Overlord (assignment)

A Cerberus station on the planet Aite (Typhon system, Phoenix Massing) has gone off the grid. The Illusive Man requested assistance investigating the situation.

On the galaxy map this assignment is titled Investigate Project Overlord

Acquisition
A message is sent to Shepard's private terminal from the Illusive Man:

Arrival on Aite
The Normandy flies over the planet and drops the Hammerhead where it lands on a pad near the facility. Once you land on Aite you are contacted by Dr. Archer and he gives you a brief rundown of the situation. Basically they are facing a possible VI breakout and you need to retract the transmission dish. Run across the pad and enter the door, once you are inside, an announcement says that you must check in with security to be logged in to the facility and your weapons checked, however there doesn’t seem to be anyone left to do that. Head down the ramps and when you reach the bottom, Archer is on a monitor. Walk over to it and listen.

Archer says that he has locked himself in a computer room on the far side of the facility, there are geth everywhere, and the VI program has seized control of the geth. Once Archer finishes, the same announcement comes over, ignore it and proceed through the door. The door to the left is locked, so move on to the door ahead of you. The other door out is locked, but in the room are the dish controls and a log from Archer. Listen to the log and then retract the dish.

Getting to the Antenna
The second the dish is fully retracted, you hear two voices, a standard computer voice, “System Error”, and the Rogue VI, which says something that seems like geth communications. Archer comes over the comm and says that the VI has overridden the controls and is still trying to beam itself off planet. You have to stop it before it does. Archer says that you need to destroy the antenna inside the dish, so he directs you to a tram on the lower level. The door heading back to the pad locks, so head to the other door and proceed.

As you move towards the tram, the VI comes over the PA and repeats the unintelligible voice, and the computer says that geth activity has been detected, and all personal are to remain at their stations until an all clear is given. As you reach the first landing, there is a PDA, access it and proceed. Keep heading down and open the door at the end of the passage.

As you emerge into the next room, the facility’s mess hall, the computer welcomes you and gives the special of the day, egg salad. However there are numerous geth in the room as well. Geth Troopers, Geth Destroyers, Geth Rocket Troopers are waiting, so take them out from the cover near the door, however stay in cover because more geth will come out. More Troopers, Rocket Troopers, and another Destroyer will storm the room, however the Troopers will enter from the second level, so move back to keep in cover. An autosave will kick in when all the geth are down.

Once the geth are down, head across the room and access a cash register for some credits and a medical station for some medi-gel. Then head to the upper level, to the right and a door will be accessible. Inside is another of Archer’s logs and a wall safe, no bypass on this one. Once you are done in the room, head out and walk across the upper level, however get into cover because more geth will emerge from the other side of the room and attack. Stay in cover, and on the second floor in order to take them out. More Troopers, Rocket Troopers, and another two Destroyers are in this bunch, so make sure to keep them at a distance.

Once the attacking geth are down, head though the door and inside is what appears to be a waiting area. There is a medical station and some salvageable parts, so grab them before moving on. The next area is the tram, so save your game, and active the tram.

Getting to the Dish
As you travel in the tram, Archer comes over the comm saying that the VI is aligning the dish manually and has a clear transmission range at the orbiting satellite. It is going to be tight. Once the tram stops, head out the side door and get to that antenna. There are no enemies so just run across the catwalks and keep moving around to the outside catwalks, and take cover on the upper level because two Troopers and a Destroyer will come out of a room on the lower level. Take them out and get into the room. Inside is some palladium, a medical station, and another log.

Head back out and the computer will say again that a satellite broadcast window is opening soon, so no time to waste. Get to a terminal and extend the walkway into the dish. Keep moving and get to the base of the dish and get inside. However the VI apparently wants to get off-world, so just as you are about to reach the door, you are ambushed by Troopers and Rocket Troopers from the left. Get into cover and take out the attackers, and once they are down, bypass and unlock the door. Save your game, enter the room, and prepare for a hard fight.

Once inside the dish, get in cover because more geth attack. This group includes Hunters so focus on them first. The best tactic here is to move from cover to cover, heading left or right, no real difference in enemy numbers, and taking out geth as they pop up. Just watch your flanks as the geth severely outnumber you and keep moving around to your flanks. Watch the second/upper level as well, as Rocket Troopers from the other side where you are advancing, charge up various ramps and position themselves there to get shots at you. Keep to cover as much as you can, and keep destroying geth.

On the far side of the room is a Geth Prime, so switch your focus to it and again, stay in cover. However, the Prime likes to stay on the move, so keep your eye on it, move with it, from cover to cover, and take it down. Once the geth are down, head up the catwalks and destroy the dish.

Destroying the Dish
When you get into the dish itself, Archer will say that you need to take out the support struts, so destroy the various capacitors that are around. Move up the various capacitors around the dish, the things that resemble fuel tanks, access the terminals to lower their defenses. However the second you do so, shoot the tank and find cover because the computer will comment about the dish’s structural integrity, the VI will say something angrily over the comm, and some geth attack.

The second the third support is destroyed, you are treated to a cutscene where Shepard and the squad are watching the destruction; however, the whole dish starts to collapse. Shepard orders a retreat and the squad runs for it, jumps and lands safely on the catwalks around the dish. Archer comes up at this point to thank them, Shepard asks for an explanation, and Archer tells the squad to come with him for that explanation.

Logs
{{blockquote|Memo to all project personal, I understand there is some concern handling live geth. I agree there is some risk, but the potential rewards are much greater. Someday your sons and daughters will thank you. {{blockquote|Memo to all project personal. Congratulations on all your hard work. Tomorrow we take the next step forward. It will be a great day for Cerberus, and a greater day for humanity.}} {{Blockquote|This is Project Overlord with an emergency message to Cerberus Command! We have experienced a catastrophic security failure and are requesting assistance! We - - what do you mean the outgoing comms are jammed? How can it do that?}}

Mission Summary
"Transmission dish destroyed. Surviving scientist located."
 * Debriefing
 * Experience: 300 (312)
 * Credits: 6,375
 * Cerberus Funding: 3,750
 * Credits Found: 2,625
 * Resources
 * Palladium: 1,000