Mass Effect 3: Rannoch

Yes there's more Mass Effect and I'm afraid I'm abandoning my video posts, while they are fun to make they are time consuming and have put me way behind on Mass Effect 3 progress when I've actually finished the game and am now progressing through Halo 4 which I'm eager to blog about!!

So here's what happened next on Mass Effect 3

The Far Rim

After gaining the support of the Leviathans, Shepard turned his attention to the Quarians, there had been reports of events brewing on the Geth border but with the Galaxy under occupation there was little time to investigate the Quarian fleet but now the Quarians were reaching out and the Normandy was dispatched to try and gain their help.

The Quarian Envoy ship bears the style of Quarian frigates but has several modifications including a stealth drive similar to the Normandy's.






At a waypoint in the far reaches of space Shepard meets with the Quarian Admirals to discuss their situation. They are in the middle of a battle to retake their homeworld from Geth forces, a battle they were winning until the Reapers came to the aid of the Geth and enhanced their capabilities.

Tali'Zorah is the latest Quarian Admrial, taking the place of her father and earning her position through her expert knowledge of the Geth and Reapers. She is eager to aid Shepard and join him on his missions.







Geth Dreadnought

Shepard agrees to lead the Normandy on a mission to infiltrate the Geth dreadnought, a massive vessel which is transmitting Reaper software and tactics to the Geth, helping them resist Quarian countermeasures and fight them more effectively. Shepard and his crew arrive in the middle of a huge space battle.

Due to the Geth not relying on an economic society they have no restrictions in building a massive dreanought but aquiring the raw materials to do so. Upgraded by Reaper technology this is a formidable warship, barely dented by the might of the Quarian fleet.





Once aboard Shepard and his crew battle their way through Geth forces to find the source of the Reaper Code that is being transmitted throughout the Geth fleet, making them such effective opponents of the Quarians. After a long and drawn out battle through the ship including travelling along it's massive energy cannons they find the source of the signal.

Legion returned to the Geth consensus after serving with Shepard against the Collectors. Warning his people of the return of the Reapers they prepared for war but the arrival of the Quarians forced them to turn to the Reapers or face extinction.






Legion had been captured by the Reapers and due to his unique nature was used as a focal point to transmit the new Reaper code to all Geth, improving their networking capabilities and enhancing them as individual programs to the nature of true AI. He gives them advice on how to counter the Reapers and disables the Dreadnought's shields, prompting the Quarians to attack with them still onboard. Legion hijacks a Geth fighter and gets them to safety just in time.

Admiral Koris

With the Dreadnought destroyed the Quarians have bought themselves some breathing room but the battle is far from over and several urgent missions come to Shepard's attention before the main thrust against the Geth can be completed. Firstly Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib, leader of the civilian fleet is shot mdown by a planetary cannon. The Geth liveships, while heavily armed are full of civilians unequipped for war and require his leadership, he is also one of the few leavel-headed admirals who tried to stop the fleet from blowing up Shepard so Shepard takes Tali down to the surface to find him.

One of the Admiral's crew dies in peace, having set foot on the homeworld






Shepard moves to take out AA guns on the surface to the Cortez can man the shuttle to blow up a jamming tower masking the Admiral's location. Despite the Admiral's protestations Shepard has to make a tough call, rescuing the Admiral at the cost of abandoning the rest of his crew for the good of the fleet.

Geth Fighter Squadrons

The Quarians aren't happy about having Legion on board the Normandy, but Shepard, still angry over their actions on the Geth Dreadnought leaps to the defence of his friend and includes him in the battle plan. Legion points out a server on Rannoch from which Geth Fighter craft are controlled, he takes Shepard to the surface to delete the Geth programs manually, disabling the fighters. Due to the progress on Project Overlord Shepard is able to directly interface with the Geth Consensus.

How the Geth consensus is percieved by Shepard's mind.









When deleting Geth programs Shepard views footage of the original war of the Geth against their creators, seeing that there were some Quarians who sheltered the Geth and opposed their destruction. Legion is also hard at work, liberating some Geth programs from Reaper controll and installing them in Geth Prime hardware to aid the war effort.

Retaking Rannoch

 The surface of Rannoch, once thought lost forever is now a battleground where the future of two races is deperately fought for.









While the distribution of the Reaper signal through the Dreadnought was stopped the origin of the signal is still strong on Rannoch and the Geth continue to grow stronger. Shepard agrees to return to the surface to tag the source of the transmission for an orbital strike and to bring an end to the conflict. Shepard battles through the Geth base with Tali and Legion, fighting their way to a control panel to open the blast doors concealing the transmission source.

The transmission turns out to be a Reaper Destroyer similar to the one encountered on Tuchanka.





Suddenly in a fight for his life Shepard speeds away on a Geth transport then decides enough is enough and goes head to head with the Reaper, using the targeting device to call down an orbital strike from the entire Quarian fleet and downing the reaper. With it's parting words the Reaper declares that it is working for the good of organic beings and that there is no war, only the harvest - echoing the truth revealed by the Leviathan as to the purpose of the Reapers' creation.

With the destruction of the Reaper seeming like a victory two fleets are still poised on the verge of mutual self-destruction.







With the Reaper dead the Geth are thrown into confusion while the Quarians see this as their chance to wipe out their dreaded enemy. Legion adds to the dilemma by asking Shepard to support him in uploading modified Reaper code that will alow his people to become true AI, to be free beings. Tali is reluctant to allow this but is persuaded by Shepard and convinces the fleet to break off their attack.

In order to complete the upload Legion must disseminate himself into the Geth consensus, no longer existing as the individual he was. His sacrifice brings freedom to the Geth.






Against all odds the Geth come to the aid of the Quarians and help them reclaim their world, build new settlements and even adapt their suits to help their weakened immune systems recover more quickly. Tali thanks Shepard for this unbelievable peace and takes off her mask to breath in the air of Rannoch.


Here are the War Assets gained on these missions.

Shepard completed an N7 mission on Noveria, taking down a Cerberus Fighter Base, gaining him this War Asset

Advanced Fighter Squadron - These latest model fighters were liberated from Cerberus on Noveria and put to good use against the Reapers.

The following are War Assets gained during the conflict on Rannoch

Admiral Zaal'Koris - Rescued on Rannoch he leads the Civilian Fleet with a cool head and an open mind.

Admiral Daro'Xen - Head of Special Projects for the Quarian fleet

The Quarian Heavy Fleet, Patrol Fleet and Civilian Fleet declare their readiness to fight the Reapers

Geth Prime Platoon - Powerful Geth platforms that can act as mobile networking hubs co-ordinating Geth resistance against the Reapers

Geth Corps - The bulk of the Geth platorms are commited for ground offensives

Geth Fleet - saved from destruction by the Quarians the powerful Geth fleet is perfectly co-ordinated due to the synthetic nature of the Geth and their ability for networking.


Thanks for Reading - in my next post I'll be discussing Gears of War