Mass Effect 3 Mod Request: Final battle: squadmates' and allies' assignments

[Kajana]

No doubt there was supposed to be some kind of 'final battle' in which all your sqaudmates and allies show up (much like the final battles in DAO and DA2) I mean why else would they all say how they will be there in the battle for Earth but then not show or show up but not be used (such as Wrex and Primarch Victus).

 

While it would be nice to have some kind of final battle with everyone showing up include all squadmates (much like the archive fight in the Citadel DLC), adding such to the game would most likely be problematic for modders (although adding an extra battle between taking out the destroyer and Anderson showing up would seem to be possible)

 

However it would be nice if the others (both squadmates and allies) could participate in the fight even if off camara.

 

After picking your team for the final part of Priority Earth, you get reports of reapers attacking along the route. Then based on your allies and squadmates you can assign them to different positions and to attack different groups.

 

For example, you get the report of rachni coming from the east, husks and cannibals from the west and brutes and banshees from the north. You could then assign allies, such as have a krogan ground team attack the rachni with turian air support, have geth primes and/or the quarian patrol fleet defend against the husks and cannibles, and the STG groups with the asari commandoes take on the brutes and banshees. Obviously who you have available depends on who you have recruited.

 

How strong each force is, how many, who matches up well against what type of enemies and which groups fight well together would all determine who lives and dies and (if possible) could affect either the number and strength of the waves you face in the last fight or determine your enemies in a battle added for this purpose before making the beam run.

 

You could then assign the squadmates left behind to tasks, like Edi and Tali go back to the Normandy, James and Ashley take command of groups of marines, Kaidan leads biotics, Liara with the asari commandos, Garrus with the turian troops, etc and each could then be assigned specific tasks or to assist in the battle. Again match ups and/or EMS could determine who survives or provide either bonus or determine the number, waves and types of enemies you fight.

 

Like for the additional battle, three groups are closing in on your position. You assign your other squadmates and the groups they are with to take out two of them and you take out the other one. This way get to pick who you fight.

 

Outside of the added battle (if that is even possible) the rest could be all off camara and done in a way similar to how EGM does with reports and assignments. While it may not change much gameplaywise (or it could if there is a way to have that determine the waves while you defend the missiles or add in an extra fight) it would increase immersion and at least give the feeling of a bigger fight and everyone (allies and squadmates) being involved.

 

 

[Shadohz]

You mean create a Suicide Mission Part 2 essentially. As you play Earth, you lose (or keep) allies depending on outcome. For example did you side with the Geth then choose Javik to lead them. Javik must die. I'm playing around with something like this but I won't tell too much. The logistical problem (if you want to call it that) is that James and Liara are the default squadmates. They're not really designed to be killed off until the very last scene (If EC is installed). Let's say hypothetically you did the worst possible ME2 playthrough and you survived only with Thane, Legion, Mordin and/or Morinth (pick only 2 from the batch). You'd end up with only Javik (assuming you have Eden installed or resurrected him) and EDI as disposable. In reality EDI would be the only disposable squadmate or ally (excluding Javik) in a worst case scenario PT. Everyone either died in the course of the game or were not made available. You would only get as much out of the mod as you have people alive.

[Kajana]

Just use the ME3 trick of having a minor character be a back up, i.e. if Thane isn't alive then Major Kierre steps in, if he is also dead then the salarian counselor dies or if Mordin is dead the Padok Wilks (?) steps in to cure the genophage, or if Tali is dead, Admiral Xen takes over on the geth missions. So if the person the side mission is designed for isn't available then have a back up, from the pool of people who have said they will help, but if that back up isn't available (you didn't help them or they have died) that mission fails. So if you get everyone killed then the side missions fail and it makes the end game harder to 'win'. The idea just like in ME2 if you make friends and care enough to keep everyone alive you have better success odds.

 

Or if you only have three squadmates (Liara, James and Edi who you have to have) and seven possible missions then you have to pick the ones they handle and hope the rest of your forces can cover the rest. Having a squadmate there could determine not the missions success but the causalities. If no help then the entire force doing that job gets wiped out. So, if no squadmates, you can still get minor characters killed off. That then rewards gather as many allies as possible so as to have a large pool to draw from and options for the different missions.

[Kajana]

This is sort of how I envisioned it:

 

Once you talk to Anderson at the base and you get the plan for the assault on the beam you get a report from intel about 10-12 points that the reapers may hit. For example...

 

They could set up a jamming station to stop all communications

There are several buildings that they could use to fire down onto the tanks

There are several bridges and access points where reaper forces could use to get to the tanks quickly

There are a couple roofs of buildings that harvesters are using as staging areas

There are several husk transports in route

They have set up a blockade close to the beam

Part of the route is overrun

They have set up traps and barricades close to the beam

The tanks need upgrades to withstand the journey to the beam

Communications need to be maintained

Supply lines and access routes have to be maintained and protected, so that teams don't get cut off or run out of supplies (ammo or medi-gel)

 

So once you pick your team you then can assign team members (with an associated group) or some of the forces you have gathered. For example...

 

Kaidan and the biotic squad

Tali and quarian (and maybe also geth) engineers

Edi and geth (or the Cerberus AI's if have EGM)

Liara and her Shadow Broker teams

James and/or Ashley and marine teams

Javik and a mixed race group

Garrus and the Turian Special Forces

 

Also you could have at your disposal:

 

Major Kierre and STG (if he is alive)

Grunt and Arlack company (if he is alive and old one would be stronger than new)

Wrex and Krogan battlemasters (if he is alive)

Zaeed and merc band (if he is alive)

Asari commandos with/out Samara (if get Liarra and her father to talk and/or do Messana)

Geth and geth primes (if survive)

Quarians (if survive)

Elcor (if rescue)

Batarians (if do the Batarian code mission and convince him to help)

Grissom Acadamy biotics (either as fighters or support)

Turian Special Forces (if disarm bomb)

Racni (if save queen)

Specters and/or the hanar and drell (if help Bau)

Aria's mercs (if do mission)

Volus squad (if do volus ambassador)

then the resistance fighters and marines as the standard

 

So let's say there are some buildings harvesters are using as staging areas. You can pick a team of resistance fighters to go in and take them out but they would be killed, pick marines and most would be killed but they might succeed in setting off explosives in the first couple floors to make use of the building impossible. The krogan, turians, mercs and such would have better success but still high casualties. Specters, and asari commandos, even better with fewer casualties with the STG group having the most success and fewest casualties, especially if Major Kierre is with them. However, if you have the rachni, they have the added advantage of being able to crawl up the outside of the building, planting the explosives on the top floors and getting out, destroying the building, the anti tank guns, the staging area and even a few of the harvesters.

 

Another example would be if an area is overrun and needs cleared out, again several teams can do the job with a varying level of success and casualties, the best would be the elcor and even better if you also have the geth. The geth can upload themselves into the elcor's VI cannons and infantry and they become a very effective force that slowly but surely clears the way for the tanks.

 

Then during the mission you, get reports about the progress of the teams, success and casualties. It may not be possible to change the mission much (like having different group attack depending on who does what) but at least it would provide a backstory to the mission and include all assets.

 

Anyway, that was the basic idea.