Hostile Takeover

Hostile Takeover is the final storyline mission in Cobalt Flats, and depending on your choices leads to three separate sub-missions.

Description
After meeting with all three representatives of the groups vying for control of Sharpton, Luciana is prepared to make a decision as to who will control the city following the chaotic collapse.

The mission starts with the player standing in front of the Golden Tower and is given four waypoints that are spread out across town. The player must make their way to one of the waypoints while avoiding the riots that are currently in effect. During this mission, the player will find themselves attacked by both civilians and other gang members as the city dissolves into anarchy. The waypoint they choose determines who they select to rule the city.

= Lander Corporate Offices - Lander Corporation = Heading to the Lander Corporate Offices chooses the Lander Corporation to run the city, turning Sharpton into a corporate-run bureaucracy, granting Luciana a position as an executive in the company with considerable power over city ordinances and function.

If you do not side with Lander, you will be forced to kill Joseph Lander in the mission The Need for Greed.

= Shark Bay Warehouses - Third Street Saints = Going to the warehouse and meeting with the Saints representative turns Sharpton into a chapter of the Third Street Saints, establishing Luciana as the leader of the Sharpton chapter of the Saints.

If you do not side with the Saints, you will be forced to kill Malcolm Bright and chase the Saints out of Sharpton in the Patronizing Saints mission.

= City Hall - Mayor Mark Johnson = Going to city hall grants control of the city back to the Mayor, who thanks Luciana by placing her in charge of the city's new anti-gang unit, effectively making her the head of law enforcement in the city.

If you do not side with Mark Johnson, you will have to run him out of town in the mission Impeached!.

= Epsilon One - Luciana Vilbrun = Going to Epsilon One allows Luciana to take control of the malfunctioning Enforcer bots, allowing her to single-handedly take control of the entire city for herself.

If you do not choose to reprogram the bots to fight for you, you will be required to destroy the Epsilon One facility permanently in the mission Lights Out.

Regardless of the option you choose, you will have to fight alongside members of the faction you selected (or Enforcer Bots if you choose Epsilon One) against members of the other factions that resent your decision, a battle that takes place in two phases.

= Phase 1 = Immediately after choosing a side, you will receive a phone call stating that members of the other factions have received word of your "betrayal" and are coming to kill you. You will have roughly two minutes to set up defenses, load up on ammunition, and position your allies. All four locations have stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, though arguably the easiest one to defend is the Epsilon One facility due to it having only one entry point for enemy vehicles while the other locations have between two and four.

Once the enemies start to arrive, they will come in waves of two to four vehicles. Enemies will vary depending on who you're fighting, though the toughest enemies will be either the SWAT Officers (Mayor Johnson) or the Enforcer Bots (Epsilon).

= Phase 2 = After you've fought off several waves of enemies, you will receive a brief window during which you can rearm and rebuild your defenses. The second phase involves heavier assaults, including enemy air vehicles, with each faction bringing its own type of threat.
 * Lander Corporation brings in helicopters with snipers perched in them which can deal significant damage even if you've increased your bullet resistance to the max.
 * The Saints will field Saints V-TOLs which use lasers and missiles. They inflict heavy damage and are difficult to hit with rockets, but fortunately don't take much punishment to put down.
 * Mayor Johnson's faction fields national guard tanks, which can dish out heavy damage and take three direct rocket hits to destroy.
 * Epsilon One will send Ravager Bots after you, which can be extremely irritating due to their tendency to teleport out of the path of incoming fire.

Once you've managed to fight off the second phase, the leader of the faction you've sided with (or the primary computer core if you picked Epsilon One) will inform you that the opposing factions are bolstering their forces and will only come back in more force if allowed to stay in Sharpton. This will result in the player being given three new missions, one for each of the remaining factions.