UNC: Geth Incursions

The geth have begun setting up a number of small outposts in the Armstrong Cluster of the Skyllian Verge. You must eliminate these outposts before the incursion becomes a full-scale invasion.

Acquisition
This assignment is acquired by simply traveling to the Armstrong Nebula. You will receive a transmission from Admiral Hackett detailing four geth outposts that need to be destroyed. This assignment can also be gained by hacking one of the geth terminals at the ExoGeni building on Feros or by hacking into a terminal in the Genophage Labs on Virmire.

The four outposts are in the Hong, Tereshkova, Vamshi and Gagarin systems on the planets Casbin, Antibaar, Maji, and Rayingri, respectively.

General Tactics
On most of the worlds this assignment takes place on, the geth base is in a valley - which makes it very easy to fight at a distance.

Weapon of Choice

 * Sniper Rifle: As noted above, because of the layout of the bases and the fact that the player usually has the higher ground, sniper rifles become extremely efficient. If you don't have a high enough skill level, try to find a closer spot without being too exposed.
 * Assault Rifle: You will most likely need to be quite close to actually hit something, but the firepower will help you kill geth a lot faster.
 * Pistol: Not as useful as the assault rifle, but the bonus to accuracy will compensate for the lack of firepower. Again, you will most likely need to fight in close quarters, as pistols don't have much range.
 * Shotgun: If your strategy is based on sniping from a distance, avoid the shotgun; it doesn't have much range and Carnage will miss most of the time. If you are fighting in close quarters, however, the shotgun will give you a lot of coverage and stopping power.

In general, you might want to invest in Spectre - Master Gear before starting this assignment. Tungsten Ammunition is also a must.

Location
The important thing is to find a good location for your party to fire from. You might want to circle around the geth base for the "perfect" location. It is important to find the location that fits your skills - choosing a location that's too far away will mean the party never hits their target, while choosing a location too close might expose the party to geth fire (in which case, the effect of the higher ground is lost).

Party Planning

 * Biotic abilities are lost if using long-distance tactics because it's usually too far for the abilities to be effective. Due to the fact that biotics generally give less firepower then other classes, you might want to avoid bringing them along.
 * Alternatively, if you are aiming to get maximum XP from this assignment and want to fight the geth on foot (or in the interior settings) bring Liara T'Soni. Though you will need to watch her health and shields very carefully, Liara's Singularity talent is ideal for crowd control and maximum coverage of tech abilities like Damping or Sabotage, particularly on Antibaar when Geth Primes are surrounded by smaller geth. Singularity also doubles as a backup Lift when handling Geth Armatures.


 * Tech abilities could be useful, based on the position you chose - if you can get close enough, you might benefit from the tech proximity mines.
 * You might want to choose Ashley Williams or Wrex for ultimate fire power with assault rifles, or Garrus equipped with a sniper rifle.

Alternate Strategy
It is entirely possible to eliminate the above-ground forces of all four bases without leaving the Mako. After finding a good firing position, it is possible to snipe all geth forces with the Mako's main cannon while zooming in. This has the added benefit of removing yourself and your team from immeadiate danger, although it is important to prioritize the anti-armor capable enemies first.

Casbin
This is an outdoor outpost west northwest of your landing position with Geth Snipers and Geth Rocket Troopers. Once they have been destroyed, a Geth Dropship will fly and linger overhead. It drops off Geth Shock Troopers. You can either attack the dropship with the Mako's cannon until it is forced to retreat, or engage the Shock Troopers as they appear. After 20 or so kills, the dropship will give up and leave. You'll accumulate more ammo and weapon upgrades than you will ever need this way. There are also three Geth Armatures and three turrets at a post in the mountains marked 'Anomalous Signal', but it is not necessary to eliminate them to complete the assignment on Casbin.

Antibaar
The geth have built another outpost guarded by Geth Snipers and Geth Rocket Troopers in the mountains in the north central of the map, but this time a Geth Colossus is also on patrol in the center of the outpost. When you get closer, unless you have level 10 combat optics, your radar will be jammed. Once the ground troops are taken out, a Geth Dropship will drop reinforcements, including two Geth Primes and some Shock Troopers. Focus on the Primes first as they provide damage and defense bonuses to the smaller geth, and they are the greatest threat.

Maji
A long, winding route into the mountains will take you past five turrets. Destroy them if you wish but they are not required to complete the mission. Continue to a small outpost with more Geth Snipers and Geth Rocket Troopers. Once they've been cleared, a Geth Colossus will be dropped from overhead.

Rayingri
The geth have taken over a research outpost. Follow the beacons into the hills to an underground facility surrounded by dragon's teeth. Enter the facility to discover it is infested with husks. The entry chamber holds some loot so grab it then move on to the main chamber. The main chamber contains a few husks so take them out then find a med kit on a pillar. When you go to the back rooms the tunnel will open and six more husks will run out at you. Take them all out then grab some cover becasue as soon as the last husk is dead you will be ambushed by a large geth force. The force has two Geth Destroyers, two Geth Snipers, and three Geth Troopers. Once the geth are down head to the back rooms and loot the place. The right room holds two crates and the left four. Head outside when you are done.

When you leave the outpost, you will find a Geth Dropship sending in reinforcements which includes Geth Troopers, Geth Shock Troopers, Geth Rocket Troopers, and Geth Snipers. The dropship will not linger as it did on Casbin, and once the ground troops are gone this outpost is clear.

Solcrum
When all four outposts have been destroyed, one of your squadmates will say that they expected one of the destroyed outposts to be the main outpost for the attacks. Then the other will say that the signal is coming into the outpost. They say that the signal must be coming from somewhere inside the cluster. It leads to the Grissom system, where the geth have a main base of operations on Solcrum, the small moon beside Notanban.

The entrance to the underground base on Solcrum is guarded by Geth Rocket Troopers in sniper towers and two patrolling Geth Colossi. The interior is laid out as a prefab two story with balcony on the left rather than the expected underground pattern. Inside the base there is little cover and it is full of geth troops, including Geth Hoppers, Geth Snipers and Geth Destroyers. Use Combat Optics to cut through their radar jamming. There is also a Geth Juggernaut on the balcony, but unlike most base setups there are no fuel tanks nearby. Once the geth are dead, a paragraph summary will appear, saying a recording of a quarian singing a lament has been triggered.

Don't forget to go through the door opposite the entrance on the ground floor and hack the data terminal for geth data files you can bring to Tali for the supplementary assignment Tali and the Geth.

Complete this assignment by returning to the Normandy for a congratulatory message from Admiral Hackett.

Enemies

 * Geth Colossus
 * Geth Destroyer
 * Geth Hopper
 * Geth Juggernaut
 * Geth Prime
 * Geth Rocket Trooper
 * Geth Shock Trooper
 * Geth Sniper
 * Geth Trooper
 * Geth Turret

Trivia

 * If you start off with Rayingri, then move to Antibaar and clean up there, one squad member will comment that there's "only one more outpost to go", although you've still got two more to destroy. After going to Casbin and wiping out the outpost there, you will get the location of the geth headquarters.
 * After taking out the fourth base and deducing the location of the fifth on Solcrum, whoever speaks last in the short cutscene will say their last line twice -- once in the cutscene and once after you've regained control. This may be the result of a bug.