***** MASS EFFECT ~ HARDCORE/INSANITY SURVIVAL GUIDE ***** written by Jay Cotton © 2013 26-12-2012 ~ Started writing up my notes into this handy comphrehensive guide 8-3-2013 ~ Guide was finished 13-3-2013 ~ Last Updated (to fit size restrictions) =========================================================================== --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___________________________________________________________________________ ******* WARNING: THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS FOR THE GAME. ******* TO AVOID GENERAL DEPRESSION, PLAY BEFORE YOU READ ___________________________________________________________________________ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- =========================================================================== CONTENTS: (For fast navigation; Ctrl & F then enter the search code) * Introduction -------------------------- 1INT * Preparations -------------------------- 2PRP ~ Class Set-Up ------------------- 2CLS ~ Skill Set-Up ------------------- 2SK ~ Achievement/Trophy Bonuses ----- 2BNS * Squad Members ------------------------- 3SQD * Walkthrough --------------------------- 4WLK ~ Normandy ----------------------- 5NRM ~ Eden Prime --------------------- 6EDN ~ Normandy ----------------------- 7NRM ~ Citadel ------------------------ 8CIT ~ Therum ------------------------- 9TRM ~ Feros -------------------------- 10FRS ~ Thorian ---------------- 10TRN ~ Noveria ------------------------ 11NVR ~ Benezia ---------------- 11BNZ ~ virmire ------------------------ 12VRM ~ Saren ------------------ 12SRN ~ Citadel ------------------------ 13CIT ~ Ilos --------------------------- 14ILS ~ Citadel ------------------------ 15CIT ~ Saren ------------------ 15SRN * Credits -------------------------------- 16CRD =========================================================================== ___________________________________________________________________________ ***/ INTRODUCTION /*** | Search Code: 1INT | ___________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to my guide ... ___________________________________________________________________________ Since the original release of this game, I became an instant fan of the series. Unfortunately I did not have a pot of leprechaun gold to shower Microsoft with and buy an X-Box. Instead I had to resort to a PC alternative - complete with laggy framerate and slightly broken graphics due to my laptop being older than your grandfather (unless you happen to be from Swindon, at which point your grandfather's likely in his late twenties. Then my laptop is older than your great great grandfather) If you were also the unfortunate soul to own a PlayStation3 - chances are you understood how frustrating it was to have an incomplete trilogy. Eventually Mr Gates responded to my millions of politely written pleas and the trilogy is finally on the PS3. No longer do I have to suffer painfully slow lag on cutscenes or look at the red blob and try to figure out whether it's Wrex (sadly I still suffer Kaiden's terrible voice acting) Being the extremely obsessive asari loving fan I am, I decided two things; I'd try and build a real-life Chora's Den and also get every single trophy achievement for this game. Stuggling with convincing girls to paint themselves blue, the latter idea seemed easier. The problem was trying to get the Hardcore and Insanity achievements, everywhere I looked for advice it was basically "Insanity is hard. Use cover and shoot" .... wonderful. So I set out alone, creating and my own stategies and techniques to overcome the odds - and it was surprisingly fun and (if done correctly) easy. So if like me your looking for a fully detailed survival walkthrough of the main storyline on the hardest difficulty, you have just discovered the holy grail my friend. ___________________________________________________________________________ ***/ PREPARATIONS /*** | Search Code: 2PRP | ___________________________________________________________________________ Setting up the ideal Shepard and game save ... ___________________________________________________________________________ Basically here's a quick run-down of how best to prepare (this is the exact method I used): --------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** OPTIONAL PLAYTHROUGH (Casual/Normal difficulty) **** * (Optional) Start a random new game with an Engineer Shepard to unock the AI Hacking ability (as explained below; search code 2GME) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** FIRST PLAYTHROUGH (Casual/Normal difficulty) **** * Start a new game on a casual difficulty with a Soldier Shepard (with extra abilities such as AI Hacking if available): ~ Aim to set-up Shepard's skills as explained below (as this becomes permanent even after importing - squad skills reset every time however) ~ Play through as you like but try to conserve money (for the Rich achievement) to unlock the Spectre weapons in the game, these are the most powerful (and expensive) weapons. The achievement is easily done during a single playthrough providing you do not spend a stupid amount on unnecessary items. The Spectre weapons will be permanently available from the C-Sec Requisitions Officer in the Citadel and the Requisitions Officer on the Normandy on every playthrough after the achievement is earned. Do not worry about your money, by your 2nd or 3rd playthrough - you should easily be near full capacity. ~ Optionally unlock character based achievements, these grant bonuses such as improved defence or biotics. To unlock, keep a particular squad member in your team and complete as many side-missions as possible until the achievement is granted. (each achievement is explained; search code 2BNS) ~ During a playthrough, take the time to complete the Rogue VI mission. Completing this allows you to upgrade the Alliance Training skill to a far stronger version. Your class depends on which version you can choose. For the Soldier class the choices vary from the Commando skill which gives a weapon damage increase or the Shock Trooper skill which grants increased health and defence (this was my personal choice for Insanity) This mission becomes avaliable at lv20+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** SECOND PLAYTHROUGH (Casual/Normal difficulty) **** * After completing the first playthrough, import the save to another game: ~ Aim for level 60, completing the first play will unlock this requirement. Just do every mission possible, if you haven't already - try to get a few character based achievements Note: Kills from outside the Mako will give you more experience points than if you were inside the Mako. ~ Try to collect as many armour and weapon modifications as possible (preferably level X), mainly Shield Interface which at level X increases your shields by 160 and High Explosive Ammo X; which deals 500+ damage on your weapon and will generally kill most things in 1-2 shots (3-4 in Insanity). This is best used on the shotgun and sniper rifle as both deal high damage and allows for switching between close and long range attack. The downside is the weapons will overheat after a single shot, but providing you remain in cover and follow the guide, you'll be fine as the recharge is only a matter of 2-3 seconds. Make sure you do not confuse High Explosive Ammo with High Explosive Blast (which is a far weaker grenade modification) ~ Try to collect weapons and armours. Ideally you'll have the option to buy Spectre weapons by now. When you reach level 50+ the weapons and armour available should be Lv X, which is the best it can possibly be. Aim for Spectre weapons at Lv X and Colossus armours at Lv X ~ You'll only need three sets of Spectre weapons (For Shepard and the two squad members) as the squad can share weapons when switched over ~ For Colossus armour try to get one heavy (for Shepard), two light (Liara and Kaiden), one heavy Krogan (for Wrex) and one light Quarian (for Tali) ~ Quarian armour can be very hard to find, but the mission "Bring Down the Sky" allows a free Quarian armour as a reward when you complete it. Simply save before you request the armour, if it's the wrong type - reload and try again. If your lucky you may find it randomly in a shop or a crate anyway ~ Armour for Garrus is purely optional (medium Taurian) as he is only good for select times or for replacing Wrex (which isn't neccessary) Ignore getting armour for Ashley. In Insanity she's useless ~ Whilst collecting weapons and armour, try to collect Shield Interface X, Scram Rail X and High Explosive Ammo X (as many as you can, the more the better) ~ Stockpile Omni-Gel. You can hold a maximum of 1000, dispite the game stating on-screen that you only have 99. Omni-Gel is important for fixing the Mako and making a puzzle in Noveria a lot less time consuming --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** OPTIONAL PLAYTHROUGH (Casual/Normal difficulty) **** * (Optional) After completing the second playthrough, import to another casual save to collect things you may have missed ~ NOTE: on a third playthrough with a level 60 Shepard, all the items available in shops are at Lv X (making it easier to find items you may need) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** HARDCORE PLAYTHROUGH (Hardcore difficulty) **** * Import your save and begin a Hardcore playthrough (which unlocks Insanity mode when completed; refer to walkthrough for help - code 4WLK) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** INSANITY PLAYTHROUGH (Insanity difficulty) **** * Import your save and begin an Insanity playthrough ... =========================================================================== | SHEPARD CLASS SET-UP | Search Code: 2CLS | =========================================================================== I strongly recommended creating a Soldier class Shepard. Unless you've gotten certain weapon achievements, only the Soldier class can use every single weapon effectively and thus deal far greater damage and improved accuracy plus opening up a better range of combat options instead of being restricted to two weapon types (a good example being a class not trained to use sniper rifles will be unable to zoom in with the sniper scope) In terms of health and shields, the Soldier stands stronger than most biotic classes. On Insanity, Biotic class Shepards will struggle due to lower health and defences (I've played through Insanity with a Biotic Shephard just to be sure; the game is more brutal). Soldier exclusive abilities such as Immunity are extremely helpful in this difficulty and a lot of my designed tactics rely on these abilities - so if you create a different class Shepard, you will struggle on parts of this guide that rely on certain tactics (mainly in Noveria and Ilos). Soldiers are also capable of wearing heavy armour, which provides the best defense and shield strength for Shepard. Despite the game stating that you move slower with heavy armour, I actually saw no noticeable difference when testing the speeds between light and heavy. AI Hacking is a valuable ability which you can unlock for a new Shepard creation. The way to unlock this is described further below. Engineer class Shepards are also capable of AI Hacking without the need to unlock, but the overall health compared to Soldier class and the restrictions on weapon use make the Engineers a risky class to use in Insanity. Engineer Classes boost a great shield strength (possibly the best in the game) but once the shield is gone, you will die very quickly. Before starting your insane adventure, it's recommended that you take various preparations beforehand. Or you know, you could just dive straight in and ignore this guide - your funeral. It should take about 2-3 plays on a casual difficulty using the same Shepard to get the best preparation, remember it's still basically an RPG game so time and patience is required to get the best results. Also bear in mind that you have to beat the game on Hardcore in order to unlock Insanity mode. NOTE: Every time you complete a game and then import the save to a new game, the weapons you hold will be replicated. For example, my Shepard was holding all the Spectre weapons. When I started a new game on a previous save, I had the same weapons complete with exact modifications in my inventory. By my 3rd play, I had three sets of the exact same weapons. I do not know if this is a glitch, but it saved the money and time needed to buy the squad members their weapons. The armour however seems unaffected by this and doesn't replicate but still carries over if imported. =========================================================================== | SHEPARD SKILL SET-UP | Search Code: 2SKL | =========================================================================== (This is the set-up for a Soldier Class Shepard) * Max out the Spectre Training (it will increase your health and weapon damage considerably more than Fitness. This skill is only avaliable after you complete the first Citadel story mission and will unlock the Unity ability which allows you to revive fallen squad members) * Max out the Shotgun and Sniper Rifle skills (in combination with the High Explosive Ammo X, Scram Rail X and the Carnage/Assassination abilities, these will become devastating and are life savers for the hardest difficulties - the damage caused can kill an enemy who would usually take 3-4 shots in just a single explosive inferno) * During the Insanity play, max out the Charm OR Intimidate skill. There are a lot of fights easily avoided by using this skill and a lot of Charm/Renegade actions that will make the Insanity run a lot easier. Save points by focusing on just one skill, it doesn't matter which you choose just as long as you remain focused on one. * Max out the Soldier skill to get a health regeneration bonus, weapon damage upgrade and defensive upgrades. * Increase Combat Armour so that your able to wear heavy armour and use Shield Boost. Increase further if possible to increase defensive strength and Shield Boost abilities. * Increase Fitness and Assault Training/Shock Trooper to unlock the Adrenaline Burst and Immunity abilities. * Remaining points should be allocated to First Aid and the optional bonus ability (AI Hacking) if you've unlocked it. Otherwise add a few to the Assault Rifle skill. Any leftover points can then be placed wherever you like. =========================================================================== | ACHIEVEMENT/TROPHY BONUSES | Search Code: 2BNS | =========================================================================== During your exploration of the galaxy, your likely to be rewarded with achievements (or trophies if your a PlayStation3 user). Some of these awards will grant extra bonus additions to your game - ranging from experience boosts to biotic power ups. All of them are listed below along with relevant usefulness for playing through the game's Insanity and Hardcore difficulties: --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * N7 ELITE Requires: Collect all other achievements Bonus: Personal self-satisfaction This particular achievement is the Platinum trophy for the PlayStaion3 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * MEDAL OF HONOR Requires: Complete The Game Bonus: Unlocks Hardcore difficulty and Character levels 51-60 It's important to complete the game at least once in order to gain access to these bonuses. Insanity will only unlock AFTER you've beaten Hardcore difficulty and the Level cap of 60 will become very useful for maximising the strength of your team - and therefore having a better chance of survival on Insanity --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * DISTINGUISHED COMBAT MEDAL Requires: Complete The Game on Hardcore Bonus: Unlocks Insanity difficulty This is the only way to unlock the Insanity difficulty. The walkthrough on this guide can be used for both Hardcore and Insanity difficulties --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * LONG SERVICE MEDAL Requires: Complete The Game Twice Bonus: Weapon damage increased by 5% Ideally if your preparing for an Insanity playthrough, you should be trying to get Shepard to level 60. Which means you should already be on a second playthrough of the game, once you complete it again - you'll recieve this reward. An extra 5% on weapons may sound a little poor, but in combination with other achievements it stacks up a bit better. Besides, it's all helpful for getting through Insanity --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * TACTICIAN Requires: Complete The Game taking more Shield than Health Damage Bonus: Shield increases by 10% This was far easier than I originally thought, and easy to win through the first playthrough. Basically if you play well enough you'll get the reward. Simply use cover to avoid damage, use abilities such as Shield Boost and Barrier to increase your shields when they get low to avoid damage on your health. Providing you don't run head first in to missile launchers, this achievement is easy and the shield increase is very useful --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * POWER GAMER Requires: Reach Level 50 Bonus: Experience rewards increase by 10% During your first playthrough of the game it is possible to reach level 50. However you'll need to finish the game to unlock the level 60 limit. So during your second playthrough, the added 10% increase on experience earned helps to speed up the process of getting to level 60 by a little. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * EXTREME POWER GAMER Requires: Reach Level 60 Bonus: Experience rewards increase by 5% After you reach level 60 you'll get an added 5% on experience rewards (bringing the total to 15% with Power Gamer's bonus). However for the purpose of an Insanity playthrough it's irrelevant, by the time you reach level 60 you should be ready to play the Hardcore or Insanity difficulties and because the level limit stops at 60, you'll recieve no benefits from this bonus unless you start a completely new game from the beginning (which is almost pointless) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * SCHOLAR Requires: Find all Alien race Codex entries Bonus: None Easily earned on a single playthrough, you'll need the Codex entries for the Council Races (Turians, Salarians and Asari), Extinct Races (Protheans, Reapers and Rachni) and Non-Council Races (Volus, Elcor, Krogan, Hanar, Geth and Quarian) I actually recieved this achievement without even trying. Simply talk to everyone you see and interact with everything, the Codex entries will fill really quickly. I got the achievement before leaving the Citadel for the first time --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * COMPLETIONIST Requires: Complete The Majority of the Game Bonus: Experience rewards increase by 5% This can be won during your first playthrough if you take the time to do side-missions and story missions. Usually before or after Virmire it unlocks. With the added increases of Extreme Power Gamer and Power Gamer, this sets the experience rewards to a total of 20%. Which is only useful if you start a completely new game. However, if you unlock this reward along with Power Gamer, you'll have an added 15% experience boost to get to Level 60 (so it pays to take part in the side-missions) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL Requires: Complete Eden Prime Bonus: None Simply finish the Eden Prime mission. Easily earned by playing the story --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * MEDAL OF HEROISM Requires: Complete Feros Bonus: None Simply finish the Feros mission. Easily earned by playing the story --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * HONORARIUM OF CORPORATE SERVICE Requires: Complete Noveria Bonus: None Simply finish the Noveria mission. Easily earned by playing the story --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * COUNCIL LEGION OF MERIT Requires: Complete Virmire Bonus: None Simply finish the Virmire mission. Easily earned by playing the story --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * SEARCH AND RESCUE Requires: Locate Dr T'Soni in the Artemis Tau Cluster Bonus: None Simply finish the Therum mission. Easily earned by playing the story --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * SPECTRE INDUCTEE Requires: Become a Spectre Bonus: None Simply finish the Citadel mission. Easily earned by playing the story --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * MEDAL OF EXPLORATION Requires: Land on an Uncharted World Bonus: None Easily achieved. The majority of the side-missions take place on various "uncharted" worlds found in the galaxy map. Simply open the map, find a planet that isn't part of the main storyline - if you can land on it, then viola; achievement earned --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * GETH HUNTER Requires: Kill 250 Geth Bonus: Shield strength increases by 10% This achievement can be easily won during your first playthrough. There are a lot of Geth in the game (being the main enemy afterall), you'll likely get the achievement during the Ilos mission towards the end of the game. The increased shield strength is obviously a welcome addition and combines with the Tactician shield increase (Giving you a total of 20% improved shields)(Note that kills by your team members add to your score, so don't worry if Garrus is sniping every kill for you) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * DOG OF WAR Requires: Kill 150 Humans Bonus: Health increase by 10% Like the Geth Hunter reward, this can be easily won during a first playthrough. If you choose to kill the colonists on Feros there's an instant 16 kills for your score. The increased health bonus is worth sacrificing them (Note that kills by your team members add to your score, so don't worry if Wrex is Krogan-butting everything for you) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * RICH Requires: Have 1,000,000 Credits Bonus: Unlocks Spectre Class weapons The Spectre weapons are the strongest you'll find in the entire game, at Lv X they are extremely valuable for Insanity runs. The weapons will be available from the Requisitions Officer in the Normandy cargo hold and the C-Sec Requisitions Officer in the Citadel. This achievement is not nearly as hard as it may sound, I managed to unlock it during my first playthrough of the game. Just conserve money and do not spend it on pointless things, by the time you finish Virmire you'll easily have the set amount. Then go spend it on some high powered (and expensive) Spectre weapons. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * SNIPER / ASSAULT RIFLE / SHOTGUN EXPERT Requires: Get 150 Kills (with selected weapon) Bonus: Unlocks (selected weapon) for future character creations When you start a completely new game, this bonus allows you to optionally allow Shepard to use the (selected weapon) (if the selected Class is unable) It's a nice touch if you like to use a Biotic class, but otherwise pointless for Insanity. Selecting the Soldier Class allows access to all weapons, and Biotic classes tend to die very easily on the harder difficulties NOTE: Kills count on multiple playthroughs and careers --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * PISTOL EXPERT Requires: Get 150 Pistol Kills Bonus: Increases Marksman duration by 25% All Classes are able to use Pistols, so the reward for this achievement is an extended power up time duration for the Pistol. It's good for casual play but rendered almost pointless in the harder difficulties because the firepower of the pistol is severely weaker than the other weapons such as the shotgun or sniper rifle - even with the added power up. I always used the pistol during casual play because it was quick and effective, however in Insanity it's like trying to use a blunt spoon to take down the Normandy NOTE: Kills count on multiple playthroughs and careers --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * THROW / WARP / LIFT / SINGULARITY / BARRIER / STATIS MASTERY Requires: Use (selected biotic) 75 times Bonus: Unlocks (selected biotic) for future character creations When you start a completely new game, this bonus allows you to optionally allow Shepard to use the (selected bitotic) (if the selected Class is unable) This is actually quite useful as you can have a strong Soldier Classed character with all available weapons and a good biotic ability for support. The best recommended abilities are Lift or Singularity. NOTE: Kills count on multiple playthroughs and careers NOTE: I've read on other websites that the achievement unlocks if you just stand and spam the biotic, I've actually tested this and it only works with Barrier. The others must hit a hosile target in order to count --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * FIRST AID / NEURAL SHOCK / SABOTAGE / OVERLOAD /AI HACKING / DAMPING SPECIALIST Requires: Use (selected technique) 75 times Bonus: Unlocks (selected technique) for future character creations When you start a completely new game, this bonus allows you to optionally allow Shepard to use the (selected technique) (if the selected Class is unable) The only useful technique for a Hardcore/Insanity playthrough is AI Hacking, due to the abundance of Geth and robotic enemies you'll face. If you give Shepard this ability, it makes Tali obsolete. A team of an AI Hacking Soldier Classed Shepard, Wrex and Liara will crush everything in the harder difficulties NOTE: Kills count on multiple playthroughs and careers NOTE: as with the biotic achievements, you must actually hit a target for this to unlock. Except First Aid which requires using Medi-Gel for 150 times during multiple playthroughs --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * SENTINEL ALLY Requires: Complete the Majority of the Game with Kaiden Bonus: Lift and Throw recharge time improved by 10% Kaiden himself is fairly annoying, but his achievement is pretty good - especially for the final fight of the game in the harder difficulties. Its possible to get this achievement during your first playthrough if your willing to do so. Just keep Kaiden permanently in your team, do every single side-mission availiable (Citadel, Galaxy Map etc) and then play through Feros and complete all the side-missions there, finally complete all the new side-missions that show up in the Citadel after finishing Feros and the achievement should unlock when you play through Noveria NOTE: It is possible to get two Ally achievements on a single playthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * SOLDIER ALLY Requires: Complete the Majority of the Game with Ashley Bonus: Damage Reduction improved by 10% Although Ashley isn't very useful for an Insanity playthrough, her achievement is actually more useful and can make a small difference between surviving and failing Insanity. Win this by keeping her permanently on your team, do every single side-mission availiable (Citadel, Galaxy Map etc) and then play through Feros and complete all the side-missions there, finally complete all the new side-missions that show up in the Citadel after finishing Feros and the achievement should unlock when you play through Noveria NOTE: It is possible to get two Ally achievements on a single playthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * KROGAN ALLY Requires: Complete the Majority of the Game with Wrex Bonus: Regenerate 1 Health per second It may not sound wonderful, but this is actually a very useful achievement to gain. Especially if you've ran out of Medi-Gel and just retreated to a dark corner. To unlock, keep Wrex on your team throughout an entire playthrough and try to complete all the side-missions with Wrex present. Do every single side-mission availiable (Citadel, Galaxy Map etc) and then play through Feros and complete all the side-missions there, finally complete all the new side-missions that show up in the Citadel after finishing Feros and the achievement should unlock when you play through Noveria NOTE: It is possible to get two Ally achievements on a single playthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * TURIAN ALLY Requires: Complete the Majority of the Game with Garrus Bonus: Damping and Overload recharge time improved by 10% It's a nice bonus perhaps for a casual play, but otherwise not really required for Insanity. Damping and Overload are abilities aren't always frequently used, and when they are the recharge is nothing to worry about. If you want the achievement, keep Garrus as a permanent team member and complete all the side-missions with Garrus present. Do every single side-mission availiable (Citadel, Galaxy Map etc) and then play through Feros and complete all the side-missions there, finally complete all the new side-missions that show up in the Citadel after finishing Feros and the achievement should unlock when you play through Noveria NOTE: It is possible to get two Ally achievements on a single playthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * QUARIAN ALLY Requires: Complete the Majority of the Game with Tali Bonus: Sabotage and AI Hacking recharge time improved by 10% As with Garrus's achievement, this is not absolutely vital to an Insanity play. However, the AI Hacking recharge could be useful and even the odds a bit better. To obtain this, keep Tali as a permanent team member and complete side-missions with Tali present. Do every single side-mission availiable (Citadel, Galaxy Map etc) and then play through Feros and complete all the side-missions there, finally complete all the new side-missions that show up in the Citadel after finishing Feros and the achievement should unlock NOTE: It is possible to get two Ally achievements on a single playthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * ASARI ALLY Requires: Complete the Majority of the Game with Liara Bonus: Stasis and Barrier recharge time improved by 10% These abilities aren't overly used in Insanity (Stasis on a few enemies such as a Krogan) and Barrier isn't very effective on harder difficulties unless used as temporary "Medi-Gel" replacement. Apparently I've read a lot of people struggle to get this particular achievement, here's how to do it; Ignore all side-missions, recruit Liara and then complete all the side-missions with her permanently in your team. Do every single side-mission availiable (Citadel, Galaxy Map etc) and then play through Feros and complete all the side-missions there, finally complete all the new side-missions that show up in the Citadel after finishing Feros and the achievement should unlock when you play through Noveria NOTE: It is possible to get two Ally achievements on a single playthrough --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * CHARISMATIC Requires: Use Charm or Intimidate to resolve a situation Bonus: None Build up enough skill in Paragon or Renegade in order to use the coloured dialogue choices during conversation. I got this achievement after dealing with Wrex in Virmire --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * RENEGADE Requires: Accumulate 75% of Renegade Points Bonus: None Play a game as a very nasty Shepard and you'll recieve this achievement. For lots of Renegade points, kill everyone on Feros, destroy the Rachni and sacrifice the Citadel Council. Basically focus on being a total jerk --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * PARAGON Requires: Accumulate 75% of Paragon Points Bonus: None Play a game as a very noble Shepard and you'll recieve this achievement. For lots of Paragon points, save everyone on Feros, save the Rachni and save the Citadel Council. Basically focus on being a true hero --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * PARAMOUR Requires: Have a Romantic Relationship Bonus: None The game allows three characters for Shepard to become romantically tied to. These are Kaiden (for a female Shepard), Ashley (for a male Shepard) and Liara (who is happy with either). During the game, chat with your selected love interest inbetween missions and act nice, choose the Paragon options. Eventually they will open up to Shepard and admit their feelings, allowing you to mutually agree or harshly decline. Keep up the flirting and before the final mission you'll be awarded with a special cutscene and the achievement --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * COLONIAL SAVIOR Requires: Complete Bring Down the Sky Bonus: None On most standard copies of Mass Effect, Bring Down the Sky is an additional add-on for the game. For the newer Trilogy set version and the PlayStation3 edition, it is included within the game. Simply complete the mission for the achievement, it will be available as soon as you leave the Citadel --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___________________________________________________________________________ ***/ THE SQUAD MEMBERS /*** | Search Code: 3SQD | ___________________________________________________________________________ Selecting the good from the bad and the downright ugly ... ___________________________________________________________________________ The selected misfits from the crew will greatly alter your chances for a successful Insanity run. Naturally it all depends on the current mission your about to undertake and who will provide the best performance for support during that particular mission. Sadly you can only take two members at one time. Below the possible team recruits are listed in order of their appearance with unbiased descriptions of their usefulness or lack of: (NOTE: Team combinations and the recommended teams for each mission will be explained during the walkthrough, as will better detailed explanations of the recommended equipment and weapons for each) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * KAIDEN ALENKO The biotic child prodigy * Available: From the start * Weapon Training: Handguns only * Armour: Light only * Biotics: Throw, Lift, Barrier, Stasis * Technical: Overload, Sabotage * Abilities: None Personally I've never liked Kaiden, his voice and his derpy whiney behaviour reminds me too much of someone I once knew. Personal dislike aside, Kaiden is actually surprisingly useful for the Insanity run with his combination of Throw and Lift biotics. However his weapon skill is terrible, only good when using a basic handgun and his shield and health are painfully low due to being restricted to light armour only. His biotic barrier may save his life occasionally, but only for a few seconds. In other words, unless Kaiden's equipped with good armour and a powerful handgun his combat skills are severely lacking. Obviously his true strength relies on biotic abilities and support abilities such as Sabotage which will overheat the enemy weapon and Overload which damages the enemy shields and makes them temporarily vulnerable to damage. Stasis only has limited uses, any enemy hit by this will freeze but they will not take any damage from your weapons while frozen. It's useful to use on the tougher enemies such as Geth Destroyers or Krogans, allowing you to eliminate the nearby minions before focusing on the real threat. If your Shepard has learnt Throw or Lift as an additional skill or recruited Liara, Kaiden becomes useless. Essentially, set Kaiden as he was intended to be; the biotic strength in your squad. Keep him out of range of the enemy and use his biotics for support. Kaiden will really shine at the very last moments of the game if used to beat the final boss for a perfect KO, so as tempting as it is - refrain from killing him off during the Virmire mission. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * ASHLEY WILLIAMS The xenophobic soldier * Available: Eden Prime * Weapon Training: All weapons * Armour: Light, Medium and Heavy * Biotics: None * Technical: None * Abilities: Adrenaline Burst, Shield Boost, Immunity, All Weapon Boosts For the purposes of an Insanity run, Ashley is useless. She has no redeeming qualities other than the fact that she can use Immunity and heavy armour and possibly survive 5 seconds longer than Kaiden. Her Adrenaline Burst allows instant recharge of her abilities such as Carnage. But without any biotic support abilities, Ashley is just a meatshield for the Eden Prime mission. She's capable of using all the weapons effectively, but will likely die before the enemy does. Essentially leave her the reserves after the Eden Prime mission is complete and ignore. Sacrifice her during the Virmire mission. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * GARRUS VAKARIAN The C-Sec sniper * Available: Citadel * Weapon Training: Sniper Rifles and Assault Rifles * Armour: Light and Medium Turian * Biotics: None * Technical: Overload, Sabotage, Damping * Abilities: Adrenaline Burst, Shield Boost, Assassination, Overkill Garrus is only slightly better than Ashley because he has some decent technical abilities. Otherwise he's wasn't generally used during my Insanity run. If for some reason you killed Wrex (why?) Garrus makes a reasonable replacement, otherwise he has little purpose. Naturally his sniper rifle skill is his best asset, with the High Explosive Ammo X, Scram Rail X and Assassination ability he can actually kill a few enemies in a single explosive blast. Garrus is also good with an assault rifle, but this is only needed if he's suddenly swarmed by the enemy - but once Garrus is swarmed, he generally dies quickly. In other words, set Garrus to stay away from the enemy and shoot them with his sniper from a distance. Damping is capable of preventing enemies using biotics, which is actually quite useful on certain missions where asari are involved. His Overload and Sabotage abilities are good for overheating enemy weapons and dropping enemy shields, but lack the power to deal damage like biotic abilities. As a bonus, he has an awesome voice however. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * URDNOT WREX The Krogan mercenary * Available: Citadel * Weapon Training: Shotguns and Assault Rifles * Armour: Medium and Heavy Krogan * Biotics: Throw, Barrier, Warp, Stasis * Technical: None * Abilities: Shield Boost, Immunity, Carnage, Overkill Wrex is one of the best choices to use for basic missions during Insanity. He has the highest health and shields if properly equipped and Immunity, Barrier and Shield Boost abilities make him virtually immortal. He never died once during my entire Insanity run. Equip this living tank with the Spectre grade shotgun with High Explosive Ammo X and Scram Rail X combined with the Carnage ability to cause serious damage. Wrex is also good with an assault rifle, but its not worth switching to as his shotgun can deal significant damage at close and mid-range. During my run on the Hardcore difficulty, Wrex became a permanent member of my team and will be equally useful for Insanity purely because he has a good mix of biotic skills and support abilities, including the biotic ability Warp, which completely ignores the enemy shields and slowly drains health. If your Shepard has learnt Throw or Lift as an additional ability, a team of Wrex and Liara/Tali will wipe the floor on Insanity. Wrex makes a great replacement for Kaiden or Garrus and should be kept close to Shepard, or you know - he might get a little upset and Krogan-butt you. Equipping the Medical Exoskeleton X on Wrex's armour will improve his natural healing ability. Also note you will require high Charm or Intimidate skills to ensure he survives Virmire. Remember, you exist on Insanity because Wrex allows it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- * TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA The Quarian pilgrim * Available: Citadel * Weapon Training: Shotguns and Handguns * Armour: Light Quarian * Biotics: None * Technical: AI Hacking, Sabotage, Damping, Overload * Abilities: Marksman, Carnage, Shield Boost Tali is one of the most underestimated characters in Mass Effect in my opinion, she's great with a shotgun or handgun and has the best tech abilities. Her AI Hacking is extremely useful throughout Insanity as it will force the Geth or robotic target to fight as your ally for a short time, this is best used on a Geth Destroyer as they will relentlessly wipe the area of all enemies before reverting back to normal. At which point their health is low enough to take out with a single shot from Tali's shotgun. If your Shepard has AI Hacking as an additional ability however, Tali suddenly has no purpose and is better switched for Wrex or Liara depending on the mission. Like Garrus, Tali is capable of crippling most enemies; Sabotage will overheat the weapon, Overload will destroy the shield and stop it regenerating and Damping will prevent the enemy from using biotic attacks - which is very useful when facing asari. NOTE: AI Hacking will not work on Colossus, Armatures or Juggernauts (Unless the skill is raised to it's maximum level) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- *LIARA T'SONI ~ The Prothean expert ~ Available: After completing the Knossis mission ~ Weapon Training: Handguns only ~ Armour: Light only ~ Biotics: Throw, Lift, Warp, Singularity, Barrier, Stasis ~ Technical: Overload ~ Abilities: None Liara ... I absolutely love this character. She's excellent for biotic support and power, equipped with a Savant Amp X she becomes extremely powerful with reduced recharge and increased biotic damage. Basically she's Kaiden, but stronger and better looking. Liara is blessed with every single biotic ability available, which makes her considerably more flexible than Kaiden. Her Singularity ability is a unique talent for Liara which is good for large crowds or for drawing enemies out of cover. If there's a particular mission which requires either Kaiden or Liara, Liara should be first choice in my opinion. During the final fight, a team of her and Kaiden become an excellent combination. Playing the Insanity difficulty is all about having a good biotic support while you shoot anything robotic or stupid enough to shoot back at you, and Liara provides one of the best available biotic supporting positions. Keep her at a safe distance from the enemy to ultilise her biotics. I'd even go as far torecommend recruiting Liara before you even attempt the Feros or Noveria missions (especially before Noveria). Her health and shields have the potential to be slightly better than Kaiden, but try to remember she isn't a tank like Wrex. In other words, keep the blue beauty at a distance and make her spam biotic fury. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- =========================================================================== ___________________________________________________________________________ ***/ THE WALKTHROUGH /*** | Search Code: 4WLK | ___________________________________________________________________________ Are you prepared for your battle against Insanity ...? ___________________________________________________________________________ =========================================================================== --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Okay, here we go - this is where all the time and effort spent playing a previous playthrough to attain lv60 and collect equipment will make sense. Hardcore must be completed to unlock Insanity difficulty, just a reminder. The differences between Hardcore and Insanity are minimal however and the guide will be able to compensate for both. Differences include slightly increased shielding for the enemies. Thats basically it. The tactics and techniques used will work for any difficulties (considering I created, tested and used those tactics during my Hardcore and Insanity playthroughs) To begin with, start a new career and import your lv60 Shepard. Ideally you should be a Soldier class with Spectre weapons and Colossus heavy armour (all preferably at level X or close enough) - check the Preparations section of this guide if you already haven't. When your able to, equip your armour with Shield Interface X, Kinetic Exoskeletion X and Medical Exoskeleton X (if possible) Set your sniper rifle and shotgun to use High Explosive Ammo X (as explained in Preparations) with Scram Rail X and Advanced Sensors X. The handgun will be rendered obsolete for Insanity. The assault rifle will only be used during Noveria, set it up with the modifications of your choice (its purely optional) as for the grenades, they are as useless as Ashley. The damage caused (even with the High Explosive modification) is minimal and barely effective on Insanity. I've tested each grenade modification including Fusion and Cryo, all with similar results of pointlessness. The only time to use a grenade effectively is if your weapon has overheated and your too impatient to wait the 2 seconds for the recharge, even then its pointless. But just so you know, pressing the grenade button again after it's been thrown will detonate it - even in mid-throw. In certain situations the grenades would probably create a perfect ambush trap as they detonate slowly if not prompted. Due to lack of effectiveness however, this is rendered unnecessary as it wouldn't even chip the shields of most enemies in Insanity. As for gameplay settings, naturally you'll want set the difficulty of Hardcore or Insanity. Turn auto level-up off, target assist doesn't seem to do anything as far as I've noticed - but set it to high regardless. Set Squad power usage to defense only, or if your confident enough disable it completely. Just remember to order your team to activate their Shield Boosts and Barriers when their shields start to get low. Turn auto-save on, I completed the Ilos mission on Insanity without auto-save, forgot to save and had to re-do the entire mission from the start ... Also if your uncertain how difficult an upcoming fight will be, do not be afraid to save the game beforehand and avoid dying and restarting the entire section. I'll be perfectly honest, I only died once during my Insanity play and once during my Hardcore play (in the exact same spot ironically), so for most of you - Insanity isn't nearly as hard as it seems. NOTE: Do not alter the difficulty setting of Hardcore or Insanity once you begin the game. Doing so voids the Hardcore/Insanity achievement even if you set the game back to the difficulty, therefore you will not get the achievement. This also applies if you start a new game, it must remain on Hardcore or Insanity. This walkthrough will only focus on the main storyline of Mass Effect. All sub-missions will be ignored. If for some insanely retarded reason you want fight Thresher Maws on Insanity difficulty, then be my guest - there'll be no advice here for that particular mission. If there's a high demand from the majority of you who seem to enjoy instant Thresher Maw death, I might consider creating sub-mission walkthroughs. Or I might not. The version of the game I used for this guide is for the PlayStation3, although I've tried my best to make the guide "universal". ___________________________________________________________________________ ***/ THE NORMANDY /*** | Search Code: 5NRM | ___________________________________________________________________________ "Welcome to Normandy Airlines, the exits are situated on the left.
		In case of an emergency consult the Krogan"
___________________________________________________________________________

The game begins with the familiar introduction explaining current events
before your involved in a discussion with Joker and Kaiden. The dialogue
choices make no difference here so it doesn't really matter what you say,
be as nice or mean as you like (providing you focus on either Charm OR
Intimidate and not both. Dialogue options at the top are Charm options,
dialogue options at the bottom are Renegade options. Both will increase
Charm and Intimidate respectively) 

After the discussion, take the opportunity to properly equip Shepard. 
Optionally talk to Pressly and Jenkins, the conversations will just waste
time - enter the communications room directly ahead to meet Nihlus. Again,
be as nice or as xenophobically mean as you like - it doesn't matter.

Eventually Captain Anderson will enter the room allowing you to be a total
ass to him too. You all then get to watch a fun little movie starring
Ashley (and no. it's not THAT type of movie) before heading out on your
first mission to Eden Prime.

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ EDEN PRIME /***			| Search Code: 6EDN  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Come for the Geth, Stay for the Reapers"
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Easy
* Recommended Team: 	... unfortunately your stuck with Kaiden and Ashley
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

After establishing with Anderson whether you love or hate Nihlus, you'll
land on Eden Prime. Sadly your team will consist of Kaiden and Jenkins.

Equip Kaiden in the best available light armour preferably with Shield
Interface X and Kinetic Exoskeleton X, then hand him a good handgun such as
the Spectre one. Focus his skill points on his Throw and Lift abilities.
Then increase the Sentinel skill, increase the Decryption skill until you
unlock Electronics then try to max out the Electronics, this skill
increases shield strength as long as Kaiden is in your active team.
Remaining points should be dispersed to Barrier, First Aid and Medicine
skills (like Electronics, Medicine increases the amount of health restored
using Medi-gel whilst Kaiden is around) Ignore upgrading Jenkins, there's
no point. 

Walk ahead, optionally shooting the gasbags and scaring the crap out of
Kaiden. Past the burnt corpses you'll meet the welcome party of Eden Prime
- they even have fireworks! And look, Jenkin's dancing! As combat begins,
command Kaiden to take cover behind a nearby rock as the AI of your squad
is really stupid on this game (numerous times I've witnessed them stand in
the open against rocket launchers, shoot like maniacs at walls and take
cover next to the enemy) command Kaiden by using the upwards directional
pad input. Using the left directional input commands him to follow you,
pressing right (on a target) will command him to focus purely on that
target. Also note holding the weapon selection and ability selection will
freeze time allowing you some thinking space. Under normal circumstances
I would have taken Tali to this mission to use AI Hacking on the little
buggers, for the time being just equip your sniper rifle. With High
Explosive Ammo X, it should wipe out the shields in the first hit (or use
Kaiden's Overload) then destroy the drone in 2-3 hits. Using Kaiden's Throw
and Lift on the drones is pointless as they aren't affected. The battle is
fortunately very easy. If for some reason you struggle here I'd seriously
wonder how you will cope later in the game.

Jenkins looks pretty tired so it's probably best to let him take a break.
Proceed forwards and continue to take cover while ensuring Kaiden does the
same, there will more drones ahead which can be taken down the same way as
the previous. Shooting the gasbags will not inflict any damage on the
drones, they're just there to conveniently get in the way of your shot.
Eventually you'll come across two drones which are hidden behind a tree
trunk. there are several options to destroy them. You can either snipe at
them from a distance (although it's sometimes hard to get a clear shot
without being shot at in the process) you could also take cover on the tree
trunk itself. Switch to your shotgun and blast the drones at point blank.
Until Insanity, I never used shotguns - but now I use them all the time.
The sheer power at close range is incredible especially coupled with my now
patented Scram Rail X and High Explosive Ammo X combination. The last method
is more risky, but entertaining. Simply command Kaiden to go around and past
the left side of the tree trunk. The drones will focus their attention on
him, giving you clear opportunity to attack. This process will naturally
involve Kaiden taking severe damage, so don't expect it to last very long,
tell Kaiden to use Barrier when needed. Note that Kaiden's Overload ability
will prevent the drones' shields from recharging temporarily.

After the brief sample of Insanity, you'll see Ashley taking a morning jog.
Assist her by taking out her adoring fans, or completely ignore her. Ashley
is actually invincible at this point. It may be time consuming, but she
will actually kill the Geth if left alone. From your position, you should
be at a good vantage point to shoot the Geth with your sniper rifle. They
are easier to fight than the drones and Kaiden's biotics will work well on
them; Throw will temporary make them vulnerable to a shot whereas Lift will
make them easy targets with more time to land hits. Note that while an enemy
is suspended in Lift or Throw, they'll actually recieve more damage from
usual from your attacks. The best tactic is to try and get enemies grouped
together if possible, order Kaiden to use Lift on the group and then hit
them either with the sniper rifle powered up by the Assassination ability
or the shotgun powered up by the Carnage ability. It'll usually result in
a one hit kill, or a least leave them with minimal health. As they will
still be floating, a second shot will easily finish them off. This is a
general tactic that will work on most of the basic enemies encountered
in the game.

Ashley will talk to you afterwards, its up to you if your behave politely
or simply question her incompetence. She'll join your team regardless of 
your attitude or decision. You then have the chance to ask her more
questions through investigation, but it's not required. If you've read the
Squad Member section of this guide, you'll quickly realise why Ashley is
useless on Insanity. For the time being your stuck with her for this
mission. So temporarily equip her in decent armour, hand her some decent
weapons and use the auto-level option on her skills. After Eden Prime,
Ashley will never be used in this playthrough so you can take all the
equipment back afterwards (unless you really want to struggle with Ashley
on your team in the harder missions?)

There are a few crates in this area, it's up to you if you open them. If
like me, you've stockpiled on equipment on previous plays, then there is
little point in opening them unless you need omni-gel. You'll need to go
along the route where Ashley first appeared, there will be a few spikes
with Reaper Husks impaled on, but they seem to be purely decorative. You'll
meet the decorators responsible around the ruins of the dig site, basically
use the same tactics already mentioned before, remember that Kaiden's
Sabotage will temporarily overheat the Geth's weapon, giving you a short
opportunity to strike. It probably doesn't need to be mentioned, but
getting a head shot (or Geth face-lamp-thing shot) will cause greater
damage (obviously) After they've been cleared away, Ashley will give a short
explanation and inform Shepard about survivors. You'll also receive a Codec
call from Nihlus.

Equip your shotgun and leave the ruins via the hillside. You'll discover
moredecorative Husks, except these ones aren't so decorative. Husks aren't
dangerous on their own, but in small groups they can cause problems. If
your surrounded by Husks, they will decimate your team fairly quickly as
their melee strikes ignores your shielding. Whilst the static they
discharge causes damage to health and shields. Try to keep your distance,
husks are pretty stupid and tend to run in circles before they even start
running toward you. Shoot them as they run and allow them to get closer,
this groups them in one place. Once close enough use Kaiden's Throw to
force to entire group back. Fortunately in the main storyline of this game,
you'll only encounter husks on one other mission. The buildings ahead have
a few more crates and some survivors trapped behind a locked door, its not
important to talk to the survivors or collect the crate contents. They can
be ignored without penalty. Keep going to see a cutscene of Nihlus and his
friend who has a questionable remedy for headaches.

Head up the hill, once on the top equip the faithful sniper rifle. While
Kaiden and Ashley are busy watching Sovereign, aim towards the ramp that
leads to the building complex and you'll see two Geth patrolling the area.
Shoot the nearby explosive canister to set them all in alert, the
decorations that are scattered in front of you will also react and come to
life. This is the safer option than just walking straight in and becoming
swarmed by Husks and Geth gunfire. Remain on the hill and continue to snipe
the Geth, shooting the remaining canisters that lie near them can cause
some minor damage. Eventually the Husks will have gotten bored of playing
Ring-Around-The-Rosies and likely run towards you. Use the same techniques
as before, allow the Husks to approach by focusing your attack on the Geth.
As the Husks reach you, blast them with biotics. Finish the Geth if any
remain and then switch to the shotgun to deal with the remaining Husks.
Staying on the hill should allow you stay out of range of the Geth attacks,
you can always backstep a little if your getting hurt. If your shields drop
to one bar, use the Shield Boost ability. If the shields are completely
gone (Shepard usually calmly states this) then activate Immunity, then
Shield Boost. Use Medi-gel if your health  dropped too much, then use
Adrenaline Burst to completely recharge all of your used abilities - this
even recharges Medi-gel use. Its a great technique that allows you to
survive for far longer during intense combat situations (and there will be
a lot later in the game) There are more survivors in the locked building
on your right, again just ignore them - there's no penalty for doing so
and it saves time.

Enter the area the Geth were formerly patrolling and avoid walking into the
fire. Fire is indeed hot. If you hadn't already noticed. You'll see Nihlus
taking a nap in the middle of the floor and then chat to Powell who likes
hiding behind boxes as much as a certain espionage agent does. Be prepared
after the brief conversation as more Geth will arrive to avenge their
fallen cousins. Use the large crate on the left for cover and strike them
with Throw, if your lucky - you'll send them flying off the ledge in front
of you. The same ledge where some drones magically appear from (the drones
do not appear if your a low level) Remain in cover, use Overload to disrupt
the recharge of the drones' shields and hit them with shotgun blasts. There
should be a Medi-Gel near Nihlus if you haven't already picked it up. If
Ashley hasn't been killed already, move down where the drones appeared from
to find a narrow bridge filled with Geth. From the top of the stairway
before you go down, it's possible to hit two of the Geth and an explosive
canister with the sniper rifle. When your on the walkway, crouch and use
the cover provided and snipe the Geth ahead of you. You should see a Geth
Destroyer casually walking towards you. Refrain from using any biotics and
allow him to get close enough until a red target marker appears or he starts
charging, then use Lift. As he's suspended, use Throw to send him off the
walkway for an instant kill. Remember that Throw will always go in the
direction you are facing, use this knowledge to send enemies off ledges for
easy kills. Continue to use the sniper rifle on the remaining Geth, the
Geth will not move towards you and will stay where they are. So you'll need
to move forward and take cover accordingly, use Shepard's sprint to get to
the next cover point quickly. You can also command Kaiden and Ashley to take
cover in the spaces in front of you to draw the enemy fire. When taking
cover, do not get too close to the edge as the Geth will be able to hit you
still. Ideally, stay a little way from the edge closer towards the middle of
the cover spot. Your team will likely die a lot here if not properly managed.
Eventually you'll reach the train controls which will take you to the final
part of this mission.

After a short cutscene, you'll arrive at your destination. This part has a
time limit, so it's probably best not to take too long here. The limit is
roughly 5 minutes, I managed to have 3 minutes remaining on the clock
during my Insanity run - so it isn't exactly as difficult as I thought it
would be. If you have auto-save activated (which is kind of recommended for
Insanity) it'll save immediately as you move. Start off by disarming the
first of four demolition charges, found directly in front of you as you
enter. Move up the stairs, turn right and go along the bridge to locate the
second charge on the left. Ignore the Geth for now, your team can stall them
briefly and the charge is placed behind cover so you'll be safe for the time
being. Once deactivated, assist your team if they aren't already dead. The
Geth will crowd along a tight corrider, making Throw effective. Try to hit
them with Throw by standing near the left side of the area to knock them off
the ledge for instant kills. The third charge is placed in this corridor,
when it's fairly safe to do so, move in and deactivate it. It's reasonably
well covered like the second was. At this point, there should be one Geth
remaining and roughly 3 minutes and 50 seconds on your timer. If possible,
Throw the Geth off the ledge, if not - hit with Lift and either kill or
ignore and head straight up towards the last charge. Providing your team
hasn't died (which is highly likely) they should hopefully finish the Geth
off for you while it floats.

Crisis averted, you can now casually take the exit toward the beacon that
everyone's so excited about. There are two Geth waiting on the lower level,
if you equip your sniper rifle you can get an easy shot before they even
notice you. Stay where you are as a few Husks will soon make their way to
you. Use the old shoot, Throw, shoot tactic to eliminate them (use the
shotgun) then snipe the remaining Geth before you finally reach the beacon.
The beacon will not activate until all the enemies in the area are cleared.
The mission is complete after Kaiden or Ashley end up messing things up ...
as usual. Then a blue lady talks to a very excitable Turian. Anyway ...

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ THE NORMANDY /***			| Search Code: 7NRM  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Your skull was fractured, your ribs broke and you will not be 
		able to pee properly anymore. So no real damage"
___________________________________________________________________________

You will wake up in the Normandy's medical quarters, closely monitored by
Dr Chakwas and company. Shepard is told what happened and you can respond
as ungrateful or appreciative as you like. Then moan or agree with Anderson.

When he asks about your visions, all responses (charm, neutral or renegade)
have the exact same outcome. Leave the good doctor and you'll have the
optional choice of talking to Kaiden and Ashley, but again it's not
necessary (although asking Ashley why the hell she's on the ship is
hilarious) 

Take this opportunity to take the elevator down to the cargo storage where
you can remove all the equipment you gave Ashley in Eden Prime and talk to
the Requisitions Officer if you need to sell or buy. He should have a
Medi-gel upgrade for sale, if so buy it. The grenade upgrade is useless,
but you can buy it if you really want to. One thing about imported saves
is that the Medi-gel and grenade upgrades do not carry over to new games.

Make your way to Joker as Anderson is apparently unable to tell him to land
the Normandy for some bizarre reason.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
***/ THE CITADEL /***			| Search Code: 8CIT  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"The Citadel Council will listen to all complaints without 
		racial bias. Except human ones."
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Easy
* Recommended Team: 	Wrex and Kaiden (Wrex will be recruitable)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the Citadel, after his chat with the Three Stooges your greeted
by the relatively miserable Ambassador Udina. You have to present your
report of Eden Prime to the Citadel Council, so start by leaving the
Ambassador's room and heading down the stairs towards another door. Ignore
the slightly annoying holographic asari and head towards the Citadel Rapid
Transit server on your right (it's marked as a yellow arrow on your radar
and map) The only destination available will be the Citadel Tower, which
is conviently where you need to go.

In the tower you'll meet Garrus Vakarian, currently arguing with his boss
Executor Pallin. It doesn't matter what you say to Garrus. Proceed past the 
elaborate fountains and cherry trees until you find Anderson to begin the
Council meeting. The meeting is short with many scornful insults from Saren. 
Naturally like all politians, Udina will blame everyone but himself and
suggests finding solid evidence for the Council. A contact named Harkin
will be mentioned, but talking to him is actually the harder way of doing
things (at least for an Insanity run anyway). When you get a chance, ask
Anderson for other leads and he'll mention Barla Von. Avoid finding and
talking to Harkin as this will completely skip two unnecessary fights
(one against Saren's assassins and the second at the medical lab). Instead,
go find Barla Von in the Financial District. Use the Rapid Transit to return
to the Embassies. By now you should know where your going, especially if
you've played a previous save. But because I'm so generously helpful and for
the purposes of this being a "guide" - the directions to Barla Von will be
described; the Financial District will be directly behind your starting
position. Use the bridge to cross over, head right, down the stairs and
continue right (you'll pass a Hanar, the weird jellyfish thing, who may
sell a few Medi-gel upgrades) directly right of the Hanar's emporium is a
door where Barla Von can be found. Barla Von will tell you about Wrex who
can be found at the C-Sec Academy. C-Sec will not yet be on your Rapid
Transit list, so your going to have to walk there. Exercise will probably
do you good anyway and my generosity for directions continues; from Barla's,
backtrack the way you came to return to your starting position at the
Embassies. On the far right the pathway curves down to another floor, follow
it round to find the elevator that leads to C-Sec. The Krogan is not exactly
inconspicuous, he'll be on your right. This is Wrex and he'll soon become a
valued war buddy for your Insanity game.

Funnily enough, Wrex is the only character who reacts positively towards
renegade dialogue choices. Anyway, Wrex (as stated in the Squad section) is
one of the best members to have for your Insanity playthrough. When given the
option, replace Ashley with him (but any smart person would do that without
me even having to say so) Equip him in Colossus X heavy Krogan armour with
Shield Interface X and Medical Exoskeleton X to improve his natural healing,
if possible add Kinetic Exoskeleton too. Set up his shotgun to Spectre class
with the Scram Rail X and High Explosive Ammo X. For skills, increase his
Warp ability until you unlock Throw which should be maxed. Max out his
Krogan Battlemaster ability, his Fitness and Combat Armour to allow him to
wear heavy armour and shoot his health and defences to the limit. Remaining
points should be shared amongst Barrier and Shotgun skills (which will need
Assault Rifle skill to unlock) When asked to find Garrus, dismiss this and
just head straight for Chora's Den via Rapid Transit. For those of you who
really want Garrus, don't worry. The Turian will still join you before you
leave the Citadel.

Now enter Chora's Den; the gentlemens' club of pole-dancing asari, music
and late night entertainment... in the form of an all-out massacre courtesy
of the friendly and enthusiastic staff. Ideally take cover by the door that
leads directly to the nightclub, the thug on the far right may cause
problems as he can actually get a few hits on you even whilst your in cover,
so use Kaiden's Overload to remove his shields and take him down quickly
with the sniper rifle and Assassination. Remove the shotgun-toting bartender
with a blast from your own shotgun and use biotics and support abilities
accordingly. In order to combat the rest of the bar staff, you'll need to
enter the Den. Its better to go left, taking crouched cover behind the
central bar counter. This area is awkward for finding good cover, even
behind the bar you'll occasionally be hit. Simply move along the bar to
safety. Going along the left side allows a better tactical advantage as
there are fewer thugs this side and the stupidly strong Krogan in this
area shouldn't immediately charge at you like he would if you approached
from the right. If he does happen to violently run at you, hit him with
Wrex's Stasis to temporarily freeze him in mid-charge. Whilst frozen,
the Krogan will not take any damage from your attacks - but simultaneously,
he will be unable to seriously hurt you either. Take the opportunity to
remove the rest of the thugs in the meanwhile (ignore the two stood in the
small corridor for now), note that there is one thug stood on top of the
central bar who can be hit with Throw to bring him to ground level if your
struggling to shoot him. As for the Krogan, once he's out of Stasis, use
Kaiden's Overload to remove his shields and stop them from regenerating.
Wrex's Warp will damage the Krogan's health slightly and ignore any shields
if some still remain, Warp is effective at hindering the Krogan's health
regeneration. Move from cover if necessary to avoid his physical attacks
and shoot him in the face with a Carnage powered shotgun from Shepard and
Wrex. He should hopefully go down without too much hassle. Now its a
simple case of removing the last two thugs from the corridor, there's an
explosive canister to help here - plus the cover they are using is breakable
from a shotgun blast (if they haven't already done so themselves). Use the
overturned table by the corridor entrance for cover and use Kaiden's Lift,
then finish them with shotguns. Once all the employees of the bar are either
dead or dying, the door in the corridor will open when inspected.

Two lowly warehouse workers will try to stop you, hopefully by now you will
have focused enough attention to your Charm or Intimidate. If so, you'll
get an option during dialogue (Charm is coloured blue, Intimidate is
coloured red) which will force the workers to surrender and flee. Otherwise
you'll have to fight them off in a very confined space. If so, retreat back
to the corridor you entered and use biotics and the shotgun to pound them
into submission. After avoiding or winning the fight, proceed further to
find the boss of Chora's Den.

Immediately take cover on the leftside partition wall as you enter, the real
targets here are the turrets protecting Fist, try focusing on these using 
Overload to lower the shields and attacking with shotguns on Carnage, use
the right directional command so that Kaiden and Wrex attack the same target
to destroy it quicker, then do the same method on the second turret. When the
second is destroyed, you'll skip straight to a dialogue section. Its possible
to simply end the fight by shooting at Fist, but its slightly harder -
especially with the turrets attacking and Fist hiding the entire time.
Besides, he's hardly a threat in comparison.

Oddly Shepard never questions why the entire bar spontaneously attacked them.
Regardless, Wrex makes sure the favour is returned. You now have a time
limit to rescue a Quarian, roughly 4 minutes. If the timer runs out, you'll
be greeted by the cheerful message "Saren's agents have killed the Quarian" -
so in other words, move. The game should auto-save like it did on Eden Prime.
Leave Fist's room and return to the bar where more thugs have suddenly been
employed. To save time, do not bother with cover and sprint on the left of
the bar. Use Kaiden's Throw on the thug who runs towards you, then use
Wrex's Throw on the thug in front of you. Finally hit the two thugs by the
door with Kaiden's Lift and immediately exit the bar. None of the enemies
will follow you outside, and providing you sprinted through this - you'll
get away easily with a lot of time left to spare and a lot of pointless
fighting avoided. I reached the Quarian within less than a minute this way.
You always have the option to fight everyone, but I was always dubious that
it would it would take too long - plus its easier to just walk out of the
door in a dramatic rush of biotic fury. Return to the Rapid Transit console
and head left through the only door thats currently unlocked. The Quarian
known as Tali is literally in front of you.

Tali is naturally dubious of her friend who is oddly named "Assassin". Use
Throw on the Assassin's minions, they're actually fairly weak against sniper
rifle shots. You can use Wrex's Stasis on the Assassin if your struggling
to fight the minions, but the fight shouldn't be hard. The Assassin himself
can be Lifted and easily dispatched with the shotgun or sniper rifle with
the relevant weapon boost. Don't worry about Tali during this fight, she's
invincible like Ashley was in Eden Prime and left to her own devices, she
could probably remove the Assassin and his lackeys on her own (which makes
me wonder why there was a need to immediately rescue her?) Afterwards, Tali
is thankful for your support regardless of your attitude towards her. You'll
then receive a parental scolding from Udina before he suddenly realises the
purple clad, glow-eyed Quarian that has been stood beside Shepard the entire
time. Tali performs a few magic tricks with her radioactive arm, after this
it's time to visit the Council again.

Leave the Ambassador's room as you did before. Is that Samesh Bhatia guy
asking for you? Nah. Your hearing things, just walk past and ignore him.
Use the Rapid Transit to go to the Citadel Tower. On arrival, Anderson will
be stood behind you to start another meeting. This one goes slightly better
with some sort of fancy ceremony which might include cake and fanfares and
such. Once your finished celebrating, use the Rapid Transit to return to
C-Sec and use the elevator to get the the Docking Bay. You'll meet Garrus
again along the way who will want to join your crew, you can actually refuse
and leave him to stand here for the entire game until you change your mind.
It's your decision, either way - Garrus isn't overly useful on Insanity. His
technical abilities are the same as Tali and give him the potential of
crippling most enemies (Overload destroys shields, Sabotage overheats
weapons and Damping prevents biotic attacks - useful against Asari and some
Krogans) but it's Tali's AI Hacking that makes her a better choice for many
missions. Garrus is basically a slightly improved version of Ashley with a
more likeable personality.

Udina and Anderson will meet you in the Docking Bay and give you a list of
missions for Feros, Noveria and a mission to locate Liara. After the
conversation your free to ask Anderson 20 questions - or you can just
ignore him and finally leave the Citadel. After a short speech, you can use
the Galaxy Map on the Normandy to select your mission. I'd strongly
recommend finding Liara first as she's a useful team member, then tackle
Feros as it's a fairly easy mission. Save Noveria for last. Noveria was one
of the most challenging moments during my Insanity run, it was not entirely
easy.

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ THERUM /***			| Search Code: 9TRM  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Therum ... Therum ... Why is there no rum?"
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Medium
* Recommended Team: 	Wrex and Tali
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

To find Liara, go to the Artemis Tau system. Select Knossis from this
cluster and land on Therum (the clue here, if you read Therum's description,
is that there are lots of Prothean ruins) The team I used here was Wrex and
Tali, Wrex is useful for his tank set-up and Stasis ability while Tali will
prove very valuable with her AI Hacking. Give Tali some good armour like
Colossus X (although Quarian armour seems very hard to find in this game,
I received the Colossus armour for Tali on a previous playthrough on the
Bring Down the Sky mission. Asking Simon for the armour as my reward, even
Shepard mentions how hard it is to find Quarian armour) equip the Shield
Interface X and Kinetic Exoskeleton X on Tali's armour, Medical
Exoskeleton X too if possible. Upgrade her shotgun and handgun to Spectre
grade, give her shotgun the Scram Rail X and High Explosive Ammo X
combination. The handgun can be modified as you see fit. For Tali's skills,
obviously maximise Hacking - it's her most valuable ability with allows
you to temporarily brainwash the Geth and robotic enemies to fight for you.
Upgrade her Basic Armour skill to increase protection and unlock Shield
Boost, which will allow her to regenerate her shields when low. Then
focus on Electronics, which like Kaiden's this will increase the teams
shields whilst Tali is present. Her Quarian Machinist skill will strengthen
her shields a bit more and the Shotgun skill is required to utilise her
Explosive Ammo effectively. Remaining points should be invested on
Dycrption and Damping to unlock all the necessary abilities to completely
cripple an enemy; Sabotage will overheat the enemy weapon, Overload
destroys the shields and prevents shields from restoring temporarily and
Damping will prevent the enemy using biotic abilities (especially useful
on Asari and Krogans)

Shepard will land on the planet inside the Mako, you should understand how
to control the Mako by now - especially if you've played previous
playthroughs. In Insanity, the Mako's machine gun is not overly effective,
in most cases its easier to simply run over enemies. If you tap the R1
button, you'll shoot a missile which does considerably more damage. It'll
take a while to recharge between shots however. Take the moment to
familiarise yourself with the timing and range of accuracy with the missile
before you move on (ammunition is unlimited in the Mako)

The route is very singular and forced, you shouldn't really get lost. Avoid
the molten lava (it might sting a little) and just drive at full speed to
your destination, the best tactic whilst in the Mako is to just keep moving
and ignore most of the enemies. Eventually a Geth ship will appear and drop
a couple of Geth Armatures, ignore them and just drive - if timed right,
they'll land at the same time you pass. Try to ram the Armatures if
possible, if you aim correctly you can ram a few into the lava for easy
kills. Just be careful of the Armatures electrical cannon, they will cause
a lot damage to the Mako. With a lot of practice, you can use the Mako's
boost to jump and avoid some of the shots. The Geth armed with rocket
launchers should be avoided at all costs, rocket launchers in the Insanity
mode can easily destroy the Mako within 3-4 hits. Hit the Geth with the
Mako's missiles if you can, run over them or dodge them completely - just
try to keep moving and swerving away from the missiles.

Eventually you'll reach a heavily fortified area and Wrex will comment
about punching Nathaks. This is your cue to turn sharply to the right to a
side path and avoid the fortress, the path is indicated by sharp black
rocks that surround the entrance. Going at the fortress head-on is suicide,
besides you can't get in this way no matter how hard you try. Follow the
pathway, avoid the Heavy Turret and enter the fortress. There are a lot of
Geth Juggernauts and Heavy Turrets here. Do not fight them, it will take a
long time and it's completely unnecessary. Not to mention hazardous to your
health. Park the Mako by the large garage door on the right then leave the
Mako and enter the adjoining building via the doorway on the left. Note
that the Juggernauts are immune to Tali's AI Hacking and Wrex's Throw (On
the higher game difficulties) Inside the building is a single Geth, disable
him by bombarding with shotgun fire. On the wall is a switch that will open
the garage door. Immediately return to the Mako, hit the Juggernaut with
Wrex's Stasis to avoid him causing you serious harm as you exit the
building. If you notice a Geth Destroyer, use Tali's AI Hacking to make it
create a small diversion for you to escape. Don't waste your effort
fighting, just enter the Mako and drive through the exit you opened.
Considering how fast you move will depend how much damage the Mako has
taken during your absence. If the Mako shields are gone and the image is
bright red, your dangerously close to dying. When exiting the fortress,
turn the corner to get out of firing range and repair the Mako with
omni-gel. Once sufficiently healed proceed on. (Note if you have the
maximum of 1000 Omni-gel, it will state 99 on screen. You still have 1000,
it's just the on screen count is unable to go higher than 99)

Avoid and ram the Armatures if possible, avoid the Geth missiles and
retaliate with your own. You should see a giant Armatage called a Geth
Colossus. Avoid these at all costs, ram into it to temporarily stop it's
attack as you enter the tunnel. In the second tunnel there will be more
rocket Geth to avoid/run over/blow up and then some more as you exit the
tunnel, just keep moving and you should be okay. You'll soon reach a part
of the track that is blocked by the same spiked black rocks you saw earlier,
which happen to be immortal against your missiles. There's no other option
but to leave the Mako and proceed on foot. (Although I've read reports that
it is possible to squeeze the Mako through from some time and effort, but
personally the next area is better on foot)

Equip the sniper rifle and enter the small crevasse. Take cover as soon as
you can and begin sniping the Geth in this area. Use Tali's AI Hacking to
your advantage to tilt the odds in your favor, preferably on the Geth Rocket
Troopers. Snipe any enemies that remain and finish off your new friend
afterwards. Move along further in the canyon, take cover by the rocks on
the corner and take caution of the Geth Sniper sat on the white structure.
Use Tali's AI Hacking to cause confusion amongst the Geth and show the Geth
Sniper that your sniping is far superior. If you see a red targeting line
in your direction, duck in cover, wait for the sniper's shot and then
attack. Once your certain the immediate vicinity is clear, move up the
hillside to reach the Geth Sniper's former position. There will more Geth
up the hill. As you reach the top, use the AI Hacking on the Geth directly
in front of you - he'll proceed to attack the other Geth hiding on your
left and allow you take a few shots with little distraction. When all the
threats are removed, continue on. Save your game before you reach the large
factory-like building to prevent having to restart this entire mission from
the beginning.

The Geth are a little upset it seems. As the fight begins, immediately use
AI Hacking on either a Geth Stalker or Geth Shock Trooper. The Armature is
immune to Hacking and Throw on higher difficulties. The bouncy elasticated
Stalkers are able to attack with a type of Damping ability which will make
all of your technical and biotic abilities unavailable. Quickly move so
your in front of the wall to your left. The Geth seem to rarely walk past
this wall and it'll allow a good standing strafe attack method. Basically
hold your position here, move towards the right to hit any Geth with your
weapon and then return to your position. Soon only the Armature will be
left. From the green cargo box that you originally started from for cover
or alternatively, from the wall strafe position you can move around the
left side of the area and try to snipe the Armature through the thin gaps
of the wall without receiving damage yourself (You will need to position
your team to cover on the left-side girders for the Armature to react for
this to work, take care that your team may recieve heavy damage). The
Armatures cannon is extremely powerful and capable of a one-hit kill, and
the Armature must be destroyed in order to continue the mission (I did try
using Stasis to run by and enter the ruins, but the door remains locked).
Use Tali's Overload to help reduce the shields a little and take careful
shots with the sniper rifle with Assassination only when its safe. When
the Armature is preparing the cannon, it's lamp-face-thing will glow blue.
Take immediate cover, preferably in the centre of the box your using to
avoid the blast. Return fire and retreat to cover once its about to shoot
again. The process will be time consuming and the Armature may even venture
out towards you. Always try to keep the box between you and it, moving
around the box as necessary. Using your squad as bait may seem like a great
idea, but it's probably the worst thing you could possibly do. The Armature
will kill them easily and quickly. Once the thing is finally reduced to
scrap metal, use the nearby ramp and enter the chamber leading to the ruins.

(NOTE: My Biotic class Shepard really struggled here on Insanity compared
to my Soldier version. If you happen to be Biotic class, expect to die often)

Down the chamber, equip the sniper and prepare for a missile to fly at you
as you reach the lower region. Use Wrex's Throw to launch the Geth off the
ledge behind him, if your lucky it'll result in an instant kill. If not,
it'll still do a decent amount of damage. Stay in the chamber and use the
sniper aim to find a Geth stood under the metal walkways (should be on the
bottom right) and use AI Hacking. Move on, eliminating any remaining Geth
and use the elevator. On reaching the lower floor, leave the elevator and
go right (where a Medi-gel can be found) and use the elevator for cover as
drones will move in to intercept you. Tali's Hacking and Overload will give
a good advantage while you use sniper fire. Use the second elevator once
the area is cleared (note that it is possible to simply run straight to the
next elevator and completely avoid fighting the drones). The elevator will
break down, making you unable to backtrack from here. The electric discharge
will not hurt you. Exit and climb down the ruins to find the lovely Liara.
Seems Ms T'Soni is need of a white knight to rescue her, without any white
knights nearby - you'll have to do things instead.

From your position, turn around to face the ledge. Crouch and use the sniper
rifle and Wrex's Throw with Tali's AI Hacking to deal with the Geth. This
area provides very poor cover until you reach the ground level, but with so
many Geth already at ground level - it's safer to remain here until you
weaken their numbers. If needed, backstep towards Liara to recover shields,
but you shouldn't have any problems provided you step aside for the
missiles. When visibly clear, go to the ground level. There will be a
Geth Sniper at the far left of the area, easily destroyed by a quick Throw
from Wrex and some shotgun fire. Now back to saving a certain blue-skinned
damsel in distress. Use the Mining Laser Controls: 

* on PS3 the button combination is:	 X, square, circle, triangle
* on X-Box the button combination is:	 A, X, B, Y
* on PC the button combination is:	 down, right, up, down, right

Note that the enemy must be removed before the controls are used,
apparantly it's delicate. But will work despite how many times you shoot at
it. Afterwards, its a simple case of moving along your newly crafted path
and using the elevator to reach Liara's room. Equip the shotgun and be
prepared for a tough fight, fortunately an auto-save will activate after
speaking to Liara.

This fight is unavoidable and can get out of control very easily, its in a
very confined area with hardly any good cover. Being flanked by the enemy
here is very dangerous. Start off by hitting the krogan with Wrex's Stasis,
move along the left side of the area and keep moving. Ultilise Tali's AI
Hacking to provide some cover support and hit any Geth in front of you with
Throw (just like in Chora's Den) - your destination is to try to get to the
crate where the Krogan and his Geth buddies entered from. There will a
Geth Sniper near this crate, use melee to knock down and strike with the
shotgun. Take cover behind the box (it's the best available cover in this
room) by this point, our Krogan friend will likely be mobile again. Hit him
with Tali's Damping to prevent his biotics and protection ability, use the
shotgun to knock him down and set your team to focus on him. Take out any
nearby Geth when you get a chance, use Tali's Hacking when possible. The
trick here is to prevent the Krogan from regaining his footing, keep him
falling with high powered Carnage shotgun blasts and he'll have no chance
to use his regen abilities - thus dying quicker. The Krogan's melee charge
is exceptionally strong and best avoided, it will ignore your shields and
directly damage your health. Note that the Krogan is immune to Throw. Don't
worry about Liara here, she's invincible during this fight (but annoyingly
does nothing to help) Use your Medi-gel, Shield Boost and Immunity to save
yourself from dying then activate Adrenaline Burst to fully recharge all of
those skills and allow a second chance of survival. Once the Krogan "dies"
he might actually recover his health. Make sure you hit him with the
shotgun with Carnage as soon as he seems dead to prevent this. When the
fight finishes, Shepard decides to have a playful race with the team.
Debrief with the team on the Normandy and recruit your final member. Talk
with the Council if you want, but it saves time to simply refuse.

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ FEROS /***					| Search Code: 10FRS  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Brainwashed? We've been told to say we're not brainwashed ..."
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Medium
* Recommended Team: 	Liara and Tali (Wrex optional)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the craphole that is Feros, located in Theseus of the Attican
Beta cluster. Bring Tali and Liara, there will be a lot of Geth here for
Tali's Hacking skills if you want to bring her, but for the final fight of
this mission - Wrex is much more useful. Equip Liara with some decent
armour (she can only use light armour) preferably with Shield Interface X
and Kinetic Exoskeleton X to improve her biotic support, giving her the
Savant X will make her one of the most powerful biotics of your team. Hand
her a decent handgun then work on increasing the following skills; increase
Throw and unlock Lift, increase Warp to unlock Singularity, increase
Barrier to unlock Stasis, maximise Asari Scientist to reduce biotic
recharge time and increase the amount that Medi-Gel heals. Increase the
First Aid skill to improve Medi-Gel use even further. Increasing
Electronics will unlock Overload and increase the shielding of the team
whilst Liara is present. From here, add points to improve the biotic
abilities further (as Liara's main role is purely biotic support)

NOTE: If your Shepard has the AI Hacking ability, bring Wrex instead of
Tali

Go and talk to the vaguely weird behaving David who insists you talk to
Fai Dan. Despite your choice, the Geth also disagree with David's odd
behaviour and resolve his problem. By blowing him up. Take cover by the
large slab of concrete and use Liara's biotics. Equip shotgun or sniper
rifle accordingly and use abilities when needed. The fight is pretty easy.

Continue further and you'll see the Geth Stalkers. Do not run ahead, stay
where you are and backstep a little. Equip the sniper rifle and you should
be able to see a Stalker stuck on a wall ahead of you (Depending on the
your level, the Stalker may be called a Sapper or even a Ghost. They all
behave the same and should be tackled the same way). Use AI Hacking or
shoot it, then retreat back to the doorway. The Stalkers will stay in this
area and will not follow you, making the doorway a safe spot to recover if
needed. Again the fight is very easy. Once finished, head up the stairs to
find some very tense colonists. Work your way through until you meet Fai
Dan, the self-imposed leader of Zhu's Hope. Sadly the Geth aren't nearly as
effective with Dan as they were with David. Regardless, protect the heart
of the colony. The Geth are crowded in a tight corridor, making Throw very
effective here. Use the doorway for effective cover and strike with
shotguns before they can recover. More Geth will run down the stairs, so
remain in cover and attack. When no more Geth are visible on screen, use
the stairs and witness another colonist cured by the Geth. Use the doorway
for cover, and hit a Geth with AI Hacking. You can easily sit back and
watch the the Geth destroy his comrades, which is helpful as the Geth will
attack the others hidden around the other side of this wall. Just a single
shot should wrap things up if the Hacked Geth hasn't died already. Yet
another very easy fight. Go through the doorway and head left.

This area has awkward cover positions and some on the lower level are
pointless as Geth above will still hit you. Retreating to the doorway if
your wounded is a good tactical option as the Geth will not follow you. AI
Hacking is very useful here, try to hack the drones and the Geth Destroyer
(who will drop by when the first wave of Geth are eliminated) The best cover
is on the upper ledge at the back right side, basically around the corner
from where you enter. If you manage to hack the Destroyer, he'll
practically kill everything in the area. Then use Throw and Carnage powered
shotguns to kill him. Remember to use the Medi-gel, Shield Boost, Immunity
and Adrenaline Burst tactics if needed. When you defeat the Geth, your
forced to return to Dan in order to continue the mission (the elevator is
suspiciously out of order until you speak to Dan ...)

Say whatever you want to derpy Dan, it doesn't matter. You now have the
option to talk to Ledra, the Salarian stood by the colonists living space,
who will sell items to you. You can also help the colonists by fixing the
water supply and killing a lot of Varren, although on Insanity it becomes
more work than necessary as being swarmed by Varren is predictably
uncomfortable. The mission can still be completed by ignoring the colonists,
and for this difficulty I recommend that you do ignore them and head
straight for the elevator, which is now fully operational. After using the
elevator, two colonists will be trying to destroy some drones. Their
accuracy is terrible, but its up to you if you help. After a very long time,
they will destroy the drones. Save the game and jump into the Mako and just
drive at full speed. Avoid, swerve and dodge the Geth (and try avoiding
driving off the left side of the bridge unless you wonder if the Mako is
capable of flying) You'll eventually reach a safe point where normally
you'd get out of the Mako and have a friendly chat with some ExoGeni
workers, ignore them and take the opportunity to fix the Mako if it's badly
damaged. Push on through some more Geth attacks to reach a point where your
forced to move on foot. There's Stalkers here, so use cover on the entrance
and snipe them or use the Mako's missiles to hit them (just bear in mind the 
Mako's health, if it falls to red you will die) Enter the area, there should
be two Geth remaining on the upper ledge of your left. Simply use Hacking on
one and support with weapon fire, then shoot the remaining Geth. Avoid
unlocking the door nearby unless you really want to fight a Geth Armature.

The only way to go from here is by dropping down a broken area of the floor,
Liara or Tali will mention when your nearby. Equip the assault rifle - yeah 
thats right. A weapon other than shotguns or sniper for once. While Lizbeth
finds a small hole to hide in, you'll be suddenly swarmed by Varren. This
isn't as bad as you may expect - especially if you use the "bridge"
constructed by fallen debris in the centre of this area. The bridge will
force the Varren to come at you one by one, eliminating the frustration of
an overnumbered swarm. Use Throw if they get too close and stick to using
the assault rifle as it has better crowd control than the overpowered and
heavily overheating shotgun. The Varren are actually very weak individually.
If for some reason you struggle somehow, the Bioware team seem to have
predicted your struggle and an auto-save is set-up before the Varren show up.

Leave the area through the only available door and re-equip your overpowered
and heavily overheating shotgun. A Krogan will be trying to access a computer
and realising he's causing a queue, will kindly stand aside for you. This is
very much like the fight during Therum. Just focus on Carnage fueled shotgun
fire. He isn't nearly as tough as the Krogan in Therum but can use the same
rebirth methods if your not careful. Avoid causing further queues with the
computer and proceed. There will be a weird glowing shrine ahead, complete
with praying Geth. Use AI Hacking or set a grenade for funny results.

Enter the corridor behind you and follow it until you reach a doorway which
you should use for cover. Hit the Geth Sniper with your sniper or Throw
(using AI Hacking always causes him to attack you) this will alert the rest
of the Geth in the room, including a Stalker which will jump on the
rightside wall. Time it correctly and a well placed shotgun blast will take
him down as he jumps, or alternatively set a grenade on the wall where he
jumped from and eventually he'll return and hopefully be momentarily stunned
by the explosion, making for an easier target to shoot. Use the cover
provided in the room to combat the remaining Geth. This room has three
exits. Go through the second exit that is on the same wall as you entered.
Avoid the 3rd exit which is on the opposite side of the room, because there
are a lot of Krogan through here which will cause serious problems on
Insanity. Your only reward will be some basic items from a container and a
dead-end (and a side-mission objective if you chose to do them). Going
through the correct exit (it has two staircases, one going up and one going
down) head up the stairs.

Use the cover that extends from the doorway and AI Hack the Geth Shock
Trooper or Stalker for added support. Use the sniper rifle for the Geth
hiding behind cover, the explosive canister can make them lose their cover
positions and allow an easier target until they regain themselves. Go along
the stairs to find a very big metal claw. Stay near the claw for a tactical
advantage, set a grenade on the wall directly in front of you (about
mid-height) then use the sniper to hit some Geth using computers. A Stalker
will appear here and jump on the wall (and grenade) directly in front you.
Use Throw to knock him down. Avoid moving too far ahead as a Geth Destroyer
is waiting a little further and will only charge at you as you get closer.
Try to eliminate the surrounding Geth from your position on the stairway,
if you see the Destroyer use AI Hacking on it or Throw to prevent it's
charge attack. When clear of enemies, you'll need to activate the Shuttle
Bay Door Controls. The combination is 7-11-13. Now backtrack to the room
with three exits. With the blue barrier deactivated, enter this room and
return to the Mako and avoid the Geth as before.

The Mako will be forced to stop and the ExoGeni workers must be spoken to
in order to continue. Deal with the situation as you please. The workers
will explain the colonist's odd behaviours and will suggest a peaceful
method to help them. Your choice will make no difference at this point.
Continue through the Geth filled bridge in the Mako and you'll meet a new
type of enemy called Thorian Creepers. At this point, the mission actually
starts to get a little more difficult (and Wrex becomes better for the
mission). Creepers behave like Husks, but instead of electrical discharge
they spit poison which will quickly drain health unless healed. Immunity
will act as a good cure if you wish to conserve Medi-Gel. Use the similar
tactics like on Eden Prime's Husks, shotgun when far away, Throw when
close. Your team will ask if you want to help the colonists, order them
to kill everything. It may be harsh but on Insanity it makes life a lot
easier. Open the garage door to reveal a whole army of Creepers, the
easiest solution is just to get back in the Mako and shoot/blow up/run
over everything including the two idiots who struggled to shoot a drone
but have no problems shooting you. The elevator will not activate until
everything is dead (your the exception to this rule). Also note the
Creepers have a sort of "hibernating" state where they are crouched over
in a sitting position. In this state they are completely immune to your
weapons and biotics, although setting a grenade on them, waking them and
detonating can cause some small damage. 

(NOTE: Creepers are far stronger than Husks, they have increased health
and always swarm your team with melee strikes that ignore shielding.
This makes them incredibly dangerous, avoid being swamped by backtracking
through narrow corridors and allowing yourself enough space to avoid them
and their lethal poison sprays. If you did choose to bring Wrex with
you, this is where he becomes very useful as he survives better. Grouping
the Creepers, you can use Liara's Lift and then finish them off at your
leisure)

Exit the elevator and the game will auto-save, as you approach the corner
you will encounter two hibernating Creepers who awaken at your arrival
along with more from the doorway behind them. This area is confined and
not ideal because the Creepers are so close, use a combination of Throw and
shotguns to keep them at bay, backtrack toward the elevator if needed.
Beyond the doorway are two colonists taking cover behind some debris, the
colonists are a lot weaker and a single shotgun blast is possible to kill
both. From their position, more hibernating Creepers can be seen down the
stairs. Approach to awake them and then immediatedly backtrack, using
biotics and weapon fire when possible. Further along, more Creepers can be
found and will run towards you. Try to stay where the previous hibernating
Creepers were, Throw is effective in the corridor. Do not move ahead until
the Creepers are gone as more colonists are hiding behind debris in front
of you. It's easier to tackle them alone.

Enter the colony where more hibernating Creepers can be seen on the right.
The living area of the colony is currently locked off, forcing you to take
the set path where the Creepers are. If your careful enough and approach
slowly, you can use the sniper rifle to remove one of the colonists hiding
behind the large stone slab behind the Creepers. As before, approach the
Creepers to wake them and then retreat and fire. Using Throw in this area
is very effective as the Creepers seem to be very lightweight and get
thrown for quite a distance. Once clear, proceed on.

The next area is large and has plenty of good cover positions, but sadly
the Creepers are the swarming and melee attacking type, meaning cover is
virtually pointless. Stay on the walkway you were previously on, this
forces the Creepers to come at you one by one and avoids the annoyance of
being outnumbered. Switch to sniper rifle and shotgun accordingly and only
use biotics when the Creepers are getting too close. Eventually you'll be
forced to enter the area to eliminate the remaining colonists or Creepers
(because they won't run toward you from your distance). Use the first cargo
box you see for cover and focus your fire on the two remaining Creepers now
waking up on the left. Once the Creepers are gone, you then kill the
colonists if they aren't already dead either by weapons fire or simply by
running at them and using melee strikes. When all traces of threat are gone,
use the freighter control panel to continue. Without any Geth about to cure
him, Dan resolves the situation himself and your free to walk down the
stairs you just unveiled.

Killing all the colonists will increase Shepard's renegade points by a fair
amount (killing innocent people, you monster). Pushing your guilty conscious
aside, you finally have the last part of this mission to complete ... and
the hardest part of this mission too. It took a lot of trial and error when
I first played this part to discover all the weak points and best strategic
areas, fortunately for you - you have this handy little guide to follow.
Providing you follow it closely, you shouldn't really have any major
problems ...

===========================================================================
***/ BOSS: THORIAN (10TRN)		| Difficulty: Medium-Hard	| 
===========================================================================

NOTE: This is in theory the first actual "boss" fight in the game story.

Shepard and the team are naturally surprised to see the Thorian isn't quite
as plant-like as they thought but is instead a more squishy, slimy tentacle
thing. The Thorian will use a Cloned Asari to communicate with you,
appraising meat with a thousand feelers. Pleasantries aside, as soon as the
(unavoidable) fight begins - hit the Asari with Lift (she's immune to Throw;
so try to conserve Liara's Lift for the asari) to knock her flying off the
ledge and cause an instant kill. Engage the Creepers that are suddenly
swarming around you with shotgun fire, remain in this area and try to avoid
taking damage. The Creepers will begin to emerge from the doorway, ultilise
Throw and use shotguns to keep them at bay whilst still remaining in the
area. When all the Creepers are gone, look at the doorway where they came
to see a large slimy tentacle called a Thorian Neural Node (basically the
Thorian's brain). Shooting at the Thorian itself will do no damage, instead
- power up your shotgun with Carnage and aim at the yellow square on the
Node, preferably at close range - to deal a huge amount of damage, it'll
"die" in about two hits this way. 

(Note: Only use Lift on any Cloned Asari you see. Avoid using it on the
Creepers. The Asari is immune to Throw, Warp, Stasis and Singularity on
Insanity making her a real pain at times. Conserving Lift allows you a
tactical offensive against her. Its recommended that you save your game
after each Node you destroy to avoid having to replay this entire fight
from the start)

Go past the dead Node and up the stairs, there's a Creeper hibernating here
but it will not awaken if approached. The Thorian will resurrect the Cloned
Asari. Move towards the doorway at the top of the stairs and take cover on
the left side. It is important that the Cloned Asari is killed quickly, her
biotics are incredibly annoying - knocking you on the floor and allowing
the Creepers to mass around you. As soon as you see her, hit with Liara's
Lift and take her out of the fight with shotgun blasts. Stay where you are
by the doorway to combat the Creepers, if your taking too much damage then
retreat back down the stairs. When the corridor is cleared, more Creepers
will appear from another doorway. Use combinations of Throw, Lift and
weapons. The container at the back of the corridor only holds pointless
weapons (but can be used to get Omni-Gel if you used some during the Mako
section). Beyond the door is another Node, charge up the shotgun and attack.

From the slope ahead, more Creepers will be waiting along with another
Cloned Asari. Approach the area then retreat back down the slope to force
the enemy to attack you in single file, and make targeting the Asari far
easier. Enter the corridor once clear and walk to the edge of the walkway
in front of you (don't worry, Shepard isn't the sort to just fall of the
edge) so your facing the giant Thorian. Equip your sniper rifle and power
it up with Assassination, aim towards the left to find another Node and
shoot it until it dies. Doing it this way saves a lot of hassle as you'll
be outnumbered by Creepers if you took the Node head on, and instead the
Creepers will run towards you one by one - allowing your team to focus on
them while you attack the Node. By the time the Creepers reach you, the
Node will already be dead. Deal with the Creepers as per usual, remember
if you use Throw effectively, you can launch them off the ledge for instant
kills.

Past the third dead Node are more Creepers and yet another Cloned Asari.
They all huddle in a corridor, so try to get them all in a single Lift if
possible. Open the medical machine at the end of this corridor for Medi-Gel
when your safely out of harm then go towards the next doorway where more
hibernating Creepers sit. Approach to awaken then retreat and attack.
Attacking the Node in this area will wake up the others. The best method
is to first eliminate any Creepers that are awake, then power up the
shotgun to attack the Node before attacking the Creepers that wake up as
a result.

Be careful as you go up the next slope as more Creepers led by another
Cloned Asari will attack. Again, retreat back down the slope like before
to make the fight slightly easier. Use Lift on the Asari because she's
annoying and focus on killing her. When everything is clear once more,
you'll find another Node that the Asari was guarding. Use the Carnage
powered shotgun. The next part can get a little messy but isn't impossible.
Move down the slope from the Node you just killed and enter the door to
see a set of stairs and more hibernating Creepers. Command your team to
stay by the door, then run up the first stairway and quickly run back to
your team, commanding them to follow you into the sloped area where the
dead Node is. The staircase is quickly overwelmed by Creepers and yet
another damned Asari. Staying in the sloped area (preferably at the top
of the slope) will make this far easier and will avoid any swarms and force
the Asari to show herself for another biotic bashing from Liara's Lift.

When the stairway is clear, there is a final sneaky trick to take advantage
of. Return up the stairs from where you previously fled and look over the
balcony that will be on the left. You should be able to spot the final
Node on the other side and with some careful aiming from your powered up
sniper rifle, be able to destroy it before any Creepers even reach you.
There's also an Asari in the Node area, but she will take cover and will
never approach you from where you are. Ignore the Creepers that are waking
up, once the Node is dead - everything else dies along with it and the
fight finally finishes.

(Note that this Node is predictably harder to destroy than the rest and
will require a least 4-6 shots from a sniper rifle using Assassination)

===========================================================================

The Thorian dead, Shepard meets Shiala; the "clone" who you've actually
killed a thousand times now. Be as nice or as understandably irritated at
the Asari before she reveals important storyplot things and treats Shepard
to a visual migraine. Shepard now gets the option of allowing the
double-crossing clone spawner to help the colonists or to simply kill her.
Again. Permanently this time. Either way, your intentions and decisions
have no real bearing for the purposes of your Insanity run. After
receiving congratulations of removing the Thorian (or worried looks due to
your murderous nature), your free to leave Feros and complete this mission.
Had you followed this guide (recruiting Liara then doing this mission)
Shepard will recieve a call from the Citadel regarding Virmire and the
relevant mission becomes available. However you must complete Virmire AND
Noveria in order to proceed with the main story (I tried doing Virmire
before hoping it would skip Noveria, but sadly it doesn't as both are
important to the story). For now I'd suggest going to Noveria - it's
actually one of the hardest missions in Insanity ... but better to get it
out of the way right?

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ NOVERIA /***				| Search Code: 11NVR  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"They're everywhere man! Game Over Man! Game Over!"
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Hard
* Recommended Team: 	Tali and Liara
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
___________________________________________________________________________

The Icy planet of Noveria (am I the only one who's reminded of StarFox?) is
found in Pax of the Horse Head Nebula and the Normandy is greeted by an
equally cold reception from the planet's security force. Bring Tali for
Geth control and Decryption abilities, Liara will be very helpful on 
"pest control" and Electronics during this mission. Maeko Matsuo tends to
take her job seriously and it's up to you whether you respect this or not
by pointing a gun in her face.

NOTE: Tali is essential for this mission not because of Hacking abilities
but because of her Decryption skills. With her, a large part of the mission
can be easily skipped altogether - avoiding stress in the process. If
necessary, Kaiden and Garrus can be used as replacements for Decryption,
but you may struggle in the first half of the mission without AI Hacking.

Enter the (likely) central-heated fancy looking building and meet Gianna
Parasini who will happily explain the situation. If Liara is actually with
you, the mission will include some extra banter but nothing more. Proceed
to the elevator and the enter the main trading area (which has a grand total
of one shop). Your objective is to gain access to the garage, however the
way is locked down due to "the weather" (in the year 2183 you'd think they
would have some de-icer or something ...) Regardless, there are many ways
to gain access - but I'm going to explain the fastest, most hassle free
method. Start by talking to the only shop in Noveria, a Hanar called Opold.
He asks Shepard to smuggle some items into the shop by using the rights
granted to Spectre status, oblige the jelly and agree and Opold is pleased
and advises not to tell Anoleis ... Take the time to buy supplies if
required and then head back to the Normandy where Opold's Package of
Mystery is located.

Return to the trading area, but do not speak to Opold. Instead, locate the
heavily guarded office of Anoleis (should be on the left down the stairs as
you leave the elevator) You must speak to Gianna before your allowed to
even look at Anoleis, ask of his whereabouts and she'll let Shepard meet
him. Anoleis is a very busy Salarian who doesn't seem overly bothered by
your Spectre status (in other words he won't allow you access to the garage)
talk to him until you get the option to inform the Salarian that Opold is
smuggling. Anoleis is naturally interested, hand him Opold's Package of
Wonders and then discuss your reward and he'll offer you some credits as
well as a pass for the garage. Agree (optionally using paragon or renegade
to keep Opold's item; which turns out to be less mysterious and wonderful
than imagined) and leave the office as Anoleis has recieved about a dozen
different messages while you've dithered about.

Talking to the Hanar results in obvious hard feelings, but for now it's
irrelevant. Head to the garage by going straight from Anoleis's office and
in to the doorway directly opposite (theres a red image of the Mako to
confirm your in the right place). Pass the confusingly pronounced
Litihierax and head up the stairs to be greeted by a guard, show her your
golden ticket and enter the garage. If only the rest of the mission were
so easy ...

The garage (or Port Hanshan as the locals call it) is experiencing problems
from unwanted tourists, so lend Noveria's inept security a hand and shoot
the trespassers. As the fight begins, take cover by the nearest cargo crate.
The Geth Stalkers are a nuisance, but your focus should really be on the
two dangerous Geth Destroyers lurking in the background. If possible, hit
the Destroyers with some powered up sniper fire. They will close the gap
surprisingly fast, so ready Liara's Throw or Lift biotics. Use Stasis if
one gets too close for comfort, move to a new and safe cover spot and take
out the Stalkers while he's frozen. If you have Tali on your team, she can
use AI Hacking on the Destroyers to ease your struggle. Matsuo and her
cronies will conviently show up once the Geth are gone, ignore her and head
to the Mako where the Destroyers came from. The game does not auto-save here,
but I recommend you save regardless. The next part can be difficult
(and was the only part of my Insanity run where I died)

Drive the Mako through the blizzard covered mountains of Noveria, note the
Level 1 Hazard; if you exit the Mako here, you'll have a short time period
which is indicated by a blue meter. When the meter is full, your health
will drop until you die. That cheerful thought aside, drive along until you
see a gun turret guarding a tunnel (this part is the killer area, driving
straight through the tunnel is suicide so be extremely careful) - on
previous Mako sections, I advised driving full speed toward your goal and
on a casual difficulty this is possible. Insanity however, it isn't. Stop
the Mako at a safe distance and destroy the turret with your missiles (R1),
edge a little closer once its destroyed and hit a missile in the middle of
the rocket launcher equipped Geth. This will hopefully take out all three
of the frontline. Rockets on Insanity can kill you in under 4 hits, and the
entire tunnel is full of Rocket Geth ...

NOTE: It's possible to jump over the Geth shields with the Mako.

Here's how I managed to get past: drive the Mako onto the mountainside by
the right of the tunnel's entrance. Exit the Mako, equip a sniper rifle -
command your team to run into the middle of the road (this distracts the
Geth and their deadly missiles) take cover by the wall of the tunnel entrance
and snipe the Geth down (you'll have to look really closely to see the Geth
at the far end of the tunnel, they can be spotted by their shadowy
silhouettes) Keep on eye on the Hazard meter, before it gets full - return
to the Mako to reset it (and avoid dying of hyperthermia), this also revives
your team who are no doubt dead from the missile bombardment (and saves
having to waste Medi-Gel and Unity). Repeat the process until you are
certain ALL Geth are removed from the tunnel. Now you can drive like a
speed freak as you did before on Therum, ignore all enemies and just go
full speed towards the destination (as long as you keep moving, the Geth
and turrets ahead will miss you. There is also a second tunnel, but it
isn't nearly as bad as the first and it's safe enough to run through)

Enter the Peak 15 facility and safe your game before going too far. The
next area can be dangerous (think Port Hanshan but worse) - as soon as you
enter the main cargo garage, the door behind you locks (effectively cutting
off a safe retreat) Take cover by the nearby wall and prepare yourself for
a powerful Geth Juggernaut to make your life difficult. AI Hacking is
useless on Insanity, only Lift and Stasis work on this beast (and Stasis
only lasts a few seconds), if it manages to reach the area your stood in
(which it will) get away from cover and strafe around the Juggernaut whilst
shooting (this avoids his missiles) Avoid running into the main cargo area
unless you want three Krogan to join in too. When the Juggernaut is finally
down, Resume cover on the wall you were on and use the sniper on the Krogan
at the far right of the cargo area. He'll end up charging toward you,
forcing you to use Liara's biotics to subdue him and keep his damaging
melee strike at a distance. The Krogan will likely be joined by his friend.
Use biotics effectively, if two Krogan are in close proximity to you
then it's probably better to take cover in the cargo area (just beware of
the Krogan sniper on the left balcony) Leave the Krogan sniper for last as
he won't actually move from his position, allowing you to take him down
easily. This fight is purely a matter of survival, remember if your health
is low - use Immunity, Shield Boost, Medi-Gel and then Adrenaline Rush to
recharge everything to allow you repeat this technique and have another
chance of revival.

Survived so far? Good. Make your way further into the facility by going
past the remains of the Krogan sniper. You'll pass a corridor with turrets
which your team members will comment on, they won't attack you so ignore
them. Head left and into the elevator. On exiting, take cover beside the
next door you see and engage the Geth located in the next room. When it's
safe to do so, enter the room and stay on the left to effectively use cover
and remove the Rocket Geth if you haven't already done so. The last
remaining Geth will be on a balcony, switch to your assault rifle before
you finish. Now you'll meet a lovely new enemy to play with, I'm trying to
avoid too many spoilers so for now we will call him Bob. Once your back in
control, use the assault rifle to tear through Bob's radioactive green babies
(these things are a nightmare if they hit as they explode on impact and
poison, in a swarm it can be very hazardous - plus they generally move too
fast for biotics to react, hence the assault rifle is perfect for crowd
control) Now you can concentrate on Bob and his mate George. Using cover
is pointless so just keep moving and try to stay a good distance away to
avoid being showered by a spray of poison. Poison on Insanity will 
drain your health fairly quickly and ignores shields, the only cures are
Immunity, Medi-Gels or just waiting for the poison to wear off (by which
point your health is usually very low). Bob and George are both susceptible
to biotics (which is why it was so important to bring a powerful biotic
like Liara here), use Lift and take out the fiends with shotgun fire
(Note that they are immune to Singularity) Go up the balcony, head left
and take the elevator. Ignore the side-rooms unless you want to meet
Bob's friend Jim.

Make sure you have the assault rifle ready as more radioactive exploding
babies will charge at you. Activate the power junction of the left of the
room in order to update your mission objective then head straight forwards
(the rooms are all locked anyway) into a circular shaped room. Make your
way around the central column to find an elevator that will take you the
central core of the computer system that controls Peak 15. In order to
reactivate the system, you need to complete a puzzle (or just use 100
Omni-Gel, its the easiest solution), but in case you haven't enough
Omni-Gel due to the Mako section (or if your too lazy to work out the
puzzle) here's the solution:

	------------------------------------------
	| * PlayStation3 *  | * X-Box *	| * PC * |
	|-----------------------------------------
	|square   - triangle|	X - Y	| 1 - 2	 |
	|square   - circle  |	X - B	| 1 - 3  |
	|triangle - circle  |	Y - B	| 2 - 3  |
	|square	  - triangle|	X - Y	| 1 - 2	 |
	|circle   - square  |	B - X	| 3 - 1	 |
	|circle   - triangle|	B - Y	| 3 - 2	 |
	|square   - triangle|	X - Y	| 1 - 2	 |
	|square   - circle  |	X - B	| 1 - 3	 |
	|triangle - circle  |	Y - B	| 2 - 3	 |
	|triangle - square  |	Y - X	| 2 - 1	 |
	|circle   - square  |	B - X	| 3 - 1	 |
	|triangle - circle  |	Y - B	| 2 - 3	 |
	|square   - triangle|	X - Y	| 1 - 2	 |
	|square   - circle  |	X - B	| 1 - 3	 |
	|triangle - circle  |	Y - B	| 2 - 3  |
	------------------------------------------

Shepard instantly regrets activating Mira; the newest version of
Microsoft's helpful pop-up (still, prettier than a boring paperclip) Mira
informs Shepard of the many problems affecting Peak 15 (besides the
outbreak of your recent new enemy) and your tasked to set everything right
in order to proceed and get the hell of this planet. We'll begin by going
through the door directly behind you (the one located in front of Mira)
and accessing the elevator to the roof.

Save the game and walk down the corridor until you reach a door that
reveals the blizzard is still raging. There are many options to go with
from here; you could go in a fight (and likely die), or hold your ground
in the corridor and attack from safety (although it's hard to avoid the
poison) or you can do a quick suicide dash. Odd as it may sound, this is
actually the easiest option. Activate Immunity and from the safety of the
door, run towards the top right (ignore the enemies) and activate the
landline to restore some of the machinary of Peak 15, then dash back to
the safety of the door and escape through the elevator. You'll be badly
poisoned (if Immunity ran out), but for the sake of a single Medi-Gel
you've avoided a fight that would've likely used up your entire reserve
of Medi-Gels. Fighting the enemy here really isn't important as long as
you activate the landline.

Go past Mira to discover the previously locked doors are now open (the one
on your left anyway), you'll be ambush by another enemy (let's call him
Gary?) who will burst out of the floor ventilation. Simply use Lift and hit
with a powered up shotgun, then proceed through the unlocked door to
another elevator. Enter the first room of this area. Theres a handy trick
to take advantage of here and it makes combat a lot easier. Avoid the left
door at all costs, do not approach or try to open it and it will remain
locked (as technologically advanced as the Geth are, they seem incapable of
opening a simple door) The right side door has fewer Geth to contend with,
with the only real threat from a Destroyer. From the doorway, you can
strafe in to the corner. Use Lift on the Destroyer (if your lucky he'll
even float off the edge of the walkway, or you can try using Throw to
direct him over) or use AI Hacking on him then take out the Stalkers which
close in on you. When the walkway is clear, run to end and around the next
corner (to avoid a Geth Juggernaut who lurking above on a balcony) turn
left and activate the fuel lines to fully restore power to the facility.
Now retrace your steps, dash through the walkway to avoid the Juggernaut
once more (optionally laugh at the Geth still struggling to open the door
you avoided) and return to the elevator.

The next door is now unlocked and another critter jumps out of the vents.
If your fast enough, its easier to simply run past and open the door to the
next elevator. After Mira's commentary of the situation, enter the first
room on your right. If you've raised Liara's Electronics skill enough, you
can bypass the machine here and roast the enemy in the opposite room.
Making it easier to go pass. Note that the roasting room needs Decryption
skill to unlock, otherwise use the Mira Terminal and demand the door to be
unlocked - this causes another vent dweller to appear (as does using the
Electronics) so try to leave early to avoid an ambush. If done swiftly
he'll be oblivious to your presence outside the room. Before you leave
the roasting room, aim some biotics or grenades at the door (you may notice
a lot of red markers huddled against the door on your radar) this will kill
a group of babies and will prevent damage on you and your team. Now you can
enjoy and very short-lived tram ride.

Exit and go through the only available unlocked door found on the left then
enter the elevator on the right from here. Shepard will meet Captain
Ventralis who suggests you go into the hot labs (AVOID doing this. On
Insanity, the hot labs is certain suicide - plus it's actually unnecessary.
The Noveria mission can be completed without even stepping a foot within
the labs) Captain Ventralis will do a very awkward looking robot dance
before more of your new friends decide to spit poison everywhere. It's
actually possible to ignore them and head straight through the door that
was behind Ventralis. He doesn't need the help (if you've seen the actual
story before, you'll probably agree) Head through the corridors to see more
survivors, ignore them as its not important. Although Petozi the Elcor will
sell a few items to you if needed.

There are many ways of continuing the mission from here, but I'll detail
the fastest method which I used during my Insanity run (this will skip a
majority of the story on Noveria however, but if this is your third
playthrough - it shouldn't be much of a loss as you've likely seen it all)
Pass the ERCS Guard at the back of the room (some Medi-Gel can be found on
the table on the opposite side) and go into the restricted area located on
the left. There are two Assault Drones here, but they will not attack
you ... yet. Approach the door and bypass with Tali's Decryption, this will
set the Drones hostile - so immediately enter the unlocked room to avoid
them (they will not follow you, but make sure you command your team to enter 
to avoid being maimed) In here are a lot of ERCS Guards here, obviously a
little upset that you broke in to their precious restricted area. Nothing
really difficult here, just take cover and use biotics and abilities. The
guards are child's play compared to what you've had to face so far.
Eventually you should reach an elevator. From here head left reach the last
and final conclusion of this mission.

===========================================================================
***/ BOSS: BENEZIA (11BNZ)		| Difficulty: Medium-Hard	| 
===========================================================================

When Benezia questions if Shepard has faced Asari Commandos, it's partially
true. The Commandos are just like the Cloned Asari from the Thorian fight
on Feros. This is bad for you because unlike Feros, there are more than
one Asari to deal with. Ignore Benezia for now (she's invincible) and fight
back the Asari using Liara's biotic Lift (the Asari are immune to everything
else on Insanity) and Tali's Damping to prevent them from using their
biotics. The Asari aren't too fond of shotguns to the face either I noticed.
The safest place to take cover is the top right corner of this room, go
around the right of the room to avoid Benezia hitting Shepard with Stasis.
Once the Asari are killed, Benezia loses a third of her power and summons
more Asari aided by some Geth (which enter by the bottom right door)

Stay in the (barely) safe corner and use AI Hacking on the Geth and
continue the same stategy as before on the Asari. Benezia will drop to a
third of her power to summon more Geth and Asari (who arrive through the
top left and bottom right doors) Repeat the same procedures and stay alive
by using the Immunity, Shield Boost, Medi-Gel and Adrendaline Rush technique.
Thankfully the game will auto-save after the third wave is defeated. 

Benezia decides to have a little chat and then summons more Asari Commandos
to aid her, this time however - Benezia is no longer invincible (but is
immune to all biotics except Stasis) Focus killing the Commandos first to
avoid being overwelmed (ideally moving to safer ground to avoid being pinned
in Benezia's room) You can take cover, but bear in mind Benezia will
constantly be chasing you now - so it's best to keep moving. Use Lift on
the Commandos and Stasis on Benezia to temporarily remove her from the fight,
use Tali's Damping on the Commandos and attack with Carnage powered shotguns.
Once Benezia is the only one standing, keep a good distance to avoid her
Stasis biotics and hit her with sniper rifle fire or shotgun fire (depending
on proximity) If left alone too long, Benezia will activate a Barrier meaning
you'll have to break through her shielding once more and prolong the fight
even further. Providing you keep moving and using Shield Boost when needed,
Benezia is a lot easier to fight when she's alone.

===========================================================================

You will not be able to leave this area until you've "spoken" with her royal
highness, the Queen of Bobs. Respond however you wish. If you've been taking
a paragon route during this playthrough, then spare her. If you've been
taking a renegade route, then liquidise her. The Queen may also ask for you
to go to the hot labs, but again its purely optional (not to mention
pointless right now) Leave through the top right exit and walk directly
forward to take the tram and leave Noveria (there will be a message of
caution if you still haven't been to the hot labs, again ignore this - or
do you really like Noveria that much?) Shepard holds another debriefing on
the Normandy and Joker offers a chat with the Council, decline this to save
time.

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ VIRMIRE /***			| Search Code: 12VRM  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Our Krogan are organic, contain no E numbers 
	    and are made like mother used to ..."
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Medium
* Recommended Team: 	Tali and Liara (Wrex optional)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you realise that after Virmire there are only two more main story
missions until you've completed the game on Insanity? That bombshell aside,
by now you have had a little chat with the Citadel council regarding Virmire
(this happens after you complete any two of the Feros, Noveria or Therum
missions) and is better taken once all three previous missions have been
completed due to the strong impact this mission has on your team (it is
possible to lose two members of your squad in Virmire who may be useful
during the next missions)

For a pleasant change, Shepard lands on a very picture-esque tropical beach
of Virmire (found in Hoc of the Sentry Omega galaxy). Sadly there's no time
to enjoy the scenery as the Geth tend to ruin the view. For this part of the
mission, bring Tali and Wrex with you, Tali to Hack the Geth and Wrex to
shoot them (the team can be switched later on). Drive the Mako past 
everything like you did in Therum (Virmire is not nearly as dangerous as
Noveria) You may notice the weird crab-like creatures roaming around, these
are completely harmless (but are fun to run over or use as target practice).
Drive at full speed ignoring the enemy and watch how the tropical paradise
slowly shifts to a moody storm, use a missile on the Geth's hexagon shaped
shields to allow the Mako to pass unhindered whilst continuing to move (or
manoeuvre or jump over them) the path is very linear so you can't get lost.
Eventually you'll reach a white blockade guarded by Geth which you can drive
right through. Be careful of the Geth Colossus waiting around the corner,
ram it with the Mako to avoid it seriously damaging you and then turn left
past the Armatures. Follow the path (ramming another Colossus) until you
reach a second blockade.

Try to run over a couple of Geth on arrival and park the Mako on the far
left (to avoid the Colossus destoying it from a distance) Remove the nearby
Geth with weapon fire and save Tali's AI Hacking for the Geth Destroyer
found up the stairway. Remain on the stairway for reletive safety as your
newly recruited Destroyer .. destroys things. Then remove the weakened
Destroyer with gunfire. There will be another Destoyer waiting on the left
corridor, shoot at it and use Wrex's Throw when it charges towards you then
shoot at it as it remains helpless on the floor (or use AI Hacking if it has
recharged, the Destroyer will turn around and attack the nearby Geth Sniper)
otherwise take cover by the doorway and take out the sniper with your own
sniper rifle. Head down the cave-like corridor that the sniper was guarding
to find a fancy looking machine complete with flashy lights. Activate the
two terminals on the left to shut down the machine and open the gates,
allowing the Mako to pass through this blockade.

Follow the short path to see the Normandy fly past and reach a third
blockade. Run over the Rocket Geth to save some hassle and park the Mako in
front of the left door. Remove the sniper who remains near the staircase and
then head upwards. The set-up here is the same as before. Hack the Destroyer,
watch the ensuing chaos from the stairway and then remove the Destroyer and
his friend who waits in the corridor like the previous blockade. Enter
another cave-like corridor to find more fancy machines, activate the left
terminal to open the blockade doors. On higher difficulties or levels you
may be ambushed as you leave this corridor, so be careful. Return to the
Mako and simply drive to the next location.

At the Salarian camp, Ashley and Kaiden are trying to reason with Captain
Kirrahe. Kirrahe has the Normandy grounded because he deems the situation
too dangerous then explains the what the facility on Virmire actually is,
which picks up Wrex's attention. After the banter you are free to talk to
your crew on the situation (they can all be found loitering around the area)
The tent on the left pass Garrus currently occupies Tali and Commander
Rentola who will sell various useless trinkets. The only way to proceed
further is by talking to Wrex, who can be found fishing with his shotgun on
the right side of the beach.

Wrex is obviously a little uneasy over the current situation and will
require a lot of diplomatic reasoning. Hopefully you've aquired enough
paragon or renegade points during your little adventure as the only way
Wrex will come out of this alive is through those coloured dialogue choices.
Otherwise Shepard is forced to kill Wrex and you not only lose a vital team
member for your Insanity run, but also without doubt one the best characters
of the Mass Effect series. When you've resolved the situation (preferably
with Wrex still standing) talk to Captain Kirrahe who explains his battle
plan and then makes a bold request to borrow either Kaiden or Ashley. Tell
Kaiden to join the Captain and make Ashley set the bomb. The choice isn't
actually so important here as you can still rejoin either one later, but
its far easier to help Kaiden later on as his fight is not as tough as
protecting the bomb. Plus Ashley has no use in Insanity anyway. Kaiden must
be kept alive if you want to kill the final boss without even taking a
single bit of damage. 

After Kirrahe has held the line, Shepard sets off on the new plan. Your
given the option of who to take with you, I still recommend Tali and Liara.
Although Wrex can be used to replace Liara if you want better offence.
If for some insanely retarded reason you killed Wrex, then Garrus makes a
decent replacement. Equip him with decent armour (medium Turian) and the
best available sniper rifle you can spare. Modify the sniper to use Scram
Rail X, High Explosive Ammo X and Advanced Sensors X to ensure Garrus uses
his sniping talent to his best performance. For his skills increase Sniper
Rifles to improve this further, increase Tactical Armour to allow him to
equip medium Turian armours. Then disperse points between Damping,
Decryption and Electronics to unlock Sabotage, Overload and Damping
abilities to cripple the enemy. Maximise his Turian Agent skill to increase
weapon damage and add a few remaining points on First Aid. Ignore levelling
up Assault Rifles too far, Garrus is far superior with the sniper rifle. If 
he happens to be swarmed by enemies, the assault rifle will not save him as
he will die quicker than what Wrex would. 

(NOTE: the rest of the mission will refer to a team of Tali and Liara)

There are a lot of branching pathways here, so I'll try to detail the most
effective and least troublesome. From your position, take cover by the low
rock and equip the sniper rifle to shoot an easy target by the ramp of the
building ahead. You can continue to snipe from this point, but it's easier
to target if you begin to move closer and use cover accordingly. Your
interruption will coax a Geth Destroyer to walk down the ramp, either use
biotics or AI Hacking to send him in a frenzy to kill the others. Then
finish him off. There is an optional objective during this part of the
mission which involves helping Captain Kirrahe, but its actually not too
important and can be ignored (the only result being Kirrahe's death) and
doesn't really affect your chances of survival. So you can optionally
disrupt the Triangulation Tower here or continue on along the pathway
found under the building. 

Stick to the right and snipe a lone Geth in the distance, then head towards
the entrance he was guarding. Beware of the Rocket Drones just around this 
corner, past them is another building (optionally shoot the satelite on top
of the building with a sniper rifle to help Kirrahe) there are more Geth
here to snipe along with a Krogan. Advance towards the building to get a
better shot with your gun, again taking cover when needed. The building has
a Medi-Gel dispenser if you happen to be running low. The Krogan can be
swept aside using Lift and Throw, if aimed correctly he'll fly off the edge
off the walkway and be unable to reach you. Walk along this walkway until
you see a gap in the mountainside of your right and take cover on the
walkway's balcony structure. A Destroyer along with another Geth are on the
walkway opposite, seen through this gap. Ultilise AI Hacking on the
Destroyer and hit the Geth with biotics and gunfire.

When safe, move through the gap and make your way up on to the walkway that
the Destroyer was on. The path splits in many different directions here (For
those really wanting to help Kirrahe hold the line, going right will help
him - but you'll have to destroy some very tough Geth equipped with jetpacks.
And personally I didn't fancy doing that on Insanity, so I avoided it. But
it's your call) The best route to take is to go forward where you'll see a
lot of Geth shields set up. There are Geth snipers and Krogan situated
around the balcony of the main building in front of you. You can either take
cover (but the cover here is very poor) and fight your way through or you
can try my strategy. Which was basically activate Immunity and dash through,
hit the Geth Sniper on your right with Liara's Throw and then hit the Krogan
near him with Liara's Lift. Immediately use the door on your left to avoid
the entire fight from here as the enemy doesn't follow you.

Proceed and you'll find three doors with security terminals. One of the
team (likely Tali or Garrus if he went with you) will operate the terminal.
Shepard is told that the terminal can set off the alarm further away,
distracting the Geth and reducing the amount you have to fight. The only
problem is this will cause the Geth to attack Kirrahe (who will likely die
if he hasn't already). Tell your team member they can handle it. It may be
harsh, but fewer enemies on Insanity is still a nicer option for you and it
removes a Geth Destroyer. Take position by the last third door along the end
of this walkway. You'll be greeted by some of Kirrahe's former comrades who
immediately turn hostile. They pose no real threat and are actually fairly
weak. Use the explosive canisters littered around the area to aid you.
Then move up the stairs to find a Geth Juggernaut, if your quick to react
- you can hit him with Throw and then use powered up weapons to kill him,
the most effective being the shotgun.

Go through the only available exit and make your way through a linear series
of corridors, a Salarian Commando will call to you. Look over the walkway
ledge on the left and you'll see him imprisoned below. Ignore him. Honestly
it wastes time, it's virtually pointless for this playthrough and unless you
really want some extra paragon points - there is no penalty for leaving him.
More Indoctrinated Salarians wait in the next room, from here take the
elevator (the other rooms will start needless combat with more deranged
Salarians) Leaving the elevator you'll meet the hilarious Doctor Droyas, a
Krogan scientist. There is no reasoning with him or his Asari assistant, but
fortunately they are easier to combat compared to the other Krogan and Asari.
Use Throw on Droyas who will likely charge toward you, Tali's Damping will
prevent the Asari using biotics. Use the back of the room (near the elevator
where you started) for the safest position as everything (including the
Husks who become alive at your intrusion) will run at you in single
formation, avoiding a potentially lethal outnumbered swarm. A Medical
Station at the far end of the room holds some Medi-Gel if required,
afterwards head into the central elevator of this room.

Outside, you can easily snipe two geth from the walkway your on. Use a Lift
and Throw combination to send them off the edge for instant kills, then
enter the office of Rana Thanoptis. Interrogate her and she'll open the door
regardless of how compassionate or dastardly your attitude is. Go through
this door and take the elevator. Shepard will discover another beacon like
the one at Eden Prime, recieve another visual migraine and then have a chat
with a jolly red crab ghost (who turns out to be something far more sinister)
Joker will then warn you about a particular problem, but there is no time
limit here - so don't worry about it too much. Return to the elevator, there
will be a Geth Destroyer on the walkway leading to Rana's office, use the
Lift and Throw method to send him into the sea for an instant kill or attack
with powered weapons as he falls. Pass Rana's office, the bridge has now
lowered outside giving you a direct pass. There are three Krogan lined up
along here, but you can use the terrain to your advantage by using the Lift
and Throw technique to hurl them over the left side of the walkway
(effectively killing them in one go and saving a lot of hassle) On higher
difficulties or levels, a Geth Destoyer may also appear.
The same technique will work on him too, or more effectively use AI Hacking
on it to lure the Krogan out for a Lift and Throw combination.

Make your way through the curvy blue corridor. Outside it seems quiet, for
now anyway. Theres a few crates on the lower platform if you want, for now
equip your sniper rifle and make your way slowly up the curving slope.
Using the sniper you can spot a Geth Stalker on the far tower in the
distance and a Krogan on the lower right of the platform in front of you.
Take the opportunity for a first strike then either move in and take over,
or back down the slope to strafe with the sniper. Liara's Singularity is
very effective on the bouncy Stalkers and the Lift and Throw technique will
hurl the Krogan into the sea (they really should learn how to swim). When
clear, approach the corner carefully as three Rocket Drones are waiting.
Tali's AI Hacking can cause confusion amongst them while the sniper makes
an effective weapon choice, just avoid the missiles. Stand by the corner
to use cover, the missiles can also be side-stepped to avoid if your good
enough.

The next area can be awkward, but here's a good way to avoid a lot of
conflict. Once Shepard deactivates the turret controls, a group of Geth
Stalkers and Rocket Drones show up for an ambush - on deactivating the
controls, head directly to the left on the elevator located behind you.
Some more Geth will arrive in the elevator, use Liara's Singularity to take
them out of action and use the elevator as soon as you get the chance
(leaving all the remaining Geth) A Medi-Gel dispenser greets you on leaving
the elevator. The next room is a flooded area with more Geth Stalkers, use
AI Hacking to cause some chaos and hit the Stalkers with Singularity to
drag them to an open space for easier targeting. Use the metallic structures
on the sides of the room for cover. The next area is a "safe spot" for now.
All you can do for the moment is wait for the Normandy to arrive and blow
up the fuel tanks in this area to give Joker a firework show.

Provided you followed my instruction (and it is fairly important) Ashley
will set up the bomb in this area. Kaiden will then update you on whether
Kirrahe survived or not (which if you also followed my instruction is very
unlikely) Your given another chance to reform your squad, take Tali and
Liara again. In my opinion, this is the only difficult part of the Virmire
mission: approach but do not enter the room on the right, it will be another
flooded area with more Stalkers and some Krogan Warlords. Open the large
door and take cover by the left wall of the doorway, do not enter the room
itself (you will need to command your squad to join you by the wall because
they are stupid and generally stand in the open and die a lot here). Use
the sniper to attack the Warlords individually, this will cause him to come
out to attack (doing one at a time is a lot safer than being overpowered)
hit him with biotics such as Lift and Throw, Tali's Damping will help
prevent his healing ability - basically keep him floating or falling over,
he deals serious damage otherwise. Repeat the same tactic on another Krogan
hidden in the room and continue this until all the threats are gone.
The rest of the mission is fairly easy.

Use the elevator (these games sure love them) explore this area for more
crates and a call from Kaiden. Now you have a choice to make between saving
Kaiden or Ashley, the one you leave behind will die permanently. You cannot
save both. Because Ashley has no use in Insanity, leave her behind (Kaiden
will make the final boss really easy to beat) and (again if following my
important instructions) the bomb area where Ashley can be rescued is a
deathtrap on Insanity, there will be hundreds of Geth and barely any decent
cover. Generally you'll be killed by a mass of robotic rioters, including
the likes of Juggernauts and Destroyers (not to mention the Boss of this
mission). So saving Kaiden is not only beneficial to your playthrough, but
also easier. Make your way through the next set of elevators to reach him.

Kaiden is surrounded by Geth and a Destroyer. Use AI Hacking on the
Destroyer and biotics on everything else. (Note: AVOID blowing up the fuel
tanks, they will be far more useful once the Geth are defeated) The elevator
you arrived in makes a good cover and retreat position. Do not worry about
Kaiden as he's invincible during this relatively easy fight (if Kirrahe
somehow survived, he'll also be with Kaiden) Once the last Geth falls and
utters its last bionic cursing, an old adversary finally decides to make
his presence known to Shepard ...

===========================================================================
***/ BOSS: SAREN (12SRN)		| Difficulty: Medium-Hard	|
===========================================================================

After a very touching reunion between the two Spectres, Saren launches an
attack on Shepard. No matter what you say to him, this particular fight is
unavoidable. Take cover by the building structure on the left (annoyingly
Shepard jumps out of cover as soon the fight begins), Saren has very strong
missile-like biotics that can kill you easily if you stand in the open -
he also cheats by using a Back to The Future hoverboard (making biotics hard
to hit him; not that it matters as he's immune to all except Stasis - which
lasts exactly 0.5 seconds on him) This fight is purely about survival, there
is no actual winning involved here - you just have to hold out until Saren
becomes bored of you or if you've lowered his health enough, this is where
the fuel tanks helps. Try to set them off as Saren flies over to cause a
good amount of damage to him, a couple of well timed explosions will soon
see him off. When Saren turns his attention to Kaiden, thats when you know
the fight's time limit is near the end.

===========================================================================

Saren pretty much hands everyone a good beating before buggering off, at
which point we're given a glimpse of Ashley holding the line in honour of
Kirrahe. The Normandy leaves and Ashley goes boom. On the Normandy it's up
to you if you tell Kaiden it wasn't his fault or to just shut up. Liara
takes the inappropriate time to give Shepard another visual migraine and is
able to work out where Saren may be headed. As usual, Joker offers a chat
with the Citadel but it isn't worth the time, you'll likely be talking
them soon anyway ...

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ THE CITADEL /***			| Search Code: 13CIT  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Your grounded. Now go to your room and think 
		 about what you did wrong."
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
After completing all the story based missions (Therum, Feros, Noveria and
Virmire) the next time you use the Galaxy Map you'll recieve a message from
Udina asking for another meeting with the Citadel Council before
automatically appearing in the meeting itself. Udina (like most politians)
typically takes the side of the greater power and backstabs Shepard (as
Kaiden or zombie Ashley will no doubt point out) and grounds the Normandy
preventing Shepard from chasing down Saren. Aboard the Normandy, Shepard
will be mulling over events either alone or with a potential romance (if
you actually bothered to romance anyone that is) before Joker interrupts
and tells Shepard to meet Anderson at the Flux in the Citadel.

Enter the Citadel with whatever misfits you like; take Garrus or Kaiden
if you think they've been left out of your Insanity playthrough too much.
Or you could even take Ashley ... but I guess that's too late now.
Regardless, take the elevator to C-Sec and unless you want to punch a
reporter for novelty value, ignore Khalisah Al-Jilani and use the Citadel
Rapid Transit to go directly to Flux in the Wards section. Anderson can be
found sitting at a table on the ground floor at the back. He offers to get
the Normandy out of lock-down but has to go through dubious means in order
to do this; one option involves Anderson shooting a lot of C-Sec officers
and getting shot in the process, the other option involves Anderson breaking
Udina's nose. Either way the result is the same, tell Anderson your ready
and head back to the Normandy via Rapid Transit to C-Sec and then take the
elevator to the docking bay. Bear in mind you'll never be able to return to
the Citadel once you leave, so if you've got any Medi-Gel upgrades to buy
from the shops now is a good time to do so.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
***/ ILOS /***				| Search Code: 14ILS  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"How can you lose a Mass Relay? It's not exactly inconspicious"
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Medium
* Recommended Team: 	Liara and Kaiden
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The final mission of the game is approaching, which would be a sigh of
relief for those on Insanity runs. Start the beginning of the end by
travelling to the Pangaea Expanse galaxy and enter the Refuge cluster to
find Ilos, your final destination. Note that once you land, there's no
turning back. Any unresolved business or whatever should be done now, once
the mission is complete - thats it. Game finished.

Bring Liara and Kaiden (trust me on this; their combined biotics will kill
the final boss without even letting him to attack you). On landing, the
team is blocked from following Saren by a large and ancient stone door
(wouldn't the Mako's missile destroy it?). With no other option, turn
around and head past the Mako, you'll be immediatedly greeted by a lone
Geth. Once he's gone, take cover by the large stone slabs that surround
the narrow corridor. There are a few Geth ahead along with two Armatures.
Yes, two. Just like Therum except slightly worse. To begin, from your cover
spot - shoot the Geth shields to attract their attention (as they're stupid
and end up walking out of their cover) allowing you to use biotics and such
to deal with them.

When the normal Geth are removed, cautiously proceed further to tackle the
Armatures. Use the cover provided stay out of range from the deadly
electrical cannons, if needed - retreat back to the Mako (as the Armatures
will not follow you here). Your squad members will die a lot here, so try
to ensure they stay in good cover. Your probably wondering why you didn't
bring Tali and her Hacking skills, regardless - Hacking doesn't work on
the Armatures. But Liara's Stasis does, so use this effectively. It is
possible to bypass the Armatures by running past them (you'll likely die or
just about survive however) but the layout of the area demands you have to
return here later, meaning you have to destroy the Armatures eventually
just to make things easier. Another option that involves running pass the
Armatures is just as risky; on a platform below you (found by going left
pass the Armatures) has a Geth terminal that controls the Armatures,
operating this will force them to shut down and become completely harmless.
The only problem is you have to run pass them to do this and the computer
is closely guarded by Geth Stalkers. On Insanity, it's near impossible to
do this - therefore you must destroy the Armatures (making the computer
useless). Use Stasis on one Armature and concentrate attack on the other
(being hit by an electrical shot by both at the same time is instant death)
This fight will require a some patience and effective sniping and team
management. In most cases you'll frequently be retreating back to the
narrow corridor, but fortunately its the only really hard part of Ilos.
Once one Armature is down, the second is relatively easy. Use similar
tactics described in the Therum mission if your struggling.

When the Armatures are finally removed, the rest of the mission is really
easy. Move forwards past where the Armatures were originally until you find
a storage crate located at the corner of some ruins. Turn right from the
crate (ignore the hostile targets indicated by your radar on the left,
you'll never need to go that way) pass some very creepy looking Prothean
statues and turn right. Continue on until you reach a lone statue and enter
then slightly hidden pathway on the right, crouch and take cover by the low
wall ahead and strike the group of Geth in a surprise ambush (this is a lot
safer than approaching from the usual set route) target the Destroyer with
Lift and Throws and then finish off any of the remnants. To the left of the
area is a ledge with two Geth armed with missile launchers, easily
dispatached with some well place biotics such as Singularity which will
draw them out of cover and create easy targets.

Make your way further by walking under this ledge, along the right you
should see a slope. Be careful as Geth Stalkers have set up an ambush here.
There are two ways to tackle this, either move slowly up the ledge for the
Geth to appear and then retreat back down the slope to relative safety (as
the Geth will not leave this area) then use biotics and weaponry to hit them
(they jump at the walls in a set pattern if observed carefully, time it well
to catch them just as they jump to a particular wall). The alternative
method involves avoiding the fight altogether, simply sprint straight through
the area and enter the elevator found at the back.

The next part, although not difficult, can be tricky. There are various
tactics to use here, but the best one that worked for me was this; on
exiting the elevator head down the very claustrophobic corridor. Geth will
ambush you along with a Geth Destroyer and a very powerful Geth Prime. On
the right of the room is a Armature terminal which will activate some
Armatures to fight for you, effectively killing everything in the room.
The problem here is that you will need a high Decryption skill to use the
terminal. If your Decryption isn't high enough to do this particular method,
then instead retreat back to the elevator for cover and use your sniper
rifle on the Geth. This will avoid you becoming surrounded and offers a safe
cover spot, plus it forces the Geth to approach you one by one - making them
easier to manage with. Note that the Geth Prime can be hit by Throw and
Stasis.

After the firefight you need to activate a security panel found in the
alcove above the exit of this room. The panel has a chat with Shepard,
however Liara is unable to understand the Prothean language (despite being
a Prothean expert). Anyway, now you can leave by the exit found below you.
The elevator will return you to the area where you fought two Armatures (so
if somehow you avoided them and their still here, then you'll likely die now
due to inadequate cover). Return to the Mako and enter the cave of mystery,
heeding Kaiden's advice to take the Mako in the creepy, underground bunker.
It's a simple case of just drive and not stopping. Ignore the Geth and try
to avoid the missiles. Eventually you'll be "trapped" by Prothean security
with no other choice but to leave the Mako and enter the nearby elevator by
your right.

The next part involves talking to a glowy lightshow called Vigil. If you've
already played the game and know whats been said, then its easier to just
repeatedly tap square (or whatever it is on X-Box and PC) and skip a lot
of the long drawn conversation as it will save time for those who just want
to finish the Insanity run. If you haven't spoke to Vigil before, probably
best to listen as he explains a lot about Ilos and such. If you are skipping,
it doesn't matter what dialogue choices you make here, just repeatedly press
the button then return to the Mako.

The Mako is the same as usual, just drive and ignore most threats. There
will be a sharp turn ahead where some Rocket Geth have set up, launch a well
aimed missile to catch them and then twist the Mako through the left turn.
Follow the waterway, ramming anything robotic along the way (especially the
Colossus) and continue to drive as fast as the Mako is able, when you can
vaguely see a glowing blue aura in the distance (after a long straight
stretch just past some Rocket Geth) save your game (there's no auto-save)
to avoid completely restarting. Try to avoid the missiles, use the ruins
and debris as cover. Eventually the Mako will stop as you approach the aura
and you'll witness events currently happening at the Citadel. Once back in
control, you have about 40 seconds to reach your destination. Drive as fast
as possible, ignore everything and keep going in a straight line. You should
make it just barely.

___________________________________________________________________________
***/ CITADEL /***			| Search Code: 15CIT  |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"... The Council has decided to listen to your complaint.
		        Provided you rescue us."
___________________________________________________________________________
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Difficulty Rating:	Medium
* Recommended Team: 	Liara and Kaiden (The Ilos team remains permanent)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe the Citadel should set up a traffic light crossing system? Then the
Geth would be better aware. Anyway, after you've crawled out of your
wreckage and made sure your still intact you might notice something
different with the Citadel, new paint maybe? Approach Avina, our old
holographic Asari friend (remove the Husks, shouldn't pose any problem as
there are only three) There should be a Medi-Gel by the Mako if you need it
and talking to Avina is purely optional. Take the elevator. Events unfold
around the Citadel and Saren looks particulary grumpy (then again .. most
Turians do) Meanwhile Shepard and her team are forced to reach the Council
Tower by alternative means.

Walk "up" the building and your team will reach a corridor of sorts. Take
crouched cover by the small walls on the right and remove the attacking
Geth by the usual biotic and shotgun powered means. Be wary of the Rocket
Geth further ahead. Exit the corridor and you'll be attacked by a Krogan
Warlord and a Geth Destroyer - the easiest way to remove them is this;
make Liara Lift the Krogan then use Throw to shoot him into orbit for an
instant kill. Repeat on the Destroyer using Kaiden's Lift and Throw. This
is a tactic which is extremely useful and makes this mission very easy.
Any basic Geth that is Lifted usually dies straight away due to the
gravity settings in this part of the game. Keep pushing forward however
as the Destroyers and Krogan will continuously re-spawn until you reach
the end of the walkway.

The slope here has a lot of Geth shields set up, and a few standard Geth
which shouldn't pose too much trouble. Be careful of the Geth Sniper hiding
on the leftside of the upper area and go towards the area he was previously
guarding. Another walkway, this time with Rocket Geth and a Geth Destroyer.
Use the wall cover found on the right and shoot down the Rocket Geth. Use
Lift on the Destroyer to launch him into orbit for an easy kill. The
Destroyers will keep re-spawning until you reach the walkway end. Just
alternate between Liara and Kaiden's Lift and Throws whilst steadily moving
and you should make it easily.

A Geth Dropship will appear in the next part, shooting at it is pointless
and running into it is a certified death. Instead, activate the Citadel
Defence Turret located just in front of you on your left (ignore all the
Geth at the moment) Then immediatedly sprint to the left to find another
Turret to activate (This one requires Electronics) from here, head forward
from the Turret to find a third Turret to activate. Now while the Turrets
strike the Dropship, focus your attention on the Geth (which will
constantly appear while the Dropship is present) Sniper Rifles and Lift
biotics are useful means of killing here.

Enter the walkway the Dropship was guarding to find two Krogan and a Geth
Juggernaut. Use Lift to kill the Juggernaut, a well aimed Throw can launch
the Krogan off the edge of the walkway. The Juggernauts will keep
re-spawning until you reach the end of the walkway.

The final part is especially dangerous on Insanity. There are two ways to
continue, either tackle the Turrets head on (although they are very tough
and can kill you easily) or duck into the side walkway found on the left
to completely avoid the Turrets (make sure you command your team to follow
you). The walkway is home to some very annoying Krogans (but fortunately
not the re-spawning variety) Strike them with Lift and Throw when able and
prepare to retreat occasionally, avoid letting them get too close. Try to
lure them out of the corridor, this will allow the Lift biotics to launch
them into space. At the end of this corridor are two Warlords and a
Battlemaster. Luring them is slighly harder, but it is possible to run past
them and then hit them with Lift as they chase you out the corridor. While
they are suspended, sprint to the end of the walkway to find a floor hatch
to finally escape.

Enter the Council Tower and pick up the much needed Medi-Gel as you approach.
From the fountain, equip the sniper rifle to gain some early shots on the
Geth waiting to ambush you. More Geth wait by the burning cherry trees ahead,
including some Rocket Geth. From the stairs, you should have a good spot to
shoot and retreat if your badly hurt. Alternatively you can run straight past
them all and confront Saren himself.

Here is where all of your acculumated paragon or renegade points matter the
most. With a high enough value of either, you can convince Saren to give up
and actually avoid a fairly tough fight. Fail and you have to fight him like
you did in Virmire, except with no fuel tanks to aid you this time - and
he's considerably harder to beat. While talking, try to use the dialogue
choices that you've focused on (paragon or renegade) and he'll kindly kill
himself.

Take a moment to prepare yourself, make Liara and Kaiden equip shotguns with
High Explosive Ammo X (although they may not use them, its at least a useful
thing to prepare) or give their current weapons the High Explosive Ammo X.
It's up to you if you save or sacrifice the Council, at this point it really
doesn't matter. We've still got one more important challenge to complete
before Insanity is over ...

==================================================================
***/ BOSS: SAREN (15SRN)		| Difficulty: Easy	| 
==================================================================

Think it was all over already? The Reapers have other ideas and end up
resurrecting Saren. But providing you've taken Liara and Kaiden along with
you, this final boss fight will end up being the easiest boss fight you've
ever fought. Even easier than the goldfish from Earthworm Jim. As soon as
the fight begins, hit Saren with Liara's Throw and shoot him with high
powered shotguns (he'll crumple on the floor allowing you at least two hits)
as soon as he's about to recover, hit him with Kaiden's Throw and shoot
some more. When he starts to recover again, use Liara's Lift (this allows
for nearly three or four shotgun blasts if your lucky) as soon as he is able
to touch the floor, hit him with Kaiden's Lift and continue shooting. Just
as he's about to rejoin the floor, strike him with Liara's Throw (which will
have recharged by now) and simply repeat the entire process. Do it correctly,
and Saren will basically flop about the entire place for the whole match and
not even get a chance to attack. Note that halfway through a little cutscene
shows the events outside the Citadel, once the cutscene is finished - all of
your biotics and abilities will be fully charged, allowing you to continue
your dastardly strategy for a second round. Be aware that even when Saren's
health has gone, he will still need a couple of hits to finally go down.

And thats it. Easy.

NOTE: Saren is actually set-up to combat Shepard's Class type, explained
when he mentions he has had "upgrades" since Virmire. If your Shepard
is a Biotic Class, Saren actually has a different attack similar to the
Geth Stalkers which completely removes your biotic and tech abilities.
In other words, my strategy below will not work unless Shepard is a
Soldier type, if your a Biotic Class, Saren is actually becomes
immune to biotics. So in otherwords, playing Insanity with a Biotic
completely ruins this tactic; but if you've managed to get this far on
Insanity with a Biotic, then I'm mildly impressed enough to think you
at least stand a very small chance in a normal fight.

===========================================================================

The galaxy is saved, you've beaten the game on Insanity and my job is 
essentially done. What a great team we made. Now you can reward yourself by 
sitting back and watching the credits (complete with some cheap 80s style
music)

Thanks for reading!

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___________________________________________________________________________
***/ CREDITS /*** 			| Search Code: 16CRD |
___________________________________________________________________________
	"Because he's a stupid big jellyfish!"
___________________________________________________________________________

This guide was written by myself; Jay Cotton © 2013 
All tactics, strategies etc were thought up during my playthroughs of
Hardcore and Insanity mode.

Please do not use this guide without my permission.
This guide may not be reproduced or redistributed under any circumstances
except for personal or private use.
It may not be placed on any website or otherwise without my consent.

The quote is Shepard's renegade response during a Citadel side-mission,
it made me laugh quite a lot when I heard Shepard say it. It's just the
way it was said; Jennifer Hale portrays an awesome Shepard in my opinion.

I do have an e-mail address (but frankly I never use it):
blackshadow500@msn.com

My PlayStation3 account is a better contact source as I'm usually playing.
Contact me by sending a message to:
infernalshadow5

Credit for the Mass Effect game, characters and series goes to Bioware.
Without them, I'd be deprived of a favourite gaming series and a love
of blue women.

I hope this guide was useful and helped a little.
Time to start writing up a guide for Mass Effect 2 then ...
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