Operation Illapa

Operation Illapa
	; Oscar wants to kill everyone and get rich...richer.
Mission in Just Cause 4
Type	Main storyline
To unlock	Complete the following missions:; Operation Thunderbarge; Operation Windwalker; Operation Sandstinger
Starting location	Estación Atalaya
Reward	Ion Coil Stormchaser is unlocked at supply drop and Qachas region is unlocked for takeover.

This article has been evaluated to be at quality level 6.
Bolo finds this pleasing, but she would like more.

Operation Illapa is the final main storyline mission of Just Cause 4.

Not to be confused with The Illapa Project (an earlier mission), or the Project Illapa (article for the project itself).

Introduction[]

Quote from the map marker: "Espinosa is cornered in his fortress in the mountains. The Army of Chaos is on his doorstep. Gather the troops and finish the fight."

When the mission is unlocked and the player is outside of missions, Rico makes a phone call to Mira, telling her that the time is right to attack Illapa and to gather everyone.

Walkthrough[]

Spoiler warning: Significant plot details follow.

Rico arrives at Estación Atalaya. The Sandstinger train and the Stormchaser are parked there.

Mira, Luis, César, Tom, Izzy, and Lanza are gathered around a table discussing how to take down Illapa after all three weather towers have been taken down. Rico walks past them and looks at the train. The others discuss that they have detected massive energy spikes at the facility. César suspects that the "lizard man is returning to the mothership". The others are not amused by this, and he says that he was only joking. Lanza fears that the Project Illapa is nearing completion.

Mira mentions that Oscar was working on a more advanced mobile weapon and Lanza confirms this, by saying that a single weapon that could create any type of storm had always been Oscar's plan.

Mira complains that they cannot do anything as long as the "Blizzard Core" is activated. Sheldon then asks Rico for a plan, to which Rico looks like he is about to make a joke.

The "SANDSTINGER" train is changed to now read "SNOWSTINGER" and Rico goes over the plan with the members. Sargento is directly leading the Army of Chaos into Illapa. César will use equipment to try to locate the blizzard core. Sheldon is going to fly the helicopter to carry Mira and Izzy. Lanza operates the train into Illapa. The train is also carrying César and the Stormchaser.

Meanwhile, at Illapa, Gabriela Morales and Oscar Espinosa are having a heated discussion in Oscars office. Gabriela says that with the units available, she could only defend the mountain and that attacking would result in unacceptable collateral damage to [their] Black Hand forces and that she will not accept her Black Hand as collateral damage. Oscar says he would never have considered the option, but there is a heavily armed rabble at his front door. He continues to complain that the people of Solís are in an open revolt for the first time in five hundred years. He insists that Project Illapa was the culmination of the Espinosa legacy and that it is a priceless technology that could rebuild his family's fortune. Gabriela storms out.

Approaching Illapa[]

The player gets control of Rico.

Rico is standing on the roof of the SNOWSTINGER locomotive. The cannon car is behind Rico. It is possible to hijack the turret from the guy in it, but there is no-one to use it against.

Along the way, Thunderhead Bomber Jets and Fellhawk Jet Fighters fly past in Army of Chaos Faction colors and symbols.

The train stops at a station called Estación Tranquila (however, it’s referred to as Estación Illapa.) where the Black Hand has cut power to the track. You are now tasked to use 2 computers to turn the power back on. The train station spawns infinite Black Hand soldiers, so there is no need to fight them all.

Drive the Stormchaser[]

At this point, Rico has to drive the Stormchaser into Illapa. César mentions that he has added seat warming equipment into the Stormchaser.

There is an Army of Chaos Prizefighter Tank and two AoC helicopters escorting you, but they will be stopped at a Black Hand roadblock within only a couple hundred meters. For some reason, the AoC helicopter pilot models are reused from Black Hand Privates.

There's a constant blizzard. The storm has lightning that occasionally strikes nearby units. The lightning is pretty dangerous, but shouldn't pose a threat to Rico as long as you stay near the Stormchaser, which has an ion coil that can dismiss the lightning strikes.

Along the way, there will be a couple more similar roadblocks, but they are similarly absolutely ineffectual and can be simply driven past/over. One area has a bridge and the action resembles the front. Just drive past them.

Eventually, you will reach the bases gate area. A giant door is locked and the door is held shut by two generators behind doors. The doors are located to the right of the door. There are computers next to each door that opens them and the generators can be destroyed by being grappled. The computers need to be "hacked", so the player should start by killing all Black Hand soldiers in the area and grappling their helicopters to the ground before continuing. If you get hit by them while hacking, you have to restart the hacking process.

Blizzard core[]

After opening the door, you can drive the Stormchaser into the base, but the Stormchaser is no longer necessary. A funny thing to note is that driving the Stormchaser into the base results in lightning occasionally hitting the coil right through the ceiling of the base.

Soon you will have to stop in a large room that has a locked door. The base has thick fog in this area, so it is uncomfortable to see. Again there are 2 computers to hack and several enemies to kill.

The entire base has a lot of automated MG turrets above various doorways and walls. They can be destroyed by small arms fire.

When the computers are hacked, the Stormchaser despawns and the door opens. There is an elevator behind the door. César calls while you are on the elevator and says that you are about to peek behind the curtain and that he wishes he could be there too.

After the ride down, Rico reaches a room with a giant ball-shaped machine, which is the Blizzard Core. Unusually, the room is completely unguarded, though this could be because the room might be hazardous.

Mira says to disable four "stabilizers" on the "core shielding". The "stabilizers" are the orange glowing areas on the giant ball. Destroying them is easy, as it only takes a bit of small arms fire. Then grapple yourself to the top of the ball. This triggers a cut-scene.

Rico inserts his USB stick into the small pillar. Red emergency lights activate in the room and Rico realizes he needs to leave fast. He looks up and sees that the room has no ceiling. There is a large shaft leading up. He grapples upward and wingsuits out of the room as the core explodes below him.

The explosion is shown to be in the mountain, right behind the main tower.

Tower area A1[]

When the cut-scene ends, the player is above the area where they had to use a computer and fight the Black Hand at the beginning of the game. This time, there is a massive Black Hand presence. Mira calls and says that the Army of Chaos cannot get there in time to stop the super-weapon from launching, so Rico will have to storm into the tower and stop it.

No need to fight everyone along the way. Just wingsuit your way to the door and walk in. The door is marked as A1.

This first room of the tower has another large ball-shaped machine in the middle. There is a handful of Black Hand soldiers in the room with you, but hunting them down is a waste of time because they will respawn later.

One corner of the room has an elevated area with several computers. One of these needs to be hacked to reveal 2 turbines. Revealing them will also spawn some Black Hand soldiers into the room, two of whom are titans.

There is an automated MG turret on the wall, above each turbine. These can be destroyed with small arms fire.

The turbines are Power Conduits. They need to be pulled out of the wall by being grappled (with the retractor). This reveals their internal red parts that have to be blown up.

During the shootout at this room, the player may notice that areas of the walls are made of glass. That is because these are windows with blast doors covering them on the outside. Once the turbines are blown up, the blast doors open and the player is told to get to the second floor.

There are a few helicopters around the tower, but they can be eliminated by being grappled to the tower.

Tower area A2[]

The mission objective brings the player to a door called A2.

It is possible to get up there by grappling one's way up the exterior of the tower, or by entering one of the holes in the wall where a turbine used to be. There is a strong updraft in a shaft inside the wall. This can be used to carry Rico up on his parachute. The A2 door is locked, but there is an opening right above it.

The area behind it is the most difficult battleground in the game. There are two ways to go about this. The extremely difficult way and the slightly less difficult way.

The area has a lot of Black Hand soldiers (with at least 2 titans among them). Some of them can be killed, but most of them keep respawning at various corners and doorways around the walls and elevated areas. The middle of the area has a turbine that needs to be destroyed.

The opposite side of the tower has a large balcony with one of the big black turrets with a very long barrel. Normally these turrets pose no threat at all in most bases where they are encountered, but in this situation, their slow traversal speed is not a problem for them, because the turret is relatively far from Rico and only needs to fire into a small sector.

It might be easier to eliminate the titans if the player goes around the outside of the tower and fights from the other side because the turret cannot shoot near to itself, but alternatively, the player could try to take cover behind the many random corners.

In short, you can hide around corners and try to eliminate Black Hand operatives slowly, or stand wide out in the open and shoot them with a better view. The latter is not advised, with no less than a Defense Cannon, 2 titans, an RPG operator, and a sniper aiming at your position.

In either case, the important thing to note is that the enemy soldiers keep respawning. The only major threats are the two titans and the large turret. Normally these turrets require you to flip breakers, but in this case, there will be a generator, which, when destroyed, disables the turret.

After the Power Conduit is destroyed, Rico remarks it is "Time to pay Oscar Espinosa a visit."

Hallway and waiting room[]

Grapple your way up the tower, to a helipad. From there it is possible to enter a hallway that leads into a waiting room with some plants and other decorations.

The corridor has glass doors that open and close automatically. When Rico enters the main room, he will also scream into the intercom with "Espinosa! Give me everything you've got, you son of a b***h!" Oscar asks Rico "Rico Rodriguez! Do you have an appointment?"

The player will have to eliminate many Black Hand soldiers of various types and two helicopters that will shoot through the windows.

The titan can be killed by either a large number of headshots or by explosive weapons and the helicopters can be grappled to the building.

The exact unit count is 1 titan, 3 ghosts, 2 Firebrand Scout Choppers, 3 riot shielders, another Firebrand Scout Chopper, 2 Bloodhound Siege Helis.

Rico and Oscar keep arguing throughout the whole battle. Rico keeps asking for more enemies to defeat and Oscar assures him that there are plenty more. Rico asks Oscar to come out for a discussion, but Oscar refuses, saying that Rico had only just started a civil war, forcing people to fight their family members.

Killing the last of them will trigger the final cut-scene.

Office and plane[]

Rico barges into Espinosa's office but finds it empty.

Rico presses a button on the desk that calls Oscar. Oscar greets Rico and then takes a moment to trigger something. He then continues the discussion, saying that he has full attention now.

Espinosa live chats with Rico that he has an important meeting with Rico's old friends at the Agency. He taunts Rico by explaining that it was the work of his father that made Project Illapa possible and that it was the slow and steady advance of his army that motivated the scientists to work faster. He finishes by saying that Rico has always done the Agency's bidding, whether he knows it, or not. Rico then asks if he should expect a check. Oscar then tells Rico that the call will have to end in a minute due to a "hard stop" (technical reasons). Rico tells Oscar that he will find him, but Oscar tauntingly disagrees.

The camera shows the "command chopper" (Tom and Mira's Dropzone Chopper) further away from the tower and then some Black Hand soldiers standing near Gabriela. She is looking down and possibly contemplating her doom as Oscar says to Rico "everything and everyone on that mountain is about to be decimated by the wrath of a thunder god."

Oscar continues to explain that "Once you're all dead, I'll deliver the Storm Core to the Agency and settle accounts. They are incredibly excited to finally receive delivery of their new toy." Rico says his "toy" is going nowhere, but Oscar explains that the Core finished charging a minute or two before Rico cut the power. Oscar finishes the call by telling Rico to greet his father for him.

As he says this, the spherical object at the top of the tower opens up at the top.

Mira calls Rico and tells him that the core is launching and Rico says that Oscar is going to kill everyone on the mountain. Rico then grapples one of the small Umas (stone balls) and launches it out of the window along with himself. He then parachutes and grapples his way to the top of the storm core that just launched. It is the same type of flying saucer as seen in Operation Windwalker.

Rico inserts his USB device into it, while Mira and Izzy get to work on their laptops. Soon they report his core requiring additional codes that they do not have.

But then Gabriela interrupts their discussion, to ask what Rico's plan is. Hearing about a firewall, she transmits the necessary codes to disable the firewall. She explains herself, saying that "[she] will not sacrifice [her] soldiers for that man's pride". Mira asks Gabriela if she can disable the storm, to which she replies that only Oscar can disable the storm, however, Rico can fly the core out to sea once flight controls are given to him. Rico disagrees, saying that he has a better idea.

Oscar is shown in his EM-909 Private Jet when his plane suddenly starts rocking as the storm core approaches him.

Rico communicates to Oscar that he found him and asks if he knows the Rodriguez family motto. Oscar says it was never something he and Rico's father discussed and Rico yells "Don't fu*k with a scorpion unless you're prepared to get stung!" Rico then aims the core at the plane and jumps off. Oscar recognizes Rico's intentions and frantically tries to reason with him just as the core rams into the plane, destroying them both.

Back at El Abismo[]

Rico and company are back at El Abismo having a party. There are at least 10 pinatas around the area. There is also some random Army of Chaos members wandering around.

César is talking to Lanza, saying he thought Oscar was an alien, because of the flying saucer. Lanza laughs and says that if only he knew of the other projects that they did not finish.

Tom is having a barbecue. Luis and Mira are next to him. Luis asks Izzy to join them, but she refuses, saying that she is a vegetarian. Tom then explains that it is not a barbecue. It is only a simple grill. Real barbecues are apparently from central Texas, like himself.

Mira walks over to Rico, who is looking over the railing into a distance. She asks about the "Don't f*ck with a scorpion" line. Rico does not respond but says that something Oscar said is bothering him - that he and his father were always pawns in a larger game. Rico is sure that he was not working for anyone else in Solís. Tom also walks over to him and agrees with Rico. He speculates that destroying Project Illapa must have cost the Agency trillions.

Rico then says that he wants to take down the Agency. Tom laughs at this but then notices that he was serious after hearing it again. Tom curses at the idea but agrees to join the effort. Mira who was next to them also agrees.

They wonder how they would do that and Rico, looking at the party crowd, says that they have an army, which is a good start.

At this point, the credits start.

After the credits[]

Do not move. The crowd is gone, leaving only some random people who normally inhabit El Abismo, but there is a radio near Rico. This radio is tuned to Solís Hoy and it starts at the latest local rumors segment.

The hosts discuss the death of Oscar Espinosa and wonder what will become of Solís. They also mention that they have heard that the Army of Chaos is run by Rico and it is said that this makes Rico the next ruler of Solís.

See the Solís Hoy article for a more detailed retelling of the segment.

Trivia[]

In universe, the mission lasts a whole night. It is about sunset when the mission starts. The actual sunset is seen from Oscar's office. The barbecue is during the next morning.
There is an easter egg to past games near the beginning. Rico asks Tom if he could fly without crashing in reference to how Tom was found in Agency Distress Beacon. Tom then says that "Air Sheldon flies again!" and chuckles, which is a reference to his Just Cause 2 extraction quote "Thanks for flying Air Sheldon!" when dropping off Rico from the H-62 Quapaw in air, as well as during the final segment of Bavarium on a Plane in Just Cause 3.
When César says that you're about to peek behind the curtain, it's possibly an easter egg to the 1900 book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (most famously adapted in the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz") where the villain was hiding behind a curtain in the end.
Why is the A2 door located where it is? In universe, it makes no sense to have it up there, instead of on the other side of the tower, where it could be accessed by stairs, or a ramp, or anything reasonable, like even an elevator.
There is a slight inconsistency in the final cut-scene, since while the player is shown Oscar's plane, Rico is unaware of its location. However, it can be reasonably speculated that Gabriela informed Rico upon her defection.
This mission is the game's final mission. It is also the mission where Oscar Espinosa is defeated and killed. In previous games in the series, the final mission usually has a final boss fight where the player has to fight the main antagonist as well. These include:
- Taking Out The Garbage - Final mission in Just Cause (1). No boss fight, but the main antagonist is still defeated.
- A Just Cause - Final mission of Just Cause 2 and boss fight.
- Son of Medici - Final mission of Just Cause 3 and boss fight.
One of the largest explosion events in the Just Cause Universe occurred in this mission.
Estación Tranquila is called "Estación Illapa", which may have been its original name.
- While technically part of the main story, this mission doubles as a "region strike" for securing Qachas.
There was a fan theory that Oscar survived, but the chances of this are impossible. The Solís Hoy radio has nothing to gain from concealing his death, as the AoC is already having the upper hand over the Black Hand and Espionsa's regime. Depending on the players choices, the AoC might by the end of this mission control all of Solís.
As mentioned before, Tom Sheldon believes the destruction of Project Illapa could cost The Agency trillions. This however raises questions regarding on how Oscar Espionsa's small dictatorship in Solís could spend that much on the project.
- Tom could be potentially referring to The Agency's asking price. Although Oscar Espionsa technically has a monopoly in Solís and also profits from the Black Hand PMC, it would still take too long to pool trillions.
- However, we do not know the value of money in the Just Cause Universe and wouldn't be able to estimate the whole world's economy to make a meaningful comparison. For example, the Agency submarine fleet featured in the Danger Rising DLC would also cost a lot more than any real special agency can afford.