him, although he will also be able to cook anything the player has learned to do using the cooking game. Ack’s special recipes will require players to search for Ack’s data tokens, which are found in the Ruins. There are a total of 6 recipe fact sheets and any extras can be sold as players can find duplicates.
The following are all the unique recipes that Ack will be able to make:
RECIPES THAT DO NOT REQUIRE A DATA CHIP
The following are the recipes that Ack can create without any data Chips
:
SEAFOOD NOODLES Seafood
noodles
require the following ingredients:
1
flour
1
cilantro 1
catfish
When consumed, seafood noodles will provide the player with 5 Health per second for up to 20 seconds.
RICE
SPECIAL FRIED WITH SALMON Fried
rice with special salmon requires the following ingredients: 1
emperor golden salmon
1
rice
1
cinnamon
When consumed, Special Salmon Fried Rice will provide the player with 1 stamina per second for up to 35 seconds.
MEAT AND MUSHROOM STEW
Meat and mushroom stew requires the following ingredients:
1 Red Mushroom 1 Meat
1
Salt
When consumed, Meat and
Mushrooms
Stew will provide the player with 50 Health and 8 Endurance. This is not a regeneration item and will only provide players with these stats as soon as it is consumed.
SPICY FISH SOUP
Spicy fish soup requires the following ingredients: 1
Emperor’s Standard Fish
1
Chili Pepper 1 Salt
When consumed, the spicy fish soup will provide the player with 5 Health per second for up to 20 seconds. 7% of its maximum resistance plus 20 additional resistance no matter what a player’s maximum resistance is.
SPAGHETTI WITH HOT SAUCE
Spaghetti With Hot Sauce
requires the following ingredients:
1
chili
1
flour
1 meat When consumed, spaghetti with hot sauce will provide the player with 10 attack damage for 120 seconds
CLASSIC SPAGHETTI WITH MEAT SAUCE
Classic spaghetti with meat sauce requires the following ingredients: 1
flour
1 meat 1
bamboo papaya
When consumed, classic spaghetti with meat sauce will provide the player with
10
attack damage for 120 seconds
.
DATA CHIP RECIPE
#1
The #1 Cooking Data Recipe chip provides players with a single recipe, smoked ham.
Smoked ham requires the following ingredients: 1 meat 1
charcoal
1
cinnamon
1
rock salt
When consumed, classic spaghetti with meat sauce will provide the player with 1% resistance regeneration per second for 15 seconds
.
DATA CHIP RECIPE
#2 The #2 Cooking Data Recipe Chip
provides players with a single recipe, Radish Fried Rice. Fried
rice with radish
requires the following ingredients:
1
layered carrot
1 rice 1
hairy mane
1
salt
When consumed, fried rice and radish will provide the player with 1.5% health regeneration per second for 15 seconds.
DATA CHIP RECIPE
#3 The
#3 Cooking Data Recipe chip provides players with a single recipe, roast chicken.
Roast chicken requires the following ingredients:
1 chicken 1
charcoal
1
honkey
1
ginger
When consumed, roast chicken will provide the player with 30% critical melee hit for 180 seconds.
DATA CHIP RECIPE #4 The
#4 Cooking Data Recipe Chip offers players a single recipe
, steak with coconut juice. Steak with coconut juice
requires the following ingredients:
1 coconut
2 Beef
1
pine
cone
1 chili pepper
When consumed, steam with coconut juice will provide the player with 30% critical damage remotely for 180 seconds.
DATA CHIP RECIPE
#5 Cooking Data Recipe Chip #5
provides players with a single recipe, King Salmon Fillet.
King Salmon Fillet requires the following ingredients: 1 Golden Salmon King 1
Mustard
1 Seaweed 1
Apricot
When consumed, King Salmon Fillet will provide the player with a permanent 1 HP.
DATA CHIP RECIPE
#6 The #6 Cooking Data Recipe Chip provides players with a
single recipe, King Sweet Fish Soup
. King Salmon Fillet
requires the following ingredients:
1
Bubblefish
King 1
Royal Honey
1
purple resin
1
cheese
When consumed, King Salmon Fillet will provide the player with a permanent 1 HP.
OTHER UPDATES ACK HAS
While players will probably want to focus on improving Ack’s cooking skills, they’ll also be able to get some extra utility for him in other ways.
Like the recipe data sheets, players will have the opportunity to find Ack-specific upgrades while delving into the ruins or purchasing them on the Research Center exchange. They will only be able to provide Ack with these after they have become friends with him and have chosen to hire him.
The
following are all the chips that are available to players:
WEATHER DATA CHIP
The weather data chip can be purchased at the Research Center for 10 data disks. This will allow Ack to say what the weather forecast will be.
PRODUCTION DATA CHIP #1 Production Data Chip #1 can be purchased at the Research Center for 10 data disks and will allow Ack to collect any product. PRODUCTION DATA CHIP #2 The second production data chip can be purchased at the Research Center for 30 data disks and will allow Ack to refuel the manufacturing stations.
BREEDING DATA CHIP
#1 The
#
1
handling data
chip can be purchased at the Research Center for 20 data disks.
This will allow Ack to clean the farm.
DRIVE DATA CHIP #2
The drive data chip will only be found in Abandoned Ruins #1, Abandoned Desert Ruins, and Shadowy Abandoned Ruins of the Shadow Swamp. It allows Ack to feed the animals.
AGRICULTURAL DATA CHIP
#1
The #1 agricultural data chip can be purchased at the Research Center for 20 data disks. This will allow Ack to harvest crops.
AGRICULTURAL DATA CHIP
#2
The #2 agricultural data chip can be found in Mining in the Desert Abandoned Ruins or Somber Marsh Abandoned Ruins. It will allow Ack to apply fertilizer to crops.
AUTOMATED PLANTING DATA CHIP
The automated planting data chip is located in the abandoned desert ruins or the abandoned ruins of the gloomy swamp. This will allow Ack to access automated planting.
Actually, I can’t say that any of these chips are absolutely necessary. While it’s nice to have a helping hand in your workshop, especially if you don’t have a spouse to help, I can’t say I love the help I get. This will largely depend on the player’s preference.
CONCLUSION
While having access to Ack and all its usefulness will be optional, having the option to use it anytime you need it will be useful for one player. I mean, why wouldn’t I? If players aren’t sure how much they’re going to use Ack, I highly recommend taking it easy, as there’s really no rush.
Unlocking all of Ack’s elements doesn’t progress the story in any way and all of his upgrades aren’t the most powerful, so you’re fine!
But I’m curious, what are your thoughts on Ack? Let me know in the comments below!
