What Did You Do Today in Andromeda

I am jealous.

I'd love to be able to get away with wearing a great set of headphones and shut the world out but I just never get the opportunity to not have to worry about kids, neighbours, couriers etc.......

Man I just had a similar issue, my sons laptop died which he needs for school. Looked around a few places but went with one I had used multiple times before and they said three business days of which yesterday last Friday was the third and they hadn't even received it from the supplier yet. Monday is my son's first day back at school and it will be without a laptop. I wrote them a scathing email as I rang in advance and the guy assured me Friday would be the latest.

I'll be explaining and demonstrating that's how you lose customers!!!!!

Hope your audio turns up quicker than expected.

I like that fight. It has fire coming from all sides and flanking enemies until you thin the herd. I usually approach from the western entrance on the middle incline. I clear that level from the building’s “porch” area, then head up to deal with those elevated foes. Good times.

I rarely “die” after reaching level 10 or so. (At very low levels, the damage on Insanity can drop you after one poorly calculated move, a sneeze, or whatnot. Certain builds are also way more durable at that stage.) If I do die in MEA, it’s nearly always to some random Kett salvagers at some nameless crashsite. I like how unpredictable those are. Usually, they’re just a pushover. Sometimes, though, they have me ducking behind the Nomad like “Oh, shit!”, laughing. I think the Nomad should probably eject us away from the combat side by default; but it’s random, from what I can tell. Getting unceremoniously dumped into a group of Destined and several Anointed can be dangerous in those first two seconds. They can have you near death before you even see them.

Just completed Ark Leusinia. I really like the mission as a whole, but there are some things that annoy me about it. They don't affect my enjoyment, just make me roll my eyes.

* Vederia: She seems like the Asari equivalent of a 14yo. She keeps her shit together, with a bit of coaching. That's to her credit. The idea of her being Sarissa's "second" is laughable. Surely that wouldn't last past the awakening procedure of the first competent Asari soldier. I can't imagine why anyone would make her Pathfinder unless they were trying to screw over the Asari. Her newby greenness was overdone.

* Cora: She goes from hero worship to judgmental stupidity. Who is she to question Sarissa's decision? Who is she to get lippy and accuse Sarissa of trying to protect her reputation? Cora seems far more concerned with Sarissa's reputation than Sarissa does. Had Cora been in a similar position, I guess she'd have run to Alec's side and died with him, with Hyperion likely following. Cora's naive condemnation of Sarissa, and her subsequent pouting, remind me of Liam's judgmental BS when first getting acquainted with his teammates (in banter). Cora shows how thoroughly ill-equipped she'd have been to assume the role of Pathfinder. On the plus side, she sees it too and acknowledges it.

* Matriarch Ashara: Failed in the moment of truth. "Please, come die with me! I can't die alone!" What an idiot. Sarissa should've been Pathfinder from the start. Ashara's appointment takes on a political hue in light of her final moments. Can you imagine Alec Ryder begging for rescue from an inescapable final stand? Neither can I. "Protect the Ark! Get our people home safely!" That's how I imagine Alec in a similar situation.

* Big Ass Kett Ship: This probably should've been a smaller craft. I don't mind Sarissa deflecting the attack. Turning it back is ridiculous. A smaller, less heavily armed scout vessel could've allowed for a more believable scenario and escape.

I do like this mission, despite the above criticisms. I think they're each examples of the game "trying too hard" at times. Cora's naïveté aside, the other situations were written in order to allow for a needless decision point, and to provide heavy-handed character reinforcement. The Sarissa vs Vederia choice: Seriously? 🙄 Cora gets to serve as Vederia's life coach, since she was a Huntress, in case you've forgotten. (Only time I get truly tired of the Huntress-talk.) This all could've been presented in a far less cheesy manner. Stuff like this is why MEA gets hammered for "bad writing". A lot of it is far more cheesy than need be.

I just hit Level 50, so it's finally time to get out of this B-team armor and to craft some Pathfinder gear. Particularly since I'm using a Soldier build, the extra accuracy and weapon stability will be most welcome.

EDIT: I just confirmed a weird issue I'd first noted earlier this PT. I'm not sure how I'd overlooked it through so many previous PTs.

For weapons, the crafting tier thresholds are exactly as one would expect: 5, 10, 20, 30, etc....  For armor, they're different, landing at 21, 31, 41, etc... I doubt that the difference was intentional. It's minor enough that it's likely been overlooked by many players. You could easily believe you've crafted the ultimate gear at Level 80, for instance, when in actuality your armor is only penultimate. I'll have to take a look at my other save files to see if I've done this. In terms of optimization and effectiveness, it's not a big deal. Crushing the game is easy with a solid build, regardless of gear. Still, it's a small curiosity and something for which I'll account in future PTs.


Anyway, I headed to Aya. I completed a handful of small quests and initiated the Roekarr showdown that leads to Jaal's LM. It's late, here, and I'm going to go to sleep. I'm in the mood to keep playing, but game will still be here tomorrow. I like to knockout LMs as early as possible, so those that are more "up to the player", in terms of timing, I attack as early as possible. Liam and Cora are finished. Jaal next. Then Drack, followed by Vetra. PeeBee's takes forever to access.

Man I can't wait to finish ME3 to start another MEA game!!!!

Reading posts always brings to mind the good parts.

I saved earlier at Paradise, Elaaden. I really like this planet. I know two out of four colonies being deserts is a bit much; but at least they're two very different types of desert. It's the only planet on which I go almost directly for the Vault. Then, I explore the rest of the region without the heat hazard. (I'd do the same on Voeld if it eliminated the cold hazard.)

We met Annea, saw Danny Messier and talked to a shifty Salarian before I had got kicked hard by narcolepsy. I had to take a nap. Sadly, that means I'm well rested and will play MEA while I should be sleeping. 😕 I usually attack Drack's LM pretty quickly, too. That one is a lot of fun. A big part of what kept me focused this PT was looking forward to Elaaden. The game really picks up steam from here. I complete all of the planets and LMs before going for Archon's vessel. That saves the dynamic story for a great, continuous run, rather than breaking it up across 80 hours.

Sara is level 51/52. Combat Tree is evolved as I said before. Tech now includes fully evolved Energy Drain and an almost complete Invasion. Once those are finished, I'll start in Offensive Biotics. Nine points there will unlock Barrier, Annihilation and Charge. I don't know if I'll have my Vanguard build fully in place before the end, but it's not important. I know I won't have all of my Vanguard equipment ready. MW Research Points are too scarce for a Valkyrie, Asari Sword and Hyperguardian Armor. (The Valkyrie is my Soldier weapon. Hesh is my Vanguard weapon.) I'll have most of my skills and most of my gear ready. I'm not sure if I'll follow this up with more MEA, anyway, or switch over to HZD. That's getting off topic, though. Gotta stay focused on MEA.

Agree re Voeld and yeah I do the same approach for Elaaden and also in terms of leaving the Archon's ship till after everything else.  I like Elaaden for its simple layout as much as anything else, EOS can be a nightmare to get around till you set up the FT points.

PeeBee looks so much better with armor and without the bandit-mask facepaint. I feel like I might make the switch to PC gaming in the next couple of years. Mods have such a strong appeal. Hopefully, by the time I'm seriously considering it, the current pricing insanity will be a thing of the past. On the surface, it seems idiotic and unsustainable.

I completed much of Elaaden tonight. I ended up attacking things in a different order than I often do. I saved outside the gate of New Tuchanka, having completed the vast majority of the other quests. A few more will spawn in New Tuchanka. I'll do Drack's LM before settling the colony's issues.

Sara is around Level 57-58, I think. I'm now evolving biotics passives. Barrier and Offensive Biotics (my entry tax) are partially evolved. When they're finished, I'll jump to Annihilation, then Containment. Charge will likely finish off my biotics tree for this PT.

My home audio gets a big upgrade tomorrow. I'll be glad to hear MEA with the new system, and then probably HZD. HZD's sounds are so rich and varied. I love the contrast between nature and the machines, the sounds of battle and the stillness of the quiet moments. MEA has great sound, too. The guns, biotics, combo detonations, etc... sound great.

I must admit the 11 mods I have installed make a real difference to the game in various ways. 

Hey I just counted my mods and I actually have 18 installed!!!  I also have another ten that are downloaded but I had stopped using them for one reason or another, I have heard some people have way more than that installed. For Andromeda I am using the Frosty Mod Manager and it to non-technical me seems much easier to use and much more stable than the Nexus Mod Manager. I had only one issue with a mod (and I was guessing it was the mod) and that was one that made the doors on Kadara open faster and it also sped up the landings of the Tempest. Here are the installed ones:



I have never really looked but I have never seen weapon skin mods but that'd be cool. There are lots of female Ryder hair mods/cosmetics/complexion etc. but not so many male ones.

Sorry to hear that the audio system is giving you some grief, I hope the manufacturer can provide you with some info that'll make it work to your expectations.

No MEA yet today. I have been thinking about weapon loadouts. I think I might craft an autofire burst-fire Dhan for my next Vanguard. I'll have the autofire/seeking plasma Hesh for intermediate range. The Dhan would be for close-range destruction. (I'm pretty sure that an autofire Hesh sans SP would be more optimal, but variety is fun.) It might be fun to use a character armed only with shotguns (and biotics). I could always slap a Hornet or Valkyrie on my leg for longer ranges, but the Hesh (with Seeking Plasma) has pretty good accuracy and range. I wish some of the prettier MW shotguns were as good as these kett booger-guns.

I also want to try out the Vanquisher and Inferno sniper rifles. I'm not really a sniper rifle kind of guy, but I occasionally get the urge to try it once more. I don't think I've ever tried a customized version of either of these weapons. Really, I wish I could duplicate the joy that the M90 Indra brought me in ME3. The way autofire weapons were implemented in MEA SP, though, the new Indra just sucks. An autofire Incisor is pretty insane, but is very unstable. It's more of a gimmick weapon, great for killing bosses at range (Architects!), but little else. Hmm, Beam Emitter gives perfect stability. I believe it's mutually exclusive with the autofire augmentation, and would reduce range. It might be worth trying on the Incisor just for kicks. Actually, recalling some things about the BE augmentation, this would suck ass.

I also gave the Sandstorm AR a once over after recovering one. I typically hate scopes, so that pretty much killed most of my interest. Statistically, I thought it looked like it might perform well with autofire or a beam emitter. It has a small clip size, similar to the Valkyrie, so it would be annoying but manageable. I'd like to see a new weapon on Ryder's shoulder, too. That damn scope, though... Ugh.

I've never even tried the PAW. I've heard its praises sung for over a year, now. I might have build one to carry with that Hesh I keep mentioning. The PAW can do some crazy things. Put a sticky grenade augment on it for an armor-killer. Use it as is or with an electrical conduit to obliterate shields and Remnant. Surprisingly, it will accept an autofire augmentation and does get some benefit from it. This might be the gun that finally sees me try Bioconverter cheese. If I could recolor the Remnant Armor to all white with orange or blue lights, I'd run with that and a bioconverter PAW right now. It would be my "weird alien tech" kit. That armor is just so damn ugly, though, and can't be properly tinted.

I've been trying to think of unorthodox builds that I have never tried and might be fun. I like Annihilation. I could partner that with Cryobeam and Concussive Shot/Nova for an entertaining close-quarters build. I'd play that as a Vanguard for the melee boosts, too. Lots of freezing, smashing and explosions. I've never once used Shockwave (hated it in ME2, never tried it since). Maybe Annihilation, Pull and Shockwave? I don't know. Biotic Combos kind of suck at actually killing things. The key is to come up with something fun but slightly less optimal than my usual builds.

All this theory-crafting has finally whetted my appetite for gameplay. If only I had 10K research points to burn in each category. I'll have to load one of my NG+ saves if I want to try any of these weapons.


Edit: This might seem to be getting a bit esoteric, but bear with me. The Beam Emitter overrides the RoF for any weapon. This means, unless they're mutually exclusive (I can't recall, but I think not), one could attach a BE and whichever RoF augmentation provides the coolest perks. This could lead to insane weapons. Imagine a Dhan with burst fire, 50m range, and perfect accuracy and stability. Pretty cool. I might look into some of these weird possibilities.