Help me with ME 1: difficulty in battle

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Mon May 16, 2011 5:48 pm

Can anyone give me some general tips on ME 1. I gave up shortly after getting the freedom to travel around because I would get wrecked. The battle where you meet up with the psychic (forgot what called - the 'mage' alien female race) I reloaded so many times.

In general I found it hard to maneuvre all my companions to cover in real time so in hard battles they would die fast. Their shield powers I never knew when to activate and lasted short time.

I was a sniper forgot what they are called. I used that shield scrambler thing when off cooldown and used a gun when in between cool down. Of course I tried to snip everything I could, but sometimes couldn't.

So anything you can think of. I was on easy difficulty too. The confidence builder battles I could handle it was just the tough ones I had trouble.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Mon May 16, 2011 6:43 pm

Infiltrator, eh?

Keep your distance and stick close to walls, crates, whatever else can give you cover. Even the slightest.
Keep an eye out for charging enemies, and stay on your toes.

The cover system is borked in ME1, but moving around and running behind cover works just nice.

For groups of enemies use grenades. Remember to upgrade your weapon whenever possible, the differences are enormous.

As for companions.. On my first two playthroughs i didn't issue any commands to them

Someone else will have to share their thoughts on this subject.

Regards

Garriath · Post by **Garriath** » Mon May 16, 2011 10:13 pm

It's also very important to recognize that locations outside of the main storyline ME1 doesn't scale to your level at all similarly to games like Oblivion. As such, once you have the Normandy, it makes the most sense to immediately choose a planet and play through its storyline before going exploring; the one planet should give you a high enough level to make any battle winnable (if still challenging.)

For what it's worth, I've beat the game on the hardest difficulty level using this strategy.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue May 17, 2011 9:27 am

If you haven't got enough points to make Sniping easy, you're better off using your pistol. You probably have a decent skill in it, if you have been investing in the Sniper. Remember to use the Pistol special ability. Also, do not stick to the one ability you described: use all of them as soon as available.
As Stworca said: be sure to upgrade your gear, and that of your squad as well. I don't know if you can change it, but make sure your squad uses abilities as soon as possible.
In this particular battle, I found it helped if you took out the adds ASAP.

Darth Gavinius · Post by **Darth Gavinius** » Tue May 17, 2011 10:45 am

First off I liked the Infiltrator Class but don't bother with Sniper Rifles until you have explosive rounds - the slow heat dissipation makes the sniper rifle pointless unless you are attacking from a defendable height/and or a long distance. Equipping explosive rounds makes your one shot - even badly aimed really count. Stick as much as possible to the Pistol or Assault Rifle for general use.

Use the tactical HUD to give you time to consider what you need to do in heated battles - if using the pistol this can be used to improve your targeting. Try and keep your squad balanced - as an infiltrator I found Wrex, Liara or Kaiden to be the best support squad for general use, Wrex/Liara and Ashley when fighting Rachni. Use squad members with Barrier to lure people into the open (risky against techs) and always keep one squad member on your flank and try not to shoot them. Be careful if you use sprint during battle in ME1 it has got me killed more than anything else - basically because there is a lag between getting out of sprint and finding cover/being able to fire/use an ability.

Darth Malignus · Post by **Darth Malignus** » Sun May 22, 2011 12:32 pm

Upgrades: Kinetic Coil, Frictionless Materials, Sledgehammer Rounds.
Most effective setup in my mind. You get decent damage, accuracy, stability and heat dampening.

Those upgrades fit into every weapon, except the Sniper Rifle. For that you'll want to hammer down on the enemy hard. Two Scram Rails and the High Explosive Rounds. The High Explosive Rounds will overheat your Sniper Rifle anyway you do it, so might as well use some upgrades that boosts damage and overheats the weapon, like the Scram Rails. If you're accurate enough, the opponents will be tossed around like ragdolls. If they by some freak of nature survive. And even if you miss and hit the floor/wall/whatever close by, they'll still be sent flying because of the explosive radius. Try aiming at the floorspace between a hostiles feet and they will fly straight up (or at least the pieces left of them will).

If I ever felt the urge to use a power, skill etc., it was because I was curious to see what it did, never because I needed to use it to survive, no matter which class I played or whom I fought against. The weapon setup was more than enough to get me by. My favorite class, Soldier with Electronics as a bonus skill, was pretty much untouchable anyway, at least with some sort of shield upgrade in his armor.

As for your problems hitting things.. practise, I suppose. Get as many upgrades that improves accuracy and stability as you can. And upgrade your "fighting" talents, like Spectre Training or Sniper Rifle, as quickly as possible. That helps.

As for the party setup, my favorites are Ash and Garrus, with focus on Sniper Rifles, Assault Rifles and as much combat and Turian Agent etc. training of any kind I can stuff down their throats. No one comes close to them in my mind, except maybe Wrex. I've never been able to view Tali, Liara and and that Alenko tool as anything else than useless prats. Spoiler:

Spoiler

I always select Kaidan to die on Virmire.

And God knows I've played a game entirely through with all of them before. Some might find them useful in a battle. I can't even find a use for those three outside of combat.

Spoiler:

Spoiler

I use the Spectre Sniper Rifle with those upgrades, and I've clobbered the living daylights out of Cyborg-Saren in the final battle like that plenty of times by now. Even though the rifle overheats, it's still ready to hit him again before he really gets a chance to recuperate from a hit like that. He never really gets a chance to get back up, and if you play like I do, with Ashley and Garrus in your squad and with the same setup, the crossfire from three Sniper Rifles will pretty much keep him staggering on his feet throughout the entire battle.

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Tue May 31, 2011 10:47 am

Thanks guys. I got majorly addicted to dungeon lords, again, but I'll review these again and make another try.

The points I really understood were:

1) find planets to train up on before going to tougher fights. I just wanted to get the leira lady because she was a 'mage'.

2) upgrade things

3) Use pistols if more points in them

4) uprgrade support skills such as special ops (or whatever its called).

Question: Is it run of the mill if all the companions die and you just are more self sufficient to win battles? Or is it kinda micromanage like baldurs gate or icewind dale?

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue May 31, 2011 11:27 am

My squadmates rarely died, but they had upgraded armour too.

Definitely build up the Spectre Talent, it gives you an ability to resurrect your fallen squadmates.

Darth Malignus · Post by **Darth Malignus** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 6:43 pm

Claudius wrote:Thanks guys. I got majorly addicted to dungeon lords, again, but I'll review these again and make another try.

The points I really understood were:

1) find planets to train up on before going to tougher fights. I just wanted to get the leira lady because she was a 'mage'.

2) upgrade things

3) Use pistols if more points in them

4) uprgrade support skills such as special ops (or whatever its called).

Question: Is it run of the mill if all the companions die and you just are more self sufficient to win battles? Or is it kinda micromanage like baldurs gate or icewind dale?

1. Yeah, pretty much. Being "powerfull" or at least a bit more trained helps

2. Same.

3. Use pistols if your class can't use any other weapons. Other than that, pistols never really did it for me. Apparently, the Marksman talent will eventually get you a bigger bonus than Assault Rifles (or so I've read in an online guide somewhere), but I just like Assault Rifles better. Preferences, I suppose.

4. Yeah, upgrade talents with accuracy, damage etc., like Spectre Training.

And yes, you don't rely so much on team mates, like in BG or IWD. You are perfectly capable of surviving most battles without much hassle, even if your team is lying on the floor. The "spell" system is pretty straight forward. Hold the Space button, aim for the enemy and click the power you want to unleash.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:43 am

2. Addendum: Pistols are good for a Soldier/Infiltrator if your Sniper skill isn't great yet, or if your in Close Quarter Battle.

Stworca · Post by **Stworca** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:44 am

For infiltrator pistols are great. Esp when you activate the special ability and click left mouse button like mad. Can't imagine Pinnacle Station without pistol.