Feros: Geth Attack

The geth have attacked the world of Feros. Your primary objective is to go to the Zhu's Hope colony to investigate what Saren is after, and why he sent his geth troops to the planet.

Acquisition
This mission is acquired after Shepard is given Spectre status and Shepard reports to Dock 422. Udina will say that Anderson is stepping down as the commanding officer of the SSV Normandy and that the ship is now commanded by Shepard.

Anderson’s speech about the planet is that it is a very young colony. The planet is covered with an old Prothean megatropolis that covers about 2/3rds of the planet. Anderson says that the colonists were attempting to build on what the Protheans left behind.

Head to Feros in the Theseus system of the Attican Beta cluster.

Preparation
If there's an opportuity to upgrade your Grenade capacity at one of the Citadel shops before you head here, it's well worth it. For the first missions on Feros you'll be facing mostly geth and a few krogan, and really any squad abilities you bring will be useful. You'll also be able to return to the Normandy to change your squad out, but once you reach the ExoGeni Facility in the Mako your squad will be locked for the rest of Feros, including the section with the Thorian Creepers and Asari Clones. For those sections biotic crowd control powers such as Throw, Lift, and Singularity will be especially valuable for keeping masses of enemies from closing to point blank range. The Neural Shock ability, if available, will also come in handy against the deadly clones.

Feros Approach
On the approach to Feros, unlike the Citadel and Noveria, no one is responding to hails and no one contacts the Normandy. When you land exit the ship and prepare for a fight. On this mission you will be served best by having a balanced squad due to the enemies you will encounter.

Try to avoid using grenades early in this mission as you may need them later.

Arrival on Feros
After exiting the Normandy head down the platform and you will run into David Al Talaqani. He welcomes you and tells you that their leader Fai Dan wants to speak with you. Respond with what you will, no matter what you say David will tell you to speak to Fai Dan, then some geth come up and promptly shoot him in the back. Shoot the Geth Trooper and then move up and put your squadmates in the limited cover that exists. There are a few more Geth Rocket Troopers, Geth Shock Troopers, and Troopers that will block your path. The geth will frequently not use the cover or move out of it so don’t worry if you can’t get at them, they will do that themselves. Throughout this level the numbers and types of enemies will scale based on your current level - for instance you will not see Rocket Troopers upon your arrival here if you have a low level character, even if you are playing on high difficulty level.

Once the geth fall move up and head up the stairs. You are treated to a quick cutscene showing some Geth Hoppers jumping around and Shepard and the squad moving into the stairwell. When you regain control head up the stairs and watch for the Hoppers because they love to use their Assassination ability to take down your squadmates or Shepard. Use some biotics, mainly lift, throw, or singularity to get them off balance and then it will be easy to take them out; if not then make them fall into the abyss. Head up the stairs and into the colony, or what’s left of it.

Zhu’s Hope
When you get to the top of the stairs you come across some defense barriers where two people are arguing about who is going to go and look for geth. Go past them and into the structure ahead of you. Really it is a downed freighter, the Borealis, but just keep going. When you emerge at the other side, head to your right and here will be Arcelia Silva Martinez and Fai Dan. Strike up a conversation and Fai Dan will thank you for your arrival, and rebuffs Arcelia who scoffs at you being late arriving to the battle, and only bringing three people. However your conversation is cut short as more geth arrive, and Arcelia instructs you toward the tower.

When you regain control of Shepard, use the defense barriers to take out the Shock Troopers, Troopers, Rocket Troopers, and Geth Snipers that attack you. Once you manage to take out the geth, then head up the stairs and on the stairs you will encounter yet more Hoppers. Destroy them and keep moving up the stairs. When you reach the top you will hear a colonist panicking because they are being chased by geth. There is nothing you can do to save the colonist but take out the geth that killed them. Because there is little cover here watch your health and shields as you combat the geth. Once you are done dealing with them, head through the door and turn left and keep going. Going right will not keep you on the current mission. You are allowed to head right, however, which takes you into the tunnels where you can make preemptive progress on some of the upcoming assignments. One time this route can be of benefit is on Insanity with a low level character - allowing you to level up a bit more before tackling the difficult tower room.

Once you are in this area, head to the upper level and use the limited cover to your advantage as you take out the few geth that are in the room. Also watch out for the Geth Recon Drones that are buzzing about, while they may be a small threat, if they aren't dealt with, they can deplete your shields. However don’t move out of cover because a dropship will fly over and drop more troops. Troopers, Shock Troopers, maybe a Rocket Trooper, two Geth Destroyers, and on higher difficulties, a Geth Juggernaut. ( If Feros is your first stop after the Citadel and you have a low level character, you will see no Rocket Troopers, no Juggernaut, and only one Destroyer, even if you are playing on Insanity). Stay in cover and take them out, you can move if necessary but shoot the Destroyers at a distance otherwise they will get up close and personal with their shotguns and melee you and the squad.

If you're playing this in Insanity and have a low level character, the above fight can be very tough because your squadmates don't have much cover and enemies try to flank and charge you. Recommended is to stay in the very entrance area and give your squadmates an explicit order to stay there. Edge out and kill some of the easy initial targets; then the drones and shock troopers will appear -- retreat back into the entry alcove to deal with them without being sniped and so forth. Then rest until your health is full and abilities are active before taking out the Sniper which will trigger the final wave that includes the Destroyer - again invite him back to the foyer for a private reception. After that you're safe to emerge with your squad and lay waste to the remaining geth.

Once all the geth have fallen, a short cutscene will play showing the dropship leaving. One of your squadmates will say that they should report to Fai Dan and tell him that the tower is clear. Before heading back however, go to the other end of the tower, opposite the entrance, because there will be a Medical Station and an upgrade kit there waiting to be picked up. When you have them, head back to Fai Dan, don’t worry because there are no enemies for now.

When you report back to Fai Dan he will thank you for clearing the tower but there are apparently still geth in the tunnels below the colony. You can ask him about what is needed to get the colony back on its feet, and he will direct you to the appropriate person and you will get an associated quest:
 * Water Problem: Feros: Water Restoration: Macha Doyle
 * Find her near the entrance to the colony that leads back to the Normandy, near a pipe
 * Food Problem: Feros: Varren Meat: Davin Reynolds
 * Find him in the downed ship, the Borealis
 * Power Shortage: Feros: Power Cells: May O'Connell
 * Find her near the power generator near the entrance.
 * Geth Problem: Feros: Geth in the Tunnels

You can bypass these assignments; whether or not you complete them will impact the fate of the colony. Even if you don't plan to save Zhu's Hope, there's little reason not to do them, as the exp, credits, and equipment that you can earn are well worth the time.

Before you leave, however, head back inside the ship for a codex entry, and hack a terminal in one of the pods of the freighter for the assignment Investigate Shipments (the terminal is only accessible if you have not already received the assignment from Admiral Hackett). If you haven’t already, talk to Ledra to unload some materials and maybe acquire some licenses. If you happen to favor shotguns for some of your squad members, the Tornado models Ledra sells are some of the best available for their level - definitely worth checking against your current shotgun.

If you choose to ignore the missions, head up the stairs past Fai Dan and Arcelia, take a right turn, head into the elevator and skip to here in the walkthrough.

Heading into the Tunnels
Head to the tunnel, up the stairs past Fai Dan and Arcelia, and go past the elevator, again if you want to skip these assignments, then just head into the elevator. Continue past and head down the stairs. About half way down you will encounter another colonist running from the geth. There are a few Hoppers around here, usually two, so take them out. When you are finished, head down and into the tunnels proper.

When you reach the lowest level of the colony head left and then right to get into the tunnels. Follow the path and eventually you will reach a roadblock, so head into the tunnel to your left and down. When you enter take cover because there will be more geth at the other end. Usually Destroyers, Shock Troopers, and a Sniper; use the cover to take out the geth. Once they are down, to your right is the first of the three water valves, turn it on. Head to the other side of the tunnel to get the second. When you walk up and out of the lower area, you have three options, keep going forward, go right or go left.

Going right completes the Geth in the Tunnels mission, Going left completes the Varren Meat mission and the Power Cells mission, going forward completes the Water Restoration mission.

Going Right
When you walk across the bridge and open the door be prepared to confront two Geth Snipers on an upper balcony. Use any means to take them out - a quick storm of tech or biotic abilities will do that safely. Once they are permanently deactivated, move up and in the next room there will be three krogan. Backpedal and draw then into the corridor. Get them down any way you can, just be careful if they go over because there is sometimes a glitch that will cause them to survive the fall and stay alive; and it is almost impossible to shoot them, though in this case it is still possible to shoot the beacon and advance the mission.

You can draw the krogan out one at a time if you're careful and leave your squad back in the hallway - a good place for your squad is in the hallway just inside the automatic door; carefully go up and shoot one krogan once and hightail it back to your squad. A Lift is particularly useful for keeping them helpless, and will prevent them from using their insta-revive power if they are killed in the air; use it while the krogan is charging for extra momentum-based fun. Finally, neither the krogan nor the geth in this section will move through the automatic door that marks this section - you can retreat to rest if things get too hot.

Head into the next room and grab an upgrade near the barriers, and a technician kit in front of the beacon. Shoot the beacon because it can cause a glitch. Once it is done head back to the 4-way.

Going Left
Head through the door and you are treated to a short cutscene where over the door is a varren, and judging by the growling, it doesn’t like you. Head into the room and to the opposite wall and turn around as about seven or eight varren will come and attack. Shoot them at range and once they fall the Alpha Varren will come down. This one is harder because it is the alpha, but use throw and any other means to keep it away and it will die quick enough.

Hammerhead rounds in your shotguns will help knock the varren down so they can't chase and melee you. Finally none of the varren will move into the doorway area, so you can retreat there and safely pick them off.

Once they are down head up to the wrecked M29 Grizzly and pull its power cells, then grab the two containers nearby, a malfunctioning object and a sludge container. Head back out.

Going Forward
Go forward and down into the next tunnel. Again there are some geth at the other end, usually here are some Troopers, Shock Troopers, and a Rocket Trooper. When they are too damaged to function again, to your right is the last water switch. Activate it and the system should be on, if it isn’t then don’t worry, you probably just missed one. Head down the tunnel and climb out and walk down and talk to Ian Newstead. You can ask some questions with him but if you don’t end the conversation with a left dialogue option you will not be attacked by some geth.

Depending on the end you choose for the conversation Ian will say that they are right behind you and two Geth Troopers appear behind you. Shoot them full of holes, and head back, because talking to Ian again will not give it again, and he will just spout nonsense.

Heading Back
If you did any of the missions, then when you reenter the first tunnel, there are some more geth in this tunnel, however you can use the cover provided to take out the attackers, usually a Trooper or two, Shock Troopers, and a Destroyer or Juggernaut, depending on difficulty level.

When you get back up to the elevator, if you did the mission go now because otherwise you may not be able to later. Talk to every person and get the associated rewards. Talk to Ledra, if you haven’t already to get some new equipment and maybe some licenses.

Go to ExoGeni Headquarters
Head back up the stairs and to the elevator. When you get to the top there are some colonists that are fighting some geth, assist then climb into the Mako for the trip. When traveling to ExoGeni Headquarters you will encounter geth, every type of geth, except for the Geth Colossus. Yes you will encounter Geth Armatures. Just remember the different experience gains when shooting from the Mako and on foot. Alternatively, if you are careful, you can tip them over the edge of the Skyway by ramming them for your own amusement.

Geth that shoot missiles and bots, such as the Juggernauts and Armatures, will always aim for the front tip of the Mako. Turn your Mako perpendicular to them, and you will quickly get the hang of rocking back and forth without ever being hit. Even better there are several encounters in this section where you can hide the front of the Mako behind a door or bulkhead while leaving the gun free to fire. Aim directly at the geth when hosing them down with the Mako's machine gun, but aim at the ground at a geth's feet when firing the "big gun". With practice you can make it through this entire section on Insanity level without ever losing the Mako's shield.

When you exit there are some more geth behind a few barriers. Take them out either on foot or from the Mako. There are also some Armatures in the area, so watch out for them as well. Once they are down, move up, try to avoid falling off because you will die, and you will hear a radio transmission, but your squadmates can’t pin down the source. Keep moving and eventually a dropship flies over and drops off two Geth Armatures. You can use the collapsed part of the highway as a little cover from the two Armatures, but again take them down. When you reach the top, you get another transmission, but again it eludes tracking.

When you get up to the next level, there are some geth at the far end that can’t attack yet. There are some red dots on your radar that are close; they are under the skyway. You need to move up and take out the geth on top first because they can take out the Mako. Once the geth on the topside are down, head back and go into a hole in the skyway to get under it. There are two Troopers and two crates for you to grab after you take down the geth.

Skyway Weigh Station
Get back into the Mako and head through the door, when you get far enough you hear a final transmission, saying that they can hear a vehicle, yours, and that it’s clearly not the geth. When you see a large platform to your left and a stairwell heading down, exit the Mako and head down.

When you reach the bottom you see a group of refugees, and you begin a conversation with Ethan Jeong and Juliana Baynham. Juliana thanks you for your arrival and tells you of what happened during the geth attack and of her daughter that might still be alive in the ExoGeni headquarters. Juliana is cooperative and gives you a good amount of information, while Jeong is more concerned with ExoGeni and its reputation; he is also generally uncooperative as he is more concerned with a lawsuit or the like. When you have all the information you want, or just get tired of Jeong, end the conversation and then head over to the left and talk to Gavin Hossle. He has just a small task for you. Since you are already going to ExoGeni, accept it because you will get some credits later.

When you are done leave and head back to the Mako. Drive up and around to exit the station. Recommended save point when you reach the top. When you exit there are more geth awaiting you outside and behind barriers. Roll up slowly and back if you need to, the door will close on its own. Once the geth are down, there is another transmission although it can’t be pinned down. When you move a little further along you hear another transmission, but this one is panicked. On your right you should see another opening so exit and head inside. In this area are two human corpses, three Geth Troopers, two crates, and finally a med kit. Take out the geth and grab the loot then reenter the Mako and continue. When you get closer to ExoGeni’s garage there is a final round of geth, mainly everything except Destroyers.

When the final geth falls head inside and serve the geth an eviction notice.

ExoGeni Headquarters Entrance
When you get into ExoGeni’s garage, your radar gets jammed, unless you have the appropriate Weapons Upgrades. Exit the Mako and take out the geth that are jumping around and the Troopers and Rocket Troopers that come down from the upper level. If you don't care about the reduce XP rewards for doing so, you can take almost all of them out with the heavy explosive rounds from the Mako's gun just by firing in through the door.

Once all the geth are down head up the ramp and at the other end is a energy barrier that you can’t penetrate. However there is a way round it, but head to the door opposite the barrier, decrypt the door and inside is an Armature, however it is deactivated at the moment so don’t shoot he explosive canister. The second you grab the crate in the room, the Armature wakes up, so shoot (or better yet overload) the container and use biotics to get it off balance. Use overload to take down its shields and once it falls head back out of the room.

Note: Interestingly in some cases, the fight with the Armature will end with the armature destroyed, but it will almost immediately 'wake up' again and resume combat stance, but it will do nothing. It will be an active enemy but your squad mates wont attack it. It will just stand there, doing nothing. Its a perfect opportunity to get up close to a smaller-scale version and get a close look at it.

This is the last chance to shop at Zhu's Hope or change squadmates at the Normandy. Once you drop down into the cavern your squadmate choices are locked for the rest of Feros, including the section with the Thorian.

Head back to the second wall and there is a gap where you can drop down, so do so and you emerge into a huge cavern. A cutscene starts where someone shoots and the shot gets deflected by Shepard’s shields. The person approaches and apologizes, you can respond to that and she eventually introduces herself as Lizbeth Baynham. You can ask her some questions about what the geth are doing on Feros and she replies that they are probably there for the Thorian. You can ask about it but she apparently doesn’t know much. When you are done, she will give you her ID badge and she will go an hide, again.

When the conversation ends, you will be attacked by about 10 varren so watch out. Because there is no cover here and the varren all attack at once, it can be a hard attack to survive, especially on lower levels and harder difficulties. There is a piece of wood bridging a gap between two concrete pillars in the middle of the area - get out to the end of it as quickly as possible, before the varren swarm you. The varren will have a hard time reaching you there, and will often clump up making themselves vulnerable to area effect abilities. Also, if worst comes to worst you can jump off and they will take the long way round to find you again. Biotics such as Lift, Throw, and Singularity are handy for keeping the varren away from you while you whittle their numbers. Likewise consider equipping Shotguns for all party members even those not trained in them - especially if you have Hammerhead rounds which will greatly increase the chances of knocking varren off their feet. Remember to use your storm ability to run quickly away from groups of varren when needed.

When the varren are finally down, move across the room and to the door to the facility.

ExoGeni Facility Interior
When you start to climb the stairs you hear a krogan yelling, and a VI replies. You can stand for a second and hear the krogan get more frustrated but eventually when you get up far enough a cutscene will play showing VI dismissing the krogan and revealing your presence. The krogan turns and fights you. Considering that he has a shotgun and krogan are good at close quarters fighting, you do have a fight on your hands, especially because he loves to go after Shepard. Both biotics like Lift and tech like Neural Shock can knock this powerful krogan off his feet so that you can deal damage.

When the krogan falls, talk to the VI and it will remind you that discharging weapons on company property is forbidden. It welcomes you as Lizbeth, even if Shepard is male, because of her ID badge. You can ask the VI questions about the Thorian and Lizbeth. Apparently Lizbeth knew a lot more than she let on and also what ExoGeni was doing. They let the Thorian take over the colony and were studying the results.

When you are done head out and eventually you come to a room where your squadmates comment about the legs that are holding the dropship to the building. Continue along the catwalk and you will see two Geth Shock Troopers are bent over in what appears to be prayer to a glowing orb. Because it is a place of worship, violence is forbidden...on second thought it is a geth one, so take out the geth. The second you start shooting the geth rise and return fire, although it may be useless because if you are fast enough you can take them out before they do. Drop down and you can investigate the orb, your squadmates give their opinions, but nothing gained, so grab the crate on the floor near where you dropped down and leave.

The next area you enter will be the main entrance to the facility so there are some geth here as well. There is some cover here however and that makes it easier to take out the geth. There is usually a Hopper, Shock Trooper, and two Troopers in the room, so nothing that isn’t hard. When the geth are down head to the door across from where you entered and up the stairs.

When you get to the top, put your squadmates in cover as there are three krogan here, just make sure they don’t get close enough to use their shotguns effectively -- they won't come far down the stairs so you can retreat when needed. A Lift followed by a Throw while they're in their starting position will often boost at least one of the krogan "through the ceiling" resulting in an insta-kill.

When you are done dealing with the organic intruders, head to the other side of the room and access the terminal. This will complete Gavin Hossle’s side quest and the other terminal will give the assignment Investigate Facility, also grab the storage locker and head out. When you get back to the main room, head through the other door and up these stairs, grab the crate along the way, and into yet another room.

When you get to the end of the corridor, send in your squadmates first because there are some geth in the room, Hoppers, Shock Troopers, and Troopers usually. When the geth are finally down search the room for another console that gives the assignment Investigate Samples. Move around and grab the 3 crates around this side of the room. Then head up the stairs and about halfway down your squadmates will comment on the claw in the middle of the room. Then the camera pans to the other end of the room where a Destroyer is patrolling and keeping watch over Shock Troopers, Troopers, and Rocket Troopers.

When you regain control, just shoot to get the geth’s attention and then a hidden Hopper will jump out. Move around and backpedal if you need to, and take out the geth. Keep an eye on the Destroyer especially because it just loves to charge and melee the squad to death. When the geth are full of holes, move to the other side and grab the two crates that are near the large claw, then bypass a geth terminal to get the assignment Geth Activity. If you have been to the Armstrong Nebula then this console will not be available. There is a small door and there is a crate on the other side so head over an grab it then return and access the console along the wall.

Head over to another console to read a note saying that the door to the shuttle bay is currently glitchy: it works fine at under 30 PSI, at 31-34 it can shear through a metal I-beam, and at over 35 PSI it automatically shuts down. Use the buttons to the left of this console to get to 31-34 PSI; anything under 30 is fine, but at 35 or over the system will reset. The 17, 11 and 5 buttons will be sufficient. When you get the proper combination, close the door and watch as the claw is sheared through and the dropship falls into the rubble that covers the planet’s surface.

Enemies

 * Geth Armature
 * Geth Destroyer
 * Geth Sapper
 * Geth Stalker
 * Geth Juggernaut
 * Geth Recon Drone
 * Geth Rocket Trooper
 * Geth Shock Trooper
 * Geth Trooper
 * Krogan
 * Krogan Commander

Trivia

 * On the first part of the skyway, in the corridor under the road (just after surmounting the collapsed portion of the bridge), there is an easy-decryption crate which can be opened an unlimited number of times. After opening the crate save the game; then load that save, and you will be able to decrypt the crate again for new items.  Save again, load, and re-loot; this process can be repeated as many times as you wish, and the crate will again be accessible on your return trip.