Prestacious' Challenges

"When sent to investigate a Cerberus research base that's mysteriously gone silent, Shepard arrives to find Geth overrunning the base. The sole survivor, Chief Scientist Archer, paints a dire picture: an experiment to fuse a human volunteer with a virtual intelligence created a dangerous hybrid "VI overlord".

In this twist of Project Overlord, Shepard is able to find a way to hack into the VI overlord and gain control of just a single Geth. Perhaps this Geth will supplant the Master program...

Conditions: Full Extraction on Firebase Glacier vs Geth

Character: Geth Infiltrator

Weapon: Geth Plasma Shotgun

Once an enforcement officer on Palaven, the Turian Kuril grew deeply angered by the frequency of lost criminals and escaped convicts. He would venture to Omega and to the underworld of the Blue Suns. He would become obsessed with the notion of permanent imprisonment, without the slightest possibility of escape. His idea of a prison in space, of the ultimate purgatory, was born.

Meanwhile, he would climb the ranks of the Blue Suns organization. Ironically, he becomes a high ranking member of a not-so-law-abiding group while on his quest to capture and imprison high profile criminals on the dark space station. His methods are twisted as ethics and morality become a gray zone, a necessary step towards his ultimate goal. He would learn the strong influence of scare tactics.

As such, he would come across a true weapon of terror: an assault rifle named after the returned dead, an unholy, unnatural weapon that only few can afford and even fewer dare to wield. He felt himself the Warden of Purgatory and Death itself with the dark lord Revenant in arms. He would drown out the final cries of the criminals of this world with the roar of hell itself. He became the Warden of Purgatory. The warden of the Revenant.

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Ghost vs Cerberus

Character: Turian Soldier

Weapon: M76- Revenant

Note: Warden Kuril has tech armor, however no biotic abilities, so I feel TSol is a better pick as compared to TSent, moreover, marksman + Revenant. Need I say more? Also, this is definitely a much tougher challenge than week 1, not for the faint of heart!

Jondum Bau is a Salarian Spectre. He is one of the few. One of the best. He is an infiltrator with a strong moral compass who tries to eliminate corruption. He trailed Kasumi Goto, the Master Thief, for a long time. Nobody else was remotely capable of that task.

In a turn of events, he is eventually aided by Kasumi and Shepard, who provide intel of their own and assist in the capture of a criminal (an indoctrinated Hanar diplomat) responsible for attempting to unleash a virus directed towards the defense network of Kahje. The highly moral Bau decides to return the favor and assist Shepard in the war effort. He sends this message,

"From: Sender Blocked

Commander:

My name is Jondum Bau. I'm with Special Tactics & Recon.

While some still have concerns about your past activities with Cerberus, many of us in ST&R took your warnings about the Reapers seriously. I'm reaching out to you because I have information that could tie agents with significant political power to the Reapers.

If you have time to meet me in the Citadel Embassy, I'd appreciate your discreet assistance.

Sincerely,

Jondum Bau, STG, ST&R"

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Jade vs Reapers

Character: Salarian Infiltrator

Weapon: M77-Paladin Heavy Pistol

Note: Jondum Bau likes his Paladin pistol. A hard earned Spectre Requisitions weapon.

"Known for their unique biology and aggressive behavior, the Vorcha of Heshtok are a primitive race that live among the galaxy's darker and more dangerous locations, such as Omega. In 2185, some vorcha on Omega allied themselves with the Collectors, in an attempt to raise their quality of life. They hoped to become the rulers of Omega and deactivated the station's life support systems, intending to kill all of its inhabitants, except for themselves."

Some Vorcha followed suit, misguided by these rebel Vorcha. However, the rare, more intelligent Vorcha, often of the professional class, quickly realized their error. They tried to rectify their poor choice of alignment. In Anger, and despair, they returned to their savage roots, to what was deeply ingrained in the fabric of their being, and desired to exact savage revenge. As a last attempt to do well by their species, certain Vorcha turned on the Collectors.

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Glacier Hazard vs Collectors, earn 20 headshots

Character: Vorcha Hunter Engineer

Weapon: Kishock Harpoon Gun

"Little is known about the geth in the time between the Morning War and the present. The geth did not repopulate the now barren quarian worlds, instead choosing to exist in the computer hubs aboard massive space stations and extract needed resources from asteroids. They adopted an extremely isolationist attitude - any ships that ventured into geth space were immediately attacked and destroyed. While they prevented any contact by other races with themselves, the geth monitored communications and the extranet.

The geth continued development of new technology and variations of mobile platforms, separating their technology base from the rest of the galaxy. They obtained an ultimate goal in this time period - to create a Dyson Sphere-like object, which could house every single geth program.

Approximately three centuries after the Morning War, the geth were approached by the Reaper Nazara, also called Sovereign. It offered them technology that would aid them in achieving their goal, in exchange for their assistance in capturing the Citadel and letting the Reaper invasion begin. The majority of the geth dismissed the offer, deeming it better to accomplish their goal with their own technology rather than be dependent on another race’s technology. These geth discarded what they called the "superstitious title" of the Reapers, and simply called them the Old Machines."

The true geth became interested in Commander Shepard, as Shepard had defeated Nazara and the heretics. They commissioned a unique mobile platform, holding 1183 programs rather than the normal hundred or so, to operate independently and go looking for Shepard. This geth retraced Shepard’s footsteps, from Eden Prime to Virmire to Ilos, occasionally having to face the spawn of the old machines on its own. It did just fine. Its name was Legion.

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Ghost vs Reapers, earn 20 headshots

Character: Geth Engineer

Weapon: Geth Sub Machine Gun (Piranha or Indra permitted for Platinum)

Note: This challenge goes out to ex-Clusum. Congrats on completing all original weekly challenges on Legendary difficulty. This is the challenge he chose for week 5! (I guess this means completing it on platinum as tribute!) 

The story of the tragedy of Tiptree goes something like this...

"Tiptree was a small human colony that was brutally attacked by a small Reaper force. An asari commando unit was dispatched to evacuate it shortly after the Reaper invasion began in 2186, gathering colonists from across the continent as husks and marauder scouts were landed. Most of the team was destroyed.

A survivor of the asari team, Aeian T'Goni, a Huntress, developed post-traumatic stress disorder after witnessing the slaughter of human farmers by Neaira, a fellow asari commando who had been turned into a banshee during the evacuation. While Neaira slaughtered the farmers, an unarmed Aeian escaped to the hills with a human girl named Hilary.

The other surviving humans in the colony were rounded up by Reaper forces and held prisoner at a farmhouse. Hilary attempted to free them, but the captives had been indoctrinated and turned on her, breaking her leg. T'Goni was forced to kill the captives. She was also forced to kill Hilary, whose whimpering after breaking her leg threatened to give away their hiding spot.(yikes)"

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Reactor vs Reapers, earn 50 biotic kills, *cannot die during objective waves*

Character: Asari Huntress

Weapon: Disciple Shotgun

Conrad Verner is arguably Commander Shepard's biggest fan. He manages to run into and somehow interfere with Shepard's business in each part of the series (as long as Shepard doesn't go renegade on him, which leads to his unfortunate and somewhat brutal, death - either by picking a fight with Turians and getting killed or by getting himself killed attempting to capture transient youths hitching a ride on top of a bus).

His underlying motives are undeniably innocent but his naivety makes him an easy target for those with nefarious intent. If Shepard is paragon enough and speaks to Conrad enough, he may even try to jump in front of a bullet to save Shepard's life. He also opens up about himself, revealing that he in fact has a doctoral degree in Xeno Science (his dissertation on Dark Energy can be used to help create the crucible!) and that he gave most of his money founding an orphanage and then trying to get all the kids off world when the Reapers hit.

During his/her battle with Clone Shepard, Commander Shepard will even say, "Conrad Verner is better at being me than you are!" Let's just say, Shep let his friends at Armax know about his friend Conrad Verner, and they created a special simulated battle scenario in his honor, open to all fans of Commander Shepard across the Galaxy. Fight with the heart of Dr. Conrad Verner!

Tier 1

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Glacier vs Cerberus

Character: Vanilla Human Male Soldier

Weapon: Cerberus Harrier + Acolyte

Tier 2

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Glacier vs Collectors

Character: Vanilla Human Male Soldier

Weapon: M7-Lancer

Tier 3

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Glacier Hazard vs Geth

Character: Vanilla Human Male Soldier

Weapon: M96-Mattock

Note: This bonus challenge goes out to AW_FC who had the idea of a tribute challenge to Conrad. Let's face it, we're all pretty much like Conrad Verner! The bonus symbol is achieved by completing any tier. All three tiers must be completed to be awarded the Conrad Verner Bonus Symbol Λ - Symbol used for Dark Energy.

"Jack, also known as Subject Zero, is a notorious criminal whose crimes include piracy, kidnapping, vandalism and murder. She is also a biotic, possibly one of the most powerful human biotics alive, and is considered so dangerous that she was kept in cryogenic stasis after she was caught."

During the Citadel DLC, Jack sends Shepard an message once the Normandy has been taken, asking him/her to join her in the Armax Arena. Apparently, she's got quite the reputation and fanbase going... When Shepard arrives, they have a two-round match against Elite Cerberus Troops in Brimstone. Once the Atlas Mech spawns, Jack takes it down herself. Let's be honest, she could have solo'd it.

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Dagger vs Cerberus, earn 5 waves survived

Character: Vanilla Female Adept (Jack) must spec into shockwave

Weapon: Venom Shotgun and Paladin (Both)

Fortack is the Lord High Researcher of the Clan Urdnot. His main interest is heavy weaponry with explosive effects. He is the owner of Fortack's Database on Tuchanka a company that adapts production according to the clan leader's plans. His focus varies from crop genetics and medicinal advances to destructive weapons. With Urdnot Wrex in command, Fortack is forced to concentrate on the "more frivolous" advances. Fortak would be in his element would Urdnot Reave be in power, a clan leader much more focused on war.

In this twist of the Mass Effect lore, The Collectors find their way to Tuchanka. And Fortak gets what he wants, unlimited resources and funding towards his weapons. He creates a suit able to unleash carnage as well as turn the user into the detonator himself. There isn't any way to get closer to an explosion than by detonating it with your own charging Krogan body! As for a weapon, Fortak felt that nothing out there currently beats the slow drain of a spike to the heart. He has to work on the efficacy of his explosive ammo.

Conditions: Full extraction on Firebase Giant Hazard vs Collectors, don't get mawed.

Character: Krogan Vanguard

Weapon: Graal Spike Thrower

Note: Special thanks to AW_FC for the Fortak challenge idea and to ex-Clusum for noting the lack of a Kroguard solo!