“There's a train that's gonna make an unscheduled stop down the way. It's got a, how do you say, little somethin' somethin' onboard for you boys.”
Catalyst is a mission in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas given to protagonist Carl Johnson by Grove Street Families member Lance "Ryder" Wilson from his home in Ganton, Los Santos, San Andreas.
Mission
Carl pays another visit to Ryder, who is making his own "water" (marijuana dipped in embalming fluid and then laced with PCP) after he couldn't find the stash he buried in his back yard. While Carl and Ryder are talking, Tenpenny and his accomplices walk into the kitchen to inform the pair that there will be an army munitions train passing through East Los Santos shortly, and that enemy gangs such as the Ballas and Vagos will attempt to rob the cargo on board the freight train as well.
The two immediately depart, arriving at the train only to find the Vagos have ambushed the train first and are attempting to offload munitions, while fighting the Grove Street Families. Once the Vagos are eliminated, the Ballas turn up and attempt to take the train, but Carl defeats them as well. Carl jumps onto the train, which begins moving again. Ryder promptly jumps into the back of his Picador, while a GSF member drives behind the train, with Carl throwing some crates to him; a total of ten crates have to be tossed to Ryder in 90 seconds. If carl fails to throw the required number of boxes by the time they pass Unity Station and enter the tunnel, a short cutscene will play of Carl entering the Picador while Ryder berates him. After acquiring a sufficient amount of munitions crates, a three-star wanted level is attained. They go to the nearby Pay 'n' Spray in Idlewood to evade the police and drive back to Ryder's home.
Mission Objectives
In order to complete the mission the player must:
- Drive Ryder's Truck to the ammo train.
- Shoot the Vagos robbing the train!
- Protect the train from the Ballas!
- Climb onto the back of the train.
- Use the nearby pay 'n' spray to lose the cops.
- Take the crates back to Grove street.
Reward
The reward for this mission is an increase in respect. The mission Robbing Uncle Sam is unlocked.
Transcript
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Walkthrough
Ryder says that he couldn't find the drugs he buried so he's now cooking his own.
CJ says the drugs Ryder is cooking are strong.
As Ryder tries to put up the heat, CJ tells Ryder not to do it before the house catches fire.
C.R.A.S.H. arrive and greet CJ and Ryder.
Ryder takes offence at how Tenpenny called them "boys".
Tenpenny asks Ryder what'd he prefer instead and insults his height.
Pulaski suggests a more offensive nickname.
Tenpenny likes Pulaski's suggestion.
Ryder smells the drugs he's cooking.
Tenpenny pushes Ryder away and insults him once again.
Tenpenny smells the drugs himself.
Tenpenny asks Ryder what's cooking and where's his portion of it.
Ryder tells Tenpenny to not insult him.
Ryder hands Tenpenny a portion of the drugs he was cooking.
Tenpenny makes a sarcastic comment about his "wife" loves Ryder's drugs.
Tenpenny informs CJ and Ryder of a train that will shortly go through Los Santos.
Tenpenny reveals that the train will have some items on-board that would greatly benefit CJ, Ryder and the rest of the Families.
Pulaski sarcastically says goodbye to CJ and Ryder.
CJ insults Pulaski.
Tenpenny turns around and reminds CJ of the crime that they framed him for to remind him that he works for them.
Pulaski makes a sarcastic comment about how CJ's return has caused more crime in Los Santos.
CJ also responds sarcastically and says that he's just doing his part for the community.
Tenpenny tells CJ and Ryder when they should be expecting the train.
CJ getting into Ryder's Picador.
Ryder tells CJ that he should drive, just like he always does now.
CJ tells Ryder not to start bothering him about his driving again.
Ryder tells CJ that if he wants Ryder to not bother him about his driving skills, then he shouldn't crash the car.
CJ says that he won't argue with Ryder.
Ryder continues baiting CJ.
CJ says that Ryder sure does love annoying people.
Ryder explains that he just wants his 'soldiers' to stay energetic.
CJ questions Ryder's methods of keeping his homies energetic by annoying them.
Instead of answering CJ's question, Ryder once again starts annoying him about his driving.
CJ and Ryder making their way to the train.
CJ and Ryder arriving by the stopped Freight train.
They quickly notice that the Vagos have already arrived and are trying to loot the train themselves.
CJ must now help his homies eliminate all of the opposing Vagos.
CJ and his homies shooting out with the Vagos gangbangers.
After the GSF clear out any Vagos members, a car driven by the Ballas arrive at the halted Freight train. CJ must help his homies eliminate them.
Ryder is surprised to see that both the Vagos and the Ballas knew about the Freight train.
CJ says that Tenpenny must've told all major gangs about the train.
After CJ and his homies eliminate the Ballas, Ryder tells CJ to go and check out the loot on the train.
CJ going to climb onto the train.
CJ climbing onto the train.
Just as CJ climbs onto the train, it starts moving.
Ryder tells CJ that he'll stay behind the train.
As the train gains momentum and Ryder and a GSF member start following CJ, Ryder tells CJ to throw the boxes at him.
CJ begins throwing Ryder the boxes.
CJ throwing the boxes to Ryder.
CJ, about to throw the last bow to Ryder.
After CJ throws the last crate, Ryder tells him that they've got enough and that CJ should get off the train.
Ryder tells CJ to get into the car and drive them out of there.
As CJ gets into the car, Ryder realizes that they have the cops on their tail.
CJ must now drive to the Pay 'n' Spray to respray the car and shake the cops.
CJ driving to the Pay 'n' Spray while Ryder shoots out with the pursuing cops.
CJ arriving at the Pay 'n' Spray.
After CJ resprays the car, he's told to take Ryder and the GSF member back to Grove Street.
CJ driving back to Grove Street.
CJ, Ryder and the GSF member returning to the cul-de-sac in Grove Street.
As CJ, Ryder and the GSF members return to the cul-de-sac, Ryder compliments CJ's effort.
CJ returns the compliment.
Ryder tells CJ that his friend LB will come over to stash their loot.
CJ parks by Ryder's house.
CJ says goodbye.
Ryder says goodbye.
Mission passed.
Video Walkthroughs
Oversights
- Several players experience a glitch when throwing the boxes for Ryder to catch. Instead of throwing the boxes, the boxes are instead dropped most of the time, even if the player used max power for the throw. This usually happens if the frame limiter is disabled on the PC version of the game.
- If Carl bails out of Ryder's Picador right after reaching the final marker and before the cutscene starts, the vehicle will move without a driver and Carl will replace the Grove Street member on the passenger seat, though the mission will continue normally.
Trivia
- The song heard in the pre-mission cutscene is "Fantastic Voyage" by Lakeside, which can also be heard on Bounce FM.
- During the cutscene, Carl briefly disappears for a few seconds and reappears again when Tenpenny informs him and Ryder about the weapons train.
- The mission features similar objectives to the mission Stealing the Show in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, as:
- Both missions require the protagonist to throw crates onto a moving pickup truck from another moving vehicle. The vehicles used to catch the cargo will be always filling up, but the vehicles originally carrying the cargo never seemes to run out of crates.
- However, Carl automatically dismounts from the vehicle, while Huang must manually dismount. And in this mission Carl attains an inevitable wanted level, while Huang only needs to simply deliver the vehicle. In this mission the target is 10, while in Stealing the Show the target is 15. Also, explosive crates are only seen in this mission.
- Both missions require the protagonist to throw crates onto a moving pickup truck from another moving vehicle. The vehicles used to catch the cargo will be always filling up, but the vehicles originally carrying the cargo never seemes to run out of crates.
- The explosive crates do not damage Ryder's vehicle, nor can kill Ryder in the back of the truck.
- If the player stops the car and gets out far enough away from the train, the player can use a Camera or a Sniper Rifle to see the GSF and Vagos standing still near the train. However, if the player comes close, they will open fire at each other.
- The ammunition crates found in the Freight train contain an MP5K image on top of the crates' lids. An unused MP5K model can be found in the
gta_int.imgfile, although intended to be used as an interior prop, not a weapon. - If the player jumps out of the car when reaching the train and the car stops far away from the train, Ryder will leave the car, re-enter and drive the car next to the train.
- If Carl fails to throw enough boxes, there will be no wanted level and he will still be in Ryder's truck after failing the mission, with Ryder telling him that "he is as bad at tossing as he is at driving". The truck will always stop at Unity Station.
- This mission is notably the only time that Tenpenny betrays the Vagos to another gang. Usually, he manipulates the Ballas (who also appear) or the Grove Street Families into attacking or sabotaging each other. Both the Vagos and The Ballas are shown to be apart of Big Smoke's crack empire (and therefore taking orders from Tenpenny himself as well) later in the game.
- According to the documentary "Burn Motherfucker", about the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the CIA in the 1980s used to have trainloads of guns derailed in urban Los Angeles ghettos, theorizing that LA gang wars in the 1980s helped the CIA fund The Contras in Central America. This is referenced in the game by Mike Toreno, and this mission could possibly be a reference to these derailed trains containing guns that gang members in South Central often stole crate loads of guns from, in order to use them for street warfare.
