ME1 question: BDTS before or after the "end"?

If you want to play Bring Down the Sky, you have to play it before you land on Ilos. If you complete the game, you will have to load a previous save (if you have one) before Ilos. When an Mass Effect 1 playthrough ends, you go back to the main menu.

Completing Pinnacle Station will give you access to a store that will give you randomized items (from a limited pool of mostly great items) for a price. If you play it early enough, it is a good way to spend all your extra credits to try to get the best weapons, amps, omni tools, and medical exoskeleton mods for your squad. That being said, it can be very boring and tedious, so if you do not care about equipment you can safely ignore it. I think you mentioned earlier you were playing on Veteran difficulty? If you are on Veteran, do not bother with Pinnacle Station since you should already be steamrolling through the game.

The few times I played bring down the sky, I chose to complete it shortly after Shepard becomes spectre.

Thanks guys I'm an idiot. Haven't finished ME1 in a while. Forgot the game just ends and you can't continue. Therefore, u have to do BDTS first. Thanks for all the tips. I am finishing up the Geth mission for Tali's pilgrimage - then i think ive done all the crew member missions.

I was headed to Feros next since I finally maxxed charm. P.S. I did take advantage of the monkey Paragon bug - only twice. I think it gave me +12 paragon. That bumped me up to max. I realize i would have gotten +40 paragon or so by doing Feros quests, before I have the max-charm check anyway so it didn't matter. But I only abused that monkey bug twice. Didn't want to max paragon, made me feel dirty.

Kaidan/Ashley don't have a specific me1 mission, right?

I'll skip Pinnacle as well. Might play with it early on another playthrough then.

1. Lorik Quin also has a glitch you can abuse for Paragon and/or Renegade points. If you play full Paragon or Renegade, getting max Paragon or Renegade is not hard, but using the Lorik Quin glitch can give it to you much earlier.

Basically, after completing his mission to get the data, you can Charm/Intimidate him into testifying. You can then talk to him again and ask about Benezia. Asking him about Benezia will unlock the Charm/Intimidate options again. You can continue doing this until you fill your Paragon/Renegade bars. This is good for filling the bars early to get your free Charm/Intimdate points.

2. Kaiden/Ashley do not have a specific ME1 mission. (Neither does Liara.)

3. Pinnacle Station is best done with good equipment or on a low difficulty; preferably both. Time Trial Missions work best with you, Liara, and Kaiden having quick cooldowns which requires max passive talents and two mods with cooldown bonuses (Medical Exoskeletons, Kinetic Buffers). That means you have to do it later in the game, but best before Virmire to make sure you have Kaiden available if you plan on killing him later.