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UE0b0 MM@$W@$n i1 . .; i,,.,. czoi .QBE0b MMMM@@Q, :o. .A$00E0 7MMMMMQ; CW@Q0E0b iBMMMMWi .cZ@$$00b0b0 ,ZMMMMQ; .1QE080b0b0b0E0bE8EbEbE8Eb0bE80b0b0b0EEbEE08Eb0bQ0#$@@#WWE0bEb0b iAMMMM$i cM@@#@@@#@#@@@#@#@#@#@#@@@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@#@##$#QW0QE0E0b0b0 ;bMMMMQ; 7MM@@@@@@@@@@@@@@##@@@@@@@@@@@@W$BBW#B#W#$#B$$@@@@@@@@@@@BWE0b0b 7$MMMMBi .ZUIoAzUzU2IzUzIoEB9zIzU2I29226@##@@W0Q#U1CobZtzzIo2nSt17zbQEEb0 tMMMMMQ; .. ,. ;zY;1A#8 6Q0b0E #MMMMM$; :$BZZE0WE0b0 MMMM@M$v ... ii vA000b0b MMM#MM#; .cc: . .897 .z; .ZWE0b0 M@#@@MQ: i#MWQX , .c, v: .8WQE0b @#@@MM#X..,......ic;c;:... n#EE0I.nni..ZQi.i7CAtc;7vi...,.....,...inQ2. t8WE0b0 @M@@@M@@$@@@@@@@@MMMMM@@@@$#0EUb0$@@#@##B###WBW##MMM@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@$W##@BB00b0b Author: Warfreak Version: 1.3 Date Started: 28/1/10 NOTE: This Guide will Contain Spoilers. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! REMEMBER, IF YOU LIKE THIS GUIDE, RECOMMEND IT TO OTHER USERS USING THE LINK ABOVE! *('@')~~~~~~Watch In Awe, Watch In Awe, Aeria Gloris, Aeria Gloris~~~~~~('@')* Use Ctrl+F to quickly navigate this guide. Table of Contents §1 Introduction [1.01] Introduction [1.02] Version History §2 Starting Up [2.01] Starting Up [2.02] Classes [2.03] Background §3 Walkthrough [3.01] Facility is Under Attack [3.02] Freedom's Progress [3.03] Aboard the Normandy SR2 [3.04] Dossier: The Professor [3.05] Dossier: Archangel [3.06] Dossier: The Warlord [3.07] Dossier: The Convict [3.08] Horizon [3.09] Dossier: The Assassin [3.10] Dossier: The Justicar [3.11] Collector Ship [3.12] Dossier: Tali [3.13] Reaper IFF [3.14] Activating the IFF [3.15] Suicide Mission §4 Side-Quests [4.01] Normandy Missions [4.02] Omega Missions [4.03] Citadel Missions [4.04] N7 Missions [4.05] Illium Missions [4.06] Loyalty Missions [4.07] Tuchanka Missions [4.08] DLC Missions §5 Stores [5.01] Omega Station [5.02] The Citadel [5.03] Illium [5.04] Tuchanka §6 Upgrades [6.01] Upgrades [6.02] Weapons [6.03] Armour [6.04] Ship Enhancements [6.05] Prototypes §7 Private Terminal Messages [7.01] Messages and Effects §8 Space Exploration [8.01] Fuel and Probes [8.02] Omega Nebula [8.03] Serpent Nebula [8.04] Local System [8.05] Eagle Nebula [8.06] Titan Nebula [8.07] Hourglass Nebula [8.08] Shadow Sea [8.09] Crescent Nebula [8.10] Krogan DMZ [8.11] Rosetta Nebula [8.12] Sigurd's Cradle [8.13] Ismar Frontier [8.14] Shrike Abyssal [8.15] Pylos Nebula [8.16] Minos Wasteland [8.17] Caleston Rift [8.18] Hades Nexus [8.19] Far Rim [8.20] Nubian Expanse [8.21] Vallhallan Threshold [8.22] Hawking Eta [8.23] The Phoenix Massing §9 Skills [9.01] Biotic Powers [9.02] Tech Powers [9.03] Ammo Powers [9.04] Combat Powers [9.05] Class Powers §10 Weapons and Armour [10.01] Weapons [10.02] Armour §11 Romance [11.01] Romance §A Codex [A.01] Primary Codex [A.02] Secondary Codex [A] Contact Information [B] Credits [C] Webmaster Information [D] Copyright Notice *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now, Let the Guide Begin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [1.01] Introduction Welcome Commander Shepard to the Normandy SR-2. You have already saved the galaxy and all the containing races by destroying the Geth invasion backed by the mysterious Reapers, however, it is humanity this time under heavy attack. Once a SPECTRE, your own race, humanity, is under threat, and it is time that you step up and put an end to this, preventing the complete and utter destruction of humanity. So ladies and gentlemen, we shall follow the adventures of Commander Shepard, be it a male or female protangonist, and save humanity from certain and complete destruction. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [1.02] Version History Version 0.0 [28/1/10] Started this guide, and the game is loading up, ready to rock and roll. Finished up to the point where you get the Normandy. Version 0.1 [29/1/10] Completed up to finding and obtain Mordin. Started on the Side Quests as well as starting on the stores. This is going to be a long weekend ahead of me. Version 0.2 [30/1/10] Completed the entire Codex up to my point of playing. Started on Research. Version 0.3 [31/1/10] Completed more of the game, more on codex, more upgrades, fully completed the Omega Nebula. Version 0.4 [1/2/10] Completed more on the systems, Serpent and Local Systems done, Archangel saga complete. Guide is holding together for now. Version 0.5 [3/2/10] Completed more of the guide, Eagle Nebula done, more research and the Warlord part done as well. Version 0.6 [4/2/10] Completed the story on Jack and Horizon, and some other things. Version 0.7 [8/2/10] Completed a fair bit. Version 0.8 [10/2/10] Well, what a date this is. Well, more systems complete, more missions complete. Not a lot left now. Version 0.9 [11/2/10] More done, more systems charted, most research done. Version 1.0 [15/2/10] Completed a lot more of the game, nearly everything done. Version 1.1 [16/2/10] Completed more on plot, nearly complete. Version 1.2 [17/2/10] Completed story. Only a section on powers, weapons and armour to go before this guide is finished. Version 1.3 [18/2/10] Guide is pretty much complete up to my standards. Well, it's been fun. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [2.01] Starting Up This is starting up, well, basically, you get a new game and you either create a new character, male or female, or you can import a character from the first Mass Effect Game, provided that you have finished it. If you do the latter, you will not get a massively powerful character, however, you will get certain advantages, and more money. However, for the sake of newer players, this guide will assume you create a new character, even though the decisions that you have undertaken in the previous game may have an impact on this game. Now, we start off with some basic options, however, once you do that, the spoilers start to lurk out. We start off in a room somewhere, where a woman is discussing the canon actions of Shepard from the previous game, where the Citadel was under attack from Reapers. The game will assume that you haven't played the first, so it seems Shepard has saved the Citadel, but allowed the Council of the Citadel to perish, allowing Humanity a stronger foothold on the galaxy. After this, it will appear that the Normandy is in an unknown sector, where it is attacked by an unknown cruiser, killing the XO and many on board. After the cutscene, if you did not load a character into the game, Ashley will be present if you started off with a male character, whilst Kaiden will be present if you started off with a female character. The character you let romanced in Mass Effect 1 will be present if you imported a character. Now, you finally get control of Shepard, and your goal is to find out where Joker is. He is refusing to leave the ship, and it is your goal to rescue him to a shuttle. Move up the Normandy, and no, you can't get hurt, and you will need to move into the kinetic barrier to help Joker. Talk to him, and watch the cutscene. When it is all over, Shepard appears to be dead, for now anyway. After the commencement of the Lazarus Project, you get to name your character so you can do that now. With that, you can then choose a quick-start character which will be the default soldier class, or you can move and select your own custom character, allowing you to choose classes. Below in the next section are the classes. After that, you can choose the background of your Shepard, and they are the same from the First Game. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [2.02] Classes The Classes are the same from the first game, so nothing has really changed from the previous game to this. However, there are some new abilities that you might want to watch out for. ********* *Soldier* ********* The Soldier is the best of the best when it comes to battle, they can use powerful power types, which are their special powers, most of the weaponry in the game, and they can use all the special ammo types in the game as well, which makes them the best you can have when it comes to terms in combat. However, with this, they will lack some ability in terms of playing smart and outsmarting the enemy, relying on brute force to do the trick rather than outsmart the enemy, so you will need to be able to compensate for that with some decent combat skills. And with the controls of shooting the best that an RPG game has seen, making it FPS-esque, you will be in for a treat. Power Training - Adrenaline Rush Concussive Shot Weapon Training - Assault Rifles Sniper Rifles Shotgun Heavy Pistol Ammo Training - Incendiary Cyro Disruptor ********** *Engineer* ********** The Engineer relies less on pure combat abilities, rather, they will use combat drones and machines to do the work for them. They will have the basics in terms of combat, but what they will have is the ability to use machinery to their advantage, so you will need to think fast and be on your feet. The best thing about Engineers is that they will be able to take on opponents with shield defences with absolute ease. They will be able to go past their shields and using their drones, able to defeat an enemy with ruthless efficiency. However, take note, whilst you are able to take down their defences, you still need to be able to take them down. Power Training - Overload Combat Drone Incinerate AI Hacking Cyro Blast Weapon Training - Sub-Machine Gun Heavy Pistol ******* *Adept* ******* The Adept does not rely on combat or technology, but the power of the mind to do the work for them. Manipulating their surroundings to defeat the enemy is what they do best. Whilst you have your Soldiers to destroy things with their guns, or the Engineers to destroy things with their little drones, you will be able to destroy things with your mind. The ability to throw an enemy into the air without even firing a shot, simply by focusing your mind is no doubt an awesome ability, however, even though you are adept at making the surroundings of an enemy uncomfortable to say the least, you still need to be able to defend yourself, so make sure that you are able to. Power Training - Singularity Warp Throw Pull Shockwave Weapon Training - Sub-Machine Gun Heavy Pistol ************* *Infiltrator* ************* The Infiltrator is the master of the Soldier and the Engineer classes, it is the cross-breed between the two. You aren't as good as a Soldier in terms of shooting things, and not as good as an Engineer at hacking things, but you are able to take on both duties with relative comfort. The good thing about the infiltrator this time is this. Invisiblity. Yes, they are able to use cloaking for a limited time, allowing you to be invisible to other people. This, in the middle of combat, it extremely useful. They are also able to use tech powers to disable their enemies, and their prowess in weaponry makes them useful in finishing off the disabled enemies. They are truly a class to be feared. Power Training - Tactical Cloak Incinerate AI Hacking Weapon Training - Sniper Rifle Heavy Pistol Sub-Machine Gun Ammo Training - Cyro Disruptor ********** *Sentinel* ********** A deadly combination of the Engineer and the Adept, this little guy will be more than enough to blast a hole through the enemy. They will be best used as a support class, with their ability to disable defences and disable the enemies themselves, this gives them the ability to support their teammates whilst they blast them to smithereens. What they lack in offence, they will make up for in defence. They will have access to the best armour in the game, tech armour, and when it is overloaded, it will stun all nearby enemies, giving you more than enough time to dispatch them with your personal weapon. This is highly useful when you are on the verge of defeat, allowing you to turn the tables. Power Training - Tech Armour Throw Warp Overload Cryo-Blast Weapon Training - Heavy Pistol Sub-Machine Gun ********** *Vanguard* ********** Like I said in the first game, this is the pure Jedi class, this is the balance between combat skills and biotic skills, allowing you to fight like a soldier and blast the enemy like an Adept. You can take them out and disable them with your powerful biotic skills, and move in close enough to use your weaponry to destroy them at close-range. The difference between the Vanguard from the first and this game is that it is more of a close range class this time, they focus more on close ranged combat than being soldier all round, which is an interesting touch but one that is interesting say the least. Power Training - Biotic Charge Pull Shockwave Weapon Training - Shotgun Heavy Pistol Sub-Machine Gun Ammo Training - Incendiary Cyro Ok, so when you ready with your class, you can move onto the background of Commander Shepard. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [2.03] Background The next part is the character's background, their background on their childhood before they joined the Alliance Military. This choice out of the three will effect a mission in the game, provide Paragon and/or Renegade points and effect how you are viewed as a character in the game. There three choices are: ******** *Spacer* ******** "Both your parents were in the Alliance Military. Your childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more than a few years. Following in your parent's footsteps, you enlisted at the age of eighteen." Paragon +2 ********** *Colonist* ********** "You were born and raised on Mindoir, a small border colony in the Attican Traverse. When you were sixteen, slavers raided Mindoir, slaughtering your family and friends. You were saved by a passing Alliance patrol and you enlisted with the military a few years later." Paragon +1 Renegade +1 *********** *Earthborn* *********** "As an Earthborn, you had a rough childhood in the slums on Earth and have a gritty edge to your personality." Renegade +2 The next part is the military history of Shepard in this case. Again, it will award Paragon and Renegade points based on your choice. This will also effect how people will view you, and this will effect the conversations with several characters. *************** *Sole Survivor* *************** "During your service, a mission you were on went horribly wrong. Trapped in an extreme survival situation, you had to overcome physical torments and psychological stress that would have broken most people. You survived while those around you fell, and now you alone is left to tell the tale." Paragon +1 Renegade +1 ********** *War Hero* ********** "Early in your military career you found yourself facing an overwhelming enemy force. You risked your own life to save your fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. Your bravery and heroism have earned you medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet." Paragon +2 ********** *Ruthless* ********** "Throughout your military career, you have held fast to one basic rule: get the job done. You've been called cold, calculating, and brutal. Your reputation for ruthless efficiency makes your fellow soldiers wary of you. But when failure is not an option, the military always goes to you first." Renegade +2 When you are done with this, you can confirm your choices and accept it. With background, be careful, this will determine some of the missions that are available to you. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.01] Facility is Under Attack Well, after a premature cutscene, the facility will be under attack from hacked Mechs that are out to kill you. Don't worry, this is a training mission so really, nothing to fear. First, do as Miranda says and pick up the pistol, then the heat sink. The heat sink will be your ammo clip of sorts, it will take the heat of the pistol, allowing you to fire several shots, and then you will need to dump it as it is useless as it is overloaded. So pick it up, and you will get your first lesson on cover. Then, continue along, jumping and using cover to take out a mech. Continue forwards, and you'll enter a room, so again, take cover, and take out all the mechs that are on their way. Advance when they are all destroyed, and then move forwards, making sure you enter the room on the side for some more goodies. Moving along, you will enter a room with a Grenade Launcher, so you will need to pick it up, and equip it, firing it into the incoming mechs. After wiping them out, head downstairs using the elevator. When you head past the flames, enter the office there, and bypass security on the wall safe. Make sure you kill the sneaking mechs in the office first. Basically, the bypass security is a simple matching game. Hover your cursor above the little blue lights to see what symbol they are. When you find two that are the same, click on one, and quickly click on another before the time runs out. This will complete one section of the circuit. Complete the entire circuit to complete the check. With this, you will be able to collect the goodies inside, which in this case, is money. Also, seeing that you seem to have ample time, watch some of the logs to see what they are talking about, it seems that they are talking about Project Lazurus and you. Wow, you are that important. Anyway, move on ahead, and you meet the first new member of your team. Talk to Jacob, and he will answer some questions, but it seems that the mechs make it a bit hard, so shoot them down, using the squad command screen and playing with Biotic powers. After you headshot those mechs, you can talk to Jacob and he will answer all your questions, which basically brings you up to speed on what happens. After you have finished your little chat, you need to move into the shuttles, but Wilson directs you to the Service Tunnels. Move into the service tunnels, and take some cover as you need to take down some more Mechs. How many of them are there? Anyway, press on ahead, and there is a little room up the stairs if you want to watch another log on what happens. Move through the door. After you have saved Wilson and discovered the use of medi-gel, and taken out some mechs, you will find out who really brought you back. Cerberus, that very group that you ran into from the first game. Well, times a wasting so move on. Ahead, there is a datapad, and you will be able to hack it. With this, you will need to find the segment of code that is on the top of the screen, and using your little controls, you need to find enough segments of code to bypass the firewall. All this will do is add to your codex. Move into the main shuttle room, and it is crawling with mechs, so wipe them out, using cover. Advance forwards, and more mechs will come out, from the side room this time, and when you clear them out, enter the room for some more mini-games and some more goodies. That is always a bonus. Besides, at this point, I'm more inclined to called them Geth the Mechs, they look quite similar. Sort of like your first mission from the first game. From there, finish off the mechs, and open the door, giving Wilson a very nasty surprise. When this is all said and done, ask Miranda all the questions you want from her. After that, board the shuttle, when you get a little quiz, one from your background, and the next, who was killed when you destroyed the cloning facility on Virmire. If you created a new character, it will vary on gender, but if you imported, it will be the one you let die. After this, you land on the Cerberus facility and you meet the Illusive Man. Talk to him, and after you get more clues in what is going on in this galaxy, it seems your foes are back, the Reapers. So you will be sent to Freedom's Progress, with Miranda and Jacob to brief you in. Lets go and do this. And if you can't tell, the voice actor for the Illusive Man is Martin Sheen, yep, the guy from the West Wing. How does it feel to have a president talk you down like that? *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.02] Freedom's Progress - Investigate Colony Well, before you leave, you might as well talk to Jacob and Miranda. Well, the Ice Queen, as she was so called, is just that, and she is a little reluctant to talk to you about herself, whilst Jacob is more interesting is dishing the crap out on the Alliance. Even though they took control of the new Council, they still are the Alliance. Now, lets get the ball rolling and head to Freedom's Progress. Enter the door to offically finish the prologue mission. With that done, you will get a detail on what happened after you left the station, as well as levelling up and credits. Note that Cerberus is nice enough to give you funding as well. How interesting. AND you unlocked a new heavy weapon. Okay, give your orders, and note that your decision on the shuttle will give your Paragon and Renegade Points. Basically, you should know that Paragon is the good guy action, Renegade is the bad guy action, and these will effect your conversation abilities later on. Anyway, Cerberus will, when you land, give you weapons in all other weapon areas that your character can use, so if you can use an Assault Rifle, they'll give you one. Anyway, lets start to investigate. Move into the first building, and it does seem strange, no one is home, during dinner, guns left on the table, no signs of battle. Head through out back outside, and before you enter the next door, make sure to salvage the crates for some extra credits. You will want them later. Open the door, and what the hell? Mechs? Well, take them down, using your weapons and taking cover. And unlike the training prologue, these mechs will aim to kill, not to injure, so make sure that you're paying attention to them. Take them out, move on ahead into the house, collecting heat sinks as you go along. Inside the house is a med-kit, with medi-gel for you, useful as it is. There is also a wall safe, so bypass it for some credits. And it is a fair chunk we're talking about this time. Open the door, take out a few more mechs, and enter the building to find, quarians? Well, it looks like we have a fight, but wait, Tali is there. For those who remember, she was a Quarian that joined Shepard's team back in the first game, well, and that is the briefing for those who haven't played it. She owes Shepard her life, and now it seems like she is in charge of the search party, they are here to find Veetor, a Quarian who seems to have hacked the mechs to shoot at you. Well, for now, it is best to team up, so the Quarians detour and take out the drones, whilst you move ahead on your own path. - Find Veetor Move up ahead, and Tali will tell you to watch out for security drones. Move into the building, quickly take out that mech, and take down the wall safe for the goodies inside. Outside, the security drones will dart in, so quickly shoot down their shields to destroy them, or have Miranda or yourself use overload on them to blow them the hell up. Once you do that, Tali will radio in to tell you that her team has rushed into to find Veetor first to take them from you, against her orders. Now we have to move quickly. Enter the house, and salvage from the med-kit. Enter the building through the door, is there any other way? Move into the loading dock area, and quickly take cover, as there are drones that you will need to take out. Once you clear them out, explore the area and salvage as much as you can, before once you order your people to their waypoints, a large mech will attack. Well, the Quarians are doomed, that large mech is way too powerful for them so you will need to take cover. Take down the shields using Overload, and then take down the armour. Finally, you can take the sucker down with your weapons, but make sure to shift cover if the mech moves too close to you, a few rounds from that is more than enough to end you. This should be an easy boss fight. After you have taken it down, move on ahead and collect the Iridium that is lying there, as well as scanning the heavy weapon that you can research later. This game in terms of weaponry is vastly different from the previous. Keep looting the area for more goodies and lets move on. Move into the room to find Veetor. Once you talk to him, you can either put a bullet in his head or let him show you what really happened, which is advised. And it isn't pretty, now you know how all the human colonists have been abducted, and it isn't very nice. Collectors. Now, after this, Tali will burst in, and it is your choice on what you do, either let Veetor go with Tali or take him with force, and either decision will effect your relationship with Tali and Miranda, taking him will piss off Tali, and not taking him will annoy Miranda. But at the end of all that, you will have a talk with the Illusive Man about the Collectors. After all that, you are tasked with finding a scientist, so you need a crew, and guess who makes a comeback. Joker. He joined Cerberus after the Alliance decided to ground him after the Normandy SR1 got destroyed. However, that isn't the end of the surprises. Joker unveils the new method of space travel, the Normandy, SR2. The best of the best. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.03] Aboard the Normandy SR2 Now that you are aboard the Normandy, you will be aware of the new stations on the ship, including your new AI, as well as your Quarters, Tech Lab and all the other wonderful things that I'll go into detail for. The deck you are currently on is the Combat Information Centre, which is where most of the fun takes place. Here, you have access to the Galaxy Map, where you can orbit planets and scan them for valuable resources and play around, but that will have it's own little section when I decide to get to it. Also, next to the Galaxy Map is Yeoman Kelly Chambers, who will help you in terms of alerting you to new messages or when crew wish to speak with you. Yes, as Commander, you now get some messages from other people, some seeking your help, or offering their help, mostly for a fee. This is done through your private terminal. Also in the CIC is the Armoury, which is where you get to tinker with your weapon loadout for the next mission, and whatnot. This also allows you to seek out which heavy weapon you wish to carry. Also next to the armoury is the Tech Lab, which requires you to have a scientist before you can do any research, but that is opened up in due time. The CIC also has the Comms Room, which is where you will be able to communicate with others when you have urgent missions and whatnot. The Elevator will allow you access to the other 3 floors. On the first floor, you get access to your private quarters, where you can change what clothes your character will wear in casual and combat situations, music and another terminal. The interesting thing is that you can use your credits to purchase items for your quarters, so money does have a use other than purchasing weapons. Level 3 are the Crew Quarters, which also contain restrooms, and most of the crew quarters. Here you can talk to the Mess Sergeant, head into the Main Battery which is used in combat, the AI Core, Life Support, the Medical Centre, in which one familar doctor from Mass Effect will be present, Miranda's Office and the Observation Deck. And finally, Deck 4 will be Engineering, where you can talk to the Engineers. Now, there are three people you want to talk to, the first are the Engineers, then Doctor Chakwas and finally the Mess Sergeant. Talk to them and ask them what they want, if they want anything extra. This will unlock some side missions for you. The first, from the Engineers, requires you to head into the Omega Systems to purchase some T6-FBA Couplings. Doctor Chakwas will like some Serrice Ice Brandy, whilst the Mess Sergeant will want some fresh ingredients from the Citadel. These are your side quests which you can do at any time now. Now that all that is explained, your first goal should be to see the scientist that the Illusive Man told you about, after all, a counter against the Collector's ability to freeze you will be a good advantage in a fight that is bound to break out between you and them. So head to the Galaxy Map now. So fly to the Omega Station, and dock there. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.04] Dossier: The Professor A Batarian named Moklan seems hostile to you, seeing that you are a dead SPECTRE and you did fly into the Terminus Systems, which is beyond the control of the now destroyed Council. He demands that you head to visit Aria, the head of the station, and enter the Afterlife, where she is. Well, I do wish to find that professor first though, but helping won't kill you. - Omega: Aria T'Loak Head through the door and take the door in front of you to visit the Afterlife and visit Aria. Head on through the bar, noting that you can purchase some Serrice Ice Brandy here, and move on. Aria is quite useful, even though she is initially distrust of Shepard, but then again, he is supposed to be dead. She will give you information about Archangel, as well as the Professor, however, we need to get the Professor first, and worry about Archangel later, and by the sounds of it, he seems to be in the least amount of help. - Enter the Quarantine Zone Whilst you are here, you might as well head into Kenn's Salvage Store, you will want to go there if you want to pick up some T6-FBA Couplings for your Engineers back on the Normandy. When you are ready, you can head to the shuttle that will take you into the Quarantine Zone. The District Guard is outside talking to a human, explaining why you can't go into the area, it infects multiple species, but at this point, your team is purely human, and interestingly enough, the plague doesn't effect humans, so off you go. Paragon or Renegade your way in through the guard. Though the guard has a point when he is denying entry. "You don't have a grenade launcher lady, now get lost" Dead ahead in the Sims district is some refined Element Zero, as well as some heat sinks, so you might to want to pick up some of this free stuff before you go anywhere. Anyway, move down the corridor, and make sure to pick up the medi-gel as well as the other heat sinks before you move on. After that, enter through the door to the war zone. Dead ahead are two Blue Sun mercenaries, so you might want to take them out from a range whilst they still can't see you. Ahead there is a bank terminal which you can hack for some money, and there is a Batarian Victim that you can help as a Paragon in order to get some more information about Mordin, the Professor that you are looking for. A man who heals and kills, sounds like a Medic. Anyway, the room ahead has some heavy weapon ammo, so make sure that you have a look. The bypass door has some interesting computer logs for you to listen to. Back on the main pain, there is another door that you can bypass, leading to a data log as well as a fair amount of credits for you to play with. Okay, move on, into a large room, and there are going to be Blue Sun mercenaries everywhere, so you need to take some cover and shoot them all down, one by one. The rewards are pretty cook, you get to examine a modified assault rifle, which allows you to unlock technologies to upgrade all assault rifle damage. As well as the usual heat sinks for you. Whilst you are still downstairs, you can bypass a door that leads to an apartment with human refugees down there, where you can offer them safe passage to Mordin's Clinic. This is useful for them, and for you, as you get some points for it. And did I mention the wall safe on the wall containing a fair chunk of credits? I'm sure I did. Also, head upstairs in this area as well, it contains a medi-kit, as well as some items you can salvage for more credits. As much as you would like to save the world, you still need credits to play with. - Vorcha Territory Move on ahead through the door, and you'll enter a battlezone, and the Blue Suns are hopelessly outnumbered, so you'll be picking a massive firefight with the Vorcha. You are outnumbered, so take cover, and shoot what you can hit. Also, watch out for their warriors that will charge down the ground, which makes them a first priority when it comes to taking down targets. There are many many Vorcha behind those walls, so if you have a Sniper Rifle, things are a bit easier for you, otherwise, use your powers wisely and shoot them in the head, all of them. Don't bother advancing forwards until you have taken them all down, there are simply too many of them firing at you to do so safely. And as a reminder, remember that they have some dogs as well. After you have taken them all down and collected the heat sinks, move into the first room on the left, which you will see as you advance. Inside that room will contain some more refined Element Zero, which is good for you, and the apartment beyond contains some looters, so do what you will with them, remember, they are stealing from the dead. Okay, move on back into the main room and press forwards. If the word from the looters can be believed, there are going to be a lot of Vorcha and Blue Sun mercenaries in this area. Ahead is the clinic, so you will be safe, seeing that there are some guards protecting the little doctor. Now, we need to speak with the good doctor. Once you enter the clinic, the room opposite the room contain Morgin is important. It contains the valuable elements of Palladium and Platinum, as well as containing research on increasing the amount of medi-gel that you can carry. Make sure to pick that up. The room containin Morgin is also valuable in, well, valuables, so you might want to clean out the room before talking to him. After all, this is going to be a long fight ahead of us. Talk to him, and he will give you a lot of intel, including that he suspects that the Collectors are behind this attack, using humans as control groups. Anyway, he gives you a nice upgrade in your weaponry as well, which is useful, a new heavy pistol. Now, we need to head to the environmental plant, as well as save his assistant, of course, if he is still alive. - Cure the Plague Lets go into the environmental area, and the Vorcha are going to be your main enemies here. Move up the stairs and into the main room, and there are going to be plenty of Vorcha for you to put an end to, again, if you have access to the Sniper Rifle, it is extremely useful here. Still, you need to take them all out, so take cover, and when your allies advance, you should join them up. In this room, when you have cleared out all the Vorcha, there is a gambling station in which you can hack for money, and there is a medical station that you can take some medi-gel or salvage for. Up the stairs from this room, the path continues and there is a bank terminal which you can also hack for some money. It seems you can hack everything for money these days. Move forwards, and when you reach the two doors, the room on your left will be the room contain Daniel. He is held up by the Batarians, who think he is there to spread the virus, which isn't true. So save him, either by force or gentle persuasion. Then, deal with the Batarians. That's one job done, you still need to spread the cure. Move into the next room, and we are getting close, more Vorcha ahead. After dispatching the Vorcha opposite you on the balcony, head downstairs and before you enter the door, be careful, there is a Vorcha with a heavy weapon and he will fire it at you if he sees you, so take him out quickly. Press into the room ahead. Move forwards, not taking the stairs, and there are more Vorcha, with rocket launchers, so snipe them out, or wipe them out, just get rid of them. Now, stay on the balcony, because the Vorcha are going to stream out from the Ventilation Centre, so you will get a good position to take them out. The Blood Pack Warriors will move forwards, and if you take cover behind the balcony, they will move within range for you to shoot them in the head with a close-quarters weapon, and their armour will account for very little. This is going to be a prolonged battle, so you will need to expend your ammo carefully, well, heat sinks anyway, but there will be plenty when you wipe them all out downstairs. When you do kill them all, reload all your heat sinks, and move into the ventilation centre. Inside, there are some more Vorsha for you to get rid of, this just never ends does it. Well, after wiping them out, take over the area, and there are some items that you can salvage for some credits. Now, enter the control room. There is going to be a lot of Vorcha as well as the Krogans in this area, so you will need to take cover. There are also going to be Boom squads, so when they blow, they'll take out things around it, so use that to your advantage. Move towards the fan, and place the cure, but it won't do anything till the fans are on, so you'll need to power the fans. Move towards the first fan, taking cover and fighting your way through. This is the same for the second fan, you need to take cover, and continually fight your way through, in order to restore both fans so that they will be operational. Fight your way, making sure to check both rooms for goodies, and when you are ready, activate the second fan, and that will finish the combat mission end of this. This will send you back to Mordin, and from here, you can talk to him, and he will offer his services. This is valuable because this will unlock the Tech Lab for you, so you can do some research, which is valuable in this game. From here, you complete this mission, now for the next one. What shall it be? *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.05] Dossier: Archangel Seeing that we are still on Omega, we might as well recruit Archangel. From what Aria has told you, he is very dangerous, so you might want his help to take down the enemy that lurks ahead. First, head into the Upper Afterlife and talk to the Merc Recruiter, who will tell you information about Archangel, and what your job is, basically, you're cannon fodder. Still, that's your job. On the way out, disable the kid's gun for some extra Paragon points. When you are ready, head over to the shuttle outside the club, and fly off to your mission destination. Move on ahead, talking to the Logistics Officer for some more intel. Head into the room, and collect the datapad that is sitting on the table. Talk to Jaroth, for some intel, and a codex entry. After that, move on ahead. - Go to Sergeant Cathka Move up ahead, and take the room to your left. Besides them being a little terminal that you can hack for some money, as well as some refined Element Zero for you to take, you will be able to hack the Heavy Mech, and disable the foe identification for it, so when the mercenaries use it, it will fire on everyone, not just you. Move into the next room. Ahead in the room is Garm, the leader of the Blood Pack. Talk to him for a data entry. Other than that, move on ahead again. Move towards the main room, where they are staging their attacks. From here, hack the datapad for some credits, 6000 to be exact. Also, bypass the security on the door, that will get you some modified weapons, more money and heavy weapon ammo. And then, move into the next room, and talk to Jentha, Tarak's assistant, to get the Blue Sun codex entry. After that, you can talk to Cathka. Talk to him, and at this point, you can get the codex entry on the gunship, as well as getting a chance to kill Cathka, which is very very useful, as that eliminates the gunship as a way of attacking you, but if you want to be the good guy, you can always leave the gunship there, and have Cathka fly it against you, your choice. Now, make your way over the bridge, taking out the freelancers. This is simple at first, seeing that have their back to you, but they will take cover and shoot at you, and you do need to rescue Archangel. But they are quite easy to kill, compared to other enemies you have faced. Wipe them out, and loot the building, there is a lot of valuables, such as items to upgrade and credits. - Hold Your Position This is going to be a defend the fort style of play. You need to take cover, and shoot at all that is going to be coming into your building. This is easy, you have a high vantage point, so with your guns, you have a wide space to headshot all your enemies, which gives you an advantage. If enemies get past your position, Garrus, will inform you that where they are, be it in the building or past the stairs. Either way, you need to protect him at all costs, he is valuable. Whilst you are walking, make sure that you take the medi-kit as well as the rifles that are in the room Garrus was holed up in. The far side of the room has a footlocker with 2000 credits in it. After you have taken down the first wave, Jaroth will come along with his mech. This is easy if you have already taken down the mech by hacking it. It will fire on the Eclipse troopers first, so you might want to take them all out, and leave the mech for last. Jaroth will be the boss for now, so you will need to take him out, and a few shots to the head will be more than enough to do the trick. After you have taken down Jaroth, talk to Garrus. - The Emergency Shutters Well, you need to head into the basement and shut the shutters, because the enemy is getting in. The Blood Pack are making their move. I suggest that you leave one of your team with Garrus, that will slow down the amount of damage that he will take on the mission, which gives you more time. Head into the basement, and you'll need to fight your way to the controls. Move ahead, take cover, and shoot all those that come near. With that, move ahead and use the shutters, shooting those who get too close, because if they get too close, the shutters won't close, and then you'll be in some sort of strife. You need to do this to the main room, and there are two more rooms on the side. Do not bother taking them out for fun, there will just be more and more of them, so fight your way forward, use the shutter, defend the area under the shutter for 10 seconds, and move on. Once you have taken down all three, you'll head back. This time, you will need to fight Garm. You'll be downstairs, so take out the forces there, and from there, you need to fight your way up. Garm is going to be engaging Garrus, so you will need to move quickly. Since this is close range, use your best weapon and headshot him a few times, he has a few layers of defence, which makes things a bit tougher, but it still needs to be done. After you have taken down Garm, talk to Garrus yet again. Two mercenary groups down, one more to go, the Blue Suns. - Tarak Well, here he comes in his helicopter. If you killed Cathka, it will be easier to destroy the gunship, but you still need to get rid of it none the less. First, he will drop down some troops, so take cover, and fire at the troops, consisting of Legionaires, Centurions and normal Troopers. Jentha will be in the first wave. After that, the second wave will attack from the ground, so either take them down from the balcony behind or use the doorway to the holding room as a chokepoint for their troops. After that, you need to take down the gunship itself. You need to shoot the cockpit of the gunship, and I'm sure you all know where that is. It only consists of armour, so you need to damage that armour, and quickly. Make sure that you take cover, the missiles and ammo that it fires at you will make mince meat out of you if you don't take cover. Take the gunship down, however you want to do it, and after that, you will finish the mission. Garrus looks to be in bad shape, but he'll pull through. With this mission completed, you will now be able to talk to Garrus who is located in the Main Battery. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.06] Dossier: The Warlord The Warlord, or the Krogan that you are meant to recruit is found in the Imir System, on planet Korlus, so let us make a visit and find out what's going on down there. Well, once you land there, you already are off to a poor start, giving you are trying to find someone on a battlefield. - Infiltrate Compound Well, we are going to take a lot of cover during this mission. Move up ahead and there is an observation outpost of some Blue Sun mercenaries, so you might as well take them out. Past them, there will be a wounded merc, so you have the chance to give him some medi-gel, and with that, he will be far more willing to talk. It seems like there is going to be a lot of Krogan on this battle, so up ahead we go. There are going to be more observation outposts, not too hard, they normally come in pairs, but keep an eye on your ammo. Medi-kits are dispersed here and there, so make sure to keep your supplies up. Ahead is the fort, and there is quite a number of mercenaries there, so you will want to take cover, because they will not be afraid to employ heavy weapons on your team. So take them out from a distance, and the move on ahead to help the tank-bred krogan take out the rest of the mercs. - Find the lab After you have had a chat with the Krogan, he will open the door for you, so you can progress. Do so, and make sure to take those credits off the dead merc, he won't be needing them anymore. Move onwards, and around the corner, some fleeing mercs will engage you, and you are without cover, so quickly wipe them out. In the maze ahead, there are going to be a lot of the krogan heavies, they are powerful, with a lot of health and armour to boot, so you really want to use your tech and biotic powers here from cover, as well as making as many headshots as you can. There will be a fair amount of them, so take cover and take them out, one by one. Move past the maze, collecting the Platinum as you move along, and bypass the door security. There are some power cells you can loot, medi-kits and upgrades for your sniper rifle here, whilst through that door is some more combat with the Mercenaries. This is going to be one long fight. And we still haven't found the lab yet. After you've taken out those opposite, keep moving towards that door, and you'll need to take cover because there are more Blue Sun mercenaries on the opposite side, and this time, they are packing more heat, but nothing a few shots in the head can't handle. Kill all of them, take all the heat sinks that you need, take the PDA, and move through the door. Through that door and upstairs, there are more Blue Sun mercenaries, but don't worry, there is plenty of cover for you to take, however, you need to start being more cautious, because they are going to use more and more heavy weapons, in particular, missile launchers against you, and that there are going to be more Legionaire, Centurions and Heavies tossed at you, rather than the basic trooper. Push forwards till you get to the door. Don't enter it just yet, beyond it there is a little PDA that you can hack for a cool 4000 credits, so it is some money to play with later on. Through the door and up the stairs, there is going to be even more fighting but the hard thing is that there are now two paths that you can fight on, the higher path will normally contain more enemies, but it gives you a very clear overhead position to take out enemies below, whilst below has the converse, fewer enemies, but less a worse overall position. When you are done killing the mercs on this floor, move through the door on the far end of the area. Open the door, hack the terminal for some more credits, and the medi-kit and finally, enter the last door to find Okeer, as well as bypassing the lab terminal for another upgrade. Finally, talk to Okeer. - Kill Jedore Well, he is willing to help you if you manage to save his prototype, so you will need to kill Jedore before she can destroy his prototype. Although it really is a race against time, there is no real hurry here, so you can take your time. Move through the doors to the main fight room, and here, there are going to be Krogans to face first. You want to eliminate them first, because they will come close to you and pose a threat, so eliminate them. Jedore will be behind cover, and she will be firing a lot of missiles at you, so take her from a distance. I recommend sniping her, purely because that is the most effective way to go. But after you have taken her down, she isn't finished yet, there is a mech that you need to face, but the best way to attack is from the side, because it normally stays still and motionless, facing the front, so from the side, you have clear access and no threat to yourself to take it down. After that is down, you need to head back to the labs, something is wrong with Okeer. Now, head back and play with the console. Okeer is dead. But his little pet toy is now. However, once you get back to the Normandy, it is up to you what you want to do with it. I suggest that you should release it, it gives you another party member, and once with a hell of a lot of kick to it. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.07] Dossier: The Convict The Convict is a biotic that you can recruit for your mission, found on the Prison Ship Purgatory in the Hourglass Nebula. Landing on the ship, you are greeted by a Prison guard who deems that you should hand over your weapons. Not going to happen. - Go to Outprocessing Talk to the Warden, get the Codex off him, and he will tell you to head off to Outprofessing. This seems far too easy. Move down the hallway, and you can stop the guards beating up a prisoner, for some paragon points of your own, or some renegade points. Down the hall, you can talk to some prisoners, before heading off to the Outprocessing wing. Once you move to outprocessing, things change. - Get to Cyro It turns out that Jack wasn't there, and the Warden wants to keep you for ransom money. More valuable as a prisoner than not. So you need to take some cover and face what the Blue Suns will throw at you. Clear out those who decide to enter the outprocessing wing, and when it is clear, finish off those and enter the Supermax wing. Get rid of the technician, loot the room, and release Jack. Well, at least we know SHE can handle those mechs on her own, and she will be on a massive rampage. You need to find her. When you head down, scan the mech that has fallen for some damage protection upgrades that you can research. - Find Jack Into the room ahead, there is a massive fight between the mercenaries, the YMIR mech and the prisoners, and neither are winning. Odds are, in the end, the Mech will win and you are left to take down the Mech. This room is containing goodies. There is a PDA on a dead guard in this room, past the balcony next to the exit door and there is a shotgun you can scan for more upgrades. Move past the interim room, and into the next big room, and again, there is going to be a lot of enemies in here, another YMIR mech to contend with, so you will need to take some cover. As a reminder, the mechs aren't hard to take down, shoot down the shields, then headshot the weaker armour and health bars. There are enemies en masse here, but taking cover cleverly and shooting when you have the chance to kill, then you will be able to survive. Move past all of them into the next small room, taking some goodies from the wall safe as well. Now, you need to take down the Warden. He is protected by three shield generators, but that is nothing your weapons cannot fix. Just get rid of those generatoes, and take some cover. There will be some more Blue Sun mercenaries, but that is nothing you cannot take care of. The Warden is nothing your weapons haven't met before, three layers of defences, shield, armour and health, a few good shots can take care of him, and finally, you get Jack on your side. She doesn't seem to like Cerberus all that much though. With all this done, all the Dossier missions, you will be needing to talk to the Illusive Man, well, you have to talk to him, after all, you can't do anything until you talk to him. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.08] Horizon Your former crewmate will be here, either Kaiden or Ashley, depending on your gender or who you saved from the previous game. However, the colony is under attack, and you are here to help out in any way possible. Mordin's upgrade makes you invulnerable to the seeker swarms, so we are going to be facing the real threat here, the Collectors. Ahead, it will be your first encounter with the collectors. They will have a biotic shield as well as a health bar, but they aren't nothing that you haven't faced before. You've faced harder fights, and just to help you, there are explosive containers everywhere. Move on ahead after you have taken them down, hacking the datapad nearby for 6000 credits. In the area ahead, near the colony itself, there is going to be a firefight with various collectors and what is very interesting, husks that are developed from Reaper technology, only confirming that the collectors are working with the Reapers. Okay, take them down, it shouldn't be that hard, and explore the area. There is a datapad inside the building here that has more credits for you, and the dead collector will give you something to research once back on the Normandy, well, it's nice to know we will be back. Examine the husk, and it is a little, different than those you had in the first game. Well, it means that the colonists are still alive. And you need to save them. Ahead is another set of collectors that you need to fight, and they aren't hard to defeat, if you can find some cover. Other than that, it is a standard bar fight. Defeat them, and loot the houses for credits and supplies. In the next area, the room above the statis prisoner will have a computer you can hack, so make sure you do that. Then, move along and take the Particle Beam, which is an interesting weapon because it is a heavy weapon to play with. With some ammo for you as well. Ahead, you will be facing a tough fight. There are going to be collectors, that is a given, but Harbinger will be assuming control of the collectors, which will turn their biotic shields and health bars into that of a shield and armour bar. It actually makes it easier for you somewhat, but you still need to take them all out. Loot the area, and when you are done, you can enter the door after you bypass it. - Investigate Tower Bypass it, and talk to the Mechanic to see what you have to do next. You will need to head to the Spaceport, on the opposite side of the colony, great. Loot the area and move on, and that's where all the colectors are hiding. There is going to be a fight here, there are more Husks, collectors, a Scion, and Harbing is assuming control again. You have cover, use it. The good thing is, Scion is a slow target, and Harbinger is targeting, so your teammates will be able to wreck some real pain on your enemies. Okay, after clearing up all the enemies here, make sure to collect the data from the dead collector ahead of you on the right. It will give the biotic damage upgrade for you to play around with. There are some power cells for heavy weapons on the left, and up above, there are some credits on the computer. When you are ready, bypass the door. There is going to be two scions here, as well as many geth husks, so it will be quite easy to lose your teammates here, but as long as you're still alive, that is what counts. Take cover, and don't worry about the scions, they may have a lot of armour, but they are slow, and you can run behind cover to avoid their devastating attack. But after you have taken down the husks, it is relatively downhill from here so you can finish them off. After that, investigate the area. Well, that is the easy part. When you are ready and have looted everything, fix up the computer. Remember where the med-kit is in this area. It will be important. The Collectors are coming, and Harbinger is coming back. You will need to be where the med-kit is, that is the best defensive position on the level, and when you have defeated the wave, only run out to collect heat sinks for more weaponry. After you have defeated the collector waves, the Praetorian will fly in. This bastard is tough. He has a lot of armour, so your weapons will have a tough time, and he will constantly dive to the ground to stun you, and also raise a barrier for himself. This makes it harder for you to shoot him down. Your teammates will be a liability here, you need to run in behind the crates, taking shots at him with your powers and weaponry, and then runing away when he gets close. It is a cat and mouse game, but slowly, you will wear him down, and keep an eye out for the heat sinks, you will definitely need them on this level, your ammo usage will be heavy to say the least. After that, the cannons will shoot and off goes the Collectors. Now, the person you saved on Virmire, Ashley or Kaiden, will come out, and have a talk with you, and they aren't happy you've joined Cerberus. So much for old times. Well, at least you have your current crew. Now, a talk with the Illusive Man. Now, the game gets more interesting. You have loyalty missions to complete as well as three more dossiers. Interesting. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.09] Dossier: The Assassin When you land on Illium, you will be sent to Liara T'Soni, and you can get the whereabouts of Thane, the assassin from her. She directs you to speak with someone from the shipping area by the name of Seryna, so go ahead and talk to her. She tells you that your assassin has been sent to take out someone really powerful, by the name of Nassana. Well, she is also guarded by some Eclipse mercenaries. Well, how many mercenaries have we killed up to this date? Too many. Well, Seryna can get you to where the hit is going to take place, so get ready to rock and roll. - Climb the Tower Well, once you land, you will be greeted by some Mechs. Well, that makes it a easy showdown, but take them down quick, there isn't much in terms of cover out here. Take them out, move up ahead. The room to your left will contain a med-station and credits for you to hack, so clear that room before entering the next room to the right. In that room is a salarian worker. He will mention that he is in pain, and at the cost of some medi-gel, you can get some information, well, nothing we don't already know, lots of mercs to fight, but the paragon points are a nice touch. In the next room, it is full of Eclipse mercenaries, primarily troopers and vanguards, as well as a fair amount of mechs to face. The mechs are going to be very easy to take down, you have taken down so many already, but the vanguards are going to be a bit toughter, with barriers and biotics to play with, they are hard to take down. Otherwise, fight your way all the way to the door. Through the next door and loot the area, and you will notice the handiwork of your assassin, falling mercs. I'm surprised he didn't break into bits and pieces. Anyway, take the medi-gel and the heat sinks, and lets press on. Well, there is going to be another firefight, so there are going to be more mechs, vanguards and troopers to worry about. And this is only the start of the mission. I hope you get used to taking cover, because that is about the only safe way of taking down biotics without suffering heavy losses. Take down all the mercs to the elevator, and then, do some exploring. Past the elevator is a door you can bypass to save some more workers, who give you the same intel on Nassana. No real help, but there is a medi-kit in the room, as well as a secure terminal for credits. Past that room, there is another terminal you can hack, and most importantly, the Viper sniper rifle, that can replace your normal sniper rifle. Make sure you pick that up if you ever use a sniper rifle. After you have taken that, head up the elevator. Well, not quite, a bounty hunter and 2 Eclipse engineers pop out so you need to wipe them out. Aim for the Krogan bounty hunter first, with 3 bars of health, you need more than a few headshots to bring that sucker down. Then, finally, use the elevator. - Find the Bridge Well, what you want to do with that trooper is up to you, I let him live, well, I've already killed so many of his buddies anyway, doesn't make much of a difference, survivor's guilt and all. Lets move on. Ahead of you, in front of the elevator, is a datapad for a side quest, pick it up, you will want that later on. Lets go through those doors. The mercenaries will be facing their back towards you, so take some cover, and quickly eliminate them, before more backup turns up. Well, when they do, eliminate them from the picture. When they are gone, bypass the door on the side, you will save some more workers, as well as there being a medi-kit and 6000 credits on the dead merc's pda. Move on ahead, and you are getting close to the bridge. You need to move and if you want, you can change your weapons loadout if you don't like your current outfit. Move on ahead and get to the narrow alleyway. It seems that Thane has already slipped past them, and they will be facing their back towards you, making your life that much easier to face and defeat them all. However, don't take it that easy, the opposition will consist of an asari commando as well as the usual vanguards and mechs. Take them down, and near the bridge is a dead merc, with 12000 credits in his pda. Take that, he won't need it anymore. As well as that, you get an SMG damage scan, medkits and some heat sinks. Fighting on the bridge is going to be hard, the wind will mess up your aim, so you will need to learn to compensate for that. Fighting your way across the bridge won't be easy. There will be plenty of mercs guarding the bridge, and you need to take out the two rocket drones on the other side, that will fire plenty of rockets into your positions. Better to go to close range and overload them to death. Otherwise, take cover, which is plentiful, and take down all the mercs. Biotics will be a nightmare to face against, but you will need to face them. Head up the stairs, destroy the asari commando, and move through the door. Warning, the commando is using a shotgun, which will shred your shields at close range, so do be careful. Open the door, and you'll find the target, and watch the assassin do his little thing. Well, he is efficient, and very strange. Anyway, that will wrap up this mission, so you'll be back on the Normandy. With this dossier done, Mordin will have a favour that he will ask of you. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.10] Dossier: The Justicar The next mission is to recruit the Justicar, also found on Illium. For this, you will need to talk to Liara, who recommends that you speak with Officer Dara who will give you the whereabouts of the Justicar, and when you are ready, you can take the taxi there. When you get there, is appears a murder took place, so you will need to talk to the people involved. The Volus seems not too broken up that his partner got murdered, so head inside the police station. Aside from the medi-kit, talk to the detective, who will eventually let you into the crime scene. Head into the crime scene, and officers there tell you to watch your back, they're waiting for backup, there are going to be more Eclipse mercenaries there. Great, another body count. Ahead in the room, you can upload some shipping details to someone, well, it's a side quest, more on that in the respective side-quest section. Salvage some circuit boards and continue on the main path. There is a little meeting here, be sure to make the most out of your crashing skills. Take them down and move on. Anyway, move into the next room, to see the cutscene, and well, we are back at the spaceport. We need to talk with that Volus Pitne For since he may know how to get into the Eclipse base. - Attack Eclipse Hideout Well, he does know something, and he will give you the access card to the base in the corner, so lets head in there. Well, time to face some more biotic mercenaries. Well, take the elevator down. Straight away, a mech is hiding there. There isn't a problem. What's through that door I wonder. Well, through that door the toxic canister goes off, and EDI gives you a heads up on the chemical. You want as little exposure as possible. So, lets move on into the next room, taking cover, taking out the troopers and vanguards without tripping those canisters. Wipe them out, and move into the interim room ahead, with a new shotgun for you to play with. In the first room, there is a mercenary in training in there, and you can talk to her, either killing her for renegade points, or letting her walk for some paragon points. When you are done with her, you can loot some heavy weapon ammo, and there is a biotic damage upgrade there on the terminal. Lets move upstairs now. Well, there are going to be more mercenaries in that room, more vanguards to crush. Well, that isn't that hard, anyone can do that. Take them out of the picture, and then enter the room, hacking the Eclipse terminal for money and collecting the medi-gel. Upstairs yet again, and more mercenaries that you need to wipe out. This keeps getting easier and easier. Move on, collecting more medi-gel as well as getting 6000 credits from the Eclipse terminal that just happens to be lying there. Into the next room, more mercenaries, this is turning out to be more of a cleaning out mission than anything else. Wipe them out, though there are more mercenaries at a distance, so someone with a sniper rifle will be needed here to take them out quickly. More biotics, and there are more toxic canisters here, so keep an eye out on that toxicity level. Enter the next room, to head a data log file, which would be an interesting gauge on past actions, as well as some goodies that you can loot. Well, there is a story you can tell the Detective when you come back. Into the next area, and it's an open area. More mechs for you to face, except your cover isn't very, permanent, mostly fragile crates. You want to move to cover quickly, the problem is, that gunship that you've seen earlier, well, it is coming back, and with a vengence. Well, to take it down, you will need to do what happened back when you save Garrus, you need to shoot the cockpit. First, take a lot of cover, and use accurate weaponry to take it down. You will probably want to use a sniper rifle or the heavy hand cannons. Take down that heli, and then, bypass the door to move into it to continue further. In the room ahead, there is some interesting shipping information, as well as a terminal. Take them both, the former for a side-quest, and lets move into the next room. Well, there is someone interesting, a volus. It seems that he has some delusions that he is a god. Well, he isn't, so you can either send him to fight the leader of the mercenaries in the next room, or you can force him to sleep. Either way, time to face the music. Well, the biotic Captain is going to be hard, but the hard thing is trying to avoid all those toxic canisters that are there. Either way, she is a boss that you will have to face, but really, nothing you haven't seen before. There are going to be some other troopers, but they are easy to take care of. After all that, hack the terminal, and take the datapad for the information you are looking for. After that, Samara joins the team and you can leave when you tie up the loose ends. After completing the second of the dossiers, Grunt will have his loyalty mission up for you to complete. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.11] Collector Ship This quest appears normally after you have 6 members on your team. That or you complete 2 dossier missions after Horizon. After doing several quests, you will get a message from the Illusive man, and you will be able to land on a Collector Ship. Well, it seems that you have to go, after all, he is blocking your galaxy map somewhat. It seems that this is the very same ship that was found on Horizon, so when the Turians came along to shoot at it, it was already buttered up for them. With this, you will move into the control room, and you get an upgrade, with three to choose from. You can choose either training in another weapon, which may be useful if you don't have access to many weapons, or you can get the M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle, which you can give to a Geth soldier later on. It is your choice. Keep moving forwards on the Collector's ship, and from here, you will be able to salvage more technology for credits. In the control terminal, you can get the Damage Protection upgrade as well. This is too quiet. And it won't be for too much longer. Pressing further, EDI will tell you that this was the ship that was used to destroy the Normandy SR1, so this ship has been dogging you for that long. It seems that we need to be a lot more careful, it is highly unlikely that such a valuable ship is unprotected. Move forwards to the control panel, and in the words of Admiral Ackbar, It's A Trap! Well, there are the collectors and they are coming in fast. This time, they are coming with full force. This is going to be not as hard as you would imagine. If you have a sniper rifle, this is extremely easy. You can stay at the controls, and slowly take them out, with effective cover. Harbinger is back, so you will have some biotics to face, as well as some heavy weaponry, but that's about it. After that is all done, jump into the platforms to collect some more heat sinks, collecting some more heavy weapon ammo, and then, reestablish some contact with the Normandy, and the advice for the day, GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE! Well, you need to move, and now, the Collectors are hounding you all the way. You will need to do what you should do best, that is, take cover and move onwards. The most important thing to watch out for are the abominations, they will self-destruct if they come close, wiping out your shields, making you an easy target. Take them out first, then move onwards. Soon, when you get close to the end, you face another Praetorian. Not these things again. However, it will be focused on you, and without any major threat to your team, they will be able to give you a lot more cover fire and damage that bastard before it takes down too much of your health, and ammo. The Praetorian will fall once more, and head to the door. Well, it seems to shut when you get close, so EDI opens up the next one. Go through, and from there, take the credits from salvaging the technology, and the Tech Damage upgrade from the control. Lets keep moving towards the shuttle, and there are going to be husks, and a whole army of them moving towards you, so you might want to set your guns to rock and roll. Take them out, moving back if necessary, and if they come too close, don't forget you have a melee option. Back on the Normandy, and you get an option, either keep building up the team, or you can head to collect the IFF from the Reaper ship. I'm really starting to hate Jacob at the moment, I'd prefer a strong team, but it's up to you. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.12] Dossier: Tali Now, we need to recruit a former team member, and one we've already seen before. So lets get to Haestrom. You are reminded that you get entering geth territory, so you will be fighting synthetic enemies, and you will need to adjust according for this. When you land, you will be told from the loading screen that geths have strong shields, so Overload will be useful here. Also, EDI informs you that exposure to direct sunlight will damage your shields, so be careful. Note that if you complete the mission in a hardcore or insanity difficulty, you will get the Geth assault rifle at the end of this mission. Enter the room ahead, avoiding the sunlight as much as you can, and salvage what you can and open the facility doors. Inside hte facility, you will need to move into the upper area, to your right, and head up the ramp, and quickly. Shoot down the geth and advance, and to your right, there is a little inlet, that has a medical station. From there, take the ramp down, and there is a heavy pistol upgrade, so pick that up. With this obtained, keep fighting until you reach the doors on the other side. At this point, move to your right and follow the path set for you, salvaging the damaged geth there, and getting a new machine gun, the Tempest. - Find Demo Charges Okay, lets move ahead, using the Quarian radio, and you will need to find the demo charges to remove the pillar, and, you will need to fight a lot of geth to get there. The two are in the areas to your left and ahead of you from the pillar. This makes things interesting. Either way, take the one on your left and collect the demo charge there. Once you do so, you will have to face a Geth Prime, which is basically your normal 3 tier enemy, with a layer of shields, armour and health. This is quite easy. However, there are going to be more geth, so you will need to take cover because they will concentrate their fire. Their hunters are annoying and they will often bypass your teammates, which is a pain, but there is nothing you can do about that. Anyway, head to the second one, fighting more of the geth, as well as one of their destroyers. The second one, well avoiding the sunlight, you can collect with relative easy as well. With the demo charges, you need to fight a lot more geth before you can head back to the pillar to set the thing off with some explosives. When you are ready, you can plant the demo charges on the pillar, and go inside the room. Well, it is a mess, that's for sure. - Contact Quarians In the room, you can loot a few things, but scan the geth assault rifle on the table if you want to get the assault damage upgrade. When you have finishing salvaging the two geth wreckages, and bypassed the wall safe, and then colelcted the upgrade, then you can communicate with Tali, via the communications console. With that, you have orders to save Tali from the overwhelming number of geth. - Get to Tali In the field ahead, it is going to be a case of advance and shoot. There are plenty of geth recon drones here, which makes things a bit more difficult, but they are easy to kill, because they don't have a lot of health. But the real concern is the Geth Prime here, and there are several of them, which means you will need to be able to whittle down shields, armour and then some health. That isn't too bad, there is plenty of cover for you to play with, which makes things a little easier. Advance forwards, and shoot down the enemy. Once you enter the room on the other side, loot the wall safe and lift the security lockdown. Well, once you do, you see the Colossus, which is a big enemy to take down. If you can, take it down from a range, your sniper rifles and assault rifles are decent here, if you can make it work. It is far better than moving forwards and facing fire from enemy geth troops. But the bastard will repair itself. Head down to talk to the Marine captain. He gives you the intel on what is happening, and you will have three options, either take the middle, which will give you less cover against the colossus, but is the most direct. There is the right, which is the sniper perch, but there is sunlight. And there is the left, which has a lot of geth, but gives a lot of cover. So it is up to you on which method you will use to take down the bastard. Now, I suggest you take the left route, and this will get you to an area where you can fight the colossus from the side. This is important, because at this position, the colossus will not be able to repair itself, and you will be able to whittle down the health, however, there will be an infinite amount of geth soldiers moving down towards you, and that is a problem. I once had a destroyer moving closer, nothing 50 rounds from my cyro SMG couldn't handle. Anyway, take your time, and remember, armour is relatively easy to take down with the right tools. Defeat all the geth in the area, and you will be able to get to Tali. Make sure you salvage the mech at the door, for the credits, and otherwise, end the mission. And Jacob, nice to say things to insult Quarians, like talking about AIs. We just fought some of them. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.13] Reaper IFF I suggest that you complete all side mission, loyalty missions, basically, you want to have completed every single mission possible before starting this mission, because of what is going to happen after this mission, it is advised that you do it. Completing the Loyalty Missions is extremely useful later on. - Investigate the Reaper Anyway, dock with the Reaper ship, and it seems quiet. Play the logs in the room to get a new codex entry, as well as bypassing the wall safe for some money and access the terminal for money. When you move on, loot the medical stations and play the next log. - Escape the Wreck Move through the door, and well, we need to get the hell outta here, the Reaper is unstable. Play the next log and you will see that even though the Reaper is powered down, the indoctrination device on it still works, giving all kinds of issues for the Cerberus personnel. In the alleyway ahead, the geth will come crawling from the sides, and that is something you really don't want. Okay, when they are down, move on ahead and you will be told that there is a sniper taking down the husks. At that point, move into the little area with the power cells, and recharge your weapons, collecting the loot and scanning the Cerberus rifle for a sniper upgrade. Move into the big room, and you need to be careful, there are tons of husks just waiting to attack you here, so move slowly and take cover when you advance, though they just charge at you, so cover isn't all that useful. Your crowd control powers would be very useful here. Take them all out, using whatever means you need to, and with that, move towards the altar, and there, you will see the dragon's teeth, what turns a corpse into a husk. Also, there is a terminal that gives you a cybernetic upgrade, and a med kit. So collect it. Otherwise, there is a door to the right, that you can bypass to continue onwards. And through the doors you go. In this room, you meet your last possible squad member, Legion, who is really a geth machine. He has a shot to kill you but doesn't, so he can't be hostile. Move onwards in this room to investigate, avoiding the husks along the way. Advance forwards, and the husks start coming out. Move down the stairs, and retreat back up, there are going to be a ton of husks coming your way as well as a scion, so you will need to watch out. This mission is very very close quarters, so your SMG or shotgun is needed most of the time. Now, keep going, up the stairs, and to your left are some goodies that you can salvage. To the right, well, it is a massive area, and there are going to be a lot of husks. The path upstairs has some husks but a terminal for some credits, while the path downstairs has med kit, power cells, and a Cerberus shotgun you can scan for a shotgun damage upgrade. This isn't going to be fun. Move onwards, even though you are fighting swarms of husks and a scion as well. Move on ahead, and up the stairs, more husks, and now, two scions come to join the party. This just keeps getting better and better. Well, they are going to be hard, especially with the husks attacking you in melee, so you will really need to coordinate your team properly, they either take down the scions or the husks, and you will need to do the other. Move along, collecting the heat sinks, and down the stairs, again, the same deal, this time, more husks as well as the two scions. Remember, you can incinerate the explosive containers here to make a bigger boom, wiping out more enemy troops before they can get too close. Once a husk gets close, remember that you can go melee and give them a run for their money. When you are done, advance to the door, shooting down the husks there to ambush you. When you are ready, bypass the door. In this little room, loot the wall safe, and have a look at the log. Right there, is the Reaper IFF. Well, that's one thing down, lets get out of here. - Leave with IFF The door ahead leads to the Reaper's core. Once you shoot at the core, it will shut, and both sides will have husks come left, right and centre. They will be relentless, so you will need to shoot them down. When the wave is down, the core will remove it's protective coating, and you can shoot at it until it closes. At this point, dish out as much damage as you can, so you will have a easier time next round it opens. This is relentless, there are just too many husks for you to deal with. It makes me wonder how big the science team Cerberus sent in really was. Well, keep shooting and eliminate them. With that, you need to shoot at the core three times, it will normally shut down when it has loss one third of its maximum health. Other than that, it is nothing you haven't seen before. For now, it is back on the Normandy. Now, this is where it gets interesting. You have the Reaper IFF, and after one mission, the IFF will be ready on the Normandy. However, like I said before, more than one mission will not be good for you. So, you need to do one last mission, and that is Legion's Loyalty Mission. Go down and activate him. If you sold him, you can get 50000 Credits from Cerberus, but he is more useful alive than he is dead. So activate him, and when you do so, lets get one more mission before we can start the last chapter of this game. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.14] Activating the IFF When you complete your mission, next time you use the galaxy map, the whole team is loaded onto the shuttle. When you gone, the IFF is active, and with that, guess who pops up, the Collectors. They have boarded the ship, and you now play as Joker, you need to head to unlock EDI's AI core, to give her control of the ship. Why doesn't this sound like a good idea? Anyway, as Joker, follow the emergency lights. Head to Mordin's Lab, and go down the shaft. From there, follow the lights and activate the core. Then, down to Engineering. From there, wait for the collectors to move out the door, and activate the drive. Well, Shepard finds out, and well, nothing we can do. We need to move on. Upgrade the ship with the armour, weapons and shielding upgrades now. We need to head off to the Omega 4 relay, if you want to save your crew. Do another mission, and you lose the crew. So lets move. This is the last time to play around with the Normandy, so finish your upgrades, talk to your crew, then, head through the relay. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [3.15] Suicide Mission - Kill the Oculus Time to start the suicide mission. This is where you will start to see the effects of your new armour plating, the shields and the cannon. When you see the dramatic cutscene, if you did not upgrade the armour, either Jack, Jacob or Thane will be killed by that laser. When that is over, you need to head to the cargo bay to deal with the intruder. Your weapons don't need to be heavy weapons, any weapon that can shred armour, such as the assault rifle or the sniper rifle would do. When that is down, you will head into a debris field, and this is where your shields kick in. If you did not upgrade your shields, it will hit the engine core, killing either Tali or Legion. If you don't have Legion or both are busy in your squad, Thane or Garrus will be killed. Back down, finish off that Oculus once and for all. Now, this is where we use the new cannons. You will fight a collector ship, and if you don't have the new guns, a beam will kill either Tali or Legion, again, if both are in your squad or Legion isn't activated, you will have either Garrus or Thane killed instead. And both are valuable. Now, we crash land on the little base. It is time we finish this mission once and for all. Now, since we have landed, we need to make a few decisions. - Collector's Base: Infiltration - We need to send someone who is a tech expert in through the vents to open the doors. For this, you either send in Tali or Legion, depending on who is loyal to you. NEVER SEND IN TROOPS THAT ARE NOT LOYAL, THAT IS NO GOOD. If you send someone other than a loyal Tali or Legion, then they will be shot and killed. Now, we need to build up two teams, and for that, we need a leader for the second team, someone who has experience, and that means either sending in a loyal Garrus, Miranda or Jacob. Anyone else, or if they are not loyal, then they will get your tech expert killed. - Enter the Base Okay, that's a simple order, enter the base. Don't worry bout looting, this is the do or die mission. From here, you need to move forwards, until you get the next objective. - Disable the Valves Your tech specialist cannot move forwards unless you disable the valves that are in the ceiling from the bottom. Those are the heat exchanges, so you need to move forwards, removing the blockages, and keep going. When your specialist is stuck, they will slowly use their health meter, so you need to make sure that they survive. There are eight of them. There are two options for you, either run and dash past the enemies to do it, and that is the risky option, or you can move and shoot down the collectors, and risk some damage towards your specialist. This is up to you, but I rather not have enemies trying to kill me all the way. After you have finished the last valve, you will be able to see the effects of what you have done. Hopefully, everyone survived, and now, the next part. This will also determine if you have your crew saved or not, if the crew is saved, you will witness the death of a colonist, if they aren't saved, you will witness the death of Kelly Chambers. - Collector's Base - The Long Walk - Now, we need to protect ourselves from a seeker swarm, so what you will need is someone who is exceptionally skilled in Biotics to create that shield and sustain it. For this, you either use Samara/Morinth or Jack, depending on who is loyal. If they aren't loyal or it isn't one of them, one of your squad will be carried away by the Collectors. Then, you will need to have a second team leader, someone to lead a diversion team. For this, again, it is either a loyal Garrus, Miranda or Jacob. Anyone else or someone who isn't loyal will screw up and they will be killed, the leader that is. Now, you need someone to escort the crew, otherwise, they will be killed. The person you send will not be a candidate for the final battle, so pick wisely. Anyone loyal will not screw this up, however, Mordin is the best option, since this will ensure that he lives. A non-loyal crew member will be killed if you send of them. Anyway, time to fight. - Escort Biotic Specialist For this, you need to escort the biotic specialist. Do not step outside that aura that they have erected, for this will cause you to take some damage. So, follow the aura and move onwards. Now, order your specialist to move when she stops, so we can move. Now, we have a wave of collectors. They will fly in, and your specialist will stop so you can fire on them. Get rid of them, for now, only drones and a Harbinger will appear, so get rid of them, and then, move out. Dead ahead, move collectors and Harbinger will appear. This just keeps getting better and better. Take cover, and get rid of them. When they are dead, lets start moving again. Now, up the ledge, we have a real firefight, we need to take out a Scion, husks, and abominations. This is hard before the Scion will take you out from a distance with shockwave whilst husk and abominations engage you at melee. This will be hard, but there is nothing you can do about it. From there, clear out the rest of the enemies, and lets do this. - Final Battle - For the final battle, you need to bring in two members, ideally, you need to bring in two loyal members. Now, what happens is that you need to bring in the weakest members in terms of defence, Tali, Jack or Mordin. The rest of the group need to stay behind and defend. Do not take in the strong defenders, Grunt, Garrus, Zaeed, because they are too useful in defending, take the offensive units. The game will calculate the defensive value of the characters left behind, and will kill off squad members based on that value and their loyalty if your combined level is not enough. - Get to the Platform For now, this is similar to the previous platform battle, you need to take cover and shoot at the enemy. This is quite easy, each platform only sends in about 2 to 3 drones, which makes things a bit easy. Keep firing and don't relent, but don't waste your ammo like crazy, we still need it. When you finally see the last platform, get rid of the abominations fast. The good thing about the two scions is because of a glitch, they will not engage and attack until you go near them, so you can take them out with accurate fire from your abilities and weapons, and not fear them attacking you back. Activate the console so we can move onwards. - Destroy the Feeding Tubes Now, this is going to be tricky. You need to move in onto the platforms, and take out all the collectors there. Once a team member tells you to shoot the tubes, turn up and shoot it. You should be able to take two of them down in a single go, but hurry, they will shut the shutters after a quick period of time. This is very very easy, it is just defending yourself against the collectors that is hard. However, once you have taken them out, you can shoot down those 4 tubes. With Adrenaline Rush, and some skill, you can take down 2 of them at once, even 4. Otherwise, with heavy weapons, you can knock down 2 in a single go. However, stick to your least likely used weapon and abilities, you will need all the ammo for the last bit. The Reaper will fall to its apparent death, but it isn't actually dead, it's alive. - The Human-Reaper Larvae Now, we see that it is alive, and you need to target it's weak spot, the eyes of the machine. There are three eyes, and those are the best spots, or you can target the large spot on its chest, that is your decision. Now, the problem is, it will charge up for a very powerful attack, and that is something that you really don't want to face. You will want to avoid that at all costs. However, when it is charging up, it will be stationary, giving you a very very easy time to shoot it. The best weapon here is the Sniper Rifle, it is accurate, and the semi-automatic one can unleash 12 rounds on it, and best of all, it is very good against armour. The Assault Rifle isn't so bad either. Another little trick is that when it is charging its little attack in its mouth, it will be liable for damage, and that gives you a big target to aim for. However, the quickest way is to use a heavy weapon, like the M-920 Cain, and shoot for the chest, and that should make it a very easy fight. When the health of the bastard is reduced to about 25% health, then it will start to move around a bit more, but nothing is going to stop you, so keep shooting it. Collectors will attack, but your team will deal with that, so keep your fire on the Reaper. And then kill the bastard. With that, it is up to you what you want to do with the Reaper base, either destroy it or kill everyone inside to use it as a base, that is your final choice. Other than that, lets escape. Now, as long as you have surviving squad members, you will live, and you will get three possible endings. If you detonated it, the Illusive Man will be angry as hell. If you saved the base, he will be happy, and if you died, then Joker will do it for you. Then, let the credits roll. After that is all said and done, you can either continue and roam around, or you can finish and start a new game. The choice is yours Commander. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.01] Normandy Missions Side missions are missions that you do on the side, they are not essential to do, but if you do them, they give you nice rewards that will aid you greatly when you embark on your main quest, usually providing resources that aids your researching abilities. I've seperated all the missions into their location, making it easier for you. --==Normandy: Deliver Ingredients==-- Available - Immediate After Acquiring Normandy Quest Giver - Mess Sergeant, Normandy Crew Quarters Basically, the food on the Normandy is pretty damn bland, without taste, so the Mess Sergeant, who is basically the cook on the ship, will ask you to get some ingredients on the Citadel for him if you ask him if the needs anything. When you head into the Citadel, you can purchase the provisions from the Zakera Cafe, which you will find on your left after entering the Zakera Ward. You can purchase it for a total of 500 credits. When you have the items, head back to the Mess Sergeant on the Normandy to collect your experience point reward. --==Normandy: FBA Couplings==-- Available - Immediate After Acquiring Normandy Quest Giver - The Engineers, Normandy Engineering Deck When you head into the Engineering Deck, you will be able to talk to the Engineers, who want you to help them purchase some T6 Couplings that will help their job a bit easier, and they are only available from Omega, seeing that Nashan Stellar have since discontinued production of these Couplings. Therefore, head over to Omega when you are there, and you can purchase these Couplings from Kenn's Salvage Store from Omega for the cheap price of 500 Credits, and compared with items from the rest of the store, it is relatively cheap. Anyway, once you head back to the Normandy, you get to play some Poker with your Engineers, seeing that they have a bit more free time, and you'll end up winning, well, at least it covers the cost of your couplings, and they are happy as well. --==Normandy: Serrice Ice Brandy==-- Available - Immediate After Acquiring Normandy Quest Giver - Doctor Chakwas, Normandy Medical Centre When you talk to the Doctor, when you ask if she has all that she needs, she will mention that from the original Normandy, she used to keep a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy for that special occasion, which never arrived, but given the destruction of the Normandy SR1, she is missing her bottle. She doesn't ask for a bottle, but it would be nice to get her a present. To finish this quest, you need to head into the Omega Station, and through the door to the Afterlife, where there is a bar, in which, at the bar, you can purchase a bottle of brandy, Serrice Ice Brandy, for the Doctor, so you might as well do so. When you finish, you will be able to get the good doctor drunk, and as well as getting some experience points for finishing the question, you unlock some more research that you can perform once the tech lab is up and running. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.02] Omega Missions --==Omega: Archangel: Datapad Recovered==-- Available - When you do the Archangel Mission Quest Giver - Datapad on table, near Jaroth When you are on your Archangel mission, you will be able to see a datapad shortly after entering the area. Take it, and keep it, you'll want to deliver it to Aria. It seems that the mercenaries had her as the next target, and this riles her up some. Because of this, she gives you to coordinates to a cache of smuggled goods by the Eclipse gang. So you can head there when you explore the area. --==Omega: Batarian Bartender==-- Available - When you land on Omega Quest Giver - Forvan, Bartender in Lower Afterlife When you talk to Forvan, you can order a drink off him, and do so. After that, you get totally knocked out because he decided to slip something into your drink. You wake up near the Market District of Omega, and you are informed that the Batarian Bartender has an issue with humans, so any humans that order a drink off him, end up dead. You're the first one to survive. Go back and get your revenge on him. You can fight him, or take the Paragon or Renegade options. Either way, someone will take him out and eliminate him, and I can't say he didn't deserve it. When him gone, quest is over, and you get some experience. And note that a Salarian Bartender will take his place, and he is more entertaining to boot. Alternatively, if you have enough Renegade points, you can make him drink his own poison, killing him, and netting even MORE Renegade points. Or you can shoot him yourself. --==Omega: Packages for Ish==-- Available - After completing the Horizon Mission Quest Giver - Ish, on Omega Talk to Ish, who is immediately right after you enter the main area of Omega from the Normandy. He is looking for information, and you can help him by picking it up. There is one datapad in Eternity on Illium, and the other is outside Saronis on the Citadel. If you want extra lines with Ish, bring either Miranda or Jacob, as it is evident that both of them have worked with him at some time or another, when they were doing more dirty work for Cerberus no doubt. You can pick them up and get the reward from him, or you can end the mission now by convincing him, good or bad, that it is not a good idea to get the information, because it is evidence against Aria, the leader of Omega, and it is not advised to get on her bad side. Or point out that he betrayed Jacob along the way. Or you can deliver the packages to Anto, although it will net you a lower reward, but it will also eliminate Ish from the picture completely, he will, disappear. The best reward is delivering the packages, 4500 Credits and 50 experience points. Convincing him will be second, 3375 Credits, whilst turning him in to Anto will net 2250 credits. Either way, you will get your money, but the Paragon/Renegade path of asking him about the stolen data will be far easier. Well, up to you, either be delivery boy or get rid of him. --==Omega: Smuggling Quarian==-- Available - When you land on Omega Quest Giver - Kenn Kenn is a quarian workin in the store in order to get enough credits to get off the rock. And he needs 1000 more credits. You can either give him the credits that he needs, or you can talk to Harrot about the working conditions and talk to him about Kenn. You can go do that. --==Omega: The Patriarch==-- Available - When you have landed on Omega and talk to Aria Quest Giver - Grizz, in the Afterlife When you talk to Grizz, he has a mission for you from Aria, that you need to protect a Krogan called Patriarch, mainly because he can't keep his mouth shut, and now the Blood Pack Merceraries, which are Krogan, will be quite annoyed at, so you will be given the job of getting him into hiding. He is currently in a small room off the Afterlife, so you will need to find him. Find him, and he really won't take to take your advice to run off, so you will need to help him deal with the thugs. Move towards the Upper Afterlife, seeing that the Patriarch is in the Lower Afterlife, and the thugs are at the exit from the Upper Afterlife towards the Normandy. You'll automatically kill them all, so head back to Patriarch to finish that off. When you do, you can gain some more Renegade points by reminding him that he is a Krogan. If you want him to fight a glorious battle, he will enter the battle to attempt to kill his would be assassins, but he will end up failing and dying as a result, netting you more renegade points. After all that, head over to Grizz, who directs you to Aria. Although it isn't what she expected, she is glad you did the job, and shoots 3000 credits your way. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.03] Citadel Missions --==Citadel: Captain Bailey==-- Available - When you first land on the Citadel Quest Giver - Citadel Customs When you first land on the Citadel, the scanners will list you as dead, well, you were technically dead. So you need to talk to Bailey to clear that all up. The whole point is to actually talk to him, the important thing is to note how the Reaper and Geth attack has completely altered what the Citadel used to be, and what the Citadel is now. And for the sake of things, listen to the Gunnery Chief when you land. Funny stuff. He also directs you to head to the Presidium, the Council will want to know you're alive. --==Citadel: Crime in Progress==-- Available - When you land on the Citadel Quest Giver - Overhear a conversation about crime in progress on Zakera Ward Level 26, outside the Warehouse It seems that a Volus and a Quarian are having some trouble, which seems to be a problem for the C-Sec officer, who doesn't seem to like his job at the moment. Well, the least you can do is offer your assistance, but the C-Sec officer doesn't seem to be in a good mood. The first two places you can look will be the Sirta Foundation and the Ship Dealer, but both of them don't have any knowledge of this credit chit that went mission. So, go to the store inbetween, the Saronis Applications store, and Marab will tell you that he has the credit chit that Kor Tun, the Volus, left behind by accident. Go tell him, and you can then do the Paragon move and get 10 Paragon points by standing up to the C-Sec officer and the Volus for their poor demeanour. At the end, you get experience and 1000 credits. If you don't stick up for the Quarian Lia'Vael, you will get 5 paragon points for your work, if you do, you will get 10 paragon points as a result. --==Citadel: False Positives / Citadel: Forged IDs==-- Available - After you finish Garrus' Loyalty Mission Quest Giver - When you find Forged ID's during Garrus' Loyalty Mission OR Overhear conversation on Asari on couch between Level 26 and 27 Either you overhear the conversation between the Asari Kalara talking to her friend about the high security on the Citadel or you find some Forged IDs during the quest for Garrus's backstabber. Either way, you have a forged ID or you have someone who wants a forged ID, so you will need to put two and two together. You can do the long thing, and start from well, the start, and talk with her, and then it will head to the customs officer at the port, and then you'll need to find the IDs, but either way, the problem can be solved by IDs. Well, you get the usual experience points and 1000 credits for your troubles. --==Citadel: Krogan Sushi==-- Available - When you land on the Citadel Quest Giver - Kargesh, a Krogan who is heard overtalking about fish on the Presidium on Zakera Ward Level 27. Apparently, the Krogan Kargesh wants to taste some of the fish that is found in the Presidium, but of course, being Krogan, they aren't allowed up there, so you will need to go up there for them. Well, all you need to do is to talk to one of the Presidium Groundskeepers, who can be found in the Dark Star bar upstairs on Level 28. Talk to him, and he will tell you that the only fish are those that can be bought from the gift store, nothing else. So purchase them for your aquarium at home. After that, you can talk to Kargesh, and either give him the truth, which nets you some paragon points, or tell him a lie, saying that there are fish and you get some renegade points, as well as 1000 credits. I prefer lying, hate to see a Krogan cry. --==Citadel: The Council==-- Available - When you have passed Customs on the Citadel and have read the note from Admiral Anderson Quest Giver - Captain Bailey of C-Sec / Admiral Anderson When you finish the customs check, it is advised that you head to the Presidium to talk to the Council about what has happened, and what is happening now. When you head up there, you meet an old friend, Admiral, previous Captain, Anderson. He seems to be doing rather well for himself. Well, the council offically doesn't want to help you, so there is no help from them. They really don't want to know about the Reapers, no matter how true it is. So it looks like the Council is useless, again. Well, that's no surprise. Shame you didn't get rid of Udina though, he is a royal pain now. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.04] N7 Missions N7 missions are basically those on the Normandy, but labelled differently. --==N7: Abandoned Mine==-- Available - When you have access to the Minos Wastelands Quest Giver - Fire a probe into the anomaly on planet Aequitas, Fortis System Ok, we need to fight some aliens, who we are facing is unknown, so lets land on the planet. Once you land, examine the container outside for some credits, and enter the mine. Straight away, you will notice that we are dealing with husks. Interesting, so set your weapons to shred down organic targets. Continue your day down the mine, and you'll face more husks, as well as the abominations, which are basically the advanced and stronger version of husks. Just what happened here? Keep fighting, bypass a locker for some credits, and lets take out more of these husks. Fight until you reach the mine logs to see what happened. Apparently, they dug up a machine, and by the looks of it, it is one of the Reaper's indoctrination machines, and they turned themselves into husks. This isn't good. Well, we have to kill the rest of them now, we don't have much of a choice. Move into the room, and continue fighting. The problem is, the game will spawn infinite amount of husks so you will need to fire and advance into the room containing the indoctrination device. In the room, shoot the two bombs, and escape from the area. --==N7: Abandoned Research Station==-- Available - After you complete N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter Quest Giver - Land on Jarrahe Station in the Strabo System. This is an interesting quest, the research station you land on is empty and you need to escape, because the VI onboard the system has gone crazy. Looks like we need to play some shooting games again. Move into the next room and read the PDA. It looks like the VI is trying to kill them all, not a nice move. Move on ahead and restore the power to the docking area, and you can move on ahead. Looks like the main power is down, and the VI seems paranoid about infection of some kind. This looks more and more creepy as we go along. Okay, take the door on the right and move on to restore power to the living quarters. Use the console there to restore power to all the doors to move on ahead. Once all 5 doors are enabled, move through the previously locked door. Ahead, loot the personal lockers for some credits and move back to the Hub room. Back to the Hub room, take the door on the left, to the Research labs. With the power back on, you need to reposition the armour plates ahead in the lab to blow up the hub at the back, so fiddle with the computers till the testing area is destroyed. Next, back to the Hub room, is the area in front of the mainframe, the Engineering area. There are going to be plasma vents, so you will want to avoid the gas, don't worry if you teammates fall, as long as you are alive, it is all good. Turn right in order to loot some credits, and then back on the main path, avoiding the plasma vents, to restore power to Engineering. Now, back to the Hub room, you can restore the main power for the Hub Room, and access the VI, and now, shut the damn thing down. It seems that all this started with the Corsica, the ruined freighter on Neith, docked with it and left. Well, the mission is done when you shut down the VI, and you get 3750 credits and 125 experience per usual. With this, you will get the next part of the quest. --==N7: Anomalous Weather Detected==-- Available - After you have access to the Pylos Nebula Quest Giver - Find the Anomaly on Canalus, Dirada Systen, Pylos Nebula Well, it appears that there is some Geth activity on this planet when you land, so lets have a little look on this planet. Well, when you land, the area behind you will have some palladium on it, but the problem with this mission is that there is very, very low visibility. It is nearly impossible to see very far. So when you move towards the geth, you are constantly have to take some cover, take some steady aim, and see if the geth pop up on your screen, which allows you to quickly get rid of them before you get shot. Well, move ahead, and make sure you collect the palladium dumps along the way. Well, the geth here are nothing special, just apply your normal methods of disposing of mechs and you'll be set. What you do need to look out for are the hunters, they can cloak on you, but you can see their outline. Anyway, move all the way to the end to complete this mission. You will get a Damage Protection upgrade for yourself, and 7500 credits from Cerberus. --==N7: Archeological Dig Site==-- Available - After you have access to Jacob's Loyalty Mission Quest Giver - Anomaly on Joab, Enoch, Rosetta Nebula There appears to be some Blue Sun activity on this planet, so let us have a little look on what is going on. Well, when you land, a suspicious Batarian will run back inside, so you need to head in and retrieve an artifact. Well, soon, the Blue Sun mercenaries will storm out, so you will need cover and a long range weapon to take them out effectively. When they are down, you can move to your left, and retrieve 2 boxes of element zero. With that, you can move through the door. Enter the main room and prepare for a firefight on two fronts. The door in front of you will have a fair amount of Blue Suns troops firing at you, and when they are done, more will be coming from the area above. When they are down, investigate the area, for a personal locker, containing credits, a medi-kit, as well as the computer terminal. That has some details on this mission, it seems ExoGeni is involved. For those not clued in, they were the ones playing with the Thorian back on Feros in the first Mass Effect game. When done, enter the room on the side for a foot locket containing more credits, and when done, follow the path up, then down the ramp, then through the door. Move ahead, kill the remaining troops inside, and collect the element zero, reading the PDA along the way. For this, you need to find the MSV Strontium Mule, which is carrying the artifact. Move into the room ahead, and access the Prothean video log, and that will complete the mission. For those who remember, the flash that Shepard gets is very similar to the one that he gets when he touched the beacon on Eden Prime, in the first game. Only difference, he sees a prothean at the end. The next mission is the MSV Strontium Mule, in the Omega System. --==N7: Blood Pack Base==-- Available - After you have completed the N7: Blood Pack Communications Relay Quest Giver - Completing the above mission You first need to have a map to the Shrike Abyssal, well, land on the planet when you are ready. Land on the planet, collecting the palladium when you go on, and then, you'll get into a fight with some vorcha. They are quite annoying, but you have a clear height advantage, which you can use to turn into headshots. From there, keep following along the path. Keep going down the path, it is all vorcha here, until you reach the main room, in which you will see a krogan, at last. Well, he won't last very long anyway. Shoot him down, kill him, and that should be it for enemies. From here, shoot all 4 containment cells, and then leave the room, and that should wrap up the mission. You get the usual 7500 credits from Cerberus, as well as a heavy weapon ammo research and finally, well, experience. --==N7: Blood Pack Communications Relay==-- Available - After you have completed Horizon Quest Giver - Anomaly on Tarith, Lasarn, Cresent Nebula It appears that there is some Blood Pack mercenary activity on the planet, so lets go down to have a look. Well, move to the first beacon site, so activate it, and use that as a guide to where you will need to go next. As such, keep activating all the beacons that you will see so you can have a set path to follow. Be careful, there aren't any mercenaries on the path, but there are some native wildlife, that will explode when they run out of health. These Klixen look ugly as well. Well, keep following the path, you can take the side trails, they often lead to some Platinum that you can take. After the long winding path, you will reach the relay, and the boss is there, and well, they probably got ditched, after you see the little gunship fly off. Well, take them out. This will lead you to another mission, one where you get to take on the Blood Pack, in force. But still, you get the standard credits for this mission, overall 7500 credits, as well as 125 experience points. --==N7: Blue Suns Base==-- Available - After you have completed N7: MSV Strontium Mule Quest Giver - That above mission. Lets land on the planet that we are told to land. Well, lets roll. Land and they know we're here. So we need to eliminate them as quick as possible. There is plenty of cover, so use it to eliminate them. This should be easy. Lets move inside when we're done. Well, it is a massive firefight, that's for sure. Take cover behind the glass and shoot back. With the height advantage, it makes your life a little easier. When they are all killed, the room to your right will be the living quarters, so head in there and have a look around, and it will have a wall safe containing some credits for you to borrow. Back on the main path, it seems we need to go for a little nature walk. Collect the Iridium and move through the door. Well, in this room, there are going to be 2 YMIR mechs here, and whist your teammates will go down pretty quick, you can play this carefully and lure them to the explosive crates and overload them them. Otherwise, they are nothing you haven't fought before. After you take the two mechs down, the rest of the troopers come along and fight. The Captain himself will come down for a little party. At this time, shoot them all, and quickly. Now, when all those little troopers out of the way, lets clear out the rooms. The room on the left will have a wall safe with some credits, and the room on the right has a log of their activity. When you are done, head into the main room, bypassing the door, and finish this mission off once and for all. --==N7: Captured Mining Facility==-- Available - After you have completed Horizon Quest Giver - Anomaly on Helyme, Zelene, Cresent Nebula. There appears to be Eclipse activity in this mining facility, so we will need to go down there to have a look. Have a look at the cargo computer to see what we are dealing with. Not much information. This is going to be interesting. Enter the room to start a fight with the Eclipse mercenaries in this area. Now for the standard fight and move forward routine. Loot the area, and when you are ready, bypass the door to continue for this mission. Fight your way through the platform area, and from here, you will need to get to the mainframe and hack it. It will take some time to decrypt the machine, so you'll need to defend against the Eclipse soldiers. Keep up the fight, they will start sending in more Vanguards and their Captain at you, but with a good cover position, and some snipers to cover you, you should be able to defend yourself against all that they will throw at you. When that is done, you will get 7500 credits. That is from the field. Cerberus will funnel another 7500 to you after you complete the mission. --==N7: Eclipse Smuggling Depot==-- Available - After you complete the Archangel Mission Quest Giver - Aria on Omega if you complete the Datapad quest. When you land, you will see that you are going to be greeted by some Heavy Mechs, the YMIR type, but they aren't going to start by firing at you first, they are going to target the crates first, to destroy their cache first. Basically, the rule is that you have 20 boxes that you want to save, but the catch is, the mechs are going to start working on it. So you will want to take them out before they destroy all the boxes. Each box is worth, at the end, about 175 credits each, so its a fair chunk of money at the end. The best way to take out the mechs is to have some upgraded weapons, in particular, an upgraded sniper rifle for headshot damage. First, use your tech powers to overload the shields, then, headshot it to destroy the armour and the health of the mech, which will eliminate it. There are going to be three of them, but they will not come after you till you start firing on it, they will be too busy destroying evidence. Unless you use heavy weapons profusely, you will not be able to save more than 10, but are those small chunks of credit worth the heavy weapon ammo, that is the question. --==N7: Endangered Research Station==-- Available - After you have access to the Caleston Rift Quest Giver - Anomaly on the Sinmara planet, Solveig system For this, land on the planet, and you need to activate the magnetic shields to stop the station from going boom. This is a straightforward mission. Move along the platform, and salvage the broken generator for some resources. Once you get to the control platform, play with the switch so the yellow light is facing the Cooling Generator, and then activate it. Then, move it to the shield generator and activate it. Finally, move the yellow light to the shield controls, and that should finish the mission, netting you 7500 credits from Cerberus. --==N7: Javelin Missiles Launched==-- Available - After you raid the Blue Suns base OR scan and probe Franklin Quest Giver - Either of the above. You have 5 minutes to disarm the missiles. And there are going to be Batarians all over the place. Not nice. Shoot your way through this place, this isn't going to be easy, but no one said it would. There are plenty of batarian targets here, so you will need some accurate shoot to quickly eliminate them, so you don't have to worry about you getting killed. Move quickly, through the first door, bypass it, shoot your way through, bypass the second door, kill the commander, and then, you get the kill switch terminal to play with. Problem, there is only 1 kill-switch, and there are 2 missiles. There are two targets. The first is the spaceport and industrial area, which the Alliance wants to protect, but it will cost a few thousands lifes. However, the second will target a residential district, and it will save a few thousand lives, but the planet is no longer useful and the citizens will be sent off the planet. There are no points awarded here, so it is up to you. Before you leave, loot the wall safe for the credits, and there is a crate of Palladium lying around, make sure to collect that as well. --==N7: Hahne-Kedar Facility==-- Available - After you complete N7: Abandoned Research Station Quest Giver - Land on Capek in the Titan Nebula You land on the planet, and your first goal is to shut down the production lines of the planet. The scan will indicate that you will have to face infected mechs, so plan accordingly. Head towards the facility, and you will get some mechs running out as security, so take some cover to take them out quickly before entering the facility. Inside the facility, move into the room ahead, cleaning out the medi-kit and the wall safe, as well as reading the computer logs for some more information. Move through the door into the main room, and here, things get very very hairy. There is going to be a lot of mechs, and whilst they do come in waves, you are best off taking cover, until you have completely stopped their advance. So you should only advance when no more mechs come along to face you. At times, you will run out of ammo with one weapon, so you will need to switch and use your powers carefully in order to defeat the rest of the mechs, but even though you might defeat the mechs, there are plenty of heat sinks that they will leave behind. Also, don't forget that there is plenty of Element Zero to collect. Fight your way through the maze and enter the next room, collecting the element zero along the way. The final room contains the production line controls, so shut it down after completing the hacking minigame. Afterwards, you get your usual debrief, so you will get the 3750 credits that Cerberus will send you on top of what you have obtained, and 125 experience points. --==N7: Imminent Ship Crash==-- Available - After you have access to the Pylos Nebula Quest Giver - Landing on the MSV Broken Arrow Well, there are geth on this ship, and you have 6 minutes to complete this mission, seeing it is going to crash on a planet, and to make things worse, there is a 100 crates of military grade munitions on it. Well, lets save this ship. First up, you need to bypass the door. Do it. Enter the room and shoot down the geth, quickly, and override the lock on the door to proceed. We don't have a lot of time here. Move into the engine room, and for this, you need to be able to use your team well. You need to restore power to both engine couplings, but you need to stay near the acecss panel in order to complete the job. This leaves you without cover. And there are two of them, so you need to do things properly. Well, fire and survive as best you can to get those two couplings up and running, and once that is done, run upstairs to activate the engine, and that will complete the mission, and save the colony. You get 7500 credits from Cerberus for your efforts. --==N7: Lost Operative==-- Available - After you get the message from Cerberus Quest Giver - Message from Cerberus Command Centre on the Private Terminal This message will tell you that there is an operative mission from Cerberus on Lorek, a planet in the Fathar system. Once there, you will find an anomaly which is the transmitter of the lost Cerberus operative. And you will be facing Eclipse personnel. So it will be a fight. When you land, there is a crate of Platinum there, so many sure you pick that up, and go forward. In the main room, it will be a firefight, and you need to be careful because most of the troops here will be using biotics to some extent, so you want to take cover and accurate shots. When you have taken them out, you can move forwards to the security console to find that your operative did not live. The terminal next to it will hold some credits. In the room north of your position, there will be a medikit as well as a wall safe, with credits inside. The room next to that will have some more refined platinum. To progress, you need to bypass the door on the west side. Bust down the door, and you will have access to the data. From that, you can either upload it to the Alliance, Cerberus, or keep it for yourself. Either way, complete the mission, getting 3750 from Cerberus for completion as well as credits and platinum you have salvaged. --==N7: Mining the Canyon==-- Available - When you have aceess to the Caleston Rift Quest Giver - Uncover the anomaly on Taitus, in the Talava system Ok, land on the planet, and well, there isn't much fighting here. Land on the planet, and read the datapad to learnt that it was purchased from Harrot on Omega. Well, collect the nearby power cells, and activate the mech, using the bypass system. It will stop right after, but insert the power cells to keep it moving. It will do the demolishing for you. Into the next room, grab the power cells to keep it moving, and insert them when it powers down. Ahead, there are going to be some enemies, some varren, which are soooooo hard to take down. Lets keep getting more power cells and inserting them into the YMIR mech. Well, it will head into the cache and take down the wall, before blowing up, so collect your 5000 Platinum. And for some reason, Cerberus gives you 7500 credits as well. --==N7: MSV Estevanico==-- Available - When you get access to the Normandy Quest Giver - Fire probe into the anomaly on Zanethu, in the Ploitari system, Hourglass Nebula. Your journal will ask for caution and with guns drawn, it'll get it. Shoot the loose tile when you land to stabalise the ship a little bit so you don't crash the ship and it will form a bridge for the immediate lower region, which contains some resources for you to collect. Move on ahead, and this is a straightforward path, so you will need to do some obstacle jumping and moving around, but this is a straightforward mission, all you need to do is to get to the end of the level and access the mainframe, and that is about all there is to the mission, of course, the data, well, that's another issue. At the end, you get your usual 125 Experience and your 3750 credits from Cerberus. --==N7: MSV Strontium Mule==-- Available - After completing N7: Archeological Dig Site Quest Giver - When you have completed the above quest. Anyway, head to the Omega system to start this quest. Lets do this. We are going to be facing Blue Sun mercenaries here. This is going to be fun. Well crap, they know where here, so take some cover, and wait for the mercenaries to turn up and give you a little firefight. Nothing too hard, you've done this before, been there, done that kinda thing. with that, lets move through and up the stairs, eliminating the armed guards near the doors. Kill them, bypass the hub security console, and from there, you have all three doors open. Now, which door goes to where? The door to the left and right lead to the maintenance and medical areas respectively, both areas lead to upstairs. However, you can search around, but the areas are locked, except for one. However, the last door, the one dead ahead at the fork of three doors, will need some help, seeing that is the Engine room, and you need to clean it out. Back upstairs, we need to find that one area. Move to the bridge, and on the right, there is the bridge security console that you need to hack. Open the door, and take some cover. There are going to be a fair amount of troopers inside, including the Captain and his bodyguard, both of which have 3 bars of health, health, shields and armour. Eliminate them. With them gone, behind you, doggy mechs will come along and try to give you a fight, and after them, the rest of the mercenaries, including their last officer, a sergeant. Kill them all. Then, we get to have a look around the ship. Now, back on the bridge, access the ship logs to get the codes for the cargo canister. The room containing it is directly opposite the bridge, to the left. EDI informs you that all Blue Suns are dead. About time. Once in the room, read the transmitter to see that the Sergeant decided to double-cross his captain, to have us eliminate them, and he can have all the loot. Well, he's dead now. Anyway, the research module that you can hack will have a Heavy Skin weave upgrade for you, there is a container of Iridium, and the payload will give 3750 credits. That will complete the mission, and you get more money from Cerberus. This will also lead to the mission N7: Blue Suns Base. --==N7: Quarian Crash Site==-- Available - After you have access to Hades Nexus Quest Giver - Anomaly on Gei Hinnom, Sheol System On the planet, there is a ruined quarian crash site, a shipwreck, so lets land on the planet to check it out. When you land, you see the familar site of a varren, and you can guess that your main targets are going to be organic, so plan your weapons accordingly. Well, stabalise the Quarian when you get close enough, making sure to loot everything along the way, and from there, you need to defend her from the varren that are incoming. They will come in packs, so you will need powerful weapons that can either kill them outright or spit out enough bullets to end them. Anyway, defend her and kill all the varren until you shuttle has landed, and lift off to see Shepard practice his excellent kicking skills. --==N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter==-- Available - When you get access to the Normandy Quest Giver - Fire a Probe into the Anomaly on Neith, Amir system, Eagle Nebula. When you land on the planet, it appears that there is a lot of wreckage around, which is good, you can get access to a lot of Platinum here as well as some credits from salvaging parts. All across the floor there are the parts of the ship, something has gone horribly wrong. And the fact that you're moving with weapons drawn doesn't help. When you are moving, the most concerning is the shipping manifest, there are some mechs on the loose, so you need to be careful whilst we are looting all the goodies here. Move ahead and deactivate the beacon. However, that's when the problem starts to pop up. Once you toy with that, you'll activate all the mechs that were lost in the cargo, and there is an infinite amount of them, so really don't bother fighting them. However, that massive YMIR mech is going to be a problem. You need to take cover, and shoot that sucker down, wait until it pauses to reload, and shoot the hell out of it. If you want to use heavy weapons, now is a good time, seeing that you need to blast the crap out of it. After that, just kill the mechs that are in your way, and then take the shuttle to get out of the area. Cerberus, despite it being none of their business, will fork over 3750 credits for the mission, how nice of them. After this, you will be able to land on Jarrahe station for the next part of the quest. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.05] Illium Missions --==Illium: Blue Rose of Illium==-- Available - When you first land on Illium Quest Giver - Asari next to Memories of Illium Well, an asari is getting the crappy poetry from a Krogan, so you will want it to stop. When you talk to her, it seems that she well, doesn't want to have kids with him, and isn't sure what to do, stay with him, or breakup. So it is your job to convince her either way, and of course, that will determine what type of points you get, be it paragon or renegade. At the end, you get a discount for Memories of Illium, the store. Better than nothing I guess. --==Illium: Indentured Servent==-- Available - When you first land on Illium Quest Giver - Slave Broker in Eternity bar Basically, you can talk to a slave broker who wants to sell off a Quarian for service to Synthetic Insights. Well, SI don't want her, so you will need to convince them that she is useful. Seeing that you can't free her due to your contract, and well, it isn't exactly slavery, they actually get paid and they get food. Well, talk to the SI rep who is relatively closeby. Or you can convince the slave broker to keep her. Well, either way, you will be using your paragon or renegade options to get the party to help out the Quarian, and when you do, you will get some more renegade and paragon points, as well as some credits. Everybody loves credits. --==Illium: Liara T'Soni==-- Available - When you first land on Illium Quest Giver - The Concierge who tells you about Liara - Hack Security Nodes When you land on Illium, the usual fees are waived, due to Liara, a former teammate from the first Mass Effect game. She can be found in the administration section. Go and talk to her. She will ask you to help her hacks some security terminals, and then upload data from them, and then she can help you further. Before you go, you can ask for information on Thane and Samara if you need it. Okay, now you need to find the server nodes, and there is one right next to the security station in the market area. The server node is close to the Baria Frontiers store. The next one is left of the first terminal, and the vulnerable server is behind the Memories of Illium store. The third node is next to the second and the vulnerable station is right in front of you. When you have uploaded all three, head back to Liara. You will have already gotten 40 experience points and some renegade points, but you will get 2000 credits from her when you talk to her. - The Observer When you are done, you can talk to her again, and you get another mission, you need to help her find the Observer. But for now, you need to hack the datapoints. The first datapoint can be found just downstairs. Hack it. The data will tell you that the Vorcha will want to terminate the Salarian and the Observer recommend a kill. So it can't be either of those two. 3 left. The next datapoint is in trading area ahead, to your left. This is datapoint 4, saying that the Turian is working well with the trader, who is the Vorcha. The next datapoint is ahead of you to the left. It mentions that the trader tried to kill the Batarian. Next datapoint is next to Serrice Technology, saying that the Turian is asking too many questions. One more left. The last one is in Eternity. Now, we need to piece it together. Vorcha - Trader Salarian - Contact but not Observer Turian - Too many questions, not Observer, probably Smuggler Batarian - Most likely to be the Assassin That leaves the Krogan out. But there is a single problem. All 5 suspects are male. The Observer is constantly referred to as FEMALE. That isn't right, so call up Liara and tell her that the data doesn't fit. It seems the assistant was pulling the wool over Liara's eyes. Well, you get 5000 credits, some experience and 5 Paragon points for your efforts here. And that's about it for Liara. --==Illium: Medical Scans==-- Available - When you first land on Illium Quest Giver - Colonist near Baria Frontiers Well, the colonist here is a survivor from Zhu's Hope, on Feros, back during the events of the first Mass Effect game. Well, now that they are still alive, they are getting medical scans, but it appears that the scans are very invasive, and Baria Frontiers has a contract saying that they can do that. Well, lets have a word with them. Well, that lady seems to hate aliens a lot, so probe a little, and when you get the option, end it all with a little Paragon magic or a little Renegade threat. Either way, she will relent and back down, so go talk to the colonist. Talking to her ends the mission. No reward for you :( --==Illium: The Assassin: Salarian Family Data==-- Available - When you are completing the recruitment of Thane, the Assassin Quest Giver - Once you pick up the PDA during the mission Well, once you pick up that PDA, it won't be useful till you get back to Illium. Once there, you can find a salarian, near the shipping area, who is making a call, you can give him the data. He will seem happy, so he will give you the standard experience points, as well as 1500 credits and some renegade and paragon points. A nice touch to be sure. --==Illium: The Justicar: Smuggling Data==-- Available - During the recruitment of the Justicar Quest Giver - Datapad containing the shipping details This is a shipping manifest that Pitne is a smuggler, and you can either turn it into the police, via the detective, in order to get the 4200 bounty and some paragon points, or you can give it to the volus, and he will give you some renegade points, not sure if it is a glitch or not, but he doesn't seem to pay. Oh well. Give it to the police officer for the money. 4200 credits is still money. --==Illium: The Justicar: Stolen Goods Found==-- Available - When you find the shipping records for Mr Thax during the Justicar mission Quest Giver - Finding the shipping manifest during Justicar mission This is a simple mission, you will need to find that little shipping manifest when you are looking for Samara, and after that, when you next land on Illium, a Krogan will find you, and he will give you some credits, 1500 to be exact, 40 experience points and some renegade points in order to complete the mission. --==Illium: The Prodigal: Lost Locket Found==-- Available - When you are doing Miranda's loyalty mission Quest Giver - Collecting the locket near the end of the level Well, you have completed the loyalty mission, but you have a locket. A lady was looking for a locket that she lost in the transportation hub, but she can't get there. She is currently located near the Normandy, at the Customs area of sorts. Head there. She is near the balcony. For that, you get some experience, paragon points, and 500 credits. Not much, but good money for such little work. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.06] Loyalty Missions Loyalty missions are missions that you can do for your team members, to help them resolve a personal issue, and in return, they become loyal to you, and they will unlock new powers due to that loyalty. --==Garrus: Eye for an Eye==-- Available - After Horizon and a few missions Quest Giver - Talk to Garrus until he gives you his Loyalty mission When you speak with him, Garrus has found the person who betrayed his team back on Omega, the Sidonus infamous as the backstabber. It seems that his contacts have found the person who helped the backstabber, a person by the name of Fade, located on the Citadel. Lets go there first. Head through C-Sec and Captain Bailey will tell you to look inside the warehouse down on Level 26, so lets head there. The forger's thugs are inside. Inside, there is the contact, but he doesn't seem willing. You can interrupt here to get some Renegade points, but nothing else really matters. We need to head to the factory district to see Harkin, a former C-Sec officer from the first game, and a utter asshat as well. Take the rapid transit there to get this done. We see Harkin, and he recognises you, and well, you are bad news. Take down the Blue Sun mercenaries and follow the bastard. Keep following him, taking down more mercenaries and the mechs that are defending him. He won't survive for long. In the large shipping room ahead, there is a wall safe on the left hand side with 1500 credits in it. Keep fighting the enemies up ahead, and bypass the circuit boards for some more money, ideally, you do this without enemies firing into your position all the time. Clear the all out, and fight your way to the bridge controls, where you can salvage some heavy weapon ammo and a medi-kit, as well as some Iridium and 4500 credits from the laptop. When you are ready, you can lower the controls. In the next area, there are going to be more Blue Sun mercenaries, as well as a YMIR mech, though this time, in closer quarters, the heavy weapons it will be firing will be more of a cause for concern, so you will want to take that bastard down as fast as possible. That way, it will save your ammo for someone else. When you finish wiping them out, move towards the door, bypass the circuit boards while you're at it. In the next room, we know that the Blue Suns are up to something but none the less, make sure you get the forged IDs off the computer, and sweep the room of its valuables. Move into the next room through the door, and hack the terminal for a Sniper Rifle damage upgrade. Now, into the fire. Well, they are going to be dropping plenty of mechs and soldiers, so take cover and take them out from a distance. Once you get to the opposite side, well, trouble, 2 YMIR mechs will be dropped, and whilst you are going to be the target, your team can dispatch one, and with that, you can concentrate and wipe out the other. Dispatch them, and from here, it is cutscenes all around. You will deal with Harkin the way you want to, he is scum anyway, and then you can deal with Sidonus, you can warn him, or let Garrus take the shot. I have no like towards backstabbers, so I let him shoot the bastard. Betrayal repaid. With that, Cerberus will send you funding and even get rid of the charges against you, after all, they could take over their network and make money out of it. Well, Garrus is now loyal towards Shepard. That's good. --==Grunt: Rite of Passage==-- Available - After Horizon and a few missions Quest Giver - Talk to Grunt until he gives you his Loyalty mission For this, you need to talk with Grunt, and then you need to head over to Tuchanka. Talking with the Clan Chief, you will need to speak to the shaman about the Rite of Passage. Thing is, with Grunt being a part of your crew, you will need to join him through this. Great. Well, talking to the Shaman, make sure to use a lot of renegade options, because they like that, a lot. Be reall aggressive. Anyway, when you are ready, we shall begin the Rite of Passage, whatever it is. When you get there, don't touch the keystone instantly, you will want to loot everything first, we can survive whatever that keystone throws at us. The first wave is relatively simple, the keystone will just throw waves and waves of Varren at you, it is nothing you can't handle. They may be fast, but they will always go for the melee, so you will have plenty of time to shoot them down, and melee them back. Easy prey. When you are done, go to the keystone and go for round two. Round two will basically be an army of Klixen, basically, self-destructing bombs that will slowly moves towards you, so you will want to shoot them down, whilst that thing, probably a Thresher Maw, is moving about, disrupting everything. I hate bugs. Squash the next wave, and then, activate the keystone again. The next wave is the Thresher Maw. These things are nasty, it is packed with armour, and taking cover is useless. The only attack it will do is spit some nasty poison at you, so when it is spitting, you just need to move out of the way, it isn't homing. It is heavily armoured, so you will need to survive for 5 minutes. Not long at all. Well, although it is armoured, it will nearly always go for you, so you will want to take cover, and shoot it. The tall towers will fall, so go for the concrete barricades instead. Have your teammates shoot as well, this doesn't take that long to go down. I cleaned it up in 2. After that, it seems that the jealous little krogan shows up with a few friends. And they want a fight. Fine by me, if you can take down a Thresher Maw, what's a few little krogan to it? Lambs to the slaughter. Shoot and kill them all, and unlike last time, there is plenty of cover to play with. With that, the mission ends. Cerberus will give the usual funding, and you get a Shotgun Damage upgrade at the end of the mission, automatically. --==Jack: Subject Zero==-- Available - After Horizon Quest Giver - Talk to Jack until she gives you her Loyalty Mission With this, Jack seeks answers from the Cerberus facility on Pragia, that is in the Nubian Expanse, and she wants you to go there to find her the answers about what Cerberus did to her. So land there, and help her find her answers. Land down in the rain, and lets go. Move into the facility, and move past the door to find a locked terminal for credits. Move into the door, turn off the security console, and lets keep moving. In the large room, the only thing to note is the locked storage crate that you can bypass for some credits, and that's about it. Move on, salvaging a medikit, after fighting some Varren in the main room. Lets keep progressing, it seems relatively quiet here. Move forwards, entering the bypassed room for some element zero. Jack will remark that for an abandoned facility, there seems to be fresh dead varren. And that isn't a good sign. From there, move into the next room, and take some cover because we will be fighting a fair few blood pack mercenaries. That doesn't make things any easier, but we will need to take them out quickly. With that, pack the pda that is on the side, and bypass the door to move onwards. From that main room, head onwards, following the linear path, and when you get to the alleyway where you need to eliminate some mercenaries and some varren, you will need to look on the side for a room containing some circuit boards that you can salvage for some money. Move into the next room, and onwards till you get close to Jack's cell, where you can move and collect data from the security consoles, you can salvage some tech, a Biotic Damage upgrade is obtained from hacking the research terminal, and the usual power cells and medi-gel. Lets move into Jack's Room. Into the next area, and there are more mercenaries to wipe out, including the big boss of them. The vorcha are easy to take out with your weapons, but they will be packing flamethrowers. The krogans are harder, but they won't charge you down until you eliminate the vorcha. The boss will start to charge once you take down his weaklings. After they are all down, bypass the secure container at the back, where the krogans were, and enter the door. From there, it is your choice on what happens from that point. Otherwise, continue to take a walk with Jack, and from there, you blow up the place. Now, this is the important part. If you have completed both Jack's and Miranda's mission, there will be a disagreement between the two. At that point, you need to either have an EXTREMELY high paragon or renegade squad to keep both of them apart, or favour one over the other. If so, I will say you disadvantage Jack, because you can then obtain a high paragon or renegade score to make her loyal again, because who you disadvantage will lose their loyalty to you. Your choice. --==Jacob: The Gift of Greatness==-- Available - After Horizon Quest Giver - Talk to Jacob until he gives you his Loyalty mission When you talk to Jacob, he tells you that the ship his father was on, the Hugo Gernsback, suddenly activated his beacon a week ago, despite it being missing for years. Well, something isn't right, and whilst it may open old wounds, Jacob tells you that he wants to get to the end of it. Well, it is in the Rosetta Nebula, so head there and start this. Anyway, land on the planet, and look at the wonderful scenary and powerful music in the background. Anyway, EDI tells you to get to the ship, there may be interesting technology inside. Ahead, the officer logs aren't that useful, but those parts that you can salvage for credits is. Talk to the activated VI to learn that Taylor, Jacob's father, activated the beacon years after the Gernsback landed on the planet, nearly a decade. We need to get to the bottom of this. Enter the ship to hack a PDA for some credits, and listen to some of the logs. With the information the VI has given you, people have gone insane. Anyway, ahead of the VI are some crates, and here, you encounter a survivor. There are survivors? Well, after you talk to her, a group of hunters, as they are so called, interrupt. Former Alliance personnel. We have to kill some of our own, when our job is to save them. This is sad. Kill them all, they won't be hard, just a bar of health, and move onwards. There are some parts, among the crates, that you can salvage for some more credits. From there, head towards the colony. This keeps getting more strange. In here, all the survivors are well, female. That is strange. Well, get the med-kit and save the doctor from the mech patrol. The Doctor will give you a datalog, and you will start to get the picture. All the males are exiled or killed. All his officers are dead. Only the women live, and they are assigned like possessions. We need to confront Taylor, Senior, and get to the bottom of this. But as far as I am concerned, it will probably end with bullets. More ahead, and you'll be facing more mechs. Once you get to a large area, move to the right, there are some parts you can salvage, as well as a heavy pistol that you can scan for an upgrade. With that, lets keep moving ahead. Odds are, we're facing more mechs, so deal accordingly. Ahead, there are some mechs, and now, we need to deal with some brainwashed guards. What makes this worse is that there is a YMIR mech that you need to fight as well. This makes things a bit more difficult, as you need to target and eliminate that mech first, before you can turn on the guards, which among them is an engineer. Just what the hell is going on around here. Well, that's all for armed resistance, through that door is "Captain" Taylor. Time to get the answers you've been looking for, but well, it is time you finish the mission, get the usual Cerberus reward, and move on. --==Legion: A House Divided==-- Available - After collecting the IFF and reactivating Legion Quest Giver - Talk to Legion and it will give you this instantly It looks like the Heretics are planning to upload a virus that will make all geth worship the Reapers, and we really don't want that. This will be the mission that you can do to activate the IFF, so lets help Legion and kill some geth. Head to the Sea of Storms to start this mission. Dock on the station and move down the ramp. In the room, this is how it will go. You see the little green tiles on the floor, step on them, and out come the geth. Your goal in each room is to destroy the geth hub. That will open the door to the next room, and you will be able to salvage the technology for credits. Move into the alleyway, and here, you can activate the rocket drones to assist you in damaging the geth. Move into the next room where there are two geth hubs that you can destroy. As a reminder, your teammates will not shoot cloaked targets, so you do it manually. Move through the corridors, shooting the sentries as they stand. There isn't a lot yet, so enter the next room. In the room, shoot down the two hunters, and note that you have two rocket drones here at your disposal. Shoot them down, and continue along the path through this space station. Enter the next room, shooting the geth in there, and hack the geth terminal for the shield upgrade for Legion. Into the next room. This seems all too quiet. In the next room, there is some action, there are two geth hubs here, and a fair amount of targets to shoot, so lets get rid of them all. Well once, you get to the main control room, you can activate the geth terminal, and at that point, you need to defend the area. There are 6 turrets on the floor below and there are 2 on your level. The geth come in waves, so it is you who will need to activate the turrets so it will aid you, but ultimately, they will be destroyed, you will need to kill the geth waves yourself. This is where you need to take cover. They will move up the ramp, and they will attack. This is hard because most of the time you are fighting a war on two fronts, and there is about 4 waves of geth, each wave will have geth froming from 2 entrances from the lower level. Again, crowd control is valuable here. When they are dead and the upload is complete, it is up to you what you want to do, rewrite the heretics or you can destroy them. Legion lets you have that decision, because you were the one who fought them, that and Legion is conflicted on what to do. Whatever you do, you have 3 minutes to escape the station, so you need to move quick. Enter through the recently unlocked door, and defeat the geth that are there. Move on ahead and you will need to fight a geth prime. Since cover is right next to it, an SMG or shotgun is your best bet in terms of weaponry. Get rid of it, and escape the station. When you finish this mission, and have completed Tali's Loyalty Mission, there will be a little disagreement, and either you have a high enough Paragon or Renegade score, you can save both of them and their loyalty to you, but otherwise, you need to disadvantage one over the other, and that is your choice. If you favour one over the other, you need to talk to them and fix that little disagreement up. --==Miranda: The Prodigal==-- Available - After Horizon Quest Giver - Talk to Miranda until she gives you her Loyalty mission When you talk to her, she will ask you that you need to talk to her contact on Illium. When you talk to her, the plan for saving Miranda's sister has changed somewhat, so you will need to get ready to rock and roll here. When you land, you will be swamped by the Eclipse mercenaries that you were told about earlier. Now, I suggest that you do the Renegade interruption by exploding that moving barrel above the backup the Merc leader has, and you will also knock down their leader and the guard nearby. This makes it a lot easier. Just knock down the Engineer, and eliminate the mercenaries in the back, and you'll clear the mercenaries for this area. After that, take the elevator up, after Miranda gives you some more information on who you are meant to be saving. Upstairs, well, there are plenty of explosive devices in this area, so make sure you take cover. There are more engineers, and as such, more drones to worry about, but they aren't that strong to your tech powers. Move on ahead, hacking a PDA as well as scanning some more submachine gun research. Move on ahead, taking down the enemy across the conveyor belt. This is easy, there is plenty of cover to shoot from as well as plenty of explosive barrels to take out so you can have a little more firepower on your side. Head over to where those mercenaries were to scan one of their dead, so you get a medi-gel upgrade. There is also a wall terminal to hack there as well. After that, continue and move on. Move onto the next area, and again, take cover to wipe out the mercs on the other side, and then move over to the other side and collect their loot. Of course, things tend to get a bit more difficult here, mainly because it is almost all engineers, and they will start sending more and more combat drones against you, but they are easy to defeat. More loot and more credits, as well as some element zero. Collect it and move on. In the next area, there is going to be a lot of heavy weaponry flying around, and they are protecting the elevator. You will want to shoot them all down, and quickly take onto the elevator. It seems like Miranda's only friend is turning on her. Things really don't look good. Take the elevator up for the grand finale. Well, whatever option you choose, someone will die. You will need to take some cover and take out Enyala, the asari commando. She is hard to face one on one without cover, but take cover, and shoot wisely. She isn't that hard, it will be numbers that will swarm you. Otherwise, take them out, access the secure terminal near the door, and take the trinklet, for another quest. And then, lets get outta here. To boot, you will get some credits for this mission, as well as more experience from Cerberus. This is one hell of a fun mission to take. 15000 credits is nothing to scoff at. When you are done here, and done with Jack's Mission, read the little paragraph at the end of her quest in order to see what to do about the disagreement they have. --==Mordin: Old Blood==-- Available - After Horizon and a couple of missions Quest Giver - Talk to Mordin until he gives you his Loyalty Mission With this, you need to head to Tuchanka, and talk to the Chief, who then sends you to the Chief Scout in order to get more information about what is going on. Talk to the Chief, who will tell you that you need to head to a hospital, which is filled with Blood Pack troops. Also, a scout of his went missing. Looks like we have a fair bit to do. Move into the area, you will be fighting Klixen and Varren first off. Once you move up the bridge, you will be facing Blood Pack troopers as well, which makes things more interesting. Take cover, and shoot. Keep moving ahead, this is relatively easy, your only real threat will be Krogans and their willingness to charge you down. Well, keep moving along. At the door, at the end of this area, will be a little vehicle that you can salvage for a combustion manifold, that you can give back to the mechanic back at Tuchanka. Well, collect it, and bypass the door. Now, enter the door, investigate the human, and move into the main room, where the little clan will have a fight with you. You can always go for the renegade interrupt if you find that the clanspeaker talks too much, which he does. Well, after that, firefight, and you'll have to deal with some Krogans, as well as some vorchas carrying heavy weapons, so you will want to take some cover. Move into the area that Mordin suggests is the lab. Move into this area, and have a look in all the rooms. The room on the left has a little access terminal that will give you an upgrade for Krogan Vitality if you want to hack it. Look in the other rooms for more background information on the Genophage. In the next area, the room on your right will have a sick krogan you can talk to for some more information, as well as a datapad that you can hack for some more credits. The sick krogan is the scout that the Chief Scout has been looking for. Get him back to base for a little reward. Move into the next room, and you'll have to fight upstairs and downstairs. You will need to watch out, there are explosive crates, which is useful for taking out the armour of the krogan. But not advised that you sit behind it. The Clan leader will come out as well, so you will really want to take some cover, he can do some damage. But again, he is nothing you haven't faced before. When they are dead, you can loot the area. The door on the right will have some credits that you can bypass for. Back on the main path, there will be a research terminal you can hack for some heavy weapon upgrades. Inside the room, it's the showdown, teacher vs pupil, Obi-Wan vs Anakin. Well, you can determine who lives here, Mordin will have a gun against the head of Maelon, so it is up to you, you to play God ironically. Well, that will about sum up this quest. When you get the option, don't go yet, hack the wall computer for some money. --==Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi==-- Available - After Horizon and a couple of missions Quest Giver - Talk to Samara until she gives you her Loyalty Mission When you speak with Samara, she needs to hunt down her own daughter, who has become an Ardat-Yakshi menace, so you will need to hunt her down, because she is currently in Omega. Head to Omega and speak with Aria, she will be the best source of information on the planet. She tells you that you are best off going to the Apartment. Well, that's something for you to do, nothing leaves a body as vegetative as an Ardat-Yakshi. Head over to the apartments, and on the side room, talk to Diana, who is the mother of Nef, the latest victim of Morinith. Look around to find the little password to the VIP area of Afterlife. Also, use the holovids, all of them to figure out what information you'll need. Well, once in, using some guy's name, you will be unarmed and without allies. This isn't going to be easy. But there is nought we can do about that. Lets get started. Your chance is Horftin, who is on the side, who says that his friend is in some sort of trouble. You need to use terminal and eternity in a sentence. So lets save her. There is more you can do, head to the bar to make the bartender give a discount, or insult a krogan, do what Samara said, and sooner or later Morinith will find you out. When you are with her, say that you like art and you are confident. Mention the elcor artist Forta, and the sculpture Vaenia. When that is over, talk about music. If you talked to Vij at the front, mention Expel 10. Then, talk about Hallex, the drug. Next topic, Travel. With this, you need to mention you like space dtravel and dangerous places. With this, you need to say power is its own reward. With that, she will ask you take you to her apartment. Once there, scan the assault rifle so you can use that as an upgrade. The rest is when you talk to her, although you can have a look around her apartment. When you talk to her, you do have an opportunity to have sex with her, but she will kill you. Of course, you need high paragon and renegade points for that. Or you can have her replace you instead of Samara, and no one on the Normandy would know, and you get Renegade points for that. Up to you. What that, this ends the mission, with 750 experience points and 30000 credits from Cerberus. It's funny, Cerberus laments that Morinith didn't live, they could have studied her. --==Tali: Treason==-- Available - After Horizon and a few missions Quest Giver - Talk to Tali until she gives you her Loyalty Mission Well, when you talk to her, she will tell you that the Admiralty Board has accused her of treason, and that isn't a good thing. She wants to go to her trial, so offer her your help and lets get her to that trial if that is the last thing we do. It is in the Vallhallan System, located in Raheel-Leyya. You can't miss it. Land on the Migrant Fleet, and it looks like we are confined to this ship. Tali is charged with bringing active geth parts into the Flotilla, and I would say that that is quite serious. Lets investigate this charge a little further. Anyway, move onwards to meet one of the Admirals, and after a little chat, we get started with the trial. Get, I always wanted to be the defence lawyer in Law and Order. Not. Anyway, as Captain, you are to represent her, great, this just gets better and better. In the trial, we hear why Tali is charged with treason. The ship that her father was on was overtaken by the geth, probably from the parts that Tali sent, and as such, we need to go and defeat the geth, which shouldn't be hard for the man who saved the Citadel. Lets for and defeat the geth, although you can talk to the Admirals who are the judges here and learn more about them. Here, you can also talk to Veetor, if you saved him from Freedom's Progress. Kal'Reegor will be here as well if you saved him on Haestrom. Admiral Xen will tell you that this trial is more than just treason. It is about the future of the Quarians, whether they will get over their fear of AI technology or not. She is the fence sitter. Admiral Gerrel is more towards Tali's side, he says they he doesn't believe that they are stupid enough to put the fleet's safety at risk. Anyway, when you are done, head to the back of the plaza and move to the shuttle. Lets save that lab ship. Onboard the ship, move into the room and fight off the initial geth. It is good to be shooting something. In this room, after destroying the geth, you can loot a med-kit as well as some power cells, with some more credits in the laptop logs that you can access, and playing the log will give you some more information. Moving on, the first room will give a repair drone you can have a talk to Tali over. It will also have a hackable terminal for credits and a med station for you as well. The next room will have a monitor you can hack for an upgrade on Geth Shield strength. That leaves the last door to progress onwards. Enter the door to shoot down a geth hunter. By itself. That is easy. In the room is a wall safe and 2 laptops that contain a fair amount of credits in total. With that, play the log to get more on what is happening. This doesn't look too good. Up the stairs and take cover, there is going to be a massive firefight between you and the geth. The geth will come in trooper and hunter forms, so be careful. Remember, teammates don't fire on hunters when they are cloaked, but you can. Moving into the next room, the monitor will spark a conversation between you and Tali, who is frustrated by the geth to say the lest. There is also a wall safe here, next to the door, so make sure you pick up that before you leave. Next room, and more fighting with the geth, who just don't seem to know when to quit. For a sapient lifeforce, they sure are stupid. Anyway, loot the room of the two laptops and the medi-kit. The log will give more data. In the alleyway, there is a dead quarian, and he is the whole reason this all started, and now, we are going to end this. With this, enter the room on the side, and loot it of the medi-kit, power cells, and the 2 wall safes here. Lets move on and finish this. In the room, there is a laptop and a flotilla ship model that you can take for the Normandy, so loot them both. In this room, there is a geth prime as well as two hunters. The hunters are easy, but the geth prime in the room with little to no cover, well, it isn't going to be easy, but you will need to bring out the best in powers and the best in weaponry that you have to fight with. Shoot the bastard down, and lets get the evidence. With it, Tali begs you not to use it in the trial. Yeah, we still have to face that, lets get back, and it seems like they already started. With this, you really have 4 things that you can do. Either you have a high enough paragon or renegade score that will clear Tali of all charges, and off you go. Or you can get her innocent by producing the evidence, or just say you have nothing. In the end, the best path is the paragon and renegade path, you get a tech damage upgrade if you do. This upgrade is also available if you present evidence, but you will not gain her loyalty. So, what you do is again, up to you and how you play it, but other than that, we are done here, and you can head back to the Normandy. If you want, talk to the Admirals to get more paragon or renegade points, that is up to you. --==Thane: Sins of the Father==-- Available - After Horizon and a few missions Quest Giver - Talk to Thane until he gives you his Loyalty mission When you talk to Thane for a while in the Life Support area, he will give your this mission, to find his son who has taken up in his footpath, a thing he clearly doesn't want to happen. He is currently located in the Citadel, so head there. Once there, you can talk to Captain Bailey for some clues on what to do. Bailey will tell you that you will be looking for Mouse, a petty criminal who used Thane's son as an assassin. Well, now we have a lead, so head to the Dark Star bar to get more information. He is outside the bar, to the right, next to Rodam's Expeditions. He gives you the information, you are looking for a Elias Kelham. So lets go find him. With that, head back to Bailey to talk about Kolyat. Well, Bailey will bring in Elias, and you and Thane can start your little investigation. From there, you can be the good or bad guy. Anyway, question the little bastard, you don't have much time, lawyers still exist. Well, I like to play the Bad Cop, and with a little renegade slapping, he gives you the name, Joram Talid. You will get a ride to the 800 block now. When you are there, straight away access the datapad in order to get the heavy pistol research project. Then, update Thane. This is a very simple mission. Just keep an eye on your target, and keep moving forwards. You will get a little talk with a kid later on, but other than that, it is strictly a watch and observe mission. At the end of all this, Thane becomes loyal to your cause. You also get 30000 credits at the end of all this from Cerberus, well, they saw the opportunity for more people to recruit, Bailey is looking useful for them. I'd rather have Garrus though. --==Zaeed: The Price of Revenge==-- Available - After recruiting Zaeed, immediately Quest Giver - Zaeed will give this after you recruit him Your job is to head off to Zorya, in the Faia system, Ismar Frontier. Well, lets go there, and we are going to be facing the Blue Suns. Why does it seems that these mercenary companies never run out of men, despite how many rounds enter their heads? Land on the planet, and well, they will know that you are here. Anyway, lets move on ahead, and there is going to be a little skirmish. Well, after you take down the initial squad and then the reinforcements, you will be able to move on, since the orders for the mercenaries will be to fall back. Anyway, around here is a PDA that contains a fair amount of credits, so make sure you take that as well. From there, move on ahead to the bridge controls, and cross the bridge, moving into the gatehouse, where Zaeed decides to do things a little more, well, destructively. Basically, fight your way until you reach an impasse, you either have to save the workers, which leads you to get a heavy weapon upgrade, or you can leave the workers to die to kill Vido, which nets an assault rifle upgrade. The upgrade for saving the workers is next to the extinguisher controls, whilst killing Vido requires you to keep an eye out for the computer containing the upgrade. I prefer to kill the bastard, more action that way. For the shooting, it is a basic run and gun, all you need to do is to move forwards, and take cover, shooting the mercenaries dead with they come out to play. This is slightly unfair, the stormtrooper effect, they can't aim for anything. The most important thing is that you pick up the Firestorm Weapon they is lying around here, it is a new heavy weapon that you get to play with, and it is a flamethrower to boot, not that much use here. Still, make sure you collect it. When you are fighting the Blue Suns in the refinery room, there are going to be infinite mercenaries until you get rid of the two fuel canisters above your head. You need to fire enough at them to let them spew flames below and then shoot them down, and all of this above their heads, not your own. When they are down, take down the YMIR mechs. With that out of the way, you can loot the two rooms on the side for credits. With that, move through the main door to finish the mission, getting your credits from Zaeed as a bonus, as well as other little goodies. Now Zaeed is loyal to your team. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.07] Tuchanka Missions --==Tuchanka: Combustion Manifold==-- Available - After landing on Tuchanka Quest Giver - The Mechanic north of the fighting Pits Well, the Mechanic is looking for a new combustion manifold, mainly because spare parts will be hard to come by, so he needs something. To get it, you will need to go on Mordin's loyalty mission, where you have the change to loot a combustion manifold. When you head back to Tuchanka, you will be able to give the part to him and you get some experience points for it. --==Tuchanka: Killing Pyjaks==-- Available - After landing on Tuchanka Quest Giver - Ratch, the Merchant Well, it seems that these pyjaks are a pest that was brought in. If you succeed in making a dent in the population, Ratch, the only merchant on this planet, will be generous to offer you a discount. So lets go kill some pests. With that done, it is basically like a little shooting game, and once done, you can talk to Ratch, and he will give you his reward, a discount. --==Tuchanka: Old Blood: Missing Scout==-- Available - When you are doing Mordin's Loyalty Mission Quest Giver - Chief Scout when you are talking about scouting Well, the Chief Scout is missing his scout, so you will want to have a little look into that. Well, when you are raiding the enemy's base, you will be able to find the Krogan that is missing, so you will be able to send him back to home. With that, go back and talk to the chief, when the mission, Mordin's Loyalty Mission, is done. Well, talk to the Chief scout to complete it. The real reward is the experience points and the paragon/renegade points that you will get when the scout runs off. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [4.08] DLC Missions These are missions that you can only get from the DLC that is off from Bioware offically. These are normally activated when you authenicate the content via the Cerberus Network. --==Dossier: The Veteran==-- Available - When you install the content Quest Giver - Omega Station When you dock, straight ahead of you is Zaeed, the mercenary that you are meant to pick up. --==Normandy Crash Site==-- Available - When you install the content Quest Giver - Anomaly on Alchera, Amada System, Omega Nebula Well, land on the planet. Once you get there, you are meant to place a monument, but for now, we need to collect all the dog tags of the fallen crew. You can see the dog tags because they will simmer from the background. Start from the one behind your shuttle, in front of the Normandy sign. It brings back memories. There are 20 to collect. Just walk around the area, collecting the dog tags. Most of them are easy to find, but some are tricky, for example, some will be under fragile crates so you will need your weapons for something. Otherwise, it is easy to complete your dog-tagging. There are some Element Zero crates here as well. Well, when you are ready, move around to play the monument to complete this mission. Another thing that is interesting is the datapad where the remains of the bridge used to be. Well, the datapad outlines that the crew didn't like the aliens you brought aboard the original Normandy, but that changed after you all worked together to save the galaxy. Well, people change. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [5.01] Omega Station On Omega Station, there are three stores. Kenn's Salvage, Omega Market and Harrot's Emporium. Below are the items that you can purchase and their respective cost. These are all items that you can purchase, some of these are going to be upgrades, others, research opportunities. What is new in this game is that you can purchase items that you can see and view in Shepard's cabin, so keep a look out for them. Also, talk to the shopkeepers, you might be able to get a discount if you have high enough Paragon or Renegade points, so just keep a lookout. Kenn's Salvage With a discount, you get a 16.66% discount on all goods. * Heavy Weapon Upgrade - Microfusion Array (30000 Credits) - +15% Heavy Weapon Ammo Carrying Capacity The power cell technology used by heavy weapons is fairly old, but can be improved by rebuilding the core with more modern components. These improvements allow standard power cells to yield more shots per power cell and allow for more total shots to be fired. * Heavy Skin Weave - Lattice Shunting (90000 Credits) - Shepard gets +10% Health Strong synthetic fibres can be woven through the skin, dramitically reducing damage taking from most attacks. These fibres also act as a medi-gel conduit, improving healing. * Nashan Stellar T6-FBA Couplings (500 Credits) - Quest Item (Normandy: FBA Couplings) * Shotgun Damage - Synthetic Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Increases damage by +10%. Improves Shotgun, heavy shotguns, and assault shotguns for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each round fired. Omega Market With a discount, you can get 16.66% off all goods. * Stimulator Conduits (4000 Credits) - Increase Storm Speed by 10% Incorporates a series of beryllium and tungsten braces and micro-servos to support and enhance the natural movements of the wearer for short periods of time. Originally developed by the Sirta Foundation for search and rescue personnel, it has been adapted for Military Use. * Model - Turian Cruiser (500 Credits) A small ship model of a turian cruiser. * Sniper Rifle Damage - Scram Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Increases damage by +10%. Improves sniper rifles for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each slug fired. * Fronax (5 Credits) Tiltilating Alien Magazine AFTER DEALING WITH THE COLLECTOR SHIP * Stabilization Gauntlets (8000 Credits) - Increases weapon damage by 5% Incorporating micro-gyros linked with a hardsuit's internal targeting aids these gauntlets from Aldrin Labs ensure better battlefield performance. Harrot's Emporium Do the Omega: Smuggled Quarian Quest in order to get the 16.66% discount. * Visor - Kuwashii Visor (2000 Credits) - Increases headshot damage by 10% Developed by Ariake Technologies, the wearer exchanges full protective coverage for visibility, unencumbered mobility, and increased accuracy. * Model Ship 13 - Geth Ship (2000 Credits) A small ship model of a geth cruiser typical of the kind involved in the Battle of the Citadel * Capacitor Chestplate (4000 Credits) - Reduces the delay before your shields start regenerating by 10% Micro wells developed by Arnax Arsenal store part of the energy directed at the armour and use it to jump start the kinetic barrier recharge cycle. * Hack Module - Predictive Display (30000 Credits) - Doubles the time limit for hack. - Omni-tool Upgrade In the ongoing war between security software companies and hackers, Cerberus seeks to maintain a list of primary backdoors: little known security holes that have been active for some time and remain unpatched. Ongoing research in this area should improve operative's ability to hack through most conventional security measures. AFTER DEALING WITH THE COLLECTOR SHIP * Ordnance Packs (2000 Credits) - Increases spare heavy weapon ammo by 10% Co-developed by the Rahael Group and Beckmann Financial to solve the issue of munitions storage for Heavy Weapon class engagement tools. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [5.02] The Citadel There are many stores on the Citadel, so I'll have to list down the ward that the stores are in as well, otherwise, people will get confused, and we don't want that. --==Zakera Ward Level 27==-- Citadel Souvenirs Shop Endorse the store to get the 16.66% discount. * Space Hamster (9200 Credits) This small furry rodent looks up at you with what seems like a knowing smile. * Illium Skald Fish (500 Credits) Large spined fish common to the lakes of Illium * Model - Normandy SR1 (500 Credits) A small ship model of the Systems Alliance Ship Normandy SR1 * Model - Destiny Ascension (500 Credits) A small ship model of the asari dreadnought destroyed while defending the Citadel against the Geth AFTER DEALING WITH THE COLLECTOR SHIP * Thessian Sunfish (500 Credits) Small brightly-coloured fish native to the asari homeworld. * Model - Sovereign (500 Credits) A small ship model of the geth flagship destroyed at the Battle of the Citadel Zakera Cafe There is no possible discount on this store. * High Grade Provisions (500 Credits) Various quality cuisine items used to prepare diplomatic dinners aboard starships - Quest Item (Normandy: Deliver Ingredients) * Ascension Novel (5 Credits) Written by human author Drew Karpyshyn, the popular military-historical novel Ascension focuses on several lives warped or destroyed by the human-survivalist cult Cerberus. - Actually, this and Revelations are real Mass Effect novels that you can purchase in stores. * Revelations Novel (5 Credits) Revelations is a popular military-historical novel by human writer Drew Karpyshyn that dramitizes human conflicts and political expansion following the 2148 discovery of the Prothean mass relay on Pluto and the beginning of human galactic exploration. --==Zakera Ward Level 26==-- Saronis Applications Talk to Marab and offer to give him an endorsement or ask for a discount to get the 16.66% discount. * Tech Damage - Multicore Amplifier (90000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% tech power damage Standard omni-tools are calibrated with a wide neural input range so they can be used effectively by any race. By tuning the inputs of the omni-tool to match the specific neural patterns of the user, responsiveness and power can be greatly increased. Once tuned in this manner, the omni-tool is almost unusable by anyone but the wearer, and it must be constantly re-calibrated to subtle neural shifts. * Damage Protection - Ablative VI (90000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% to shields, barriers, and armour This comprehensive systems upgrade offers improved protection for all squad members, regardless of team members' individual defensive strategies. Sirta Foundation Talk to the Clerk and offer the usual endorsement or demand a discount to get the 16.66% discount. * Medi-Gel Capacity - Microscanner (30000 Credits) - Medi-Gel Capacity Increased by 1 All modern combat armour incorporates a first-aid interface. Microprocessors in this interface monitor vital functions and release small localised doses of medi-gel to accelerate the healing process. Manually timed heavy doses of medi-gel can be released in response to major trauma; however, the efficiency of this is dependent on proprietary medical software that cannot be copied and is prohibitively expensive. Cerberus has developed its own software and is actively working to improve its efficiency. * Life Support Webbing (8000 Credits) - Increases health by 10% Within a wearable framework, the Sirta Foundation developed an innovative net of micro-stimulants and medi-gel in order to increase the chances of survival for aid workers and military personnel working in a hostile environment. --==Zakera Ward Level 28==-- Rodam Expeditions * Sniper Rifle Damage - Scram Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Increases damage by +10%. Improves sniper rifles for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each slug fired. * Heavy Pistol Damage - Titan Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% heavy pistol damage. Upgrades heavy pistols and hand cannons for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each slug fired. * Submachine Gun Damage - Microfield Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Squad bonus +10% submachine gun damage. Upgrades the submachine guns of your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the velocity of each slug fired. * Off-Hand Ammo Pack (2000 Credits) - Increases spare ammo capacity by 10% A simple but popular modification developed by Elkoss Combine and favoured among mercenary groups and military personnel on active assignment. * Aegis Vest (2000 Credits) - Increases health by 5% Kassa Fabrication's line of elite personal protection equipment includes a series of interlocking ceramic plates covered in a proprietary tungsten allow weave for maximum stopping power. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [5.03] Illium There are many stores on Illium, but it is hard to group them into bundles to it will be a little jumbled below. Serrice Technology Talk to the Attendant/Merchant and use a paragon or renegade option to get your standard 16.66% discount. * Bypass Module - Quantum Threading (30000 Credits) - Doubles the time limit for bypass The unreliability of purely software-based security has given rise to electronic locks based on physical as well as electronic keys. Marketed as "unhackable", these locks have gained popularity. Omni-tool manufactures responded by adding universal key capabilities to modern omni-tools. These require some level of skill, like a lock pick, but software assistance makes it possible for competant operatives to bypass most locks in time. Improvements to scanning and auto-correction software make it possible to work locks over without triggering defences. * Medi-Gel Capacity - Microscanner (30000 Credits) - Medi-Gel Capacity Increased by 1 All modern combat armour incorporates a first-aid interface. Microprocessors in this interface monitor vital functions and release small localised doses of medi-gel to accelerate the healing process. Manually timed heavy doses of medi-gel can be released in response to major trauma; however, the efficiency of this is dependent on proprietary medical software that cannot be copied and is prohibitively expensive. Cerberus has developed its own software and is actively working to improve its efficiency. AFTER DEALING WITH THE COLLECTOR SHIP * Tech Damage - Multicore Amplifier (90000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% tech power damage Standard omni-tools are calibrated with a wide neural input range so they can be used effectively by any race. By tuning the inputs of the omni-tool to match the specific neural patterns of the user, responsiveness and power can be greatly increased. Once tuned in this manner, the omni-tool is almost unusable by anyone but the wearer, and it must be constantly re-calibrated to subtle neural shifts. Baria Frontiers There is no possible discounting at this store. It's cheap anyway. * Star Chart - Hades Nexus (500 Credits) Navigation charts for the Hades Nexus * Star Chart - Minos Wasteland (500 Credits) Navigation charts for the Minos Wasteland * Star Chart - Pylos Nebula (500 Credits) Navigation charts for the Pylos Nebula * Star Chart - Shrike Abyssal (500 Credits) Navigation charts for the Shrike Abyssal Gateway Personal Defence To get a discount from this store, you need to have a save file from Mass Effect 1, one dealing with Conrad from the Citadel. You need to then meet him on the Citadel. Then you need to ask what he is doing there, and then suggest that you handle it. Then, with paragon and renegade options, you can get the discount. * Heavy Skin Weave - Lattice Shunting (90000 Credits) - Shepard gets +10% Health Strong synthetic fibres can be woven through the skin, dramitically reducing damage taking from most attacks. These fibres also act as a medi-gel conduit, improving healing. * Submachine Gun Damage - Microfield Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Squad bonus +10% submachine gun damage. Upgrades the submachine guns of your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the velocity of each slug fired. * Assault Rifle Damage - Kinetic Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% Assault Rifle damage. Upgrades assault rifle, battle rifles, and machine guns for your entire squad. This upgrade strengthens a weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the velocity of each slug fired. * Amplifier Plates (2000 Credits) - Increases power damage by 5% Using their expertise in policing dangerous situations with limited assets, Elanus Risk Control Services (ERCS) has created shoulder protection that includes an internal micro-control system to maximize resources. AFTER DEALING WITH THE COLLECTOR SHIP * Damage Protection - Ablative VI (90000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% to shields, barriers, and armour This comprehensive systems upgrade offers improved protection for all squad members, regardless of team members' individual defensive strategies. Memories of Illium The 16.66% discount is obtained by completing the Illium: Blue Rose of Illium quest. * Prejek Paddle Fish (8000 Credits) Flat blue fish known for their odd locomotion and feeding habits. * Model - Alliance Cruiser (500 Credits) A small ship model of an Alliance cruiser * Model - Athabasca Class Freighter (500 Credits) A small ship model of the ubiquitous Athabasca class freighter. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [5.04] Tuchanka There is only one store on Tuchanka, the Krogan store. Well, at least there is something for you to purchase. There is another store, well, it is a Database, found in the Med Clinic. Fortack's Database is there. Ratch's Wares To get the discount, you need to complete the Killing Pyjaks quest that he set. * Heavy Weapon Upgrade - Microfusion Array (30000 Credits) - +15% Heavy Weapon Ammo Carrying Capacity The power cell technology used by heavy weapons is fairly old, but can be improved by rebuilding the core with more modern components. These improvements allow standard power cells to yield more shots per power cell and allow for more total shots to be fired. * Stabilization Gauntlets (4000 Credits) - Increases weapon damage by 5% Incorporating micro-gyros linked with a hardsuit's internal targeting aids these gauntlets from Aldrin Labs ensure better battlefield performance. * Death Mask (8000 Credits) - Increases negotiation bonus by 10% Developed by Tyriel Advanced Communications Corporation (TACC), the Death Mask not only offers exceptional protection but also includes an advanced audio processing package that allows unprecendented clarity and resonance for spoken communication. * Asymmetric Defence Layer (8000 Credits) - Increases health by 5% Offering increased protection where it's needed most, Rosenkov Materials' propriety coating process increases stopping power of standard ceramic armour. * Shield Harness (8000 Credits) - Increases shields by 5% A series of ultra-efficient storage cells designed by Armax Arsenal to augment the existing power in the operation of the wearer's kinetic barrier. * Pyjak Meat (0 Credits) Fresh, raw pyjak meat is a favourite of varren everywhere. Fortack's Database To get the discount, you need to complete Grunt's loyalty mission. That's all that is needed. * Assault Rifle Damage - Kinetic Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% Assault Rifle damage. Upgrades assault rifle, battle rifles, and machine guns for your entire squad. This upgrade strengthens a weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the velocity of each slug fired. * Biotic Damage - Hyper-Amp (90000 Credits) - Squad bonus: +10% biotic damage Standard firmware shipping with bio-amps is designed to work with a variety of alien races and nervous systems. By hacking this firmware to relax built-in safety protocols, more powerful mass effect fields can be generated. Each hack must be done carefully, tuned to the individual's nervous system, or there's risk of nervous system damage, sensation loss, or blindness. * Heavy Pistol Damage - Titan Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Squad Bonus +10% heavy pistol damage. Upgrades heavy pistols and hand cannons for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each slug fired. * Shotgun Damage - Synthetic Pulsar (60000 Credits) - Increases damage by +10%. Improves Shotgun, heavy shotguns, and assault shotguns for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each round fired. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [6.01] Upgrades Upgrades are new in this game. As in the previous Mass Effect with the cluttered up inventory system, upgrades are now the new way of boosting the firepower of your team. Upgrades are done by using the research terminal of the Tech Lab, which will not be open for business until you have obtained Mordin from Omega, which can be the first or one of the last things that you can do to the leadup of half the game. All upgrades can be found in stores, or they can be obtained from scanning various items when you fight your way throughout the galaxy. Of course, they will all cost money, they will normally cost you in terms of resources, the resources of Palladium, Platinum, Iridium and Element Zero. So you need to be on the look out for them. When you wish to upgrade, head to the Tech Lab of the Normandy and use the Research Terminal, which allows you to see what you have obtained in terms of research, so you will be able to see what you can research, and if you have enough resources, actually research it. As soon as the research is done, the upgrade is complete. Fairly straight forward I would assume. Below are all the upgrades that can be found in the game, as well as how they are obtained and how much they will cost to upgrade. Upgrades further than Level 1 will cost double the amount, continuously, so a cost of 2500 on Level 1 will be 5000 for Level 2. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [6.02] Weapons AP Pistol - Sabot Jacketing Obtained By: 2 Heavy Pistol Damage Unlocks Cost : 15000 Palladium Effect : Squad Bonus: Increases damage by +50% against armour. Upgrades heavy pistols and hand cannons for your entire squad. Increasing the tungsten content of slugs and recalibrating the weapon's computer greatly improves penetration against heavily armoured targets. AP Sniper Rifle - Tungsten Sabot Jacket Obtained By: 2 Sniper Rifle Damage Unlocks Cost : 15000 Platinum Effect: Increases damage by +50% against armour. Improves sniper rifles for entire squad. Increasing the tungsten content of slugs and recalibrating the weapon's computer greatly improves penetration against heavily armoured targets. Assault Rifle Accuracy - Targeting VI Obtained By: 3 Assault Rifle Damage upgrades Cost : 25000 Iridium Effect : Squad Bonus: Your entire squad's assault rifles are now much more accurate. Upgrades assault rifles, battle rifles, machine guns. A smart targeting module calculates and compensates for minute barrel movements, weather, and the environment. Firing on a target in a howling gale feels the same as it does on a calm day on the practice range. Smart targeting does not mean the bullet will autmatically find the mark every time the trigger is pulled; it only makes it easier for the marksman to aim. Assault Rifle Damage - Kinetic Pulsar Obtained By: Scanning Modified Rifle when fighting through the Slum District of Omega Scanning the rifle in Morinith's Apartment during the Loyalty mission of Samara Research computer on Zorya when on Zaeed's Loyalty Mission, but for this you will have to hunt down Vido, and not save the workers Purchase from Kortack's Database on Tuchanka Purchase from Gateway Personal Defence on Illium Scanning the rifle in the room next to the pillar during the Loyalty Mission of Tali Cost : 2500 Iridium Effect : Squad Bonus +10% Assault Rifle damage. Upgrades assault rifle, battle rifles, and machine guns for your entire squad. This upgrade strengthens a weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the velocity of each slug fired. Assault Rifle Penetration - Tungsten Jacket Obtained By: 2 Assault Rifle Damage Unlocks Cost: 15000 Iridium Effect: Squad bonus +25% assault rifle damage against armour, shields, and biotic barriers. Upgrades the assault rifles, battle rifles, and machine guns for your entire squad. The slug's tungsten content is increased, and the weapon's computer is recalibrated, improving penetration of heavily-armoured targets. A phasic envelope surrounds each slug before it is fired at a target; this disrupts any mass effect field protecting the target, resulting in better penetration. Heavy Pistol Critical - Smart Rounds Obtained By: 3 Heavy Pistol Damage upgrades Cost : 25000 Palladium Effect : Squad bonus: Heavy pistols sometimes deal double damage. Upgrades the heavy pistols and hand cannons of your entire squad. Normandy's scientists have prototyped a modification to the traditional smart-targeting module commonly incorporated into high-end weaponry. While this technology is normally used to compensate for wind and recoil, it was adapted to slightly deflect rounds to strike a more vital part of an enemy. Heavy Pistol Damage - Titan Pulsar Obtained By: Purchase from Rodam's Expeditions on Citadel Datapad at start on Thane's Loyalty mission Purchase from Fortack's Database on Tuchanka Scan pistol at the bottom of the stairwell when you are recruiting Tali The pistol in front of the barricades on Jacob's Loyalty mission Cost : 2500 Palladium Effect : Increases damage by +10%. Upgrade heavy pistols and hand cannons for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each slug fired. Shotgun Damage - Synchronised Pulsar Obtained By: Scan the rifle on Prison Ship: Purgatory Purchase from Kenn's Salvage on Omega When you complete Grunt's Loyalty Mission Purchase from Kortack's Database on Tuchanka On the Derelict Reaper ship between Scions and Husks Cost : 2500 Platinum Effect : Increases damage by +10%. Improves shotguns, heavy shotguns, and assault shotguns for your entire squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each round fired. Shotgun Extra Rounds - Thermal Sink Obtained By: 3 Shotgun Damage Unlocks Cost : 25000 Platinum Effect : Shotguns, heavy shotguns, and assault shotguns double their rounds. This bonus affects the entire squad. More efficient heat-sink materials improve the absorption and dissipation of heat. Allows for smaller, easier-to-carry heat sinks. Shotgun Shield Piercing - Microphasic Pulse Obtained By: 2 Shotgun Damage Unlocks Cost : 15000 Platinum Effect : Increases damage by +50% against shields and biotic barriers. Improves shotguns, heavy shotguns, and assault shotguns for your entire squad. With the addition of a phasic module to the mass effect field generator, each slug is encased in a phasic envelope before it is fired at a target. This disrupts any mass effect field protecting the target, resulting in superior penetration. SMG Extra Ammo - Heat Sink Capacity Obtained By: 3 SMG Damage Unlocks Cost : 25000 Iridium Effect : Squad bonus: +50% submachine gun (SMG) rounds. Improves SMGs for your entire squad. More efficient heat-sink materials improve the absorption and dissipation of heat. Allows for smaller, easier-to-carry heat sinks. SMG Shield Piercing - Phasic Jacketing Obtained By: 2 SMG Damage Unlocks Cost : 15000 Iridium Effect : Squad bonus +50% submachine gun (SMG) damage against shields and biotic barriers. Upgrades SMGs for your entire squad. A module in the mass-effect field generator creates a phasic envelope around each slug before it is fired at a target. This disrupts any mass effect field protecting the target, resulting in superior penetration. Sniper Headshot Damage - Combat Scanner Obtained By: 3 Sniper Damage Upgrades Cost : 25000 Platinum Effect : Sniper rifles deal +50% headshot damage. This bonus affects the entire squad Normandy's scientists have prototyped a modification to the traditional smart-targeting module commonly incorporated into high-end weaponry. While this technology is normally used to compensate for wind and recoil, it was adapted to slightly deflect rounds to strike a more vital part of an enemy's head. Sniper Rifle Damage - Scram Pulsar Obtained By: Purchase from Omega Market in Omega Found on a open cache on Korlus Purchase from Rodam Expeditions on the Citadel During Garrus' Loyalty Mission, on a computer On the Derelict Reaper where Legion snipes the husks Cost : 2500 Iridium Effect : Squad Bonus +10% Sniper Rifle damage. Upgrades the sniper rifle for your enture squad. This upgrade improves the weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the mass and acceleration of each slug fired. Submachine Damage - Microfield Pulsar Obtained By: Raiding the Blue Suns Weapons Room during the Archangel Saga Scanning the computer during Miranda's loyalty mission Purchase from Rodam's Expeditions on the Citadel Scanning the weapon on the Mercenary near the bridge during the Assassin mission Purchase from Gateway Personal Defence on Illium Cost : 2500 Iridium Effect : Squad Bonus +10% Submachine damage. Upgrades the submachine gun for your entire squad. This upgrade strenghtens a weapon's mass effect field generator, increasing the velocity of each slug fired. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [6.03] Armour Biotic Damage - Hyper-Amp Obtained By: Dead Collector on Horizon Sample Data from the Justicar mission, near Elnora Purchase from Fortack's Database on Tuchanka Purchase from Serrice Technology on Illium On a computer before the boss fight during Jack's Loyalty Mission Cost : 500 Element Zero Effect : Squad bonus: +10% biotic damage Standard firmware shipping with bio-amps is designed to work with a variety of alien races and nervous systems. By hacking this firmware to relax built-in safety protocols, more powerful mass effect fields can be generated. Each hack must be done carefully, tuned to the individual's nervous system, or there's risk of nervous system damage, sensation loss, or blindness. Biotic Cooldown - Smart Amplifier Obtained By: 3 Biotic Damage Upgrades Cost : 5000 Element Zero Effect : Squad bonus: 20% faster biotic cooldowns Generating a mass effect field requires significant concentration. After generating a field, all biotics require some rest before they have the mental focus and clarity to generate another. By tracking neural activity and recognizing the individual patterns of the user, the amp can better intrepret the kind of field the biotic wishes to generate. This requires less focus when generating fields and reduces "cooldown" time. Biotic Duration - Neural Mask Obtained By: 2 Biotic Damage Upgrades Cost : 3000 Element Zero Effect : Squad Bonus: +20% biotic power duration Maintaining a single mass effect field requires continual concentration. By measuring and replicating neural system activity, this upgrade enables the user to maintain mass effect fields with less effort. Bypass Module - Quantum Threading Obtained By: Serrice Technology on Illium Cost : 30000 Credits Effect : Doubles the time limit for bypass The unreliability of purely software-based security has given rise to electronic locks based on physical as well as electronic keys. Marketed as "unhackable", these locks have gained popularity. Omni-tool manufactures responded by adding universal key capabilities to modern omni-tools. These require some level of skill, like a lock pick, but software assistance makes it possible for competant operatives to bypass most locks in time. Improvements to scanning and auto-correction software make it possible to work locks over without triggering defences. Damage Protection - Ablative VI Obtained By: Scanning data found on Purgatory on the YMIR mech Bought from Saronis Applications on the Citadel From the Collector's Ship Control Terminal Complete N7: Anomalous Weather Detected Purchase from Gateway Personal Defence on Illium Cost : 2500 Palladium Effect : Squad bonus +10% to shields, barriers, and armour This comprehensive systems upgrade offers improved protection for all squad members, regardless of team members' individual defensive strategies. Emergency Shielding - Shield Harmonics Obtained By: 3 Medi-Gel Capacity Upgrades Cost : 25000 Platinum Effect : Unity restores squad members shields to full strength. Shield emitters are optimised to produce a strong reliable kinetic barrier that can be active for hours. Because of the potential for interference, it is impossible to run two active emitters simultaneously. When one kinetic barrier is down, it is possible to activate a second, but this will generally interfere with the reactivation of the primary barrier. With precise timing, a short-term kinetic barrier can be made that seamlessly retracts when the primary barrier reactivates." Hack Module - Predictive Display Obtained By: Harrot's Emporium Cost : 30000 Credits Effect: Doubles the time limit for hack In the ongoing war between security software companies and hackers, Cerberus seeks to maintain a list of primary backdoors: little known security holes that have been active for some time and remain unpatched. Ongoing research in this area should improve operative's ability to hack through most conventional security measures. Hard Shields - Nanocrystal Shield Obtained By: 3 Damage Protection Upgrades Cost : 25000 Palladium Effect : Shepard shields take 20% less damage. Cerberus has achieved limited success in studying geth shield technology. Its scientists don't completely understand why, but it seems geth shields are not as vulnerable to incoming projectiles. A breakthrough is imminent, however, and it is possible to make a modified mass effect field generator that mimics this technology. Medi-Gel Capacity - Microscanner Obtained By: Completing Normandy: Serrice Ice Brandy Quest Completing Dossier: The Professor Quest Purchase it from the Sirta Foundation on the Citadel Purchase it from Serrice Technology on Illium Scan it off a dead Eclipse Mercenary during Miranda's loyalty mission Cost : 2500 Platinum Effect : Medi-Gel Capacity Increased by 1 All modern combat armour incorporates a first-aid interface. Microprocessors in this interface monitor vital functions and release small localised doses of medi-gel to accelerate the healing process. Manually timed heavy doses of medi-gel can be released in response to major trauma; however, the efficiency of this is dependent on proprietary medical software that cannot be copied and is prohibitively expensive. Cerberus has developed its own software and is actively working to improve its efficiency. Redundant Field Generator - Burst Regeneration Obtained By: 2 Damage Protection Upgrades Cost : 15000 Palladium Effect : Sometimes when Shepard's shields go down, they are instantly fully restored. Kinetic barriers have improved the survival rate of individual soldiers against modern weapons, but attempts to reinforce falling shields with backups have traditionally failed due to interference. This area has remained an active topic of research for Cerberus, and a prototype redundant field generator has been created. With the proper investment, this can be miniaturized for personal use. Tech Cooldown - Hydra Module Obtained By: 3 Tech Damage Upgrades Cost : 5000 Element Zero Effect : Squad bonus: 20% faster cooldown on tech abilities Most omni-tools are tuned to have an effective life span of 10 years or more for precision work, and up to 50 years for more general tasks. Disabling most safety protocols and installing an experimental power core improves efficiency but reduces the expected operating life span by a factor of 20. Tech Damage - Multicore Amplifier Obtained By: Omni-tool Mods in Garrus' Hideout during Archangel Saga From the Collector's Ship after facing the Praetorian From Saronis Applications on the Citadel Purchase from Serrice Technology on Illium After Tali's Loyalty Mission, after the trial and she is innocent Cost : 500 Element Zero Effect : Squad bonus +10% tech power damage Standard omni-tools are calibrated with a wide neural input range so they can be used effectively by any race. By tuning the inputs of the omni-tool to match the specific neural patterns of the user, responsiveness and power can be greatly increased. Once tuned in this manner, the omni-tool is almost unusable by anyone but the wearer, and it must be constantly re-calibrated to subtle neural shifts. Tech Duration - Custom Heuristics Obtained By: 2 Tech Damage Upgrades Cost : 3000 Element Zero Effect : Squad Bonus +20% duration for all tech powers Traditional omni-tools are tuned for precise and delicate work. Eclipse engineers tune their omni-tools in an opposite manner, focusing on quickly releasing new energy, but rendering them incapable of performing delicate work without swapping in an alternate tool. Cerberus has prototyped a multiple-operating system approach that should allow one omni-tool to run dozens of configurations, with instantaneous swapping as the user switches tasks. This should result in better performance at each individual task. Trauma Module - Medical VI Obtained By: 2 Medi-Gel Capacity Upgrades Cost : 15000 Platinum Effect: Unity heals your squad to full health A standard first-aid interface can stablise a badly-wounded soldier, preventing death from all but the most serious wounds. The base technology, however, is ineffective on conscious soldiers who are currently taking fire, as each pain signal resets the process. A trauma module seperates the medi-gel administration into two layers: active and passive. The active layer constantly distributes small amounts of medi- gel to fresh wound sites. The passive layer handles major deployments to incapacitating wounds. When large amounts of medi-gel are deployed to incapacitated squad members, fighting members are also healed. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [6.04] Ship Enhancements Advanced Mineral Scanner - Argus Scanner Array Obtained By: Talking to Miranda about Normandy Upgrades Cost : 15000 Iridium The Ayndroid Group's proprietary Argus Planet Scan Technology has been integrated into the ships' systems. This will greatly speed up the planet-scanning process. Extended Fuel Cells - Helios Thruster Tech Obtained By: Talking to Samara about Normandy Upgrades Cost : 3000 Element Zero Effect : Normandy now has +50% fuel cell capacity Engine refitted with Heed Industries-designed Helios Thruster Module. Heavy Ship Armour - Silaris Armour Tech Obtained By: Talking to Jacob about Normandy Upgrades Cost : 15000 Palladium The asari-made Silaris armour upgrade is attached to the ship's superstructure. This will help the ship hold together if hit by a blast powerful enough to penetrate its shields. Med-Bay Upgrade - Dermal Regeneration Obtained By: Reading Dr Chakwas Letter about Facial Scars Regeneration Cost : 50000 Platinum Upgrades to Normandy's Medical facilities with an advanced dermal regeneration unit. Using this unit will immediately and completely heal your scars. Further scarring will not occur regardless of the actions you take. Modular Probe Bay - Probe Booster Obtained By: Talking to Thane about Normandy Upgrades Cost : 15000 Iridium Normandy gains +100% probe capacity and additional probes. Multicore Shielding - Cyclone Shield Tech Obtained By - Talking to Tali about Normandy Upgrades Cost : 15000 Palladium The rapidly-oscillating kinetic obstructions of Cyclonic Barrier Technology (CBT) are added to the ship. This should help the ship survive blasts like those that destroyed the first Normandy. Thanix Cannon - Particle Cannon Obtained By: Talking to Garrus about Normandy Upgrades Cost : 15000 Platinum The turian-designed Thanix Magnetic-Hydronamic Cannon is now installed on the Normandy. This cannon is powerful enough to destroy a Collector ship with repeated hits. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [6.05] Prototypes Advanced Training - Tactical Mastery Obtained By: Completing Loyalty Missions Cost : 5000 Element Zero Through intensive training, Shepard can learn to use a single bonus power. Obtaining more loyal squad members will increase the number of powers available for Shepard. Shepard can complete this research project multiple times. Each time the project is completed, Shepard selects a new bonus power, and any points already spent transfer to the newly-selected bonus power. Geth Shield Strength - Cyclonic Particles Obtained By: Research Terminal during Tali's Loyalty Mission During Legion's Loyalty mission on a terminal Cost : 2500 Platinum Effect : +25% shield strength. Upgrades squad members with geth shield technology Geth and Alliance technology diverged when geth migrated beyond the Veil. While geth technology is wholly incompatible with Alliance technology, this upgrade improves on geth shielding by integrating recent Alliance advancements in redundant field generators. Geth Sniper Rifle - Custom Widow Rifle Obtained By: Talk to Legion about Upgrades Cost : 15000 Palladium With enough raw materials and access to the armoury lab, an advanced sniper rifle compatible only with Legion can be produced. Heavy Bone Weave - Skeletal Lattice Obtained By: 2 Heavy Skin Weave Upgrades Cost : 15000 Palladium Effect : Shepard takes 50% less damage from melee attacks Be reinforcing the skeleton with a synthetic weave, bones can be made almost unbreakable. In the event of bone trauma, medi-gel conduits allow for bone regeneration in a matter of days. Heavy Muscle Weave - Microfibre Weave Obtained By: 3 Heavy Skin Weave Upgrades Cost : 25000 Palladium Effect : Shepard's melee attack is now more powerful Preforating the muscles with micro-fibres increase overall strength and decreases the potential for muscle damage from exertion. Heavy Skin Weave - Lattice Shunting Obtained By: Dead Collector on Horizon Purchase from Kenn's Salvage on Horizon Research Module on the MSV Strontium Mule Purchase from Gateway Personal Defence on Illium On Derelict Reaper Ship after fighting the first Scion Cost : 2500 Palladium Effect : Shepard gets +10% Health Strong synthetic fibres can be woven through the skin, dramatically reducing damage taken from most attacks. These fibres also act as a medi-gel conduit, improving healing. Heavy Weapon Ammo - Microfusion Array Obtained By : Scanning YMIR wreckage after Boss fight on Freedom's Progress Purchase from Kenn's Salvage on Omega On Mordin's Loyalty Mission after defeat Krogan warriors Next to the extinguisher controls if you save the workers on Zaeed's Loyalty Mission Purchase from Ratch on Tuchanka Complete N7: Blood Pack Base Complete N7: Blood Pack Communications Relay Cost : 2500 Iridium Effect : +15% Heavy Weapon Ammo Capacity The power cell technology used by heavy weapons is fairly old, but can be improved by rebuilding the core with more modern components. These improvements allow standard power cells to yield more shots per power cell and allow for more total shots to be fired. Krogan Shotgun - Custom Claymore Obtained By: Geting Grunt to give you an Upgrade Cost : 15000 Platinum Effect : Grunt gets a Claymore Heavy Shotgun Armoury scientists produced a single prototype for Grunt in violation of Council space's weapon safety standards. The recoil on the Claymore is enough to break a human's arm; fortunately, Grunt isn't human. Krogan Vitality - Microfiber Weave Obtained By: Bypass Lab Console in Okeer's Lab on Korlus Hack the research terminal during Mordin's Loyalty Mission Cost : 2500 Platinum Effect : All krogan squad members get +25% health A scientist named Okeer designed a retrovirus that matches the krogan genetic code. Modifying the gene sequence of the virus and injecting a small amount into a krogan can introduce a change in that genetic code. Mordin Omni-Tool - Custom Tech Upgrade Obtained By: Talking to Mordin about Upgrades Cost : 3000 Element Zero Effect: Mordin gets +20% tech power damage Mordin built his own omni-tool and can make significant upgrades given the proper materials. New Heavy Weapon - M-622 Avalanche Obtained By : 2 Upgrades in Heavy Weapon Ammo Cost : 15000 Iridium Cyro Round technology is used to modify standard weapon slugs. A cooling laser collapses the ammunition into Bose-Einstein condensate, a mass of super-cooled subatomic particles capable of snap-freezing impacted objects. Normandy's scientists have found a way to apply this technology on a large scale: by generating a mass effect containment "bubble", this proof-of- concept large weapon technology is effective against armour, shields, and biotic barriers. It is nicknamed the "Cyro-Blaster"." New Heavy Weapon - M-920 Cain Obtained By: 3 Heavy Weapon Ammo Upgrades Cost : 25000 Iridium The effectiveness and efficiency of mass-effect-based weapon technology has rendered large-scale deployment of high explosive weaponry all but obsolete in infantry weapons. Normandy's scientists have prototyped a modified weapon of traditional high-explosive rounds that is applied to a 25-gram slug. When acclerated to 5 km/s, the round is devastating. Though a technically inaccurate label, this prototype weapon is nicknamed the "Nuke Launcher," and its high- explosive matrix generates an archetypical mushroom cloud in impact. Inflicts high damage with a large area of effect. Very effective against armour, shields, and biotics. New Heavy Weapon - ML-77 Missile Launcher Obtained By : 1 Research in Heavy Weapon Ammo Cost : 5000 Iridium Rapid-fire missile launcher with seeking projectiles. Effective against armour, shields, and biotic barriers. Missile launchers are surfacing with increasing frequency among the Terminus Systems mercenary bands, but their origin is unknown. Each projectile features a friend-or-foe recognition system, ensuring it will find a hostile target -- though not necessarily the one in the crosshairs. In urban situations, it is useful for taking out snipers and other entrenched enemies, so it is popular with the Blue Suns mercenary band. It is nearly impossible to duplicate, as it uses Fabrication Rights Management (FRI) technology. Retrain Powers Obtained By: Completing Horizon Cost : 2500 Element Zero Effect : Advanced training allows Shepard to re-allocate points to powers. No additional points are granted. Shepard can complete this research project multiple times. Each time the project is completed, all points spent in powers will be reset. Access the squad menu to re-spend points immediately after completing this research project. Subject Zero Biotic Boost - Multicore Implants Obtained By : Talk to Jack about Upgrades Cost : 3000 Element Zero Effect : Jack gets +20% biotic damage Jack's vital signs show progressive neural degeneration, which would normally decrease her potential ability to generate mass effect fields. Instead, her ability appears to be increasing. Replacing the power module in her bio-amp with a higher-capacity prototype module would dramitically increase the strength of Jack's biotics. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [7.01] Messages and Effects This will be a log of all messages that you will get in your private terminal, how you will obtain it, and the effect that it has. - An Amazing Find! Obtained By - Complete N7: MSV Estevanico "From: Dr. Richard Talos, Curator Alliance Museum of Galactic Exploration, Earth Commander Shepard: You have our thanks for recovering the data from the MSV Estevanico. The data shows that the ship was attacked and overrun by Blood Pack mercenaries and vorcha soldiers. According to the dated records, this was the first Alliance crew to encounter the Vorcha. How frightened they must have been! We are sending salvage crews not to recover whatever they can for the museum. Thank you again for your dedication." Effect: None - AN IMPORTANT REQUEST! Obtained By - Random, Spam "From: Mister Ganak Ej'hal, Esq. Dear Sir or Madam Having consulted with my colleagues at the Citadel, I have the privilege to request for your assistance to transfer a large quantity of Prothean technology uncovered at Ilos. Believing these materials to be a hazardous danger, they were locked in quarantine. Even though the tests revealed that the fears were groundless, the quarantine remains in effect until one can pay for a permit to request a reclassification from the cultural ministry. Knowing of your interest in Prothean technology, I would be happy to deliver most of it into your hands, keeping less than half for myself. As a batarian I cannot engage in Council offical activities, but if you transfer the 20,000 credits required to me, this exchange could be made in your name, enabling us both to profit from this happy accident. Please reply urgently with your credit transfer account information. Best regards, Ganak Ej'hal" Effect: None, except even you aren't immune to spam. - A pleasure to meet you Obtained By: Not telling Admiral Xen what happened on the Alarei "From: Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh Shepard vas Normandy, I've been digging through the Alarei. Just wanted you to know that I did find a few things from the experiments Rael'Zorah was conducting. Had you shared them with me, humanity might have reaped the benefits. Instead, once my own experiments are complete, you and your people will watch from a distance as the quarian people reclaim not just their homeworld, but the largest synthetic army in the galaxy. Rael'Zorah's death will not be in vain. I will complete what he started. Cordially, Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh" Effect: I am not saving another Admiral - Back from female camp, Obtained By: Rescue the scout during Mordin's Loyalty Mission "From: Urdnot Darg Dear Human, The clan leader told me hot to get in touch with you. I don't remember much of what happened, but the chief scout said you pulled my quad out of the fire when I got caught and poisoned over at the Weyrloc camp. Thanks. Next time I have a chance to kill a human, I won't. Unless I go into blood rage or something. I got to go to the female camp after I recovered, and it was pretty good. I was actually thinking of joining the Blood Pack before this happened. I think I'm going to stay here instead. -- Urdnot Darg, Scout - Second Class" Effect: None - Blood Dragon Armour Obtained By - Downloading the special Dragon Age: Origins promotional downloadable content. "From: Illusive Man Shepard, Jacob tells me you've been keeping an eye out for cutting-edge supplies -- weapons, armour, amps, and so forth. It so happens that I had something waiting for you when you awoke in the Lazarus Research Station. It was lost in the chaos but found again when Cerberus secured the station. I had it delivered to the Normandy. Look in the armour closet in your quarters -- it'll be hard to miss." Effect: You get the Blood Dragon Armour - Blood Pack Facility Detected Obtained By - Completing N7: Blood Pack Communications Relay "From: Cerberus Command Planet Information: Zada Ben, Xe Cha System, Shrike Abyssal We have decrpyed and analysed the data you recovered from the relay on Tarith. The resources mined on Tarith were being sent to Zada Ban, presumably for use in weapons manufacture. It's clear that the Blood Pack is planning a large-scale invasion. Disrupting the operation on Zada Ban will go a long way toward delaying or preventing this invasion." Effect: You can now investigate and land on Zada Ben. - Blue Suns Activity Traced Obtained By - Completing N7: Archeological Dig Site "From: Cerberus Command We did a little due diligence on this Lieutenant Locke and his rendezvous with a Captain Vorhess. The coordinates we obtained as the last known location of the MSV Strontium Mule have been added to your galaxy map. It turns out that the Mule is carrying valuable cargo, including intel of a sensitive nature. We'd like you to track down the Strontium Mule and recover that cargo. Please pass the information to us, and you can keep any other items of value you may find. Do what you will with the Blue Suns." Effect: You can now find the Strontium Mule - Blue Sins Ambush Site Detected Obtained By - Completing N7: MSV Strontium Mule "From: Cerberus Command We've started going through that intel -- fine work, by the way -- and we've discovered the location of the base where the Strontium Mule fell into the Blue Suns' trap. The Blue Suns are indeed using false distress signals to lure merchant freighters near their base with the intent of capturing and raiding those vessels. If you can get out there and shut down their beacon, it'll save a lot of merchants a lot of distress. It'll also strike a blow to the Blue Suns as a whole. The base is on planet Sanctum, Decoris System, Sigurd's Cradle. We've uploaded coordinates to the galaxy map." Effect: You can now start the N7: Blue Suns Base mission - Can you help? Obtained By - Completing the mission on Horizon "From: Robyn Reeve Commander: The Alliance soldier here gave me this contact information -- I hope this reaches you. You said you were trying to stop those Collectors. They took my son and my brother. Have you found them? Do you know where they are? I know you're looking, but so many people are just gone. Every family lost someone. The children are the worst. Empty desks at school, winter clothes that never got worn. Please. The Alliance isn't doing anything. The Council isn't doing anything. If you can find our people, I'm begging you to do something. Tell me something I can do. Tell me anything. Robyn Reeve" Effect: None, but people are so damn pushy T_T - Cerberus Command Request Obtained By - Completing 2 Dossier Missions "From: Cerberus Command Reports tell us you've been operating in the Omega Nebula. We'd like to look into a situation on Lorek, a nearby planet in the Fathar System. Scan the planet for a base, where we believe Eclipse mercs are holding one of our operatives. You should be able to detect the operative's transmitter. Extract the operative; if the operative is beyond rescue, recover any relevant intel that Eclipse may have collected. This is a very delicate matter, Shepard. We trust in your discretion." Effect: Unlocks N7: Lost Operative Mission - Collector Rifle and Armour Obtained By - Download Collector's Edition Downloadable Content "From: Illusive Man Shepard, Our researchers have been working with captured Collector technology for some time now. They've developed an experimental armour suit in your size and an assault rifle that the techs say should take a standard thermal clip. I had the items delivered to the Normandy's armoury. Good hunting." Effect: Unlocks Collector Assault Rifle and Armour - Deal Struck with Zaeed Massani Obtained By - Have the Zaeed Massani Downloadable Content "From: Illusive Man Shepard: We've reached an agreement with veteran mercenary Zaeed Massani. You may know the name; Zaeed has been involved in some of the best known (and some utterly unknown) military operations in the Terminus Systems, and is feared as a ruthless and relentless bounty hunter. I felt you might need a man with his skills on your mission, so I arranged to have him join you. You will find him on Omega, where he's wrapping up his current bounty. Don't worry about his fee, I've taken care of that personally." Effect: You can land on Omega to pick up Zaeed - *ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION* Obtained By - Release Grunt "From: Illusive Man Shepard I see you awakened Okeer's krogan. A dangerous decision, but you've for free rein on this operation. If you're certain he'll be a useful member of the team, you've got my support. We need every weapon we can get in this battle. If this "Grunt" proves unreliable and has to be put down, don't lose the body. He's based at least partially on Collector technology and could offer useful genetic data. But, again, you are in charge." Effect: None - *ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION* Obtained By - Capturing Legion "From: Illusive Man Shepard, I'm pleased that you were able to recover the Reaper IFF, and I've sent EDI all the necessary protocols to get it integrated successfully into the Normandy's systems. With luck, this will give us the ability to get through the Omega-4 Relay and take the fight to the Collectors on our own terms. I've been notified about the intact geth and your decision to keep it. If you believe it can be trusted, then go ahead and activate it. Just make sure that EDI is adequately protected against any hacking attempts. It's not necessarily the decision I would have made, Shepard, but this is your call. You've already cast a wide net in your recruiting efforts, and if the geth are willing to fight the Collectors, then we can use them on the team. I trust you to get the job done, whatever it takes." Effect: Nice to see he still trusts you - *ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION* Obtained By - After the Collector's attack on the SR2 "From: Illusive Man Shepard, I received word of the attack. This feels like a direct insult from the Collectors and a sign that we've got them on the scared. The loss of your crew is devastating, but remember that they signed on for this mission knowing the risks. Miranda has likely argued for delaying the rescue efforts until you've fully prepared to go through the Omega-4 relay. I know you are eager to leave, but rushing off would be a disservice to your crew's sacrifice. When you are ready, you'll have my full support. Get it done, Shepard. Nobody else can." Effect: Lets do this. - Glad I Didn't Sign Up! Obtained By - Preventing that Kid joining up with the Mercenaries during the Archangel Saga "From: Jonn Whitson Hey, Aria gave me this address. I think I met you at Afterlife in Omega. You stopped me from joining up with those mercs who were trying to take out Archangel. Man, I was so pissed off at you. I got blind drunk that night, and it was a few days later before I got it together enough to check the news vids and saw that almost all those mercs had gotten killed by Archangel. I don't know who you are or if you got out of there alive yourself, but thanks. I felt really stupid when I heard about the body count, and how I could have been part of it. I'll make most of what you did for me. Jonn Whitson." Effect: None - Healing of your facial scars Obtained By - Completing a Dossier Mission on Mordin "From: Chief Medical Officer Chakwas Commander, I've done further investigation regarding your facial scarring, and the old adage of "mind over matter" holds true. Negative attitudes and aggressive acts create adverse reactions with your cybernetic implants, while peaceful thoughts and compassionate actions promote healing. If you maintain a positive outlook, I believe your facial scarring will heal on its own. Otherwise, there is surgical equipment we could use to insulate your cybernetic implants and accelerate your healing regardless of your mental outlook. I've updated plans for the new medical equipment to your research terminal in the tech lab. Sincerely, Chakwas" Effect: You how have the Med-Bay Upgrade in your Research Terminal - IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU! Obtained By - Random, Spam "From: Elkoss Mail Routing A drell lay in the ocean, dying from Kepral's Syndrome, and had a dream. In his dream, the Enkindlers came to him and charted the course of his life. The drell saw the wakes and eddies, and saw that sometimes the Enkindlers swam alongside him, limbs raking the water, while other times he as alone. The drell saw that the times he had alone were the hardest times in his life. He asked the Enkindlkers, "Why was this one abandoned?" The Enkindlers answered, their light shining brightly, "You were never abandoned. In those difficult times in your life, it was our bodies that bore you though the water." The drell awoke and found his Kepral's Syndrome cured. If you follow the light of the Enkindlers, it can happen to you. Where the Enkindlers go, we shall follow, and where their light is the sun, we shall be the stars around them. Send this message to six beings of your acquaintance, and your greater wish shall come true!" Effect: None, just more spam. - Message from Anderson Obtained By - When you get access to the Normandy SR2 "From: Admiral Anderson On the off chance that the rumours are true and you are actually alive, I need you to come and talk to me on the Citadel. A lot has changed in the last two years. You can put us on top, and it's only fair that you be allowed to speak for yourself about what we've been hearing." Effect: You can now find and talk to Admiral Anderson in the Citadel - MSV Corsica: Last Known Docking Coordinates Obtained By - Finish N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter "From: EDI INFORMATION ACQUIRED Location Coordinates: Jarrahe Station, Strabo System, Eagle Nebula Data mining confirms the last reported location of merchant freighter MSV Corsica as the Jarrahe Station in the Strabo System. Possibility exists that clues pertaining to the anomaly that caused the mass malfunction of the mechs aboard Corsica can be found aboard Jarrahe Station." Effect: You can start to dock on Jarrahe Station - Nice Work on Daratar Obtained By - Completing N7: Eclipse Smuggling Depot "From: Cerberus Command Nice work. We knew Eclipse was hiding valuable cargo on Daratar, but we couldn't land without fear of their mercs destroying the crates. We've wired the credits into your account. Damn glad to have you with us, Shepard." Effect: None - Normandy Crash Site Data Received Obtained By - Completing the Normandy Crash Site "From: Admiral Hackett Commander Shepard: The Alliance is grateful to receive the information you found at the Normandy's crash site, and we've sent it out to the affected families. By finding those dog tags, you have provided peace of mind for a lot of people, Commander. I thank you on their behalf." Effect: None - Normandy Crash Site Located Obtained By - Download the Normandy Crash Site Downloadable Content "From: Admiral Hackett Commander Shepard: Our scans in the Amada system have turned up something we thought you should see: the final location of the wreckage of the SSV Normandy. We thought this news might be important to you, but we also have an ulterior motive. The Alliance would like to honour the Normandy with a monument, to be built on the site of the ship's final resting place. We'd like to invite you to place the monument and be the first to walk on the site. There are still 20 crew members unaccounted for from the attack on the Normandy. If you find any signs of these lost crewmen, we ask that you report to the Alliance so that those heroes' families might find some closure. Godspeed to you, Commander." Effect: You can land on the Normandy Crash Site. - Operative Data Filed Obtained By - N7: Lost Operative, Upload Data to Normandy "From: EDI I have logged and begun decryption of the data you recovered from the Eclipse base on Lorek. Preliminary searches show that the information pertains to illicit operations in which Cerberus was involved over the past five years. Should this information be released, it could severely hinder Cerberus' ability to operate openly in the galaxy. It will take me a year or more to completely decrypt this information." Effect: None - Pragia Facility Update Obtained By - Complete Jack's Loyalty Mission "From: Cerberus Intel Commander Shepard, Contacting you per Illusive Man's instructions. He believed you would want to know that he had ordered Subject Zero's project shut down before the riot broke out. Cerberus personnel arrived to find all guards dead, along with most of the subjects. All surviving children were treated for injuries, given mild amnesic treatments, and delivered to Alliance facilities as survivors of slaver attacks. A few surviving doctors were forcibly retired for their role in the project. Per your report, tje facility on Pragia has been destroyed." Effect: None, but this is lip service. - RE: Encryped Data Obtained By - N7: Lost Operative, Upload Data to Alliance "From: Alliance Command Commander: We got the data you sent. If this went public, it could do some serious damage to Cerberus' image. This intel will takes years to decode, but just having it is a huge win for the Alliance. Well done Shepard. Good luck on your mission. -- Anderson" Effect: None - Re: Lost Operative Obtained By - N7: Lost Operative, Upload Data to Cerberus "From: Cerberus Command We received the data you found on the Eclipse base. While the death of operative Tyrone Rowlings was regrettable, he died to keep this information out of the hands of those who would do Cerberus harm. By retrieving this data, you have ensured that his death was not in vain. While the subject of the data is known, the contents of the intel are not. We are decrypting the data to find out the nature of the erroneous information being spread about Cerberus. Thanks to you, we can safeguard our almost fragile reputation. Well done!" Effect: None - Source of VI Virus Detected Obtained By - Finish N7: Abandoned Research Station "From: EDI INFORMATION RECEIVED: Planet Information: Capek, Haskins System, Titan Nebula Data from the quarantined VI at Jarrahe Station includes that a possible source of the VI Virus outbreak is a Hahne-Kedar facility on the planet Capek. Coordinates have been downloaded into the galaxy map." Effect: You can land on Capek - Still alive. Obtained By - Completing the Justicar mission "From: Detective Anaya Greetings, Commander -- I'm not completely sure this will get to you, but thanks again for helping me deal with Samara. The Eclipse mercs have gotten real quiet around here, and my superiors have backed off too. No idea if the two are related, but hopefully the next time I meet a justicar, I can give her the respect she deserves. I still can't believe I worked a case with one of them. You're a lucky human. If I find any more data on her target, I'll pass it along. Thanks, Detective Anaya Illium Law Enforcement" Effect: None - Take care of Garrus Obtained By - Saving Garrus from the Mercenaries "From: Nalah Butler Commander Shepard, My husband was one of the men serving on Garrus' team. I don't know how much Garrus talked to you about what happened. I don't know the specifics myself, only that my husband died in a trap set by those bastard gangs. I know Garrus blames himself; he took every shot fired at his squad as a failure on his part, and it was clear when he sent me he message about my husband that he thinks it was his fault. My husband would never have wanted that. He was proud of the work he did on Garrus' squad. He was taking back Omega from the gangs. He died fighting with honour. I miss him. God, I'd give anything to get him back. But whatever happened there wasn't Garrus' fault. You're his commander now. Please, if you can, help him stop blaming himself. And please don't tell him that I sent you this. Thank you. - Narah Butler" Effect: None - Terminus Armour Obtained By - Download Terminus Armour Downloadable Content "From: Illusive Man Shepard, Our armour technicians found a high-performance suit for you that was manufactured in the Terminus Systems -- that is to say, it isn't exactly legal in Citadel space. It's been delivered to your quarters so you can try it on. Hope you like the colour." Effect: You have Terminus Armour in your Armour Locket - Thank you Obtained By - Completing Jacob's Loyalty Mission "From: Leslie I am Leslie. I was on Aeia. The food made me sick. The doctors are helping me now. One doctor knows Jacob. He says he can tell you this. He could write this for me, but I want to do it. I need to use my words. My words are coming back. I can talk well. Reading is hard but I am getting better. I have to get better. Taylor wanted me like this. He wanted my words gone. I have to show him that he lost. I am not weak. He did things to me, and he can't now. He can't take away my words. He can't make me not me anymore. Because you and Jacob stopped him. Thank you. Leslie" Effect: None, but it makes you feel warm and fuzzy. - Thank you from my daughter Obtained By - Completing the Samara loyalty mission "From: Diana Commander Shepard, Aria T'Loak told me where to send this. I'm Nef's mother, Diana. We talked when you came to investigate her death. Aria also told me that a dead asari woman was found in one of the wealthy apartments -- that she was the one who'd killed my daughter. Thank you. I don't know who brought you into my life, but thank you for avenging my daughter. My Nef deserved better than this. I couldn't give it to her, but you at least killed the bitch who took what little she had away. Gratefully, Diana" Effect: Aria loves giving away your contact details. - The Cyniad -- Thank You Obtained By - Complete N7: Quarian Crash Site "From: Captain Ysin'Mal vas Idenna Commander Shepard: Please acecpt my sincere appreciation for your efforts in locating the wreckage of the Cyniad. That ship has a storied history with both the Migrant Fleet and Cerberus, and we are pleased to know that her wreckage can be salvaged by my people. In finding and stabilizing Lieutenant Forzan, you have returned to the flotilla one of her newest and most honoured heroes. Your efforts in furthering the quarian search for a new homeworld will be remembered." Effect: None - Things are quiet again Obtained By - Saving Daniel during the Mordin Saga "From: Omega Clinic Desk Commander, I wanted to thank you again for saving me from those batarians. I thought I'd seen the worst of people's anger and fear at Dr. Solus' clinic. I had no idea how much anger his work was keeping in check, how bad it really way. If not for you, I'd be dead. Thank you. The clinic is doing really well. You got rid of most of the plague, and I've been able to handle the rest without too much trouble. The Blue Suns keep offering to take over security here. I keep the mechs powered on. I won't make the same mistake twice. Thanks, - Daniel" Effect: None - To Grunt's Commander Obtained By - Complete Grunt's Loyalty Mission "From: Shaman Urdnot Damn it, I hate these things. But you need to hear this. You're part of Grunt's krannt, and you're his leader. So keep him alive. Here, I have to stay polite, play the role. But our people are dying. Krogan have always valued survival over tradition. If we're going to survive as a people, we need your vat-grown Grunt. Okeer was a madman, but he was a madman with a plan, and that's more than most have on this ball of rock. So bring him back from your damn mission. My people need him. And if you all get killed, I'll piss on your graves. Shaman Urdnot" Effect: Nice to know he cares. - To the Normandy: Our Thanks Obtained By - Completing N7: Imminent Ship Crash "From: Rafael Cologne, Governor of Fargone Colony, Jonus Normandy Crew: We retrieved your identity from the docking data aboard the MSV Broken Arrow. We're led to believe that your crew is responsible for saving our colony from a catastrophic event. Not only did you defeat the geth and prevent the ship from crashing into the planet in a trajectory that would have destroyed our colony, but you also saved nearly 100 munitions crates that would have been lost in the ship's scuttling. Thanks to you, we are safe and can continue the Broken Arrow's work in arming the colonies on the fringe of geth space. On behalf of the residents of Fargone Colony, you have our eternal gratitude." Effect: None - Transfer Request Approved Obtained By - Recruit Tali "From: Admiralty Board, Migrant Fleet Commander Shepard, Per Tali'Zorah vas Neema's request included with her data delivery from Haestrom, the Admiralty Board has approved her transfer to your command. She has been informed that additional duties to the Migrant Fleet may still be necessary on occasion, but has been given extended leeway to determine when her mission with you is considered complete. This choice was hers, but your role as de facto captain during her Pilgrimage may have caused her to be more susceptible to your requests. The Admiralty Board trusts that you will treat your new crew member with the respect due an honoured member of the Fleet. Should any harm come to her due to negligence on your part, this board will take severe and appropriate action. Admiral Rael'Zorah. Migrant Fleet Admiralty Board" Effect: None - (Untitled) Obtained By - Free Jack from Purgatory "Title: (Untitled) From: (Error, Invalid Sender Name) Hey Shepard heard I have you to thank for getting out of Purgatory (send a ship to round me up, but they didn't weapons-check good enough)! I'm gonna carve your name instead of mine into my next victim as thanks, got anyone you need dead (haha)? You did take a shot at me though on my way out so I have to kill you, you know how it goes. Dad taught me that you let anybody hurt you, they get ideas so you make sure to send a message, not like I'm sending now, though! See you around, the people who live here are coming back and it's showtime! Look around for your name, I'll make sure you find it before I find you! Billy..." Effect: None, though I wouldn't be concerned, after all, they did catch him once, they can do so again. - Update on the kid Obtained By - Complete Thane's Loyalty mission "From: Captain Bailey: C-Sec Hey, Shepard. Just wanted to let you know that the drell kid's doing okay. Everything's taken care of legally, and he's doing some work for me. Helping me deal with some trash in the Wards, maybe make life better for some of the kids like Mouse. Not perfect, but then, what is? Don't know if your drell and mine are talking. I told him life was too short not to, but I don't know if it took. Good luck out there. - Bailey" Effect: None - You changed my life. Obtained By - Save Jeirt during Thane's recruitment mission "From: Jeirt Greetings, Commander Shepard Liara T'Soni gave me your contact information. I was one of the cleaning crew in the Dantius Towers. You helped get me out of there. According to T'Soni, you also found Thane. He took down some of the Eclipse mercs trying to gun us down, and I wondered if you could pass along my thanks. The way he moved ... one was dead before they even knew he was there. He snapped another's neck, then shot a third, all in the space of a few heartbeats. It was incredible. He moved like a dancer, grave and power in constant motion. Seeing him changed my life, woke up something in me I don't fully understand yet. I don't know what I'm going to do, but salarian lives are too short to waste as custodians, especially when there's so much else out there. I'm going to find something that lets me capture what I saw in him, that beauty, that aeshetic perfection. I'm also going to buy some nice clothes. So if you could tell him that ... or just whatever parts of that you think appropriate ... I'd appreciate it. Sincerely, Jeirt" Effect : None - YOUR 2 SMALL Obtained By - Random Junk Mail "From: Morlan "I'm sorry mate, I leave you for a krogan because you are not endowed as good for your species!" Do you fear those words? Morlan's famous shop sells many enhancements online that are not restricted by Citadel trading regulations! Whether you require hormone augmentation, cybernetic enhancement, or genebiotic xenografting, Morlan has many things you will be pleased with! All species and gender order online from Morlan's famous extranet site, hotlinked from this message! (Product availability varies by local trade regulations, all element zero products require shipping surcharge, no shipping to Omega, krogan reproductive organs not available, other restrictions may apply.) Effect: None *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.01] Fuel and Probes Fuels and probes are useful on the Normandy during space exploration. When you go on the galaxy map, you literally have free rein to do what you wish, which is rather useful. However, there are going to be two main views, a system and a galaxy view. The system view is what you see on the screen when you enter a system, planets, mass relays, etc. Galaxy view is that of the whole galaxy. Now, you can explore the galaxy, but you need two things. First, fuel. You will need fuel when you travel to other clusters. Other clusters are shown on the border of a system, with a green arrow. This is simple enough when you see the galaxy map. The second are probes. You use these to investigate planets. First, you need to scan the planets. The game will tell you how. But on some planets, they will give you an anomaly, and for that, you can send in a probe to investigate it, which helps you figure out what it is, and then you can land to investigate, and it also unlocks more missions for you. The consequences of not having enough fuel is simple, you burn your valuable resources that you can use for research instead, which is a bad idea, whilst not having enough probes means less job opportunities for you. To obtain more probes and fuel, there are fuel depots all over the systems, most commonly next to the mass relays. This is far simpler than it sounds, the manual does a job of it, and the game helps you as well. When you are scanning, look out for the scanner state of the planet. You want to keep looking for the big deposits, until your scanners tell you that it is depleted, and once it is depleted, it is depleted. However, just scan the entire planet, the scanners are known to lie a little bit. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.02] Omega Nebula Below, I will list down the items you can find in each system, interesting or not, as well, as missions connected to it, and interesting little tidbits. I'll arrange them in clusters, mainly to help you along. This nebula is unlocked from the start. Amada requires the Normandy Crash Site DLC to be downloaded and installed. Amada - Planet: Alchera Alchera's crust is composed of carbon and water ice. While low density, its large size allows it to retain a thick atmosphere of methane and ammonia. It is believed that if Alchera had acquired a bit more mass when the Amada star system formed, it would have formed the core of a second outer-system gas giant. Alchera has three moons: Uluru, Wandjina, and Baiame. Orbital Distance: 9.5 AU Orbital Period: 29.4 Earth Years Radius: 9,229km Day Length: 59.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.83 Earth Atmosoheres Surface Temperature: -22 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.85G There is an anomaly on this planet, and that is because it is the crash site of the original Normandy. It is also a rich planet for resources, but there are no signs of Element Zero on it. - Planet: Anjea Anjea is a typical ammonia-methane ice giant. Traces of chlorine in the atmosphere give it a distinct green tint. Penetrating scans have revealed large numbers of hollow, unpowered objects with dimensions of 3.14 by 12.56 by 28.26 metres circulating in the equatorial clouds bands. These objects appear to have "sails" or "wings" attached, allowing them to be borne aloft by Anjea's winds. While they are too deep to be reached for study, popular conjecture in xenoarcheological circles hold that they are "coffins" of an ancient race who laids their dead to rest in the gas giant. Orbital Distance: 15.3 AU Orbital Period: 60 Earth Years Radius: 23,120km Day Length: 17.4 Earth Hours This is a planet of moderate resources, and there is no element zero on it. - Planet: Eingana Eingana is a hot, beautiful, and deadly world, covered in the debris of ancient starships. Approximately 127,000 years ago, a series of battles were fought over it by two organic species, the thoi'han and the inusannon. Although no records of the conflict remain, most historians agree that both races wanted to colonise Eingana, and neither were willing to share. The two lost hundreds of ships in a series of battles over Eingana and its moon, Barraiya; many of these were eventually pulled in by the planet's gravity well. The mass effect drive cores of these ships broke apart, dumping refined element zero over large stretches of landscape. This poisoned the environment and a wave of extinctions followed. Many of the animal species that remained showed a tendency to develop biotic powers. As the ecology of Eingana is energetic and aggressive, this makes colonisation a deadly peril. Orbital Distance: 5.3 AU Orbital Period: 12.2 Earth Years Radius: 5,733km Day Length: 20.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.84 Earth Atmosoheres Surface Temperature: 36 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.86G There is a good deal of resources on this planet, and more importantly, there is refined element zero for you to probe. - Planet: Karora Karora is essentially a great rock in space, tidally locked to Amada. Its only notable feature is a chain of craters stitching across the northern hemisphere, thought to be the result of impacts by a swarm of meteors. Karora's low density suggests it contains no mineral wealth beyond common light metals. It sustains a tenuous atmosphere of krypton and xenon. Orbital Distance: 2.4 AU Orbital Period: 2.9 Earth Years Radius: 2,446km Day Length: 63.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.14 Earth Atmosoheres Surface Temperature: 99 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.28G A moderate amount of resources on this giant rock, but there is no Eezo stashed on it. - Planet: Takkan Orbiting closet to the F-class star Amada, Takkan is a blistering, sun- blasted hell. Neither its carbon dioxide atmosphere nor its weak magnetic field provides and protection from the star's harsh radiation. Fortunately, Takkan has few significant resources, and its only notable for an unusual purple desert in the southern hemisphere, thought to be the result of eroded spessartite. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1 Earth Year Radius: 4,312km Day Length: 45.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.49 Earth Atmosoheres Surface Temperature: 286 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.5G There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is no Element Zero on it. Arinlarkin - MSV Strontium Mule Derelict ship, registered MSV Strontium Mule, visible damaged from weapons fire. Ship is not responding to hails despite life signs aboard. Transmission using known Blue Suns encryption detected. Airlocks are sealed, but the ship can be boarded through an emergency hatch in the cargo hold. This is unlocked for the N7: MSV Strontium Mule mission, and cannot be seen before then. - Planet: Utha Punished with UV and gamma radiation from the Class F star it orbits, Utha is no one's first choice for a planet to land on. Covered in seawater, Utha has a hydrosphere and ozer layer similar to Earth's, but that simply isn't enough to ward off the life-killing radiation. Its nitrogen-rich, oxygen-poor atmosphere goes unchanged by the few proteins that have managed to form in the ocean depths. Utha, however, has served as a way station for slaves escaping their batarian masters. What little land it has is tectonically stable, and its considerable radiation belt and electrical storms grant cover from many common types of sensors. Fleeing ships typically hide on Utha long enough to discharge their drive cores and stock up on deuterium before trying to make it to the cluster's mass relay. Orbital Distance: 4.0 AU Orbital Period: 6.1 Earth Years Radius: 6,050km Day Length: 49.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.2 Earth Atmosoheres Surface Temperature: 40 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G What this planet makes up for in isolation is complimented that it is rich in resources, so happy mining. Batalla - Planet: Logasri A step above a carbonacous asteroid, Logasari is a planet with a carbon- heavy crust and a trace atmopshere with CO2 and helium. Its surface is cool enough to have liquid water, but it is rapidly drying out, as it has lost the critical mass to have a self-sustaining hydrologic cycle. Nevertheless, the batarians have colonised the world, forcing slaves to work in their mines and agri-habitats. The labout is hot, endless, and backbreaking, evne in its low-G environment. Every horror story told by slaves elsewhere in the cluster seems to be topped by one from Logasri. The most famous is that of the slaver Silparon, who worked to death 420 slaves over the course of a galactic standard year, and ground up their bodies for compost in his greenhouses. He was eventually poisoned by his wife, but his shadow -- and his business model -- still hangs over the miserable planet. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 5,017km Day Length: 49.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 56 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.5G This planet will have a moderate amount of resources, but lacking the Element Zero. - Planet: Nearog Nearog is a hydrogen-methane gas giant whose moons were once home to Essul, a batarian warlord who terrorised the Terminus Systems. Attempting to unite a pirate army under his banner, he successfully conducted a rapid blitz against 11 habitable planets. Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy, Essul's crimes caught the attention of the Spectres, who decided his hidden location and assassinated him. Essul's empire, built on a hyperextended army, soon came crashing down. He lost stockpiles of element zero have become something of a legend, and foolish spacers have spent countless amounts of time and money searching the Batalla system, convinced they will be the ones that finally strike it rich. Orbital Distance: 4.8 AU Orbital Period: 11.8 Earth Years Radius: 19,976km Day Length: 16.5 Earth Hours This planet contains a moderate amount of resources, but most importantly, it will contain some Element Zero. - Planet: Thunawanuro A strange island of peace in the lawless Terminus Systems, Thunawanuro is a planet of crushing gravity but abundant life. As its ponderous names indicates, it was colonised by the elcor, who have several booming industries on the planet. Hydroelectric dams and biofuels from tough, woody algae provide much of the planet's energy. Mines export uranium, thorium, and gold, taken to space with generous use of mass effect fields. Of course, pirates target the elcor's shipping as soon as it leaves orbit, but the elcor's deals with mercenary companies keep away all but the most foolhardy of attackers. Population: 3,769,000 Colony Founded: 2035CE Capital: Nurhemathun Orbital Distance: 1.1 AU Orbital Period: 1.3 Earth Years Radius: 11,993km Day Length: 51.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.86 Earth Pressures Surface Temperature: 32 Celsius Surface Gravity: 6.7G The planet has a good amount of resouces, and luckily, it contains some of the rare Element Zero that you will be wanting. Fathar - Planet: Dorgal The surface of Dorgal is an ethane-soaked mush. The planet hovers near the boiling point of the hydrocarbon, and supports a diverse, if not simple and slow-moving, carbon-based ecology. The planet's gravity is strong enough to retain an atmopshere of molecular nitrogen and carbon monoxide, but the methane that dominated billions of years ago has long since been lost. Orbital Distance: 0.54 AU Orbital Period: 0.7 Earth Years Radius: 3,521km Day Length: 51.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.43 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -88 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.44G This planet is rich in resources, the usual three suspects, Palladium, Platinum and Iridium. - Planet: Korar Korar is a small, lifeless rock blessed with significant deposits of thorium, used in radiation shielding and the manufacture of spaceframe alloys. A small population of miners eke out an existance on the surface, selling their ore at Lorek and praying that the intermittent raids by the Terminus pirate clans will pass their homestead by. There have been no children born on Korar since the infamous pirate raid of 2047, when every child on the planet was rounded up and taken as a slave. Any couple finding itself pregeant preemptively moves off-world. Population: 2,400 Orbital Distance: 0.32 AU Orbital Period: 0.3 Earth Years Radius: 1,919km Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -40 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.19G This planet has a good amount of resources, especially Iridium, which is very useful for you and your crew. - Planet: Lorek Lorek is an extremely rare example of a habitable world circling a red dwarf star. Originally an independent asari colony named Esan, it was annexed by the Batarian Hegemony in 1913, causing a minor galactic incident. Despite several attempts, the local Terminus warlords have never been able to take Lorek for themselves. Lorek is a low-density world, composed of rock, light metals, and a water- based crust. It is tidally locked to Fathar, with a sunward "hot pole" and a shadowed "cold pole". Water on the sunward side evaporates quickly, travelling over the islands of the habitable terminator zone in the form of massive, fast moving thunderstorms, and finally settling as snow on the frozen dark side. There are fears that the buildup of ice cap mass on the far size may cause axial reorientation over the course of several million years, but batarian officals dismiss the idea as an irresponsible theory disseminated by counter-hegemonist subversives. Colony Founded: 1764 Population: 4,700,000 Capital: Jalnor Orbital Distance: 0.2 AU Orbital Period: 59.6 Earth Days Radius: 6,754km Atmospheric Pressure: 0.4 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 40 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.6G The planet will be rich in resources, as well as holding an anomaly, though this is for the N7: Lost Operative mission. Kairavamori - Planet: Sehtor A rocky planet with a curshing atmosphere, Sehtor has been scanned from orbit but largely left unexplored due to its sweltering conditions. Its atmosphere contains nitrogen, but also an usually high percentage of ethane, which can coalesce in pockets near the surface. The alumina-heavy crust of the planet can reach glowing-hot temperatures during the daytime, reaching the ethane's autoignition temperature and creating pockets of flame across the landscape. For this reason, extra-vehicular activities are discouraged on Sehtor, and no company has been willing to invest in exploration. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.7 Earth Years Radius: 5,810km Day Length: 47.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 47.73 Earth Hours Surface Temperature: 470 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G Your sensors will indicate that it will be high in resources, and it is high, except lacking Element Zero. - Planet: Uwan Oche Uwan Oche ("Uwan Prime") is a stony planet encased in ice under a methane- heavy sky. Named for the Uwan Consortium, the batarian manufacturing firm that financed its exploration, Uwan Oche's crust provides much of the boron allotropes used in omni-gel throughout the Terminus systems. The area has naturally became a haven for pirates, who attempt to steal the refined gels, or its ingredients as soon as the cargo ships leave the atmosphere. Orbital Distance: 2.7 AU Orbital Period: 5.0 Earth Years Radius: 6,529km Day Length: 57.5 Earth Hours Atmosphere Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -126 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.1G Your scanner will indicate that the planet is rich in resources, and it is. - Planet: Vatar Located within the life zone of a dimming orange sun, Vatar would be habitable except for its carbon-dioxide atmosphere and icy surface that kills most oxygen-producing bacteria. Nonetheless, mercenary companies and slavers have numerous strongholds on the planet, out of reach of any galactic authority. TRAVEL ADVISORY: A statistically significant number of distress signals have originated within the 1-million kilometre mark of Vatar. Civilian travel is not advised. Orbital Distance: 1.4 AU Orbital Period: 1.9 Earth Years Radius: 6,352km Day Length: 18.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.77 Earth Atmopsheres Surface Temperature: -35 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G Despite the advisory, the planet is rich in resources, so you might want to fire probes into it. Sahrabarik - Fuel Depot You can purchase Fuel and Probes here - Mass Relay - Omega 4 Mass Relay The Omega 4 Relay is surrounded by hazard beacons and automated warnings. Over the last thousand years, many ships have attempted to pass through it, but none have returned. The only ones to pass freely back and forth through the relay are the mysterious Collectors. There are many theories why ships never return from Omega 4. Some say there is a black hole at the far end; others (mostly the impoverished underclass of Omega) believe there is some form of Earthly paradise. Most, however, simply think that the Collectors capture or destroy those passing through the relay. - Omega Station Built in a mined-out husk of a metallic asteroid, Omega has been a haven for criminals, terrorists, and malcontents for thousands of years. At times, the station has lain idle and abandoned for centuries, only to be reactivated by a new group of outlaws seeking a fresh start. The space station's original, elegant design has given way to haphazard expansion by scrabbling factions of every species. There is no central government or unifying authority on Omega, and nobody can recall a time there ever was one. Population: 7.8 million Orbital Distance: 2.43 AU Orbital Period: 6.9 Earth Years Total Length: 44.7km You can dock on this station, there are missions and stores for you to visit and complete. - Planet: Bindur If it were closer to Sahrabarik, Bindur would have an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and exhane. In the deep cold of the outer solar system, however, both elements have long since frozen to the ground. Orbital Distance: 6.12 AU Orbital Period: 27.7 Earth Years Radius: 4,907km Day Length: 53.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -224 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.55G This is a dream planet, it is rich in resources, mainly Palladium and Platinum, but there are also decent deposits of Iridium here as well. And even though it says it is depleted, there are still some nice medium deposits as well. - Planet: Imorkan A standard methane-ammonia gas giant, Imorkan is the main source of helium-3 fuel for ships coming to or from Omega. Most of its fueling stations are run by criminal cartels, who engage in cutthroat (sometimes literally) pricing wars. Imorkan is widely known for its layover stations, where pirates in a hurry can find fuel, ammunition, intoxications, gambling, and sexual companionship at any hour. Orbital Distance: 3.4 AU Orbital Period: 11.5 Earth Years Radius: 53,491km Day Length: 18.7 Earth Hours This planet contains a moderate deposit of resources. It is rich in Iridium and Platinum, not such more Palladium on this planet. - Planet: Urdak Urdak is a close-orbiting brown dwarf; most red-brown dwarf binary systems have an average seperation of 8 AU. The Sahrabarik system is about 12 billion years old and it has long since used up the deuterium used to make fuel fusion, so Urdak is not luminous like some brown dwarfs are. Urdak is a class L brown dwarf with a relatively low temperature of 1,300 degrees Celsius, but its heat and gravity have made it unpopular for development. There are rumours that the heads of several of Omega's crime syndicates maintain private residences on various moons. Whatever the truth of the matter, battles between syndicate vessels are often observed around the ring plate. News outlets on Omega maintain satellites at Urdak's Lagrange points for real-time coverage of these battles, which garner high viewer ratings. Orbital Distance: 0.8 AU Orbital Period: 1.3 Earth Years Radius: 72,512 km Day Length: 19.2 Earth Hours This planet has a moderate amount of resources, yielding decent amounts of Palladium, Platinum and Iridium. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.03] Serpent Nebula This system contains and only contains the Citadel, and is unlocked from the start. - Citadel Supposedly constructed by the long-extinct Protheans, this colossial deep-space station serves at the capital of the Citadel Council. Gravity is simulated through rotation, and is a comfortable 1.02 standard G's on the Wards and a light 0.3 standard G's on the Presidium Ring. Total Length (Open): 44.7km Diameter (Open): 12.8km Population: 13.2 million (not including Keepers) Gross Weight: 7.11 billion metric tons - Mass Relay *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.04] Local System Our Solar System, this system is unlocked from start. - Mass Relay - Planet: Earth For detailed information, please refer to the standard issue Alliance Galactic Codex. Earth's orbit is riddled with debris generated by "bootstrap" space development; use of kinetic barriers is recommended at altitudes over 85 km. Population (Surface): 11.4 billion Population (L4 and L5 Stations): 250,000 Orbital Distance: 1 AU Orbital Period: 1 Earth Year Radius: 6,378km Day Length: 23.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1 Earth Atmosphere Surface Temperature: 23 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G - Planet: Jupiter Juptier's deep gravity well and lethal radiation have kept its moons from being significantly exploited. The largest outpost is Binary Helix's Corporation's Nautilus facility, attached to the underside of Europa's ice sheet. Population (all moons): 9,100 Orbital Distance: 5.2 AU Orbital Period: 11.7 Earth Years Radius: 71,492km Day Length: 9.93 Earth Hours Moderate in resources, there is still a fair chunk of resources that you can gather from this planet. - Planet: Mars Once considered a prospect for terraforming and colonization, the discovery of faster than light travel turned Mars into a quiet backwater. Its southern pole is a historical preserve cetnred on the Prothean ruins found there. Immigrations and development are restricted as the search for Prothean artifacts continues. Orbital Distance: 1.52 AU Orbital Period: 1.88 Earth Years Radius: 3,402km Day Length: 24.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -138 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.38G - Planet: Mercury A handful of solar power stations exist on "peaks of eternal light" at the north and south poles of Mercury. The difficulties imposed by the planet's proximity to the sun and high orbital velocity have limited development. Population: 340 Orbital Distance: 0.39 AU Orbital Period: 88 Earth Days Radius: 2,240km Day Length: 58.7 Earth Days Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 430 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.38G There is a moderate amount of resources here that you can obtain, and the good thing is that it is rich in Iridium, the rarest of the three common elements. - Planet: Neptune Though Neptune, like Uranus, has plentiful helium, its remoteness made it an unpromising target for mining before the development of mass effect drive. With Uranus cheaper to exploit, it has never seen extensive development. The only permanent huam presence is a small research facility on Triton. Population (Triton): 70 Orbital Distance: 29.1 AU Orbital Period: 164.8 Earth Years Radius: 24,764km Day Length: 16.1 Earth Hours This planet is relatively poor in resources, but although it doesn't have as many peaks, it is very rich in Palladium. - Planet: Pluto Pluto is one of Sol's numerous "ice dwarf" worlds. It is mainly of note for being the gravitional "anchor" for the Mass Relay to Arcturus. Pluto and the Charon Relay (formally encased in ice, and considered a moon) orbit each other. Pluto's orbit was circularized in 2175 as a side effect of the Charon Mass Relay recovery operations. Population (gateway stations): 9,300 Orbital Distance: 39.5 AU Orbital Period: 247.7 Earth Years Radius: 1,151km Day Length: 9.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -229 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.06G Pluto has a moderate amount of resources, which makes it a nice planet to mine out. It has a good balance between all three resources. - Planet: Saturn Saturn has been a major source of helium-3 fuel for fusion plants since the 2150s. The moon of Titan is mined for hydrocarbons, and used as a hostile environment training facility for Alliance marines. Population (orbitals and Titan): 117,000 Capital: Huygens Dome Orbital Distance: 9.5 AU Orbital Period: 29.5 Earth Years Radius: 60,268km Day Length: 10.3 Earth Hours Saturn has a good amount of resources, which means plenty of healthy peaks, so have fun mining it to shreds. - Planet: Uranus After the development of mass effect FTL drive, distant Uranus was the target of a "land rush" to exploit its combination of plentiful helium-3 fuel and shallow (for a gas giant) gravity well. Today Uranus is the largest producer of He-3 in Alliance space. Population: 371,000 Capital: Sakharov Station Orbital Distance: 19.2 AU Orbital Period: 84.3 Earth Years Radius: 25,559km Day Length: 17.3 Earth Hours Yes, you can fire a probe into Uranus... Still, the planet is depleted, but there are one or two big peaks, and the rest are relatively minor. - Planet: Venus With its molten temperatures, sulfuric acid clouds, and crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere, Venus has only a handful of aerostat research outposts. Population: 800 Orbital Distance: 0.72 AU Orbital Period: 224.7 Earth Days Radius: 6,052km Day Length: 243 Earth Days Atmospheric Pressure: 90 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 465 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.88G The planet has a good amount of resources, which makes it a nice place to start mining. Then again, I mine entire systems as once. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.05] Eagle Nebula Unlocked from the start of the game Amun - Planet: Anhur A garden world with heavy populations of humans and batarians, Anhur was home to one of the ugliest violations of sapient rights in modern human history. A consortium of corporations and corrupt politicans, fearing batarian economic competition due to their custom of legal slavery, passed a resolution that abolished the minimum wage -- effectively relegalizing slavery on a human-dominated world. Opponents of the motion quickly turned to activism and violence. A civil war erupted, as one side sought to end slavery throughout ther system and another, primarily batarian faction called the Na'hesit sought to keep the slaves they had. The Anhur Rebellions raged from 2176 to 2178. The Na'hesit had a significant advantage in ships, labour, and weapons, forcing the Anhur militias to hire mencenary companies to even the odds. In the end, the abolitionists won out, though at the cost of much of their infrastructure. Though Anhur today still has significant natural wealth, it is economically depressed, save for the reconstruction industry. Population: 208,587,000 Colony Founded: 2165 Capital: New Thebes Orbital Distance: 1.7AU Orbital Period: 2.2 Earth Years Radius: 6,829km Day Length: 18.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.6 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 7 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.3G Like the codex says, it is rich in natural resources, it is highly rich in Element Zero, which is rare enough, but this planet will have multiple high peaks of it, making it very useful indeed. - Planet: Bast A small hydrogen-nitrogen gas giant, Bast and its moons served as the Eclipse mercenary company's fallback position after their defeat on Neith. Once they had gathered their strength, they leaked a false position to the Na'hesit consortium to lure them into a trap, which developed into a pitched battle. Both sides claimed victory -- Na'hesit lost more ships, but could afford the setback in a way Eclipse could not. Orbital Distance: 7.0AU Orbital Period: 18.6 Earth Years Radius: 18,557km Day Length: 13.6 Earth Hours There is a poor amount of resources here, so there isn't much for you to dig up, but something is better than nothing. - Planet: Neith Anomaly Detected! Cold and dry, Neith has a thin nitrogen atmosphere and vast salt flats at its equator, which is warm enough for liquid water to pool during the summer period. The revealed salt is collected and sold to sodium-poor planets for agricultural purposes. During the Anhur Rebellions, Neith was a staging ground for Eclipse ships, and was the site of their first defeat, when enemy Na'hesit surprised and routed them with a superior force. Some wreckage from the battle can still be found on the planet today. Orbital Distance: 3.4 AU Orbital Period: 6.3 Years Radius: 7,008km Day Length: 54.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.7 Earth Pressures Surface Temperature: -25 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.4G There is an anomaly on this rich resource planet. There appears to be distress beacon from a crashed merchant freighter, so you might as well have a look. This is N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter. It is a really rich planet in terms of resources as well. - Planet: Sekhmet A hydrogen-helium gas giant believed to have entered Amun's system within the last billion years, Sekhmet was the site of an important battle in the Anhur Rebellions. When the Eclipse mercenary company sought to capture the refueling stations to deny the rebels supplies, a fighter wing hiding in Sekhmet's rings ambushed them. Eclipse suffered heavy initial losses, but destroyed two rebel carriers, and forced them to retreat into FTL. This was considered the "high water mark" of the rebellion; at no point after the battle of Sekhmet did the rebels have a victory. Today, Sekhmet is home to refueling stations and a small war memorial in orbit at the planet's L5 Lagrange point. Orbital Distance: 0.4 AU Orbital Period: 0.3 Earh Years Radius: 38,347km Day Length: 9.0 Earth Years This planet is interesting, it is moderate in resources, but it has a very high amount of Element Zero, which makes it a must mine planet, seeing that Element Zero is so hard to come by. - Planet: Sobek A hydrogen-nitrogen gas giant believed to be an extrasolar capture, Sobek's low-G moons were the sites of many batarian labour camps during the Anhur Rebellions, generating raw materials for the war. When the slaves were finally liberated by Eclipse, the mercenaries found absymal conditions including whole camps that lacked mass effect fields to keep the gravity at habitable levels. The widespread bone loss among the slaves was part of their masters' final degradation -- it would cripple them if they ever left for a standard-gravity world. The plight of the slaves soon garnered galactic media attention, and several charities sprung up to pay for their physical therapy and find them gainful employment. Eclipse, normally reviled for their cutthroat tactics and criminal employees, found themselves painted as heroes. The mercenary company still retains an office on Sobek's moon Heqet out of nostalgia as much as a business strategy. Orbital Distance: 0.8 AU Orbital Period: 0.7 Earth Years Radius: 72,530km Day Length: 12.4 Earth Hours There is a poor amount of resources there, there isn't a lot in comparsion with the other planets in this system, but it'll have to do. Imir - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Gregas Cold and distant, Gregas is currently 65% rock by mass and 35% frozen methane and nitrogen ices. In the planet's "summer years," these percentages change as the sun heats its ice and it evaporates into a thin atmopshere. Its calcium-heavy crust has been scouted by countless Korlus surveying teams, most of whom come back empty-handed. Orbital Distance: 10.0 AU Orbital Period: 31.7 Earth Years Radius: 5,240km Day Length: 69.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -170 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G This planet is rich in resources, it has a fair amount of all three, but in particular, Iridium. - Planet: Korlus "A garbage scow with a climate" was how one Citadel Council member described Korlus at the turn of the century, and ever since then the Korlus Tourist Bureau has been attempting to re-brand their planet. It hasn't worked - though they have tried calling it "the recycling centre of the galaxy," corruption scandals and a staggering murder rate ensures that Korlus' image is permanently stained. Korlus' biggest business is the recycling of decommissioned or junked spacecraft into their component parts. While the invention of omni-gel has made this process significantly cleaner, it is still a dirty business that choke's Korlus' sky with smog and fills its port with megatons of scrap. A shady hospitality industry and a scavenger underclass round out the spectacle of urban decay. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Korlus ranks second in murder per capita in the Terminus Systems and first in offworlder murder. Civilian traffic is encouraged to employ security professionals when visiting. Population: 3,800,000,000 (est.) Colony Founded: 1781CE Capital: Choquo (disputed) Orbital Distance: 1.3AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 6,850km Day Length: 28.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.5 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 28 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.3G - Planet: Osalri Osalri (Covus salarian -- "fire maiden") is a boiling hot dwarf planet close to the G-class star Imir. Too hot for lucrative exploitation, its only satellites are defunct solar arrays destroyed by pirates long ago. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 2,622km Day Length: 33.4 Earth Hours' Atmospheric Pressure: 1.86 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 229 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G There is a moderate amount of resources, and whilst there are plenty of the smaller peaks here, there aren't so many of the large peaks. - Planet: Quodis A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Quodis is used by countless spaceships to discharge their drive cores after coming into the system. Commercial vessels restock on their supplies of helium-3 from one of its many orbital platforms. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Piracy at helium-3 refueling stations is common in the Imir system. Visitors are encouraged to use the escorts provided by the Korlus Security Fleet to and from the system's mass relay. To prevent escort fraud, always ask for identification from the escort ships and compare them to those found on the Korlus Security Fleet's extranet sites. Orbital Distance: 5.0 AU Orbital Period: 11.2 Earth Years Radius: 48,918km Day Length: 13.3 Earth Hours There is also a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there are more big peaks, but so far, no element zero in this system. Maglus - Planet: Flett Unhabitable by most species, Flett is home to the Blood Pack's vorcha training and breeding grounds. The thick atmosphere is nearly all nitrogen and lacks oxygen, which poses no hazard to the vorcha. Needing little but imports of food and water, vorcha mercenaries and mercenaries-to-be train religiously to overpower and kill whoever the company is at war with this time. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Flett's spaceports are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Blood Pack mercenary company, a corporation undergoing numerous criminal investigations for capital crimes. Civilian traffic to Flett is strongly discouraged. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 5,623km Day Length: 48.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.49 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 16 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G This planet is quite rich in natural resources with multiple large peaks for all the Big Three, no Element Zero involved. - Planet: Uzin Named for one of the many krogan gods of vengence, Uzin is a gas giant close enough to its orange sun that none of its moons are considered habitable. Its composition is largely hydrogen and methane, with traces of xenon that the krogan collect for use in ion drives. Uzin is well within the "frost line" where gas giants usually do not form, leading astronomers to believe that its orbit used to be further from the star. If so, this would indicate a seriously unstable orbit, and the planet may plunge into its star within a few million years. Orbital Distance: 0.3 AU Orbital Period: 0.2 Earth Years Radius: 74.137km Day Length: 12.4 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, however, there is no Element Zero on it. - Planet: Wrill A planet only a vorcha would love, Wrill is notable for its "near miss" climate; punishing heat and a thin, toxic methane-ethane atmosphere. Its surface is dotted with krogan and vorcha habitats, eking out a meager living off the planet's tin and copper deposits and killing anyone who cuts into their profits. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Krogan can survive in the heat with the use of a breath mask. All other species require environmental suits to avoid heat exhaustion and burns. Liquid water can be found in large lakes on the surface. This can be used for thermoregulation, but it is not potable without processing. ALLIANCE BULLETIN: Large-scale gang warfare is a regular occurance on Wrill. Civilian travel is not advised. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 5,999km Day Length: 30.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 56 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.9G It contains a rich amount of resources on this planet, so you will want to fire a fair amount of probes into it. Relic - Planet: Beach Thunder Beach Thunder lives and dies on the price of titanium, the metal being the only reason to come to this frozen rock. A best-selling novel, "The Hard Stuff", has popularised the story of the miners on the planet. It follows the hanar and drell robo-miners competing with krogan and vorcha who simply put on environmental suits and lase the titanium out more or less by hand. As the novel's promotional screed says "accidents are frequent, rivalry is fierce, and vengence served up fast." Orbital Distance: 33.0 AU Orbital Period: 190.2 Earth Years Radius: 8,058km Day Length: 54.1 Earth Hours Atmosperhic Pressure: 1.25 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -157 Celsius Surface Gravity: 2.1G This planet will be rich in resources, but it is merely rich in Iridium and Platinum. - Planet: Fitful Current Fitful Current is so named because it orbits in retrogade, indicating that it may have been an extrasolar planet that was captured by the Relic System's gravity well. Large for a rock planet, Fitful Current has only traces of hydrogen in its extremely thin atmosphere. Hanar robo-miners have recovered some uranium and thorium deposits from its depths. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 9,260km Day Length: 41.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -47 Celsius Surface Gravity: 3.1G This planet is rich in resources, and there is plentiful amounts of the common 3 elements, element zero not included. - Planet: First Land A hydrogen-helium gas giant believed to be an extrasolar capture, First Land is home to many space stations supporting the ubiquitous refueling platforms. A thriving community of drell and hanar make their homes in orbit here, giving the solar system's robo-miners somewhere to go when the 50-hour days and nights are driving them mad. Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 3.4 Earth Years Radius: 53,826km Day Length: 10.9 Earth Hours A planet with moderate resources, again, it is another planet that is bounded by Platinum and Palladium. - Planet: Island Wind A large hydrogen-nitrogen gas giant, Island Wind is named for the sweet- smelling land breeze that comes off of the archipelagos of Kahje in the evening. As tumultuous as any other Jovian giant, Island Wind has cyclones that spans tens of thousands of kilometres. Orbital Distance: 3.9AU Orbital Period: 7.7 Earth Years Radius: 73,088km Day Length: 17.0 Earth Hours There are a moderate amount of resources on this planet, which is not a a lot, but no element zero. - Planet: Murky Water Despite the name, Murky Water has yet to show any signs of having water whatsoever. Its name is a literal translation from the original hanar, who consider murky water a sign of danger. Murky Water has a hazy, crushing atmosphere of carbon dioxide and methane which brings the surface heat to boiling levels. It remains unexploited, its gravity and temperature too high to bother. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.7 Earth Years Radius: 10,551km Day Length: 53.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 19.46 Earth Atmosphere Surface Temperature: 225 Celsius Surface Gravity: 4.6G A rich planet in terms of resources, there is a high amount of Platinum and Palladium. - Planet: Preying Mouth A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Preying Mouth is a ship-killing enigma, the Bermuda Triangle of the Terminus Systems. There are many theories why ships never return from there: undetectable space debris; old disruptor torpedoes and magnetic mines from a long-forgotten war; even miniature black holes. But what is clear is that too many ships have been lost there for it to be happenstance. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Due to the large number of ships lost when attempting to discharge their drive cores on Preying Mouth, the Relic system highly recommends using First Land's complimentary discharge stations instead. Orbital Distance: 16.0 AU Orbital Period: 64.2 Earth Years Radius: 40,775km Day Length: 11.7 Earth Hours This planet has a moderate amount of resources, but what is very important is that there are several big peaks of Element Zero here. - Planet: Rough Tide A dwarf planet with a shroud of carbon monoxoide and dioxide that keeps it warm, Rough Tide was so named when large veins of platinum and palladium were struck and miners from all over the cluster came in to stake their claims. Hanar police and their drall enforcers clashed with krogan and vorcha in an ugly series of race riots in the late 2170s, and the planet has only grudgingly kept a shaky peace since then. Orbital Distance: 7.8 AU Orbital Period: 21.8 Earth Years Radius: 2,125km Day Length: 67.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 7.89 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 1 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G There is a rich planet right here, and there is plenty of Platinum and Palladium, not such much in terms of Iridium. Strabo - Jarrahe Station Location Coordinates: Jarrahe Station, Strabo System, Eagle Nebula Data mining confirms the last reported location of merchant freighter MSV Corsica as the Jarrahe Station in the Strabo System. Possibility exists that clues pertaining to the anomaly that caused the mass malfunction of the mechs aboard Corsica can be found aboard Jarrahe Station. This is the second part of the N7: Wrecked Merchant Freighter quest, once you have completed that, you can start on this. This leads to N7: Abandoned Research Station. After you complete the mission, you get this. There is little public information to be had about this station. It has a salarian name and orbits Antigar at its second Lagrange point. It is not listed in the Alliance directory of helium-3 refueling points. Orbital Distance: 2.02 AU Orbital Period: 2.2 Earth Years Length: 1.5km Population: 33 Gross Weight: 385 metric tons - Planet: Antigar Charted by a salarian mining expedition that went off course due to a computer error, Antigar is a hydrogen and helium gas giant with 11 known moons and dusty rings. Orbital Distance: 4.0 AU Orbital Period: 8.0 Earth Years Radius: 24,193km Day Length: 11.2 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources here, so you will want to have a look, but there aren't many big peaks, just a lot of smaller ones. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.06] Titan Nebula This is only unlocked after you complete the N7: Abandoned Research Facility mission that is listed above. Haskins - Mass Relay - Planet: Capek Baked in the fierce heat of a white sun. Capek is a rocky, waterless world warpped in a haze of hydrogen and ethane. Sulfur and iron give yellowish and black tinges to much of the planet's surface. No registered settlements appear in the records, though there are clearly metallic anomalies that indicate roofed structures. Orbital Distance: 4.4 AU Orbital Period: 7.1 Earth Years Radius: 5,899km Day Length: 18.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.95 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 65 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G The anomaly on this planet is the N7: Hahne-Kedar Facility mission that you can do. It seems there is a rich deposit of resources, all four resources on this planet as well. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.07] Hourglass Nebula Unlocked from the start of the game. Faryar - Planet: Alingon Alingon ("deceptive") was so named by salarian scouts because as their probes landed on the planet, their instruments started going awry. This turned out to be due to the high concentration of magnetically active periclase (magnesia) in the core and crust of the planet. This interferes with scans and broadcasts, which has given rise to countless spacer stories of pirates lying in wait in Alingon's magnetosphere, or crashed ships with untold fortunes stranded on the surface. In reality, any pirates would have a hard time locating prey amongst all the interference, and would live lives cut off from the rest of the galaxy, as the magnetosphere kills extraplanetary communication. Alongon's other natural features are a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide, spectcular dry ice formations, and xenon gas, which can be skimmed from the upper atmosphere and used in ion thristers. Orbital Distance: 10.1 AU Orbital Period: 31.7 Earth Years Radius: 3,085km Day Length: 56.3 Earth Hours Atmosphere Pressure: 0.04 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -166 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.5G This is a planet with a rich amount of resources, but there is no Element Zero on this planet, even though there are so many high peaks. - Planet: Antictra Antictra ("fused metal") is so named because of its spectcular craters. A planet high in various grades of iron oxide, Antictra is regularly pummeled by loose asteroids in the nearby belt between it and Wenrum. The iron melted and fused by the incoming meteors makes for spectcular landscape shots that look alien no matter what part of the galaxy you may be from. However, due to the frequent meteor impacts, exploration is considered highly dangerous even to those with advanced kinetic barriers. Orbital Distance: 12.3 AU Orbital Period: 43.3 Earth Years Radius: 5,658km Day Length: 21.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -180 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G This is another planet that is rich in resources, but as with the other planets in this system, there isn't anything in terms fo Element Zero. - Planet: Daratar Though ancient riverbeds crisscross the plains of Daratar, photodissociation has long since dried up the world. There are indications of mining operations, but any structures have long since been buried or warn away by the planet's seasonal dust storms. Orbital Distance: 0.9 AU Orbital Period: 0.9 Earth Years Radius: 3,937km Day Length: 62.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.49 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -66 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.5G This planet will be home to the mission N7: Eclipse Smuggling Depot. The scanners will also indicate that there is a good amount of resources on the planet, including the rare Element Zero resource. - Planet: Nephros Nephros ("restless sleep") is a relatively small hydrogen/nitrogen gas giant. Its atmosphere is home to spectcular winds of up to 350km/hour and electrical storms up to 700 times the power of those on Earth, which indicate that its hydrogen clouds contain moderate amounts of water vapour. Orbital Distance: 7.5 AU Orbital Period: 20.6 Earth Years Radius: 44,750km Day Length: 11.9 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there aren't that many big peaks, so you will nee to look hard, but alas, there is no Element Zero. - Planet: Quarem A scorchingly hot planet close to its parent star, Quarem was bombarded by comets and asteroids during its earliest geological periods. As the solar system stabalised, these occurances leveled off until the planet became geologically inactive. Its nitrogen and helium atmosphere is extremely thick due to heavy metals making the planet's core very dense. Unfortuately, these metals are deep below the crust, making mining impractical. Orbital Distance: 0.2 AU Orbital Period: 0.1 Earth Years Radius: 3,137km Day Length: 53.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.22 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 558 Celsius Surface Gravity: 3.5G The planet is very rich in resources, there are plenty of big peaks for you to obtain, but again, it contains no element zero. - Planet: Tunfigel First charted by the salarians, Tunfigel ("hard heart") is noted for its platinum and uranium deposits, making robo-mining a lucrative activity. While the surface temperature is well within the range of a comfortable EVA excursion, the extremely dense Tunfigel generates a dangerous gravitational pull five times that of Earth. The salarian miners exploting the planet derisively nickname planets such as these "elcor tourist traps." Orbital Distance: 1.8 AU Orbital Period: 2.4 Earth Years Radius: 10,772km Day Length: 35.5 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.03 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -31 Celsius Surface Gravity: 5.1G There is a rich planet of resources right here, so again, there are plenty of big peaks, but again, no Element Zero on this planet. - Planet: Wenrum Wenrum ("white knight") takes its name from a salarian story in the Romantic period, of a knight who refused all temptation to riches, carnality, and even flavourful food, until justice was served to the poor and oppressed. The planet was so named because of its white, highly reflective surface, composed mainly of titanium dioxide and ice, and no atmosphere to speak of to dim its albedo. Orbital Distance: 11.8 AU Orbital Period: 40.6 Earth Years Radius: 1,574km Day Length: 59.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -178 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This planet is very rich in resources, but there is no element zero to speak of on this planet. Osun - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Aganju Aganju is an extremely large rock planet with a thin atmosphere of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Abundant in both copper and platinum, the crust has been scanned by mining bots from Erinie, but the specialized equipment to work in Aganju's heavy gravity (more than 5's) has created prohibitively costs, and so Aganju is largely unexploited. Orbital Distance: 3.2 AU Orbital Period: 5.7 Earth Years Radius: 10,008km Day Length: 23.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.02 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -93 Celsius Surface Gravity: 5.3G There is a good deal of resources on this planet, and there are plenty of high peaks, but no element zero is found on this planet. - Planet: Erinle Erinle is a garden world in its last stages of habitability. While it soil still supports agriculture, its animal biodiversity has fallen to record lows, and the most successful remaining life is toxic blue-green algae and insect-like pest species. A large salarian colony is trying to restore biodiversity to the planet, but setbacks are a fact of life. Mineral and fuel mining remains lucrative, however, and Erinle has a thriving spaceport that refuels many ships passing into the Terminus Systems. Orbital Distance: 0.95 AU Orbital Period: 0.9 Earth Years Radius: 6,711km Day Length: 32.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.1 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 32 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.1G There is a good amount of resources on this planet, or so your scanners will indicate, and the best thing is, there is a LOT of Element Zero on this planet. - Planet: Olokun Olokun ("sky harvest") is a standard gas giant composed of hydrogen and nitrogen. The spacefarers from Erinle gather helium-3 from here rather than Orunmila, as its atmosphere is much more predictable. Orbital Distance: 6.0 AU Orbital Period: 14.7 Earth Years Radius: 64,718km Day Length: 11.9 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on the planet, so there isn't a lot nor is there any element zero either. Few tall peaks, many little ones. - Planet: Orunmila A medium-sized gas giant, Orunmila is close enough to its parent star to suffer massive changes in tempature during its day and night periods. This leads to powerful convection currents and storms throughout its hydrogen/ helium atmosphere. Gathering helium-3 to refuel is possible for the hardiest of exploration craft, but lesser ships are nearly always lost in the attempt. Orunmila is within the "frost line" of its solar system, where icy-coloured gas giants do not usually form. For this reason, it is believed to be an extrasolar planet captured by its star's gravity. Orbital Distance: 0.5 AU Orbital Period: 0.3 Earth Years Radius: 34,653km Day Period: 13.7 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources, probably because this solar system has been exploited, but again, there is no element zero. - Prison Ship Purgatory Owned by the notorous Blue Suns mercenary company, the Purgatory was once an "ark ship" used to hold argicultural animals. Now it is used to hold prisoners, whether taken in battle or sold by unscrupulous politicans under the name of subcontracting or outsourcing. Rumours abound that the Blue Suns turn skilled or fit prisoners over to batarian slavers, but few have ever seen the transaction and lived to tell about it. Its population is listed at 4,350, but independent journalists estimate it is nearly three times that in periods of overcrowding. Ploitari - Planet: Aigela Only from the scan data picked up by space probes, Aigela is currently classified as a dwarf planet. A warm, barren rock, its thin atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Significant alumina deposits in its crust makes its density and gravity very low indeed. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 1,511 Day Length: 19.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.03 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 125 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This is yet another rich planet in resources, but hampered by the fact that it has no Element Zero on it. - Planet: Synalus Space probes indicate that Synalus is nowhere near as hospitable as its neighbour Zanethu. Synalus' hydrogen-argon atmosphere is thought to be anathema to life, but the presense of borax on the surface spawned by a boron-heavy core indicates the planet may once have had water. Orbital Distance: 2.2 AU Orbital Period: 3.3 Earth Years Radius: 5,391km Day Length: 66.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.23 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -3 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.84G The planet is rich in resources, however, there is going to be no Element Zero on this planet. - Planet: Thegan Thegan rounds out the trio of planets only scouted by space probe in this backwater solar system. A frozen ball with significant amounts of tin in its crust, Thegan has a fractional atmosphere with trace amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Strage radiation emissions have been charted coming off of Thegan, but it is unknown if these are from radioactive elements or merely a star's radiation reflected by a high-albedo surface. Orbital Distance: 4.1 AU Orbital Period: 8.3 Earth Years Radius: 3,581km Day Length: 28.5 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.05 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -116 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.56G This is another rich planet in resources, but what makes this one special is that there are Elemtnt Zero deposits on it. - Planet: Zanethu Believed to be a post-garden world, Zanethu has large deposits of calcium carbonate in its sedimentary rocks, indicating it may have once had plate tectonics and even plant life. Its swirling clouds of dust and snow may have occured more recently and blocked the sun, causing a mass-extinction event. Its surface gravity is comfortable and its temperature tolerable by most sapient species. Orbital Distance: 1.9 AU Orbital Period: 2.6 Earth Years Radius: 6,619km Day Length: 53.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.38 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -16 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.2G There is an anomaly detected on this planet, so you will need to take a look at it. This will be the N7: MSV Estevanico mission. As well as that, there is a good amount of resources on this planet *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.08] Shadow Sea Unlocked after you finish the Horizon Chapter. Iera - Mass Relay - Planet: Horizon A temperate world that has hit the "sweet spot" for carbon-based life, Horizon has a nitrogen-oxygen atmopshere maintained by abundant indigenous photosynthetic plants and bacteria. While the native plants are not very palatable to humans, the soil conditions are such that a handful of introduced Earth species have flourished, and the colonists must take strict care to prevent ecological disasters. Genetically- engineered "terminator seeds" that grow nutritious but sterile crops to minimise outbreaks are the rule rather than the exception. Animals on Horizon appear to be exploding in diversity, similar to Earth's Cambrian period. Large flying insect analogues take advantage of the thicker-than-Earth atmosphere and low gravity to grow enormous. Microbial life has proven relatively benign; a series of vaccinations for the most vurulent strains of soil-borne diseases is all that is required for a visit. Population: 654,390 Colony Founded: 2168 Capital: Discovery Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 3.0 Earth Years Radius: 5,402km Day Length: 37.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.68 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 13 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G - Planet: Prospect Prospect is a hydrogen-nitrogen gas giant with 13 known moons, most of which seemed to have dense heavy metal deposits on first scan, starting a resource rush by the colonists from nearby Horizon. In a tragic turn of events, a galactic uranium surplus drove half the mining firms out of business, and the surfaces of some moons are littered with bodies of executives who committed suicide by airlock. Today's mining corporations have reach a much more palatable equilibrium, and hold more diversified and sustainable portfolios. Prospect is within the "frost line" of its solar system, where ice giants do not normally form. For this reason, it is believed to have been an extrasolar capture. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1.3 Earth Years Radius: 45,277km Day Length: 18.1 Earth Hours This planet is poor in resources, however, it does have some deposits of Element Zero on it, so if you want some, you can have it. - Planet: Venture A pressure-cooker of a planet, Venture's thick nitrogen-based atmosphere is also the source of wealth for a small colonist industry. While Venture's high temperatures are brutal, the primodial soup is not as acidic as other hothouse planets, and xenon can be readily collected and isolated from the lower troposphere by recovery bots. This xenon is then sold for use in ion drives and some electric lights. Venture's gravity is relatively low for a planet of its size, making the recovery more economical than would otherwise be expected. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 10,659km Day Length: 26.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 21.76 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 398 Celsius Surface Gravity: 2.9G This planet is rich in resources, as you would expect, but it lacks any Element Zero deposit on it. - Planet: Watchman Perced on the outer edge of Iera's small solar system, Watchman is a mid-sized rock and ice planet that has picked up a dozen moon-sized objects. Its nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere is too thin to support life, with solid ice covering its calcium-heavy rocky core. Footprints of the first surveying teams to the planet can still be seen on its practically airless surface. The planmet, devoid of valuable resources, has seen a few visitors since. Orbital Distance: 4.1 AU Orbital Period: 8.3 Earth Years Radius: 5,728km Day Length: 28.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -116 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G Contary to the codex, there is actually a moderate amount of resources on this planet, which is nice to know, but still, no element Zero. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.09] Crescent Nebula This system is unlocked after you complete Horizon. Lusarn - Planet: Doriae Doriae is a large, hot world with a poisonous atmospheric of acidic nitrogen oxides. While the planet is too close to Lusarn for this to condense and fall as rain, this makes the environment too hostile for forms of life more sophisticated than bacteria to evolve. Orbital Distance: 2.48 AU Orbital Period: 3.0 Earth Years Radius: 8,700km Day Length: 63 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.17 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 204 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.2G There is a good amount of resources here, but like many other planets, there are no deposits of Element Zero. - Planet: Euntanta Euntanta is remarkably close to Earth. Its orbital distance is similar, and while slightly larger, its reduced density yields similar mass, atmospheric pressure, and gravity. There the similarities end, for Lusarn is a hot class F star, emitting over eight times the energy of Sol. Euntanta is a parched wasteland, its water long since boilied away into its nitrogen-carbon dioxide atmosphere. A handful of mining operations dot the hellishly hot surface. The crews remain in underground bunkers, sending remotely controlled machines out at night to do surface work and load cargo for shipment. Population: 230 Orbital Distance: 1.04 AU Orbital Period: 0.3 Earth Years Radius: 7,740km Day Length: 24.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.98 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 415 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G This is a rich planet for resources, containing the usual 3 suspects, but alas no Element Zero deposits on this planet. - Planet: Jontan Jontan is a fairly standard close-orbiting "Pegasid" gas giant, orbiting the star Lusarn at high velocity and heated to temperatures of over 1,000 degrees. Analysis of its orbit has revealed a core of heavy elements with a mass double that of the planet's hydrogen-helium atmosphere. Orbital Distance: 0.2 AU Orbital Period: 25 Earth Days Radius: 67,428km Day Length: 25 Earth Days This planet indicates that it has a good amount of resources, but no Element Zero deposit. - Planet: Tarith Tarith is broadly Earth-like, with a fatal flaw; it has a relatively high amount of chlorine in its atmosphere, the reason for the greenish haze that becomes apparent when looking at the horizon. Chlorine has become a vital component in Tarith's plant life; as a defence mechanism against native herbivores; many species evolved the ability to release clouds of toxic chlorine when disturbed. This gas is heavier than the atmospheric oxygen, and tends to settle in low places. While avoidable, this has placed Tarith near the bottom of the lists for colonisation. There are intermittent signals originating in the heart of a large chlorine swamp. They appear to be coded, though it is not impossible that they are garbled distress signals from a downed civilian ship. Orbital Distance: 7.8 AU Orbital Period: 16.7 Earth Years Radius: 5,677km Day Length: 27.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressures: 0.84 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 21 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.87G This is a rich planet in terms of resources, which also has Element Zero deposits. There is also an anomaly on this planet, leading to the mission N7: Blood Pack Communications Relay. - Planet: Xetic A common methane-ammonia gas giant, Xetic is best known for the infamous Kal'thor Camp. Established on the ice moon of Gesis, Kal'thor was a Blue Suns hostile environment training facility, run by a cadre of former batarian Special Intervention Unit operators. In 2168, a cluster-wide scandal broke out when it was revealed that the mortality rate of recruits sent to the camp might be as high as 18% Investigation by asari authorities based on Illium uncovered group graves around the facility containing the remains of several hundred recruits, dating back two centuries. The camp was immediately closed, and the remains sent back to their worlds of origin. An inquest by the Blue Suns found the batarian commandos had used harsh training methods, but these were consistant with their own training to join SIU. The batarians were exonerated, though Kal'thor was shut down, and they were reassigned to other units. As the Cresent Nebula is beyond the sphere of Citadel law, no civil charges could be filed against the Blue Suns. Orbital Distance: 15.6 AU Orbital Length: 47.4 Earth Years Radius: 30,054km Day Length: 13.7 Earth Hours Well, there is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is no element zero deposits to speak of. Ondeste - Planet: Acaeria Though nearly the size of Earth, Acaeria contains only 28% of its mass. It has a trace atmosphere of neon and molecular nitrogen, but the predominant carbon dioxide has long since frozen and fallen to the surface as frost. While Acaeria has a core of heavy metals, the bulk of the planet's volume consists of water ice. Several unique forms of long-chain carbon molecules have been recovered on the surface, pushed up form beneath the ice by cryovolcanic processes. Acaeria has a large rocky moon, compositionally similar to Luna. Orbital Distance: 1.68 AU Orbital Period: 4.0 Earth Years Radius: 6,272km Day Length: 36.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -178 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.38G This is yet another rich planet in resources, but again, like most of the other planets, no Element Zero to speak of. - Planet: Maisuth Farthest from the dim red dwarf Ondeste, the ice dwarf Maisuth has attracted no interest beyond a cursory flyby by automated probe in 1874. No significant resources were noted. Orbital Distance: 2.35 AU Orbital Period: 6.6 Earth Years Radius: 3,893km Day Length: 54.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -194 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.25G Well, contary to what the Codex said, there is actually a good amount of resources on the planet, but like many planets, no Element Zero. - Planet: Zesmeni Cold, dim, and shrouded by a methane-ammonia atmosphere, Zesmeni has nevertheless attracted development by asari mining concerns that service military industries. There are significant lodes of valuable light metals present, including titanium and lithium. Titanium is the primary material used in mass accelerator slugs, and lithium is used in the military-grade "droplet" heat radiators used aboard warships. Population: 620 Orbital Distance: 0.8 AU Orbital Period: 1.3 Earth Years Radius: 5,806km Day Length: 37.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.64 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -119 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.66G Well, this is actually a rich planet of resources, not just for light metals but for the upgrades that you want, there is plenty, but no Element Zero. Tasale - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Beregale While not a classical "hothouse" world like Venusm Beregale is scarcely more hospitable. In addition to be closest to the star Tasale, its core contains many radioactives and other heavy elements. These increase the heat of the planets and drive volcanism. Beregale's crust is too rigid for plate tectonics to function, and the planet will go through cycles in which the pressure builds to a massive super volcanic eruption. These spew ejecta over thousands of kilometres, leave caldera a hundred kilometres across, and spew enough molten material to repave entire continents. The last such event was 812,000 years ago; the current rate of outgassing from volcanic hotspots suggests another will occur within the next ten millenia. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 10,640km Day Length: 45.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 232 Celsius Surface Gravity: 2.1G This is a rich planet of resources, but like many such planets, it lacks any Element Zero deposit. - Planet: Illium Illium is a classic garden world, developed to serve as entrepot between the Terminus Systems and the Asari Republics. To abet this trade, the normally stringent custom laws of Council space on product safety, proscribed materials, and sapient trafficking are relaxed. Offically, Illium is not an asari world, it is colonized and operated by asari corporate interest. This gives its the same legal latitude enjoyed by the human corporate research enclaves on Noveria. Illium is one of the youngest asari colonies settled during the 7th Expansion Wave. The first child born on the world is only now reaching her middle-age. The world is hot and massive, ground settlement is only possible at the higher polar latitudes. In more equatorial locations, the population is housed in arcology skyscrapers to escape the heat of the surface. Colony Founded: 1617 Population (Surface): 84,900,000 Population (L4 and L5 Stations): 80,300 Capital: Nos Astra Orbital Distance: 1.3 AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 7,431km Day Length: 25 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.15 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 63 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.2G - Planet: Naxell Naxell is a ammonia-methane ice giant. Several smaller energy corporations shut out of the big market in the Faia gateway system are attempting to develop a local helium-3 fuel mining infrastructure to service Illium. The leading investor is the human corporation Eldfell-Ashland Energy. Their efforts have been hampered by the extralegal pressure the "H-3 Cartels" in Faia system can bring to bear, from simple price undercuts to bureaucratic obstructions (denied permits and constant "health and safety" inspections.) Population: 6,700 Capital: EAE Krafla Orbital Distance: 9.37 AU Orbital Period: 28.8 Earth Years Radius: 22,981km Day Length: 10.1 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is no Element Zero on it. - Planet: Ponolus A fairly typical Venusian "hothouse," Ponolus seems almost tame compared to the violent volcanic outbursts of the inner world, Beregale. In contrast, Ponolus is nearly inert, with no active volcanoes or plate tectonics. The most dramatic event in the last million years was the foundering of the asari artostat research platform Alviusic in 2092, which fell after being holed by an improbably unlucky meteor. Most of the crew successfully reached escape capsules, but six were lost. The crushed wreck of the platform lies on the Kruisite Plain in the southern hemisphere. Orbital Distance: 2.08 AU Orbital Period: 3.0 Earth Years Radius: 5,489km Day Length: 36.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 96.6 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 539 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.78G This is a rich planet in terms of resources, but there is no Element Zero deposit on the planet. - Planet: Thail Thail is a typical hydrogen-helium planet gas giant. Its complex system of rings is unstable, dating back only a few million years. They are thought to be the shattered remains of a comet. Orbital Distance: 4.46 AU Orbital Period: 9.4 Earth Years Radius: 55,263km Day Length: 15.5km There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there isn't any Element Zero deposit to speak of. Zelene - Planet: Epho Epho is a rocky world with an atmosphere of oxygen and carbon dioxide. There are large craters scattered across its surface, obviously from hypervelocity kinetic impactors. Stretching between these locations are the shattered remains of magnetic levitation rail lines, which strongly suggests the craters represent the former locations of arthenni mining outposts or other settlements. The equatorial region contains an extensive network of canyons, formed by the planet's abundant liquid water. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Epho's atmosphere is approximately 41% carbon dioxide at sea level. This level is 4 to 6 times that necessary to render most species unconscious within a few minutes of breathing it. Breathing masks must be worn at all times when on the surface of Epho. Orbital Distance: 1.56 AU Orbital Period: 2.22 Earth Years Radius: 8,031km Day Length: 70 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.98 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -41 Celsius (12 equator) Surface Gravity: 1.0G A rich planet with no element zero, this is a nice planet to mine if you are shot on resources. - Planet: Gaelon Galeon is surrounded by an extensive ring system. The inner rings are composed pulverised nano-manufactured carbon materials, thought to be the remains of an arthenni helium-3 mining infrastructure. The few pieces of larger debris found indicate a materials tecnology at least equal to the current galactic state-of-the-art. The outer rings consist of water-ice, silicate dust, and the odd bit of rock. Analysis of the debris often show shock damage and evidence of rapid heating. Some para-historical theorists insists that the other rings represent debris from a moon or moons destroyed by mass acclerator bombardment. This has been rejected by every reputable xenoarcheologist; while it is theoretically possible to destroy a small moon utterly with dreadnought bombardment, no species sees a compelling reason to do so. Orbital Distance: 2.96 AU Orbital Period: 5.7 Earth Years Radius: 65,539km Day Length: 8.9 Earth Hours This is a planet of moderate resources, of course, it doesn't help that there isn't any element zero on it. - Planet: Helyme Helyme is a "post-garden" world that once enjoyed an Earth-like oxygen- nitrogen atmosphere. It is still blessed with plentiful water, but a generally cold climate (and extreme seasonal shifts, courtsey of a 38- degree axial tilt.) Helyme is thought to be the homeworld of the arthenn, a spacefaring species which disappeared approximately 300,000 years ago. Precisely what happened to Helyme is still under debate. It appears a global extinction occured, wiping out all native animal life forms more complex than zooplankton. Plant forms were not affected, but the lack of oxygen- breathing life caused oxygenation of the atmosphere. Plant life was reduced after lightning storms ignited global wildfires. The leading theory for Helyme's devastation is an out-of-control biological weapon. For this reason, landing is strictly prohibited. The corporations of Illium have emplaced a network of quarantine satellites to dissuade would-be looters from landing in the crumbling cities. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 5,522km Day Length: 44.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.84 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -15 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.87G There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is one thing that makes it worth mining, Element Zero is on the planet. There is also an anomaly, starting the N7: Captured Mining Facility. - Planet: Nepyma Tidally locked to the star Zelene, Nepyma has the expected "hot pole" and "cold pole." Along the terminator is a thin band of nearly-habitable terrain. Unfortunately, the local biosphere is based on a chlorinated oxygen atmosphere. It is not sophisticated, but it has proven highly dangerous. The asari surveyor Verallas landed on Nepyma in 1684 to study the local ecology. Unbeknownst to the crew, a handful of native chlorine-fixing microbes passed through biohazard screening and entered the ship. The Verallas returned to the port of Nos Parnalo on Illium, where the Nepyman microbes escaped into a temperate environment with plentiful unused chlorine. The microbes devoured the chlorides in the earth; as metabolic byproducts, they produced toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). By the time the infestation was contained, an area of nearly 30 square kilometres had been effectively turned into a toxic waste dump. Nos Parnalo had to be abandoned, accelerating the development of Nos Astra. Orbital Distance: 0.8 AU Orbital Period: 0.8 Earth Years Radius: 4,456km Day Length: 40.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.55 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 32 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.57G A rich planet in resources, it lacks the rare and mysterious Element Zero deposits. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.10] Krogan DMZ The Krogan DMZ is only unlocked when you have a crew member, either Grunt or Mordin, giving you their Loyalty mission, which is done in the Krogan DMZ. Aralakh - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Durak Durak is a small, heat-blasted rock lost in the blinding glare of the star Aralakh. It occasionally traps a trace atmosphere of gases blown in on Aralakh's powerful solar wind, which inevitably blows the gases back out again. The planetoid has a few valuable lodes of heavy metals, which were sporadically mined by the krogan at the height of their power. In the closing years of the Rebellions, the five clans working the planetoid fell to fighting over a particularly rich deposit of Iridium. All five clan warlords agreed to a Crush (a meeting at a neutral location) to negotiate a truce. Unfortunately, all five arrived planning to betray their fellows. While the leaders and their seconds met, all their bases were destroyed by simultaneous hypervelocity cannon strikes. Left with only the food, water, and air in their hardsuits, and with no way to call for rescue, the warlords apparently fought each other to the death. The survivors of the five "Durak clans" on Tuchanka still argue about which clan's warlord was the last one standing. Orbital Distance: 0.83 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 1,972km Day Length: 0.6 Earth Years Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 348 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.22G This is a very rich planet in terms of resources, but no Element Zero is on it. - Planet: Kanin One of Kanin's hemispheres contains an impact crater 700 kilometres in diameter. Dubbed the Renkat Basin, it was mined for light metals in the interbellum between the Ranchi Wars and Krogan Rebellions. Any obvious resource concentrations have long since been stripped. Orbital Distance: 1.66 AU Orbital Period: 1.6 Earth Years Radius: 3,312km Day Length: 1.6 Earth Years Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 155 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.28G Well, there is another planet with moderate amount of resources, but again, there is no Element Zero. - Planet: Kruban Kurban is a tidally-locked Venusian hothouse, its surface prepetually obscured by clouds of sulfur and carbon dioxides. The first group of krogan brought into orbit by the salarian uplift teams requested a trip to Kruban. The salarians at first thought the krogan were confused about the nature of Kruban's environment; the planet is named for a krogan mythological paradise in which honourable warriors feast on the internal organs of their enemies. In fact, krogan astronomers had correctly deduced the nature of Kruban in the years before the global holocaust. In the two millennnia since, Kruban had come to be thought of as an ideal test of one's toughness. Every year, a few krogan attempt to land on Kruban and exit their ships naked in an attempt to prove their "kroganhood." The planet's surface is littered with the crushed, corroded remains of their ships. Only one, Shath Norda, is known to have returned from the surface alive, albeit with most of his bones crushed and all four of his lungs damaged by sulfuric gas. Norda recovered from his trial, to the adulation of his people. Until he died in 1943, he could lie with any fertile female he wished. Orbital Distance: 3.31 AU Orbital Period: 4.6 Earth Years Radius: 5,443km Day Length: 4.6 Earth Years Atmospheric Pressure: 47.3 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 728 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G This is a rich planet in terms of resources, but not rich enough to have any Eezo on it. - Planet: Ruam The smaller of Aralakh's hydrogen-helium gas giants maintains a small helium-3 recovery infrastructure. Although the depth of Ruam's gravity well makes it inefficient to export, visitors to the Aralakh system often "top off" their fuel tanks at Ruam's stations. The Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission (CDEM) maintains a token garrison to monitor any potential sales of fuel to known subversives and terrorists. Population: 1,040 CDEM Garrison: 20 Orbital Distance: 11.1 AU Orbital Period: 28.4 Earth Years Radius: 67,154km Day Length: 13.8 Earth Years A poor planet in terms of resources, there isn't much there, and there isn't any Element Zero to make up for it. - Planet: Tuchanka Scarred by bombardment craters, radioactive rubble, choking ash, salt flats, and alkaline seas, Tuchanka can barely support life. Thousands of years ago, life grew in fierce abundance under the F-class star Aralakh (a Raik clan word meaning "Eye of Wrath"). Tree-analogues grew in thick jungles, their roots growing out of shallow, silty seas. Life fled upon life in an evolutionary crucible. This world died in nuclear firestorms after the krogan split the atom. A "little ice age" of nuclear winter killed of much of the remaining plant life. In recent centuries, many krogan have returned to their homeworld. The reduced albedo has caused global temperatures to rise. In order to maintain livable temperatures, a vast shroud was assembled at the L1 Lagrange point. It was maintained by the Council Demilitarization Enforcement Mission (CDEM), which is based on orbiting battlestations. CDEM ADVISORY: Visitors to Tuchanka land at their own risk. The CDEM will not attempt to extract citizens threatened by clan warfare. TRAVEL ADVISORY: The ecology of Tuckanka is deadly. Nearly every native species engages in some predatory behaviour; even the remaining vegetation is carnivorous. Travel beyond guarded areas is strongly discouraged. Population: 2.1 billion Capital: currently Urdnot (since 2183) CDEM Garrison: 2,400 (in orbital battlestations) Orbital Distance: 5.3 AU Orbital Period: 16.7 Earth Years Radius: 8,293km Day Length: 21.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.1 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 72 Celsius (36 in shrouded areas) Surface Gravity: 1.14G - Planet: Vaul Vaul is a hydrogen-helium gas giant named for an ancient krogan deity that stood watch for enemies of his pantheon. The gas giant's moons are named after some of Vaul's myraid of eyes and ears. The only reason to visit the Vaul system is scientific curiosity, which the krogan back. Orbital Distance: 17.8 AU Orbital Period: 57.8 Earth Years Radius: 73,944km Day Length: 12.1 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is no Element Zero. Nish - Planet: Mantun The class-B blue giant Nith was once the most strategically valuable system within Krogan territory. Though far too hot for habitable planets, Nith emits thousands of times the energy of a main sequence star like Earth's Sol. When help from salarian uplift teams, the krogan constructed a chain of solar power collector stations in orbit around Nith. These vast arrays beamed power to particle accelerators on the surface of Mantun, which manufactured antiproton fuel for warship thrusters. In the Krogan Rebellions, the Spectre agents managed to get a virus into the computers of the solar power arrays; every fifth array suddently applied braking thrusters. The arrays behind them "piled up," and all were reduced to wreckage. This has since disappeared into a relatively stable ring system. The krogan never had the resources to rebuild the solar arrays, depriving them of their fleet's main fuel supply for the remainder of the war. The particle accelerators still exist on Mantun, but have not been used in thousands of years. Orbital Distance: 57.2 AU Orbital Period: 112.1 Earth Years Radius: 2,150km Day Length: 112.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 641 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.28G This is one of the rich planets in terms of resources, and the good news is that there is some form of Element Zero on the planet. - Planet: Tula Tula's methane-ammonia atmosphere tops the blistering heat of Nith, driving dayside temperatures up over 1000 degrees. While some lodes of useful materials are present, the planet's incredible heat makes mining impractical. Orbital Distance: 108.7 AU Orbital Period: 293.9 Earth Years Radius: 5,204km Day Length: 59.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.54 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 1,036 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.55G This planet is actually poor in resources, and there isn't any element zero, so really, probing is a waste of your time. - Planet: Vard Vard is a methane-ammonia ice giant. Until the Krogan Rebellions, it had a sizable helium-3 fuel refining infrastructure. Once the solar arrays orbiting Nith were destroyed, the constant flow of antiproton tankers visiting the system disappeared. There was little point to maintaining the facilities, so they were shut down and abandoned. Today the ancient stations are "squatted" by transients, criminals, and outcasts. Although few are safe for habitation, neither krogan nor the Council Demilitiarization Enforcement Mission (CDEM) patrols care if they take their chances. Population: 2,072 Orbital Distance: 195.6 AU Orbital Period: 709.6 Earth Years Radius: 36,670km Day Length: 18.0 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is no Element Zero on it. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.11] Rosetta Nebula This system is unlocked after you are given the details of Jacob's Loyalty Quest. Alpha Draconis - Planet: 2175 Aeia Named after an asari scientist, this remote planet appears to have been on the list of forbidden mass relays that led to uncharted space. The little data available comes from one far-off probe flyby that reports two planets orbiting a white dwarf star. Your own scans yield far more interesting results. The planet is within the habitable zone of the star. It has oceans of liquid water and a thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere consistent with carbon-based plant life. It is possible this is an as-yet-unexplored garden world. Orbital Distance: 4.5 AU Orbital Period: 7.3 Earth Years Radius: 6,521km Day Length: 31.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.72 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 16 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.1G The anomaly on this planet is for Jacob's Loyalty mission. Also, this is a rich planet for resources, and there is Element Zero here as well, making it worthwhile. - Planet: 2175 AR2 Still formally unnamed, this planet is a hydrogen-helium gas giant with 21 moon-sized objects. Orbital Distance: 9.3 AU Orbital Period: 28.4 Earth Years Radius: 62,775km Day Length: 14.0 Earth Hours This planet is poor in resources, and to make it a little worse, there is no Eezo on this planet. Enoch - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Goliath A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Goliath's orbit takes it near the system's mass relay, a useful event for drive core discharges and automated helium-3 refueling platforms. Unfortunately, its orbit is currently taking it away from the relay, and it will continue this inconvenience for the next three galactic standard years. Orbital Distance: 4.8 AU Orbital Period: 10.5 Earth Years Radius: 74,985km Day Length: 14.1 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but no Element Zero deposit. - Planet: Joab Joab is a two-mooned habitable planet that is most well known for its mass extinction event. Thousands of years ago, Joab was home to a primate-like spacefaring civilisation as well as abundant flora and fauna. However, this can only be deduced from time capsules put into the ground well outside habitation centres -- all cities and detectable dwellings were targeted in a massive orbital bombardment that turned them into vapour. The resulting dust shroud killed all photosynthetic life and all fauna dependent on it. Today, human have recolonized the planet and are rapidly introducing their own species, beginning with cyanobacteria and heterotrophic bacteria to bring a suitable level of oxygen and nitrogen for respiration. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Atmospheric pressure at sea level on Joab is double that of Earth. Visitors with upper respiratory infections, emphesyma, cancer, or a history of thoracic surgery should consult their physician before landing on Joab. Population: 21,553,000 Colony Founded: 2171 Capital: New Jericho Orbital Distance: 2.3 AU Orbital Period: 3.5 Earth Years Radius: 6,709km Day Length: 25.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.18 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 14 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.2G This is home to a mission, as well as a moderate amount of resources, including Element Zero. The mission is N7: Archeological Dig Site. - Planet: Laban Laban is a desert world with sea upon sea of scorching hot iron oxide wearing away marbleized cliffs. Its atmosphere is thick and layered with significant levels of oxygen trapped under an upper helium layer. Initially, surveyors detected traces of iridium from orbit, only to find a surprising archeological discovery -- the iridium came from bunkers on the surface, blown apart by a dreadnought-class weapon. The logical conclusion was that the civilisation on Joab had reached Laban, and its outposts here were completely destroyed to make their extermination complete. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 7,658km Day Length: 24.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 14.91 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 348 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.8G A rich planet for resources, this is the one you want to mine, it contains several deposits of Element Zero. - Planet: Mizraim A small gas giant, Mizraim is primarily hydrogen and methane around a rocky core. There is no remaining trace of the civilization from Joab on Mizraim itself, but debris orbiting the planet indicates that artificial satellites were once in place before being destroyed. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1.3 Earth Years Radius: 17,932km Day Length: 10.9 Earth Hours There is a moderate amount of resources on this planet, but there is no Element Zero, unlike the other planets in this system. Phi Clio - Planet: Cyllene A mid-sized hydrogen-helium gas giant, Cyllene has an automated helium-3 refining station, indicating that this remote system was once inhabited. Its distance from the mass relay and archaic design of the fuel station suggests that this system was mapped by someone who did not go through the relay, but discovered it in independent FTL exploration. Cyllene is within the "frost line" of its parent star where gas giants do not usually form. For this reason, Cyllene is believed to be an extrasolar capture. Orbital Distance: 0.5 AU Orbital Period: 0.4 Earth Years Radius: 38,920km Day Length: 12.8 Earth Hours This is a poor planet in terms of resources, there isn't element zero on this planet. - Planet: Parnassus A boiling hot rock planet with extreme tectonic activity, Parnassus is home to many volcanic mountains. Surface scans reveal several geothermal and solar power stations, tapping the planet's abundant energy. There is no history of the planet of its government in Citadel Council records. Given its proximity to a mapped and recorded planet like Cyllene, someone must have deleted Parnassus from the database. Orbital Distance: 1.1 AU Orbital Period: 1.2 Earth Years Radius: 5,850km Day Length: 50.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 4.71 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 158 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G There is a rich planet here, but the problem is that there is no Element Zero for you to play with. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.12] Sigurd's Cradle This is unlocked with you have completed N7: MSV Strontium Mule, it will be unlocked for you. Decoris - Planet: Laena Laena ("cloaked") is a methane-clouded hothouse planet. Its lack of a metal-rich core and significant megnetosphere allows for an easy scan, which reveals mining equipment on its surface. It can be deduced that this mining occurred within the last five years -- any longer and the machines would have been worn down to nothing by the excessive heat and dust storms of hot iron oxide. Orbital Distance: 1.4 AU Orbital Period: 1.7 Earth Years Radius: 6,197km Day Length: 36.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 37.64 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 365 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G There is a rich planet here, but again, there is no Element Zero on the surface. - Planet: Scantum Scantum is proof of the old spacer adage, "just because it's called a garden world doesn't mean it's a picnic." Freezing ice storms cover the poles and temporate zones, leaving a narrow strip of habitable land at the equator. Dry but windy, this area is home to Scantum's minimal terrestrial plant life. The planet has yet to develop land-based animals, though invertebrates grow quite large in its pelagic seas. Mining, referred to as "ice cracking" at anywhere but the equator, is a common employment on Scantum. The planet is rich in platinum and palladium deposits, as well as boron, which is locally used in semiconductor doping. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Carbon dioxide levels on Scantum can reach 5,000 parts per million during thermal inversions. Travelers should carry a breath mask at all times and consult the Scantum World Weather Service for warnings. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Piracy is at a fourteen-year global high on Scantum. Visitors should take appropriate security precautions. Population: 257,300 Colony Founded: 2169 Capital: Vulpes Orbital Distance: 2.6 AU Orbital Period: 4.2 Earth Years Radius: 6,651km Day Length: 69.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.4 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -50 Celsius (mean), 4 Celsius (equator) Surface Gravity: 1.2G There is a good planet of resources here, and there is Element Zero as well. This is also home to the mission of N7: Blue Suns Base, which is held here. Skepsis - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Crick Know for its spectular geysers that can be seen from orbit, Crick is a rock planet with expansive frozen oceans. Though it is within the temperature and pressure range for human habitation, its thick atmosphere is largely carbon dioxide and monoxide, making breathing masks or environmental suits mandatory. The most abundant resources for exploitation are the potassium salts found in its seabeds, which fetch good prices on terraforming worlds. Orbital Distance: 4.3 AU Orbital Period: 8.9 Earth Years Radius: 4,738km Day Length: 60.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.77 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -32 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.6G A planet with a good amount of resources, there is a fair bit here, but no Element Zero on it. - Planet: Darwin A mid-sized rock planet, Darwin is ironically named, being one of the worst places for life in the galaxy. Its atmosphere is punishing, its temperature boiling, its chemical makeup toxic. Carbon monoxide and methane wrap the planet in an underlying haze, and scans of its surface show only silicates and molten tin. Its daily thermal fluctuations lead to hurricane-level vortices, two at each pole, forming "eyes" that can be seen from orbit. Despite all this, Darwin is still used by spacers as a drive core discharge points -- hydrogen pierces the clouds in the upper atmosphere, making for a relatively benign approach. Orbital Distance: 0.9 AU Orbital Period: 0.9 Earth Years Radius: 6,771km Day Length: 37.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 112.06 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 710 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.2G There is agood amount of resources on the planet, but there is no such thing as element zero on it. - Planet: Franklin A large moon, Franklin retains a trace atmosphere of carbon dioxide, but its desolate surface holds no signs of water or life. In order to defend Watson from the pirates of the Terminus Systems, Franklin is home to two Alliance spaceports and naval bases capable of fielding six fighter squadrons each and a classified number of interplanetary ballistic missiles. Mass effect fields keep the gravity in its installations at a comfortable level for long-term living. Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 33 Earth Days (around Watson) 3.0 Earth Years (around Skepsis) Radius: 2,405km Day Length: 33 Earth Days Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -116 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G A rich planet for resources, there is a good deal here except any Element Zero. The anamoly here is N7: Javelin Missiles Launched. - Planet: Keimowitz Named for the 21st century pioneer of groundwater remediation techniques, Keimowitz is an impressive layer of ice over a stony metallic core. Despite its size, it has only one moon, Noa, which shares its carbonaceous composition, leading astronomers to believe it formed following a giant impact. Iridium deposits have attracted miners to the planet, who must work through robots and telepresence because of the planet's strong gravity. Orbital Distance: 16.8 AU Orbital Period: 69.1 Earth Years Radius: 9,586km Day Length: 29.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -190 Celsius Surface Gravity: 3.4G This planet is rich in resources, but again, there is no element zero on it, like a lot of other planets. - Planet: Pauling A hydrogen-methane gas giant, Pauling's gravitational field is believed to have cleared most of what wuolkd otherwise have been a sizable asteroid belt. The 2163 mission of the space probe "Ultimate" gave the inhabitants of Watson reams of data reinforcing this theory, giving the colonists an accurate count of its moons (66), rings, moonlike ring objects, and more than 200 visible impact craters on its pockmarked surface. "Ultimate" has been since retrived for re-use on subsequent missions within the solar system. Orbital Distance: 4.3 AU Orbital Period: 8.9 Earth Years Radius: 4,738km Day Length: 60.7 Earth Hours A poor planet, that is to be sure, it has nothing of value on it, no Element Zero in particular. - Planet: Wallace An unusually small Pegasid or "hot Jupiter," Wallace was originally an extrasolar planet that entered this system and was captured by the gravity well of the G-class star Skepsis. Tidally locked, Wallace's "hot side" reaches temperatures over 2,500 degrees Celsius. While not large enough proportionate to the star to cause eclipses visible from Watson, it is easily seen at dawn or dusk as one of the brightest objects in the sky. Orbital Distance: 0.04 AU Orbital Period: 11 Earth Days Radius: 39,459km Day Length: 11 Earth Days A planet that is moderate in resources, you are lucky to get anythere here that isn't molten. But no element zero. - Planet: Watson Watson is known in human media for two things - its spectcular tides brought on by a large moon, and the bureaucratic snafu over which Earth nations got to settle there first. Watson is a garden world, first discovered in 2165 CE, with credit claimed by the Chinese People's Federation, the United North American States, and the European Union. The Systems Alliance brokered the infamous "Rekjavik Compromise," allowing limited colonization from each coalition in cities comprised of populations from each nation. Watson itself trends colder than Earth, with a temperate zone measuring about 30 degrees latitude in either direction from the equator. Its life does not easily map to Earth's evolutionary eras -- some islands have species that resemble terresterial placental mammals, others are overrun by anthropods. It is estimated that at least two more generations of xenozoologists will be needed to properly classify all the species of the planet. Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 3.0 Earth Years Radius: 6,733km Day Length: 37.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.6 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -18 Celsius (mean) 25 Celsius (habitable zone) Surface Gravity: 1.2G A good amount of resources, but there is Element Zero on it, making it very worthwhile to mine out. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.13] Ismar Frontier The Ismar Frontier is only unlocked when you have the Zaeed DLC pack from the Cerberus Network. Also, it will be unlocked when you get his loyalty quest. Aquila - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Lepini A hydrogen-methane gas giant, Lepini and its moons have been cursorily scanned by space probes and found to have little in the way of rare resources. The galaxy at large considers it unremarkable. Orbital Distance: 0.5 AU Orbital Period: 0.4 Earth Years Radius: 56,666km Day Length: 9.2 Earth Hours This is a poor planet, like most in this system, and there is no element zero on it, as you would expect. - Planet: Metaponto A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Metaponto has developed a helium-3 fueling station, funded by elcor business interests who hope to bring enough attention to the system to attract terraforming investors and thus eventually develop Volturno as a habitable world. Thus far, they have met with little success. Orbital Distance: 4.2 AU Orbital Period: 8.6 Earth Years Radius: 70,520km Day Length: 12.1 Earth Hours This is a poor planet on resources, which makes it of little use, and there is no element zero is there either. - Planet: Pollino A relatively small hydrogen-helium gas giant, Pollino remains undeveloped while its sister planet Metaponto garners all the attention. This was not always the case -- in 2180, news stories seeded throughout the extranet claimed that element zero was being found on Pollino's moons in record lodes. This turned out to be a scam spread by the Dunawurachum Consortium, an elcor corporation trying to scare up investors. After a small fleet of space probes scouted the area, the hype quickly deflated, and the myth only persists now in unwanted extranet e-mail messages. Orbital Distance: 8.0 AU Orbital Period: 22.7 Earth Years Radius: 37,052km Day Length: 16.5 Earth Hours This planet is relatively poor on resources, and there is no element zero of course, as explained by the codex. - Planet: Vecchio Vecchio is a moderately-sized terrestrial world with a thin, hot atmosphere of carbon dioxide and oxygen. Initial surveys found trace amounts of Iridium, but little else of interest in the silicate desert sands that cover much of the surface of the planet. On a recent tour, the Alliance surveyor ship Kupe discovered a group of partial graves hidden in the equatorial mountain ranges. The ancient skeletons in the burial sites are obviously humanoid but incomplete and poorly preserved, which has made them difficult to identify. Fragments of primative ceramic grave goods were also found nearby. This raises further questions about who once traveled to this inhospitable planet since the closest garden world, Volturno, has no intelligent life. Human universities are planning further archeological investigations. Orbital Distance: 1.1 AU Orbital Period: 1.2 Earth Years Radius: 6,443km Day Length: 39.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.79 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 58 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.82G A rich planet to be sure, there is no element zero on this planet, just the usual three here. - Planet: Volturno A so-called "super-Earth," Volturno is home to organic life but is nevertheless uninhabitable for the near future. Currently in an Ice Age, most of the planet from the latitude of 30 degrees north or south is a frozen wasteland, and so most organic life, limited to algae and lichens, reside near the equator. The strong gravity prevents any sapient species but elcor from thriving on the planet, and the elcor cannot breathe the planet's atmosphere, which contains lethal amounts of carbon dioxide in addition to its oxygen. Small packs of vorcha squatters are attempting to take the planet for themselves illegally, but most of them live miserable existances in the planet's crushing gravity and die from falls or medical complications. Only terraforming on a massive scale would turn Volturno into a habitable world, and the elcor lack the political capital with the Citadel Council to begin such an effort. Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 3.0 Earth Years Radius: 11,177km Day Length: 26.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.83 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -10 Celsius Surface Gravity: 3.3G The scanners will indicate a good amount of resources on the planet, but there is no Element Zero on it. Faia - Planet: Hito While the ice mines of Viantel make a great deal of profit from ships passing through Faia's mass relay, the real money is made at Hito. As the only gas giant in the Faia gateway system, Hito is heavily developed by rival helium-3 mining concerns. The world has three major and 26 minor moons, each of which is claimed by a different company. Those based on moons deeper into the gravity well tend to specialize on helium-3 extraction and refining, while those on the farther moons specialize in refueling services and shipment. The local economy is driven by black marketeering, backroom dealing, and cutthroat business. Each company attempts to sabotage its' rival facilities while protecting their own moon. This has led to open corporate warfare three times in the last century. All the major mercenary groups have offices in the Hito planetary system, though the Blue Suns enjoy a home- team advantage, shipping in cheap logistical supplies from Zorya. Population: 953,000 Capital: none; largest port is Shol Prime Orbital Distance: 6.3 AU Orbital Period: 15.8 Earth Years Radius: 24,984km Day Length: 14.3 Earth Hours This planet is relatively poor in resources, which is never a good thing, and there is no element zero on it either. - Planet: Imaen Imaen is a small, cratered rock. Its crust contains various light metals, though none in any concentration worth the trouble of mining. While the rest of the Faia system has seen extensive industralisation, Imaen lies fallow. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.8 Earth Years Radius: 2,370km Day Length: 62.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 108 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.24G Although it is a rock and not worth the trouble, it is a rich planet in terms of the resources you are after, except Element Zero. - Planet: Viantel Though a dwarf planet, Viantel's large amounts of water have led to heavy development by water-cracking industries seeking to turn the planet into hydrogen-oxygen fuel for starship thrusters. The surface is blanketed with habitation modules, mining equipment, and cracking stations. Since the initial settlement of Illium in the nearby Tasale system, the radius of Viantel has decreased by two kilometres, indicating removal of over 72,000 cubic kilometres of ice. Some groups are concerned that the rate of lose may cause instability in the remaining structure. Population: 10,400 Capital: none; largest port is Kyleios Station 04 Orbital Distance: 3.0 AU Orbital Period: 5.2 Earth Years Radius: 1,381km Day Length: 28.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -150 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.11G This is a rich planet, or soon to be giant rock, but it is rich in all but Element Zero. - Planet: Zorya "Mud, sweat and spores," is how Blue Suns mercenaries characterize the planet that gave birth to their home office. This lush garden world is known for its heavy plant and fungal life, creating spectcular jungle zones over much of its eight continents. Despite persistant problems with rot and rust, Zorya attracts investors and corporations from all throughout the galaxy, since it has exploted only a fraction of its potential resources. The Blue Suns dominate security contracts on Zorya, so much that residents describe them less like a monopoly and more like a conquering regime. Colony Founded: 2160 Population: 148,000,000 Capital: Thun Orbital Distance: 1.8 AU Orbital Period: 2.4 Earth Years Radius: 6,247km Day Length: 28.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.22 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 33 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.14] Shrike Abyssal This is unlocked after you purchase the map from Baria Frontiers on Illium. Urla Rast - Planet: Bovis Tor Named "the shining sea" in an old volus language, Bovis Tor is so named for its boiling surface rich in glowing-hot alumina, flecked with dark ridges of carbon. Its thick atmosphere of nitrogen and oxygen is no indicator of life, since the temperatures are simply too high. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 7,307km Day Length: 33.5 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 8.39 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 253 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.6G A rich planet, there is a lot of resources here that you can mine, but like other planets, no element zero. - Planet: Doiz Atab An ice giant, Doz Atab ("sky warden") has a bluish tinge from its hydrogen-methane atmosphere. Its axial tilt causes its seasons to vary wildly in temperature. Orbital Distance: 3.1 AU Orbital Period: 5.5 Earth Years Radius: 47,428km Day Length: 10.3 Earth Hours A planet armed with moderate resources, the planet will have little except the normal 3, no Element Zero. - Planet: Talis Fia Talis Fia is a planet capable of supporting life -- if that life happens to breath ammonia. Discovered by asari explorers, the planet was used as a bargaining chip by the Citadel Council, who quickly drafted a colonisation agreement with its wealthy client race, the volus. The Council would fund the volus colonization effort in return for massive trade benefits. With uncharacteristic enthusiasm, an enormous volus influx ensured, and the Council reaped the economic benefits for a dozen years before the colonization bubble burst. Today, the economic good times on Talis Fia are long gone, and modern volus businesses are cutthroat operations. Piracy is a grave threat to shipping, as well-armed criminals see the volus as easy prey. Colony Founded: 385 CE Population: 3,800,000,000 Capital: Ursa Dao Orbital Distance: 1.6 AU Orbital Period: 2.0 Earth Years Radius: 7,550km Day Length: 33.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 6.15 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -25 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.7G There is a good amount of resources on this planet, well, it is better than nothing, and tere is Element Zero on it. Xe Cha - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Aphras A unique discovery, Aphras is a "heavenly twin," a planet in a star system that has not one but two worlds of sufficient mass to retain a nitrogen-oxygen atmopshere within the habitable life zone of its parent star. Fossil evidence shows abundant vertebrates and evidence of a sapient terresterial avian species in its Bronze Age. However, the only trace of comtemporary life on the planet is that of single-celled organisms in its seas. All else has suffered from an extinction event -- a series of massive impacts that vapourised vast quantities of water and lofted dust into its atmosphere. Early theories that this event was a collision with a fragmenting asteroid have now been discounted -- the impact craters were aimed directly at habitation centres. Orbital Distance: 1.4 AU Orbital Period: 2.0 Earth Years Radius: 4,530km Day Length: 31.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 2.32 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 33 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G A moderate amount of resources lurk on this planet, and that doesn't contain any element zero. - Planet: Tosal Nym The sister tragedy to the extinction event on Aphras, Tosal Nym was the rarest of jewels; a second garden planet within the same life zone as Aphras. Not as old as its sister planet, its fossil evidence indicates it was home to abundant invertebrate sea life. However, similar craters to those on Aphras created a dust shroud that kill 99% of biota on the planet. The even spacing of the crater indicates a coordinated, simultaneous attack from points around the globe, rather than an asteroid collision or supervolcanic scenario. Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 3.0 Earth Years Radius: 6,930km Day Length: 19.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.86 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 18 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.3G This planet is rich in resources, and the good thing is that it is also rich in Element Zero. - Planet: Vem Osca A Jovian gas giant, Vem Osca ("weeping witness" in Iperian Volus) is a low-density hydrogen-helium planet with 35 moons. Later this year, 33 of the moons will be visible from the planet's surface in a conjunction, an event that will be recorded by space probes from all over the galaxy. Orbital Distance: 4.6 AU Orbital Period: 9.9 Earth Years Radius: 64,826km Day Length: 11.9 Earth Hours The scanners will indicate a moderate amount of resources on the planet but no element zero. - Planet: Zada Ban Zada Ban is a large, dense planet named for a volus god of punishment. Its crust is rich in uranium, eroded in winds to crate large radioactive dust storms across its surface. The volus of Talis Fia have explored the planet thoroughly with space probes and telepresent robo-mining machines, and discovered they are not the first to exploit the planet. Plastics from a mining station approximately 50,000 years old can be found near the planet's equator. Curiously, the mines nearby were not tapped out of uranium ore; they were instead abandoned at the height of their operation. Colony Founded: 2154 Population: 22,500 (in orbital stations) Capital: None, largest station is Dolo Station Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.9 Earth Years Radius: 7,594km Day Length: 70.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 94 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.5G This is one of the best planets, there is a planet rich in resources, and rich in Element Zero. This is also home to the N7: Blood Pack Base mission. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.15] Pylos Nebula This system is unlocked after you have purchased the star chart from Baria Frontiers. Dirada - Planet: Canalus Canalus is smaller than Earth, but has unusually high density. The high level of tectonic activity indicates that the density is caused by an abundance of radioactive materials in the core. These, combined with the planet's usually high rate of spin, raise the planet's internal temperature and cause volcanism. While several companies performed mineral assays in the late 2170s, the world's geological stability precluded development. Orbital Distance: 46.3 AU Orbital Period: 176.8 Earth Years Radius: 4,618km Day Length: 9.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.83 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 99 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.85G This is a rich planet, but there is no element zero on it. There is also an anomaly on it, spawning the N7: Anomalous Weather Detected. - Planet: Siano Siano, named for an ancient asari philosopher known for being a contraian, orbits Dirada at a retrograde. It is believed to be an object that fell into the system millions of years ago from parts unknown. The outermost of Dirada's two inner asteroid belts is thought to have been a small planetoid that was broken up by Siano's passage into the system. Siano is formed of low-density rock, and it tidally locked to Dirada; the same hemisphere always faces the star. There is evidence that a complex of artificial structures once existed in the north of the sunward-facing hemisphere, but they have been badly degraded by millennia of heat and radiation. Several bunkers of radioactive waste, apparently byproducts of primative fission plants, have been discovered on the far side. Orbital Distance: 12.9 AU Orbital Period: 26 Earth Years Radius: 4,925km Day Length: 26 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 79 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.47G This is a planet that you will like, this is a rich planet and there is Element Zero on it. - Planet: Sineus A standard hydrogen-helium gas giant, Sineus has more than 80 moons. Orbital Distance: 138.9 AU Orbital Period: 919.2 Earth Years Radius: 63,748km Day Length: 16.4 Earth Hours There is nothing here worth mentioning, even Bioware has given up. It is a planet with poor resources and no Element Zero. - Planet: Thenusi Thenusi is a small, barren rock. THough there is evidence it once had an atmosphere of carbon dioxide, only trace amounts of krypton and xenon remain. Like Siano, it is tidally locked to Dirada. Orbital Distance: 25.7 AU Orbital Period: 73.1 Earth Years Radius: 3,602km Day Length: 73.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -10 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.33G This is a rich barren rock for starters, but there is no element zero on it. - Planet: Vioresa With an orbital period of nearly two millennia long, the cold and distant Vioresa was actually missed in the initial asari survey of the system. Only a follow-up mineral assay sent to Canalus by a volus mining concern noticed its subtle movement across the stars. Vioresa is a methane-ammonia ice giant, circled by a retinue of deep-frozen moons. Its remoteness makes it a popular drive discharge point for pirates working the Pylos Nebula cluster. In the last two years, several dozen ships have disappeared while passing through the Dirada system. As Pylos is currently unclaimed by any sovereign power, Council naval patrols are few and far between. Thus far none of the pirates responsible have been apprehended. Orbital Distance: 222.2 AU Orbital Period: 1860.4 Earth Years Radius: 26,566km Day Length: 12.7 Earth Hours This planet is poor in resources, and the few peaks that it has will not contain Element Zero. - Planet: Zeth Zeth is a common hydrogen-helium gas giant. An abundance of sulfur in the upper atmosphere gives it distinct yellow stripes. Orbital Distance: 69.5 AU Orbital Period: 325.2 Earth Years Radius: 60,327km Day Length: 14.8 Earth Hours A planet with a moderate amount of resources, and a crappy description, no element zero is on it. Kriseroi - Planet: Geus Geus is another methane-ammonia gas giant, very similar to its near twin, Uzin. It presents a nearly featureless, robin-egg-blue face to the universe. Orbital Distance: 0.64 AU Orbital Period: 0.9 Earth Years Radius: 33,036km Day Length: 9.9 Earth Hours A lack of a proper description also means a lack of resources, which is moderate, no element zero. - Planet: Neidus Neidus lies improbably close to the red dwarf Kriseori. This allows it to approach habitability, though it is quite frigid. It is tidally locked, with a "hot pole" and a "cold pole." Along the terminator, the temperature averages just above freezing. On the lee side, the temperatures are well below freezing. Neidus has developed a limited native ecology. Much of it clusters, permanently attached, around geothermal vents. There are, however, more advanced forms of life. Several anthropodal herbivore species wander back and forth across the terminator, as they require nutrients available on both environments for sustenance. More dangerous are the omnivorous predator species that devour the anthropods. Most animal life on Neidus has limited vision, but finely-developed thermal sense. Orbital Distance: 0.1 AU Orbital Period: 0.1 Earth Years Radius: 4,875km Day Length: 0.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.84 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 2 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.87G A moderate planet with limited resources, there is no element zero on it. - Planet: Tenoth Tenoth is little more than a glorified "ice dwarf" that has drifted inwards from Kriseroi's Oort Cloud over the millennia. Its extremely elliptical orbit is ultimately unstable. Computer projections suggest it will impact the atmosphere of Geus in a few billion years. Orbital Distance: 1.86 AU Orbital Period: 2.6 Earth Years Radius: 1,411km Day Length: 17.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -220 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.09G A moderate planet with little in resources, there is no element zero on it. - Planet: Theonax Theonax's surface is covered by water and ammonia-hydrate ices, which are constantly repaved by cyrovolcanic processes. The world's size and density suggest the core contains heavier elements, and retains much of the heat of the system's formation. Orbital Distance: 0.18 AU Orbital Period: 0.1 Earth Years Radius: 10,442km Day Length: 69.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.3 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -70 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.3G This planet is rich in resources, but there is no element zero deposits on it. - Planet: Uzin A typical methane-ammonia ice giant, Uzin has 37 moons of various sizes. Chithess, one of the largest, orbits at a retrograde, suggesting it was a planetesimal that was captured by the gas giant gravity well. The planet itself is believed to have been an extrasolar capture as well, though million of years before Chithess came on the scene. Evidence collected by plantary geologists suggest that Chithess was for many centuries a water-world, heated by tidal flexing as its orbit circularized around Uzin. The plantetary ocean, once hundreds of kilometres deep, must now be frozen solid. Some have recommended drilling test bores to see if life ever developed in Uzin's seas, but the question is considered academic. Orbital Distance: 0.31 AU Orbital Period: 0.3 Earth Years Radius: 31,982km Day Length: 15.2 Earth Hours A moderate planet for resources, there is no element zero deposit on it. Nariph - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - MSV Broken Arrow Scans detect a rapidly decaying derelict ship in orbit over planet Jonus. Registeration matches the MSV Broken Arrow. Ship's manifest notes volatile munitions cargo onboard. If left undisturbed, the ship's trajectory will lead to impact with Jonus. High probability that the crash site will be Fargone, Jonus's largest human colony. Geth signatures detected aboard the MSV Broken Arrow. Boarding this ship will trigger N7: Imminent Ship Crash. - Planet: Isale Isale is a standard hydrogen-helium gas giant. Though gas giants are known for their powerful magnetic fields, Isale's field is stronger than current models predict. Within the "frost line" of its solar system where gas giants do not usually form, Isale is believed to have once been extrasolar. Orbital Distance: 0.5 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 64,005km Day Length: 17.7 Earth Hours Just like it's brother Jonus below, it is a moderate planet with no element zero on it. - Planet: Jonus Jonus, a methane-ammonia ice giant, is being developed as a fuel depot serving the Pylos Cluster. Eldfell-Ashland Energy has established a base on one of its moons to crack water ice into hydrogen and oxygen, and skim helium-3 from its atmosphere. Jonus is also believed to be an extrasolar planet captured by its star. From orbit, Normandy's sensors can pick out a hand-painted sign some waggish employee has left outside the complex: "Last chance fuel for 100 light years." Orbital Distance: 0.65 AU Orbital Period: 1 Earth Year Radius: 20,312km Day Length: 15.1 Earth Hours Another non-descript moderate resource planet with no element zero on it. Satent - Planet: Anedia Anedia is a small ice body with very low density; its mass is only 4% that of Earth. It appears to be composed mainly of carbon and water ice, but over the millennia it has accured a trace atmosphere of krypton and xenon. While Anedia's gravity is weak enough that a cruiser could land on it safely, there is no particular reason one would want to. Pirates have been known to land to recover ice for cracking into hydrogen and oxygen. One area in the southern hemisphere, to so-called "Anedian Scrapes," is so frequently used for this purpose that higher-albedo raw ice can be easily seen from orbit. Orbital Distance: 1.14 AU Orbital Period: 1.4 Earth Years Radius: 2,949km Day Length: 38.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -41 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.19G A planet that is quite rich in resources, with many peaks, there is no Element Zero on it. - Planet: Boro Boro is a young volus colony world, settled in defiance of a threat by Terminus pirate groups. The pirates, who can't use the world themselves, have "suggested" that the volus "hire" them to protect the colony. The volus responded by requesting military protection from their turian allies. Although uncomfortably hot by volus standards, Boro has the rare combination of high pressure and ammonia ecology volus require. Development of the colony is proceeding rapidly. Colony Founded: 2180 Population: 1,617 Capital: Yila Orbital Distance: 2.1 AU Orbital Period: 3.4 Earth Years Radius: 10,573km Day Length: 31.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.6 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -57 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.66G This planet is quite useful, it is a rich planet, as well as holding deposits of Element Zero on it. - Planet: Nataisa An unremarkable methane-ammonia gas giant, Natasia would be of no consequence if it weren't the only approachable gas giant in the Satent system. Boro's volus colony has set up a few automated ice cracking stations around the planet and Narhu Combine has been contracted to set up a helium-3 extraction facility. Construction has lagged due to the CEO's arrest in a kickback scandal that reaches the highest levels of the Vol Ministry of the Frontier. Orbital Distance: 4.1 AU Orbital Period: 8.3 Earth Years Radius: 23,623km Day Length: 8.9 Earth Hours This is a moderate planet in resources, with several small peaks, few large peaks, and no element zero. - Planet: Raisaris An airless rock of mixed light ores, Raisaris is only of note for the Teryinu impact crater. A relatively recent asteroid strike (within the last million years), the core of the planet was partly composed of element zero. It was struck at a low enough velocity that the eezo remained near the surface. Over the years, many pirates and "wildcat" miners have attempted to extract the ore. It is believed that the Teryinu debris orginated in the pulsar system AAP34211+19. The supernova that formed the pulsar also created the red emission nebula that human spacers have unoffically named the Sakura Nebula. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 3,790km Day Length: 66.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 56 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.24G This is a rich planet in resources, and like the codex suggests, there is indeed element zero on it. - Planet: Rescel Rescel is a massive "hot Jupiter" gas giant that whips around the star Satent once every four and half days. Like most planets of its type, it migrated inwards from its initial position in the system (thought to be around 0.3 AU) Rescel is one of the few close-orbiting gas giants to show a marked temperature difference in its sun-facing and darkside hemispheres. The atmosphere absorbs and re-radiates Satent's heat too quickly for wings to carry the heat to the dark side. There is a temperature difference of over 1,000 degrees between the gas giant's "hot" and "cold" poles. Orbital Distance: 0.02 AU Orbital Period: 4.56 Earth Days Radius: 69,155km Day Length: 4.56 Earth Days This planet is basically in the sun given the viewpoint in the game. It has a moderate amount of resources, with no element zero on it. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.16] Minos Wasteland This is another system that is only unlocked when you purchase the star chart from Baria Frontiers. Caestus - Planet: Invictus Home to dextro-amino-acid-based life, Invictus' temperate zones were settled by a turian population that initially fell prey to a bewildering number of diseases. Two decades after its first colony was founded, its population had reduced by half due to fatalities and a large colonist exodus. But when the Primarchs considered ceding the planet to robo-mining interests, the turian statesman Shastina Emperus ambitiously declared that she would start her own colony and double its population within five years. This effort succeeded, largely due to the colonies' location in deserts with a minimal number of pest species. The image of Shantina's triumph in the frontier made for good political theater, and the turian population poured in. The planet's tropical belt still remains largely unexplored, as its aggressive organic life still wreaks havoc on turian biology. A "house in an Invictus jungle" is a modern turian phrase for an idea that seems like a good idea, but only to the one who came up with it. Invictus' atmosphere is primarily nitrogen and oxygen, and its surface crust varies but has high concentrations of alumina and silver. Because it can support life easily, criminals from throughout the Terminus systems hide out on Invictus. Its offical population is estimated to be half the number of sapients that are actually on the planet. Colony Founded: 1939 CE Population: 320,535,000 (est, 640,000,000 with illegals) Capital: Shastinasio Orbital Distance: 1.3 AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 7,260km Day Length: 31.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.15 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 30 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.5G This is a rich planet, and it contains some Element Zero for you as well. - Planet: Temerarus Visible in Invictus' night sky is Temerarus, a planet named for the turian spirit said to have inspired the crew on their first manned moon launch. A boiling hot rock planet, Temerarus is much hotter than its temperate neighbour due to a thick atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide and helium. Its hot surface is largely composed of boron. Surrounded by a thick dust cloud, Temerarus is often struck by small meteors, making exploration dangerous. Orbital Distance: 3.4 AU Orbital Period: 6.3 Earth Years Radius: 3,321km Day Length: 66.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 15.86 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 131 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.2G This planet is rich in resources, especially Iridium, but it doesn't have Element Zero on it. Fortis - Mass Relay - Planet: Aequitas Home to the famous Iron Canyons, Aequitas has reddish iron oxide (hematite) covering much of its surface, and significant blue cobalt deposits that freckle the terrain. Turian explorers have discovered hot springs in the polar ice caps, heated by magma in the planet's crust. In a strange combination of science and hucksterism, a small facility exports water from these springs, which is bottled and sold as having medicinal properties. The funds are then used to maintain a research station, which is discovered some fossil evidence that Aequitas once harboured microscopic life based on deoxyribonucleic acids in the springs. Orbital Distance: 4.0 AU Orbital Period: 8.0 Earth Years Radius: 7,437km Day Length: 51.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.49 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -85 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.6G This is a rich planet, with no signs of element zero, and is the site of an anomaly which starts N7: Abandoned Mine. - Planet: Pietas Though Pietas has a combination of features that make terraforming a possibility, the rights to the planet have been tied up in Citadel Council reports for the past eight years. The running joke is that by the time the Council finally gives the go-ahead to colonize the planet, Pietas will have evolved life of its own. Home to comfortable temperatures and a mild atmosphere of mostly nitrogen and argon, Pietas could be habitable with the addition of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria. Its crust is high in silicates and carbon, allowing for easy fabrication of construction materials. Smugglers, pirates, and other unregistered starships sometimes touch down on Pietas to lay low or make repairs. Civilian travel is not advised. Orbital Distance: 1.8 AU Orbital Period: 0.4 Earth Years Radius: 5,430km Day Length: 26.5 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.26 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 21 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G This planet is rich in resources, but sadly, Element Zero is not one of them. - Planet: Vir A pressure-cooker planet with a thick, nitrogen-heavy atmosphere, Vir is largely ignored by the galactic community. Probes have revealed a crust of nickel and scorched carbon, both of which can be found in abundance elsewhere, at far lesser temperatures. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 8,162km Day Length: 44.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 106.22 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 778 Celsius Surface Gravity: 2.1G This planet will have a good amount of resources, and element zero is not one of them. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.17] Caleston Rift Unlocked after completing the Horizon Mission. Aysur - Planet: Agnin A hothouse planet, Agnin's scorching clouds of methane and sulfur dioxide give the planet a pale green colour in visible light. The SO2 from volcanic activity rains down as sulfuric acid in the upper atmosphere, but that is boiled away before the liquid ever reaches the surface. Agnin's harsh environment has prevented exploration by anything except probes. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 4,834km Day Length: 61.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 86.87 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 684 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.5G Another planet that is rich in resources, but again, lacking Element Zero on it. - Planet: Alformus A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Alformus had its helium-3 refueling stations destroyed in an attack by Grow Zero, an anti-population terrorist group that wanted no more immigration to Arvuna. A consortium of Arvuna-based corporations are currently rebuilding the stations. ALLIANCE ADVISORY: Alformus is not considered vital to the stability of the Aysur system. Civilians working on the helium-3 platforms should not expect Alliance military intervention in case of kidnapping or other violence. Orbital Distance: 10.1 AU Orbital Period: 32.2 Earth Years Radius: 67,626km Day Length: 8.8 Earth Hours A moderate planet in resources, this is not remarkable as it has no element zero to speak of. - Planet: Dranen A sizable hydrogen-nitrogen gas giant just on the far side of its pale yellow star's "frost line," Dranen is known for its spectcular storms. At least three persistant observable "spots" -- actually cyclonic and anticyclonic storms -- have lasted for over 544 years, significantly longer than Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The largest of these spots, the Ishna, has consistantly helf a diameter over three times that of Earth. Dranen has 44 moons. Two of them are of special interest to the Citadel Committee on Habitable Worlds. The first, Arvuna, is a life-bearing world that has already been colonized. The second, Alahya, is slowly being terraformed into an ammonia-based world for volus populations. Orbital Distance: 2.5 AU Orbital Period: 4.0 Earth Years Radius: 72,021km Day Length: 17.1 Earth Hours This is another boring planet, moderate resources without any element zero to speak of. - Planet: Shasu Shasu is a dwarf planet that is believed to have been ejected from Agnin during a giant impact with another planet-sized body. At the time, Agnin had a magma ocean covering much of its surface, where it coalesced and cooled over millions of years. The theory is that during this cooling, Shasu first orbited Agnin but was eventually pulled from that orbit by the gravity wells of other planets, primarily Dranen. Today, Shasu is relatively temperate, with a light hydrogen-helium atmosphere, attracting spacers who use its atmosphere to refuel. Its crust composition is similar to Agnin, evident in its high sulfur content. Orbital Distance: 1.4 AU Orbital Period: 1.7 Earth Years Radius: 1,454km Day Length: 37.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.34 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 23 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G Another rich planet, and another disappointment with no element zero to speak of. - Planet: Shir A remote rock planet capped in ice, Shir has been exploited by Arvanan corporations for its minerals. Home to gold veins, which are used in spaceship shielding as well as jewelry, and copper deposits, used in high-tensile alloys, Shir shows no signs of being exhausted any time soon. A light gravity help keeps the planetary exportation process cheap. Orbital Distance: 20.0 AU Orbital Period: 89.7 Earth Years Radius: 4,900km Day Length: 31.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -185 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G Well, another rich planet, and yet, another rich planet without any element zero in it. - Planet: Tamgauta The outermost planet of the Aysur system, Tamgauta is remote and largely unexplored. Its carbon dioxide atmosphere has long since frozen into fields of dry ice. Orbital Distance: 42.2 AU Orbital Period: 275.1 Earth Years Radius: 3,354km Day Length: 64.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -216 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.2G This planet has a good amount of resouces, but like most planets, it lacks Element Zero on it. Balor - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Bres A member of the Fomor Belt, Bres is a dwarf planet with no atmosphere. It is, however, rich in lithium, which is integral to the heat sinks of starships and hand-held weapons. A large robo-mining operation from Caleston can be found here. Orbital Distance: 2.9 AU Orbital Period: 4.9 Earth Years Radius: 975km Day Length: 23.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: None Surface Temperature: -146 Celsius Another planet rich in resources and lacks any Element zero on it. - Planet: Caleston The hostile moon Caleston is the largest satellite of the gas gaint Cernunnos. An ancient asteroid strike deposited major lodes of element zero within the molten sulfur mantle. Eldfell-Ashland Energy's mining operations have made it the largest source of starship drive core material in the Attican Traverse. Caleston is wracked with volcanism due to tidal stresses from Cernunnos. Because of weak solar output, plant-like life on Caleston is not carbon-based and photosynthetic but silicon-based and thermosynethic, requiring heat rather than sunlight to power its chemical reactions. These organisms flourish in volcanic vents and during solar flares, when Balor can double or triple in luminosity. Sadly, sapient habitation is not possible here, and Caleston's biodiversity is considered "threatened" by the Citadel Council on Habitable Worlds. Colony Founded: 1975 CE Population: 1,802,705,000 Capital: Syneu Orbital Distance: 0.07 AU (orbits Cernunnos) Orbital Period: 21.5 Earth Hours (around Cernunnos) Radius: 6,600km Day Length: 21.5 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.9 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 30 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.2G This is a rich planet, and it does have the element zero that the codex was talking about. - Planet: Cernunnos Cernunnos is a sizable gas giant with a hydrogen-nitrogen atmosphere. It is believed to be an extrasolar capture due to its close stellar location. In a rare phenomenon, it is near enough to its red dwarf star to be within the life zone, though its massive size prevents the tidal lock that usually occurs at such a range. While nothing could survive on the surface of a planet with such crushing gravity, Cernunnos' moon Caleston is habitable. Cernunnos is skimmed for its abundant hydrogen, and refineries on Caleston process it into a metastable metallic form for use as starship fuel. Orbital Distance: 0.07 AU Orbital Period: 31 Earth Days Radius: 49,231km Day Length: 17.0 Earth Hours A planet with moderate resources and no element zero, this planet is relatively unremarkable. - Planet: Elatha A tiny rock planet, Elatha is noted for its frigid temperatures and crushing nitrogen and krypton atmosphere. Lying out beyond the Fomor Belt, there is little to recommend it. Orbital Distance: 5.5 AU Orbital Period: 23.6 Earth Years Radius: 1,812km Day Length: 57.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 43.34 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -72 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G A stereotypical rich resource planet with no element zero on it. - Planet: Partholon A large planet composed of ice surrounding a rocky core, Partholon retains trace gases of nitrogen and carbon monoxide. Its crushing gravity makes for an inhospitable stay and makes most mining infeasible. However, its orbit's proximity to the mass relay in the system means space travelers will, for the next few years, use it for a gravitational slingshot to add speed on their way to and from Caleston. Orbital Distance: 11.2 AU Orbital Period: 68.6 Earth Years Radius: 11,921km Day Length: 28.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -236 Celsius Surface Gravity: 6.6G This is yet another rich planet in resources without an element zero deposit. Solveig - Planet: Sinmara Surtur's moon Sinmara has been used for many generations to monitor its parent star Solveig. It has no atmosphere to interfere with solar observational equipment, which is critical at this juncture; the star recently showed signs of erupting prematurely into a red giant. In preparation for the day when the critical warning goes out, the extranet channel from Sinmara's research station is given top priority throughout the comms buoys in the system. The chances of such a signal being receieved over the sun's magnetic interference at that time is low, but relegating it to a lower channel proved politically unreliable. Colony Founded: 2044 CE Population: 135 Largest Habitat: Trundholm There is an anomaly on this planet, starting N7: Endangered Research Station. There is also a good amount of resources, but no element zero. - Planet: Surtur Surtur is a small but dense desert planet close to its parent star. All but traces of its ntrogen-carbon monoxide atmosphere have burned away, leaving it cooler than similar planets in other systems. Robo-mining has proved lucrative, as it has developed significant deposits of beryllium and palladium. Orbital Distance: 0.7 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 4,433km Day Length: 65.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 126 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.8G This is a rich planet in resources, but again, no Element Zero. - Planet: Thrivaldi The hydrogen-helium gas giant Thrivaldi's refueling stations provide helium-3 for commercial spacecraft visiting the system. It has nine known moons and many stellar bodies in its rings. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Recent attacks by pirates have targeted Thrivaldi's refueling stations. Authorities list the perpetrators as "at large." Travel is not recommended. Orbital Distance: 1.5 AU Orbital Period: 1.8 Earth Years Radius: 35,957km Day Length: 11.0 Earth Hours A poor planet in resource and no element zero, this planet is useless. Talava - Planet: Aitarus A large rock planet orbiting an F-class star, Aitarus is pummeled by radiation, heavy gravity, and tectonic activity. Its crust is mostly silicates and of little value. Travel is not advised. Orbital Distance: 0.5 AU Orbital Period: 0.3 Earth Years Radius: 8,945km Day Length: 65.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 549 Celsius Surface Gravity: 2.8G There is a moderate amount of resources here, but no element zero is included. - Planet: Kaushus Home to the spectcular Infinitry Caldera, Kaushus is a young planet with extreme tectonic and volcanic activity. With nine supervolcanoes that can throw out at least 1,000 cubic kilometres of dense rock equivalents each, Kaushus's activity has put its atmosphere in a state of shroud. It is likely to suffer from global dimming for at least the next ten years. Though much of the surface is no more dangerous than many other inner-ring planets, this extreme tectonic activity has given Kaushus a bad reputation and discouraged all resource exploitation. Orbital Distance: 1.2 AU Orbital Period: 1.0 Earth Years Radius: 6,212km Day Length: 42.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 249 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G There is a good amount of resources on the planet, yet again, there is no Element Zero on it. - Planet: Maitrum A small hot rock with few resources, Maitrum is used by the turian armed forces for its maximum security prison and interrogation centres. The temperatures are high enough to prevent any escape without an environmental suit, but low enough that construction of additional buildings will not be hindered. Over 500,000 prisoners are detained on Maitrum, only a handful of which have ever managed even a temporary escape. A small supply economy and prefab-habitats support the prison staff, who usually work only for two- year tours of duty before they are rotated out to less stressful positions. Orbital Distance: 2.8 AU Orbital Period: 3.6 Earth Years Radius: 4,642km Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 74 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.4G A planet with a rich amount of resources, there is a good deal here but there is no element zero. - Planet: Taitus A desert of whitish potassium salts and reddish iron oxides, Taitus is far enough away from its parent star to have a tolerable surface temperature. Though it has only a trace atmosphere of carbon dioxide and oxygen, it is still hospitable enough for criminals in the Terminus Systems to use as a staging base. Turian patrols sometimes fly through the area, looking to pre-empt jailbreak attempts on Maitrum's prisons. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Unregistered ships have been spotted in the vicinity of Taitus. Civilian travel is not advised. Orbital Distance: 4.0 AU Orbital Period: 6.1 Earth Years Radius: 6,045km Day Length: 22.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -1 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.9G This has an anomaly on it, leading to the mission of N7: Mining the Canyon. This also has a rich amount of resources, without any signs of Element Zero on it. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.18] Hades Nexus This system is unlocked after you purchase the star chart for this system from Baria Frontiers. Hekate - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Bothros A rock and ice planet, Bothros is home to a scientific curiosity. Evidence of a primate-like spacefaring civilization was found frozen in its equatorial ice, ranging from melted fragments of metal to preserved remains of the creatures still wearing suits for extra-vehicular activity. Further exploration revealed that their habitation centres were vapourized by orbital bombardments from railgun-like weapons hitting with a force of approximately 120 kilotons of TNT. Only those that fled or happened to be away from the habitats were preserved in the ice, where they died of asphyxiation. This unknown species did not come from Asteria, but scientific teams are still looking for evidence that they visited there. It is difficult to believe they would colonize a frozen rock like Bothros and ignore a lush garden world. Their world of origin is also a mystery. ALLIANCE BULLETIN: Geth have been encountered in the Hekate system. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Orbital Distance: 8.5 AU Orbital Period: 24.8 Earth Years Radius: 7,191km Day Length: 51.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -142 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.5G A rich planet in resources lacking Element Zero on it. - Planet: Ker A dry, desolate planet, Ker is temperate but supports little life above the microscopic level. Its Earth-like temperatures and gravity make it an appealing place to build habitation hideaways, attracting batarian slavers and criminals who can't afford more luxurious safehouses on other planets. Its forgiving nitrogen-helium atmosphere makes EVAs possible with a minimal amount of equipment; a breathing mask and warm clothing is usually sufficient. Mining and other legitmate activities are far and few between on Ker: the planet's crust is largely free of precious metals, instead producing kilometres upon kilometres of dolomitic limestone, calcite, and gypsum. ALLIANCE BULLETIN: Geth have been encountered in the Hekate system. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Orbital Distance: 2.2 AU Orbital Period: 3.3 Earth Years Radius: 6,420km Day Length: 61.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.2 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -4 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.1G This planet is actually rich in resources, but it does lack the rare Element Zero deposit. - Planet: Triodia A modestly-sized gas giant with an icy core, Triodia's hydrogen and methane atmosphere gives it a bluish colour. It has fourteen moons, named after asari virtues. ALLIANCE BULLETIN: Geth have been encountered in the Hekate system. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Orbital Distance: 4.8 AU Orbital Period: 10.5 Earth Years Radius: 27,206km Day Length: 18.7 Earth Hours A planet that has a moderate amount of resources, there is no element zero here. Pamyat - Planet: Dobrovolski Another near-Earth sized rock planet without much atmosphere to speak of, Dobrovolski is home to Altai Mineral Works, a local extraction company noted for its success in eezo refining. The planet itself provides aluminium for local fabricators, which are churning out habitats at an astonishing rate for a system that has no garden planets. With its ore supply coming all the way from the Sheol system, Dobrovolski is held up as the proof of the miner's cliche: "Where there's eezo, there's an economy." Orbital Distance: 2.3 AU Orbital Period: 3.5 Earth Years Radius: 6,972km Day Length: 59.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.21 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -46 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.9G This is a planet that stands by the codex, it is a rich planet in resources and there is plenty of Element Zero to go around. - Planet: Komarov First charted by the asari but colonized by humans, the Pamyat system is home to Komarov, an Earth-sized body near the star. It has little atmosphere to speak of, but this has not stopped exploration by robo- miners, who have recovered iridium from the planet's crust. Orbital Distance: 1.0 AU Orbital Period: 1.0 Earth Years Radius: 6,861km Day Length: 39.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 55 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.3G Another rich planet, but no element zero. This is right in front of the sun, another tricky planet. - Planet: Patsayev A rock planet encased in frozen oceans, Patsayev is notable for the largest written message ever created by a human being. Andrei Kobzar, a disgrunted miner whose fortunes were spent prospecting for eezo, used the mass accelerator cqannon of a local mercenary group's A-61 Mantis gunship to carve a 208-kilometre long message in the ice saying "Zdes' nichego net," Russian for "There's nothing here." The message can easily be seen from space. Ironically, the message itself, intended to discourage future colonists, now draws small tourist crowds. Orbital Distance: 4.2 AU Orbital Period: 8.6 Earth Years Radius: 6,351km Day Length: 18.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -118 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.0G A rich planet, that is certain, but like the prospector found out, there is no Element Zero on this planet. - Planet: Volkov A dwarf planet, Volkov has a thick atmosphere of nitrogen and krypton. Home to a thriving mining community, Volkov's reputation is summed up as "rich but dangerous." Pirates often lurk behind Volkov's two moonlets, Zeneviena and Alena, and cripple freighters leaving the atmosphere. To make matters worse, Volkov sits in the Chazov Belt, a field of asteroids and other small bodies, which leads to frequent meteor strikes on the planet. Meteor-related casualties remain rare, but on Volkov, the chances of such a death are high enough that they are factored into insurance premiums. Population: 3,800 Orbital Distance: 8.5 AU Orbital Period: 24.8 Earth Years Radius: 1,705km Day Length: 68.2 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 3.75 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -59 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This is a rich planet, but no element zero. This is actually not that easy to find, it is in the asteroid belt, to the bottom left of the sun. Sheol - Planet: Gei Hinnom A nearly atmosphere-less, tidally-locked planet orbiting a red dwarf star, Gei Hinnom was the first place human explorers discovered a dedicated Prothean burial ground. While a few sites were saved for posterity, Eldfell-Ashland Mining successfully lobbied to scout the rest of the planet for element zero, and soon was embroiled in a scandal. Mining teams were looting grave sites, searching for eezo and other treasures, and many got rich off the so-called "cemetery business." While EAM offically brought a stop to the looting, its mining teams remain on the planet, prospecting the unclaimed territory and taking their ore to the Pamyat system for refining. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Armed conflicts have broken out between miners and scientists staking claims to Prothean ruins. Visitors are advised to employ security while exploring unknown regions of the planet. Population: 11,503 Orbital Distance: 0.83 AU Orbital Period: 0.8 Earth Years Radius: 2,379km Day Length: 0.8 Earth Years Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: 35 Celsius (habitable zone) 108 Celsius/-120 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This is a rich planet, and it will contain a fair amount of Element Zero for you. It will also be home to the N7: Quarian Crash Site, which will be triggered once you find the anomaly. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.19] Far Rim This system is unlocked after the completion of Horizon, where you can recruit Tali. Dholen - Mass Relay - Planet: Charoum Once a starship refueling station for the quarians. Charoum has expanded under geth rule. Thousands of orbital platforms surround the plant and its many moons, refining helium into helium-3. A vast geth fleet comes and goes between Charoum and Harstrom, preventing all but the most stealthy of spy drones from discovering any information about it. Current estimates place the geth fleet numbers between 5,000 and 10,000 ships, with unknown levels of armament. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Most intelligence estimates state that approaching Charoum is tantamount to suicide. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Population: 250,000 - 500,000 platforms Colony Occupied: 1895CE Largest Station: "Hell's Hive" (Dina Station) Orbital Distance: 2.9 AU Orbital Period: 4.9 Earth Years Radius: 54,532km Day Length: 11.3 Earth Years This planet is moderate in resources, and there is no element zero. - Planet: Gotha A dwarf planet, Gotha has a pressure-cooker atmosphere that brings it surface temperature to a scorching level. Carbon dioxide and ethane are plentiful in the planet's hazy atmosphere. There has been some speculation in the mining community about whether all of the precious metals were mined by the quarians before they fled the system some three centuries ago. Rumours abound that anyone who could brave the geth in the system could find lodes of naturally-occuring diamond on Gotha, but this is likely just a starship legend. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Gotha is in geth space. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Orbital Distance: 1.5 AU Orbital Period: 1.8 Earth Years Radius: 1,056km Day Length: 66.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 99.647 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 590 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This is a rich planet in resources, and there is element zero on it, and don't worry, the geth won't come aknockin. - Planet: Haestrom Forming a quarian colony, Haestrom was established to observe the pheonmena on Dholen, the system's parent star. Dholen appeared to be unstable with a high possibility of erupting prematurely into a red giant. Haestrom was lost of the geth in 1896 CE. Soon after, all communication from the planet and its attendant space stations ceased. The geth have shown no signs of treating Dholen as a threat over the past three centuries other than establishing several space stations near it. Dholen's magnetic eruptions and solar output overwhelm most communications near it, and it is unclear how the geth have compensated. Today, spy probe scans indicate extensive orbital construction around Haestrom, housing thousands of geth platforms and unknown number of geth software "minds." It is not known how many geth are on the planet's surface: spy probes face interference from Dholen, making remote scanning difficult. Resource estimations based on geth mining, refining, and fabricating practices suggest that the planet has at least 20 more years of use before it is exhausted. Intelligence experts speculate that the geth have not exploited all of their resources because they wish to keep some in reserve for repairs. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Haestrom is a geth stronghold. Military spy drones using cutting-edge stealth technology are the only vehicles that have returned unharmed from geth space. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Orbital Distance: 6.3 AU Orbital Period: 15.8 Earth Years Radius: 6,721km Day Length: 18.5 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 44 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.2G Ma-at - Planet: Ammut Ammut is an enormous hydrogen-helium giant with a mass approximately nine times that of Jupiter and nearly 2,900 times that of Earth. Despite massive pressure, its core has failed to ignite in a fusion reaction, qualifying it as a failed star. It is believed to have captured all other planet-sized bodies in the solar system as moons or in impact events, leading to its name, "Devourer". Not intimated by this phenomenon, the geth have colonized many of Ammut's moons and skim the hydrogen from Ammut's upper atmosphere. TRAVEL ADVISORY: Ammut is in geth space. All civilian traffic is prohibited. Orbital Distance: 102.1 AU Orbital Period: 1036.0 Earth Years Radius: 92,430km Day Length: 12.2 Earth Hours This planet is moderate in resources, and it doesn't have element zero. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.20] Nubian Expanse This system is unlocked after Jack has you help her on her loyalty mission. Dakka - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Alkonost Alkonost is a standard ice giant with a methane-ammonia atmosphere. It has an unusually strong magnetic field, which is occasionally useful when ships need to discharge their drives. Orbital Distance: 2.47 AU Orbital Period: 3.8 Earth Years Radius: 17,946km Day Length: 18.8 Earth Hours This is a moderate planet in resources, which doesn't make it useful, and no Element Zero doesn't make it anymore so. - Planet: Bannik Bannik is a large supreterresterial "hothouse" with a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere. A high average density of over seven grams per cubic centimetre indicates that Bannik is a mineralogical treasure trove. If only there were some way to safely reach its seas of molten metal and lodes of radioactives. The planet's mass is so great that trace amounts of helium and molecular hydrogen can be found in the atmosphere. Orbital Distance: 0.73 AU Orbital Period: 0.6 Earth Years Radius: 7,963km Day Length: 54.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 65.4 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 599 Celsius Surface Gravity: 1.6G This planet is a rich planet, but there is no element zero on it. - Planet: Gamayun Gamayun is a hydrogen-helium gas giant with six, large icy moons. The outermost one, Gigula, is of note for a well-preserved wreckage of an ancient starship that was recovered by a turian military surveyor. Little information has been released to the public on the vessel, aside from a scholarly paper regarding how the internal layout suggests a horizontally- oriented race. Orbital Distance: 5.19 AU Orbital Period: 11.8 Earth Years Radius: 50,875km Day Length: 65.6 Earth Hours This is a poor planet, armed with no element zero. - Planet: Pragia The jungle-planet Pragia is overrun by cloaking hypergrowth caused by industrially-mutated plant species. This, combined with its relative isolation and lack of population, has made Pragia an occasional base of operation for drug-runners, weapons-smugglers, pirates, mercenaries, terrorists, and intelligence agents seeking secrecy. Sustained habitation on Pragia is extremely difficult, where mutant and even poisonous plant-life can overgrow colonies in days instead of years. Orbital Distance: 1.3 AU Orbital Period: 1.5 Earth Years Radius: 5,137km Day Length: 29.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.84 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 54 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.87G - Planet: Zirnita Cold, distant Zirnita has an extremely low density, and is thought to be mainly water ice around a small rocky core. It has little to recommend it. Orbital Distance: 7.78 AU Orbital Period: 21.8 Earth Years Radius: 2,683km Day Length: 44.9 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -158 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.16G This is a rich planet in resources, but there isn't any element zero on it. Kalabsha - Planet: Tefnut A hydrogen-helium gas giant, Tefnut is home to a helium-3 collection and the nearest refueling facility to the Nubian's Expanse's mass relay. As such, it is a major gateway to the Verge and Terminus Systems, and has become famous for its hospitality industry. Tefnut's motto is known throughout the galaxy: "Like home, only better." Visitors here can stay at expansive resort stations, watch locally- produced entertainment, buy mind-affecting substances not welcome in Citadel space, and rent companionship. Resources are shipped in from Yamm at substantial discounts, allowing the small space stations to have surprising luxuries such as edible anthropods and large amounts of fresh water. Population: 33,810 spread across five space stations Orbital Distance: 4.1 AU Orbital Period: 8.3 Earth Years Radius: 57,010km Day Length: 8.8 Earth Hours This is a poor planet in resources, which makes it more or less useless, and there is no element zero to make up for it. - Planet: Yamm With over 90% of its surface covered in oceans, Yamm is a habitable nitrogen-oxygen world but its extremes can be quite hostile to sapient life. The heat from its extremely long days reaches dangerous levels, ranging from 24 Celsius at night to 53 in the afternoon in the temperate zones. Hurricanes run unchecked across the oceans, with winds reaching up to 250 km per hour. While there are some anthropod-like animals, the predominant forms of life are various kinds of toxic algae blooms that stretch hundred of kilometres across. However, other biohydrocarbon algae blooms are suitable for use as biofuel, and farming the "green gold" forms the backbone of Yamm's economy. Colony Founded: 2170 CE Population: 488,504 Capital: New Karnak Orbital Distance: 2.0 AU Orbital Period: 2.8 Earth Years Radius: 6,501km Day Length: 69.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.8 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 34 Celsius (temperate zone) Surface Gravity: 1.1G A moderate planet in resources, it contains Element Zero on it. Qertessi - Planet: Norehsa Noresha is an unremarkable methane-ammonia ice giant with a small family of icy moons. It is likely that the Qertessi system has additional worlds earlier in its history, but these have been swallowed by the aging giant star. Qertessi is an elderly, metal-poor Population II star, broadly similar to Arcturus. Orbital Distance: 6.17 AU Orbital Period: 2.4 Earth Years Radius: 42,214km Day Length: 19.2 Earth Hours This is a moderate planet in resources, and there is no element zero on it. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.21] Vallhallan Threshold This system is unlocked when you get Tali's request for help on her loyalty mission. Micah - Planet: Dumah Home to 51 moons, including the prebiotic moon Anafiel, Dumah is a standard hydrogen-helium gas giant with violent surface winds exceeding 1,900 kph. Like its sister planet Elohi, it is believed to be an extrasolar capture. Orbital Distance: 1.6 AU Orbital Period: 2.0 Earth Years Radius: 59,152km Day Length: 10.0 Earth Hours Like it's sister planet, this planet is moderate in resources and does not contain any Element Zero. - Planet: Elohi A small hydrogen-helium gas giant formed around a metallic hydrogen core, Elohi will be the site of a rare astronomical event later this year. The comet Asaro will come in on its orbit of 70 galactic standard years and travel so close that it is predicted to be captured as a moon. Dozen of space probes from around the galaxy have been launched into the Raheel system to record this moment. Elohi is within the "frost line" of its parent star, where gas giants do no usually form. For this reason, it is believed to be an extrasolar capture. TRAVEL ADVISORY: A statistically significant number of distress signals have come from the one-million kilometre mark around Elohi. Pirates are believed to be working the area. In-person tourism is not advised. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.5 Earth Years Radius: 38,119km Day Length: 11.8 Earth Hours This planet is moderate in resources, but the bad news is that there isn't any Element Zero on it, unlike the other asteroids. - Planet: Farlas One of a trio of asteroids formed around an element zero core, Farlas is the eassiest to mine for low-yield eezo. A carbonaceous asteroid, Farlas has a trace of water-bearing minerals and organic carbon in the form of kerogen. Currently, the asteroid is surrounded by quarian mining ships extracting fuel for the flotilla. Orbital Distance: 4.1 AU Orbital Period: 8.3 Earth Years Radius: 540km Day Length: 24.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -116 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This planet is located in the inner most asteroid belt, and there is a rich planet here, along with element zero. - Planet: Israfil Largest of the "eezo trio," Israfil is a silicate-heavy carbonaceous asteroid. It is home to approximately 40 species of microorganisms in its liquid water, and was blamed as the source of the prion-based biowarfare agent EHE (exotic humonoid encephalopathy) used by the terrorist group Totenkopf in their attack on Gagarin Station in 2184. While many in the scientific community protested that Israfil did not have sufficient atmosphere or evolutionary history to sustain life at the prion level, the asteroid and it eezo miners were nevertheless quarantined to reassure the public that the Systems Alliance was taking action. Though no evidence has yet been found that EHE originated from Israfil or was even synthesized in a local lab, The SSV Manila and a team of epidemiologists maintain watch over the asteroid's ship traffic for now. Population: 1,006 Orbital Distance: 4.3 AU Orbital Period: 8.9 Earth Years Radius: 905km Day Length: 68.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: Trace Surface Temperature: -100 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.3G This is a rich planet in resources, and it does in fact contain Element Zero on it. This is in the inner most asteroid belt. - Planet: Kakabel The second asteroid in the system formed around an element zero core, Kakabel is another carbonaceous asteroid, with a surface made of hydrated minerials such as carbonates and clays. Beneath its icy surface is liquid water, with some amino acids. The surface of Kakabel is pitted and scarred with strip-mining stations, where the quarians took as much eezo as possible before moving on. Orbital Distance: 4.2 AU Orbital Period: 8.6 Earth Years Radius: 470km Day Length: 68.3 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.0 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -118 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.1G This is another rich planet with resources, as well as element zero, located in the inner most asteroid belt. Paz - Planet: Garvug In 354 CE, Garvug was considered a "bargain world," given to the krogan to placate them because no one else wanted to live on such a frozen rock. Technically, a life-bearing world, Garvug has a small farm belt around its equator and well-insulated marine life in its seas. By the turn of the century, the krogan had completely adapted, breeding hundreds of younglings per family in vast underground bunkers. By the turn of the next century, Garvug's narrow strips of coral reef had been destroyed by overfishing and pollutants, and excess krogan took to the stars to find another planet to consume. Garvug was treated as an object lesson by the Citadel Council -- the krogan could not be trusted to check their own numbers. Today, Garvug is a frozen wasteland, home to corporate ecoengineering efforts trying to implement sustainable agri- and aqua-culture practices. Krogan and vorcha packs are a constant threat, and the corporations pay mercenaries well to keep their operations safe. Orbital Distance: 4.0 AU Orbital Period: 6.1 Earth Years Radius: 6,200km Day Length: 27.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.3 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -30 Celsius (5 at the equator) Surface Gravity: 1.0G This planet is a planet that has a good amount of resources, including Element Zero. Raheel-Leyya - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - The Migrant Fleet A fleet of 50,000 craft holding over 17 million quarians, the Migrant Fleet is the largest array of spacefaring vessels in the known galaxy. Though quarians on Pilgrimage have visited most settled worlds in the galaxy, few outsides have ever stepped foot inside the quarians' ships. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.22] Hawking Eta This system is unlocked when you have a mission to get a Reaper IFF, and then, you will be able to go here, again. Century - Planet: Cantra A terrestrial world of average size, Cantra's atmosphere composed of nitrogen and argon. Its frozen surface is mainly composed of tin with deposits of calcium. Aside from some spectcular formations of water-ice at the poles, the planet has little to recommend it. Orbital Distance: 14.3 AU Orbital Period: 60.6 Earth Years Radius: 5,471km Day Length: 66.7 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.83 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -175 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.7G This planet is actually rich in resources, but doesn't contain eezo on it. - Planet: Klendagon Klendagon is an arid terrestrial, slightly larger than Earth, but with a lower density that reflects its relative back of heavier elements. The crust is comprised of tin and aluminium, with wide deserts of dust-fine sand that are easily stirred by the wind. Klendagon's most striking feature is the Great Rift valley that stretches across the southern hemisphere. What is most fascinating about the Rift is that it does not suggest that it is the result of a "glancing blow" by a mass accelerator round of unimaginable destructive power. This occured some 37 million years ago. Orbital Period: 2.3 Earth Years Radius: 7,377km Day Length: 53.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.64 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -53 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.88G This is yet again, another rich planet without element zero on it. - Planet: Tamahera Tamahera has a thin atmosphere of carbon dioxide and oxygen. The surface is icy, and composed of sodium oxide with deposits of calcium. It contains a few unremarkable metals, but mainly consists of rock. The presence of canyons and flood plains indicates that liquid water once existed, suggesting Tamahera had a thicker insulating atmosphere in the past. Orbital Period: 1.4 Earth Years Radius: 6,302km Day Length: 40.1 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.34 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -30 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.66G This is another rich planet in resources, but no element zero in it. - Planet: Tharopto Tharopto is a typical ice gas giant with traces of chlorine and sulfur in its atmosphere. It has over 100 moons and an extensive ring system composed of pulverized rock, presumably the debris from shattered moons. Orbital Distance: 29.4 AU Orbital Period: 128.2 Earth Years Radius: 68,714km Day Length: 17.5 Earth Hours This is a planet in moderate resources, but it does not have any element zero to go with it. Chandrasekhar - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Hebat Hebat is a methane-ammonia ice giant. When Heavy Metals ExoMining of China won the bidding rights to develop the moon of Presrop in the Century system, it began by establishing helium-3 refueling facility on Hebat. The station, completed this year, is considered a model facility by the executives of the state-run company. Though the station produces more than enough fuel to supply the HMEC ships running to and from Century, it has a crew of only a dozen for maintenance and oversight. Nearly all the day-to- day operations are automated. Orbital Distance: 1.35 AU Orbital Period: 2.9 Earth Years Radius: 36,257km Day Length: 17.1 Earth Hours This is the same as the other planet, it is moderate in resources as well as having no element zero on it. - Planet: Teshub The first and the larger of the two gas giants in the Hawking Eta gateway system, Teshub is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. The brown and orange colouration in its upper cloud deck are caused by the upwelling of sulfur from lower levels of the atmosphere. Orbital Distance: 0.8 AU Orbital Period: 1.6 Earth Years Radius: 63,568km Day Length: 16.6 Earth Hours This planet is moderate in resources, but there is no element zero here. Schwarzschild - Planet: Atahil A typical Venusian "greenhouse" world, Atahil is only of note for a few scattered craters. Though flattened by millions of years of high pressure, the marks of orbital bombardment strikes are unmistakable. It is generally accepted among academics that whoever hailed from or settled Schwarzschild's second planet, Etamis, must have had outposts on Atahil as well. Orbital Distance: 0.9 AU Orbital Period: 1 Earth Year Radius: 5,230km Day Length: 28.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 62 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 348 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.79G Another rich planet but without any source of element zero on it, so that isn't useful. - Planet: Etamis Etamis is a superterrestrial world a third larger than Earth. It is in a "post garden" state that clearly shows evidence of attack from space. While now waterless, the shores of former oceans show patterns of cratering too regular to be anything but saturation bombardment by dreadnought-class kinetic weapons. Although it is unclear how, most of the atmosphere has been lost. Archeologists have found little of note. It appears that all settled regions were touched by the global bombardment. The few relics found suggest an advanced spacefaring race thrived on the world somewhere between from 20 and 40 million years ago. The level of antiquity makes it impossible to estimate the world's former population, or guess whether it was the race's homeworld or colony. Orbital Distance: 1.35 AU Orbital Period: 1.6 Earth Years Radius: 9,577km Day Length: 51.6 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.2 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -49.6 Celsius Surface Gravity: 3.4G This planet is a good planet for resources, since it contains some element zero on it. - Planet: Linossa Linossa is a hydrogen-helium gas giant. It is surrounded by several thin rings of debris. Analysis of this debris has been difficult due to its extreme age and fragility, but several apparently nano-manufactured materials have been identified. The leading theory is that the inhabitants of Etamis mined the atmosphere for helium-3. Orbital Distance: 3.34 AU Orbital Period: 6.8 Earth Years Radius: 55,806km Day Length: 17.8 Earth Hours Another moderate planet in resources, again, there is no element zero. - Planet: Rihali Rihali is a typical hydrogen-helium gas giant. It is notable because none of its moon is larger than 12 kilometres in diameter, a rare trait among the charted gas giants of the galaxy. Orbital Distance: 6.34 AU Orbital Period: 17.9 Earth Years Radius: 70,778km Day Length: 15.4 Earth Hours This is another moderate planet in resources, but there isn't any element zero with it. Thorne - Derelict Reaper Orbiting Mnemosyne is a two-kilometre-long ship with the unmistakable profile of a Reaper. It is giving off power signatures in localized areas, but they are far weaker than a ship would indicate. The Reaper seems to maintain a mass effect field that has kept it from falling into the failed star, but massive holes have been blasted and melted into parts of the hull and remain unrepaired. The only logical conclusion is that the Reaper "died" or was at least reduced to minimal functioning a long time ago. - Planet: Lethe Lethe is the largest moon of Mnemosyne, massive enough to retain its own thin atmosphere of methane and nitrogen, and heated by the brown dwarf to relatively moderate temperatures. While nearly the size of Earth, its overall density is low, suggesting a paucity of valuable heavy metals. It is tidally locked to Mnemosyne, one hemisphere always bathed in the brown dwarf's heat and dim red light. The moon experiences constant weak tectonic activity, driven by the tidal fluxes of Mnemosyne's gravity rather than Lethe's own internal heat. Several large, ancient volcanoes release wide-ranging flows of molten silicate. Orbital Distance: 2,323,500 km (from Mnemosyne) Orbital Period: 16.4 Earth Days Radius: 5,663km Day Length: 16.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 0.58 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 31 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.59G Another rich planet in resources, there is no element zero on this planet. - Planet: Mnemosyne Mnemosyne is a brown dwarf of approximately 37 Jupiter-masses. It is young enough that some nuclear fusion still occurs within its depths. It is luminous, and radiates more heat that it receieves from the star Thorne, with an atmospheric temperature in excess of 1,800 degrees Kelvin (1,500 degrees Celsius). Early probes of Thorne showed evidence of a minor gravitic anomaly in the northern hemisphere. This area of unexpectedly low mass did not move with the prevailing wind patterns. While an investigation was planned by the Besaral Institute of Plantary Science, the school ultimately sent an expedition to study the famed "deep anomalies" of the gas giant Ploba instead. Orbital Distance: 0.81 AU Orbital Period: 0.8 Earth Years Radius: 72,541km Day Length: 18.7 Earth Hours A moderate planet in resources, this contains no element zero in it. Well, technically, it is a sun soon. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [8.23] The Phoenix Massing This system is unlocked when you help Legion on its Loyalty mission. Salahiel - Planet: Ekuna First discovered by the quarians at the turn of the century, Ekuna is habitable, but a second-tier choice for most species. Circling an orange sun, Ekuna averages below freezing temperatures. This led development firms to colonize at the planet's equator, where the climate is tolerable for agriculture. The quarians, seeking a homeworld of their own, petitioned the Citadel Council for the right to take over Ekuna, but they had already settled a few hundred thousand quarians on the planet before approaching the Council. Seeing this occupation as an illegal act, the Council turned a deaf ear to quarian pleas and gave the world to the elcor, who could withstand the high gravity of the world far better. The quarians squatting on the planet were given one galactic standard month to leave, at which point their colonies would be bombarded. The junk left behind by the fleeing quarians clog up portions of the landscape to this day. Non-elcor visitors to Ekuna are advised to use personal or vehicular mass effect fields to lighten the pressure, as the surface gravity will otherwise cause health and mechanical problems. Colony Founded: 2103 CE Population: 221,256,200 Capital: Bel Shadii (elcor: Durawunafon) Orbital Distance: 1.6 AU Orbital Period: 2.3 Earth Days Radius: 10,206km Day Length: 36.4 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 1.4 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: -37 Celsius (equator mean temperature 15 Celsius) Surface Gravity: 4.1G This is a rich planet, but again, no Element Zero. Tassrah - Fuel Depot - Mass Relay - Planet: Ishassara A gas giant, Ishassara is composed mostly of hydrogen and nitrogen. Its orbit in recent years has taken it close to the mass relay in this system, making it a popular stop for "scoop ships" to refuel the hydrogen in their thrusters before moving on. Orbital Distance: 3.8 AU Orbital Period: 5.7 Earth Days Radius: 22,769km Day Length: 14.0 Earth Hours This is a big planet, but it is poor in resources and no signs of Element Zero. - Planet: Pahhur By normal standards a large rock planet, Pahhur ("fiery") is constantly scorched by the white, bright giant it orbits. A dense atmosphere featuring hydrogen, helium, and clouds of vapourised magnesium float over its iron- rich core, making for a truly hellish landscape. Its spectcular temperature prevents any practical exploitation. Orbital Distance: 0.6 AU Orbital Period: 0.4 Earth Days Radius: 10,560km Day Length: 46.0 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 90.59 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 1445 Celsius Surface Gravity: 4.6G This is a stereotypical rich planet, with no element zero involved. - Planet: Sarapai Sarapai ("ever upward") is the second planet orbiting the white star Tassrah. Sarapai's pressure-cooker atmosphere of carbon dioxide and ethane serves as a greenhouse to an already boiling-hot surface. Cobalt compounds are frequent found on its crust, giving spectcular blue tinges to its land. Scans from orbital probes indicate its crust contains deposits of platinum, likely to be as unexploited as its sister planet Pahhur. Orbital Distance: 1.7 AU Orbital Period: 1.7 Earth Days Radius: 6,016km Day Length: 60.8 Earth Hours Atmospheric Pressure: 118.08 Earth Atmospheres Surface Temperature: 1271 Celsius Surface Gravity: 0.9G This planet is rich, but it doesn't contain Element Zero. The Sea of Storms - Heretic Station Once called Haratar by the quarians, this space station was stripped of its useful technology by the fleeing Migrant Fleet when they left the Perseus Veil 300 years ago. Little more than a cold metal superstructure floating in the void, the station was removed from star charts by 2050 CE. Scans indicate the station was reconstructed and upgraded in a massive effort that must have taken at least two years, implying that there may have been geth outside the Veil before their infamous attack on Eden Prime. Needing little but a fuel source, it could have been hidden here for much longer without attracting attention from the barren worlds around Tassrah or the clueless elcor in the Salahiel system. Heretic Station, as Legion refers to it, is home to a geth data core, capable of broadcasting vast distances through tightbeam projection. Approximately 6.6 million copies of geth software are stored in the station, the majority of which are kept bodiless in servers and downloaded to legged platforms when needed. The station's "population" of legged platforms is approximately 2.4 million. Total Length: 20.5km Total Width: 11.3km Total Height: 11.3km Exterior Armour Thickness: 8m Gross Weight: 1.55 billion metric tons Population: 6.6 million copies, 2.4 million platforms, 1 million of which are in storage. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [9.01] Biotic Powers The Biotic powers just a manipulation of the environment to defeat your opponents. These are useful on the field as support powers. Of these powers, note that the method has changed from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 2. Instead of the block of 12 points, there are blocks of 4 points, each block costing as much as the number block it is. So level 4 in Pull will cost 4 squad points whilst level 2 in Shockwave will cost 2 points. Also new is that there is a little difference when you get to Level 4. You will have to choose between two powers, the branch splits so to speak. With that, you need to choose one over the other. This makes squad control a little more interesting. Anyway, lets start with the powers. - Pull Pull is a move that will basically pull the target towards the caster of the Pull move, however, it will do so by suspending them in the air. This makes it useful in order to have the enemy defenceless, seeing they are in the air, which will give you and your allies time to defeat the enemies with ease. Pull will not do any damage to your foes, because basically it is a move that will set them up to take more damage. But they will move slowly, so you might want to compensate for that. This is only available to Vanguards and Adepts. Level 1 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration of Pull - 5 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration of Pull - 7 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration of Pull - 9 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Pull Heavy Pull basically makes the target stay in the air for longer, and 12 seconds is more than enough to finish all but boss units out of the way. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration of Pull - 12 Seconds Pull Field This move basically affect all the targets nearby, so anyone close to you will be effected. With this, they will ALL be suspended in the air, so you will have groups of enemy in the air. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration of Pull - 9 Seconds Area of Impact - 3 Metres - Shockwave This is a powerful move, this will basically move along the ground, sending a powerful shockwave to dish out damage to your foes. This is powerful as it is the biotic's main form of attack, besides weaponry. This can be used to soften or wipe out enemies. This will often launch groups of enemies into the air, which is very useful, as well as damaging airborne targets with a powerful shockwave. This sends out a series of shockwaves, not just one. Vanguards and Adepts have access to this power. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Number of Shockwaves - 8 Radius of Impact - 1.5 Metres Force of Impact - 300 Newtons Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Number of Shockwaves - 10 Radius of Impact - 2 Metres Force of Impact - 400 Newtons Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Number of Shockwaves - 12 Radius of Impact - 2.5 Metres Force of Impact - 500 Newtons Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Shockwave This basically strengthens the power of your shockwave, it will increase the force of which the shockwave will hit your enemies, meaning more damage. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Number of Shockwaves - 12 Radius of Impact - 2.5 Metres Force of Impact - 700 Newtons Improved Shockwave This will improve the area of impact, the radius of the shockwave, which means a group will be decimated a lot faster. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Number of Shockwaves - 12 Radius of Impact - 3.5 Metres Force of Impact - 500 Newtons - Charge This is a move that will increase a biotic's strength and speed, using this to power up and charge down an enemy. This will basically do enough damage in order to push the enemy back and cause a hell of a lot of damage. This move will also compensate for obstacles that are in the way. With this, you will need to be able to use shields to your advantage, because shields will take the incoming fire that your enemies are bound to unleash upon you. With further training, the charge skill will run down the distance faster, and if your target is in the air, it will dish out even MORE damage. This is only available to Vanguards. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Effective Range - 40 Metres Force of Impact - 350 Newtons Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Effective Range - 40 Metres Force of Impact - 550 Newtons Strength of Shields - 50% of Maximum Shields Duration of Shields - 4 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Effective Range - 40 Metres Force of Impact - 750 Newtons Strength of Shields - 75% of Maximum Shields Duration of Shields - 4 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Charge This will basically increase the shields that you will be using, which makes things more interesting for you. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Effective Range - 40 Metres Force of Impact - 1000 Newtons Strength of Shields - 100% of Maximum Shields Duration of Shields - 10 Seconds Area Charge This will add an area of effect, which makes it that several enemies will be sent into the air, so aim for a group. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Effective Range - 40 Metres Force of Impact - 750 Newtons Strength of Shields - 75% of Maximum Shields Duration of Shields - 4 Seconds Radius of Impact - 3 Metres - Warp This is a powerful move against armour and barriers set by enemies, because this will warp them with a mass effect field. This field will damage the enemy, of course, and it will block their health generation, which is seen in Vorchas and Krogans. This will also cause more damage when the enemy is under the effect of Pull or Singularity, so it will cause more damage. And like I said, it is effective against armour and barriers, doubling the normal amount of damage. This is only available to Adepts and Sentinel. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 120 Points Detonation Radius - 3 Metres Detonation Force - 400 Newtons Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 140 Points Detonation Radius - 4 Metres Detonation Force - 550 Newtons Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 160 Points Detonation Radius - 5 Metres Detonation Force - 700 Newtons Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Warp This will increase the amount of damage that your ability will do towards the enemy. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 200 Points Detonation Radius - 5 Metres Detonation Force - 700 Newtons Unstable Warp This will increase the radius in which the Warp attack detonates, which means more enemies will feel the hurt. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 160 Points Detonation Radius - 7 Metres Detonation Force - 700 Newtons - Throw This is a nice ability, that will throw the enemy backwards, which can be used to great effect, which means that you can throw an enemy backwards into objects, like an explosive container for instance, however, it is a question of your aiming. An enemy under the effect of Pull and Singularity will take more damage. With careful aiming, you can efficiently move the enemy into a pile of objects, and get rid of them easily. This power is only used by Adepts and the Sentinels. Level 1 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Force - 500 Newtons Level 2 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Force - 700 Newtons Level 3 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Force - 900 Newtons Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Throw This is basically using a very powerful attack, it will throw the enemy back with heavy force. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Force - 1200 Newtons Throw Field This is where your mastery of the throw will throw multiple enemies back with a single blow. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Force - 900 Newtons Impact Radius - 3 Metres - Singularity Singularity is a powerful move that will create a little black hole, really, a mass effect field, and it will draw the enemy into the field, and at that point, they will be useless and they cannot do anything, except take the heavy barrage of firepower that is being unleashed on them. This will hold them in for a few seconds, and will hold in multiple enemies, so it is useful as a crowd control method, but this will not damage them as much as you would like, none at all, but they will not be able to return fire, so they are as good as dead. This is only available to Adepts. Level 1 Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Singularity Duration - 20 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.5 Metres Hold Duration - 5 Seconds Number of Targets Held - 2 Level 2 Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Singularity Duration - 25 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.5 Metres Hold Duration - 6 Seconds Number of Targets Held - 3 Level 3 Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Singularity Duration - 30 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.75 Metres Hold Duration - 7 Seconds Number of Targets Held - 4 Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Singularity This power will be able to hold more enemies than a normal attack would, excellent for group control. And it will last longer as well. Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Singularity Duration - 45 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.75 Metres Hold Duration - 9 Seconds Number of Targets Held - 6 Wide Singularity This power is different, it won't be able to target that many enemies, but it will have a larger radius, so it will be able to drag more people in from a greater distance. Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Singularity Duration - 30 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres Hold Duration - 7 Seconds Number of Targets Held - 4 - Slam This is a power move. It is a mixture of the pull and the throw attack, as it will lift a target up, and then throw them against the ground, which makes it very, well, painful. This is a unique ability, it is only available to Shepard after you have obtained Miranda's Loyalty, and you need to retrain the powers of Shepard. It is quite powerful however. Level 1 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Lift Duration - 0.9 Seconds Slam Force - 400 Newtons Level 2 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Lift Duration - 1.1 Seconds Slam Force - 500 Newtons Level 3 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Lift Duration - 1.3 Seconds Slam Force - 600 Newtons Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Slam This is basically a powerful slam, it will lift them up longer, and slam them with heavy force. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Lift Duration - 1.5 Seconds Slam Force - 800 Newtons Crippling Slam This is a unique move, it will lift the target up, then slam them back down, and this will target their weak spots, so they will be crippled and disabled for a short period of time. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Lift Duration - 1.3 Seconds Slam Force - 600 Newtons Cripple Time - 8 Seconds - Barrier This is a defensive move, it will create a barrier in front of where you want it, which makes it useful. It will create a barrier which will take up a lot of damage, as well as giving you cover. The strength of the barrier will depend on the maximum shield strength that you have. This power is only unlocked through Jacob's Loyalty, and once you retrain your powers on your Shepard, it will give them the ability to use this power. Level 1 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 25% of Maximum Shields Level 2 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 50% of Maximum Shields Level 3 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 75% of Maximum Shields Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Barrier You can assume that this is quite a powerful barrier, this is the strongest barrier that you can put up. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 100% of Maximum Shields Improved Barrier While this one doesn't take up as much damage as the Heavy Barrier, it will last longer on the battlefield, if you are just advancing and not under heavy fire. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 180 Seconds Barrier Strength - 75% of Maximum Shields - Reave This isn't a very powerful ability, it is very similar to Warp, except it will continiously drain the health of an enemy. Basically, it does damage against enemies and does it over a period of time, and it will do double the amount of damage against armoured units and biotic barriers. When used against organic enemies, the caster will get a health boost and restore their health. This power is unlocked through Samara's loyalty mission and completing it by siding with her. Then, train your powers with the upgrade and you can use it in battle. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 40 Points per Second Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 40 Points per Second Damage Duration - 3.5 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 40 Points per Second Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Reave This power is designed to cause maximum damage and last as long as possible to destroy the enemy it is targeted upon. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 40 Points per Second Damage Duration - 5.5 Seconds Area Reave This reave is not designed to kill severely, but it is designed to target units in an area. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Damage - 40 Points per Second Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres - Dominate This is a powerful move if you can use it properly. This is basically the biotic version of AI Hacking, but on Organics, so when an organic enemy is down to health, you will control them and take them over for a short period of time, and it will give them a barrier so they can take down the enemy for you. To obtain this power, during Samara's loyalty mission, you will need to side with Morinith, instead of Samara, then train the powers to get this ability. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 7 Seconds Barrier Strength - 200 Points Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 9 Seconds Barrier Strength - 350 Points Level 4 - Branch Split Enhanced Dominate This will increase the time that the creature will stay under your control, the longer, the more damage they can dish out on your enemies. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 12 Seconds Barrier Strength - 500 Points Group Dominate This will dominate an entire group of enemies within the power's radius, making is very, very useful as a crowd control technique. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 9 Seconds Barrier Strength - 350 Points Impact Radius - 3 Metres *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [9.02] Tech Powers Technology powers are best to deal with synthetic enemies, and playing around with shields. It is all about using machinery and electronics to your advantage. With the use of your omni-tool, a simple piece of hardware can cause headaches for the enemy. - Overload This is a useful ability, this will be best used against shield enemies, as it will deal massive amounts of damage to an enemy's shields, and this would be an opening move, seeing that it will always be the first layer of defence against an enemy. At higher levels, it will stun synthetic enemies as well. It will also disable their weapons as well, which is useful against armed opponents. It is also used against synthetic enemies, it will damage them heavily as well, shields or no shields. This is only available to Engineers and Sentinels. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Shield and Synethic Damage - 120 Points Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Shield and Synethic Damage - 140 Points Synthetic Stun Duration - 3 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Shield and Synethic Damage - 160 Points Synthetic Stun Duration - 3 Seconds Weapon Shutdown Duration - 6 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Overload This is the one that you will use against synthetic enemies, it will be so powerful that they will be destroyed on impact, well, if they don't have that much health. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Shield and Synethic Damage - 200 Points Synthetic Stun Duration - 3 Seconds Weapon Shutdown Duration - 6 Seconds Area Overload This one is where it will overload enemies en masse. This is only useful if there are a ton of enemies that have shields or are synthetic, such as large groups of geth. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres Shield and Synethic Damage - 160 Points Synthetic Stun Duration - 3 Seconds Weapon Shutdown Duration - 6 Seconds - Incinerate This powerful tech power is something that is very fun to use, as it will fire powerful plasma at enemies, and that will burn the crap out of them. Of course, because of the nature of armour, it will dish out 2.4 times more damage than normal, well, metal doesn't like high heat all that much. Anyway, this is used against all enemies, but they cannot be shielded or protected by barriers. Note that this will also stop them from regenerating health, stopping Krogans and Vorcha in their tracks. It is only available to Engineers and Infiltrators. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Damage - 130 Points Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Damage - 150 Points Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Damage - 170 Points Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Incinerate This is the most powerful version of incinerate, and it concentrates on raw firepower than anything else. This will really give armoured foes a run for their money. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Damage - 210 Points Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Incineration Blast This will concentrate less on heavy damage, rather, it will concentrate on dealing damage to enemy units around the target unit. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres Damage - 170 Points Damage Duration - 3 Seconds - Cryo Blast This blast will be where you use your omni-tool to fire a super cold blast of subatomic particles at the enemy, and it will freeze the enemy in their tracks. And when the enemy is frozen, they will be shattered when shot, instantly killing them, if their health is low enough, and take more damage if they aren't shattered. This will freeze all enemies in their tracks, and this is where you can move forwards and kill them all. This is only available to Sentinels and Engineers. Level 1 Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Freeze Duration - 3 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Freeze Duration - 4 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Freeze Duration - 5 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Deep Cryo Blast This is a powerful weapon, it will increase and improve the length of time that your enemies will be frozen for. More time to shoot them down. Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Freeze Duration - 7 Seconds Full Cryo Blast This is where the blast range of the cryo blast is maximised, and it will be able to freeze several enemies in a single go, making is useful to get rid of groups easily. Recharge Time - 4.5 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres Freeze Duration - 5 Seconds - AI Hacking This is a very useful move when you are fighting synthetic units, because when they are only down to their health, you can use this power to make them fight for you for a short period of time, or until your enemies have killed off your little pawn. At higher levels, it will give them a shield that gives them more power to duke it out against your enemies whilst they are under your control, and when they are back under their normal control, the shield is gone. This is only available to Infiltrators and Engineers. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 7 Seconds Shield Strength - 200 Points Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 9 Seconds Shield Strength - 350 Points Level 4 - Branch Split Improved AI Hacking This is the best of the best in terms of AI hacking. This will give your pawn a lot more shield strength, and have them fight for you that much longer. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 12 Seconds Shield Strength - 500 Points Area AI Hacking Rather than taking a single unit, this power will be able to take over a group of synthetic enemies, which is good if you are taking over something like a group of LOKI mechs to taking out a YMIR mech. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 9 Seconds Shield Strength - 350 Points Impact Radius - 3 Metres - Combat Drone This is a special ability where you can summon a combat drone to fight on your side. This will draw enemy fire, which is useful, as that means less attention towards you, and it will be able to damage enemy shields as well, which makes them like a buzzing insect, sure, it won't kill you, but it'll piss you off. Note that only a single drone can be active at a single time, so make note of that. And only an Engineer can create one, no other class that you can choose will be able to spawn combat drones. Level 1 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 12 Seconds Drone Recharge Time - 4 Seconds Drone Health - 100% Level 2 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 16 Seconds Drone Recharge Time - 3.7 Seconds Drone Health - 120% Level 3 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 20 Seconds Drone Recharge Time - 3.4 Seconds Drone Health - 140% Level 4 - Branch Split Attack Drone This will summon an attack drone, which will, as you can guess, specialise in attacking the enemy, and the attack will be able to damage health, armour and barriers, in addition to shields. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 24 Seconds Drone Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Drone Health - 160% Drone Damage - 40 Points Explosive Drone This is like a suicide drone, it will summon a drone that will explode when it is destroyed, which makes it very useful if you want to give a quick blast in the enemy's defences. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 24 Seconds Drone Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Drone Health - 160% Pulse Radius - 6 Metres Pulse Damage - 100 Points - Tactical Cloak This is an amazing power, and it is where you can, at a whim, go invisible against the enemy. This will render you invisible to all enemies, so they cannot see or target you until the cloak wears off. It will give a bonus to your first few shots whilst under cloak, but you cannot recharge your health or shields whilst cloaked. This is best used when all your squad members are killed, so you can escape to cover and wait until the cloak is off so you can recharge it, and you can use it to get a better position. There are plenty of things that you can do, I mean, what happens when you turn invisible? Flank the enemy of course. And this is only available to the Infiltrator. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 5.5 Seconds Damage Bonus - +20% Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 6 Seconds Damage Bonus - +40% Level 4 - Branch Split Enhanced Cloak This is the best cloak of them all, this will allow you to stay hidden for an even longer period of time, allowing you more time to plan your attacks, which is always useful. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 8 Seconds Damage Bonus - +40% Assassination Cloak This will give you the normal cloak, but it will give a stronger bonus when you shoot the enemy whilst under the influence of the cloak. This will give great surprise to the enemy. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Duration - 6 Seconds Damage Bonus - +75% - Tech Armour This is a very interesting ability, it will generate an armour layer made of energy, that you can use to protect yourself and increase your shields. This is useful, because even though if it is destroyed, it still has the use that it will damage the enemy and knock them back if they get too close. Increasing the level of the armour will give you more shields to play with, and it will increase the power of the knockback that you will dish out to the enemy if they get a little too close. This is only used by Sentinels on the battlefield. Level 1 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - Until Destroyed Shields Strength - +25% of Maximum Shields Energy Pulse Radius - 7.5 Metres Energy Pulse Damage - 30 Points Energy Pulse Force - 100 Newtons Level 2 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - Until Destroyed Shields Strength - +50% of Maximum Shields Energy Pulse Radius - 10 Metres Energy Pulse Damage - 40 Points Energy Pulse Force - 130 Newtons Level 3 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - Until Destroyed Shields Strength - +75% of Maximum Shields Energy Pulse Radius - 12.5 Metres Energy Pulse Damage - 50 Points Energy Pulse Force - 160 Newtons Level 4 - Branch Split Assault Armour This is best used if you are going to be rushing into the frontlines, so you will be needing this. It will increase the strength of the energy pulse in all areas, and it will give you a boost to your own shields after the pulse has been activated. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - Until Destroyed Shields Strength - +75% of Maximum Shields Energy Pulse Radius - 18 Metres Energy Pulse Damage - 100 Points Energy Pulse Force - 240 Newtons Pulse Shield Boost - +50% of Maximum Shields Power Armour This is used if you are going to be sitting back and use your powers instead of shooting the enemy. And this will boost the power of your own weapons and biotic amps. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - Until Destroyed Shields Strength - +100% of Maximum Shields Energy Pulse Radius - 12.5 Metres Energy Pulse Damage - 50 Points Energy Pulse Force - 160 Newtons Power Damage Boost - +15% Damage - Neural Shock This is a useful power against organic enemies, this will knock them out for a short period of time, so you can have a free shot at them. This makes it useful against charging enemies, so they will be stopped. This will also ruin the enemy's accuracy at later levels. This is obtained by finishing Mordin's Loyalty Quest, and once you do, you can retrain your powers in order to get this ability, and it is useful, well, against enemies that will charge at you, like Krogans. Level 1 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Shock Duration - 5 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Shock Duration - 7 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Shock Duration - 9 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Neural Shock This will be used as it will send out multiple neural shocks that will be activated at the same time, in order to shock them for longer, and it will put off the accuracy for longer. Recharge Time - 4 Seconds Shock Duration - 12 Seconds Neural Shockwave This will be concentrated more in groups, which will allow you more time to get rid of the enemy as they are too inaccurate with their guns, and that is if they survive the initial onslaught. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Shock Duration - 9 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres - Energy Drain This is like the Overload ability, it will damage shields, and it will damage the enemy if they are synthetic enemies. However, that it does better than what overload does is that it will drain the energy of the enemy, and it will use that energy to boost your shields, which is useful to say the least. This is obtained by making Tali loyal to you, and when she is, all you need to do is to retrain your powers in order to use this power. Note that it is best against synthetic enemies, only useful against shields on organics. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Energy Drain - 120 Points Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Energy Drain - 140 Points Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Energy Drain - 160 Points Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Energy Drain This is basically the stronger damage dealing of the powers above. It will dish out more damage, and drain more energy from enemies. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Energy Drain - 200 Points Impact Radius - 1.2 Metres Area Drain This is the wide version of the Energy Drain, it will suck the energy from multiple targets in an area, allow you do drain several enemies. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Energy Drain - 160 Points Impact Radius - 3 Metres - Geth Shield Boost This is the tech version of Barrier, this is where you can boost your shields for a short period of time, which is useful if you need to advance through a massive firefight without getting killed, which is more often than not a tough order. This is obtained by making Legion loyal to you, and when he is loyal to your cause, you can use this power after you retrain your powers a little bit. Level 1 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 25% of Maximum Shields Level 2 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 50% of Maximum Shields Level 3 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 75% of Maximum Shields Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Geth Shield Boost This is where you put up a big shield, making it powerful enough that you can put up with heavy weapons with ease. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Barrier Strength - 100% of Maximum Shields Improved Geth Shield Boost Sure, it will not take as much damage as your normal boost, but it will last a lot longer, which is an annoying tradeoff on the battlefield, either have a longer lasting shield or a shield that can take the brunt of the enemy's firepower. It will also boost your weapons. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 180 Seconds Barrier Strength - 75% of Maximum Shields Weapon Damage - +10% *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [9.03] Ammo Powers Ammo powers are useful powers that will effect what type of ammo that your weapons will be using. Normally, your ammo will be standard, but you can add little effects onto them, which makes them more lethal. - Cryo Ammo This is a power that will allow you to freeze the enemy. When the enemy is down only to their health layer, a round that has cryo ammo enabled will freeze the target, which makes them stop dead, and at that point, they will take extra damage from your attacks, and if you shoot at them whilst frozen and on low health, they will shatter. This is only restricted to the Soldier, Infiltrator and Vanguard classes, which is interesting, because this is the most accessible type of ammo power. Level 1 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Freeze Duration - 3 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Freeze Duration - 4 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Freeze Duration - 5 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Improved Cryo Ammo This basically is where you make your ammo freeze a target more often, so the chances of it freezing are higher, and the amount of time they are frozen for is longer. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Freeze Duration - 7 Seconds Squad Cryo Ammo This is useful if you plan on having your squad firing cryo rounds at the enemy, this allow your entire squad to get this power, and it will freeze a lot of enemies. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Freeze Duration - 5 Seconds - Disruptor Ammo This is an interesting type of ammo, normally because it will be able to pierce and kill synthetic units so easily, and stick this on an assault rifle, and a normal burst can kill an enemy quickly. This will dish out more damage against shields and synthetics, but not against organics. This is restricted to the Soldier and the Infiltrator class, so this will be harder to get. At higher levels, this is able to disable synthetic units and has the possibility to overheat their weapons as well. Level 1 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Shield and Synthetic Damage - +20% Weapon Damage Level 2 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Shield and Synthetic Damage - +30% Weapon Damage Duration of Overload - 3 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Shield and Synthetic Damage - +40% Weapon Damage Duration of Overload - 3 Seconds Duration of Overheat - 6 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Disruptor Ammo This is where the disruptor ammo is more powerful, which makes them get rid of synthetics faster, just watch out for how much ammo your weapons are using. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Shield and Synthetic Damage - +60% Weapon Damage Duration of Overload - 3 Seconds Duration of Overheat - 6 Seconds Squad Disruptor Ammo This is where your entire squad will have access to your disruptor ammo rounds, and that makes them excellent against synthetic enemies, so you will have little problems when facing them. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Shield and Synthetic Damage - +40% Weapon Damage Duration of Overload - 3 Seconds Duration of Overheat - 6 Seconds - Incendiary Ammo This is another type of ammo power, where it will act like high explosive rounds, it will cause fire damage over time, which makes your initial round the beginning of the amount of damage that they will be taking. This power is also useful against krogans and vorcha, as it would be able to stop them from regenerating their health against you. This ammo is, however, useless against synthetic enemies, which is a problem, but your ammo will still hurt them. This is available only to the Soldier and the Vanguard classes. Level 1 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Fire Damage - +20% of Weapon Damage Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 2 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Fire Damage - +30% of Weapon Damage Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 3 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Fire Damage - +40% of Weapon Damage Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Level 4 - Branch Split Inferno Ammo This will be upgrading your ammo, so it will dish out far more fire damage over time, which is relatively useful against organics. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Fire Damage - +60% of Weapon Damage Damage Duration - 3 Seconds Squad Incendiary Ammo This will give access to this ammo to your entire squad, so in the Collector missions, this is the perfect type of ammo to set the little Collectors on fire. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Fire Damage - +40% of Weapon Damage Damage Duration - 3 Seconds - Shredder Ammo This is a unique type of ammo, it is best against organic enemies that no longer have any layer of defences, that is, they are down to their health bar and that's it. It will tear through their body and dish a lot more damage than normal, but again, it will only work on organics, it will not deal extra damage to synthetics. This is only obtained through Thane's loyalty mission. Once you complete the mission, you can retrain your powers and have access to this power, and it is quite useful on a lot of missions. Level 1 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Health Damage - +40% of Weapon Damage Level 2 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Health Damage - +50% of Weapon Damage Level 3 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Health Damage - +60% of Weapon Damage Level 4 - Branch Split Improved Shredder Ammo This is basically the best shredder ammo you can get, it will make short work of the enemy, especially if they are organics. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Health Damage - +80% of Weapon Damage Squad Shredder Ammo This is where your squad gets access to this type of ammo, which is very useful because it will get rid of enemy hordes, like husks, with absolute ease. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Health Damage - +60% of Weapon Damage - Armour Piercing Ammo This is a very useful type of ammo, the ammo used here will tear out enemy armour, such as said in the name, as well as acting as a weaker type of shredder ammo, as it will dish out extra damage to health as well. This is useful against all types of enemies, and armour is one of the most common type of defence that you will see in the game. This type of ammo is only obtained by completing Garrus' loyalty mission and then, you will need to retrain your powers a little before you can get this type of ammo. Level 1 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Armour and Health Damage - +30% of Weapon Damage Level 2 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Armour and Health Damage - +40% of Weapon Damage Level 3 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Armour and Health Damage - +50% of Weapon Damage Level 4 - Branch Split Tungsten Ammo This is a special type of ammo, it will use tungsten in discarding sabot rounds, and it will pierce armour and health more effectively. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Armour and Health Damage - +70% of Weapon Damage Squad Armour Piercing Ammo As you can expect, this is where your entire squad gets this type of ammo, and you have to admit, with the damage it does, it is quite a useful type of ammo. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Armour and Health Damage - +50% of Weapon Damage - Warp Ammo This type of ammo does little extra damage, but it will dish out extra damage against barriers, armour and health, so it will be useful all round, well, everything other than shields. It will, because it is WARP ammo, dish out more damage against enemies that are under the effect of biotic powers disabling them, such as pull or singularity. This power is unlocked by Jack and her gaining loyalty, after you have completed that, you can retrain powers and you can get access to this type of ammo. Level 1 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Extra Damage - +15% of Weapon Damage Level 2 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Extra Damage - +25% of Weapon Damage Level 3 Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Extra Damage - +35% of Weapon Damage Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Warp Ammo This is where it will dish out more damage than normal, so it will demolish enemies a lot faster than normal, better for you at least. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Extra Damage - +50% of Weapon Damage Squad Warp Ammo This is where your entire squad gets access to this type of ammo, which is quite useful for your squad, extra damage is always a good thing. Recharge Time - 1.5 Seconds Duration - Until another ammo power is activated Extra Damage - +35% of Weapon Damage *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [9.04] Combat Powers Combat Powers are powers that are directly to be used in combat, which is quite useful when you are going for the kill. Combat powers are limited based on their classes, only Soldiers can use the first 2, the second set of 2 are done via loyalty missions. But they make quick work of enemies. - Adrenaline Rush Basically, this will slow down time for you, which is useful as it will give you time to shoot enemies rushing towards you with your weapons, so it will give melee units a harder time, and it will also make it easier for you to line up that headshot to take out the enemy with a single shot. It will also give a damage bonus, so when you shoot the target whilst you are under this effect, you will be able to double damage it, making you very lethal on the field. It is only available to Soldiers, however. Level 1 Recharge Time - 5 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Time Dilation - 50% Damage Bonus - +100% Level 2 Recharge Time - 4 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Time Dilation - 50% Damage Bonus - +100% Level 3 Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Time Dilation - 50% Damage Bonus - +100% Level 4 - Branch Split Heightened Adrenaline Rush This is where you have a much better reaction time, so you will have your time dilation strengthened and it will give a massive boost in your damage bonus, which is useful for a sniper aiming for that headshot. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Time Dilation - 70% Damage Bonus - +140% Hardened Adrenaline Rush This isn't as useful, it will be the same as a normal rush, but during this amount of time, you will take less damage, so if you are in cover, you can stay out for longer, taking shots at enemies and their exposed heads. Recharge Time - 3 Seconds Duration - 5 Seconds Time Dilation - 50% Damage Bonus - +100% Health Damage Taken - -50% - Concussive Shot This is an interesting ability, this is where you will fire a single round, that is high impact, that will damage them, and knock them back somewhat, and will stun them as well. The interesting thing is that it will dish out more damage, 3.5 times more damage against biotic barriers, so they will not last long. Because of this, this is useful before you can line up that valuable head shot that you need to eliminate an enemy with. This skill can only be used by Soldiers, and no other classes. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Force - 250 Newtons Damage - 45 Points Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Force - 350 Newtons Damage - 60 Points Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Force - 450 Newtons Damage - 75 Points Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Concussive Shot This is a stronger attack, it will knock back the enemy with more powerful rounds, and as such, it will cause more damage, and stunned for that much longer. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Force - 650 Newtons Damage - 100 Points Concussive Blast This is the group power version, this is used to impact all the enemies in the area, which gives you a few more targets, and it makes it useful as a crowd control weapon. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Force - 450 Newtons Damage - 75 Points Impact Radius - 3 Metres - Fortification This is like the Barrier and the Geth Shield Boost, but this, instead of using shields, will set up an armour barrier, which will make it harder to kill, well, depending on what ammo loadout and what powers they are using to shoot at you with. This is a loyalty mission gift, from Grunt. Once you complete his loyalty mission, you can retrain your powers to get access to this ability, to you can use it. Level 1 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Armour Strength - 25% of Maximum Shields Level 2 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Armour Strength - 50% of Maximum Shields Level 3 Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Armour Strength - 75% of Maximum Shields Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Fortification As you can expect, this is a big powerful where you get a stronger piece of armour. This is useful if you don't want to play with shields. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 60 Seconds Armour Strength - 100% of Maximum Shields Improved Fortication Again, it doesn't give a powerful boost to your armour, however, it does last that much longer, so again, you either have a long lasting piece of armour or you can have a more powerful piece of armour. Recharge Time - 12 Seconds Duration - 180 Seconds Armour Strength - 75% of Maximum Shields - Inferno Grenade This is an interesting attack, this will have you launching a grenade into the air, that will explode, sending fragments everywhere, and it has a large radius of effect to boot. It cause fire damage to the targets that get hit by the fragments, and this is even more powerful against targets that have armour as their defence layer. This is unlocked through completion of Zaeed's loyalty mission. Once you complete that mission, you will have access to this ability and you will we able to use it once you retrain your skills. Level 1 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 3 Metres Damage - 50 Points Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Number of Fragments - 3 Level 2 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 3.25 Metres Damage - 60 Points Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Number of Fragments - 4 Level 3 Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 3.5 Metres Damage - 70 Points Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Number of Fragments - 5 Level 4 - Branch Split Heavy Inferno Grenade This is where you have the best grenades on hand. It will have a better explosive to play with, so there are more fragments on hand to hit the enemies with, and it does more damage as a result as well. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 3.5 Metres Damage - 100 Points Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Number of Fragments - 5 Inferno Blast Grenade This is an interesting move, it will allow you to increase the number of fragments that will hit the enemy, and it will have a larger radius of damage. Recharge Time - 6 Seconds Impact Radius - 4.5 Metres Damage - 70 Points Damage Duration - 4 Seconds Number of Fragments - 6 *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [9.05] Class Powers These classes are explained already in their beginning section, so here will be listing the powers that each level will boost it with. - Adept Level 1 Health - +5% Power Recharge Time - -5% Paragon / Renegade - +20% Level 2 Health - +10% Power Recharge Time - -10% Paragon / Renegade - +40% Level 3 Health - +15% Power Recharge Time - -15% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Level 4 - Branch Split Bastion This is the upgrade that allows you to have longer powers, as well as reducing the cooldown on your power, as well as boosting your renegade and paragon scores. Health - +20% Power Recharge Time - -20% Paragon / Renegade - +100% Power Duration - +15% Nemesis This is the pure power role, it will have your powers doing more damage as well as reducing the cooldown time. Health - +15% Power Recharge Time - -20% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Power Damage - +15% - Engineer Level 1 Health - +5% Power Recharge Time - -5% Paragon / Renegade - +20% Research Costs - -5% Level 2 Health - +10% Power Recharge Time - -10% Paragon / Renegade - +40% Research Costs - -10% Level 3 Health - +15% Power Recharge Time - -15% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Research Costs - -15% Level 4 - Branch Split Demolisher This is the upgrade that allows you to have longer powers, as well as reducing the cooldown on your power, as well as boosting your renegade and paragon scores. Health - +20% Power Recharge Time - -20% Paragon / Renegade - +100% Power Duration - +15% Research Costs - -25% Mechanic This is the pure power role, it will have your powers doing more damage as well as reducing the cooldown time. Health - +15% Power Recharge Time - -20% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Power Damage - +15% Research Costs - -25% - Infiltrator Level 1 Health - +5% Weapon Damage - +3% Power Recharge Time - -3% Sniper Time Slowdown - 30% Slowdown Duration - 1.5 Seconds Paragon / Renegade - +20% Level 2 Health - +10% Weapon Damage - +6% Power Recharge Time - -6% Sniper Time Slowdown - 40% Slowdown Duration - 1.75 Seconds Paragon / Renegade - +40% Level 3 Health - +15% Weapon Damage - +9% Power Recharge Time - -9% Sniper Time Slowdown - 50% Slowdown Duration - 2 Seconds Paragon / Renegade - +70% Level 4 - Branch Split Agent This is the upgrade that allows you to have longer powers, as well as reducing the cooldown on your power, as well as boosting your renegade and paragon scores. Health - +20% Weapon Damage - +9% Power Recharge Time - -15% Sniper Time Slowdown - 50% Slowdown Duration - 2 Seconds Paragon / Renegade - +100% Power Duration - +15% Assassin This is the pure power role, it will have your powers doing more damage as well as reducing the cooldown time. Health - +15% Weapon Damage - +15% Power Recharge Time - -9% Sniper Time Slowdown - 60% Slowdown Duration - 2.5 Seconds Paragon / Renegade - +70% Power Damage - +15% - Sentinel Level 1 Health - +5% Power Recharge Time - -5% Paragon / Renegade - +20% Level 2 Health - +10% Power Recharge Time - -10% Paragon / Renegade - +40% Level 3 Health - +15% Power Recharge Time - -15% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Level 4 - Branch Split Guardian This is the upgrade that allows you to have longer powers, as well as reducing the cooldown on your power, as well as boosting your renegade and paragon scores. Health - +20% Power Recharge Time - -20% Paragon / Renegade - +100% Power Duration - +15% Raider This is the pure power role, it will have your powers doing more damage as well as reducing the cooldown time. Health - +15% Power Recharge Time - -20% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Power Damage - +15% - Soldier Level 1 Health - +10% Weapon Damage - +3% Storm Speed - +20% Paragon / Renegade - +20% Level 2 Health - +20% Weapon Damage - +6% Storm Speed - +30% Paragon / Renegade - +40% Level 3 Health - +30% Weapon Damage - +9% Storm Speed - +40% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Level 4 - Branch Split Shock Trooper This is the upgrade that allows you to have longer powers, as well as reducing the cooldown on your power, as well as boosting your renegade and paragon scores. Health - +40% Weapon Damage - +9% Storm Speed - +40% Paragon / Renegade - +100% Power Duration - +15% Commando This is the pure power role, it will have your powers doing more damage as well as reducing the cooldown time. Health - +40% Weapon Damage - +15% Storm Speed - +50% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Power Damage - +15% - Vanguard Level 1 Health - +5% Weapon Damage - +3% Power Recharge Time - -3% Paragon / Renegade - +20% Level 2 Health - +10% Weapon Damage - +6% Power Recharge Time - -6% Paragon / Renegade - +40% Level 3 Health - +15% Weapon Damage - +9% Power Recharge Time - -9% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Level 4 - Branch Split Champion This is the upgrade that allows you to have longer powers, as well as reducing the cooldown on your power, as well as boosting your renegade and paragon scores. Health - +20% Weapon Damage - +9% Power Recharge Time - -15% Paragon / Renegade - +100% Power Duration - +15% Destroyer This is the pure power role, it will have your powers doing more damage as well as reducing the cooldown time. Health - +15% Weapon Damage - +15% Power Recharge Time - -9% Paragon / Renegade - +70% Power Damage - +15% *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [10.01] Weapons This is a list of the weaponry in this game, as well as what I think of them. - Heavy Pistols Heavy pistols are good against armour, but it is weak against shields and barriers. They aren't the best weapons, but it is something to fall back on. M-3 Predator Heavy Pistol - Default This is the cheapest of the pistols, it isn't that powerful, but it contains a fair amount of rounds so play with. It doesn't deal that much damage, but they are quite accurate. It can hold 12 rounds per clip, with a maximum of 60 rounds. M-6 Carnifex Hand Cannon - Recruitment of Mordin This is a very powerful cannon, it will dish out a hell of a lot of damage against your enemies, but it doesn't have as many rounds, but it does dish out that much more damage. Its normal clip holds 6 rounds, and it has a maximum of 24 rounds. - Assault Rifle The main battle rifle, these are good against most type of defences, and is a weapon to be feared. These are the mainstay of the soldier class, and can you learnt by other classes. M-8 Avenger - Default A weak rifle, this is capable of going fully automatic, which makes it very interesting to play with. It isn't strong, but with 40 rounds per clip and 400 rounds to play with in total, it is quite a useful weapon. M-15 Vindicator - Recruitment of Garrus A powerful rifle, this is only capable in firing in 3 round bursts. Because of that, it is capable of being extremely accurate, and as such, it doesn't need as many rounds, only 24 per clip with a total of 96 in external capacity. M-76 Revenant - Soldier Class on Collector Ship Only This is basically a machine gun, and as such, it is capable of automatic fire, and it is a spray and pray weapon. Because of its purpose, it can carry 80 rounds per clip, with a total of 480 rounds to carry as well. Geth Pulse Rifle - Recruit Tali in Hardcore or Insanity Difficulty This is the normal geth issue rifle, and it is a useful weapon, capable of full automatic fire, with 40 rounds in a clip and 480 rounds in total to carry, it is a useful weapon, but it doesn't deal as much damage as you would like. Collector Assault Rifle - Collector's Edition This is an automatic rifle, so it can go full auto like crazy, but it doesn't have that many rounds to go full auto with, with only 28 rounds in it and a total of 280 rounds. - Submachine Guns SMGs are a basic weapon, they are good at close range, but they aren't as good at long range, and their weapon damage is quite weak, but they are accurate at close range and they can spit out bullets quite easily. M-4 Shuriken Machine Pistol - Default This isn't as strong a weapon, but it is basically a quick fire weapon, capable of firing only in burst rounds. This will carry 24 rounds per clip, with a total of 240 rounds. M-9 Tempest Submachine Gun - Recruitment of Tali This weapon goes fully automatic, and whilst it's rock and roll mode may not be accurate, it is very useful in close quarters, seeing it is spitting out bullets. It can carry 50 rounds per clip, with 450 rounds in total, which is deadly. - Sniper Rifles Sniper Rifles are accurate, and available only to certain classes, but they compensate for their low firing rate and lack of ammo with extreme power and deadly accuracy. M-92 Mantis Sniper Rifle - Default This is a powerful rifle, but it is a bolt action rifle, so you only have a single round per clip, and you have a total of 9 extra rounds. This makes it less effective when you have many targets, so make every shot count. M-97 Viper Sniper Rifle - Recruit Thane This is a powerful rifle, it is capable of semi-automatic fire, which makes it useful if you have a good aim and take out a target with several shots, it will have 12 rounds per clip, with a total of 48 extra rounds so you can take out a fair few enemies with this rifle. M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle - Collector's Ship, Soldier and Infiltrators This is a very deadly rifle, however, like the Mantis, it is only capable of single round fire, and it has a total of 12 extra rounds, so again, you don't have too much error for failure here. M-29 Incisor Rifle - Deluxe Digital Edition This is again, a semi-automatic rifle, it is capable of holding 15 rounds per clip, with 45 extra rounds. I personally would prefer the Viper, it does hold more rounds, but power wise, it is slightly better. - Shotgun These are powerful weapons that you can use in close range, they are deadly if used properly. Don't try this at long range, it doesn't work well at that distance. However, it fires several projectiles at once, so it is quite deadly. M-23 Katana Shotgun - Default This is the default shotgun, it isn't all that powerful, it will only have 5 rounds per clip, with an extra 10 rounds, but that is about it, go you will need to be accurate and effective with this weapon. M-27 Scimitar Assault Shotgun - Recruit Samara This shotgun has a bit more to fire with, carrying 8 rounds and carrying an extra 16 rounds, but this is a powerful weapon still, so if you can move within range, you will be able to kill anything in your path. M-300 Claymore Heavy Shotgun - Vanguard and Soldiers on Collector Ship This is a very powerful shotgun, mainly because it is a single shot shotgun, and compensates for its lack of carrying capacity with power. With that round, it can carry an extra 10 rounds. M-22 Eviscerator Shotgun - Cerberus Network This is a long range shotgun, which might surprise you, and it will carry armour-piercing arounds, so it is deadly against enemy armour, so remember that. It carries 3 rounds per clip, and a total of 12 rounds besides that. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [10.02] Armour Going to keep this short and simple. There is armour that you can purchase from stores, or suits that you can download as DLC. Below is a list and what they will do. To change your armour, head to the Captain's Cabin and change it there. - Helmets Death Mask - Ratch's Wares * +10% Negotiation Skill N7 Helmet - Default * +5% Maximum Health N7 Breather Mask - Default * +5% Maximum Health Recon Hood - 7/11 Promotion * +5% Weapon Damage Sentry Interface - 7/11 Promotion * +5% Shield Strength Umbra Visot - 7/11 Promotion * +5% Power Damage Visor - Harrot's Emporium * +10% Headshot Damage - Chest Aegis Vest - Rodam Expeditions * +5% Maximum Health Capacitor Chestplate - Harrot's Emporium * -10% Shield Charge Delay N7 Chestplate - Default * +3% Power Damage Shield Harness - Ratch's Ware * +5% Shield Strength - Shoulders Amplifier Plates - Gateway Personal Defence * +5% Power Damage Asymmetric Defence Layer - Ratch's Ware * +5% Maximum Health N7 Shoulder Guards - Default * +3% Weapons Damage - Arms N7 Gauntlet - Default * +3% Maximum Health Off-Hand Ammo Pack - Rodam Expeditions * +10% Ammunition Capacity Stabilization Gauntlets - Ratch's Ware Omega Market * +5% Shields Strength - Legs Life Support Webbing - Sirta Foundation * +10% Maximum Health N7 Greves - Default * +3% Shield Strength Stimulator Conduits - Omega Market * +10% Sprint Speed - Full Suits Blood Dragon Armour - Dragon Age: Origins Promotion * +15% Power Damage * +10% Shield Strength Cerberus Assault Armour - Cerberus Network DLC * +10% Heavy Weapon Ammo * +10% Shield Strength * +10% Maximum Health Collector Armour - Collector's Edition * +10% Health Regeneration Rate * +10% Sprint Speed * +20% Maximum Health Inferno Armour - Preorder Bonus * +10% Negotiation Skill * +10% Power Damage * +10% Sprint Speed Terminus Assault Armour - Cerberus Network DLC * +10% Sprint Speed * +10% Ammunition Capacity * +15% Shield Strength *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [11.01] Romance There are romance options, well, 3 of them, if you import a character from the first Mass Effect. If you romanced Ashley or Kaiden from the first game, a photo of them will be in your cabin, back on the Normandy, and if you stay faithful throughout the game, then the photo will still be up, however, if you be unfaithful to them, that is, going with someone else in Mass Effect 2, then that photo is down. Otherwise, there isn't much in terms of romance between Ashley/Kaiden. If you went out with Liara, all that happens is that you will lead off to Illium and she will greet you with a kiss, that is all. Otherwise, love from Mass Effect 1 is rather limited. Now, for Mass Effect 2. As a Male Shepard, you will be able to romance Miranda, Jack and Tali. For all three of them, you will need to do their loyalty mission. For Miranda and Jack, when they have their argument, you need to side with either both, which is the simple option, or side with the one who will want to be with in the end. Miranda will offer you romance option after a few chats of her loyalty mission. For Jack it is the same, after the loyalty mission, though you can screw with her before. As for Tali, it is directly after her Loyalty Mission, as long you didn't expose her dad during the trial, hence, losing her loyalty. As a side bonus, a Male Shepard can also woo Kelly Chambers, the Yeoman next to the galaxy map. You can always flirt with her, and if you save her after the Collector's base mission, the suicide mission, and then talk to her, get the email, and have a little fling in the Captain's Cabin. It more a fling than a romance. For the Female Shepard, you can woo Jacob, Thane and Garrus. Of course, like the Male Shepard, you will need to complete their Loyalty missions before you can do anything. For all relationships, talk to Mordin after confirming it, that just is always a crack up. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [A.01] Primary Codex Your Codex is basically the encyclopedia for the game, detailing various tidbits of information in the Mass Effect universe. There are several ways to get some entries, but most of the time, there is a single method that is bound to work, and that will be the one listed, for simplicity. And by saying From Start, it means it is available when you access your Codex for the first time. --==Alien: Council Races==-- -> Asari Obtained By: From Start "The Asari were the first species to discover the Citadel. When the Salarians arrived, it was the asari that proposed the establishment of the Citadel Council to maintain peace throughout the galaxy. Since then, the Asari have served as mediators and centrists of the Councils. An all-female race, the asari reproduce through a form of parthenogenesis. Each asari can attune her nervous system to that of another individual of any gender, and of any species, to reproduce. This capability has led to unseemly and inaccurate rumours about asari promiscuity. Asari can live for over 1000 years, passing through three stages of life. In the Maiden Stage, they wonder restlessly, seeking new knowledge and experience. When the Matron stage begins, they "meld" with interesting partners to produce their offspring. This ends when they reach the Matriarch stage, where they assume the roles of leaders and councillors." -> Salarians Obtained By: From Start "The second species to join the Citadel, the salarians are warm-blooded amphibians with a hyperactive metabolism. Salarians think fast, talk fast, and move fast. The salarians, other species seem sluggish and dull-witted. Unfortunately, their metabolic speed leaves them with a relatively short lifespan, salarians over the age of 40 are a rarity. The Salarians were responsible for advancing the development of the primitive krogan species to use as soldiers during the Ranchi Wars. They were also behind the creation of the genophage bioweapon the Turians used to quell the Krogan Rebellions several centuries later. Salarians are known for their observational capability and non-linear thinking. This manifests as an aptitude for research and espionage. They are constantly experimenting and investing, and it is generally accepted that they always know more than they let on." -> Turians Obtained By: From Start "Roughly 1200 years ago, the turians were invited to join the Citadel Council to fulfill the role of Galactic Peacekeeper. The turians have the largest fleet in Citadel space, and they make up the single largest portion of the Council's military forces. As their territory and influence has spread, the turians have come to rely on the salarians for military intelligence and asari for diplomacy. Despite a somewhat colonial attitude towards the rest of the galaxy, the ruling Hierarchy understands they would lose more than they would gain if the other two races were ever removed. Turians come from an autocratic society that values discipline and possesses a strong sense of personal and collective honour. There is lingering animosity between turians and humans over the First Contact War of 2157, which is known as the "Relay 314 Incident" to the turians. Offically, however, the two species are allies and they enjoy civil, if cool, diplomatic relations. --==Alien: Extinct Races==-- -> Protheans Obtained By: From Start "Fifty thousand years ago, the Protheans were the only spacefaring species in the galaxy. The vanished into a swift "galactic extinction". Only the legacy of their empire remains. They are believed to have built the mass relays and the Citadel, which have allowed numerous species to explore and expand throughout the galaxy. Prothean ruins are found on worlds across the galaxy. While surprisingly intact for their age, functioning examples of Prothean paleotechnology are rare. Time and generations of looters have picked their dead cities and derelict stations clean. Some believe the Protheans meddled in the evolution of younger races. The Hanar homeworld of Kahje, for example, show clear evidence of Prothean occupation. The presense of a former Prothean observation post on Mars has caused a rebirth of "interventionary evolutionists" among humans. These individuals believe the god-myths of ancient civilisations are misremembered encounters with humans." --==Alien: Non-Council Races==-- -> Batarians Obtained By: From Start "In the early 2160's, the Alliance began aggressive colonisation of worlds in the Skyllian Verge, much to the dismay of the Batarians who have been developing the region for several decades. In 2171, the Batarians petitioned the Council to declare the Verge a "zone of batarian interest". The Council refused, however, declaring unsettled worlds in the region open to human colonisation. In protest, the batarians closed their Council Embassy and severed offical diplomatic relations with the Council, effectively becoming a rogue state. They instigated a proxy war in the Verge by funneling money and weapons to criminal organisations, urging them to strike at human colonies. Hostilities peaked with the Skyllian Blitz of 2176, an attack on the human capital of Elysium by batarian-funded pirates and slaves. In 2178, the Alliance retaliated with a crushing assault on the moon of Torfan, long used as a staging base by batarian-backed criminals. In the aftermath, the batarians retreated into their own systems, and are now rarely seen in Citadel Space." -> Collectors Obtained By: Completing Freedom's Progress Mission "Living beyond the Omega 4 mass relay in the Terminus Systems, the mysterious Collector species is glimpsed so rarely as to be taken a myth by most in galactic society. In reality, Collectors are human-sized insectoid bipeds and can resemble massive winged beatles. They are a terrifying force in the galaxy, responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands. Collectors generate permanent statis fields around themselves, creating nightmarish red-shifted energy fields. In battle, they hold position wherever possible, relying on their aggressive biotics and nearly limitless power. Several types of bipedal Collectors have been identified, including minions, defenders, zealots, assassins and artillery operators. Acting together, Collectors have imprisoned entire cities in statis. While no definitive forsenic accounting to exists to explain the fate of those imprisoned, leading speculation is that victims are harvested for scientific experimentation and neuro-biological repurposing. -> Elcor Obtained By: From Start "The elcor are a Citadel species native to the high-gravity world Dekuuna. They are massive creatures, standing on four muscular legs for increased stability. Elcor move slowly, an evolved response to an environment where a fall can be lethal. This has coloured their psychology making them deliberate and conservative. Elcor speech is ponderous and monotone. Among themselves, scent, slight movements, and subvocalised infrasound convey shades of meaning that make a human smile seem subtle as a fireworks display. Since their subtlety can lead to misunderstandings with other species, the elcor often go out of their way to clarify when they are being sarcastic, amused or angry. Dekunna's high gravity impedes mountain formation. Most of the world consists of flat, open plains, which prehistoric elcor wandered across in small family bonds. Modern elcor still prefer open sky, and can become restless and uncomfortable on long starship journeys." -> Geth Obtained By: From Start "The geth are a humanoid race of network AIs. They were created by the quarians 300 years ago as tools of labour and war. When the geth showed signs of self-evolution, the quarians attempted to exterminate them. The geth won the resulting war. This example led to a legal, systematic repression of artifical intelligences in galactic society. The geth possesss a unique distributed intelligence. An individual has rudimentary animal instincts, but as their numbers and proximity increase, the apparent intelligence of each individual improves. In groups, they can reason, analyse situations, and use tactics as well as any organic race. Geth space is located at the trailing end of the Perseus Arm, beyond the lawless Terminus Systems. The Perseus Veil, an obscuring "dark nebula" of opaque gas and dust, lies between their space and the Terminus System." -> Hanar Obtained By: From Start "The Hanar as a Citadel species known for excessive politeness. They speak with scrupulous precision, and take offense as improper language. Hanar that expect to deal with other species take special courses to help them unlearn their tendancy to take offense at improper speech. All hanar have two names. The Face Name is known to the world; the Soul Name is kept for use among close friends and relations. Hanar never refer to themselves in the first person in conversation with someone they know on a face name basis. To do so is considered egotistical, so instead they refer to themselves as "this one", or the impersonal "it." Their homeworld, Kahje, has 90% ocean cover and orbits an energetic white star, resulting in a permanent blanket of clouds. Due to the presence of Prothean ruins on the world, many hanar worship them, and hanar myths often speak of an elder race that civilised them by teaching them language. -> Krogan Obtained By: From Start "The krogan evolved in a hostile and vicious environment. Until the invention of gunpowder weapons, "eaten by predator" was still the number one cause of krogan fatilities. Afterwards, it was "death by gunshot." When the salarians discovered them, the krogan were a brutal, primitive species struggling to survive in a self-inflicted nuclear winter. The salarians culturally uplifted them, teaching them to use and build modern technology so they could serve as soldiers in the Ranchi War. Liberated from the harsh conditions from their homeworld, the quick-breeding krogan experienced an unprecedented population explosion. They began to colonise nearby worlds, even though these worlds were already inhibited. The Krogan Rebellions lasted nearly a century, only ending when the turians unleashed the Genophage, a salarian-developed bioweapon that crushed all krogan resistance. The genophage makes only one in 1000 pregnancies viable, and today the krogan are a slowly dying breed. Understandably, the krogan harbour a grudge against all other species, especially the Turians. -> Praetorians Obtained By: Defeating the Praetorian on Horizon "Hovering tanks resembling a cross between an octopus and a giant crab, praetorians are well-armoured killing machines of mysterious origin. Praetorians employ redundant systems from the multiple humans encased within them. Armed with eye-mounted particle beams, they are capable of unleashing devastating close-range energy attacks that also regenerate their shields. Within hours after death, the organic components of praetorian corpses disintegrate into a denatured pus, while their mechanisms turn to ash. One specimen, autopised within minutes of death, reveals a clue: nanomachines may disintegrate the praetorian's organic and mechanic components before self-destructing. If correct, this self-rendering hypothesis could account for three documented cases of dead praetorians apparently releasing (or becoming) clouds of neurotoxic gases, causing suffocating paralysis and nearly- instant death. In one remote facility, 17 soldiers died from gas inhalation while assessing the praetorian. Any personnel in the vicinity of dead praetorians are urged to protect themselves with breathing apparatus." -> Quarians Obtained By: From Start "Driven from their home system by the geth nearly three centuries ago, most quarians now live aboard the Migrant Fleet, a flotilla of fifty thousand vessels ranging in size from passenger shuttles to mobile space stations. Home to 17 million quarians, the flotilla understandably has scarce resources. Because of this, each quarian must go on a rite of passage known as the Pilgrimage when they come of age. They leave the fleet and only return once they have found something of value they can bring back to their people. Other species often tend to look down on the quarians for creating the geth and for the negative impact their fleet has when it enters a system. This has led to many myths and rumours about the quarians, including the belief that under their clothes and breathing masks, they are actually Cybernetic creatures: a combination of organic and synthetic parts. -> Reapers Obtained By: From Start "A myth common to several cultures in the galaxy, Reapers were imagined to be space monsters who consumed entire stars. Archeologists and mythologists attempting to uncover sources for such myths have yielded little, except interstellar religious themes of all-consuming devils common to primitive cultures." -> Reapers: Indoctrination Obtained By: Playing the first log on the derelict Reaper ship "Reaper "indoctrination" is an insidious means of corrupting organic minds, "reprogramming" the brina through physical and psychological conditioning using electromagnetic fields, infrasonic and ultrasonic noise, and other subliminal methods. The Reaper's resulting control over the limbic system leaves the victim highly susceptible to its suggestions. Organics undergoing indoctrination may complain of headaches and buzzing or ringing in their ears. As time passes, they have feelings of "being watched" and hallucinations of "ghostly" presences. Ultimately, the Reaper gains the ability to use the victim's body to amplify its signals, manifesting as "alien" voices in the mind. Indoctrination can create perfect deep cover agents. A reaper's "suggestions" can manipulate victims into betraying friends, trusting enemies, or viewing the Reaper itself with superstitious awe. Should a Reaper subvert a well- placed political or military leader, the resulting chaos can bring down nations. Long-term physical effects of the manipulation are unsustainable. Higher mental functioning decays, ultimately leaving the victim a gibbering animal. Rapid indoctrination is possible, but causes this decay in days or weeks. Slow, patient indoctrination allows the thrall to last for months or years." -> Sovereign Obtained By: Purchasing the model of Sovereign "The flagship of the rogue ex-Spectre Saren Arterius, Sovereign is a devastating dreadnought of unprecedented power. At two kilometres long, Sovereign was believed to have been powered by a gigantic element zero core, the only energy source potent enough to land the massive vessel on a planet. During the Eden Prime War, the ship unleashed its peerless destructive force against which Citadel Council ships were defenceless. With a virtually undestructable flagship and a crew of fanatic geth and krogan, Saren nearly succeeded in wiping out all his benemies. Only the resourcefulness and bravery of the commander and the crew of the SSV Normandy stopped him. The overwhelming power of Sovereign ignited bizarre spectulation in tabloid media that the vessel was sent by extragalactic invaders, or was -- despite imdeterminate photographic evident at best -- a single giant robot. Some sources even claimed that Sovereign was alive. Such conjecture, however baseless, remains to this day." -> Volus Obtained By: From Start "The volus are a member species of the Citadel with their own embassy, but they are also a client race of the turians. Centuries ago, they were voluntarily absorbed into the Hierarchy, effectively trading their mercantile prowess for turian military protection. Irune, their homeworld, lies far beyond the normal life zone of its star. However, the world has a high-pressure greenhouse atmosphere that traps enough heat to support an ammonia-based biochemistry. As a result, the Volus must wear pressure suits and breathers when dealing with other species as conventional nitrogen/oxygen air mixtures are poisonous to them, and in the low pressure atmosphere tolerable to most species, their flesh will actually split open. Volus culture is tribal, bartering lands and even people to gain status. This culture of exchange inclines them to economic pursuits. It was the volus who authored the United Banking Act, and they continue to monitor and balance the Citadel Economy." -> Vorcha Obtained By: Meeting Vorcha in Omega "Although they resemble a mammal-reptile cross, the Vorcha have no terrestrial dialogue. They are humanoid in form, but Vorcha have "clusters" of non-differentiated neoblast cells, like those of Earth's planarian worms. Damaged vorcha cells mature into specialised structures to alleviate injury or stress. Transformations include thicker skin following injury, lung adaptation for barely-breathable atmospheres, and stronger cardio- skeletal muscle under high gravity. Skully capacity and brain size do not change, and vorcha rarely make more than one somantic overhaul. Vorcha assault each other frequently, causing their young to gain strength, intelligence and receiving pain as normal communication. For vorcha study professions, in part because their average life expectancy is only 20 years. Because vorcha can eat and breathe nearly anything, they can live almost anywhere, but racism prevents them from integrating into most societies that dismiss them as vermin. They have few employment options beyond krogan mercenary bands." --==Citadel and Galactic Government==-- -> Citadel Obtained By: From Start "The Citadel is an ancient deep-space station, presumably constructed by the Protheans. Since the Prothean extinction, numerous species have come to call the Citadel home. It serves as the political, cultural, and financial capital of the galactic community. To represent their interests, most species maintain embassies on the Presidium, the Citadel's inner ring. The Citadel Tower, in the centre of the Presidium, holds the Citadel Countil chambers. Council affairs often have far-reaching effects on the rest of the galactic community. Five arms, known as wards, extend from the Presidium. Their inner surfaces have been built into cities, populated by millions of inhibitants from across the galaxy. The Citadel is virtually indestructable. If attacked, the station can close it's arm to form a solid, impregnible shell. For as long as the station has existed, an enigmatic race called the keepers have maintained it." -> Spectres Obtained By: From Start "Spectres are agents from the office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance and answer only to the Citadel Council. They are elite military operatives, granted the authority to deal with threats to peace and stability in whatever way they deem necessary. They operate independently or in groups of two or three. Some are empathetic peacekeepers, resolving disputes through diplomacy. Others are cold-blooded assassins, ruthlessly dispatching problem individuals, All get the job done, one way or another, often operating outside of the bounds of galactic law. The Spectres were founded after the salarians joined the Council. For many yaers, they operated in secrecy, as back-room "problem solvers." Only after the Krogan Rebellions did their activities become publicised. Assignments of a Spectre is less contentious than military deployment, but makes it clear that the Council is concerned about a situation." --==Humanity and the Systems Alliance==-- -> Rise of the Alliance Obtained By: From Start "A political-economic pact for collective colonial security, the Alliance is the central galactic institution of human society. The Alliance gained associate membership to the Citadel Council in 2165 and assumed leadership in 2183, with former Ambassador Donnel Udina presiding. Many species regard humanity as a rogue race and its 2183 victory following the attack on Eden Prime as a brutal and calculated sacrifice of its military rivals. Humans allegedly leveraged military victory into a political one, carving associate membership out of the violently- depopulated council. Because the huamn Spectre Shepard's pivotal role in saving the Council, many analysts conclude several humans will be made candidates for Spectre status, further solidifying the human contribution to galactic peace. By achieving in decades what others waited centuries to receive, especially after so bloody a conflict, humans have guaranteed themselves deep hostility and fear throughout the galaxy." --==Organisations==-- -> Cerberus Obtained By: From Start "Immediately following the First Contact War, an anonymous extranet manifesto warned that an alien attempt at human genocide was inevitable. The manifesto called for an army -- a Cerberus to guard against invasion throughout the Charon relay. Derided as "survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man," the manifesto and its anonymous author soon fell off the media radar. But in 2165, terrorists stole antimatter from the SSV Geneva; the sole figure arrested named his sponsor "Cerberus." Throughout the 2160s and 2170s, alleged Cerberus agents assassinated politicans, sabotaged starships bearing eezo, and conducted nightmarish experiments on aliens and humans. Denounced as human-supremacist, Cerberus calls itself human-survivalist. Counterterror experts speculate Cerberus may have changed leadership with its recent shift to stockpiling ships, agents and weapons. Whether "he", "she", or "they," the Illusive Man hides his finances well behind shell companies. Few doubt he will kill anyone attempting to expose him." -> Cerberus: The Illusive Man Obtained By: From Start "The reclusive tycoon calling himself the Illusive Man is a human nationalist focused on advancing human interests, whatever the cost to non-humans. The Citadel Council regards him as a fanatic posing a serious threat to galactic security. A mysterious maverick to say the least, the Illusive Man heads the Cerberus network. Dubbed "the illusive empire" by investigators, Cerberus is allegedly a untraceable syndicate of private intelligence agencies, biotic laboratories, engineering and scientific research teams, and lucrative front companies. Branded a terrorist and seditionist organisation by authorities, Cerberus is the only human power base other than the Terra Firma party strong enough to embarrass -- if not threaten -- the Council and its human representatives." -> Mercenaries: Blue Sun Obtained By: Talking to Jentha, Tarak's Assistant about Blue Moon during the Archangel Saga "Founded by batarian slaver Solem Dal'sereh, the Blue Suns began as a Skyllian Verge protection racket providing genuine protection against slavers and pirates. Eventually captued by the Systems Alliance Navy, Dal'sereh beat almost two dozen charges to be convicted on a single count of conspiracy. The slaver benefited from the tuteluge of cellmate and brillant con artist Bernard "Legits" Ledger. Upon release five years later, Dal-sereh incorporated Blue Suns as a legal security agency. Today, the Blue Suns boast a galaxy-wide force of batarians, turians, humans and krogan. Each deployment is backed by a logistic corps selling everything from heavy weapons to shaving cream. Despite claims that Blue Suns sell its captives as slaves, no Blue Sun employee has ever been convicted on such charges. Many Blue Suns members sport the company logo in tattoo form, removed during assignments and reapplied at mission-end." -> Mercenaries: Eclipse Obtained By: Talking to Jaroth about Eclipse during Archangel Mission "Brainchild of asari commando Jonas Sederis, Eclipse was incorporated as a "proactive" security company. Influenced by asari and salarian military doctine, Eclipse specialises in sabotage, assasination, and personal and organisational security. Although Citadel governments regard the corporation with suspicion, it's embraced in the Skyllian Verge and Terminus Systems. Early on, Sederis sought government contracts to establish market share against the better-established Blue Suns. Her agency scored a galactic PR coup by retaking several space stations captured by the Anhur People's Liberation Army and neutralizing its leaders, a victory Eclipse's marketing department never ceases trumpeting. Based on Omega Station, Eclipse controls nearly 20% of the asteroid's real estate. Its services range from mech repair to open warfare, although assassination is reserved for meeting wider, longer-term company goals (for instance, pre-emptive strikes against pirates rather than murdering spouses for insurance money.) Despite numerous reports, Eclipse denies sabotaging or kidnapping business rivals." -> Mercenaries: The Blood Pack Obtained By: Talking to Garm about The Blood Pack during Archangel Mission "Originally a small Terminus Systems vorcha gang, the Blood Pack was transformed into a legion by visionary krogan battlemaster Ganar Wrang. Exiled for striking a female in anger, Wrang obsessed over reclaiming his lost status. Leading the vorcha pack as a pirate crew, Wrang cultivated recruits and infamy for a decade before incorporating his fighters as a security company across the Skyllian Verge. His notoriety ensured his initial public offering for investors made him rich beyond most krogan's dreams. Wrang returned triumphantly to his clan, rallying elders, krogan hordes, and their firepower and biotic support towards professional violence in the Terminus Systems. Banned from Citadel space, the Blood Pack bribes its way through spaceports into armed conflicts across the galaxy. Priding themselves for accepting otherwise untouchable contracts, the Blood Pack rejects bodyguarding and security in favour of cases requiring minimal oversight and maximal violence." --==Planets and Locations==-- -> Aeia Obtained By: Landing on Aeia "Humans detected Aeia as an Earth-type world via telemetry in 2165. After probe surveys indicated life -- lush vegetation, ample fresh water and breathable air -- the Alliance upgraded the planet to a garden-world colonization priority. Commanded by Captain Ronald Taylor, the crew of Alliance survey vessel Hugo Gernsback made planetfall on the jungle world in 2173. Soon after, ship transmissions inexplicably stopped. While the precise fate of the Hugo Gernsback command and crew is unknown, they are presumed killed in action and their vessel destroyed." -> Freedom's Progress Obtained By: Landing on Freedom's Progress "Freedom's Progress was once a typical Alliance settlement, but following complete communications blackout and its apparent destruction is now a lightning rod for anxiety and dread in the galactic human community. The communication blackout followed an upgrade of the colony's small military force (supplemented by mechs and security drones) with high- powered, tower-mounted GARDIAN lasers. Colonists complained about construction cost overruns, delays, noise, and damage to the local environment. They also feared the defence array could be seen as provocative to their world's neighbours. Such fears may not have been baseless. Authorities have still offered no explaination for the communications blackout, fueling rumours of plagues, natural disasters, or a cult-inspired mass-suicide. Located in a strategically insignificant space, Freedom's Progress colony had once offered residents spectcular rainbows, lush marshlands and stunning mountain ranges. Its potential as an argicultural settlement and tourism wonderland rivaled that of any Alliance colony." -> Haestrom Obtained By: Landing on Haestrom "Before the geth revolt 300 years ago, the quarians colonized Haestrom to study the mysterious instability of its sun, which threatened premature eruption into a red giant.As a scientific outpost of minimal military value, Haestrom was ill-equipped to repel geth forces during the insurrection and fell quickly under their control. Captured geth planetary survey data indicates that despite sustaining damage, Haestrom's architecture remains as it was before the war, preserving a quarian architectural style that no longer exists anywhere else in the galaxy. Because Haestrom's sun has overwhelmed the planet's protective magnetosphere, humans foolhardy enough to venture into geth-controlled Haestrom must exercise extreme caution. Minutes of radiation exposure will overload shields and hours of exposure will kill. Furthermore, solar output renders surface-to-orbit communication nearly impossible." -> Horizon Obtained By: Landing on Horizon "A typical Terminus colony possessing minimal tourist value, Horizon promises substantial economic opportunity, especially in providing new products for humans and supplying the Turian Hierarchy. Surveyed 18 years ago, Horizon received pilot habitation four years later; the colony proper is now eight years old. Blessed with verdant forests and abundant fresh water, Horizon maintains a colonial culture that thrives as a refuge from the increasing restrictions of Citadel-governed society. Horizon has attracted numerous dissidents, marginal people, and fringe-dwellers from across Alliance space." -> Illium Obtained By: Landing on Illium "A regional hub of asari commerce awash in riches, Illium is infamous for its abusive labour practices and legalisation of nearly anything except murder. As such, Illium is the preferred production site of weapons and pharmaceuticals that would be illegal nearly everywhere else, made even more lucrative by legal indentured servitude. Among the biotics-related pharmaceutical producers is the Dantius Corporation, a rising star in galactic commerce. Despite the dangers of its products, Illium is renowned for glamour, luxury, and safety (provided by near-total surveillance), making it a favoured tourist destination. Countless celebrities maintain palatial estates on Illium and in its capital, Nos Astra. The sole obstacle to business on Illium is its extensive bureaucracy, tolerated only for its provision of security. Regardless of the character of its economy, Illium's self-congratulatory media exalts its own society with the provincial arrogance of "new money" glorifying in "sexiest CEOs" and "ten richest residents" lists. -> Korlus Obtained By: Landing on Korlus "Known as the starcraft cemetery, Korlus was the regional toxic junk yard for centuries. Ships reaching astronomical "near-death" at connecting mass relays were sent to Korlus, stripped of every useful component, and dumped planetward to clear shipping lanes. Currently Korlus hosts numerous merc factions such as the Blue Suns, rumoured to be using downed ship fossils to test advanced munitions. Massive gun batteries threaten anyone attempting planetfall, with minimal defenses against ground attack. Because ancient vulcanism greenhoused the planet; Korlus was too hot and CO2-rich to develop a biosphere, despite the abundant lakes that could have sponsored the development of life. Now cool enough for protected habitation, but too searching for anyone but extremeophiles and mercenaries seeking secrecy, Korlus supports numerous krogan outposts. The krogran have therefore seeded Korlus with hardy varren, often kept as war hounds. Varren live primarily on a diet of geophagous vermin and each other." -> Omega Obtained By: Landing on Omega "Originally an asteroid rich in element zero, Omega was briefly mined by the Protheans, who eventually abandoned it due to it's thick, impenetrable crust. Thousands of years later, nature did what even the Protheans could not; a collision with another asteroid broke Omega in half, exposing its trove of element zero for easy mining. A rush ensured as corporations and private individuals tried to strike it rich on Omega, and thieves and outlaws followed in their wake. As space became tight, construction of professing facilities extended vertically from the asteroid, creating Omega's jellyfish-like silhouette. To prevent future collisions, the station is ringed with enormous mass-effect field generators that redirect incoming debris. Today, Omega is a major hub of narcotics, weapons, and eezo trafficking without even a pretense of civilian government or military control. Only mercenary groups have been able to instill a limited order; the most ruthless is an asari syndicate run by the notorious Aria T'Loak." -> Pragia Obtained By: Landing on Pragia "Choked by the hyper-growth of non-native plant species, Pragia serves as a galactic reminder about the imperative for careful regulation during colonization. Two centuries ago, batarian agribusiness chose uninhabited Pragia as their empire's breadbasket. Colonization authorities introduced non- native industrially-mutated plants that flourished in the world's fertile volcanic soil. Synergizing with Pragia's natural geothermal conditions and chemotropic microbes, the imported species soon became a nightmare. Mutant strains of poisonous and even carnivorous plants arose, overgrowing colonies in days instead of years, and causing the batarians to abandon their holdings. Because the planet's small animal population is insufficient to check its plant growth, Alliance ecologists predict soil exhaustion in 400 years. Due to its relative isolation and lack of population, Pragia has become a regional haven for drug-runners, weapons-smugglers, pirates, mercenaries, terrorists, and intelligence agents seeking secrecy." -> The Perseus Veil Obtained By: Accepting Legion's Loyalty Mission "As vast in natural beauty as it is in threat, the purple and gold nebula called the Perseus Veil forms the natural border between geth space and the Terminus Systems. The Veil's total opacity prevents Council intelligence from surveying geth activity. Theoretically, the geth could be preparing a devastating attack which the Council would be defenseless, or the geth could have died out, so that the defence budget against them could be gaining the Alliance nothing but economic ruination. Despite fears of geth, prospectors do occasionally mount salvages ventures inside the Veil; one ended in tragedy. Using technomental domination, the geth drew the team into the Veil aiming them back as husks at the organic society that produced them. A leaked classified Spectre report claims that the dreadnought Sovereign, commanded by ex-Spectre Saren Arterius and crewed by geth, hid near the Veil before initiating the 2183 Citadel attack." -> Tuchanka Obtained By: Landing on Tuchanka "The krogan homeworld boasts extreme temperatures, virulent diseases, and vicious predatory fauna. Around 1900 BCE, the krogan discovered atmoic power and prompty instigated many intraplanetary wars, sending Tuchanka into a nuclear winter. With most of their industrial base destroyed, the krogan entered a new dark age and warring tribal bands dominated. Populations remained low for the next 2000 years. First contact with the salarians made resurgence possible. Krogan brought to less hostile planets bred exponentially and returned to reconquer their home. They built vast underground shelters to shield themselves from surface radiation, which proved prescient during the Krogan Rebellions when many of them isolated themselves in a vain attempt to avoid the genophage. Convinced they could outbreed the genophage, they transmitted it into more than 90 percent of the sealed bunkers. Today, Tuchanka's population is sharply limited and while individual krogan are long-lived, the genophage ensures few replacements." --==Ships and Vehicles==-- -> Normandy Armour Upgrade: Silaris Armour Obtained By: Upgrading Normandy with the Heavy Armour Upgrade "Asari-made Silaris armour can resist even the tremendous heat and kinetic energy of starship weapons. The armour is nearly unsurpassed in strength because its central material, carbon nanotube sheets woven with diamond Chemical Vapour Deposition, are crushed by mass effect fields into super- dense layers able to withstand extreme temperatures. That process also compensates for diamond's brittleness. Diamond armour itself has two limiting disadvantages. First, while nanotubes and CVD-diamond construction have become cheaper in recent years, it remains prohibitively expensive to coat starships or aircraft larger than fighters in Silaris material. Second, the armour must be attached to the ship's superstructure, so shock waves from massive firepower can still destroy the metals beneath the armour itself. A popular misconception hold that the diamond composition of Silaris armour gives it a sparkle. In fact, atmospheric nitrogen impurities during the super-hot forging process gives the armour a metallic grey or yellow sheen." -> Normandy Shield Upgrade - Cyclonic Barrier Technology Obtained By: Upgrading Normandy with Multicore Shielding "Cyclonic Barrier Technology (CBT) attempts to solve the higher-end limitations of traditional kinetic barriers. Traditional barriers cannot block high-end kinetic energy attacks such as disruptor torpedoes because torpedo mass effect fields add mass. The CBT violently slaps aside rather than hitting incoming linear force. By rotationally firing their mass effect field projectors, ships create rapidly oscillating kinetic barriers instead of static ones. Shooting through the CBT is like trying to shoot at a target inside a spinning ball. Significant drawbacks to current CBT configuration prevents it use on anything other than frigates and fighters. Its many high-frequency sensors and emitters require frequent maintenance and replacement. A partially damaged CBT can endanger its operator, who is surrounded by rotating mass effect fields skewing in unpredictable directions. Fortunately, if an emitter is damaged, the CBT corrects to become a traditional shield array, a safety feature that makes it most effective during opening volleys." -> Normandy SR-1 Obtained By: From Start "The Systems Alliance Space Vehicle Normandy is a prototype starship created as a joint human and turian venture. A frigate optimised for reconnaissance missions, the vessel uses state-of-the-art stealth technology. Most ships generate tremendous heat that is easily detectable against the absolute-zero background of space. The Normandy, however, temporarily sinks this heat within its hull. Because of exterior hull refrigeration, the ship can travel undetected for hours, or drift passively for days of covert observation. That heat-sinking carries the risk of cooking the crew alive if the stored heat is not eventually radiated. Also contributing to the stealth is the Normandy's revolutionary Tantalus drive, a mass effect core double the standard size. The Tantalus generates mass concentrations that the Normandy "falls into", allowing it to move without the use of heat-emitting thrusters." -> Normandy SR-2 Obtained By: When you get the Normandy SR-2 "With elaborate secrecy, Cerberus laboured for years to build a new, superior Normandy. The vehicle's many alterations required a craft nearly double the original size, requiring an even larger Tantalus drive core to compensate. The new Normandy features greater space in living quarters, research laboratory, observation deck, and cargo bay. Its shuttle can attempt to make landings the Normandy cannot attempt. In addition to tightbeam communications, Normandy's Quantium Entanglement Communicator (QEC) provides an instantaneous contact with the Illusive Man. The Enhanced Defence functions, assisting and even supplanting human piloting. Potential upgrades are numerous: the airframe could support additional armour and an axial mass accelerator, the thrustors could support recent advances in fuel technology beyond H2/O2 chemical rockets, and the hull can mount double the standard number of kinetic barrier projectors, leaving space for stronger shields, easily sustainable via the new eezo drive core." -> Normandy Weapon Upgrade: Thanix Magnetic-Hydronamic Cannon Obtained By: Upgrading the Normandy with the Thanix Cannon "Following the Battle of the Citadel, human and turian volunteers conducted a massive three-month recovery effort to clear the station's orbit of debris. Secretly, the turian Office of Technological Reconnaissance "volunteers" were technology recovery specialists salvaging the main weapon of the geth flagship Sovereign, and large amounts of its valuable element zero core. Contary to popular belief, Sovereign's main gun was not a directed-energy weapon. Rather, its massive element zero core powered an electromagnetic field suspending a liquid iron-uranium-tungsten alloy that shaped into armour-piercing projectiles when fired. The jets of molten metal, accelerated to a fraction of the speed of light, destroys targets by impact force and irresistable heat. Only 11 months after the battle, the turians produced the Thanix, their own miniaturized version of Sovereign's gun. The Thanix can fire reliably every five seconds, rivaling a crusier's firepower but mountable on a fighter or frigate." -> UT-47 Kodiak "Drop-Shuttle" Obtained By: Using the Drop Shuttle when Docking "The Systems Alliance UT-47 drop-shuttle landing craft holds 12 soldiers in a cramped, uncomfortable cargo bay and two more in the cockpit. Offically named the Kodiak, the drop-shuttle is better known to Alliance marines as the "combat cockroach" due to its appearance and durability. The vehicle's robust environmental sealant technology exposes few vulnerable parts to the elements. First tested in the sulfuric acid clouds and extreme temperatures of Venus, the Kodiak can land in hard vacuum, high pressure, and temperature from near-absolute zero to over 900 degrees Celcius. A true contragravitic vehicle, the Kodiak's substantial element zero core allows flight by entirely countering the vehicle's mass. Its small thrusters are for directional control only, so if the mass effect field fails, the vehicle becomes a proverbial "three-million-credit coffin." The unarmed shuttle forgoes weaponry-space for active masking, electronic countermeasures and a robust kinetic barrier system. It is ideal for dropping troops undetected." --==Technology==-- -> Biotics Obtained By: From Start "Biotics is the ability of rare individuals to manipulate dark energy and create mass effect fields through the use of electrical impulses from the brain. Intense training and surgically-implanted amplifiers are necessary for a biotic to produce mass effect fields powerful enough for practical use. The relative strength of biotic abilities varies greatly among species and with each individual. These are three branches of biotics. TELEKINESIS uses mass-lowering fields to levitate or impel objects. Mass-raising KINETIC FIELDS are used to block or pin objects. DISTORTION uses rapidly shifting mass fields to shred objects. Most organis species are capable of developing biotic abilities, though there are risks involved. Biotics are the result of in-utero exposure to element zero. This usually causes fatal cancers in the victim, but in rare cases it coalesces into nodules within the fetus's developing nervous system. " -> Element Zero ("Eezo") Obtained By: From Start "When subjected to an electrical current, the rare material dubbed element zero, or "eezo", emits a dark energy field that raises or lowers the mass of all objects within it. This "mass effect" is used in countless ways, from generating artificial gravity to manufacturing high-strength construction materials. It is most prominently used to enable faster-than-light space travel. Eezo is generated when solid matter, such as a planet, is affected by the energy of a star going supernova. This material is common in the asteroid debris that orbit neutron stars and pulsars. These are dangerous places to mine, requiring extensive use of robotics, telepresense, and shielding to survive the incredible radiation from the dead star. Only a few major corporations can afford the set-up costs required to work these primary sources. Humanity discovered refined element zero at the Prothean research station on Mars, allowing them to create mass effect fields and develop FTL travel." -> Mass Effect Fields Obtained By: From Start "Element Zero can increase or decrease the mass of volume of space-time when subjected to an electrical current. With a positive current, mass is increase. With a negative current, mass is decreased. The stronger the current, the greater the magnitude of the dark energy mass effect. In space, the low-mass fields allow FTL travel and inexpensive surface-to- orbit transit. High-mass fields create artificial gravity and push space debris away from vessels. In manufacturing low-mass fields permit the creation of evenly-blended alloys, while high mass compactions create dense, sturdy construction materials. The military makes extensive use of mobility enhancing technologies, with mass effect utilising fighting vehicles standard front-line issues in most military forces. Mass effect fields are also essential in the creation of kinetic barriers of shields to protect against enemy fire." -> Mass Relays Obtained By: From Start "Mass relays are feats of Prothean engineering advanced far beyond the technology of any living species. They are enormous structures scattered throughout the stars, and can create corridors of virtually mass-free space allowing instantaneous transit between locations seperated by years or even centuries of travel using conventional FTL drives. Primary mass relays can propel ships thousands of light years, often from on spiral arm of the galaxy to another. However, they have fixed one-to-one connections: a primary relay connects to one other primary relay, and nowhere else. Secondary relays can only propel ships a few hundred light years, however they are are omnidirectional; a secondary relay can send a ship to any other relay within its limited range. There are many dormant primary relays whose corresponding twins have not yet been located. These are left inactive until their partner is charted, as established civilisations are unwilling to blindly open a passage that might connect them to a hostile species. -> Omni-Tool Obtained By: From Start "Omni-tools are handheld devices that combine a computer microframe, sensor analysis pack, and manufacturing fabricator. Versatile and reliable, an omni-tool can be used to analyse and adjust the functionality of most standard equipment, including weapons and armour, from a distance. The fabrication module can rapidly assemble small three-dimensional objects from common, reusable industrial plastics, ceramics, and light alloys. This allows for field repairs and modifications to most standard items, as well as the reuse of salvaged equipment. Omni-tools are standard issue for soldiers and first-in colonists." --==Weapons, Armour and Equipment==-- -> Collector Particle Beam Obtained By: Take the Collector Beam on Horizon "The Collectors' particle beam weapon is strangely crafted, possessing few moving pieces, lacking any obvious means for disassembly, and containing organic parts. The amount of energy required to create a destructive beam is several orders of magnitude more than the energy required to launch a physical projectile at high velocity via a mass effect field. Lacking any clear ammunition or fuel source, the device likely uses heat sinks or compensators to maintain firing during sustained combat. Current Cerberus efforts to understand the technology and replicate it have failed." -> M-622 Avalanche Obtained By: Research the M-622 Avalanche "Still in its experiemental stages, the M-622 Avalanche generates a Bose-Einstein condensate within a mass effect bubble which dissipates on impact, violently spraying the condensate outward and coating the target in a near-absolute-zero superfluid. The Avalanche is unreliable, at times merely coating its target with ice, defacing exposed skin and freezing armour joints. Such low temperatures cause great damage to electronics like kinetic barrier emitters, which sometimes lead to total systems failure. At the other extreme, the Avalanche freezes flesh and bone, causing massive trauma as blood vessels constrict and frozen blood expands. Occasionally such iced tissue shatters." -> Medi-Gel Obtained By: Play with Medi-Gel for the first time "Medi-Gel is a common medical salve used by paramedics, EMTS, and military personnel. It combines several useful applications: a local anesthetic, disinfectant, and clotting agent all in one. Once applied, the gel is designed to grip tight to flesh until subjected to a frequency of ultrasound. It is sealable against liquids - most notably blood - as well as contaminants and gases. The gel is a genetically-engineered bioplasm created by the Sirta Foundation, a medical technology megacorp based on Earth. Technically the medi-gel violates Council Laws against genetic engineering, but so far, it has proved far too useful to ban." -> ML-77 Missile Launcher Obtained By: Research ML-77 Missile Launcher "Based on existing technology, the ML-77 is a rapid-fire missile launcher using seeking projectiles. Each projectile features a friend-or-foe recognition system, ensuring it will find a hostile target even if the user's aim is not completely accurate. The weapon excels at taking out snipers and other entrenched enemies in dense urban environments. This makes it popular with mercenary groups, particularly the Blue Suns. Missile Launchers have been appearing with increasing frequency in the Terminus Systems, but their point of manufacture is unknown. Legal duplication of missile launchers is difficult due to Fabrication Rights Management (FRM) technology." *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* [A.02] Secondary Codex The secondary codex is the second part of the codex, for more indepth information. Still, you get a reward for discovering the entry, but there are some that are limiting. --==Aliens: Council Races==-- -> Asari: Ardat-Yakshi Obtained By: Talking to Samara about her daughter "Arday-Yakshi ("demon of the night winds") are asari suffering from a genetic disorder preventing conventional melding of nervous systems during mating. Instead, Ardat-Yakshi electro-chemically ravage their partners' nervous systems, in extreme cases leaving victims as vegetative invalids or corpses. Asari psychologists regard this incapacity for mental fusion as preventing the development of empathy, leading to psychopathy. There is no known cure. This disorder generally begins in infancy, reaching full pathology during Maiden adolescent sexual development. While seductive and sexually-driven as other asari, Ardat-Yakshi are congenitally sterile. Ancient asari mythology held Ardat-Yakshi as gods of destruction, depicting them as villians of countless legands and as the anti-heroes of numerous asari epics. Contary to popular belief, Ardat-Yakshi are neither extremely rare (around one percent of asari dwell on the AY spectrum), nor are they all murderers. Most cultivate and discard countless exploitative or abusive relationships during their legally marginal lives. Despite rumours of Ardat-Yakshi syndicates, by nature Ardat-Yakshi are incapable of long-term cooperation. As a disproportionately wealthy species, asari employ their economic reach and media ownership to hide the AY pathology from the galactic community, placing most Ardat-Yakshi in monitored work programs or seclusions. Only the most aggressive cases are sentenced to sanitaria or prisons or to the execution lists of justicars. -> Asari: Biology Obtained By: From Start "Asari have a robust cellular regenerative system. While they do not heal faster than other species, asari are known to reach 1000 years of age. Although asari have one gender, they are not asexual. An asari provides two copies of her own genes to her offspring. The second set is altered in a unique process called melding. During melding, an asari consciously attunes her nervous system to her partner's, sending and receiving electrical impulses directly through the skin. The partner can be another asari, or an alien of either gender. Effectively, the asari and her partner briefly become one unified nervous system. This unique means of reproduction is the reason asari are talented biotics. Their evolved ability to consciously control nerve impulses is very similar to biotic training. Asari believe that their offspring acquire the best qualities of the "father" from the melded genes, but evidence is anecdotal. Asari pass through three climacteric life stages, marked by biochemical and physiological changes. The Maiden stage begins at birth and is marked by the drive to explore and experience. Most young asari are curious and restless. The Matron stage of life begins around the age of 350, though it can be triggered earlier if the individual melds frequently. This period is marked by a desire to settle in one area and raise children. The Matriarch stage begins around 700, or earlier if the individual melds rarely. Matriarchs become active in their community as sages and councillors, dispensing wisdom from centuries of experience. While each stage of life is marked by strong biological tendencies, individuals do make unexpected life choices. For example, there are Maidens who stay close to home rather than explore, Matrons who would rather work than build a family, and Matriarchs who have no interest in community affairs." -> Asari: Culture Obtained By: From Start "Because of their long lifespan, asari tend to have a "long view" not common in other races. When they encounter a new species or situation, the asari are more comfortable with an extended period of passive observation and study than immediate action. They are unfazed that some of their investments or decisions may not pay off for decades or centuries. Matriarchs can seem to make incomprehensible decisions, but their insight is evident when their carefully laid plans come to fruition. In interstellar relations, this long view manifests in the unspoken policy of centrism. The asari instinctively seek to maintain stable balances of economic, political, and military power. Traditionally, asari spread their influence through cultural domination and intellectual superiority. They invite new species of advanced development to join the galactic community, knowing that their ideals and beliefs will inevitably influence the existing culture." -> Asari: Government Obtained By: From Start "The asari came late to the concept of world government. For centuries, their homeworld of Thessia was dotted with loose confederacies of great republican cities. The closest Earthly equivalent would be the ancient Mediterranean city-states. Since the asari culture values consensus and accommodation, there was little impetus to form larger principalities. Rather than hoard resources, the asari bartered freely. Rather than attack one another over differing philosophies, they sought to understand one another. Only in the information age did the city-states grow close. Communication over the internet evolved into an "electronic democracy". Asari have no politicians or elections, but a free-wheeling, all-inclusive legislature that citizens can participate in at will. Policy debates take place at all hours of the day, in official chat rooms and forums moderated by specially- programmed virtual intelligences. All aspects of policy are opened to plebiscite at any time. In any given debate, the asari tend to lend the most credence to the opinions of any Matriarchs present, nearly always deferring to the experience of these millenia-old "wise women". Achieving consensus through public debate may take too long in a crisis. In cases where prompt, decisive action is required, the asari defer to the wisdom of local Matriarchs." -> Asari: Justicars Obtained By: Talking to Samara about Justicars "Despite the refinement and sophistication of asari culture, criminality remains a fact of life. The asari solution to the most vicious and destructive criminal element is the Justicar Order. Justicars are an asari class of virtually untouchable, extra-judical executioners operating almost exclusively within asari territory. In the last decade alone, Justicars have smashed dozens of criminal rings inside asari territory, operated by asari and non-asari alike. Their methods range from subtle where possible, to brutal where necessary. Trained for extreme strength, biotic capacity, resourcefulness, asceticism, and ruthlessness, the fanatical justicars are romanticized and feared throughout asari society. Although justicars generally work alone, their effectiveness arises from the huge body of knowledge they can access. Any asari who enters the ranks of justicars have already spent centuries in a combination of criminal investigation, military intelligence, and combat experience; the collective body of justicar knowledge exceeds even that of the Spectres. Justicars tend to be independent, requiring little help but also scorning it since such advanced skill and experience usually travels with a powerful ego. The conflicts presented by such arrogance prompted the Justicar Order to develop the Oaths of Subsumation. The Oaths pledge protection of the innocent, the punishment of the guilty, and defence of common law and the norms of asari society. The effect of the Oath is conservative, ensuring that justicars respect the existing distribution of asari power rather than staging a coup to rearrange society according to justicar satisfaction. Nevertheless, the possibility of such an attack is a source of anxiety -- and counter-intelligence -- among the asari elite. Of all the pledges, the Third Oath of Subsumation is sworn the least of any of the oaths. Requiring a Justicar to swear loyalty that overrides the dictates of even the Justicar Code, the Third Oath is usually invoked in matters where even the black-or-white thinking of justicars is forced to concede the existance of grey." -> Asari: Military Doctrine Obtained By: From Start "The asari military resembles a collection of tribal warrior bands with no national structure. Each community organises its own unit as the locals see fit, and elect a leader to command them. Units from populous cities are large and well-equipped, while those from farm villages may be only a few women with small arms. There is no uniform; everyone wears what they like. The asari military is not an irregular militia, however; those who serve are full-time professionals. The average asari huntress is in the maiden stage of her life and has devoted 20-30 years studying the martial arts. Asari choose to be warriors at a young age, and their education from that point is dedicated to sharpening them mind and body for that sole purpose. When they retire, they possess an alarming proficiency for killing. Huntresses fight individually or in pairs, depending on the tactics preferred in their town. One-on-one, a huntress is practically unbeatable, possessing profound tactical insight, a hunter's eye, and a dancer's grace and alacrity. Biotics are common enough that some capability is a requirement to be trained as a huntress; lack of biotic talent excludes a young asari from military service. While fluid and mobile, asari can't stand up in a firestorm the way a krogan, turian, or human could. Since their units are small and typically lack heavy armor and support weapons, they are almost incapable of fighting a conventional war, particularly one of a defensive nature. So asari units typically undertake special operations missions. Like an army of ninjas, they are adept at ambush, infiltration, and assassination, demoralising and defeating their enemies through intense, focused guerrilla strikes. As a popular turian saying puts it, "The asari are the finest warriors in the galaxy. Fortunately, there are not many of them"." -> Asari: Religion Obtained By: From Start "The pantheistic mainstream asari religion is Siari, which translates roughly as "all is one." The faithful agree on certain core truths: the universe is a consciousness, every life within it is an aspect of the greater whole, and death is a merging of one's spiritual energy back into greater universal consciousness. Siarists don't specifically believe in reincarnation; they believe in spiritual energy returning to the universal consciousness upon death will eventually be used to fill new mortal vessels. Siari became popular after the asari left their homeworld and discovered their ability to "meld" with nearly any form of life. This ability is seen as proof that all life is fundamentally similar. Siari priestesses see their role as promoting unity between disparate shards of the universe's awareness. Before the rise of siari pantheism, asari religions were as diverse as their political opinion. The strongest survivor of those days is the monotheistic religion worshipping the goddess Athame. Like the asari, the goddess cycles through the triple aspects of maiden, matron, and matriarch." -> Salarians: Biology Obtained By: From Start "Salarians are noted for their high-speed metabolism, which allows them to function on just one hour of sleep a day. Their minds and bodies work faster than most sapient races, making them seem restless or hyperactive. The drawback of this active metabolism is a short lifespan of around 40 human years. The salarians are amphibian haplo-diploid egg-layers; unfertilized eggs produce males and fertilised eggs produce females. Once a year, a salarian female will lay a clutch of dozens of eggs. Social rules prevent all but a fraction from being fertilised. As a result, 90% of the species is male. Salarians have photographic memories and rarely forget a fact. They also possess a form of psychological "imprinting", tending to defer to those they knew in their youth. Salarian hatching is a solemn ritual in which the clan Dalatrass (matriarch) isolates herself with the eggs. The young salarians psychologically imprint on her and tend to defer to her wishes. During the hatching of daughters, the Dalatrasses of the mother and father's clans are present at the imprinting. This ensures the offspring have equal loyalty to both, ensuring the desired dynastic and political unity. " -> Salarians: Culture Obtained By: From Start "The rare salarian females are cloistered on their worlds out of tradition and respect. Powerful female Dalatrasses are dynasts and political kingpins. They determine the political course of their respective regions through shrewd negotiation. Though male salarians rise to positions of great authority in business, academia, or the military, they rarely have any input on politics. Due to their method of reproduction, salarians have no concept of romantic love, sexual attraction, or the biological impulses and social rituals that complicate human lives. Male-female relationships are rare (due to the scarcity of females) and are more akin to human friendship. Sexuality is strictly for the purpose of reproduction. Ancient social codes determine who gets to fertilise eggs, which produces more daughters to continue a bloodline. Fertilisation generally only occurs after months of negotiation between the parents' clans, and is done for purpose of political and dynastic alliance. No salarian would imagine defying this code. Salarian names are quite complex. A full name includes - in order - the name of a salarian's planet, duchy, barony, fiefdom, family, and finally, the given name." -> Salarians: Government Obtained By: From Start "The salarian government is called the Salarian Union. It is a labyrinthine web of matrilineal bloodlines, with political alliances formed through interbreeding. In many ways, the salarian political network functions like the noble families of Earth's Medieval Europe. Structurally the government consists of fiefdoms, baronies, duchies, planets, and marches (colonisation clusters). These are human nicknames; the original salarian is unpronounceable. Each area is ruled by a single Dalatrass (matriarchal head-of-household) and represents an increasing amount of territory and prestige within the salarian political web. Approaching 100 members, the first circle of a salarian's clan comprises of parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The next circle includes second cousins, etc, and escalates to well over 1000 members. The fourth of fifth circle of a clan numbers into the millions. Salarian loyalty is greatest to their first circle and diminishes from there. Their photographic memories allow salarians to recognise all their myriad relatives." -> Salarians: League of One Obtained By: From Start "Before they joined the Citadel Council, the salarians' most potent military tool was a small reconnaissance team known as the League of One. Their primary training was in espionage and assassination. Never more than a dozen strong, the team was adept at infiltrating the tightest defenses and eliminating all necessary obstacles. Only a few top members of government and military were privy to the League's identities. League members wore no distinguishing garments, and held no particular rank. The only evidence of their participation in the League was a small medallion presented to each member upon induction. This secrecy was maintained until the formation of the Council. In an afford to dispel rumours and appease their new asari partners, the Salarian Union released all classified documents pertaining to the League. The League of One was suddenly exposed and in danger of being hunted by enemies of the salarians. Before any harm could be done, the team mysteriously disappeared. Most assumed this was a convenient lie to help hide their identities, but a few months later, the inner cabinet was murdered. Though there was no incriminating evidence, it was clear who was responsible. Realising the threat posed by this rogue outfit, the Special Tasks Group dispatched a team of hunters. When they didn't return, the STG dispatched ten of its brightest operators with broad discretionary powers. Only two returned; they reported no evidence of the League. No further incidents were reported and it was assumed the League was wiped out. Some recently declassified documents, however, have suggested there may have been a thirteenth member who eluded the salarian military." -> Salarians: Military Doctrine Obtained By: From Start "In principle, the salarian military is similar to the Alliance, a small volunteer army that focuses on maneuver warfare. What differentiates the salarians is not their equipment or doctrine, but their intelligence services and rules of engagement. The salarians believe that a war should be won before it begins. Conventional wisdom holds that the salarians know everything about everyone, and this is not far from the truth. In war, the unquestioned superiority of their intelligence services allows them to use their small military to maximum effectiveness. Well before fighting breaks out, they possess complete knowledge of their enemy's positions, intentions, and timetable. In every war the salarians have fought, they struck first and without warning. For the salarians, to know an enemy plans to attack and to let it happen is folly. To announce their own plans to attack is insanity. They find the human moral concepts of "do not fire until fired upon" and "declare a war before prosecuting it" incredibly naive. In defensive wars, they execute devastating preemptive strikes hours before the enemy's own attacks. On the offensive, they have never telegraphed their intentions with a declaration of war before attacking. Biotics are virtually unknown in the salarian military. Those with such abilities are considered too valuable to be used as cannon fodder and assigned to the intelligence services. While capable of defending themselves against most threats, the salarians know that they are small fish in a universe filled with sharks. As a point of survival, they have cultivated strong alliances with larger powers, particularly the turians. Though the relationship between the two species was rocky at first due to the krogan uplift fiasco, the salarians take pains to keep this relationship strong enough that anyone who might threaten them risks turian intervention." -> Salarians: Special Tasks Group Obtained By: From Start "Salarian intelligence field agents are grouped into an organization called the Special Tasks Group. STG operators work in independent cells, performing dangerous missions such as counterterrorism, infiltration, reconnaissance, assassination, and sabotage. The STG is a proactive organisation, puncturing worrisome trends before they become movements. At any time, a dozen groups are operating covertly within the lawless Terminus Systems, sowing dissent among the various factions. Civilians analysts also note how troublesome "hinge point" individuals in Terminus frequently meet unexpected deaths. STG operators are feared throughout the galaxy for their clear-eyed, remorseless practicality. They are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their mission, even if it kills civilians or results in the team's own destruction. In many ways, they are akin to the Council Spectres." -> Turians: Biology Obtained By: From Start "The turian homeworld, Pavaven, has a metal-poor core, generating a weak magnetic field and allowing more solar radiation into the atmosphere. To deal with this, most forms of life on Palaven evolved some form of metallic "exoskeleton" to protect themselves. Their reflective plate-like skin makes turians less susceptible to long-term, low-level radiation exposure, but they do not possess any sort of "natural armor". A turian's thick skin does not stop projectiles and directed energy bolts. Although life on Palaven is carbon-based and oxygen-breathing, it is built on dextro-amino acids. This places the turians in a distinct minority on the galactic stage; the quarians are the only other sapient dextro-protein race. The food of humans, asari, or salarians (who evolved in levo-amino acid-based biospheres), will at best pass through turian systems without providing any nutrition. At worst, it will trigger an allergic reaction that can be fatal if not immediately treated." -> Turians: Culture Obtained By: From Start "While turians are individuals with personal desires, their instinct is to equate the self with the group, and to set aside all personal desires for the good of all. Turians are taught to have a strong sense of personal accountability, the "turian honour" that other races find so remarkable. Turians are taught to own every decision they make, good or ill. The worst sin they can make in the eyes of their people is to lie about their own actions. Turians who murder will try to get away with it, but if directly questioned, most will confess to the crime. Turians have a strong inclination toward public service and self-sacrifice, so they tend to be poor entrepreneurs. To compensate, they accepted the mercantile volus as a client race, offering protection in exchange for their fiscal expertise. The turian military is the centre of their society. It is not just an armed force; it is an all-encompassing public works organisation. The military police are also the civic police. The fire brigades serve the civilian population as well as military facilities. The corps of engineers builds and maintains spaceports, schools, water purification plants, and power stations. The merchant marine ensures that all worlds get needed resources." -> Turians: Government Obtained By: From Start "The turian government is a hierarchical meritocracy. While it has great potential for misuse, this is tempered by the civic duty and personal responsibility turians learn in childhood. Turians have 27 citizenship tiers, beginning with civilians (client races and children). The initial period of military service is the second tier. Formal citizenship is conferred at the third tier, after boot camp. For client races, citizenship is granted after the individual musters out. Higher-ranked civilians are expected to lead and protect subordinates. Lower-ranking citizens are expected to obey and support superiors. Promotion to another tier of citizenship is based on the personal assessments of one's superiors and co-rankers. Throughout their lives, turians ascended to the higher tiers, and are occasionally "demoted" to lower ones. The stigma associated with demotion lies not on the individual, but on those who promoted him when he wasn't ready for additional responsibility. This curbs the tendency to promote individuals into positions beyond their capabilities. Settling into a role and rank is not considered stagnation. Turians value knowing one's own limitations more than being ambitious. At the top are the Primarchs, who each rule a colonisation cluster. The Primarchs vote on matters of national importance. They otherwise maintain a "hands-off" policy, trusting the citizens on each level below them to do their jobs competently. Turians enjoy broad freedoms. So long as one completes his duties, and does not prevent others from completing theirs, nothing is forbidden. For example, there are no laws against recreational drug use, but if someone is unable to complete his duties due to drug use, his superiors step in. Judicial proceedings are "interventions." Peers express their concern, and try to convince the offender to change. If rehabilitation fails, turians have no qualms about sentencing dangerous individuals to life at hard labour for the state." -> Turians: Military Doctrine Obtained By: From Start "Although they lack the brutality of the krogan, the skill of the asari, and the virtuosity of humans, the turian military has formidable discipline. Officers and NCOs are "lifers" with years of field experience. Enlisted personnel are thoroughly trained and stay calm under fire. Turian units don't break. Even if their entire line collapses, they fall back in order, setting ambushes as they go. A popular saying holds: "You will only see a turian's back once he's dead." Boot camp begins on the 15th birthday. Soldiers receive a year of training before being assigned to a field unit; officers train for even longer. Most serve until the age of 30, at which they become part of the Reserves. Even if they suffer injuries preventing front-line service, most do support work behind the lines. Biotics are uncommon. While admired for their exacting skills, biotics' motives are not always fully trusted by the common soldier. The turians prefer to assign their biotics to specialist teams called Cabals. Command and control is decentralised and flexible. Individual squads can call for artillery and air support. They make extensive use of combat drones for light duties, and practice combined arms: infantry operates with armour, supported by overhead gunships. Strategically, they are methodical and patient, and dislike risky operations. Tradition is important. Each legion has a full-time staff of historians who chronicle its battle honours in detail. The oldest have records dating back to the turian Iron Age. If a legion is destroyed in battle, it is reconstituted rather than being replaced. The turians recruit auxiliary units from conquered or absorbed minor races. Auxiliaries are generally light infantry or armoured cavalry units that screen and support the main battle formations. At the conclusion of their service in the Auxiliaries, recruits are granted turian citizenship." -> Turians: Religion Obtained By: From Start "Although Turians have a strict moral code, their belief in individual responsibility means that the concepts of good and evil are simply the individual's choice between egotism and altruism in any given decision. They have no concept of "good" deities that encourage noble behaviour or "evil" ones that tempt individuals to misdeeds. Turians believe that groups and areas have "spirits" that transcend the individual. For example, a military unit would be considered to have a literal spirit that embodies the honour and courage it has displayed. A city's spirit reflects the accomplishments and industry of its residents. An ancient tress's spirit reflects the beauty and tranquility of the area it grows within. These spirits are neither good nor evil, nor are they appealed to for intercession. Turians do not believe spirits can affect the world, but spirits can inspire the living. Prayers and rituals allow an individual to converse with a spirit for guidance or inspiration. For example a Turian who finds his loyalty tested may appeal to the spirit of his unit, hoping to reconnect with the pride and honour of the group. A Turian who wishes to create a work of art may attempt to connect with the spirit of a beautiful location. Turians enjoy absolute freedom of religion and can practice whatever appeals to them so long as it does not impede anyone's ability to perform their duties. There are many practitioners of the asari "siarist" philosophy. Since opening dialog with the human Systems Alliance, some Turians have embraced Confucianism and Zen Buddhism." -> Turians: The Unification War Obtained By: From Start "At about the time the salarians and asari were forming the Council, the turians were embroiled in a bitter civil war. The Unification War, as it was later named, began with hostilities between the colonies furthest from the turian homeworld. Palaven. These colonies were run by local chieftains, many of whom had distanced themselves from the Hierarchy. Without the galvanizing influence of the government, the colonies became increasingly isolated and xenophobic. Colonists began wearing emblems or facial markings to differentiate themselves from members of other colonies and open hostilities became common. When war finally broke out, the Hierarchy maintained strict diplomacy and refused to get involved. After several years of infighting, less than a dozen factions remained, and the Hierarchy finally intervened. By that time, the chieftains were too weak to resist; they were forced to put an end to fighting and renew their alligence to the Hierarchy. Though peace was restored, it took several decades for aminosity between colonists to fade completely. To this day, most turians still wear facial markings of their home colonies. As a point of interest, the turian term "barefaced" refers to one who is beguiling or not to be trusted. It is also a slang term for politicians." --==Aliens: Extinct Species==-- -> Protheans: Beacon Obtained By: From Start "The beacon was a Prothean artefact unearthed on the Alliance colony of Eden Prime. Its resemblance to the Prothean data banks recovered on Mars provoked an immediate interest from the Alliance and the Citadel Council. It proved to be a solid state data storage device, part of a galaxy-spanning comm network similar to the modern extranet. Intact Prothean "paleo-technology" is rare; the beacon seemed to promise another quantum leap of technology, akin to the discovery of the mass effect drive and relays. Unfortunately, the beacon also drew the attention of the rouge Spectre Saren Arterius and his synthetic allies, the geth. A dawn raid by his flagship Sovereign resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties. The beacon was badly damaged. The motives behind the attack are still being investigated. During the recovery operation, the beacon fired a pulse of energy at the Executive Officer of the Alliance frigate Normandy. Lieutenant Commander Shepard survived and appears to have suffered no ill effects. Afterwards, the beacon fell inert. The mechanism appears to be dead." -> Protheans: Cipher Obtained By: From Start "The Prothean beacon downloaded its knowledge into Lt. Commander Shepard on Eden Prime, causing confusing dreams and visions. While the imagery is becoming clearer with time, the meaning of the beacon communication remains elusive. It has been suggested that Prothean data recording is highly dependent on a certain point of view, what Carl Jung described as the collective unconscious. The "cipher" needed to comprehend the images implanted in Shepard's mind is the cultural knowledge of a Prothean: the archetypes, biological instincts, and common experiences universal to the race. Since the Protheans have been dead for millennia, it may be impossible to acquire this "cipher"." -> Protheans: Data Disks Obtained By: From Start "Despite all the evidence confirmed the Protheans, little is known about their culture and society. From time to time, dig sites will yield new clues, but after 50,000 years of decay, little of value is unearthed. Recent research has focused on the discovery of Prothean data discs. On their own, they are frail and rarely found in one piece. Occasionally, however, an intact disc will be discovered within a console or reading device. To date, over three dozen discs have been recovered and few have been restored to the point where researchers can begin analysing them. Though it may be some time before scientists discover a way to transfer the data off the discs, they are currently considered the most tangible leads for learning more about the Prothean culture." -> Protheans: Mar's Ruins Obtained By: From Start "After twenty years of manned research outposts and nearly a century of robotic exploration, the European Space Agency's Lowell City became the first permanent settlement on Mars in 2103. Within a decade, the United States and China had founded permanent settlements, as well. The south polar region of Promethei Planum developed a "Bermuda Triangle" reputation. Satellites detected intermittent mass concentration and magnetic field shifts. In 2148, prospectors working near Deseado Crater discovered an underground complex: a Prothean observation post. The odd phenomena were generated by the operation and discharge of a mass effect core, struggling to function despite fifty millennia of neglect. Earth was electrified with the news. Humanity was unequivocally not alone. While courts battled who owned the ruins, the international scientific community coordinated a massive effort to access, translate, and interpret the databanks recovered from the facility. The facility proved to be a biosciences observation post built when homo sapiens were first evolving on Earth. While the motives of the Protheans are not certain, translated records indicate that the facility was in regular communication with automated observation platforms in Earth orbit and the lunar nearside. The half-dozen mass effect spaceships found in the facility were presumably used for first-hand observation." -> Ranchi Obtained By: From Start "Though now extinct, the ranchi once threatened every species in Citadel space. Over 2000 years ago, explorers foolishly opened a mass relay to a previously unknown system and encountered something never seen before or since: a species of spacefaring insects guided by a hive-mind intelligence. Unfortunately, the ranchi were not peaceful, and the galaxy was plunged into a series of conflicts known as the Ranchi Wars. Attempts to negotiate were futile, as it was impossible to make contact with the hive queens that guided the race from beneath the surface of their toxic homeworld. The emergence of the Krogan ended the Ranchi Wars. Bred to survive in the harshest environments, the krogan were able to strike at the queens in their lairs and reclaim conquered Council Worlds. But when the krogan fleets pressed them back to their homeworld, the ranchi refused to surrender, and the krogan eradicated them from the galaxy. --==Aliens: Non-Council Races==-- -> Collectors: Collector General Obtained: After fighting Harbinger for the first time on Horizon "Cerberus xenobiologists believed until recently that the Collectors were coordinated by a biologically active caste, similar to other insectoid species. New evidence suggests the Collectors have a singular commander, a so-called "Collector General" that has never been seen on the battlefield. Instead, it selects its minions as remote platforms for its consciousness in a process that has been likened to a biological hack or a cybernetic version of demonic possession. The Collector General can send a secure signal to one of its minions, smoothly take control of their motor functions, and awaken their previously dormant biotic potential. In a matter of seconds, even the lowliest Collector drone can be upgraded to a battle-hardened biotic commander. If the Collector dies, the General can simply activate and control another body. Postmortem analysis reveals that this "command signal" relies on cybernetic implants directly installed in the Collectors' cerebellum, but how this technology functions is presently unknown. Coordinating sensory input and motor functions simultanously with remotely amplifying biotic abilities is beyond the grasp of current human science. Why such an advanced species would be interested in humans is puzzling. More disturbing still, victims of the Collectors say the General has spoken to them and referred itself by a human name: Harbinger." -> Drell: Biology Obtained By: Talk to Thane about his disease "Drell are omnivorous reptile-like humanoids with an average life span of 85 galactic standard years. They give live birth to their young, who are capable of eating solid food from the moment they are born. Drell appearance is very similar to asari and humans, but their muscle tissue is slightly denser than that of humans, giving them a wiry strength. Many of their more reptilian features are concealed, like a three-chambered heart with a muscular ridge that is capable of shunting oxygenated or deoxygenated blood as needed. One unique characteristic, however, is the hyoid bone in their throats, which allows them to inflate their throats and produce vocal sounds outside the human range. Would-be assassins have noted that these two features make drell extremely hard to strangle or suffocate. Because the drell ancestors emerged from arid, rocky deserts, the humid, ocean-covered Hanar homeworld of Kahje proved tolerable only when the drell stayed inside a climate-controlled dome city. Due to this huge disparity in the two species' homeworld environments, the leading cause of death among drell on Kahje is a bacterial lung disease called Kepral's Syndrome. With a generation of the drell's arrival on the planet, the disease had become resistant to hanar antibiotics and other advanced treatments. Once an infection settles in, death is slow but imminent. Transplants may buy time, but as the infection spreads to other major organs there comes a point of diminishing returns and eventual system failure." -> Drell: Culture Obtained By: Talking to Thane about his upbringing "Eight centuries ago, the already-arid drell homeworld, Rakhana, began its swift descent into lifelessness due to disasterous industrial expansion. Because their population was bursting at 11 billion and they did not possess interstellar flight capacity, the drell would have been doomed without the intervention of the hanar. Following first contact, the hanar spent ten years transporting 375,000 willing drell to their own homeworld, Kahje. The remaining billions perished in the dying world, warring against each other for diminishing sources of water and food. Today, only a few thousand survive on Rakhana in clusters never exceeding a few hundred. Now a cemetery world, Rakhana's population can double during pilgrimage season. Drell have been part of the galactic community for almost two centuries. Most reside on Kahje, content to coexist with the hanar. Those who leave Kahje tend to be adventurers. Gifted by the hanar with acute perception of interspecies body language, solitary drell travelers often seek out new species elsewhere, adopting that species' culture and rarely returning to Kahje. Such drell number in the thousands and are scattered across the galaxy, tending towards quiet integrated lives. On Kahje, the hanar afforded the drell every opportunity to thrive. While outsiders and even some hanar regard the drell as junior partners, if not actual servents, drell have integrated themselves into every level of hanar society as respected productive citizens." -> Geth: Armatures Obtained By: From Start "Armatures are quadruped all-terrain heavy weapons platforms, akin to the armoured fighting vehicles of other races. Geth being synthetic intelligences, armatures are not crewed vehicles, but intelligent entities, capable of independent decision-making and learning. Armatures are equipped with heavy kinetic barriers. Their main cannon mounted on the articulated "head" turret, appears to be a highly efficient conventional mass accelerator. It is capable of firing in anti-personnel and anti-tank modes. Some armatures carry drones into battle, presumable for reconnaissance purposes. Others host a swarm of insect-sized repair microbots." -> Geth: Heretics Obtained By: Talking to Legion about Heretics "Conversations with the geth programs dubbed "Legion" have brought to light a profound schism in geth society. When Saren Arterius approached the geth in the dreadnought Sovereign, some of them choose to follow him, most did not. Saren's followers were allowed to leave geth society, but were dubbed "heretics" by those that remained. This relevation implies several things. First, the majority of geth chose not to attack organic society. Second, the geth forces the Council and Alliance fleets have battled the last two years represent only a small portion of their actual military and economic power, perhaps as little as five percent of mainstream geth society. Third, this schism suggests that individual geth possess more free will and perhaps even personality than previous suspected. Without such individuality, no geth could have deviated from the group's decision to join or reject Saren's mission. There could not have been a division. Finally, there is a matter of Legion's word choice. The geth used the English word "heretics" to describe Saren's followers. Of the many words Legion could have chosen (nonconformists, dissenters, rebels, etc.), only the word "heretic" suggests a broadly accepted geth philosophy or religion, and that the actions of Saren's allies violated the orthodoxy." -> Keepers Obtained By: From Start "When the Asari discovered the Citadel, they also discovered the keepers, a docile multi-limbed insect race that seemingly only exist to maintain and repair the great Prothean station. Early attempts to communicate with or study the keepers were futile, and it is now illegal to interfere with or impede keeper activity. Because they are completely non-threatening, keepers have become virtually invisible to everyone else. Similarly, they seem indifferent to other species, except for their tendancy to help new arrivals integrate themselves into the Citadel. No matter how many keepers die due to old age, violence or accidents, they maintain a constant number. No one has discovered the source of new keepers, but some hypothesize they are genetic constructs, biological androids created somewhere deep inside the inaccessible core of the Citadel itself." -> Krogan: Biology Obtained By: From Start "The krogan evolved in a lethal ecology. Over millions of years, the grim struggle to survive larger predators, virulent disease, and resource scarcity on their homeworld, Tuchanka, turned the lizards into quintessential survivors. Perhaps the most telling indicator of Tuchanka's lethality is the krogan eyes. Although they are a predator species by any standard definition, their eyes evolved to be wide-set, as any Earth prey species like deer and cattle. Krogan eyes have a 240-degree arc of vision, better suited for spotting enemies sneaking up on them than for pursuit. Physically, the krogan are nigh-indestructible, with a tough hide impervious to any melee weapon short of a molecular blade. While they feel pain, it does not affect their ability to concentrate. They have multiple functioning examples of all major organs, and can often survive the loss of one or two of any type. Rather than a nervous system, they have an electrically conductive second circulatory system. A krogan can never be paralysed - they may lose some fluid, but it can be replaced by the body in time. The hump on krogan's back stores water and fats that help the krogan survive lean times. Large humps are a point of pride; being well-fed implies the krogan is a superior predator. The most widely-known biological feature of the krogan is their incredible birth rate and rapid maturity. Once freed from the hostile cauldron of Tuchanka, the krogan population swelled into a numberless horde. Only the genophage kept them from out-breeding the combined Council races. Now the rare krogan females capable of bringing a child to term are treated like strategic resources: warlords will trade them at diplomacy or (more frequently) fight wars over them." -> Krogan: Blood Rage Obtained By: Talk to Tank-Bred Krogan on Korlus "Feared throughout the galaxy as nightmarishly violent warriors, the krogan are aided and hobbled by their legendary "blood rage". In the grip of that madness, krogan become inseemingly invincible, but are merely totally unresponsive to pain. "Blood-enraged" krogan fight regardless of injury level, to the extent that krogan shorn of all four limbs continue gnashing past brain death until total somatic death. The supremely resilient, hyper-violent blood rage is the synergy of two aspects of krogan neurology. The first aspect is a positive feedback loop in which adrenalin, also activated by fear or rage, suppresses serotonin, the brain chemical that induces serenity. The second is the over-developed krogan limbic system. In krogan, as in humans, fear of rage shifts mental control from frontal lobes, responsible for reasoning, to the limbic system, responsible for aggression and survival. During that shift, krogan and humans exhibit diminished capacity for logic and self-control. Prior to the ecological destruction of Tuchanka, blood rage was extremely rare among the krogan. Back then, while all krogan were capable of heightened anger and violence in fight-or-flight scenarios, almost none experienced insensitivity to pain. The one percent who did were those suffering serotonin-suppression. At that time, krogan society regarded the condition as pathological, and medicated or imprisoned sufferers to protect them from society. Following nuclear ecocide four millennia ago, evolution selected only those krogan afflicted with blood rage for survival. Today there is no living memory among the krogan of a life without mindless, murderous fury." -> Krogan: Culture Obtained By: From Start "The harsh krogan homeworld conditioned the krogan psychology for toughness just as it did the body. Krogan have always had a tendency to be selfish, unsympathetic, and blunt. They respect strength and self-reliance and are neither surprised nor offended by treachery. The weak and selfless do not live long. In their culture, "looking out for number one" is simply a matter of course. After their defeat in the Rebellions, the very concept of krogan leadership was discredited. Where a warlord could once command enough power to bring entire solar systems to heel and become Overlord, these days it is rare for a single leader to have more then 1000 warriors swear allegiance to him. Most krogan trust and serve no one but themselves. This solitary attitude stems in part from a deep sense of fatalism and futility, a profound social effect of the genophage that caused krogan numbers to dwindle to a relative handful. Not only are they angry that the entire galaxy seems out to get them, the krogan are also generally pessimistic about their race's chances of survival. The surviving krogan see no point to building for the future; there will be no future. The krogan live with an attitude of "kill, pillage, and be selfish, for tomorrow we die"." -> Krogan: Genophage Obtained By: From Start "The genophage bioweapon was created to end the Krogan Rebellions. From the start, the krogan had overwhelmed the Council. Only timely first contact with the turians saved the Council races. The turians fought the krogans to a standstill, but the sheer weight of krogan numbers indicated the war could not be won through conventional means. The turians collaborated with the salarians to genetically engineer a counter to the rapid breeding of the krogan. The genophage virus gained the energy to replicate by "eating" key genetic sequences. Every cell in every krogan had to be altered for the weapon to be foolproof; otherwise the krogan could have used gene therapy to fix the affected tissues. Once a genophage strain could find no more genes to eat, it would starve and die, limited spin-off mutation and contamination. This "created" genetic flaw is hereditary. The salarians believed the genophage would be used as a deterrent, a position the turians viewed as naive. Once the project was complete, the turians mass produced and deployed it. The krogan homeworld, their colonies, and all occupied worlds were infected. The resulting mutation made only one in a thousand krogan pregnancies carry to term. It did not reduce fertility, but offspring viability. The rare females able to carry children to term became prizes the krogan warlords fought brutal battles over. The krogan are a shadow of their former glory. While the Rebellions took place centuries ago, they are constantly reminded of the horror of the genophage and of their inability to counter it. The release of the genophage is still controversial, bitterly debated in many circles." -> Krogan: Krogan Rebellions Obtained By: From Start "After the Rachni War, the quick-breeding krogan expanded at the expense of their neighbours. Warlords leveraged their veteran soldiers to seize living space while the Council races were still grateful. Over centuries, the krogan conquered world after world. There was always "just one more" needed. When the Council finally demanded withdrawal from the asari colony of Lusia, krogan Overlord Kredak stormed off the Citadel, daring the Council to take the worlds back. But the Council had taken precautions. The finest STG operators and asari huntresses had been drafted into a covert "observation force", the Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. The Spectres opened the war with crippling strategic strikes. Krogan planets went dark as computer viruses flooded the extranet. Sabotaged antimatter refineries disappeared in blue-white annihilation, Headquarters stations shattered into orbit- clogging debris, ramming by pre-placed suicide freighters. Still, this only delayed the inevitable. The war would have been lost if not for first contact with the turians, who responded to krogan threats with a prompt declaration of war. Being on the far side of krogan space from the Council, the turians advanced rapidly into the lightly-defended krogan rear areas. The krogan responded by dropping space stations and asteroids on turian colonies. Three worlds were rendered completely uninhabitable. This was precisely the wrong approach to take with the turians. Each is first and foremost a public servant, willing to risk his life to protect his comrades. Rather then increasing public war weariness, krogan tactics stiffened turian resolve. The arrival of turian task forces saved many worlds from the warlords' marauding fleets, but it took the development of the genophage bioweapon to end the war. There were decades of unrest afterwards. Rogue warlords and holdout groups of insurgents refused to surrender, or disappeared into the frontier systems to become pirates." -> Krogan: Military Doctrine Obtained By: From Start "Traditional krogan tactics were built on attrition mass-unit warfare. Equipped with cheap rugged gear, troop formations were powerful but inflexible. Command and control was very centralized; soldiers in the field who saw a target contacted their commanders behind the lines to arrange fire support. Since the genophage, the krogan can no longer afford the casualties of the old horde attacks. The Battle Masters are a match for any ten soldiers of another species. To a Battle Master, killing is a science. They focus on developing clean, brute-force economy of motion that exploits their brutal strength to incapacitate enemies with a swift single blow of overwhelming power. This change of focus from mass-unit warfare to maximal efficiency has increased employment demand in the fields of security and "muscle for hire". Due to the unsavoury reputation of the krogan, most of these jobs are on the far side of the law. Battle Masters are not "spit and polish", but they do believe in being well- armed and equipped, preferably with a gun for each limb. They are callous and brutal, but methodical and disciplined. They use any means at their disposal to achieve their goals, no matter how reprehensible. Hostage-taking and genocide are acceptable means to ensure a quiet occupation with few krogan casualties. The krogan serving with Saren's forces appear to be returning to the old style of mass attrition combat. They also work in close cooperation with supporting geth units, who fill in the roles occupied by combat drones in other armies. Biotics are rare among the krogan. Those that exist are viewed with suspicion and fear. The krogan see this aura of fear as a useful quality for an officer, and often promote them. Combat drones and other high-tech equipment are likewise in short supply." -> Quarians: Economy Obtained By: From Start "The Migrant Fleet has little economic base, operating in a state of perpetual "hand-to-mouth". White quarian ships include light manufacturing and assembly plants, they lack heavy industries such as refining and shipbuilding. The fleet has tankers for water purification and oxygen cracking, but with the space-intensive nature of agriculture limits food production. A single disaster could destroy the fragile balance. The quarians earn income in creative ways. Because the government is obliged to provide food, water, air, and medical support for every individual, the Conclave strategically determines the course of the Fleet to bring in resources and income. A species who suspects the Migrant Fleet is heading towards their space often offers a "gift" of surplus starships, fuel, and resources to alter course. As the fleet passes through the a system, swarms of mining vessels work over asteroids for metals and siliceous materials and cometary bodies for water ice and organics. Quarian miners are adept at locating and strip-mining space-borne resources. This sparks conflict with corporations already working the system. Large mining concerns spend millions on lobbyists and public relations portraying the quarians as locusts, devouring the resources of a system before moving on. The greatest asset of the quarians is their rarefied skills. Most are experienced miners. Due to their life of perpetual salvage and repair, they are skilled engineers and technicians. More than once, they very corporations that lobby against the quarians have made back room deals with the Fleet, arranging for skilled quarians to fill space engineering jobs that other species would demand higher wages for. Quarians are widely hated among the working classes. "The quarians are coming to take our jobs" is a common response to the Fleet's approach." -> Quarians: Government Obtained By: From Start "Due to the quarians' precarious existence and the need to enforce strict rationing, government is somewhat autocratic. The Migrant Fleet's operations are directed by the Admiralty, a board of five military officers who are advised by a legislative body called the Conclave. Each vessel in the Fleet has the right to send representatives to the Conclave aboard the flagship. The number of representatives is based on crew size. Larger clans, with bigger ships and more votes, form the cores of political blocs. Opposition comes from the Outriders' Coalition, with delegates from thousands of smaller ships. The Admiralty defers to the Conclave's decisions in most circumstances. However, if all five members agree a Conclave decision jeopardized the survival of the fleet, and cannot get the Conclave to address their concerns, they have the right to summarily overturn the legislative decision. After the Admiralty uses this extraordinary power, they must resign. If the Admiralty does not step down after using their veto the rest of the military is obliged to arrest them. Each ship captain has authority over the vessel, but is advised by an elected civilian Council, just as the Admiralty is advised by the Conclave. This relationships may range from cooperation to polite tolerance to outright hostility, but any captain who overrules his council without good reason is relieved of command by the Admiralty. Many quarian ships are owned by clans who pool their resources to purchase used vessels from private sellers. Large ships are prestigious for big, rich clans, but a small ship means status for a small clan with enough personal wealth to afford a private vessel. Clan vessel captains are not subject to dismissal by the Admiralty; abusive captains are a "family" problem if they do not disrupt the operations of the fleet." -> Quarians: Law and Defence Obtained By: From Start "Although the Conclave establishes civil law much as any planet-based democracy, enforcement and trials are more unique. After the flight from the geth, there were few constables to police the millions of civilians aboard the Fleet, so the navy parcelled out marine squads to maintain order and enforce the law. Today, quarian marines have evolved training and tactics akin to civilian police, but remain adept at combat in the confined spaces of a starship, and fully under the command of the military. Once taken into custody, the accused is brought before the ship's captain for judgment. While the ship's council may make recommendations, tradition holds that the captain has absolute authority in matters of discipline. Most are lenient, assigning additional or more odious maintenance tasks aboard the ship. Persistent recidivists are "accidentally" left on the next habitable world. This practice of abandoning criminals on other people's planets is a point of friction between the quarians and the systems they pass through. Captains rarely have another choice; with space and resources at a premium, supporting a non-productive prison population is not an option. In the early years, many quarians freighters were armed and used as irregular "privateers". Civilian ships still show a strong preference for armament, making them unpopular targets for pirates. Though they have rebuilt their military, there are still mere hundreds of warships to protect the tens of thousands of ships. The quarian navy follows strict routines of patrol, and takes no chances. If the intent of approaching ship can't be ascertained, they shoot to kill." -> Quarians: Pilgrimage Obtained By: From Start "When quarians of the Migrant Fleet reach young adulthood, they must leave their birth ship and find a new crew to accept them as permanent residents. To prove themselves, they must recover something of value. This is offered to their prospective captain as proof that they will not be a mere burden on the shoestring resources of the ship. This process is called the Pilgrimage. Stripped of ritual, the Pilgrimage is merely an attempt to maintain genetic diversity within the small, relatively isolated population bases that make up the Migrant Fleet. If the young stayed and married within their birth vessel, the risk of inbreeding would increase sharply. Quarians are surgically fitted with their various immunity-boosted implants in preparation for leaving on Pilgrimage. Having grown within the sterile, controlled environments of the Migrant Fleet ships, quarians have virtually no natural immune system." -> Quarians: Religion Obtained By: From Start "The ancient quarians practiced ancestor worship. Even after abandoning faith for secularism, quarians continued to revere the wisdom of elders. As time passed and technology advanced, they inevitably turned their knowledge to preserving the personalities and memories of the elderly as computer virtual intelligences. These recordings became a repository of knowledge and wisdom, stored in a central databank and available through any extranet connection. They held no illusions that this was like a form of immortality; like all virtual intelligences, their electronically-preserved ancestors were not truly sapient. This was considered a surmountable problem; sapience could surely be reduced to simple mathematics. The quarians began exhaustive research into creating artificial intelligence so they could learn to escape the bounds of mortality and give their ancestral records true awareness. Unfortunately, the life the quarians created did not accept the same truths they did. The geth destroyed the ancestor databanks when they took over. The centuries since they evacuated their homeworld, most quarians have returned to religion in various forms. Many believe the rise of the geth and the destruction of their "ancestors" were chastisement for arrogantly forsaking the old ways and venerating self-made idols. Others have a more philosophical outlook, believing their race was indeed arrogant, but no supernatural agency lay behind the geth revolt. Rather, the quarians' actions wrought their own doom. Either way, every quarian would agree that their own hubris cost them their homeworld." --==Aliens: Non-Sapient Creatures==-- -> Husks Obtained By: From Start "After the geth secure a location, they round up and impale dead and living bodies on mechanical spikes. They spikes rapidly transform these victims into withered husks, extracting water and trace minerals and replacing them with cybernetics. The cybernetics re-animate the lifeless flesh and tissue, transforming the bodies into mindless killing machines. Some Alliance soldiers refer to the husk-generating spikes as Dragon's Teeth, a reference to the mythological berserkers who sprang up from the earth wherever the teeth of the dragon Ares were planted. Dragon's Teeth and husks bear little resemblance to other pieces of geth technology. No one is sure why a synthetic race would bother to drain the miniscule amount of recoverable resources from organic corpses, though the value of reusing them as shock troops is obvious." -> Husks: Scion Obtained By: Defeating Scion "Though the exact fate of species captured by the Collectors is unclear, the humanoid appearance of the scions gives ghastly clues. The scion's frame and skull are similar to those of a human or asari, but the bone structure is overlaid with a metallic resin. Posthumous examination of their bodies reveal a skin tone resembling that of Reaper husks, but their transformation process seems more extensive. Like husks, they are cybernetically modified on a nano-scale so they can operate even in hard vacuum. Hoses rather than veins and muscle tissue join major portions of the body together. One arm is replaced with a construct that fits a large rifle, turning the creature into a humanoid weapons platform, and a fleshy sack is supported by the creature's head and back. The sacks contain brain matter and spinal tissue, too much to have come from just one victim. This indicates scions are an amalgam of several individuals, with one primary victim providing the frame and several "secondaries" providing the flesh for a decentralised semi-mechanical nervous system. This decentralisation makes them highly resistant to gunshot wounds; even a headshot is not a certain kill. The scions' weapons, however, indicate that scions retain some living tissue, or at least sustain some of the same electrochemical reactions as those of a human biotic. The weapon creates a powerful warp effect, which is consistant with the eezo nodules visible in the scion's expansive nervous system. Given the rarity of human biotics, it seems likely that these dust-form eezo nodules are deposited during their transformation rather than requiring a biotic victim in the first place." -> Thresher Maws Obtained By: From Start "Thresher Maws are subterranean creatures that spend their entire lives eating or searching for something to eat. Threshers reproduce via spores that lie dormant for millennia, yet are robust enough to survive prolonged periods in deep space and atmospheric re-entry. As a result, thresher spores appear on many worlds, spread by previous generations of space travelers. The body of a thresher never entirely leaves the ground; only the head and tentacles erupt from the earth to attack. In addition to phyiscal attacks, threshers have the ability to project toxic chemicals and emit bursts of infrasound as a shockwave weapon. The Alliance first encountered threshers on the colony Akuze in 2177. After contact was lost with the pioneer team, marine units were deployed to investigate. The shore parties were set upon by hungry threshers, and nearly the entire assault force was killed. Alliance forces recommend engaging threshers with vehicle-mounted heavy weapons. -> Varren Obtained By: From Start "Varren are omnivores with a preference for living prey. Originally native to the krogan homeworld of Tuchanka, they are, like most from Tuchanka, savage, clannish, and consummate survivors. They are pack hunters when vulnerable prey is readily available and become scavengers when outnumbered or outclassed. Their supreme adaptability, vicious demeanor and rapid breeding cycle have made them ubiquitus and dangerous pests on many worlds. Virtually everywhere the krogan have been, Varren infestations have followed, wreaking havoc with the native ecology. The krogan have a love-hate relationship with Varren for millennia, alternatively fighting them for territory and embracing them as treasured companions. To this day, krogans raise them as beasts of war. A common subgenus of Varren have metallic silver scales, leading to the rather unusual nickname "fishdogs"." --==Citadel and Galactic Government==-- -> Citadel Conventions Obtained By: From Start "These diplomatic talks occurred in the wake of the Krogan Rebellions, as a response to the destruction of the conflict and an attempt to distance the Council from the brutal krogan warfare. The Conventions regulate the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction. A WMD causes environmental alteration to a world. A bomb that produces a large crater is not considered a WMD; a bomb that causes a "nuclear winter" is. Use of WMD is forbidden on "garden" worlds like Earth, with ecospheres that can readily support a population. If a habitable world is destroyed, it will not be replaced for millions of years. The Conventions do not forbid the use of WMD on hostile worlds or in sealed space-station environments. Many militaries continue to develop and maintain stockpiles. The Conventions graded Weapons of Mass Destruction into tiers of concern. Tier I is the greatest threat to galactic peace. TIER I: Large kinetic impactors, such as asteroid drops or de-orbited space stations. Effectively free and available in any system (in the form of debris left over from planetary accretion), kinetic impacters are the weapons of choice for terrorists and "third galaxy" nations. TIER II: Uncontrolled self-replicating weapons, such as nanotechnology, viral or bacteriological organisms, "Von Neumann devices", and destructive computer viruses. These weapons can lie dormant for millennia, waiting for a careless visitor to carry them on another world. TIER III: Large energy-burst weapons such as nuclear or antimatter warheads. TIER IV: Alien species deliberately introduced to crowd out native forms necessary for the hearth of an ecosystem. Ecological tampering can take years to bear fruit, making it difficult to prove." -> Citadel Council Obtained By: From Start "The Council is an executive committee composed of representatives from the Asari Republics, the Turian Hierarchy, and the Salarian Union. Though they have no offical power over the independent governments of other species, the Council's decisions carry great weight throughout the galaxy. No single Council race is strong enough to defy the other two, and have a vested interest in compromise and cooperation. Each of the Council species have general characteristics associated with the various aspects of governing the galaxy. The asari are typically seen as diplomats and mediators. The salarians gather intelligence and information. The turians provide the bulk of the military and peacekeeping forces. Any species granted an embassy on the Citadel is considered an associate member, bound by the accords of the Citadel Conventions. Associate members may bring issues to the attention of the Council, though they have no input on the decision. The human Systems Alliance became an associate member of the Citadel in 2165." -> Citadel Space Obtained By: From Start "Citadel Space is an unoffical term referring to any region of space controlled by a species that acknowledge the authority of the Citadel Council. At first glance, it appears that this territory encompasses most of the galaxy. In reality, however, less than 1% of the stars have been explored. Even mass-effect FTL drive is slow relative to the volume of the galaxy. Empty space in any systems without suitable drive discharge sites are barriers to exploration. Only the mass relays allow ships to jump hundred of light years in an instant, the key to expanding across an otherwise impassable galaxy. Whenever a new relay is activated, the destination system is rapidly developed. From that hub, FTL drive is used to expand to nearby star clusters. The result is a number of densely-developed clusters thinly spread across the vast expanse of space, connected by the mass relay network." -> Citadel Station: Citadel Security Forces (C-Sec) Obtained By: From Start "Citadel Security is a volunteer police service answering to the Citadel Council. The 200,000 constables of C-Sec are responsible for maintaining public order in the densely populated Citadel. They also provide pirate suppression, customs enforcements, and search-and-rescue throughout the Citadel cluster. C-Sec has six divisions: ENFORCEMENT - Uniformed officers who patrol the Citadel and respond to emergencies. INVESTIGATION - Detectives who puzzle out the truth behind crimes and bring perpetrators to justice. CUSTOMS - Screen the thousands of passengers and cargo containers that pass through the Citadel's ports every day. NETWORK - Deals with "cybercrimes" like identify and copyright theft, hacking and viral attacks, and illegal artificial intelligence. SPECIAL RESPONSE - Deals with hostage situations, bombs, and heavily armed criminals. In the unlikely event that attackers board the Citadel, they are also the front line of defence, armoured with military grade equipment. PATROL - Naval arm, with ships stationed throughout the Citadel cluster. Unlike the other divisions, they are rarely seen at the Citadel, nor do they stay in one place long. Joining C-Sec is prestigious; applications must be sponsored by a Citadel Councillor or the ambassador of an associate Council race. Generally, applicants have many years of distinguished service in the military or police forces of their nations, but an inexperienced applicant with demonstrable talent will be fairly considered. C-Sec and Spectres are often at odds. May C-Sec members, notably the current Executor Venari Pallin, believe that allowing Spectres to be "above the law" is a dangerous practice, the actions of Saren Arterius lend credence to this position. The Spectres, in turn, are aggravated within C-Sec's dedication to procedure and due process hampers their investigations." -> Citadel Station: Foundations Obtained By: From Start "The "undersides" of the Wards, between the inhabited superstructures and impenetrable outer hull, are called the Founderations. These dangerous areas are filled with life support systems and power plants. Offically, only the keepers are allowed in the Founderations. In reality, the Foundations are the slums of the Citadel, home to criminals, minorities, transients, and occasional "state-less" exiles. Some stay in the Foundations of their own will. Others end up there when the opportunity they sought in the Citadel do not come. The station's recycling systems are located in the Founderations. These manufacture a variety of artificial organic pastes that can be eaten for subtenance. They are free and nutritious, but nearly tasteless and of unpleasant texture. Poorer Citadel residents quickly become adept at dressing up this bland fare with sauces and spices, while imported foodstuffs are a popular luxury of the wealthy." -> Citadel Station: Presidium Ring Obtained By: From Start "The Ring is an enclosed loop of park-like space serving as the connection point for the Wards. The interior walls are lined with the embassies of influential species and private residences for the galaxies elite. The Presidium is full of "open-air" restaurants, bars, and luxurious meeting areas. Gravity is about 1/3 Earth-normal. A holographic "sky" is projected over the "ceiling" of the ring. unlike the 24/7 bustle of the Wards, the Presidium maintains a 20-hour day schedule, with a six-hour "night" where lights are dimmed and the sky goes through a night cycle. Offices and residences are often open to the interior. It is not unusual for embassies to have no exterior wall at all. This does not cause a crime problem due to the heavy C-Sec presence and ubiquitous monitoring devices on the Presidium. Thieves are quickly identified and apprehended. The Ring is the location of the Citadel's spaceports. Being closer to the centre of the spin, there is less motion for a ship to match, and the reduced spin gravity makes handling cargo easier. Hundreds of ships pass through the Citadel every day, and every species with an embassy is granted a private dock. The Tower, at the centre of the Ring, holds the administration of the Citadel Council. The Tower rises over a kilometre from the ring, appearing to thrust forward parallel to the ward arms. As the Tower is at the centre of the spin axis, it experiences little centrifugal force. Gravity is maintained using mass effect fields at a 90-degree angle to the Ring and Wards. A Consular dock can be found at the base of the Tower. While normally used for diplomatic couriers and Spectre business, the shuttles docked here can evacuate the Council government in an emergency." -> Citadel Station: Serpent Nebula Obtained By: From Start "The Citadel is surrounded by a blue-tinted reflection nebula. The light of the nebula is actually light from the Citadel, scattered and reflected back at the station. At first, the Serpent Nebula was assumed to be made of microscopic construction debris. Prevailing theory holds the Protheans used molecular nanotechnology to manufacture the incredibly durable materials used to make the Citadel. But unlike other nebulae, the Serpent does not dissipate over time. Therefore, it must be replenished constantly. The current popular theory is that the non-recyclable waste collected by the Citadel's keepers is somehow rendered down to the atomic or molecular level, and ejected into the clouds. The thick nebula resents a navigation hazard. Beyond the relatively clear areas around the Citadel, electrical discharges are common. These are not blocked by kinetic barriers, and can severely damage metal-framed starships. In addition, some dense knots of dust can overwhelm the repulsion of kinetic barriers on smaller ships. If such a vessel is moving fast enough at the time, the effects are similar to being hit by a sandblaster. Attempting to reach the Citadel through open space navigation is unadvisable; the only safe approach is through the various mass relays that orbit it." -> Citadel Station: Statistics Obtained By: From Start "Although the Citadel is equipped with mass-effect-generating element-zero cores, most of the gravity on the station is generated by the centrifugal force of rotation. Rotation: 3.5 minutes per revolution Rotational Gravity in Wards: 1.02 Earth Rotational Gravity in Presidium: 0.3 Earth Total Length (Open): 44.7 km Diameter (Open): 12.8km Ward Length: 43.6km Ward Width: 330m Presidium Ring Diameter: 7.2 km Presidium Ring Width: 553 m Exterior Armour Thickness: 13 m Population: 13.2 million (not including keepers) Gross Weight: 7.11 billion metric tons Height of the Presidium Tower: 1047 m" -> Citadel Station: Wards Obtained By: From Start "The majority of the Citadel's population lives in the Wards, the five massive arms of the station that house the residential and commercial districts. Many galactic races have established cultural enclaves here. Population density and cost of living are extremely high, akin to Earth cities such as Hong Kong and Singapore. The Wards are open-topped, with skyscrapers rising from the superstructure. Towers are sealed against vacuum, as the breathable atmosphere envelope is only maintained to a height of about seven meters. The atmosphere is contained by the centrifugal force of rotation and a "membrane" of dense, colourless sulphur hexafluoride gas, held in place by carefully managed mass effect fields. The view from the Wards is spectacular. In the background, stars, Serpent Nebula, and the nearby blue giant called "the Widow" move across the sky as the station rotates to stabilize itself. In the foreground, the lights of buildings and vehicles on the opposing Ward arms perpetually shine. The Citadel has no real day or night. While the station keeps to standard galactic time for political functions, business rarely close, and residents acclimate to sleep and work according to personal need rather than a day-night cycle. Additions and modifications are constantly being constructed, though they must stay within certain specifications that will not compromise the operation of the station. Occasionally, the keepers will descend on an area of the Ward and move or change the architecture without explanation. Residents have learned to live with these inexplicable intrusions." -> Treaty of Farixen Obtained By: From Start "Due to the destructive potential of dreadnaughts, the Council races agree at the Farixen Naval Conference to fix a ratio of dreadnaught construction between themselves. At the top of pyramid is the peacekeeping turian fleet. Below the turians are the other Council races, currently the asari and the salarians. Council associate races are at the bottom. The human Systems Alliance is part of this last group. The ratio of turian to Council to associate dreadnaughts is 5:3:1, for every dreadnaught the humans are permitted to build, the asari have three, and the turians five." --==Humanity and the Systems Alliance==-- -> Earth Obtained By: From Start "The homeworld and capital of humanity is entering a new golden age. The resource wealth of a dozen settled colonies and a hundred industrial outposts flows back to Earth, fueling great works of industry, commerce, and arts. The great cities are greening as arcology skyscrapers and telecommuting allow more efficient use of land. Earth is still divided among nation-states, though all are affiliated beneath the overreaching banner of the Systems Alliance. While every human enjoys longer and better life then ever, the gap between rich and poor widens daily. Advanced nations have eliminated most genetic disease and pollution. Less fortunate regions have not progressed beyond 20th century technology, and are often smog-choked, overpopulated slums. Sea levels have risen two meters in the last 200 years, and violent weather is common due to environmental damage inflicted during the last 21st centry. The past few decades, however, has seen significant improvement due to recent technological advances." -> First Contact War Obtained By: From Start "Humanity's first contact with an alien race occurred in 2157. At that time, the Alliance allowed survey fleets to activate any dormant mass relay discovered, a practice considered dangerous and irresponsible by Council- aligned races. When a turian patrol discovered a human fleet attempting to activate a relay, they attacked. One human vessel survived, retreating to the colony of Shanxi. The turians followed, quickly defeating the local forces. Shanxi was occupied, the first - and, to date, only - human world to be conquered by an alien species. The turians believed the handful of ships they defeated represented the bulk of the human defences. So they were unprepared when the Second Fleet under Admiral Kastanie Drescher, launched a strong counter- offensive, evicting them from Shanxi. The turians mobilised for a full-scale war, drawing the attention of the rest of the galaxy. The Council quickly intervened, forcing a truce. Fortunately for humanity, the First Contact War was ended with a diplomatic solution." -> Gagarin Station ("Jump Zero") Obtained By: From Start "Gagarin Station is the largest deep space station built by humanity, a "Bernal Sphere" designed with a 500-meter-diameter habitable area. It was constructed beyond Pluto, nearly 80 Astronomical Units (12 billion kilometres) from Sol. Moving crew and materials to this location bankrupted most of the backers. Gagarin was placed at the inner edge of the "heliopause" - the point at which the solar wind can no longer push back the interstellar medium. It was built to test a number of faster-than-light drive principles that theoretically could only occur in interstellar space. The station was nicknamed "Jump Zero", as it was intended to be the jumping-off point for humanity's expansion into the galaxy. Shortly after the station was completed, the Prothean ruins were discovered on Mars, rendering the entire effort moot. After struggling to make a profit for a decade, Gagarin was sold to the Systems Alliance in 2159 for a fraction of its construction costs. The Alliance refurbished it as a research and training centre for the recently discovered biotic phenomenon. In 2169, the Biotic Acclimation and Training program was shut down and Gagarin became a general research facility. Its remote location and intentional isolation from the extranet makes it popular for dangerous research, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence. Humanity's first stable AI, the Alliance-sponsored "Eliza", achieved sapience at Gagarin in 2172. Today, Gagarin Station has a permanent population of approximately 9000. A plan has been proposed to move it to the gravitationally stable barycentre point between Pluto and the Charon Relay allowing it to serve as a gateway facility between the Sol and Arcturus systems. The high cost of safely moving it mass has delayed this indefinitely." -> Genetic Engineering Obtained By: From Start "In the 22nd century, manipulation of the human genome became commonplace. Techniques for genetic engineering advanced to the point where the rich could custom-build foetuses that grew into stronger, smarter, and more attractive adults. In more permissive regions, custom-designed life forms and "uplifted" animals occupied an ill-defined niche between "property" and "sapient being." Travel to planets with unique forms of life brought an awareness that Earth's biodiversity could be lost if it spliced and hybridized to gain useful alien qualities. The Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act was passed by the Systems Alliance Parliament in 2161. It imposed sharp restrictions on controversial uses of genetic engineering, but provided government subsidies for beneficial applications. SCREENING AND THERAPY: Most governments provide free assessments and corrective therapy for genetic diseases in prospective parents. This has nearly eliminated everything from cystic fibrosis to nearsightedness. The earlier screening and therapy is performed, the more comprehensive the results. Though ideally performed on artificially fertilized zygotes in a lab, procedures are available for embryos in the womb and newborns, out of respect for personal beliefs. ENHANCEMENT: Improvements of natural human abilities is legal, but adding new abilities is not. Treatments to improve strength, reflexes, mental ability, or appearance are permitted; adding a tail or the ability to digest cellulose is not. Some genetic enhancement is provided for free to Alliance military recruits, but the average citizen must pay for the privilege. The process can take years to reach fruition in an adult. ENGINEERING: Artificial hybridization of genes from compatible non-human species with human genetic code is illegal. Creation of designed life is broadly legal (and mainly used for terraforming and medical applications), but sentient creatures are heavily regulated, and creation of sapient life is outlawed by both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council." -> Systems Alliance Obtained By: From Start "The Systems Alliance is an independent supranatural government representing the interests of humanity as a whole. The Alliance is responsible for the governance and defence of all extra-solar colonies and stations. The Alliance grew out of the various nation space programs as a matter of practically. Sol's planets had been explored and exploited through piecemeal nation efforts. The expense of colonising entire new solar systems could not be met by any one country. With humans knowing that alien contact was inevitable, there was enough political will to jointly fund an international effort. Still, the Alliance was often disregarded by those on Earth until the First Contact War. While the national governments dithered and bickered over who should lead the effort to liberate Shanxi, the Alliance fleet struck decisively. Post-War public approval gave the Alliance the credibility to establish its own Parliament and became the galactic face of humanity." -> Systems Alliance: Geological Survey Obtained By: From Start "As the human race expands its territory and raises the general standard of living, demand for industrial resources continues to grow. Many planets, moons and asteroids contain a wealth of resources, but many systems have been barely charted, let along thoroughly surveyed. Unmanned probes are one solution, but they are often lost to space hazards, unforeseen circumstances, or theft by salvagers. In recent years, AGeS, the Alliance Geological Service, has offered bounties to private individuals or teams willing to perform mineralogical surveys on the frontier. This survey data is made publicly available to further corporate development. Due to the cost of travel and the dangers of operating on hostile worlds, it is rarely a profitable endeavour. LIGHT METALS - Metals with low atomic weight are often used in the construction of spacecraft and vehicles. HEAVY METALS - Metals with higher atomic weights are used to construct equipment components. The platinum group elements are particularly useful. RARE EARTHS - Most useful in this category are radioactives or magnets. GASSES - Various gasses are required to support all known forms of sapient life. Some are commonly used as fuel." -> Systems Alliance: Military Doctrine Obtained By: From Start "The Alliance military is of great concern to the galaxy. At first contact with the turians, they were completely inexperienced. Turian disdain to respect after the relief of Shanxi, where the humans surprised them with novel technologies and tactics. The human devotion to understanding and adapting to modern space warfare stunned the staid Council races. For hundreds of years, they had lived behind the secure walls of long-proven technology and tactics. The Council regards the Alliance as a "sleeping giant". Less than 3% of humans volunteer to serve in their military, a lower proportion than any other species. While competent, Alliance soldiers are neither as professional as the turians nor as skilled as the asari. Their strengths lie in fire support, flexibility, and speed. They make up for lack of numbers with sophisticated technical support (VIs, drones, artillery, electronic warfare) and emphasis on mobility and individual initiative. Their doctrine is not based on absorbing and dishing out heavy shocks like the turians and krogan. Rather, they bypass enemy strong points and launch deep into their rear, cutting supply lines and destroying headquarters and support units, leaving enemies to "wither on the vine". On defensive, the human military is a rapid reaction force that lives by Sun Tzu's maxim, "He who tries to defend everything defends nothing." Garrisons are intended for scouting rather then combat, avoiding engagement to observe and report on invaders using drones. The token garrisons of human colonies make it easy for alien powers to secure them, for which the Alliance media criticizes the military. However, the powerful fleets stationed at phase gate nexuses such as Arcturus are just a few hours or days from any colony within their sphere of responsibility. In the event of an attack, they respond with an overwhelming force." -> Systems Alliance: Military Jargon Obtained By - From Start "ashore - When a ship's crew leaves the vessel, they are "ashore." Though normally used regarding planets, it can refer to boarding a space station. aweigh - When a ship releases the equipment tethering it to a space station or surface dock, it is "aweight." aye, aye - The proper way to acknowledge an order. If told to attack the correct response is "Aye, aye, sir." If asked "Are you proud to be a marine?" the correct response is "Yes, sir". ASAP - Pronounced "a-sap," an acronym of "as soon as possible." belay - Stop, cease. bridge - The navigation centre or a spacecraft, where the steering is done. captain's mast - Non-judicial disciplinary proceedings by unit commanders. CIC - Combat Information Centre, the command centre of a spacecraft. The CIC is filled with sensor displays to make sense out of the chaos of combat. DC - Damage Control. The containment and repair of damage to a spacecraft. ECM - Electronic Counter-Measures used to avoid enemy sensors, from passive emissions masking to active jamming. EVA - Extra-Vehicular Activity. Time spent in a pressure suit, outside of a vehicle, spacecraft, or station. flank - The flank is the "side" of a military formation. Since the soldiers are facing elsewhere, an enemy that can attack on the flank can often "turn it" or "roll it up." FNG - "Freaking" New Guy(s). A derisive term for inexperienced personal. groundside - The surface of a planet. helmsman - The crew member who pilots the spacecraft. ladar - Light-amplified detection and ranging. An active sensor that bounces lasers off an object to determine its bearing and distance. Ladar has sufficient resolution that the data can be reconstructed into an image. shore party - Spacecraft's crew sent ashore on official business. silent running - An old submariner's term used aboard the Normandy to denote when stealth systems are active. sitrep - Abbreviation of "situation report," an evaluation of the current military situation. spacer - Someone who has spent most of their life in space. XO - Executive Officer, the second-in-command of an Alliance warship. The XO is responsible for administrative and personal matters." -> Systems Alliance: Military Ranks Obtained By: From Start "The Alliance uses a modified version of the ranking system that has been used for hundreds of years. Soldiers are classified into rank-and-file enlisted personal, experienced non-commissioned officers (NCOs), and specially trained officers. The divide between naval personnel and ground forces ("marines") is small. Ground units are a specialized branch of the fleet, just as fighter squadrons are. This unity of command is imposed by the futility of fighting without control of orbit; without the navy, any army is pointless. The marines, as a matter of pride, maintain some of their traditional rank titles; for example, marines have Privates and Corporals instead of Servicemen. In ascending order of responsibility, the ranks of the Alliance are: ENLISTED Serviceman 3rd Class / Private 2nd Class Serviceman 2nd Class / Private 1st Class Serviceman 1st Class / Corporal NCOs Service Chief Gunnery Chief Operations Chief OFFICERS 2nd Lieutenant 1st Lieutenant Staff Lieutenant Lieutenant Commander Staff Commander Captain / Major Read Admiral / General Admiral Fleet Admiral" -> Systems Alliance: N7 Obtained By: From Start "The Alliance Military Vocational Code system classifies the career path of all serving personnel. The MVC consists of one letter and one number. A soldier's MVC indicates proficiency, not rank. The letter notes career path; the number indicates level of experience, as indicated by service record, technical scores, and commendations. All 26 letters are used, and numbers run from 1 to 7. N is the letter code for Special Forces personnel." -> Terra Firma Party Obtained By: From Start "Terra Firma is an Alliance political party formed after the First Contact War. Its policy agenda is based on the principle that Earth must "stand firm" against influences. This covers a variety of legislation. Recent activities by Terra Firma include opposition to a law requiring high school alien language study, a proposal to increase tariffs on alien imports, and leading a popular movement to mark the First Contact War as a public holiday. Though founded by well-meaning individuals who feared the submersion of native human cultures under a wave of "alien vogue", Terra Firma's agenda attracts many jingoists and xenophobes." -> Timeline Obtained By: From Start "2069 - Armstrong Outpost at Shackleton Crater becomes the first human settlement on Luna. It is formally founded on July 24, the 100th anniversary of the first lunar landing. 2103 - Lower City in Eos Chasma becomes the first human settlement on Mars. 2137 - Eldfell-Ashland Energy Corporation demonstrates helium-3 fuel extraction from the atmosphere of Saturn. 2142 - Construction of Gagarin Station (Jump Zero) begins beyond the orbit of Pluto. 2148 - Prospectors discover the Prothean ruins at Promethei Planum on Mars. 2149 - Translation of Prothean data leads humans to the Charon mass relay. Systems Alliance founded to coordinate exploration and colonization of extra-solar worlds. 2151 - A shipping accident at Singapore International Spaceport exposes downwind communities to containers of dust-form element zero. Alliance begins construction of Arcturus Station. 2152 - Roughly 30% of the children born in Singapore after element zero exposure suffer from cancerous growths. Systems Alliance begins settlement of Earth's first extra-solar colony world, the planet Demeter. 2154 - Commander Shepard born. 2155 - Systems Alliance occupies completed portions of Arcturus Station as a headquarters. 2156 - Some children of Singapore exhibit minor telekinetic abilities. 2157 - Turians encounter human explorers; First Contact War. Occupation and liberation of the human colony of Shanxi. 2158 - Humans learn potential of biotics. An international effort to track element zero exposures begin. Roughly 10% of exposed children show some sign of biotic ability. 2160 - Systems Alliance Parliament formed. 2165 - Humans establish embassy on Citadel. 2170 - Batarian slavers attack the Alliance colony Midoir. 2176 - Skyllian Blitz - Pirates and slavers attacked Elysium, the human capital in the Skyllian Verge. 2177 - Thresher maws devour the Alliance colony of Akuze. 2178 - In retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz, an alliance fleet wipes out an army of slavers on the moon of Torfan. 2183 - Geth led by rogue Spectre Saren Arterius attack the Citadel, ensuring in a battle that cost thousands of lives. A few weeks later, the SSV Normandy is ambushed and destroyed. Commander Shepard is presumed dead. 2185 - Current Date" --==Planets and Locations==-- -> Ilos Obtained By: From Start "Like the ancienty human city of Troy, Ilos is a world known only through second-hand sources. References to Ilos have been found at several other Prothean ruins, though direct study of the world is unlikely to occur. Ilos lies in a remote area of the Terminus Systems only accessible by the legendary Mu Relay. Four thousand years ago, the Mu Relay was knocked out of position by a supernova and lost. Since then, Ilos and its cluster have been inaccessible. Occasionally, a university will organise an expedition to chart a route to Ilos using conventional FTL drive. These never get beyond the planning stages due to the distance and danger. The journey could take years or decades, passing through the hostile Terminus Systems and dozens of unexplored systems." -> Purgatory Obtained By: Talk to the Prison Warden on Purgatory "Originally an "ark ship" designed to carry argicultural animals, the Purgatory was taken by the Blue Suns mercenary company during a large-scale battle in the Skyllian Verge. In a years-long reconstruction of its interior, the Blue Suns repurposed it to hold sapient prisoners, supposedly because they captured so many in their conflicts throughout the galaxy. When media outlets started investigating claims that the ship was used for slaving operations, the Blue Suns turned a public relations nightmare into a regular income source. Claiming to be in full accordance with Citadel law, the crew of Purgatory now regularly lands on planets or space stations claiming that they can no longer hold their prisoners because of cost overruns. To avoid keeping prisoners under inhumane conditions, they will have to release them at the nearest port, dumping the scum of the galaxy directly into the local population. Faced with such a scenario, the government usually grants Purgatory's crew massive discounts in fuel, food, and repairs as long as they go away. Some even afford their own prisoners to Purgatory for a fee, grateful to have a problem relocated somewhere other than their backyard. Such unfortunates go in the dark depths of the ship, never to be seen again by their families or contacts. Purgatory is minimally armed with GARDIAN defences. Though a crusier- weight ship, it relies on the Blue Suns' fighters to prevent any attacks bent on a jailbreak or similar events." -> The Migrant Fleet Obtained By: Accept Tali's request for help on her loyalty mission "The flotilla, or the Migrant Fleet, is a fleet of roughly 50,000 starships that house over 17 million quarians. The largest collection of starfaring vessels in the galaxy, the Fleet is so large it may take days for all the ships to pass through a mass relay. The ships are constantly repaired, replaced, and upgraded to comfortably house as many quarians as possible. Typically, ships specialize in roles for the Fleet, from the enormous argicultural liveships to the shielded lab ships to the repurposed freighters known as homeships that house quarian children, young parents, and educators. Employed quarians typically live in the ship they work on, since commuting from ship to ship ties up resources with unnecessary docking procedures. Even within the flotilla, quarians on most ships will remain encased in their protective suits. Rarely, quarians will meet on "clean ships" for specific purposes such as medical services or reproduction. When this occurs, they remove their suits, knowing full well that it is likely they will spend a few days having allergic reactions or getting over infections as their weakened immune system compensate for each other's presence." -> Virmire Obtained By: From Start "Virmire is a lush world located on the frontier of the Attican Traverse. Its vast seas and orbital position on the inner life zone have created a wide equatorial band of humid, tropical terrain. Only the political instability of the region has impeded efforts at colonisation. Many times, the Citadel has opened negotiations to settle Virmire with the various criminal gangs and petty dictatorships in the nearby Terminus Systems. All fell apart due to internal power shifts within the opposing parties. The Citadel has written off the colonisation of Virmire as impossible without significant political change. The Terminus powers themselves are unlikely to ever settle Virmire. Most lack the resources to support settlement of a virgin world, finding it more expedient to steal from their neighbours than build for themselves." --==Publications==-- -> Ascension Obtained By: Purchasing Ascension Novel from Zakera Cafe "Written by human author Drew Karpyshyn, the popular military-historical novel Ascension focuses on several lives warped or destroyed by the human-survivalist cult Cerberus. Following the Citadel attack of 2182 and the accelerated rise of human influence in the galaxy, Cerberus instituted Ascension, a secret biotics program aimed at producing a super- human warrior. Biotics prodigy Gillian Grayson, a 12-year-old autistic girl, suffered for the sins of her father, a secret Cerberus operative and red sands addict. Paul Grayson was ensnared in a web of criminality involving a quarian traitor and extending to Saren Arterius, the geth, and a terminal threat to the quarian flotilla. Having fled to the Terminus Systems with his daughter after exposure of Cerberus's link to Ascension, Grayson was pursued by Gillian's teacher, scientist Kahlee Sanders, initiating a chain of tragedies that demonstrated Cerberus's nearly unlimited power and boundless ambition." -> Fornax Obtained By: Purchasing Fornax from Omega "Launched in 2167, Fornax magazine described itself as "the galaxy's finest xenophilia." By its fifth year, Fornax became the first human magazine to offer full five-sensory stimulation, a previous unaffordable magazine technology made profitable by the economy of scale. With a monthly publishing run of 127 million available in both in hard-copy and direct download, Fornax offers a range of alien models with particular emphasis on the unisexual asari, although both genders of quarian, drell, batarians, and volus are regularly depicted. Speciality editions such as Genit-elcor and Krogasm service devoted but smaller markets." -> Revelation Obtained By: Purchasing Revelation Novel from Zakera Cafe "Revelations is a popular military-historical novel by human writer Drew Karpyshyn that dramitizes human conflicts and political expansion following the 2148 discovery of the Prothean mass relay on Pluto and the beginning of human galactic exploration. In 2165, years before his rise to political prominence, Lt. David Anderson was a young veterain of the turian war, investigating the destruction of top secret military research station Shanxi. Every scientist stationed at Shanxi had been slaughtered except Kahlee Sanders, who'd disappeared with secret files making her Anderson's prime suspect. The book traced Anderson's dangerous investigation of Sanders, which included run-ins with Blue Sun mercenaries and a krogan bounty hunter. The investigation uncovered illegal research into AI, and forced Anderson into an alliance with the human-hating turian Spectre Saren Arteius, who would eventually enter into a genocidal collaboration with the geth." --==Ships and Vehicles==-- -> A-61 Mantis Gunship Obtained By: Talking to Cathka during Archangel Saga "The workhorse of mercenary bands throughout the galaxy, the Mantis is a two- man, vectored-thrust aircraft that excels in close air-support roles. Highly modular in construction, the Mantis can be reconfigured as a low-altitude gunship, a fighter, a high-altitude bomber, or even a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane that can engage enemy craft around a planet or space station. The only role that the Mantis cannot perform is that of a true deep-space fighter, as it has no FTL drive. First rolled off the assembly lines in 2170, the Mantis remains in service in dozen of armies across the galaxy. It is most commonly used as air support in pitched ground battles, in a configuration that sports two pods for Inferno PKRs (Precision Kill Rockets) and a chin-mounted M350 mass accelerator cannon. Its kinetic barriers, thermal decoy system, and electronic countermeasures suit make the Mantis far less vulnerable to surface-to-air attacks than previous generations of aircraft. Like most modern planes, the Mantis uses an element zero core to ease the load of the engines with a mass effect field, allowing it to take off vertically or hover in place using minimium fuel. This also gives it far gerater range and speed than the helicopters and jump-jet aircraft that once filled its niche -- a Mantis can take off from Baton Rouge, reach Moscow in a few hours, fly a ground attack mission, and return home before having to refuel." -> FTL Drive Obtained By: From Start "Faster-than-light drives use element zero cores to reduce the mass of the ship, allowing higher rates of acceleration. This effectively raises the speed of light within the mass effect field, allowing high speed travel with negligible relativistic time dilation effects. Starships still require conventional thrusters (chemical rockets, commercial fusion torch, economy ion engine, or military antiproton drive) in addition to the FTL drive core. With only a core, a ship has no motive power. The amount of element zero and power required for a drive increases exponentially to the mass being moved and the degree it is being lightened. Very massive ships or very high speeds are prohibitively expensive. If the field collapses while the ship's moving at faster-than-light speeds, the effects are catastrophic. The ship is snapped back to sublight velocity, the enormous excess energy shed in the form of lethal Cerenkov radiation. -> FTL Drive: Appearance Obtained By: From Start "New space travellers ask, "What does it look like outside a ship moving at faster-than-light speed?" Part of the answer can be seen in a simple pane of glass. Light travels slower through glass then it does through open air; light also moves slower in conventional space then it does in a high-speed mass effect field. This causes refraction - any light entering at an angle is bent and separated into a spectrum. Objects outside the ship will appear refracted. The greater the difference between the objective (exterior) and subjective (interior) speeds of light, the greater the refraction. As the subjective speed of lights is raised within the field, objects outside will appear to red-shift, eventually becoming visible only to radio telescope antennae. High-energy electromagnetic sources normally hidden to the eye become visible on the spectrum. As the speed of light continues to be raised, x-ray, gamma ray, and eventfully cosmic ray sources become visible. Stars will be replaced by pulsars, the acceleration discs of black holes, quasars, and gamma ray bursts. To an outside observer, a ship within a mass effect drive envelope appears to blue-shifted. If within a field that allows travel at twice the speed of light, any radiation it emits has twice the energy as normal. If the ship is in a field of about 200 times light speed, it radiates visible light as x-ray and gamma rays, and the infrared heat from the hull is blue-shifted up into the visible spectrum or higher. Ships moving at FTL are visible at great distances, though their signature will only propagate at the speed of light." -> FTL Drive: Drive Charge Obtained By: From Start "As positive or negative electronic current is passed through an FTL drive core, it acquires a static electrical charge. Drives can be operated with an average of 50 hours before they reach charge saturation. This changes proportional to the magnitude of mass reduction; a heavier or faster ship reaches saturation more quickly. If the charge is allowed to build, the core will discharge into the hull of a ship. All ungrounded crew members are fried to a crisp, all electronic systems are burned out, and metal bulkheads may be melted and fused together. The safest way to discharge a core is to land on a planet and establish a connection to the ground, like a lightning rod. Larger vessels like dreadnaughts cannot land and must discharge into a planetary magnetic field. The ship passes the charge from the drive core to the exterior armoured hull, then dives into the magnetic field. As the hull discharges, sheets of lightning jump away into the field, creating beautiful auroral displays on the planet. The ship must retract is sensors and weapons while dumping charge to protect damage, leaving it blind and helpless. Discharging at a moon with a weak magnetic field can take days. Discharging into the powerful field of a gas giant may require less then an hour. Deep space facilities such as the Citadel often have special discharge facilities for visiting ships." -> Helios Thruster Module Obtained By: Upgrading the Normandy with Helios Thruster Module "Intended for next-generation fighter craft, the Heed Industries Helios Thrustle Module propulsion system far outpaces the typical hydrogen/liquid oxygen ractors that powers a frigate's maneuvering thrusters. By using metastable metallic hydrogen, the Helios boasts a fuel that burns at far greater efficiency than liquid H2/O2. Navigators can execute the numerous small course corrections inherent to any long-distance travel without fear of exhausting the ship's fuel supplies. This net gain extends to forward impulse as well: a ship powered by antiprotons can coast temporarily using the Helios to reach an inferior but highly sustainable speed. Such efficiency lowers antiproton consumption, a constant concern for any warship. When a Helio-propelled ship must refuel, however, it typically relies on a large carrier or nearby planetary factory to synthesize the metallic hydrogen. This process uses extremely dense mass effect fields to create the metal under pressures of over a million Earth atmospheres, an activity most safely done while planetside. While the process may seem like a drawback compared to "skimmer ships" that can gather hydrogen and oxygen from anywhere in the universe, the combat superiority of the Helio's maneuvering capabilities is often a worthwhile tradeoff. The same efficiency that allows for microburn course correction can power rapid bursts of motion. Once a pilot becomes used to the ship's new energetic responses, she can easily put the ship wherever and at whatever angle she desires." -> Space Combat: Combat Endurance Obtained By: From Start "Heat limits the length and intensity of ship-to-ship combat. Starships generate enormous heat when they fire high-energy weapons, perform manoeuvring burns, and run on-board combat electronics. In combat, warships produce heat more quickly than they can disperse it. As heat builds within a vessel, the crewed spaces become increasingly uncomfortable. Before the heat reaches lethal leaves, a ship must win or retreat by entering FTL. After an FTL run, the ships halts, shuts down non- essential systems, and activates the heat radiation gear. Combat endurance varies by ship design and by the battle's location. Battles in the deep cold of interstellar space can go on for some time. Engagements close to a star are brief. Since habitable worlds are usually close to a star, battles over there are usually more frantic." -> Space Combat: General Tactics Obtained By: From Start "Shells lofted by surface navies crash back to earth when their acceleration is overwhelmed by gravity and air resistance. In space, a projectile has unlimited range, it will keep moving until it hits something. Practical gunnery range is determined by the velocity of the attacker's ordinance and the manoeuvrability of the target. Beyond a certain range, a small ship's ability to dodge trumps a larger attacker's projectile speed. The largest-ranged combat occurs between dreadnaughts, whose projectiles have the highest velocity but are the least manoeuvrable. The shortest-range combat is between frigates, which have the slowest projectile velocities and highest manoeuvrability. Opposing dreadnaughts open with main gun artillery duel at EXTREME ranges of tens of thousands of kilometres. The fleet close, maintaining evasive lateral motion while keeping their bow guns facing the enemy. Fighters are launched and attempt to close to disruptor torpedo range. Cautious admirals weaken the enemy with ranged fire and fighter strikes before committing to close action. Aggressive commanders advance so cruisers and frigates can engage. At LONG range, the main guns of cruisers become useful. Friendly interceptors engage enemy fighters until the attackers enter the range of ship-based GARDIAN fire. Dreadnaughts fire from the rear, screened by smaller ships. Commanders must decide whether to commit to a general melee or retreat into FTL. At MEDIUM range, ships can use broadside guns. Fleets intermingle, and it becomes difficult to retreat in order. Ships with damaged kinetic barriers are vulnerable to wolfpack frigate flotillas that speed through the battle scene. Only fighters and frigates enter CLOSE "knife fight" ranges of 10 or fewer kilometres. Fighters loose their disruptor torpedoes, bringing down a ship's kinetic barriers and allowing it to be swarmed by frigates. GARDIAN lasers become viable weapons, swatting down fighters and boiling away warship armour. Neither dreadnaughts nor cruisers can use their main guns at close range; laying the bow on a moving target becomes impossible. Superheated thruster exhaust becomes a hazard." -> Space Combat: Planetary Assault Obtained By: From Start "Planetary assaults are complicated if the target is a habitable garden world; the attackers cannot approach the defenders straight on. The Citadel Conventions prohibit the use of large kinetic impactors against habitable worlds. In a straight-on attack, any misses plough into the planet behind the defending fleet. If the defenders position themselves between the attackers and the planet, they can fire at will while the attacker risks hitting the planet. Successful assaults on garden worlds hinge upon up-to-date intelligence. Attackers need to determine where the enemy's defences are, so they may approach from an angle that allows them to fire with no collateral damage. Note this is not necessary for hostile worlds. Once control of orbit has been lost, defensive garrisons disperse into the wilderness. An enemy with orbital superiority can bombard surface forces with impunity. The best option for defenders is to hide and collect reconnaissance in anticipation of relief forces. Given the size of a planet, it is impractical to garrison entire conquered worlds. Fortunately, colonisation efforts tend to focus on building up a dozen or fewer areas. Ground forces occupy the spaceports, industrial facilities, and major population centres. The wilderness is patrolled by unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite reconnaissance. If a defender unit is spotted, airmobile rapid deployment units and satellite artillery are used to pin down and destroy them." -> Space Combat: Pursuit Tactics Obtained By: Investigate Monitor on Normandy "Dependent on light, sensors cannot detect objects moving at faster-than-light speeds. No ship can be detected at interstellar ranges. Detection at interplanetary ranges suffer from light speed lag; observers see ships not where they appear to be but where they were when the light bearing their image left them, minutes, hours, or days before. To counteract light speed lag, battle fleets surround themselves with spheres of screening and scouting frigates. Pursuers cannot detect ships and directly intercept them. Instead, pursuers track where objects were, where they were heading, and at what speed they were moving. Such data reliably predicts an object's future location and for pursuit along its light-lagged "wake." Ships trying to evade pursuit follow erratic zig-zag courses, requiring pursuers to make stops to update their projections. -> Space Combat: Trans-Relay Assaults Obtained By: From Start "The crucial choice for any attack through mass relays is how to divide the fleet for transit. The accuracy of a relay's mass-projection depends on the mass being moved and how far it's going. Any long distance and/or high mass jump will see drift. That is, a ship may be hundreds of millions of kilometres from its intended drop point, in any direction from the relay. Distance can't be chosen by admirals, but a relay is told how much mass to transit. For example, if told to move a million metric tons of mass, the relay will scan the approach corridor, find four 250,000-ton freighters, and transit them together, maintaining their relative position. A commander has the option of moving his fleet as one large, coherent formation that may be wildly off-position, or breaking it up into many smaller formations that will be individually closer to the intended attack point, but could be widely dispersed. Conservative assault doctrine holds that fleets should be moved en masse, maintaining concentration of force and reducing the chances of collision. The only time it is reasonable to split up a formation is during blockade running. -> Starships: Carriers Obtained By: From Start "All races provide their fleet with organic fighter support. Crusiers handle a handful in space between internal pressure hulls and exterior armour. Dreadnoughts have a hangar deck within its hulls. Humans, who had only recently "graduated" from surface to space combat, were the first to build ships wielding fighters as the main armament. In fleet combat, carriers stay clear of battle, launching fighters bearing disruptor torpedoes. Fighters are the primary striking power of the ship; if a carrier enters mass accelerator range of the enemy, things have gone very wrong. It is possible to recover and rearm fighters during combat, though most carriers seal the flight deck and try to stay out of the way. The flight deck is essentially a corridor through the armour and into the heart of the vessel. A single well-placed torpedo is enough to gut a carrier. Alliance carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history." -> Starships: Crew Considerations Obtained By: From Start "Cabins give each individual ten cubic meters of space. On larger vessels private rooms are common. As ships get smaller, the number of crew packed into a single wardroom increases. Asari prefer shared spaces even on large vessels while krogan territorial instinct make it impossible for them to cohabitate even on the smallest ships. On smaller vessels, "hot bunking" is the norm. Crew members are assigned different watches share the same bunk. When one gets off-duty, he wakes up the person in the bunk. While that crewman is on duty, the first gets his rack time. Spacecraft compartments can be isolated by air-tight doors in case of decompression. The cinematic version of explosive decompression is fiction; holed compartments either take enough damage that the occupants are killed instantly, or leak slowly enough that they are able to reach protective gear. Compartments are equipped with Emergency Life Supports Apparatus: fireproof plastic bubbles with air bottles. Small when stowed, ELSA comfortably accommodate one individual inflated. Damage control procedure cuts off ventilation to burning compartments. With oxygen to consume, fires die in seconds. The compartment is re-pressurized afterwards for crew recovery. Mass effect fields create an artificial gravity (a-grav) plane below the decks, preventing muscle atrophy and bone lose in zero-gee. Large vessels arrange there decks perpendicular to their thrust axis. The "highest" decks are at the bow, and the "lowest" decks at the engines. The allows a-grav to work with the inertial effects of thrust. Ships that can land arrange their decks laterally, so the crew can move about while the vessel is on the ground. Warships normally turn off their a-grav systems during combat, reducing heat generated by systems and increasing combat endurance. To provide a point of reference for navigating in zero-gee, floors are painted a different colour from the walls and ceiling." -> Starships: Cruisers Obtained By: Purchase Turian Cruiser Model from Omega "Cruiser-weight starships are the standard combat unit encountered away from large naval bases, the "poor bloody infantry" of most fleets. Nimble scouting frigates have neither the punch of the stamina to stand up to serious combat, and the mighty dreadnaughts are a strategic resource, carefully hoarded and committed to the most critical battles. Cruisers perform routine independent "show the flag" patrols in settled systems and lead flotillas of frigates in small engagements such as pirate suppression campaigns. In major fleet engagements, cruiser squadrons support the dreadnaught battle line by screening their flanks against enemies attempting to manoeuvre for a main gun "bow shot" from their vulnerable broadsides. Alliance cruisers are named after cities on Earth." -> Starships: Dreadnaughts Obtained By: Purchase the Destiny Ascension Model from Citadel Souvenirs "The dreadnaught is the ultimate arbiter of space warfare; millions of tons of metal, ceramic, and polymer dedicated to the projection of firepower against an enemy vessel of like ability. No sane commander would face a dreadnaught with anything less then another dreadnaught. A dreadnaught's power lies in the length of it's main gun. Dreadnaughts range from 800 meters to one kilometre long, with a main gun of commensurate length. An 800-meter mass accelerator capable of accelerating one 2 kg. slug to a velocity of 283 km/s every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of 38 kilotons of TNT, three times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima. When used to bombard planets, some of this kinetic energy is lost due to atmospheric re-entry friction. As a rule of thumb, each Earth-atmosphere of air pressure saps approximately 20% of a projectile's impact energy. The turian fleet presently has 37 dreadnaughts; the asari, 21; and the salarians, 16. Humanity has six, with additional hull under construction at Arcturus Station. Alliance battleships are named for mountains of Earth. Everest Class: Everest, Fuji, Elbrus. Kilimanjaro Class: Kilimanjaro, Tai Shan, Shasta, Aconcagua (under construction)" -> Starships: Fighters Obtained By: From Start "Fighters are single-pilot combat small craft. They are lightweight enough that they can be economically fitted with powerful element zero cores, making them capable of greater acceleration and sharper manoeuvres then starships. Kinetic barriers shields changed starship battles from short, vicious bloodbaths to extended indecisive slugging matches. Only the main gun of a dreadnaught could punch a mass accelerator slug through the barriers of an opposing dreadnaught. This changed with the development of the fighter- launched mass disruptor torpedo, a short-ranged weapon that can penetrate kinetic barriers to destroy their projector assemblies. Starship GARDIAN defences must be overwhelmed through swarm tactics. Fighter groups can take heavy casualties pressing their torpedo attacks home. Once fighter-launched torpedoes have crippled an enemy's barriers, the mass accelerator on frigates and cruisers can make short work of them. Interceptors are a type of fighter optimized to attack other fighters, with no ability to damage starships. Interceptors are used to screen friendly units from incoming fighter attack." -> Starships: Frigates Obtained By: Purchase Normandy SR1 Model from Citadel Souvenirs "Frigates are light escort and scouting vessels. They often have extensive GARDIAN systems to provide anti-fighter screening for capital ships, and carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty. Unlike larger vessels, frigates are able to land on planets. Frigate drive systems allow them to achieve high FTL cruise speeds. They also have proportionally larger thrusters and lighter design mass, allowing them to manoeuvre more handily. In combat, speed and manoeuvrability make a frigate immune to the long-range fire of larger vessels; in the time it takes projectiles to reach them, frigates are no longer where they were predicted to be. In fleet combat, frigates are organized into "wolfpack" flotillas of four to six. Wolfpacks speed through enemy formations, hunting enemy vessels whose kinetic barriers have been taken down by fighter-launched disruptor torpedoes. The wolfpack circle-strafes vulnerable targets, using their superior speed and manoeuvrability to evade return fire. Alliance frigates are named for great battles in human history." -> Starships: Heat Management Obtained By: From Start "Dispersal of heat generated by onboard systems is a critical issue for a ship. If it cannot deal with heat, the crew may be cooked within the hull. Radiation is the only way to shed heat in a vacuum. Civilian vessels utilise large, fragile radiator panels that are impossible to armour. Warships use Diffuse Radiator Arrays (DRA), ceramic strips along the exterior of the armoured hull. These make the ship appear striped to thermographic sensors. Since the arrangement of the strips depends on the internal configuration of the ship, the patterns for each vessel are unique and striking. On older ships, the DRA strips could become red- or white-hot. Dubbed "tiger stripes" or "war paint" by humans, the glowing DRA had a psychological impact on pirates and irregular forces. Strip radiators are not as efficient as panels, but if damaged by enemy fire, the ship only loses a small portion of its total radiation capacity. In most cases, a vessel's DRA along allows it to cruise with no difficulties. Operations deep within solar systems can cause problems. A ship engaged in combat can produce titanic amounts of heat from manoeuvring burns and weapons fire. When fighting in a high heat environment, warships employ high-efficiency "droplet" heat sinks. In a droplet system, tanks of liquid sodium or lithium absorb heat within the ship. The liquid is vented from spray nozzles near the bow as a thin sheet of millions of micrometer-scale droplets. The droplets are caught at the stern and recycled into the system. A droplet system can sink 10-100 times as much heat as DRA strips. Droplet sheets resemble a surface ship's wake through water. The wake peels out in sharp turns, spreading a fan of droplets as the ship changes vectors and leaves the coolant behind." -> Starships: Quarian Liveships Obtained By: Land on the Quarian Ship for Tali's trial "There are few wide-open spaces in quarian spacecrafts; liveships are the exception. Each ship is a massive hydroponics facility, growing thousands of tons of genetically modified staple crops under artificial light and in highly enriched soil. The surface of a liveship is studded with docking bays so as many shuttles as possible can distribute the foods throughout the flotilla on a daily basis. When received, the crops are sterilized with radiation, ground up into nutritious pastes, and pumped into quarian suits through feeding tubes. In return, waste products that could be used as fertilizer or compost are returned to the liveships through an efficient (if odorous) recycling program. Liveships do not hold animals. The quarians consume a vegan diet, driven not by ethics but by practicality. Captive animals require living space, and consume large amounts of water and plant matter. The quarians cannot afford such an inefficient resource-to-calorie ratio, to say nothing of a live animal's disease or allergen potential. As a result, when the flotilla arrives in a star system where life is based on the same dextro-amino acids that the quarians consume, pastes based on animal proteins fetch highly inflated prices, and the vendors are typically mobbed by quarians wanting a new taste sensation. The sickness that often follows these binges is treated much the same way as hangovers are in human culture: painful, but part of the overall experience of excess." -> Starships: Sensors Obtained By: From Start ""Light lag" prevents sensing in real time at great distances. A ship firing its thrusters at the Charon Relay can be easily detected from Earth, 5.75 light-hours (six billon kilometres) away, but Earth will only see the event five hours and 45 minutes after it occurs. Due to the light-speed limit, defenders can't see enemies coming until they have already arrived. Because there is FTL travel and communications but no FTL sensors, frigates are crucial for scouting and picket duties. Passive sensors are used for long-range detection, while active sensors obtain short-range, high quality targeting data. Passive sensors include visual, thermographic, and radio detectors that watch and listen for objects in space. A powered ship emits a great deal of energy; the heat of the life support systems; the radiation given off by power plants and electrical equipment; the exhaust of the thrusters. Starships stand out plainly against the near-absolute zero background of space. Passive sensors can be used during FTL travel, but incoming data is significantly distorted by the effect of the mass effect envelope and Doppler shift. Active sensors are radars and high resolution ladars (LAser Detection And Ranging) that emit a "ping" of energy and "listen" for return signals. Ladars have a narrower field of view than radar, but ladar resolution allows images of detected objects to be assembled. Active sensors are useless when a ship is moving at FTL speeds." -> Starships: Thrusters Obtained By: From Start "A mass effect drive core decreases the mass of a bubble of space-time around a ship. This gives the ship the potential to move quickly, but does not apply any motive power. Ships use their sublight thrusters for motive power in FTL. There are several varieties of thruster, varying in performance versus economy. All ships are equipped with arrays of hydrogen-oxygen reaction control thrusters for manoeuvring. Ion Drives electrically accelerate charged particles as a reaction mass. They are extremely efficient, but produce negligible thrust. They are mainly used for automated cargo barges. The primary commercial engine is a "fusion torch", which vents the plasma of a ship's power plant. Fusion torches offer powerful acceleration at the cost of difficult heat management. Torch fuel is fairly cheap: helium-3 skimmed from gas giants and deuterium extracted from seawater or cometary bodies. Propellant is hydrogen, likewise skimmed from gas giants. In combat, military vessels require accelerations beyond the capability of fusion torches. Warship thrusters inject antiprotons into a reaction chamber filled with hydrogen. The matter-antimatter annihilation provides unmatched motive power. The drawback is fuel production; antiprotons must be manufactured one particle at a time. Most antimatter production is done at massive solar arrays orbiting energetic stars, making them high-value targets in wartime. The exhaust of fusion and antiproton drives is measured in millions of degrees Celsius. Any vessel caught behind them will melt like wax in a blowtorch. Any long-duration interstellar flight consists of two phases: acceleration and deceleration. Starships accelerate to the half-way point of their journey, then flip 180 degrees and apply thrust on the opposite vector, decelerating as they finish the trip. The engines are always operating, and peak speed is attained at the middle of the flight." -> Weapons: Ablative Armour Obtained By: From Start "A warship's kinetic barriers reduce the damage from solid objects, but can do nothing to block GARDIAN lasers, particle beams, and other forms of Directed Energy Weapon (DEW). The inner layer of warship protection consists of ablative armour plate designed to "boil away" when heated. The vaporised armour material scatters a DEW beam, rendering it ineffectual. A scaffold was built around the interior pressure hull, with sheets of ablative armour hung from the structure. Ships typically have multiple layers of armour separated by empty baffles, spaces often used for cargo storage. Cruisers, which lack the internal space to fit dedicated fighter hangers, store the shipboard fighter complement in the baffles. It is not unknown for enlisted crew to build illicit alcohol distilleries in some obscure corner of the baffles, safe from prying eyes." -> Weapons: Disruptor Torpedoes Obtained By: Monitoring Station in Main Battery, Normandy "Disruptor torpedoes are powered projectiles with warheads that create random and unstable mass effect fields when triggered. These fields warp space-time in a localised area. The rapid asymmetrical mass changes cause the target to rip itself apart. In flight, torpedoes use a mass-increasing field, making them too massive for enemy kinetic barriers to repulse. The extra mass gives the torpedoes a very sluggish acceleration, making them easy prey for defensive GARDIAN weapons. So, torpedoes have to be launched at very close range. Torpedoes are the main anti-ship weapon used by fighters. They are launched from point-blank range in "ripple-fire" waves reminiscent of the ancient Calliope rocket artillery launchers (thus their popular nickname "Callies"). By saturating defensive GARDIAN systems with multiple targets, at least a few will get through." -> Weapons: GARDIAN Obtained By: From Start "A ship's General ARea Defensive Integration Anti-spacecraft Network (GARDIAN) consists of anti-missile / anti-fighter laser turrets on the exterior hull. Because these are under computer control, the gunnery control officer needs to do little beyond turn the system on and designate targets as hostile. Since lasers move at light speed, they cannot be dodged by anything moving at non-relativistic speeds. Unless the beam is aimed poorly, it will always hit its target. In the early stages of a battle, the GARDIAN fire is 100% accurate. It is not 100% lethal, but it doesn't have to be. Damaged fighters must break off for repairs. Lasers are limited by diffraction. The beams "spread out", decreasing the energy density (watts per m^2) the weapon can place on a target. Any high- powered laser is a short-ranged weapon. GARDIAN networks have another limitation: heat. Weapons-grade lasers require "cool-down" time, during which heat is transferred to sinks or radiators. As lasers fire, heat builds within them, reducing damage, range, and accuracy. Fighters attack in swarms. The first few WILL be hit by GARDIAN, but as the battle continues, the effects of laser overheat allow the attacks to press ever closer to the ship. Constant use will burn out the laser. GARDIAN lasers typically operate in infrared frequencies. Shorter frequencies would offer superior stopping power and range, but degradation of focal arrays and mirrors would make them expensive to maintain, and most prefer mechanical reliability over leading-edge performance where lives are concerned. Salarians, however, use near-ultraviolet frequency lasers with six times the range, believing that having additional time to shoot down incoming missiles is more important. Lasers are not blocked by the kinetic barriers of capital ships. However, the range of lasers limits their use to rare "knife fight"-range ship-to-ship combat." -> Weapons: Javelin Obtained By: Monitoring Station, Main Battery, Normandy "The Javelin is an experimental close-assault weapon fitted on a handful of newer Alliance warships. It consists of a "rack" of two or more disposable disruptor torpedo tubes bolted or magnetically "slung" onto the exterior of a ship's armoured hull. Fired on converging trajectories, the torpedoes detonate in a precisely timed sequence that allows the warhead's dark energy to resonate and thereby magnify the resulting space-time warp effects. Like fighter-launched torpedoes, Javelins are "cold-launched" for safety reasons, though they use a different approach. Resembling old-fashioned submarine torpedo tubes, Javelin torpedoes come packed in individual sealed tubes filled with compressed, inert gas. Opening the front of the tube causes escaping gases to push the torpedo into the vacuum, releasing a puff of crystals around the mouth of the tube. After completely clearing the tube, the torpedo ignites its thrusters. Javelin mounts are most often fitted on swift frigates, which enter "knife- fight" torpedo ranges as a matter of course. Javelins may be also fitted on heavier ships for short-range engagements such as trans-relay assaults. They are particularly useful in this role for dreadnoughts, which cannot lay their main guns on close-range targets. As missile weapons, Javelins are subject to highly accurate defensive GARDIAN fire. They must be launched in large numbers and at short range to have any chance of hitting their target at all." -> Weapons: Mass Accelerator Obtained By: From Start "Mass accelerators proep solid metal slugs via electromagnetic attraction and repulsion. A slug lightened by a mass effect field can be accelerated to extremely high speeds, permitting previously unattainable projectile velocities. The primary determinant of a mass accelerator's destructive power is length. The longer the barrel, the long the slug can be accelerated, the higher the slug's final velocity, and therefore the greater its kinetic impact. Slugs are designed to squash or shatter on impact, increasing the energy they transfer to its target. Without collapsibility, slugs would punch through their targets while inflicting only minimal damage. Rather thanbeing mounted on the exterior, starship guns are housed inside hulls and visible only as gun portholes from outside. A ship's main gun is a large spinal-mount weapon running 90% of the hull's length. While processing destructive power equal to that of tactical nuclear weapons, main guns are difficult to aim. Because ships must be able to point their bows almost directly at their targets, main guns are best used for long-range "bombardment" fire. Approximately 40% of the hull's width, broadside guns inflict less damage and can be mounted with greater numbers and more flexibilty. The modern human Kilimanjaro-class dreadnoughts mount three decks with 26 broadside accelerators apiece for a total salvo weight of 78 slugs per side, firing once every two seconds. However, mass accelerators produce recoil equal to their impact energy. While the mass effect fields suspending the rounds mitigate the recoil, recoil shock can still rattle crews and damage systems." --==Technology==-- -> Argus Planet Scan Technology Obtained By: Upgrading Normandy with Argus Scanner "The Argus provides a qualitative leap in planetary surface imaging. A proprietary technology of Ayndroid Group, an RRD laboratory reportedly owned by Cerberus, this upgrade for Normandy's sensory array delivers superior long-range topographical scanning resolution and rendering speed. By deploying an orbital multistatic grid of 100 radar-emitting micro- satellites, the Argus quickly delivers a global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) at 15 meters per pixel (mpp) resolution, vastly outclassing the Normandy's previous scanner peak performance of 27 mpp. Such imaging quality provides superior defensive intelligence, at a speed warranted by the dangers of combat. At slower scanning and rendering speed, the Argus can resolve down to an astonishing 0.001 mmp -- one millipixel per pixel -- ideal for geological and biological prospecting, archeological research, and long-term security surveillance. By employing such a massive multistatic grid of nearly- untraceable micro-emitters, the resiliant Argus is virtually invulnerable to electronic countermeasures. The spherical geometry of the Argus grid also allows superior cross-sectioning of targets." -> Biotics Obtained By: From Start "Biotics is the ability of rare individuals to manipulate dark energy and create mass effect fields through the use of electrical impulses from the brain. Intense training and surgically-implanted amplifiers are necessary for a biotic to produce mass effect fields powerful enough for practical use. The relative strength of biotic abilities varies greatly among species and with each individual. These are three branches of biotics. TELEKINESIS uses mass-lowering fields to levitate or impel objects. Mass-raising KINETIC FIELDS are used to block or pin objects. DISTORTION uses rapidly shifting mass fields to shred objects. Most organis species are capable of developing biotic abilities, though there are risks involved. Biotics are the result of in-utero exposure to element zero. This usually causes fatal cancers in the victim, but in rare cases it coalesces into nodules within the fetus's developing nervous system. " -> Biotics: Biotic Amps Obtained By: From Start "Biotics manipulate mass effect fields using dozens of element zero nodules within their nervous system that react to electric stimuli from the brain. Amplifiers allow biotics to synchronize the nodules so they can form fields large and strong enough for practical use. Amplifiers can improve a species discipline or talent. An implant is surgically-embedded interface port into which amps are "plugged in". On humans, the implant is usually placed at the base of the skull for convenient access, though the user must be careful to keep it free of contaminants. Implant ports can fit a variety of amps, and there is a growing market for modifications and add-ons. The finest quality implants and amps are manufactured by asari artisans, but the Alliance's L3 implants - first deployed in 2170 - are a significant step forward." -> Biotics: Life as a Biotic Obtained By: From Start "Biotics possess extraordinary abilities, but they must live with minor inconveniences. The most obvious issue is getting adequate nutrition. Creating biotic mass effects takes such a toll on metabolism that active biotics develop ravenous appetites. The standard Alliance combat rations for a soldier is 3000 calories per day; biotics are given 4500, as well as a canteen of potent energy drink for quick refreshment after hard combat. Another issue is electric charge. Electricity accumulated in starship drive cores must be discharged, and so must the electricity in a biotics user. Biotics are prone to small static discharges when they touch metal. Unfortunately, human biotics also face suspicion and persecution, beginning with the popular misconception that they can read and control minds. Biotics symbolise the dehumanisation of mankind to people philosophically or religiously opposed to gene modification and cybernetics. Militaries are the only organisations that always welcome biotics, offering them huge recruitment incentives." -> Communications Obtained By: FTL Link on Normandy "Real-time communication is possible thanks to networks of expensive mass relay comm buoys that can daisy-chain a transmission via lasers. Comm buoys are maintained in patterns built outward from each mass relay. The buoys are little more than a cluster of primitive, miniature mass relays. Each individual buoy is connected to a partner on another buoy in the network, forming a corridor of low-mass space. Tightbeam communications lasers are piped through these "tubes" of FTL space, allowing virtually instantaneous communication to anywhere on the network. The networks connect across regions by communications lasers through the mass relays. With this system, the only delay is the light lag between the source or destination and the closest buoy. So long as all parties remain within half a light-second (150,000 km) of buoys, seamless real time communications is possible. Since buoys are maintained in all travelled areas, most enjoy unlimited instant communications. Ships only suffer communications lag when operating off established deep space routes, around uninhabited areas out near system gas giants, and other unsettled areas. During wartime, comm buoy networks are the first target of an attack. Once the network is severed, it can take anywhere from weeks to years to get a message out of a contested system. In systems where a buoy network has not yet been built or has been destroyed, rapid communication means ferrying information through high-speed courier ships and unmanned data drones." -> Communications: Administration Obtained By: From Start "While comm buoys allow rapid transmission, there is finite amount of bandwidth available. Given that trillions of people may be trying to pass a message through a given buoy at any one time, access to the network is parcelled out on priority tiers. The Citadel Council and the Spectres have absolute priority; if they are using all the bandwidth, everyone else must wait. Individual governments and their militaries enjoy the next-highest tier. During wartime, civilian communication can suffer hours or even days of lag. Intelligence agencies study ping time through various systems to predict military build-ups. Below the government and militaries, bandwidth priority is sold to the highest bidder. Mega conglomerates, particularly headline news networks, purchase higher priority to provide their viewers with timely information and response capability (for example, financial instructions and investment firms) also invest heavily in priority access. The funds acquired through sales of bandwidth are used to maintain and expand the communications infrastructure. While everyone with a computer has guaranteed free and unlimited access to the galactic extranet, they are the last in the line for bandwidth and may have to wait for their requests to be processed. Bandwidth resale corporations use investment capital to purchase blocks of high priority access, made available by paid subscription." -> Communications: Methodology Obtained By: From Start "As the population of the galaxy increases and new worlds are settled, timely access for home users and frontier settlements with underdeveloped communications infrastructures is a growing problem. To ameliorate bandwidth issues, a sophisticated array of data caches and virtual intelligence search agent programs are available. When a user submits a query, it is first routed to the data cache, the user's search agent VI collates mountains of locally-stored data to find the desired material. If the information is not available locally, the query is passed along to neighbouring systems, and then outward in an expanding network. VI search agents in those systems replicate the search. If the desired information is found, it is compressed into a "burst" file and queued for transmission to the source system. The burst is assigned a priority based on the number of queries for it; the greater the number of queries, the higher the priority. When a new solar system is first connected to the net, a selection of the most popular data is installed locally. Though storage hardware is cheap, the capacity required to hold all the data produced everyday by trillions of people on hundreds of worlds is not trivial. It's not economical to store local copies of all the data available on obscure topics just in case. As colonies mature, older and loss-popular chunks of data filter into them as a result of queries and are placed in the local archive. Searches for obscure topics are increasingly likely to produce instant results as the archive grows." -> Credits ("Creds") Obtained By: From Start "The standard credit was established by the Citadel's Unified Banking Act as the currency of interstellar trade. The credit, has a managed floating exchange rate, calculated in real time by the central bank to maintain the average value of all participating currencies. Some regional currencies are worth more then a credit and some less. Hard currency can be stolen or counterfeited, so electronic fund transfers are the norm. More importantly physical transactions cannot easily be tracked, making them ideal for tax evasion or the purchase of illegal goods. When the Alliance joined the Citadel, its various nation treasuries were linked into the credit network. a human with a bank account of Mexican pesos, Japanese yen, or Indian rupees can purchase any item priced in credits at fair market value. All economies participate in the credit network are required to price items in both local currency and credits." -> Computers: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Obtained By: Talk to EDI "An artificial intelligence is a self-aware computing system capable of learning and independent decision making. Creationn of conscious AI requires adaptive code, a slow, expensive education, and a specialised quantum computer called a "blue box." An AI cannot be transmitted across a communication channel or computer network. Without its blue box, an AI is no more than data files. Loading these files into a new blue box will create a new personality, as variations in the quantum hardware and runtime results create unpredictable variations. The geth serve as a cautionary tale against the dangers of rogue AI, and in Citadel Space, they are technically illegal. Advocacy groups argue, however, that an AI is a living, conscious entity deserving the same rights as organics. They argue that continued use of the term "artificial" is institutionalised racism on the part of organic life, the term "synthetic" is considered the politically correct alternative." -> Computers: Haptic Adaptive Interface Obtained By: From Start "Advances in computing have done away with traditional input devices like keyboards. Instead, modern input peripherals are usually holographically displayed in front of the user at a height and angle for ergonomical ease. Machines that use this interface detect a user through a microchip frame in the user's glove that "keys in" to the computer. Once a user is accepted, motion accelerators in the user's gloves match his hands' location to that of a proportionate but smaller "mirror" set of controls inside the holographic field, force-feedback in the glove kicks in, giving a slight resistance. A person can feel his way using a touch-screen that isn't actually there. A simple toggle switch on the back of the hands allows the gloves to be turned off when not in use. Haptic interfaces have become so common that some individuals undergo cybernetic enhancement surgery to have the accelerators implanted in their fingertips. "Going bareskin" is the sign of a committed computer user, who no longer has to fuss with putting on gloves or cleaning them with alcohol wipes to get rid of the clammy-hand smell." -> Computers: Visual Intelligence (VI) Obtained By: Talk to EDI "A virtual intelligence is an advanced form of user interface software. VIS use a variety of methods to simulate natural conversation, including an audio interface and an avatar personality to interact with. Although a VI can provide a convincing emulation of sentience, they are not self-aware, nor can they learn to take independent action. VIs are used as operating systems on commercial and home computers. Menial VIs "agents" are also available. Agents are compact and specialised. Some serve as personal secretaries, filtering calls and scheduling meetings based on user-defined properties. Others are advanced search engines, propagating themselves across the extranet to collate user-requested data. Commercials VIs in a variety of stock personalities are available at any software retailer. Boutique firms and hobbyists also build unique VIs to personal specification. Although software emulation of living personalities is illegal, reconstructions of famous historical figures are common." -> Drones Obtained By: Destroy an Assault Drone "Drones are small robots used to support and supplement organic soldiers on the battlefield. They have no artificial intelligence of any kind, but follow fixed, minimally adaptive programs. Most varieties employ mass effect leviation to improve mobility. All modern armies rely on veritable fleets of drones for routine soldiering (static garrison, patrols, etc). The use of drones in non-critical duties keeps manpower needs down and reduces causalties in low intensity conflicts. Less advanced races and cultures with less sensitivity to casualties have correspondingly fewer drones in their inventory. Drones are of little use in conventional open field battles, as they are poorly armed and armoured. In addition to combat drones, support drones are used to assist organic units in the field. Reconnaiseance drones are small, stealthy craft that screen combat units in the field and warn commanders when enemies are spotted. Electronic Warfare drones supplement battlefield technicians, serving as mobile jammers and ELINT (ELectronic INTelligence gathering platforms). Military and civilian police utilize "dazzler drones" equipped with powerful strobe lights to disorient and subdue intruders using nonlethal force. Drone formations are offically referred to as wings (i.e., "Deploy the 4th Assault Drone Wing on the left flank!"). Common soldiers often refer to friendly formations as flocks and enemy formations as swarms." -> Security Mechs Obtained By: Defeat a Mech on Freedom's Progress "The death of thousands of security and military personnel in the Battle of the Citadel was a loss felt throughout the galaxy. As large numbers of qualified personnel transferred to the Citadel to replace those that died, short-handed security companies filled out their numbers with large-scale use of unmanned security robots. Commonly referred to as "mechs", the security robots are typically grouped into light and heavy varieties. Light mechs come in a variety of sizes but are usually distinguished by opposite digits that help them in their versatile security roles. Heavy mechs lack digits and are simply weapons platforms intended to keep the peace in high-threat areas. The quadrupedal dog mech has a "face" composed of contraband-detection srnsors, and it too is armed in case a perpetrator resists arrest. A typically security mech has an extremely limited virtual intellgence. Its duty is straightforward and narrow, usually to guard an area, run a friend-or-foe program to haly unauthorised access, and fire a set of prerecorded voice commands to warn troublemakers away from the area. Light security mechs are equipped with irriant sprays and electroshockers to force compliance, and heavy mechs may be outfitted with flash bang stunners for similar purposes. When facing an opponent armed with a firearm, any mech will immediately resort to lethal antipersonnel weapons to neutralise the threat. If the situation turns violent rapidly enough, it may not even use its warnings. Security mechs are frowned upon for actual military duty. Though tough enough to survive most firefights, their VI simply does not have the programming to plan an ambush, rescue a hostage, treat a wound, or any of countless other objectives that a soldier must be able to perform on the fly." --==The Veteran: Zaeed's Secrets==-- -> M-451 Firestorm Obtained By: Picking up the M-451 Firestorm "The M-451 Firestorm flamethrower is a product of human ingenuity, ruthlessness, and industrial espionage. Its origins date back to the 2160s, when human colonists to new planets used flamethrowers to clear vegetation or ice. The fuels performed erratically on planets with extremely cold temperatures and differing air compositions from Earth. Realizing this could be a problem for military units, Systems Alliance intelligence operatives stole the turian design for the "Hieras" flamethrower, a battle-tested workhorse that functioned in nearly every environment. The result was the Firestorm, an anti-personnel and anti-armour flame unit that can accept a variety of liquid fuels. The turian design used low-octane hydrocarbons thickened with dentra oil, which is taken from large marine animals similar to Earth's whales. Humans then reverse- engineered a synthetic composite with almost identical properties that could be fabricated from heavy weapon fuel cells using an omni-tool. The result is a sticky spray that burns at approximately 1,600 degrees Celsius, a less intense fire than plasma weapons but covering a significantly wider target area. Adding to the trauma is the choking smoke produced by the spray, and if the target's armour is breached, the fires quickly consume the oxygen within. The Firestorm may not be the most efficient weapon in the Systems Alliance arsenal, but the sheer ugliness of how it kills ensures it is the most feared." -> Mercenaries: Blue Suns (Full History) Obtained By: Discovering that Zaeed help found the Blue Suns "Founded in 2160 by the human mercenaries Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago, the Blue Suns were orignally a Skyllian Verge protection racket. As they expanded in numbers and influence, the two co-founders disagreed vehemently on many issues. Finally, after arguing about whether to recruit the slave- trading batarians into their ranks, Vido ambushed Zaeed and shot him in the head. Believing Zaeed dead, Vido took full control of the Blue Suns and hired whatever batarians he pleased. Soon, he had crowned one named Solem Dal'serah as titular head of operations. It was a move designed to placate his batarian investors and draw fire from would-be assassins. It worked on both counts, and the partnership has lasted to this day. Over the decades, the Suns grew into a fearsome combat force spanning dozen of planets in Citadel space, the Verge, and the Terminus Systems. Knowing that a good logistical team is key to fielding an army, Vido diversified the Suns, selling arms, training, and supplies as often as taking contracts to crack skulls. Even when the Suns suffered heavy losses, Vido's entrepenurial expertise ensured new recruits could replace the old. All that was lost was the truth -- today, only a handful of trusted mercs even know who Vido Santiago is, let alone his old partner Zaeed." -> Planet: Zorya Obtained By: Zaeed's Loyalty Mission, which you get straight away ""Bring firearms and antihistamines" is what veteran guides say about this lush garden world. First colonised in 2160, Zorya's temperate and tropical zones are overrun with plants and fungi of all kinds. As a result, the air is most habitable areas is choked with pollen and spores that range from benign to deadly. The scattered colonies across the planet have resorted to clear-cutting and slash-and-burn farming to create habitable zones, and the more rural areas, where the spores are thickest, are populated only by vorcha. Lax ecological laws allow mining and manufacturing industries to flourish and pollute cheaply, as the planet's carrying capacity far outstrips the current size of its colonies. Zorya is also home to the Blue Suns mercenary company, who dominate the colonies' security forces. The Suns enjoy nearly unlimited influence with local politicans and judges, ensuring no other private military contractors and compete with them economically. Nearly every colony has a Suns recruitnig station, if not a training camp, though this has hardly made the planet any safer. Piracy, drugs and vice, and political violence are commonplace." --==Weapons, Armour and Equipment==-- -> Body Armour Obtained By: From Start "Combat hard-suit use of a dual-layer system to protect the wearer. The inner layer consist of fabric armour with kinetic padding. Areas that don't need to be flexible, such as the chest or shins, are reinforced with sheets of lightweight ablative ceramic. The outer layer consists of automatically-generated kinetic barriers. Objects traveling above a certain speed will trigger the barriers reflex system and be deflected, provided there is enough energy left in the shield's power cell. Armoured hard-suits are sealable to protect the wearer from extremes of temperature and atmosphere. Standard equipment includes an onboard mini- frame and a communications, navaigations, and sensing suite. The mini-frame is designed to accept and display date from a weapon's smart targeting system to make it easier to locate and eliminate enemies." -> Kinetic Barriers ("Shields") Obtained By: From Start "Kinetic barriers, colloquially called "shields", provide protection against most mass accelerator weapons. Whether on a starship or a soldier's suit of armour, the basic principle remains the same. Kinetic barriers are repulsive mass effect fields projected from tiny emitters. These shields safely deflect small objects traveling at rapid velocities. This affords protection from bullets and other dangerous projectiles, but still allow the user to sit down without knocking away their chair. The shielding afforded by kinetic barriers does not protect against extremes of temperature, toxins, or radiation." -> Mass Accelerator Obtained By: From Start "A mass accelerator propels a solid metal slug using precisely-controlled electromagnetic attraction and repulsion. The slug is designed to squash or shatter on impact, increasing the energy it transfers to the target. If this were not the case, it would simply punch a hole right through, doing minimal damage. Acclerator design was revolutionised by element zero. A slug lightened by a mass effect field can be accelerated to greater speeds, permitting projectile velocities that were previously unattainable. If accelerated to a high enough velocity, a simple plant chip can impact with the same destructive force as a nuclear weapon. However, mass accelerators produce recoil equal to their impact energy. This is mitigated somewhat by the mass effect fields that rounds are suspended within, and weapons recoil is still the prime limiting factor on slug velocity." -> Small Arms Obtained By: From Start "All modern infantry weapons from pistols to assault rifles use micro-scaled mass accelerator technology. Projectiles consist of tiny metal slugs suspended within a mass-reducing field, accelerated by magnetic force to speeds that inflict kinetic damage. The ammo magazine is a simple block of metal. The gun's internal computer calculates the mass needed to reach the target based on distance, gravity, and atmospheric pressure, then shears off an appropriate sized slug from the block. A single block can supply thousands of rounds, making ammo a non-issue during any engagement. Top-line weapons also feature smart targeting that allows them to correct for weather and environment. Firing on a target in a howling gale feels the same as it does on a calm day on a practice range. Smart targeting does not mean the bullet will automatically find the mark every time the trigger is pulled; it only makes it easier for the marksman to aim." *~~~~~~~~~~Save your tears for the day when the pain is far behind~~~~~~~~~~~* [A] Contact Information APPEARS IN g,a,m,e,f,a,q,s.c,o,m always. Remove the commas. Never on that c,h,e,a,t,c,c.c,o,m. Remove the commas. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !Before you Email me, read everything in this Contact Information section and! !check the guide. If the information is already listed, your email will be ! !promptly deleted. ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! E-Mail Me, and for the love of all that isn't sacred, make sure that the title of the game is smacked into place. IF THERE IS NO TITLE ON THE MESSAGE, IT WILL NOT BE READ, AND PROMPTLY DELETED. Also, email with courtesy. If you just hurl abuse, I will promptly hurl more abuse back, and save it so the entire world can abuse you and see your stupidity. When you write the Email, you have to do so in English, and English only. No foreign languages allowed, Chinese, French, Spanish, Antarctic Penguin and so forth, mainly because I won't be able to understand it. There will be absolutely NO INTERNET SPEAK IN ANY EMAILS. Seriously, I will not read emails full of lols, rofls or the like. No lazy English either. I won't read crap like "Hw Tis in Gme" because it is lazy and inconsiderate. But that doesn't mean you send me a business letter detailing what information you want to know either. Finally, if you see that there is something wrong in this FAQ, or something that you think should be included in it, please send it in, the worse you can do is to have it rejected, but if I think it is a good addition, I'll add it with the next update as well as give you credit for the addition. Corrections are always welcome. I will also NOT RESPOND to the following: * Phishing Sites * Attempted Scams * Mass Spamming * Forward Messages * Advertising * Technical Issues * Illegal Activities * Unrelated Emails to the Game * Emails about Another Game All problems with technical issues to do with the gameplay such as bugs and glitches should be sent to the developer or publisher, or look for fixes or ways to avoid it. All technical issues with hardware should be sent to the manufacturer of the piece of hardware in question. The secret email address is: hillsdragon13 [at] [ho.tm.ail] [dot] [co.m] Now, the legend: [at] = @ [ho.tm.ail] = Remove the .'s [dot] = . [co.m] = Remove the .'s If you feel generous, you can send money via Paypal to that address. It is completely optional, but I'm curious to see how much I can milk, I mean make out of this. All donations are appreciated, seeing I have to pay for the game this guide is for, and that does cost money, more since I'm faced with the outrageous prices found in Australia. It may be a pain in the ass, but most smart people could figure out the real email address. The problem is that people would normally Ctrl+F to find the email address without reading the relevant guidelines, as well spamming sites which always find their way to my inbox. Also, do not add me to your MSN, Yahoo or any other instant messaging system because you will be blocked and deleted permanently. Also, I will not accept invites to be your Facebook friend, or join any other social networking site because all invites will be rejected. *~~~~~~~~~~On your feet come with me. We are soldiers, stand or die~~~~~~~~~~* [B] Credits The credits section is where all the credits for the guides go. Anyone or anything that remotely helped out with this guide goes here, and that goes for all those people out there who have interesting information to send in. You know, your name could be on this list as well. CJayC, The Creator of GameFAQs, thanks for all the memories SBAllen for administrating GameFAQs, keep up the good work You, no point of writing if no one is reading Electronic Arts for the distribution of the game Bioware for developing the game ASCGen for their program making ASCII Art Mass Effect Wikia, for their intel Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex, for all those little sayings Me, for a shameless piece of self promotion *~~~~~~~~Save your tears, take your place. Save them for Judgment Day~~~~~~~~~* [C] Webmaster Information This is where all the sites that this guide can appear on are listed. If the site name is not on this list, that means that either they are accepted by me but not listed, due to logistical reasons (this is the same copyright section as all the other guides, and no point listing a Civ 4 site on a Sims game), or they are not allowed outright. Anyway, POINT OUT ALL SITES NOT LISTED HERE. It will be up to me what site is allowed or disallowed. www.GameFAQs.com www.NeoSeeker.com www.SuperCheats.com NeoSeeker and SuperCheats will have the guides a full day after it appears on GameFAQs. This is because those two sites grab any new update from me from GameFAQs itself, so if you are itching for the newest version, please check www.GameFAQs.com first. It will NEVER BE ALLOWED TO APPEAR ON www.cheatcc.com Why? Because they stole some of my works before, and I will not forget that. No amount of goodwill will be able to repair what you have done. *~~~~~~~~~~~~Fast and free, follow me. Time to make the sacrifice~~~~~~~~~~~~* [D] Copyright Notice This game is Copyright 2010 Electronic Arts/Bioware. All Copyrights are held by their rightful owners as well as any Trademarks used. This document is protected by copyright laws in many countries, so please don't steal. This FAQ can be used for personal use, which means you can store a copy on your home PC, your IPod, USB Drive, etc. You cannot use this FAQ to sell for your own financial gain. Doing so is fraud, and I will promptly have all the money gained wired for directly to me. If you do sell it, and you are caught, I will launch court proceedings if necessary. If a website steals this, I will have your site shut down, either through talking to your server, Internet Service Provider, and if you are a big site, through your advertisers. It might start with a small email of request, but I can snowball it. In fact, I will. You also cannot claim this guide as your own. You are not allowed to use this guide and submit this to another website, claiming it as your own work. I will google search random phrases from my own FAQ just to ensure that it hasn't been stolen or hijacked by other people. I am also not affiliated with any corporation, and I was not paid by any developer, publisher or distributor for the production of this guide. This was done solely out of my own free time and will, a dedication to the video gaming industry in general. This document is Copyright 2010. All Rights were fired out of the Normandy This FAQ uses the V2.05 Template. <('.'<)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(>'.'<)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(>'.')> END OF FILE Watch In Awe, Aeria Gloris END OF FILE