Ack

"You know, I never liked anything about Vega 5. But now I remember one of their rules was to always respect a living AI like a sentient being. I've never given that too much thought before, but they're right. Living AIs weres the most beautiful things our ancestors created in an age of corruption."

- Merlin

Ack is a living artificial intelligence (AI), created during the Age of Corruption to serve as a chef for the crew members of the Altair One space station. He is over 300 years old but did not witness the Day of Calamity or the Age of Darkness, as he had remained in maintenance mode for 330 years, 2 months, and 17 days, until the space station fell out of orbit and crashed in the Collapsed Wasteland. Now he lives in Portia, working as a freelance cook at a grill in Peach Plaza.

Ack does not appear in the early game. He is introduced in Mission: The Crashed Station.

Personal life
He is a peaceful, friendly, and well-spoken character. As the player gets to know him more, he will open up about his lost love, Lara, and will start visiting the Workshop upon completion of the.

Ack has no in-game biographical information available, even after reaching two full relationship stars. His biography only contains a set of question marks due to his enigmatic nature. He also has no birthday or weight registered.

Related characters
has no family in Portia, but he has gotten to know some of the townsfolk including Arlo, who helped in rescue and repair efforts after 's space station crashed, and Toby, who finds Ack fascinating. He considers each of them a Buddy.

's true love and crewmate aboard the Altair One was another living AI, Lara, who was destroyed in the space station's crash. mourns her passing every day. The player eventually has the opportunity to build a Lara Model for Ack as a part of The Lonely Robot.

When befriending, his relationship network with other NPCs will also be affected, resulting in the player receiving relationship points from those NPCs as well.

Note: Neither Lara nor the Lara Model are a part of 's relationship network.

Schedule
Ack can often be found next to his grill near A&G Construction in Peach Plaza. He may occasionally visit the Food Store in front of The Round Table, or wander down Main Street.

If the player has a Lara Model in their yard and Ack is hired as a helper, then Ack will also sporadically visit the player's yard throughout the day.

'''This schedule is valid in the final part of the game where Ack visits a late game character. This happens on Mondays and Wednesdays, so the default date is set to Sunday to avoid spoilers.'''


 * -|Sunday=
 * -|Monday=
 * -|Tuesday=


 * -|Wednesday=


 * -|Thursday-Saturday=

Perks

 * Friend
 * 10% off hire price


 * Good Friend
 * 20% off hire price


 * Best Friend
 * 25% off hire price

Although not listed in his in-game profile, if  The Lonely Robot is complete, when Ack reaches Buddy status with the player, he will offer to become their helper, offering his services during his daily visit to the Lara Model. The player must have a Lara Model in their yard to trigger this dialogue. If accepted, Ack can be hired to help with domestic work and resource gathering for a monthly fee.

Ack can gather resources around the workshop and place them in the red delivery box next to the mailbox to the right of the gate to the workshop.

The following items can be acquired from Ack:
 * Wood from gathering tree branches
 * Stone from gathering rocks
 * Completed items from crafting stations
 * Harvested items from plants/trees/farm animals

Social talk.png Chat
Chat is a basic social interaction available at any relationship level. Chatting with once a day can increase his relationship by 1 point, or 2 points with the Smooth Talk skill; subsequent chatting, on the same day, only results in the same conversation without any relationship gain.

Social gift.png Gift
Giving gifts to Ack affects the player's relationship with him.

Tips:
 * Every giftable item, except for the items below, will have a Neutral effect when given to Ack.
 * Gifts given on festival days earn the player 2x relationship points, and will show a unique dialogue.
 * Values listed below are without The Giver skill, which gives an extra 1-2 points.

Social Cook.png Cook
While is hired as the player's helper, he will cook for the player. Ack initially can only cook dishes in his recipe list, but as the player discovers recipes of their own via cooking on their Cooking Set or upgrades him with recipe data chips, he can begin cooking those recipes as well. Ack's data chip dishes are unique and cannot be cooked using any crafting station.

The player can access Ack's cooking menu by interacting with him and select the recipe and quantity they need. The cooked dish appears in the player's inventory. The player does not need to have the required ingredients in their inventory for Ack to cook.

Social_hire.png Hiring as a helper
Ack can be hired as a Helper around the Workshop after fulfilling certain requirements.

First,  The Lonely Robot must be completed. After the player has completed the mission and placed the Lara Model in their yard, Ack will visit her every day. Once the player reaches Buddy level with him, Ack will offer his help with the workshop and can be hired for 1200 per month.

Once hired, Ack does not stay at the workshop all day, but will visit multiple times per day to tend to it. Ack's potential services include refueling machines and picking up finished products, feeding animals and picking up any drops, and harvesting, replanting, and fertilizing crops. He can only use resources put in a Helper's Storage Box, and will place all collected items in the delivery chest next to the player's mailbox.

Ack will not perform certain functions, such as feeding fish, petting animals or mounts, or building things for the player.

Social_upgrade.png Upgrading Ack
Ack can be upgraded with various data chips while the chips are in the player's inventory. These allow him to perform more functions around the workshop as well as cook more recipes.

The option to upgrade Ack becomes available after the player reaches Buddy level with him and completes. The option to upgrade Ack is only available while he is hired as the player's helper.

Data chips can be purchased at the Research Center Exchange and found while digging in the Abandoned Ruins. The second upgrade to the Relic Detector will show the shape and name of the data chip, as well as other relics.

Main missions

 * Fixing Ack
 * Fix Ack's leg and head with items found around the Civil Corps' main room.


 * The Lonely Robot
 * Ack misses his dear Lara very much, try building a replica of Lara based on Ack's drawing of her, this will ease his pain.


 *  The Perfect Trap
 * The Mayor wants you to construct an AI Source model to lure the Locator Computer thief into a trap.


 *  Talk to All Source
 * Petra has trouble communicating with All Source, she ask you to bring Ack to the Research Center.


 * Help Huss deliver the invitation letters to folks in town.
 * Help Huss deliver the invitation letters to folks in town.

Secondary missions

 *  Chip Upgrades
 * Ask Petra about the data chips for Ack.


 * Finding Happiness
 * Ack seems down, talk with the Mayor to see if you can do anything for him.


 * Made Whole Again
 * Ack's temporary leg is no longer able to support him. Help him build a new leg.


 * Place the Flowers
 * Ack is still locked up for the safety of the town, help him place some flowers on the grave of his deceased crewmates.

Trivia

 * When Ack was introducing himself during, Ack was glitching, causing him to say "ack". As a result, the townsfolk simply refer to him as "Mr. Ack". Ack's real name, if any, is unknown.
 * Ack lives in the Happy Apartments; his home station will need to be installed on the second floor, near the stairs.
 * Ack may sometimes stand idly outside the player's yard, seeming as if he is waiting for them. When approached, he will give them 1 Ocean's Fortune.

Bugs

 * As of PC version, some users may experience difficulty getting Ack to perform his intended functions, including refuel crafting stations, even if they have the requirements fulfilled (in the case of refueling, that means they already have the following: Production Data Chip 2 installed, refueling allowed in their helper console inside their house, and the necessary fuel stored in their Helper's Storage Box in a place Ack can reach).
 * Steam_verifying_files_guide.png is a chance verifying the game files may fix the issue.
 * If no solution is found, it is recommended to report instances of such bugs on the Steam Forums or email.

Gallery
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