Mass Effect 2: N7: Imminent Ship Crash Tips for Insanity Difficulty

Here's some tips for the Mass Effect 2: Imminent Ship Crash mission on the Insanity difficulty setting. Now I played this mission way after the Suicide Mission which should tell you how imminent the ship will crash. :-) Before we begin, you might want to check out my general tips for the Insanity setting.

1. Know your enemy. Geth. Geth with shields on Insanity. That leads us to the selection of your squad.

2. Your Squad. Since it's Geth, on Normal, I take Tali and Legion. They make the mission a snap. Their AI hacking and combat drones are the key. Well, on Insanity, I still choose Tali and Legion. Well, the same powers are still effective though to use AI hacking you have to take down a target's shields. However, combat drones work on shielded targets.

3. Weapons, armor and powers. As a soldier, I take the Revenant machine gun. Armor is Kestrel. My bonus power is Slam.

4. Walkthrough. As soon as you board the ship, the MSV Broken Arrow, EDI will tell you have six minutes to stop the ship from crashing into the planet. Hack the door and get into the control room. Once inside, Geth will attack you. Get to cover. Take then out. Okay, once they're down get the Medi-gel and iridium. Access the console and open the door to the engine room.

In the engine room, to your left is iridium. Grab it. Okay, right behind you is the first power coupling. But you must hold your Omni-tool over the controls to turn it on. There's a meter which will tell you when you've established power. However, if you get shot, the meter falls back to zero. You have to start again. And that's the rub.

Above you are two balconies. Geth will rain fire down on you. And they come in infinite waves of Geth trooper, and rocket troopers. Now if you have to take cover, there's a wall before each power coupling. But time is winding down. What to do?

Use Tali and Legion. For each balcony, ask them to launch a combat drone. That should give you time to access the controls to activate the coupling. Now Mass Effect Wiki suggest you wait for a lull after killing the Geth. But what happens with me is that the lull is too short. So use your squad's powers. And if a Geth loses his shields you can AI hack him to fire on his own troops.

Now run to the other power coupling. Same procedure as above. Once done there, the rest of the mission is a snap. Run up the ramp. The third control to activate is here. It's under cover so the Geth can't shoot you to stop the activation. Finish activating the engine. Mission complete.

Mass Effect 2: N7 Quarian Crash Site Tips for Insanity Difficulty

Here are tips for Mass Effect 2: Quarian Crash Site with the difficulty setting of Insanity. I played this mission sometime after the suicide mission so my Shepard was pretty strong. Don't forget to take a look at my general tips for Insanity.

1. Know your enemy. It's varren. But on Insanity, they have armor.

2. Your squad. Zaeed. His Inferno Grenade burns armor and flesh. And its splash effect will damage nearby enemies. Plus he uses an assault rifle.

My number two is Tali. She has a shotgun for close encounters. Plus she has a combat drone which can distract varren.

3. Your weapons, armor and powers please. I play as a soldier. My primary weapons is the Revenant machine gun. My heavy weapon is the Firestorm or you can use the Particle Beam. Note since it takes time switch, you may not use the heavy weapon. You may find the machine gun to suffice. I did.

My armor is the Kestrel. It came with Aegis DLC pack. Gives me more power to the shields.

My bonus power is Slam. Once a varren's armor is down, I can Slam it. And if a varren is in the air, Tali's shotgun will do a lot of damage if not kill it.

4. The Walkthrough. In the Hades Nexus cluster, go to the Sheol system. Land on Gei Hinnom. In this first area, scan the camp. Get the Medi-gel, remember it doesn't replenish on the Normandy so learn to hoard it. Get the palladium. Save your game.

Now go to the larger circular clearing. Okay to your left, you see the wounded Quarian. Position Tali next to her. Scan her. That starts the varren to attack you and the injured Quarian. They come from the cave openings in front of you and to your left.

The first varren usually come from the left. So use Zaeed's Inferno Grenade. Armor down. Feed the varren lead from your machine gun. Here's where Tali comes handy. The combat drone does a great job of distracting varren away from the injured Quarian. Now when you pause with the Power Wheel, look to see where the varren are. If any are near the injured Quarian, give that varren priority. Slam them if you can. It's easier to lost this mission by the Quarian dying than you falling. Keep fighting until the shuttle comes. You can board it and end the mission. But I decided to stand next to the injured Quarian and kill the rest of the varren.

The video below shows how this player got through it. He placed his squad in the cave openings and forced the varren to come from the left. Now note he uses Legion instead of Tali. But it's still the same principle. Legions' combat drone distracted the varren for you to finish it off.

My Love And Hate Affair With Carson Palmer

When the terrible Cincinnati Bengals drafted quarterback Carson Palmer in 2003, I thought the end of my fan nightmare was over. This was to be a new era. We had a new coach in Marvin Lewis. He was supposed to have more power than any other coach. That meant no more boneheaded decisions by owner Mike Brown. The Bengals would win again.

And Carson Palmer was a very good quarterback for the first few years he started. His career climaxed when he led the Bengals to an AFC North championship in 2005. It looked like the Bengals would win the Super Bowl. Then Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen shredded Palmer's knee in the first playoff game. But Palmer showed his resolve and worked his way to come back in the next year. How good was Palmer? He made the Pro Bowl in 2006.

But Palmer knew the history of the team. He knew of the boneheaded decisions by Mike Brown. He knew the team had only two winning seasons in twenty. He could see the Bengals slipping back to their losing ways. It had to come clear to him how badly this team was run when owner Mike Brown resigned wide receiver and one man crime wave Chris Henry in 2008 after head coach Marvin Lewis explicitly said he didn't want him back. It had to come clear to him when wide receiver Chad Ochocinco started to care more about his post football career rather than being a team player. And while 2009 was a successful year, the Bengals went back to their losing ways in 2010. Palmer didn't play all that well in 2010 and any problems that wide receiver Terrell Owens brought were partly Palmer's responsibility since Palmer wanted Owens. But the history of the last decade had caught up with the Bengals.

I admire Carson Palmer for the years he spent here as quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. He showed courage and determination when he overcame that possible career ending knee injury. He was a model citizen, generous and a honorable guy. And when he was on, he was a great quarterback.

But what bothers me about his recent demand to be traded or he will retire threat is its selfishness. Palmer made a lot of money off the Bengals and the fans through endorsements. Yeah, he was a winner all through his high school and college years. However, life doesn't always allow you to win all the time. Many of us suffer from financial and personal problems. Carson Palmer was unlucky to be drafted by the worst professional football team in the history of mankind. That's life. Sometimes when faced with adversity you have to deal with it. And demanding a trade, makes Palmer a guy who quit on his teammates and the fans of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Carson Palmer has been criticized for not being a leader. His stance might be his best example of leadership. He is saying he would rather quit, leave millions of dollars on the table than play for a dysfunctional team like the Bengals. But doing so has returned football fans of Cincinnati back to the dark days of Bengals football.

Cincinnati Bengals Owner Mike Brown Is Right, Part 2

You'll hear sports pundits call Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown, a hypocrite for holding quarterback Carson Palmer to his contract while Brown cuts players still under contract. The argument is that Brown is not honoring his part of the contract. Well, that's not a correct way of looking at the rights of a NFL owner. Brown under the NFL collective bargaining agreement and the players contract has the right to cut players. That's part of the agreement, so Brown has not violated his portion of the contract. Carson Palmer signed a contract to play for the Bengals and the Bengals have the exclusive rights on him for the next three years of his NFL career.

I've argued that Brown was right in holding his ground by not trading Palmer. Can't let the inmates run the asylum. By the way, asylum is the appropriate description for the Bengals. It would set a horrible precedent since you would not be able to sign important players to long term deals. But this fiasco would have never happened if Mike Brown had run a competent NFL franchise. The problem is whether Mike Brown sees what is happening and changes his ways.

Mass Effect 2: Tali: Treason Tips For Insanity Difficulty Setting

Here are more tips for the hardest parts of Mass Effect 2 on the Insanity difficulty setting. Today we take on the Tali:Treason mission. As you well know, this is Tali's Loyalty mission. These posts cover only the hardest parts of the mission. If you want a walkthrough, check out this one from Mass Effect Wiki. Also read my general tips.

1. You can play this mission after the Suicide Mission. Yes, you can take Tali without loyalty into the Suicide Mission and she will survive. Just don't send her into the tube and keep the fire team strong with everyone else loyal and manned by guys like Grunt. She will survive. And you can play this mission after you've defeated the Collectors. Plus, when you take this mission on, you've probably upgraded and are pretty strong.

2. Know Your Enemy. Geth Hunters, troopers and a Geth Prime are your opponents. On Insanity everybody has shields. The Prime has shields, armor and health.

3. Your Weapons and Powers Please. Since I play as a soldier, I take the Revenant machine gun. More punch than all the assault rifles. My heavy weapon is either the Collector Particle Beam or ML-77 Missile Launcher. Now this is important. My sniper rifle must fire quickly. I choose the M-97 Viper Sniper Rifle. Bigger clip. And the sniper rifle is important for this battle.

My Loyalty Bonus Power is Slam. Once a Geth loses his shield and is down to health, I can Slam him a couple times to kill him. It also is a life saver since I can stop a charging Geth in his tracks assuming I've taken down his shields.

Your Squad. Of course, Tali is one. But I've always taken Legion when I play this on mission on the Normal difficulty setting and I'm going to take him on the Insanity difficulty setting. First, you get some interesting dialogue with the Quarians. Second, Legion is great against Geth. He uses an assault rifle. And this is most important. He can launch Combat Drones against Geth even when they have shields. And on unshielded Geth, he can use his AI hacking to turn one against the others. By the way Tali also has Combat Drones and AI Hacking powers.

4. General Tips. Stay in cover. Keep your distance. If Geth Hunters are on the battleground, take them out first. They charge your position and have a devastating shotgun. Let's proceed to the two hardest parts of this mission.

5. The Stairway To Heaven. You know where we are at. You examine a console and talk to Tali about her father's experiments with Geth. Save your game. Get ready for the hardest part of this mission. Now open the door to the stairway that leads down to Tali's father.

This sounds counter intuitive, but take out your sniper rifle. Get into cover behind the walled railing. Aim your rifle at the door on the lower floor. Here they come. Unleash rounds into the Geth entering. Don't worry about missing when you aim for the head. Keep the fire going. When a Hunter comes through the door, let him have it. Now you should have killed a few Geth by now. Pause the action with the Power Wheel. Okay, scan the battlefield. Locate the enemy and identify any that are on the stairs and about to breach your position. If none are on the stairs, use your squad's powers whether they be Combat Drone or AI Hacking.

A Geth or two will make it upstairs. Switch to assault rifle. If there are two and one is a Hunter, he gets priority. Dont' forget to use your squad's powers and Slam. They could save your life. And watch out for the Geth across from you on the upper floor. If you have to, retreat to the room with the monitor. Wipe out all the Geth from the upper floor.

Okay, the coast is clear. Go downstairs and scavenge for ammo and credits. Discover Tali's father and comfort Tali. Yeah, you heard me, don't be a jerk. Hug her. Go to the room to the left and hack the lockers. Get credits. Save game.

6. Battle Of The Bridge. As you enter the bridge, there's a Geth Prime, a Geth Hunter, and two Geth troopers. They're surrounded by walls with two openings one on each side and a back clear wall. Okay, starting with Legion use his Combat Drone on the Hunter. I start with Legion because sometimes will use his shielding to deny access to you assigning a power attack to an enemy. Then immediately use Tali's combat drone on one of the troopers.

Stay away from the openings since the Geth will be gunning for you. Focus on the Hunter and feed him a healthy heaping of lead. Move if you have to. Don't forget to use Combat Drones, AI Hacking and Slam. Slam is especially effective if an unshielded Geth is on top of you. Once these guys are down, it's time to kill the Prime. Drones, and once the Prime is down to his health, Slam are effective. Eventually he can't stand the attacks of the three of you and goes down.

7. Don't Forget. Before you disable the Geth console, go to the back clear wall. Get the Quarian model and credits. Okay, now go back, disable the console and preserve the honor of Tali's father. Yeah, that's Paragon. I'm a nice guy.

Mass Effect 2: N7: Abandoned Mine Tips For Insanity Difficulty

Sometime ago I gave tips for the mission from Mass Effect 2: N7 Abandoned Mine. That was on the normal difficulty setting. Now let's get through the mission when it's set on the Insanity difficulty level. First, read my general tips to play on the Insanity difficulty setting.

1. The Enemy. All husks, all the time. The further you move into the mine the more Abominations you face. These guys are husks but will blow up in your face. And to make matters more interesting, all the husks on the Insanity difficulty level have armor.

2. Your weapons, armor and powers, please.

a. Weapons. I play as a soldier. So my assault rifle is the Revenant. It packs more punch than the other assault rifles. Now shotguns sound good but if you have to take one out when surrounded by a bunch of husks, you are a good candidate for the grave. My heavy weapon is the flamethrower aka M-451 Firestorm. You get this from Zaeed's mission. It burns through armor. You can also use the Collector Particle Beam if you don't have the Firestorm.

b. Armor. I use the Kestrel armor which comes with the DLC Aegis Pack.

c. Power. My loyalty bonus power is Slam. Evolved Slam on a husk without armor usually kills it or pretty much weakens it to the point of death.

3. Squad. While experimenting I come across this effective combination. First, Samara is good for this mission. She uses an assault weapon. Second, her biotic powers work on husks with armor or without. Reave works against a husk's armor. When evolved to Heavy Reave, it will rip down the armor completely or at least come close to taking it all down. Her Throw power when evolved to Throw Field can wipe out a group of unarmored husks. Second, pick Zaeed. He also uses an assault rifle. Plus he has the Inferno Grenade. It has a terrific splash damage that will hurt nearby enemies along with the primary target. If you've picked up the Geth Pulse rifle, you can now arm your squad with this weapon. It's a little beter than the other rifles with the exception of the Revenant machine gun.

4. Walkthrough on Insanity. You'll get this mission by buying the star chart for Minos Wasteland from Baria Frontiers on Illium. Once you're in the cluster, head over to the Fortis System. The planet you'll need to head to is Aequitas. Your mission is to investigate why the mine went silent. By the way, I played this way after the Suicide mission so my Shepard was pretty strong.

You land. Before you head into the mine, go left. Scan the body and get credits. Okay enter the mine immediately you get jumped by husks. Use your squad's power, your Slam and give them a healthy dose of lead. Move through the mine but don't forgot to look to the sides of walls for minerals. You come to a clearing where there are a couple of explosive containers. Husks come down from the ceiling. An Abomination joins them. Blow up the containers to damage them. If the Abomination is still alive, put him down first. Finish them off. Get the minerals. By the way, save your Medi-gel for reasons which I will discuss below.

You come to a cliff with a ramp. Husks jump you, along with an Abomination. Now, you can kill an Abomination close to other husks to hurt them with his explosion. Collect the minerals and go up the cliff. Hack the locker on the table for credits. By the way, during this section if you need to fall back you can. Head down a hill. Get the minerals to the side. Okay, you come to a circular room with a console and a Medi-gel dispenser. More husks jump you, finish this group off. Fall back if you have to, but don't move forward until you finish this group off. When they're dust, save your game. Then read the logs and grab the Medi-gel. If you don't move too far ahead, you may be able to save after the logs. And just in front of you is a thermal clip on a table. It will replenish itself, during the upcoming battle.

DOING THIS THE HARD WAY IS THE MOST FUN. You heard me. We're going to wipe out all the husks even though it's the hardest way to complete the mission. I mean you could destroy the alien husk making device and end the mission quickly but you would lose out on hacking the last locker and the fun of wiping out a ton of husks.

Okay, the room branches off to two paths. Left and right. Both paths lead to another chamber. Beyond that chamber is a hall with the locker and more Medi-gel. There is a room beyond that which has the alien device. Go right young man, and move up the ramp to an overlook. There is a ramp which leads down to the chamber. EDI tells you about the alien device. Now here come the husks.

The advantage about going right is that you have the high ground. And the husks won't flank you right away. They will run up the ramp. Feed them lead. And when they bunch up, use Zaeed's Inferno Grenade. Wow. That blast damages a bunch of them. Samara can use her Reave to rip down the armor of any husks that are too close. Use Slam to kill any husks without armor. And don't be afraid to use the Inferno Grenade on husks on top of you. It does very little damage, if any to you but is marvelous against husks. Must be smart bomb technology.

Pause and look around. You should bring up the squad power wheel. The game pauses and you can look around. See if there any husks on top of you or behind you. This pausing will work even if your squad is "dead."

Save your Medi-gel. If you used your Medi-gel down to two from the last mission, that's what you get when you start this mission. Yeah, it makes no sense. I mean shouldn't you be able to replenish Medi-gel aboard the Normandy? So, don't use it on this mission and save them for the next. Trust me you can easily complete this mission without using any Medi-gel.

MOVE AND RUN. Eventually you will get overrun. Move away from the husks and run down the ramp from which you came. Note that the paths form a circle. So run around in circles. And take out your Firestorm. If your squad gets killed, don't panic. And don't revive them. You can handle this on your own. But keep running around this chamber's circle, i.e. down the ramp, to the left then up the ramp. Avoid falling back out of these last chambers to the cliff with the locker on the table. That causes more husks to regenerate to that area even though by doing so will revive your squad. Just remember you can win this mission by running around in this last chamber. Also, note that killing husks causes them to drop thermal clips.

Burn and Slam. Follow this rhythm. When you see a husk, burn down its armor with the Firestorm. Then immediately Slam it. Husk goes down. Keep moving so the husks don't surround you and beat you to death. Try to move to the high ground again. Pause to see where the husks are. When you are about to be flanked, move. There are power cells on the table on the high ground and in the left path next to the hole in the wall. But because the husks keep dropping thermal clips when killed, I found that out that I had ample ammo for all my weapons. Just remember to keep moving if you have to.

After what seems like a hundred husks, you eventually eliminate them all. Your squad wakes up and you can save your game. Okay, go to the locker in the hall. Hack it and get the credits. Pick up the Medi-gel. Here's where you have to be careful. According to Mass Effect Wiki, you could lose credits, minerals and experience if you stand next to the bombs connected to the alien device when you destroy them. So take out your sniper rifle, or assault rifle or use a biotic power to detonate them from a distance. Watch cool cutscene where falling debris crush some more husks. The end.

Republicans Are Hypocrites When It Comes to Tax Policy

The Republicans are really the party of the big rich. When it comes to ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the Republicans can't be budged. But when it comes to ending payroll tax cuts for working class Americans, they're all for it. Here's the story. What a bunch of hypocrites. The Republicans should just come out and say we should tax the poor more than the rich. It so far right-wing, I need Jon Stewart of the Daily Show to help me laugh about it. Check out his piece about conservatives blasting billionaire Warren Buffet suggesting that the rich pay their fair share.

The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - Warren Buffett vs. Wealthy Conservatives
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The Daily Show - World of Class Warfare - The Poor's Free Ride Is Over
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