Uma

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This article may seem complete to the untrained eye, but the gaps in information are still large enough for this elite team of Panauan Ninjas to hide inside of.

The Umas are unique special items in Just Cause 4.

The Lost Tomb of Otorongo (can you believe these people) — "*For centuries we've been told these giant heads were mere curiosities. People took selfies with them.*"

Description[]

Javi Huerta probably mentions them during the mission The Secret History of Solís. Exact quote needed. That mission is where they are introduced to the game.

The Umas are giant balls of presumably solid stone with a rough face carved onto the surface. The face is so flat that it does not hinder the ball's ability to roll.

They were made by the ancient Solino tribes and installed at all major tombs with the purpose of acting like keys to giant locking mechanisms. In-universe, the size and presumable mass of the "key" is normally sufficient to keep burglars from getting to the locked treasures.

As seen in the mission The Lost Tomb of Otorongo, some rich people have had some of them moved for use as decorative elements. Javi complains about this.

According to Javi during the mission The Lost Tomb of Otorongo: "For centuries we've been told these giant heads were mere curiosities. People took selfies with them."

Performance and physics[]

In Javi sidemissions[]

Each of the Umas are themselves locked at the highest areas of the large tombs. The player has to unlock them by finding a large wooden lever and pulling it with the retractor mods of the grappler. Once unlocked, the Uma rolls down a specific path and has to then be moved into its final position by the player. Depending on the specific tomb and player choice, the Umas can be moved by either the grappler, a big vehicle, like the Wheel Loader, or lifted with either an Armadillo Crane Truck, or a Próspero Sky Crane.

In free-roam[]

In free-roam, the only way to gain access to them is to call one in with the supply drop.

In-game, the balls are indestructible and can be used as pretty powerful weapons. Dropping them on any NPC will obviously kill them and dropping it on any vehicle except for the Spearhead Transport, SkyCastle Cargo Jet or maybe the Conquistador Warship will cause it to blow up. Ramming it into any small to medium sized chaos object will blow the chaos object up as well.

Strangely, this ball can be lifted with magnetic lifting devices like these, when it should not be magnetic at all. This make it seem like the type of stone an Uma consists of could possibly have a high iron content.

They seem to have an about 24 meter diameter, so assuming that they are about as dense as granite, they should each weigh about 20'000 metric tons. Calculator. The fact that they can be moved with as little effort, suggests a mass no greater than a single digit number of tons.

Due to game limits, Umas do not ever sink into the ground or break, because the ground and the Umas are programmed as infinitely firm and strong.

Locations[]

1 at Tumba del Sirviente.
1 at Tumba de la Esposa.
1 at Tumba del Guerrero.
1 at Tumba del Sabio.
1 at Tumba de la Princesa.
3 at Tumba de los Tres Niños.
5 in The Lost Tomb of Otorongo.
Unlocked in supply drop by completing the mission The Lost Tomb of Otorongo.

Trivia[]

Similar giant balls of presumably concrete can be seen in the extreme motoring events Survival Run: Sacred Cleanse and Survival Run: Thunder Ride.
It's very likely that the Umas were inspired by a famous scene from the 1981 movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where the main character Indiana Jones triggered a large stone ball at a tomb.
It is also possible that they were inspired by the "Olmec colossal heads, which are not completely round, or anywhere near as big, but are the closest real thing. These might also have inspired the scene in the above-mentioned movie.
The game files call this the "Javi ball".
Uma is Quechuan for "head".