Achievements guide (+ Northern Anarchy strategy)

This guide contains the achievements list for The Westport Independent as well as a broad (understand not detailled) strategy to get the most difficult achievement in the game : "Northern Anarchy". This can be also used to get the full rebel ending including all four district rioting against the government.
Be aware that it's not an 100% foolproof strategy as you get the articles randomly throughout the game (some will not be included in each playthrought).

Achievement overview

There are a total of 20 achievements in the game and they are all related to the ending.
The ending is in two parts : the first is related to the districts and divided into four segments with 5 possible endings per district -> 20 achievements. The second part is related to what happened to your reporters with a total of four different endings (Full pro-Loyalist, Mid pro-Loyalist, Mid pro-Rebel and Full pro-Rebel) depending on the global pro-loyalist/pro-rebel chart. In the first segment, if it's not going well for Frank you got a Loyalist one and if he throws some molotov on a nearby police officer you got the full pro-Rebel.
The specific ending in each district depends on the relevant loyalist/rebel chart with 5 possible outcome :
Full pro-Loyalist : 100-50 % pro-Loyalist
Mid pro-Loyalist : 50-15% pro-Loyalist
Neutral (kind of) : 15% pro-Loyalist to 15% pro-Rebel
Mid pro-Rebel : 50-15% pro-Rebel
Full pro-Rebel : 100-50 % pro-Rebel
(The game do not give numbers so the 15% is an estimation as well as the 50%, it could very well be 10% and 40 or 35% - I am just trying to give a generic visual guidance)

The following list will give you the district and the type of ending for each achievement (Disclaimer : I had trouble on the Northern Anarchy one for so long that I kind of forgot most of the other - especially since I had no intention of ever making a guide). So it's possible (understand highly probable ... like I'm 95% sure I'm wrong somewhere) that there is some mistakes, especially for the southern and western districts (the extreme ones - Full pro-Loyalist/Full pro-Rebel - should be correct). Any corrections will be appreciated by the way.

Achievement	District	Ending
	Northern Suburbs	Full pro-loyalist
	Northern Suburbs	Mid pro-loyalist
	Northern Suburbs	Neutral
	Northern Suburbs	Mid pro-rebel
	Northern Suburbs	Full pro-rebel
	Western District	Full pro-loyalist
	Western District	Mid pro-loyalist
	Western District	Neutral
	Western District	Mid pro-rebel
	Western District	Full pro-rebel
	Eastern Factories	Full pro-loyalist
	Eastern Factories	Mid pro-loyalist
	Eastern Factories	Neutral
	Eastern Factories	Mid pro-rebel
	Eastern Factories	Full pro-rebel
	Southern Docks	Full pro-loyalist
	Southern Docks	Mid pro-loyalist
	Southern Docks	Neutral
	Southern Docks	Mid pro-rebel
	Southern Docks	Full pro-rebel

Northern Anarchy Strategy

First thing first : I had absolutely no intention of making a guide of any sort but since I desperately looked all over the internet for this achievement (my googlefu is not that great but still !) and found nothing (also realizing in the process that I owe 90% of my steam achievements to the community) I have decided to make a contribution.
Also, please note (no, not really) that this strategy might not be the best possible one but it works (I got the Northern Anarchy ending 2 times out of 3 - too lazy to try it more time) - and this is the only one I found after trying anything that came across my mind.
And for the final : it is not 100% foolproof strategy, mostly because of the articles you get each week. Some are not avalaible in each playthrought and are very useful to get the north to rebel (almost mandatory to be clear - see tips about article for that). So, just to be sure : there is a fair amount of luck in it (the game being extremely short it's quite manageable).

I will start with a broad strategy in 4 steps (step 2 and 4 are identical) and then give tips about the best articles. If your not very familiar with the right articles to publish and how to hanlde your reporters go to tips before.

Strategy

Step 1 : Maximizing your popularity in the north
Week 0 : You start with 4 articles (always the same). Two are about game mechanics and two about in-game stories : do not publish the in-game stories. Just give one or two game mechanics articles to any reporter (editing is useless here) and roll with it. This will ensure you get the maximum popularity in the north (+25 like every other districts). Every other possibilities will lead to a popularity benath 25 in the Suburbs. (This is not fundemental but will help).


Week 1 : (LUCK NEEDED) During this week it is possible to get to 55/60% of popularity in the north but it will require you to have a neutral celebrity article, like :

• every Harold Finn stories (excluding the protest arrest/rebel propaganda 3-articles storyline and the "Movie Shocks with Vile Erotica")
  
• any of the Carole Miller articles.

Just give the neutral celebrity article (every one you got if more than one) to any reporter and roll (no industrial news - they are supposed to read them in the north but it will impact negatively on your popularity there).
If you do not have a neutral celebrity article I suggest you start another playthrought (if not you will loose a week so it's not impossible but it will be harder).

Week 2 : Same as week 1 except you have access to marketing and layout now. So neutral Celebrity news on the frontal and only slot and market 100 to the north.
It's a good time to had a pro-Loyalist article in order to diminish Frank's loyalist suspision (after the celeb news) but it will be better if it's an industrial news (to help getting popular in the north and don't worry about getting them more pro-Loyalist). The goal is to get to start week 3 with 100% of popularity in the north and Frank a bit less suspicious as before (he won't like it but it's for his own good).
You should get something like that :


Step 2 : Turning the suburbs to neutral/slightly pro-Rebel
Week 3 to week 7 (included) : Now that you're popular up north it's time to sway them.
For this, you need :

• One celebrity articles (you can include the protest arrest/rebel propaganda storyline but beware that the third article ("Harold Finn wants to protect the people") is useless/counter-productive (it can even turn the north a bit loyalist) also stay away from the "Movie Shocks with Vile Erotica" - same reason). This article is mandatory as it is the bait for northerner. You can edit them to get a better hook ("Star in a minor car accident" -> "Star left unscathed after car accident") but I'm not entirely convince it has any effect.
  President stories are just "meh" except for the "President struck by a tomato" one. You can include them and edit them to be pro-Rebel but the results are disapointing (except maybe for the article about the statue).
  
• One industrial news about how the country is screwed (so every industrial-only articles except "Fast food makes way to westport" and "Romiviral locate headquarters to westport" - way too much optimism in those two). Edit them to be the most pessimistic possible (it helps a bit). I don't recall if some are refused by Phil and Anne. This article is not mandatory but helps selling papers in the north and gave a litlle pro-Rebel flavor.
  
• Two full pro-Rebel articles. Do not try to be subtle (it won't work), just go for : "police officers are mass murderers" and "governement sacrifices baby seals to bath in their blood" type of stories. The gov. suspicion max out at +20 per week so make good use of it.
  
  Something like that (week 3) :
  
  or this (week 4) :
  
  The layout should be : (1) Celebrity news (2) Industrial news (3) the more pro-rebel article (4) the second pro-Rebel article.
  Marketing : 100% on the north.
  
  For the reporter just vary every week to make sure that none are going to leave (confort low - see tips) and that there are not sent to jail (if you loose some reporter along the way it will get harder but not impossible).
  
  By following these guidelines you should be able to sway the north to slightly pro-rebel. I have done it at the beginning of week 7 and believe it possible at week 6 with the right articles (see tips). The loyalist susicion should start to become scary by now for you and your reporters. This is time for step 3.
  
  Step 3 : Lessening suspicion by doing ... the exact opposite of step 2
  Week 8 and Week 9 : Just make sure to publish pro-Loyalist crime-related and societal articles only and market it to the south (if you are looking to a complete rebel ending, don't worry, it won't have much effect on them). During this time, you should not sell any papers in the north (if you do, it's because you had articles with a bit of celebrity/industrial news).
  This step will help you lessening supsicion for you and your reporters and getting a higher comfort for Phil and Anne (to make sure they won't quit).
  
  Step 4 : Same as step 2
  Week 10 and Week 11 : Just rinse and repeat step 2. This time you can skip the industrial news to go on a full pro-Rebel rampage in the north but be careful. Depending on your luck in step 3 the gov. suspicion could still be very high : in that case, be less pro-Rebel during Week 10.
  By week 12, it should look like that :
  By doing this you should have rebellion in the north as well as in the east and the south (even if you try to avoid them completely they will probably be full pro-Rebel at week 12) but not the west. Each time I tried the strategy, Western District was neutral to slightly pro-Rebel. If you want a full rebel ending in all 4 district, you should try marketing them a bit (20-30% maybe) when rebelling the north (they are much easier to get to riot).
  
  And the Northern Anarchy ending :
  
  
  During week 3 to week 7 (included), it is possibe that you get a week or two with no good bait article (Celebrity neutral). or no good pro-rebel one. In that case don't hesitate to do a step 3 week (you just need 2 to 3 Step3-week so you can do it whenever you want after week 3 and not necesseraly in a row).
  Also, don't worry about being spotted by the government on week 12 as you will get the ending no matter what :
  

Tips

Content of the article :

To be sure of the content of an article (are there any industrial news in it ? for example) just go to layout and look at the charts on the left side. For Week 0 and 1 you should rely on memory only (sorry).

To be sure you have edited an article to be full pro-Loyalist/pro-Rebel just try giving it to the reporters (try two times when you're not sure because sometimes a reporter accepts an article that he'll refuses most of the time) :
Phil refuses Mid pro-Rebel and Full pro-Rebel
Anne refuses Full pro-Rebel
Julie refuses Full pro-Loyalist and outrageously Full pro-Rebel (yes it's possible but rare -maybe 6 articles in the entire game)
Frank refuses Mid pro-Loyalist, Full pro-Loyalist and ...

The good :
Articles refused by all 4 :
There is two articles in the game that are refuse by all 4 and they are pro-Rebel :
"Inflation makes Liber close to Worthless" (you might need to edit the title for that, I'm not sure)
"Unemployement Rises" (unedited - if you edit it, it will loose some magic)
These two are the golden tickets to northern anarchy and a full rebel ending. Without them it's possible but not guaranteed. Publishing one as one of your pro-rebel articles during week 3 to 7 will give you a +25% pro-Rebel in the north even if they are at maximum pro-Loyalist.

Outrageously Full pro-Rebel (Refused by Phil, Anne and even Julie) :
(I rely entirely on memory since I'm far too lazy to check again so take everything with a grain of salt)
The two articles above + :
"Police officers given life for refusing to kill teenage girl"
Choose this headline and remove 2nd and 3rd sentences to make it look like the officer was arrested for not killing an innocent teenager.
"Chilwife arrested for attempted murder"
Change the headline and remove the first part (not entirely sure but you should try out).
"Homeless man arrested for sitting outside gated community"
This headline and remove the first part.
"Gov. revokes employement for people born outside Westport"
This headline and remove the first part.
Maybe "President struck by a tomato" "just try various edits to check it out (if Julie is not disgust by it, it still is a good pro-Rebel article).

The bad :
"Former model slanders designer"
This headline is pro-Loyalist (just roll with it).
"President speaks at veteran gathering"
The article is Loyalist only (useful for step 3 but not that great).

The ugly :
"Gov. burns book"
To be honest I'm pretty sure this one is just bugged. No matter what, Phil and Anne won't have any problem with it (and for quite some time it seems - check the forum). If you publish it, it won't affect the four district but will give you a +3 suspicion from the book-burning government. So stay away from it.
"Harrold Finn wants to protect the people"
The third article in the protest arrest/rebel propaganda storyline. It seems it affects the South and the East but not the North for some reason.

Managing your reporter :

While you try to get the north to rebel, your principal difficulty will be how to keep your reporters.
Their gov. suspicion will skyrockets so make sure to change every week the reporter that will write the pro-rebel articles. When you can (Step 3) force them to write pro-Loyalist stories.
The global gov. suspicion max out at +20 per week for you but can get higher for a reporter so be very careful with the 2 golden tickets and the outrageously Full pro-Rebel stories (see tips about article to know which articles I mean).
The second issue (and the major one I think) is comfort. Forcing a reporter to write down stories opposing their beliefs will lead to them resigning. You can force them two times max. without giving them what they really want to write (they leave at 3 it seems). Also the golden tickets have a much stronger effect on them (do not give them to Phil or Anne, or they will be on the brink). Like for suspicion, it is all about balancing step 2 and 3 (and a large dose of luck).
Be sure to have at least three reporters for most of the game and at least two for the last two weeks (with just one it's over, you will only be able to publish the bait).

Okay, I think i've wrote pretty much everything I know on that so let's go to the end credits.

I tried to tell you everything I know about the game in the clearest way possible but Disclaimer Alert : english is not my native language so there should be typos all over the place and some sentence could be weird as hell - sorry about both -, mp me and I will try to correct it (I will try to overcome my legendary laziness).
I do not care at all about evaluation or likes, or stuff like that. Feel free to rate that guide as your heart tells you or completely ignore that type of stuff as your heart also compells you to.
If this guide helped you then cool : it wasn't a waste of time and it's conforting. I just tried to give back a bit for every guide I used on tons of different games.
If it didn't helped, I'm sorry. You can contact me and I will try to help but understand that it won't be of much use as I have exhausted my knowledge of the game.



Good night and good Luck.

Corrections made with help from : toughchick, krasimircvetanov543

[Zanfroni]

Your guide is very helpful overall, but this is almost impossible. The RNG you need to have is insane. I always get anti-government articles in the weeks I need to lower my suspicion.

[Billy Fouquet's]

Thanks ! Good luck with that !

[CyberCat]

Aye, thank you for this guide. I'm trying to get a full rebel ending and from what I've seen there are no videos achieving this. Trying to get the hang of Sony Vegas so I can put a disclaimer giving you a shout out once I post it on YouTube.

[Tsubasa]

northern anarchy is too hard, your guide is very useful but still I can't get them to be pro rebel, would you mind adding a few more tips?

[Aoife Amari]

Thank you for this guide! I've never been able to get the North to rebel. I shall look to your guide for advice. Thanks again!

[megamelfina]

Just to let you know, 'Rebels Never Say Die' is actually for neutral, so it's mixed up with one of the others.

[Rogue]

Thanks for the great guide! I've still not gotten the North all the way to full, but I got them to Polishing The Fasade (the furthest I've ever got them) on the first try using your tips. Hopefully I'll get luckier with my articles next time.

[Billy Fouquet's]

Thanks ! Corrections always helps. I made the changes on the achievements overview.

[Ligma peanuts]

Just a tiny correction - in the western districts the achievements are as follows:
Totalitarian utopia a.k.a major ass kissing
Business as usual a.k.a government propaganda in stores,
The angry few a.k.a futile attempts to make a change,
Out shopping a.k.a everyone ignores the public culture bill,
Do you hear the people sing a.k.a freaking madmax wasteland.
I hope that helps.

[Billy Fouquet's]

Ok thanks for that, I corrected it ! I'm sorry for the mix-up but I had to rely on memory when I made it.