Guide Written by: Brandon "Long Service Medal" Cackowsk-Schnell

To: Commander Shepard, Normandy SR-2

From: ENCRYPTED

Greetings Commander Shepard. I know your time is important so I'll be brief. As you've no doubt witnessed up until this point, Cerberus's resources are vast and we are willing to employ them to the best of our ability in the fight against the collectors. What the Illusive man has not told you, no doubt to ensure that the possibility of defeat keeps you prepared and on edge, is that my department has mapped out exactly how this fight will end. I'm all for preparedness however I'm also for the galaxy surviving and for that to happen, you need all of the information I can provide. Have you ever heard of Predictive Mathematics Commander Shepard? No matter. Without getting into it, let me say that I've analyzed every piece of data regarding you, your squad and the threat you face and have come up with a strategy to ensure that not only you survive but your entire squad as well.

Having the right squad isn't going to be enough. They'll need to be loyal to you, unburdened by whatever emotional baggage they've brought with them. On top of this, you'll need to make the right command decisions, placing your squad members where they need to be so that they can best succeed. Finally, personnel isn't enough, you'll need to have the very best equipment for you, your squad and the Normandy. Lucky for you, I can walk you through all of this. Simply follow these instructions and I can assure you, everyone will come out of this alive. One other thing before we get started. The Illusive Man can't know of my communications with you. Cerberus has enough of a public relations problem without people knowing our ability to predict the future with a high degree of certainty. When I said that everyone will get out of this alive, I meant myself as well.

Timeline

My records show that by now you have completed all of your dossier missions and, as a result have been told about the derelict reaper ship and been given the mission to obtain the IFF for the Omega 4 relay. Everything up to this point is immaterial in terms of your squad's survival including whether or not you decided to awaken Grunt, however it is in your best interests to have as many squad members as possible, including a genetically perfect Krogan. If there are dossier missions still to be completed, complete them and then these instructions will pick up. After you obtain the reaper IFF and EDI successfully installs it, the clock will start ticking and speed will be of the essence so your timeline should look like this:

1. Complete all available squad loyalty missions.

2. Complete any planetary side missions.

3. Travel to obtain any needed upgrades, scanning planets as necessary to obtain resources.

4. Complete reaper IFF mission, obtaining Legion in the process.

5. Complete Legion loyalty mission.

6. Immediately after EDI installs the IFF, enter the Omega 4 relay and attack the collectors.

The key here is to have as little time spent in between when EDI successfully installs the IFF and entering the Omega 4 relay. This will ensure the highest survival rate of the Normandy crew. To accomplish this, get any upgrades and planetary resources needed to research said upgrades before getting the reaper IFF. This will ensure that once EDI installs the IFF you're ready to take the fight to the collectors.

Upgrades

Cerberus has done everything in its power to give you the tools needed to complete your missions however there are still many more upgrades available for you, your squad and the Normandy. Of these, the Normandy upgrades are the most important. Our calculations have shown that attacking the collectors through the Omega 4 relays is an extremely dangerous proposition and the Normandy needs as much help as she can get. Once you have completed all of your dossier missions and have obtained your squad, speak to each of your squad members for various upgrades. Who dies as a result of not having the correct Normandy upgrades is randomly pulled from a predetermined set of squad members but filtered based on who is in your squad as you fight the oculus throughout the Normandy.

All Normandy upgrades are obtained either from talking to a particular squad member or upon completing their loyalty mission. The Normandy upgrades are as follows:

Heavy Ship Armor Upgrade: Obtained from talking to Jacob. Costs 15000 Palladium. Without this upgrade the Normandy will not be able to weather the oculus attacks and either Jack, Jacob or Thane will die.

Multicore Shielding: Obtained from talking to Tali. Costs 15000 Palladium. Without this shielding the Normandy will take damage when navigating the collector debris field and either Tali, Legion, Thane or Garrus will die.

Thanix Cannon: Obtained from talking to Garrus. Costs 15000 Platinum. Without this weapon the Normandy will have to engage the collector ship at close range, taking heavy damage in the process and either Tali, Legion, Garrus or Thane will die.