Salting the Earth...Again

Story arc

Ultor (epilogue)

Cutscenes

"2nd Times A Charm"
"Dane's Triumph"

Marked Enemies

?

Min. Kills

?

Previous	Next
Pyramid Scheme	... and a Better Life

Objectives

Grab a water craft and get to the yacht
Get to the yacht
Kill the Ultor execs
Get to the speedboat and chase down the last exec

Rewards

$25,000

"Salting the Earth...Again" is the penultimate mission in Saints Row 2.

Ultor execs enjoy surprise retirement party

— Stilwater Gazette newspaper headline

Overview

At the Saints Hideout, The Protagonist receives a package from an unknown sender addressed to them. Inside is a newspaper clipping revealing Ultor's current fundraising gala aboard a yacht. Spotting an opportunity for revenge against Ultor's recent hostilities, The Protagonist heads out to crash their party despite Pierce's best efforts to dissuade them, who advises on how it could be a trap and reminds The Protagonist of their history aboard yachts, as the explosion aboard Richard Hughes' yacht^[1] placed The Protagonist into a five year coma.^[2]^[3]

After reaching the yacht, The Protagonist slays all of the executives partying aboard. Dane Vogel watches the carnage unfold from his office at the top of the Phillips Building. It becomes apparent that the executives aboard the yacht belonged to the Ultor board of directors, and Vogel sent The Protagonist the package, manipulating them into killing the executives to further his own goals, and in retaliation for the threats made against him in the boardroom at the end of the previous mission.^[4] Knowing that he now fully controls Ultor, Vogel asks his secretary Jaime to set up a press conference for him^[5], initiating the events of the final mission.^[6]

Story

Upon completion of the Mission, this description is available at Newspaper Clipboards.

Bodies of the Ultor Board of Directors littered the water this morning, as a corporate gala turned into a blood bath. This is the second time a massacre has occurred on the open water here in Stilwater...fortunately there were no explosions.

Gameplay

The objective of this mission is to kill six executives aboard a yacht to the northeast of the Saint's Row District. In the patched version of the game, the two Tornados fire rockets, and there are absolutely no checkpoints throughout the entire mission. However, if the game has not been updated or patched at all, the Tornados lack the ability to fire their missiles and the mission is generally quite easy.

Grab a water craft and get to the yacht

Begin by heading to the Saints Row Mega Condo and jumping aboard the Shark on the dock.

Get to the yacht

If the game isn't patched, drive to the yacht and a Tornado arrives and follows, but does nothing. If the game is patched, immediately disembark from the Shark after boarding it and wait for the message that an Ultor attack helicopter soon arrives. Use the small roof overhead as cover and engage the Tornado on foot; heavy firepower should down it fairly quickly, then get back on the Shark and drive to the yacht peacefully (the Tornado is not replaced).

Another strategy, although more riskier, is to drive to the yacht and exit from the Shark every time the Tornado fires its missiles. The Protagonist smashes awkwardly into the water, but the missile lock is lost and it should crash into the water. This strategy must be repeated multiple times before reaching the yacht.

If a Tornado has been obtained previously, retrieving it from a garage before the mission and using it makes short work of the enemy Torandos and most enemies on the boat before needing to abandon it to kill the ones that remain on the interior.

Kill the Ultor execs

After reaching the yacht, the five executives are all located inside the center of the yacht at various levels. The yacht's defenses consist of little more than a few Ultor security guards, but the game's framerate may drop notably during this section of the mission.

Get to the speedboat and chase down the last exec

The sixth and final executive attempts to flee on another boat; head to the marker to board a Python speedboat and give chase. Another Tornado arrives and give chase; ignore it and quickly focus all firepower on the enemy boat. Ideally, it should fall very quickly. Failure results in the entire mission restarting from the beginning.

Rewards

Cash: $25,000
Respect: None
Mission: ... and a Better Life

Newscast

Main article: Newscasts

Trivia

Newspaper ep03 Salting the Earth.. — The Stilwater Gazette newspaper clipping from the completion screen and Newspaper Clipboard.

While 6 Ultor Directors are murdered in this mission, there appear to be 8 in the ending cutscene of the previous mission, "Pyramid Scheme". The fates of the 2 Directors not attending the gala aren't revealed, but it can be inferred that Vogel either had them eliminated offscreen, or else forced them to make him the de facto leader of Ultor.
There are several references and allusions in this mission to the first Saints Row and its final mission, "Saints and Martyrs":
- The title, "Salting the Earth...Again", is a reference to the cutscene that plays in the Saints and Martyrs mission, "Salting the Earth".
- The yacht in this mission belongs to the game's antagonists, Ultor, and is being used as a fundraising gala.^[7] The yacht in "Saints and Martyrs" belongs to that game's antagonist, Alderman Richard Hughes, who planned to host a fundraising gala aboard his yacht later that night.^[8]
- In the opening cutscene, Pierce sarcastically quips, "Well, your history with boats is pretty solid, so, uh, this seems like a good idea...", referring to The Protagonist being placed into a coma after Hughes' yacht exploded at the end of the Saints Row.
- There are no checkpoints in this mission, similar to all of the missions in Saints Row.
It is possible to complete this mission with a Tornado, but after the final cutscene, it is teleported to the dock beside the Saints Row Mega Condo, with the tail embedded in concrete.
The boat driver with the last exec can be obtained by killing the driver and entering it. It is impossible to normally control the boat though as it goes by a scripted path.

Transcript

"2nd Times A Charm" cutscene

The Protagonist: "What's this?"
Pierce: "Don't know, I found it here and it was addressed to you."
Pierce: "Lookin' to crash a party?"
The Protagonist: "Thinkin' about it..."
Pierce: "I think I'm gonna go find Shaundi..."
The Protagonist: "Good idea."
Pierce: "Don't you care who sent it?"
The Protagonist: "Nope."
Pierce: "But it's probably a trap..."
The Protagonist: "Yep."

— "2nd Times A Charm" cutscene

"Dane's Triumph" cutscene

Jaime: "Mr. Vogel, will you be needing a car to take you to the party?"
Dane Vogel: "That's alright Jaime, I think I'm going to skip it this year. Oh and Jaime?"
Jaime: "Yes sir?"
Dane Vogel: "Please move my things to my new office...and set up a press conference."
Jaime: "You were promoted Mr. Vogel?"
Dane Vogel: "I'm about to be..."
Jaime: "Sir?"

— "Dane's Triumph" cutscene