Things You've Never/Always Did

Here's a thread about things a player never did

always done
choose destroy
let the council die

never did
save the council
romance any of the aliens, Jack, Cortez, Taylor, Alenko, Chambers, Allers, 
taken Garrus and tali on the beam run
never completed any mission after the crew was abducted by the collectors
never played pinnacle station dlc since it's not available for the ps3. Maybe that will be fixed when/if a remaster is released

Yes and no.  Its not nearly as robust as bringing down the sky, but I actually kind of liked the very basic story in it.  And you do get a cool reward for it. Completing it on insanity was torture though.

Never played ME2 and 3 without using a save file from the previous game(s). Never played ME3 with most squadmates killed in ME2.

Am curious if Spehard acknowledges knowing Garrus without having played ME1?

Never: romanced the alien squad members (sleeping with xenos is disgusting!)

Always: never talked to Liara (that parasite xenos can go jump in a volcano).

Never:
I'm probably in the minority here, but I've never played as the Soldier class in any Mass Effect game


Always:
Cure the genophage. To shoot Mordin in the back feels so despicable and awful.

Always:
- romance Kaidan
- have Garrus in the team
- play as a Paragon
- play a biotic class, though I've yet to do a pure Adept
- cure the genophage

Never:
- played renegade
- done any mission after the crew is abducted in ME2
- been mean to Conrad (here's hoping they also fix his response in ME2 if you were a paragon to him in ME1)

*Adds capn233 to the xeno heresy list*

A Deathwatch killteam will be at your location shortly.... 😛

Yup. That's why I'm sharing here.
There are a bunch of things I always do or don't do, but selected the two that I felt had the most shock value.

So why never a full soldier playthrough? Really it's a combination of a few things. For one,  I'm not that great at shooters (FPS or 3rd) to begin with, so the "gun class" didn't appeal to me as the others did - especially when something like biotics could be curved around corners and heat seek (much more forgiving). And secondly, I've always been drawn to space magic, which to be honest, is likely rooted in the desire to be a swashbuckling jedi as a 5 year old. Lastly, I tend to lean towards the road less traveled. Every person I knew played as Soldier, so I knew I had to try something different - and from there it kinda just stuck.

I have never done a solider playthrough in the past, though, that doesn't mean I wouldn't try it today.
What's a fun solider build I can try on ME1 or ME3  (can't find the disc for ME2) that you recommend?
The operative word is 'fun' - I don't necessarily need an optimal build, but rather something that lets me experience the class

"Fun" can mean different things to different people. What is fun for one person may not be fun for another person. but with that being said, I will do my best.

Across all three games in the trilogy, the Soldier is designed around using guns. It has some cast-able powers, particularly if you take a castable bonus power.


Mass Effect 1 Soldier:
Mass Effect 1 Soldier is all about Immunity + guns. In my opinion, the Infiltrator + Assault Rifle or Shotgun bonus talent is essentially a Soldier that can unlock stuff on its own (Decryption + Electronics).

Your native "cast" power is Carnage, which is a shotgun skill. You must have your shotgun out to use it. I do not particularly like it, and I barely use it.

Marksman (Pistols) and Overkill (Assault Rifles) decrease heat and improve accuracy. Marksman also increases firing rate for pistols. You probably already know about Marksman. Overkill kind of becomes useless once you get good accuracy Assault Rifles (starting level IV, you can probably purchase the HMWA VII fairly early).

Assassination is the sniper rifle skill that increases the damage on the next shot. Kind of useless on Insanity in my opinion since I do not think I have actually killed anything outright with it.

Adrenaline Burst will reset your cooldowns. You may know about this power if you played the Vanguard.

I write all this to say that the Soldier is typically played by spamming Immunity and using 2 or 3 weapons. You can keep Immuity up permanently once you have enough Medical Exoskeletons. Typically you go the Pistol + Shotgun route, or Assault Rifle + Sniper Rifle, or Pistol + Assault Rifle. Pistol with Master Marksman deals about the same damage-per-second as the Assault Rifle (slightly more in fact).

Mass Effect 2:
Adrenaline Rush increases weapon damage and slows down time. Ammo powers slightly increase damage to defenses + provide some crowd control. It is all about the shooty-shooty.

Concussive Shot is your cast-able crowd control power, but it has a 6-second cooldown and as such is not that good.

Neural Shock, Slam, and Stasis are your best bonus powers. Slam is fun with Miranda and/or Thane for warp-bombs. That is probably going to be your best build: Incendiary Ammo and Disruptor Ammo for crowd control, slam for warp bombs, Adrenaline Rush for shooting easy.


Mass Effect 3:
Same as Mass Effect 2 but with a grenade.

HOWEVER, if you want to play as a caster, then may I recommend my Bulletless Soldier build. It is built around a vastly improved concussive shot with Incendiary ammo, grenades, and Energy Drain.


Other stuff:
In Mass Effect 2, you can build a playstyle around switching weapons. sniper rifle to start, switch to assault rifle/pistol, then shotguns to finish encounters. Bonus weapon can also change playstyle.

In Mass Effect 3, you can also build around a specific gun as well. Adrenaline Rush will auto-reload a weapon, making it great for sniping with the Mantis/Widow, Black Widow, or Kirshock.

When playing Paragon I always do everybody's loyalty missions an drty to make everybody survive.

Not really suer on things I'bve neve ractualy done tbh.