See also https://github.com/sterpe/mass-effect.git for character facecode and information.
This document provides a set of rules to govern permadeath Insanity
playthrough attempts of the Mass Effect Trilogy. These rules
are originally based off of Twitch streamer [@sizesixteens]
(https://www.twitch.tv/sizesixteens) rules as he did most of [the
groundbreaking work on Mass Effect permadeath]
(http://bit.ly/2gwz9ID). His original rules are marked with an
asterisk (*). In cases where he coincidentally adopted one
of these rules as his own, his rule's name is identified in
parenthesis.
In some cases I have tried to clarify specific edge cases and questions that arose in the wording of his original rules. In general I have tried to ensure these rules are more restrictive and not less so than his own with the intent that this rules set is a valid subset of [his original rules] (http://bit.ly/2glAdQi).
The rest of the rules are my own spin and takes on the issue
of permadeath rules applicable to each game. I also tried to
provide more formal definitions for common terms like death and
void, etc.
Shout out to @sizesixteens for the inspiration. All mistakes and oversights in this document are my own.
The following definitions apply to this document:
- death: a
deathis defined as any time a "critical mission failure" is triggered. - void: a
voidis any death or other even non-death situation where further game progress is impeded as a result of a clear, demonstrable, game engine or other glitch or failure, or any other "act of God." Avoiddoes not terminate the current playthrough nor does it confer any other penalty. Play may be continued from the last saved game. - glitch: a
glitchis a catastrophic or terminal game ending or progress impeding state. Examples include but are not limited to: player character trapped or stuck inside or outside the playable map area, non-player enemy that must be cleared for game progress purposes trapped or inaccessible inside or outside the playable map area, etc. - exploit: an
exploitis a trick or technique, whether based on a glitch or game mechanics that either a) confers additional rewards (such as XP, Credits, or Renegade/Paragon points) than reasonable assumptions about game designer intentions would allow, b) is otherwise narratively illogical, or c) appears to otherwise circumvent reasonable assumptions about game designer intent for the game experience. Tactical exploitation of known enemy behavior or limitations in enemy combat AI is not considered to be an exploit.
- No
deathallowed. A dead Shepard is deleted across all games. - A
voidmay be allowed where and when applicable. See definition ofvoidabove. - Insanity difficulty only.
- No mods that affect gameplay in any way. (Applicable only to PC)
- No intentional glitches or exploits. See definitions of these terms above.
- Must play and import the same character through all three games. Note: changing hairstyles, make-up, and to the extent possible, facial hair is acceptable.
- No re-allocation of squad points for anyone at anytime. Note that Shepard's points may be de-allocated completely at the end of Mass Effect 2 as Mass Effect 3 can and does import these in often unwanted ways.
- No changing classes between games or changing bonus powers within the same game.
- No "New Game+".
The following additional rules are applicable to Mass Effect.
All found equipment or looted equipment must be reduced to omni-gel. Any new equipment must be purchased either from merchants, the Normandy quartermaster, or received as gifts from NPCs.
This speeds up game-play by doing away with virtually all inventory management and the hacking mini-game. It also increases the apparent value of credit since all new gear must be purchased from vendors while restricting the exchange of copious amounts of looted equipment for additional cash. The general shortage of credit means purchase decisions, when made, carry more significance.
Items explicitly recieved from NPCs are excepted from this rule, as are Wrex's inventory items if he is killed on Virmire.
I believe that Saren's loot items, dropped after he is killed in the Council Chamber near the very end of the game are also static. If that is the case, those items are also excepted from this rule, though it hardly matters at that point, since they are usually Level II items.
No weapons mods may be used by Shepard nor by any squad member.
Removing weapons mods from the game simplifies inventory management and prevents abuse of elemental, anti-personnel/shredder, and anti-synthetic/tungsten rounds which stall gameplay due to frequent gear-swapping during combat situations.
Additionally, due to the credit restriction imparted by the Shortage rule, taking away weapon mods implies, in theory, that more credit will be available to purchase armor, armor mods, and weapons and therfore that such equipment will be stronger or atleast more evenly distributed amongst the team. Buying biotic-amps and omni-tools also becomes more feasible.
Singularity is banned as a bonus talent, limiting it to Adepts only.
In Mass Effect Singularity is so absurdly broken that it's almost always the best option in any tactical situation, esp. at high levels: exposes and gathers all enemies within eight (8) meters and, if followed up with Overload and Warp, one can frequently gun down all or most of them. This rule keeps the Adept unique from all the other classes because its' other offensive tools are shared with the Vanguard and Sentinel. A Singularity-weilding Vanguard is particularly powerful because it can use Adrenaline Rush to double-dip every biotic power other than stasis, making it vastly superior to the Adept.
The party may not leave any building, facility, ship, or otherwise exploit the so-called "zone" mechanic to retreat or regroup while engaged in a fight. "Engaged in a fight" means that the menu option to "save" the game is unavailable at the time in question.
This rule is intended to prevent potential abuse of the "zone mechanic", in which Shepard may, in the midst of combat, leave a zone, collecting any fallen squadmates auto-magically, and end the encounter to regroup in a "safe space".
A meta-exception exists in order to attempt to resolve
a glitched or trapped enemy who must otherwise be cleared
in order for the mission state to progress (and thus avoid
a void). This may only be done once all other enemies
are cleared from the zone.
For the Soldier class, bonus talents may be used for any passive bonuses they apply (for example, Electronics provides a passive shield bonus at all times) but not used actively from the Power Wheel ever (i.e, Overload).
This exists for two reasons, the first principally being role-play, maintaining the invariant that, as a Soldier, Shepard is always both non-technical and a non-biotic. The second reason is that combining the Soldier who already has Immunity and Adrenaline Rush with an additional bonus talent that provides either the critical stop-and-drop or AOE crowd-control abilities that the Soldier is naturally lacking results in a highly over- powered Soldier build.
In effect this rule makes the two "best" passive talents for the Soldier either Electronics, for the passive shield bonus, or Medicine for the passive bonus to medi-gel recharge.
Shepard may only be equipped in armor that bears the N7 logo.
Modded-armor meshes (that include the logo on other armor) are
not allowed. In practice this restricts Shepard to wearing only
the Aldrin Labs Onyx-series of armors.
This rule is primarily about role-playing and intended to maintain consistency in terms of look and feel with the later games. Additionally, Onyx armor is relatively cheap when available so enforcing this rule frees up more credits to equip the rest of the team.
Level-IV Onyx armor is a static inventory item available from
the C-Sec Requisitions Officer on the Citadel, but obtaining
higher levels of Onyx Armor can be tricky. This rule therefore
makes the Electronics bonus power, with it's passive shield
bonuses, possibly the most valuable of all potential bonus
powers.
Dr. Chloe Michel's Wards Med-clinic offers by far the best prices on all sold equipment. This rule forbids selling her any equipment.
Although various arguments could be made, i.e., that Dr. Michel may, in turn, raise additional funds for her clinic by reselling used weapons and equipment at a higher price, this rule assumes that Dr. Michel is not running some kind of weapons and equipment shop on the galactic-version of Ebay on the side. Dr. Michel's is treated as a sell-only shop for reasons of narrative logic and immersion.
An exception to the Shortage rule is made for the Geth Pulse Rifle under the following conditions:
- A pulse rifle may be looted providing that it is immediately equipped by someone and that the weapon it replaces is itself reduced to omni-gel.
- The decision may be deferred to the equipping screen, but if it is decided that the pulse rifle will not be equipped by a member of the squad then it must be immediately reduced to omni-gel (i.e., left behind).
- A pulse rifle may not later be sold to any vendor or merchant.
This rule is primarily for role-playing a sense of field loot that feels a little bit logical and can occasionally even boost the strength of the team's equipment in a believable way. The rifle is considered to be un-sellable to reflect that 1) the market for such equipment is likely small and 2) the military value of studying said equipment would preclude the possibility that one would sell it to a random merchant.
A Geth Armory license for the Normandy quartermaster may not be purchased. It's ridiculous from both a role-playing and narrative, world-building point of view.
In the unlikely event that Geth Armory equipment appears in a vendor's store inventory it may still be purchased if desired.
On any planet the Mako may travel between any marked points on the map. If in the course of traveling between marked points a mineral is detected on ground radar the squad may choose to make a reasonable diversion from the main objective to attempt to locate and survey the mineral.
If it takes more than a minute or two of additional driving or the mineral is located in such a way that relatively easy access to it is not available (i.e., one must struggle over peaks and valleys, and spend a long time figuring out how to get to it) the mineral should be abandoned. There is some subjectivity here, to be sure.
Additionally, if in the course of planetary exploration one (1) or fewer minerals are surveyed, before leaving the planet Shepard and crew may select a line of bearing from the Mako's current location, mark, and drive in that direction for approx. one to two maximum additional minutes in the hope of finding minerals on the world. Whether anything is found or not, once the Mako reaches it's active marker the crew should return to the Normandy.
Gameplay should remain narrative. In practice this rule means:
- The Normandy may enter any cluster at anytime.
- Cluster do not have to be completed as atomic units of gameplay.
- Star Systems and worlds are atomic units of gameplay.
- When the Normandy enters a Star System Shepard must complete all missions in that system before exiting the system.
- When Shepard and sqad deploy to a world all missions on that world must be completed before the squad may return to the Normandy.
- Returning to the Normandy to swap squadmates or repair the
Mako is not allowed. Returning to the Normandy is allowed to attempt
to clear a
voidgame situation if one arises. - World for the purpose of this rule is defined to mean any "landable" game area, i.e., planets, moons, other vessels.
- Feros, Noveria, Virmire, and Therum are worlds under this rule. However on Feros and Noveria you may return to the Normandy and do whatever, swap squad, buy supplies, change equipment, chat, etc., so long as the Normandy does not "lift off".
- Citadel and Pinnacle Station are exempted from this rule as Hub areas.
In effect this rule means that Shepard should not navigate to any Star System s/he is unprepared at the current time to tackle. The rule's purpose is intended to enforce narrative logic onto the playthrough.
Tantau, the site of Wrex's loyalty mission, and Pinnacle Station which this rule defines as an exempted hub world are both in the same system (somewhere in Phoenix Massing Cluster, I believe). The Normandy may enter and leave the star system at will without first completing Tantau's quests, however once a landing party drops to Tantau this rule applies as normal.
No planet scanning for resources. All resources must be obtained in the field, from import bonuses, or through deliveries to the Shadow Broker's ship.
This rule reduces "dead" time when streaming. Planet scanning can be quite relaxing, but during a stream it's difficult to maintain commentary and viewer interest. The rule's primary purpose however, is to prevent maximization. Being unable to buy every upgrade means that upgrade decisions require more thought and carry opportunity costs.
It also introduces a bit of fun as the player is forced to rely on the random shipments to the Shadow Broker vessel to afford a lot of upgrades. These shipments can be any of the four resources and range from 1250 units all the way up to 160K (element zero is capped at 80K), but higher amounts are exponentially rare.
No heavy weapons.
Heavy weapons deflate a lot of tension in battle. They are fun to use but heavy weapons give Shepard an extremely powerful option for crowd control that trumps all others. There's also simply so much heavy weapon ammo and upgrades throughout the game that one doesn't even need to be particularly strategic or judicious in the use of such weapons.
Only one optional mission is allowed between recruitment missions. Additionally, as soon as the suicide mission is available, it must be the Normandy's next destination.
This rules mechanics and implications require some explanation. First some clarifications:
- "Optional mission" refers to any mission that has a "Mission Complete" screen and is not required for the ME2 save to be "import-ready" for ME3.
- "Recruitment mission" refers to any mission that may result in a net increase to squad size, even if the new squadmember is not actually recruited.
- Under the above definition, the prologue is considered a recruitment mission for both Miranda and Jacob, so one optional mission is allowed before recruiting a third squad member.
- Acquire Repear IFF (Ancient Reaper) is considered as Legion's Recruitment mission.
- The Collector Ship, Freedom's Progress, and Horizon missions are not factored into this mission sequence, since they are non-optional and not recruitment missions.
- Samara's Loyalty mission is an "Optional mission" not a "Recruitment mission" for her daughter Morinth, since there is no net change in squad size.
These extra rules loosen the Recruit/Optional sequence restrictions slightly to allow several important missions to be accomplished at the time they appear, if so desired.
- All of Overlord DLC is considered to be 1 (one) "Optional Mission" as even though there are multiple "Mission Complete" screens, as it is an atomic mission set and impossible once started to then back out or piecemeal the sub-missions at a different time. The individual XP for each mission is also relatively low and taken together only sums to about 1 Level (roughly 1200 XP) so it doesn't seem to be a violation of rule intent to treat it that way.
- To give an option to do Arrival before the Suicide Mission, where IMO it makes more sense, given the time-critical nature of it, Arrival DLC is considered to be neither an Optional Mission nor a Recruitment Mission but analogous to Freedom's Progress, Horizon, and Collector Vessel missions. It does not count in anyway for or against the Recruitment->Optional->Recruitment->Optional->... sequence.
This rule is meant to limit XP gain and the number of completed loyalty mission prior to the Reaper IFF mission which, essentially, kicks off the Suicide mission. Instead of cramming all loyalties mission in before retrieving the IFF, this method is specifically timed to give seven (7) loyalty missions. This is the mininum number of loyalties to run a perfect suicide mission while still leaving many, many opportunities to lose a lot of people.
Sniper Rifle-wielding squadmates Garrus, Thane, Legion, and Zaeed are prohibited from carrying the M-29 Incisor Sniper Rifle.
The Incisor is so cool, but it has a serious ammo consumption problem for Shepard, however it's fantastic for allies...perhaps too fantastic. The damage governor on this rifle was accidentally left off so even on the hardest difficulties Shepard can literally just run along behind a pair of Incisor-wielding teammates while they demolish entire levels themselves.
It's awesome to watch but cheap as all and not very sporting or very much within the spirit of a permadeath Insanity run, so for this reason the M-29 is banned for squadmates.