This is a guide on all of the points in the game where it is possible to gain character hearts and how to max out the affection meter of all characters in a single playthough. This guide is split into 3 sections:
- Hearts by chapter – lists the methods of obtaining hearts in roughly the same order that they become available in the campaign.
- Hearts by character – instead separates the hearts obtainment into separate lists for each character.
- Finding the missing heart – How to use the clear save data from Liberation Day to obtain the final heart that is unavailable due to the choice in chapter 3.
For the most part, hearts in Sunrider 4 are obtained through one of the following methods:
- By progressing through the main story, these are unmissable.
- By talking to characters by clicking on their icons aboard the Maray or in intermissions.
- By choosing to accept side missions presented by the character.
- By completing certain side missions.
- By choosing certain dialogue options in conversations.
- A character’s tenth heart is obtained automatically after their ninth and unlocks their ending.
Hearts by chapter
Chapter 2:
- At the start of the chapter talk to Asaga, Lynn, and Sola for hearts.
- After completing the story mission “Recruit Icari” you will get a Cosette heart
- After completing the “Find the Fortune Teller” mission, talk to Icari and Claude for hearts.
- Complete the “Great Emu War” side mission for a Icari heart.
- Complete the “Scrap Behind the Shed” side mission for a Cosette heart.
- Complete the “Treasure of the Holy Empire” side mission of a Sola heart.
- Ava’s first heart is obtained automatically after recruiting her.
Chapter 3:
- Talk to Ava at the start of the chapter for a heart.
- Complete the “Rematch with Cosette” side mission for a Cosette heart.
- At the start of the “Confront the Paladin” story mission you will have to make a choice; choosing to side with Qisah will lead to a Asaga heart, choosing to side with Jonah will lead to a Icari heart (the Qisah path has about 1000 extra cash worth of enemies to kill if you only care about the material benefits), go to the “Finding the missing heart” section of this guide for details on how to obtain the heart for the character you didn’t choose.
Chapter 4:
- While on shore leave on Solaris, talking to Asaga, Icari, Claude, and Ava will get you hearts for each of them.
- Talking to Sola will get you a heart as long as you choose “Honestly, this place is wearing thin on me myself”.
Chapter 5:
- Once the cutscenes have finished, if you have a save from Liberation day you can get you a heart for one character, depending on the choices you made in that game.
- At the start of the chapter talk to Lynn, and Claude to get a heart for each.
- Talk to Icari and accept her side mission for a heart.
- Talk to Ava for a heart, talking to her a second time will get you a second heart if you accept the side mission.
- Talking to Kryska will get you 5 hearts.
- Complete the “Simulacra and Simulation” side mission of a Icari heart.
- Complete the “Sports Day side mission for a Ava heart.
- Complete the “Black Iron Heist” story mission for a Kryska heart.
- Complete the “Who is this sassy, lost Child?” side mission for a Cosette heart.
- Complete the “Save the Whales” side mission for Asaga and Cosette hearts.
Chapter 6:
- At the beginning of the chapter you will get a heart for Sola and then Lynn when you speak to them as part of the plot.
- At the start of the chapter talk to Claude and Lynn for hearts.
- Speak to Lynn a third time and select “You should take it easy” for a heart.
- Talk to Ava, Icari and Sola and accept their missions for hearts.
- Talk to Kryska twice for a heart each time (the second conversation is only available after talking to Icari).
- After completing the “Brain Teaser” side mission, talk to Sola for a heart.
- Complete the “Mysteries of the Deep Holonet” side mission for a Icari heart.
- Complete the “Viva la Resistance” side mission for a Ava heart.
- Complete the “The Scar” side mission, once finished answer; “Return her to her parents unharmed” in the after-mission cutscene for a Lynn heart.
- Two Cosette hearts are awarded by progressing through the “The Lair of Crow Harbor” story mission.
Chapter 7:
- A Lynn heart is awarded at the start of the chapter.
- At the start of the chapter talk to Sola and Lynn for hearts.
- Talk to Asaga and accept her mission for a heart.
- Complete the “Ryuvian Intervention” side mission for a Asaga heart.
- Complete the “The Empress’s New Clothes” side mission for a Asaga heart (to unlock; finish “Ryuvian Intervention” then speak to Asaga and accept the mission).
- After returning to Ryuvia Prime you will receive a Asaga Heart.
- Enter the “Sola’s Memories” side mission, after one turn has passed choose to trust Sola. You are now given the mission to move the Archangel to a specified position on the map and let the enemy defeat her, doing so will get you a sola heart. Try to ensure that the Archangel has the majority of kills so she gets agro, your other units can soften up enemies to allow her to get the finishing blow. The mission instantly ends after the Archangel is defeated, so you may wish to kill all but one enemy to maximise profits, just be sure not to defeat all of them, as this will not get you a heart.
- A Cosette heart is awarded at after your first battle after going to the World Fountain.
Chapter 8:
- Four Claude hearts are awarded as part of the main plot.
Chapter 9:
- A Asaga heart is given at the start of the chapter.
- Talk to Ava, Sola, Claude, Lynn, Icari & Kryska for hearts.
- Complete the “An Ode to a Loli Space Pirate” story mission for a Cosette heart.
Hearts by character
Asaga
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 2.
- At the start of the “Confront the Paladin” story mission you will have to make a choice; choosing to side with Qisah will lead to a Asaga heart (will cause you to miss out on a Icari heart).
- Talk to her while on shore leave on Solaris in chapter 4.
- Complete the “Save the Whales” side mission.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 7, accept her side mission.
- Complete the “Ryuvian Intervention” side mission.
- Complete the “The Empress’s New Clothes” side mission(to unlock; finish “Ryuvian Intervention” then speak to Asaga and accept the mission).
- Obtained as part of the main plot after returning to Ryuvia Prime in chapter 7.
- Obtained as part of the main plot during chapter 9.
Lynn
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 2.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 5.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6.
- Talk to her a second time at the start of chapter 6.
- Talk to her a third at the start of chapter 6, choose “You should take it easy”.
- Complete the “The Scar” side mission, once finished answer; “Return her to her parents unharmed” in the after-mission cutscene.
- Given at the start of chapter 7.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 7.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 9.
Sola
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 2.
- Complete the “Treasure of the Holy Empire” side mission.
- Talk to her while on shore leave on Solaris in chapter 4, choose “Honestly, this place is wearing thin on me myself.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6, accept her side mission.
- Talk to her after completing the “Brain Teaser” side mission.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 7.
- Enter the “Sola’s Memories” side mission, after one turn has passed choose to trust Sola. You are now given the mission to move the Archangel to a specified position on the map and let the enemy defeat her, doing so will get you the heart. Try to ensure that the Archangel has the majority of kills so she gets agro, your other units can soften up enemies to allow her to get the finishing blow. The mission instantly ends after the Archangel is defeated, so you may wish to kill all but one enemy to maximise profits, just be sure not to defeat all of them, as this will not get you the heart.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 9.
Cosette
- Completing the story mission “Recruit Icari”.
- Complete the “Scrap Behind the Shed” side mission.
- Complete the “Rematch with Cosette” side mission.
- Complete the “Who is this sassy, lost Child?” side mission.
- Complete the “Save the Whales” side mission.
- Awarded by progressing through the “The Lair of Crow Harbor” story mission.
- Awarded by progressing through the “The Lair of Crow Harbor” story mission.
- Obtained after completing the first mission after going to the World Fountain.
- Complete the “An Ode to a Loli Space Pirate” story mission.
Icari
- Talk to her after completing the “Find the Fortune Teller” story mission.
- Complete the “Great Emu War” side mission
- At the start of the “Confront the Paladin” story mission you will have to make a choice; choosing to side with Jonah will lead to a Icari heart (will cause you to miss out on a Asaga heart).
- Talk to her while on shore leave on Solaris in chapter 4.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 5, accept her side mission.
- Complete the “Simulacra and Simulation” side mission.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6, accept her side mission.
- Complete the “Mysteries of the Deep Holonet” side mission.
- Talk to Icari/Kryska at the start of chapter 9.
Claude
- Talk to her after completing the “Find the Fortune Teller” story mission.
- Talk to her while on shore leave on Solaris in chapter 4.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 5.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6.
- Obtained as part of the main plot during chapter 8.
- Obtained as part of the main plot during chapter 8.
- Obtained as part of the main plot during chapter 8.
- Obtained as part of the main plot during chapter 8.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 9.
Ava
- Obtained automatically after recruiting her.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 2.
- Talk to her while on shore leave on Solaris in chapter 4.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 5.
- Talk to her a second time at the start of chapter 5, accept her side mission.
- Complete the “Sports Day side mission.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6, accept her side mission.
- Complete the “Viva la Resistance” side mission.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 9.
Kryska
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 5.
- Awarded at the same time as heart 1.
- Awarded at the same time as heart 1.
- Awarded at the same time as heart 1.
- Awarded at the same time as heart 1.
- Complete the “Black Iron Heist” story mission.
- Talk to her at the start of chapter 6.
- Talk to her a second time at the start of chapter 6 (only available after talking to Icari).
- Talk to Icari/Kryska at the start of chapter 9.
Finding the missing heart
Unfortunately of the 72 hearts required to max out the affection meters for every character (only nine are needed per character, the tenth is obtained automatically), only 71 are available directly in-game. This issue is caused by Asaga and Icari hearts being locked behind mutually exclusive narrative choices at the end of chapter 3. At the start of the “Confront the Paladin” story mission, choosing to side with Qisah will lead to a Asaga heart, and choosing to side with Jonah will lead to a Icari heart, either way you will end up missing a heart for one of these two characters.
Fortunately there is a solution to this issue, if you have a save file from Liberation Day in the correct folder on your computer, then at the start of chapter 5 you can get a small amount of credits and a single heart for one of the 8 characters depending on the choices you made.
This guide goes into more detail on the process of carrying across your Liberation Day clear data, but I will still explain how to do it, along with how to create your own file in case you haven’t played Liberation Day, or just lost your data in the many years it took for Captains Return to come out.
First of all you need to navigate to the folder in C:\Users\(Your Account)\AppData\Local\Sunrider_4_The_Captains_Return, this is where the clear data will need to go. Just be aware that this folder will only appear if you have run the game at least once.
Next you either need to simply copy across your Liberation Day clear data, then rename it from game_cleared.dat to game_cleared.txt. Alternatively you can create a new file, fortunately this is a quick and easy process; just create a new text file use a program like Notepad, copy across the string of text below, and then save the file as game_cleared.txt .
captain_moralist:0
captain_prince:0
affection_ava:0
affection_asaga:0
affection_chigara:0
affection_icari:0
affection_claude:0
affection_kryska:0
affection_sola:0
affection_cosette:0
wishall:False
Saveddiplomats:False
OngessTruth:False
legion_destroyed:False
cosette_dead:False
havoc_save:True
discoverfalcon:False
lynn_chigaranotoneofyou:False
chigaradidntbetray:False
tielynncargo:False
avareconcile:False
soladefinitelyprotect:False
Now we have our file we need to modify it to to achieve the desired results. Most of this string of text won’t matter as we can only get a heart for one character, and none of this will affect the story in any way (I miss Ava’s badass eyepatch, You stole her sacrifice and achievement from her LoveInSpace, YOU STOLE IT (although that does fit in quite well with the themes of Captain’s return)).
For our purposes we need either Asaga or Icari to get the heart, which ever didn’t get any from the choice you made in chapter 3. The chosen heroine should have the highest affection out of all the characters, as well as the following:
For Asaga her affection needs to be at least 18, moralist needs to be higher than prince, Saveddiplomats should be set to True, and OngessTruth should also be set to true.
For Icari her affection needs to be at least 14, and prince need to be at least 50.
The game only checks for this data immediately before you get the benefits once the cutscenes at the start of chapter 5 are over, so I recommend making a save while Kayto is writing his captains log at the start of that chapter, just incase you have any issues.
Conclusion
Now you know everything you need to know about how to max out the affection of your crew, now get out there Captain, save the galaxy, blow up some space communists, and woo beautiful women.