City Takeover

At the start of the game the Syndicate literally owns Steelport. Each of its three gangs (Morningstar, Luchadores, and Deckers) has claim to its own district. Worse yet, they have hacked your bank account and left you flat broke.

The easy lifestyle of a pop icon is over and you must to go back to your roots and make money through some good old-fashioned hard work, gangster style.

The Saints might have conquered Stilwater, but this is a brand new city and if you are going to get any traction you need to take it over piece by piece. This can be done through three gameplay elements where you forcibly seize the territory from each of the three gangs. Together, these three unique categories fall under the umbrella of City Takeover.

While the methods and mechanics to wrestle control of Steelport may differ, they all are centered around claiming a percentage of each district by completing City Takeover assignments. By accomplishing these tasks, you gain a percentage of control of that district and it then turns Saints purple on the map to indicate your newly acquired dominion.

If you visit those districts, you’ll see members of your gang patrolling the streets. This can be very helpful during the Campaign and other Activities, because a district under your control is a district full of potential homies to give you a hand in taking care of business.

Activities

Activities are some of the craziest, most over-the-top elements of Saints Row: The Third . One mission of each type of Activity is woven into the Campaign to whet the players appetite for these 56 challenging and addictive mini-missions.

When one category of an Activity is completed more missions of that type will become available. All Activities are represented by their individual icons floating over the streets or sidewalks. The best part about these wacky missions is that can be completed over and over. All of these are covered in extensive detail in the Activities chapter.

Purchasing Property and Stores

Like any thriving city, Steelport is the host to numerous shops and properties. You can purchase this real estate, which is currently owned by the gangs of Steelport, to increase your own control of the hood. By taking over these money-generating assets from the Syndicate you increase your own cash flow while diminishing their power.

There are 34 stores and 30 properties to acquire. The income from these investments may seem small at first, but over time it can really add up. This is the best passive way to continue to earn cash throughout the entire game. Whenever you have some money to spare, pump it into properties and soon you will be making a substantial profit on your initial investment.

ake sure to increase your cash transfer amount through your Strongholds or you may hit the limit your bank is allowed to transfer into your account. Besides providing an increase in city control and hourly income, stores provide two additional benefits that make them valuable commodities.

Like your cribs, entering a store that you own instantly clears your gang and law notoriety. This is very helpful during any mission that raises your notoriety to dangerous levels, especially toward the end of the game.

Also, each store you own grants you a 5% discount on any of your purchases. It’s not a huge savings but it can add up when purchasing a lot of upgrades.

Gang Operations

The combat aspect of City Takeover is Gang Operations, which are outdoor locations within each hood where the gangs of the Syndicate tend to congregate and do their illicit deeds.

As you travel through the hoods, these locations appear on your map. Gang Operations can be completed at any time during missions, Activities, or other types of gameplay. When you enter the territory of this unlawful gathering, the enemies you must eliminate will have red health indicators and the upper right-hand corner of the screen will display completion percentage for that Gang Operation.

All gang members that are initially hanging out there must be put down but you don’t need to mess with any reinforcements to satisfy the requirement.