How to Hire Ack as a Helper in My Time at Portia

In My Time at Portia, you can get help from various residents in all shapes and forms, whether getting a tip from a friend to help you finish a task or receiving assistance from the Civil Corps in dungeon raids. It’s nice to have friendly NPCs that always have your back in this sandbox-like building simulator. But perhaps the most efficient help you can get in this game comes from a robot named Ack.

Ack is a Living AI who had worked as a chef from space before the apocalyptic event that ended most of humanity hundreds of years ago. In the modern world, he can also be hired as a helper that does various chores for you. Ack is a handy companion, but there are a couple of things you must do and certain events you must undergo before he offers his services to you.

Meet The AI

The Collapsed Wasteland is where you will first meet Ack. After you complete The Poisoned Water and Hazardous Ruins missions, you will get a cutscene in which you witness a ship falling from the sky.

When you arrive at the Collapsed Wasteland, you will see a bunch of people gathering around the entrance gate with Sam guarding it. Remington will warn Sam that monsters are at loose due to the ship crash-landing on a tower and tearing a hole in the ground. He will then ask for your help to defeat the monsters, so make sure to bring a weapon before you enter the crash site.

After killing all the monsters, a cutscene will play, showing Ack coming out from the ship. Ack will introduce himself as a chef of his Space Station, but he will seem disoriented and confused about where he is. You might even notice that a few of his body parts are missing. The Civil Corps will then decide to take Ack to the Mayor to have him thoroughly examined.

Ack’s Despair

Unfortunately for Ack, he will be detained in the Civil Corps Building. Mayor Gale will inform the robot that they will have to assess the situation before they decide what to do with him. After all, Ack is considered a relic, one of the machines that brought distraction to the Old World. While Ack is held captive, you will be able to interact with him. But he will remain unresponsive until you give him a glass of milk.

The easiest way to get milk is to buy one from Sophie’s Ranch for 12 Gols. Roping Cows and Calves are also an excellent way to farm milk. Head south of Sophie’s Ranch near McDonald’s store, and you will find a brown sack, which you can interact with to activate the mini-game.

Ack will instantly warm up to you after chugging a glass of milk. You will then be prompted to find temporary replacements for his missing body parts. Ack will settle for a toilet plunger for his leg and a cooking pot for his head.

If you talk to Ack again, he will solemnly ask you a favor to place some flowers for his crew mates’ grave buried in the cemetery. You will be given one day to complete this mission. A bouquet of Wildflowers is what you will need for this quest. You can buy them from Alice’s Flower Shop, between Peach Plaza and Central Plaza. Place the flowers in front of the crew mates’ tombstone, and talk to the Mayor to complete the mission.

Fixing Ack’s Heart

Wait a few days after the Place the Flowers mission, and the Mayor will hold a fireside meeting to announce their decision to let Ack stay in Portia. Once Ack becomes an official Portian resident, you will then be able to talk to him and give him gifts. His other social interactions can be unlocked once you become close friends.

To get Ack as a helper, you will have to give him a good reason to do menial tasks on your behalf. Completing The Lonely Robot mission will fuel his motivation to drop by your workshop daily. In this mission, you will be tasked to craft a model that resembles his beloved Lara, whom he lost in the apocalypse, along with his other crew mates.

The Lara Model can be constructed on a Level 1 Assembly Station. You are required to have 4 Bronze Pipes, 3 Steel Plates, 1 Rusty Pipe, 1 Racket, 1 Iron Pan, 2 Porcelain Plates, and 2 Leather Horn to finish the replica model.

After giving him the Lara model, he will return it to you immediately, saying he would prefer to check it out elsewhere instead of having it displayed in his apartment. If you decorate your yard with the Lara Model, Ack will visit your home daily. He will only offer his services once you reach Friendship Level 2 (Buddy) with him.

Befriending the Robot

To become Ack’s friend, you can hit “Chat” whenever you encounter him. During the day, you can find him walking around Peach Plaza or behind his grill near A&G Construction. In the later parts of the game, he will sometimes be seen visiting The All Source AI, a giant robot from the Old World, at the Research Center.

Giving him gifts is the best way to gain friendship points. Below is a list of all the items you may give Ack to get a positive response from him:

The Copper Coil is perhaps the most ideal gift for Ack when you get to the midgame. It is easily one of the most attainable items because you can obtain it straight from your workshop. To make Copper Coils, you can throw together 3 Copper Wires and 2 Iron Bars at your Level 2 Worktable.

A bouquet of roses would also be a good, cost-effective gifting alternative should you run out of Copper Ores to produce Copper and Iron Bars.

Power Stones, Old parts, Simple Circuits, Chips, and Engines are not that rare, but they are a bit hard to give away as they are valuable components in crafting items.

Ack: the All-Around Help

As mentioned before, Ack’s social interactions include all the chores he can do for you. Ack offers to have 1,200 Gols for his monthly service. The closer you and Ack become, the higher the discount you will get when you hire him for his services.

Ack will regularly visit you in your workshop after you agree to have him as your helper. His chores encompass refueling machines, gathering refined products, cooking, farming, and ranching.

The AI can also use the items you leave in the Helper’s Storage Box. For instance, you can put power stones there to get him to refuel your machines. He can also use the Delivery Chest next to the mailbox to put all the resources he can pick up around your workshop.

All his daily tasks and responsibilities can be enabled or disabled in the Helper Options inside your house.

Upgrading the Ack-Bot

Once hired, Ack will immediately inform you that most of his memory is corrupted, so he needs upgrades to become more valuable as a helper. Ack will entrust you to go to Petra to get chip upgrades. Petra will notify you that some of Ack’s data chips can be purchased at the Research Center, but you can also find some chip upgrades in the Abandoned Ruins, Desert Abandoned Ruins, and the Somber Marsh Abandoned Ruins.

Ack can initially cook, collect processed items, and refuel machines for you, but his other functions can be unlocked when you upgrade him using data chips. Below are all the roles Ack can fulfill once you fully upgrade his core system.

Rancher Ack

Upgrading Ack with the Husbandry Data Chip no. 1 allows him to gather animal drops in your Coop, Shed, and Stable. He will also be able to feed your animals daily, but you will need the Husbandry Data Chip no. 2 for that.

Farmer Ack

You may sometimes forget to put fertilizers on your crops, but Ack certainly won’t. The Agricultural Data Chip no. 1 allows Ack to harvest all kinds of plants in your workshop. Giving him the Agricultural Data Chip no. 2 unlocks his function to put fertilizer to your irrigation tower or planter boxes.

Another data chip you can install to Ack is the Automated Planting Data Chip. It allows Ack to plant crops on your empty planter boxes automatically.

Weather Forecaster Ack

The Meteorological Data Chip unlocks Ack’s ability to forecast the weather. Since televisions have become obsolete in the post-apocalyptic world, Ack is the only man-made machine that can give you weather predictions.

Cooking with Ack

Ack was primarily programmed to cook and serve food to people in space, so you can always count on him to prepare dishes for you, but you will need to get the ingredients for the recipe so he can start cooking.

Ack can cook the recipes you have learned with the Cooking Set, but he can also cook meals that only are exclusive to only him, which means you will not be able to get those dishes anywhere else aside from him.

You will need to install some Cooking Recipe Data Chips into Ack to get him to learn unique recipes. A total of six data chips can be found by mining the Abandoned Ruins. Here are all the recipes Ack can cook up for you, and included in this list are their ingredients.

Ack’s Recipes with Data Chips:

Data Chip no. 1: Smoked Ham

1 Meat, 1 Charcoal, 1 Cinnamon, and 1 Rock Salt

Data Chip no. 2: Fried Rice with Radish 

1 Layered Carrot, 1 Rice, 1 Shaggy Mane, and 1 Salt

Data Chip no. 3: Roasted Chicken 

1 Chicken, 1 Charcoal, 1 Honey, and 1 Ginger

Data Chip no. 4: Steak with Coconut Juice 

1 Coconut, 2 Beef, 1 Pine Cone, and 1 Chili Pepper

Data Chip no. 5: King Salmon Fillet 

1 Golden Salmon King, 1 Mustard, 1 Seaweed, and 1 Apricot

Data Chip no. 6: Secret Fish King Sauce 

1 Bubblefish King, 1 Royal Honey, 1 Purple Resin, and 1 Cheese

Ack’s Default Recipes Without Data Chips:

Seafood Noodles

1 Flour, 1 Coriander, and 1 Catfish

Special Salmon Fried Rice

1 Emperor Golden Salmon, 1 Rice, and 1 Cinnamon

Meat and Mushrooms Stew

1 Red Mushroom, 1 Meat, and 1 Salt

Spicy Fish Soup

1 Emperor Banner Fish, 1 Chili Pepper, and 1 Salt 

Spaghetti with Hot Sauce

1 Chili Pepper, 1 Flour, and 1 Meat

Classic Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

1 Flour, 1 Meat, and 1 Bamboo Papaya

An Unlikely Companion

It is unknown why Ack offers his services to a society that is a little apprehensive about relics. Perhaps it’s because he was built to help others and improve their lives. Or maybe he wants to prove to those afraid of him that not all AIs are the same. Either way, Ack is a great friend and a very useful companion that is always there to help you with your daily tasks in any way he can.