Mass Effect

Peptuck · Post by **Peptuck** » 2007-12-08 05:55pm

Maxed out my points in Singularity, as well as Spectre Training and Adept/Nemesis subclass, and then I found a nifty (and extremely rare, it seems) item: a Savant VII Amp, which gave me a flat 40% boost to my cooldown speeds, duration, and range of all biotics.

My Singularities now rip up everyone across entire rooms and hold them in the air for nearly twelve seconds. Added benefit is that they spin around the singularity effect comparatively faster, which sometimes makes it hard to shoot them, but the lol factor is definitely worth it.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-08 05:58pm

No man, Savant 7s aren't rare. I've used one in every game so far, because they rape the other lameo ones. Maybe it's one of the fixed drops, and the people you're talking to never go there?

Singularity at highlevel with an appropriate prestige class rules everyone, as you say. I went 'bastion', for extra duration, and I can basically shut down half a dozen guys totally for 20s+, every 20s (due to stimulants, bio-amp, etc).

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-08 07:04pm

Like everything else, the Savant amp range goes up to 10. There's also a Savant omni-tool, for your techers.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-08 07:56pm

Like every other type of item, having eight million variants, of which one is the clear best choice, was a stupid decision. Savant 5s are better than almost anything else at 10, which is just crazy. The super armours you get at 9 and 10 (the H and L ones with ridiculous shields) are at least at the end of the item tree instead of at the start. Getting great stuff and then picking up a dozen far inferior (but higher-level and most valuable cashwise) items just forces you to use the clumsy UI to sell 100 items more often. I mean, how long is it before light armour exceeds the fixed spawn thing you get on Eden Prime? Level 3? Level 4?

The spectre items made 80% of loot no more than less-convienient cash, and the super-amps do the same thing for those items. At least they don't drop in the regular crates, so they're not as easy to get.

Amusingly the money counter only goes up to 99999999. I lol'd, considering the huge amount of totally worthless stuff you're going to sell... and there's nothing to buy, absolutely nothing, bar the super spectre weapons.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-08 08:55pm

Yeah, the item progression is somewhat whacked. Blame levelled loot. Once again, it's the bane of your life.

What would be better is levelled crap loot and a few well hidden fixed uber items that you get from actual sidequests that don't finish until late game.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-08 09:01pm

Absolutely, yeah. With that Scorpion armour on EP I thought that's what they'd do, but the good stuff can still show up in random 'wetware boxes' and stuff. You'll get basically no good items before lvl15, then you'll sell everything to buy spectre gear, and you'll set on the good level5 stuff you've got until their level8 drops, because the other types are hopeless.

At least the guards don't have full daedric place, though.

Peptuck · Post by **Peptuck** » 2007-12-08 11:32pm

Huh. I've never found a Savant of any kind on any of my previous playthroughs. That's why I figured it was rare.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2007-12-09 01:20am

One thing to remember is that some items just stop appearing after a certain level, such as the anti-synthetic and anti-organic rounds and a few of the mods. Once you're out of their level range you don't get anymore.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-09 06:15am

Because of the way the shops work it's really hard to get any, too. I accidentally sold all my tungsten-7 ammo, and I found maybe 2 at shops after that point. I rarely use things like snowblind and HE and incendiary have serious penalties, unlike the flat bonus of the earlier types.

A shotgun with HE is pretty fucking funny, though. Definately helped me get the shotgun thing with an adept with no shotgun skill.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-09 07:19am

Stark wrote:Because of the way the shops work it's really hard to get any, too. I accidentally sold all my tungsten-7 ammo, and I found maybe 2 at shops after that point. I rarely use things like snowblind and HE and incendiary have serious penalties, unlike the flat bonus of the earlier types.

A shotgun with HE is pretty fucking funny, though. Definately helped me get the shotgun thing with an adept with no shotgun skill.

Inferno Rounds don't have any penalty, but they also rely on damage over time to do their work.

Snowblind rounds and HE are good for sniper rifles, but not much else. The ROF reduction kills any benefit from increased power.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-09 07:22am

Unskilled shotties are so inaccurate they're useless beyond a metre, but with HE you get a single shot of basically a grenade launcher that kills most shit in one hit. You ALWAYS overheat though, which makes it less than useful overall. Good indoors with chokepoints though.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-09 07:24am

Yeah, I've heard people talking about it, using it as a Poor Man's Throw, because anything that doesn't die is likely on it's ass..

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-09 07:33am

Yeah, but unskilled and with only 4 pellets it's quite easy to get unlucky and not hit with any.

Peptuck · Post by **Peptuck** » 2007-12-09 02:23pm

Meh, I always use HE with the sniper rifle. Fun as heck against large groups of enemies, and the cooldown requirements aren't that bad when you're fighting at extreme range anyway. I usually give HE rounds to Garrus and his rifle, and sit back with a sandwich to wait for the fight to end.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-09 04:28pm

Frankly a major reason I don't use the more outrageous ammo is that the game is easy enough as it is. Even on Insanity I don't want a gun that knocks down half a dozen guys - I'd fall asleep more than I already do. Unskilled gun use is a great way to make the game harder.

The XP requirements go through the roof at the highend. Level 57-58 is 80k, and going by recent increases 58-59 is going to be 160k. PS, that's more XP than your first playthrough for two levels. YAY!

Havok · Post by **Havok** » 2007-12-11 05:06pm

Stark wrote:Frankly a major reason I don't use the more outrageous ammo is that the game is easy enough as it is. Even on Insanity I don't want a gun that knocks down half a dozen guys - I'd fall asleep more than I already do. Unskilled gun use is a great way to make the game harder.

The XP requirements go through the roof at the highend. Level 57-58 is 80k, and going by recent increases 58-59 is going to be 160k. PS, that's more XP than your first playthrough for two levels. YAY!

That's why level 60 is it's own achievement.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-11 05:41pm

That makes me feel so much better about the sheer cliff at the end of the xp table.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-11 07:25pm

It'll make a nice "Plink" noise when you get there as well.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-11 08:12pm

But I can't be ASSED. Hell, the only thing keeping me going on insanity is that it's actually hard... doing another run through in virtually invincible comfort just... I just... can't.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-11 08:54pm

Personally, I'm starting new characters each time, so it won't be until I actually do try and shoot for 60 that I start having invincibility trouble.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-11 09:20pm

Yeah, I wasn't sure if old chars would work for the difficulty thing, so I've got three characters too. It doesn't help that XP rewards don't seem to scale with difficulty, so I'm just playing on Normal with Anton... and Veteran was easy at level 5. Imagine Normal at level 58!

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » 2007-12-12 04:19am

Well, I just cracked a million and have stumbled across my quartermaster selling Spectre masterwork awesome-O guns. However, no one appears to be selling anything better than my Scorpion VI armour, which is a pity. I've only found one suit of armour thatm atches it, and it was for Wrex.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-12 07:18am

You'll find better armour.

Colossus and Predator L/M/H are the bestest. (Colossus has better damage protection, Predator has better shields.

I'm thinking I might go for Sentinel on Insane. You don't get the super-invincibility power (Immunity), and you don't get any weapon skills. Might render the game marginally challenging.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-12-12 06:10pm

Sentinel is fighter/jedi, right, like Kaidan? Yeah, you'd miss the retardo-powers like singularity etc, but be well-balanced. I'm a goddamn technician with AR: wish I'd taken fucking singularity or lift now.

I'd have to check, but I think the high-level Mercenary armour one of my characters has is better/comparable to the Predator L/M. It looks better, anyway. Same reason I kept the krogan in krogan phoenix armour: PINK KROGAN LOL.

Actually, does anyone think the early ARs are broken? At highend, pistols are accuracy ~70 and ARs are accracy ~40 with some higher. At the START, though, pistols are accuracy ~40 and ARs are accuracy ZERO. I've never used skilled ARs before, but once they get to about level 4 they suddenly have about 20 accuracy, and the cone is far, far tighter even under sustained fire and they become useful. Before this point, they all seem to have accuracy of 1 or 2 which means a) huge cone and b) accuracy boosters/skills useless.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-12-12 07:46pm

Yeah, exactly the same as Kaidan. Don't know what to add to the class. Possibly a weapon skill, because that would avoid the annoying bug where one of your skills can disappear when you have 10 active skills with a PC. Weapon skills use a reserved slot, so they're not affected. (There are 10 slots on the skill wheel, but the game won't use the far left one, so your 10th skill gets pushed off. I can't use my Overload skill, though I really only took Electronics for the shields anyway).

Also, Mercenary is nowhere near an equivalent (Armax) Predator or Colossus.

I've got a Mercenary VIII, it's 26/273/27, and Garrus has a Predator L VIII, 26/378/47. (all the Predator sets are the same for each race). The damage resist is the same, but the shields are puny in comparison. (and then there's Colossus. My light Colossus IX is 64/345/36).

Edit: Yeah, and even late on, fully trained, assault rifles are somewhat unimpressive.