Mission 8: Back to the Past

Campaign Part 1: Back to the Past (8 of 8)

It seems that the concern of the international community was correct - we were actually providing the Uranium that the terrorists would use for their weapon - we just did not realize that the terrorists are The Order!

But thanks to our MAD Scientist and his time travel device we can maybe fix what we messed up... Maybe. To do this we have to make a choice from the three available - to build a time travel mechanism - and they are:

Time Vehicle (Build a Vehicle Factory)

Time Portal (Build 4 Metro Stations)

Time Jump (Build a Fashion Company)

Well? What's it gonna be?

The recommended settings for this are:

Island: Boa-boa

Economic Difficulty: Medium

Political Difficulty: Medium

Disasters: Occasional

Once you have made your choice and the Task is present, you begin that project... The economy should be in very good shape for this island - not like the mess we likely left at the other one, heh.

Mission 8 - Back to the Past

Once you have whatever you chose to build built - you trigger a 20 year time limit timer, and are required to develop the time machine research in order to win the Mission. That means the focus is on boosting your Research Point Production where you can.

As long as you have built as prompted in the previous missions for this island you should be producing an average of 1 point for the time machine per month already - anything you can do to increase that is a good thing. But you need to maintain your citizens happiness as well, since you need to wait out this process....

The first challenge to the Task will be the Professor asking for more power... But as long as you have built a Nuclear Power Station you should instantly complete that.

The next Task that the Professor will bring up is Uranium on the island causing interference - and prompt you to export 1,500 tons of the stuff... So hey, no worries... Right?

Following that there is the issue of sabotage - and the need for six new Guard Towers - but there is a timer on those so do not delay on their construction!

Bear in mind that, even with a robust economy, the costs associated with the research are really going to carve into that... You may need to take care to tweak the industry to keep things rolling along....

While you are completing the different Mission-focused Tasks you will also get additional Tasks from your Palace to do - try to stay on top of those as well as they can help your economy.

If you arrive in this Mission with major Happiness or Economic issues you will be far better off restarting your game and getting here under golden conditions - it is such a fight to win this one anyway that not having an optimal go seems masochistic.

Consequences

If you allow the population Happiness Level to fall below 51% you can expect lots of Rebel Attacks, Strikes, and a very poor economy. What seems to happen too, is once one side starts going wrong you end up getting hit by multiple disasters that just heap on the misery. So keeping the Happiness Level in check is really necessary...

The biggest problem that you will start to experience is running out of raw resources. So you may want to shift your economy over to a agricultural and renewable resource based one. Get away from any industries that require Iron, bear in mind that you are going to run out of Uranium eventually so you will want to build some regular Power Plants when times are good.

A Cloth and Fashion Industry will work, as well Lumber and Furniture. Exporting Food Items may not make loads but it is consistent and you don't run out.

If you run into trouble with industry and staffing, be sure that you have a minumum of TWO High Schools and at least a College. Two might be better as one of the significant problems is keeping industry and resource buildings properly staffed!

Final Conclusions

By carefully laying out my city to make it easier to manage, going with every renewable industry, and getting my Power Plants switched over the Natural Gas as scion as possible, I was able to build in the income breathing room to build 4 High Schools, 3 Colleges, 2 Libraries, and 5 Observatories - all of which were upgraded fully.

In addition to that, I used my Free Building Reward for the Space Program which also increased the research rate, and as a result made it to the Time Machine by July 2001....

Completing this Mission will unlock the Achievement Back to the Past (20G) Completed “Back to the Past”, and you will also likely have unlocked Pension Plan )30G) Earned over $$200,000 Swiss bank account. You may also have unlocked the Achievement Agricultural Community (20G) Had more than 20 Plantations, Hydroponic Farms, Factory Farms and Ranches in a single game. If things went not so well you might also unlock Putsch and Judy (20G) Survived a Military Coup - and/or Let Them Eat Cake (20G) Survived an Uprising.