Mass Effect 3

[FPAlpha]

Just a quick question on where i am in the game storywise, i.e. how far i'm along (and boy is it hard to withstand all those spoilers floating around)

So far i'm up to the Asari priority mission.. recover the artifact. I'm past Udina's betrayal, have brought in the Quarians by eliminating the Geth (hey.. i gave you the option to end this peacefully, it's biology over technology man!) and that's about as far as i am. So how much is left from the main story until the ending?

[Reverend]

FPAlpha wrote:

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Just a quick question on where i am in the game storywise, i.e. how far i'm along (and boy is it hard to withstand all those spoilers floating around)

So far i'm up to the Asari priority mission.. recover the artifact. I'm past Udina's betrayal, have brought in the Quarians by eliminating the Geth (hey.. i gave you the option to end this peacefully, it's biology over technology man!) and that's about as far as i am. So how much is left from the main story until the ending?

Without spoiling anything...

Not much more. There will be a "point of no return" coming up, after you've done Thessia, but it will be easy to spot. Just make sure you've done all the side missions you intend to after 'Priority: Thessia' and before you start the next priority mission.

[Steven]

How many War Assets points do I need for the best possible ending? I'm sitting at around 2000 or so (after the 50% readiness penalty) and would just like to know where I'm at.

[PsychoPere]

You need an Effective Military Strength of 4000.

[Reverend]

^which I should add, means you need at least 8000 so long as your galactic readiness is sitting at 50%.

If you find yourself falling short and you *really* want those extra points then (unless you're *way* off the mark) you should only need to do a few MP matches. I did two and that was enough to knock it up to an extra 9%.

[Mr Light]

So, I'm getting penalized in the single player game because I don't have X-Box Live, then?

[PsychoPere]

4000 EMS is achievable through SP alone.

(And there's no hyphen in Xbox. Nor a capitalized 'b'. )

[ATimson]

PsychoPere wrote:

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4000 EMS is achievable through SP alone.

How so? Bioware has claimed this, but I haven't seen anybody lay out the math where this is possible.

[Reverend]

^Without getting into spoilers? By gathering as many war assets as possible through scanning and exploration and by making the decisions most likely to enhance your chances, both on a micro and a macro scale. Seriously, even something as seemingly innocuous as settling a bureaucratic dispute or resisting the urge to knock someone out can have an impact. Some avenues will of course either be open or closed to you depending on decisions made in previous games (assuming you import.)

I got upto just under 3800 (effective) and that was without fully completing several rewarding sidequests either due to bugs or not turning them in before a particular point in the story. Had I bothered to reload an earlier save when I realized something was off, I would have made 4000 easy.

[ATimson]

With spoilers, I guess - as in, "here's all the choices & the numbers for each". I hit 3800-something, and the one or two detracting choices in ME3 that I'm aware of wouldn't have hit 4000 for me...

[PsychoPere]

Even things as small as retrieving all of the Matriach's Writings back in ME1 can play a role. I don't know exactly how to get to 4000 myself, though; on my first playthrough, I was only at 3390 when I went on the attack, and I expect my current playthrough will be either around that or possibly even less because she's an ME2-only Shep.

[Steven]

Cool, thanks guys.

I'm definitely trying to get all the points I can, but I'm already missing some (at least, I think I am, I am not referring to any guides to confirm until I'm done the first play through) due to one decision in ME2. Namely,

destroying Maelon's genophage cure. I'm assuming that if I kept it, then Eve wouldn't have died on Tuchanka and I would have more points from the Krogan?

[PsychoPere]

^ Short answer: Yes.

The most devious way, however, would be...

If Wrex died in ME1 and you did not save Maelon's data in ME2, you can convince Mordin to sabotage the Shroud as the salarian dalatrass requested.

By doing so, you gain Mordin as a War Asset (he goes to work on the Crucible); you gain the support of the krogan clans (Wreav isn't smart enough to figure out sabotage happened, whereas Wrex does); and you gain the support of the salarian fleet. Yes, the krogan clans probably won't be as strong as they would have been if Wrex and Eve were both alive, but at least you can wring some points out of Mordin and the salarians. I don't know, however, if that's enough to off-set the decrease in krogan assets.

[Deks]

Do all the side-missions/quests in ME3 so you can get EMS up to 4000 (make sure to explore galactic systems that open up between main missions and find various war-assets along the way - but also keep in mind that proceeding with a main plot story could result in skipping a side-mission so be sure to scan unexplored systems before proceeding with the main plot - those that you do and acquire war assets/salvage/wreckage from them, will have 100% near the name in the galactic map).
Aside from that, you will mainly get a lot of side-missions by walking by various people on the Citadel - so make sure to do the rounds in all areas most of the time (or post each main mission).

Actions you did in previous games can affect your EMS of course... but ME3 does offer a way of 'compensating' for it via dialogue with certain characters if I'm not mistaken.
If it comes down to it, then simply edit your save game so that EMS points are at or above 4000 before triggering the 'point of no return mission'.

[Mr Light]

So, what if you didn't import your save from ME1 and ME2? 'Cause my 360 died on me after I played those two, so I'm on a new system. I feel like I'm being punished for things that aren't my fault here