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Mass Effect (PC) eGuide
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Contents

  • Essentials
    • Spectre Orientation Department
      • Start New Career
      • Mission Computer
      • Military Specialization
      • Morality
      • Dialogue
      • Fraternization
      • Transportation
      • Galatic Ecomomy
      • Mini-Games
    • Combat
      • Command Structure
      • Talents and Abilities
      • Requesitions
      • Manufacturer Showcase
      • Known Resistance
    • Planetary Database
      • Planets A-J
      • Planets K-Z
    • Appendix I-PC Achievements
      • Appendix I-PC Achievements
    • Appendix II-Merchants
      • Appendix II-Merchants
  • Walkthrough
    • Specture Missions: Introductions
      • Specture Missions
    • Prologue: Normandy and Eden Prime
      • The Normandy
      • Eden Prime
      • Objective 1: Speak with Captain Anderson
      • Objective 2: Head to the Dig Site
      • Objective 3: Find the Beacon
      • Objective 4: Speak with Joker
    • Chapter 1: The Citadel
      • Assignments
      • Objective 1: Attend the Council Hearing
      • Objective 2: Speak with Harkin or Barla Von
      • Objective 3: Take Down Fist; Save the Quarian
      • Objective 4: Reconvene with the Council
    • Chapter 2: Finding Liara
      • Assignments
      • The Normandy Revisited
      • Objective 1: Locate the Planet with Ruins
      • Objective 2: Land and Explore Planet Therum
      • Objective 3: Investigate Archeological Site
      • Objective 4: Escape to the Normandy
    • Chapter 3: Noveria
      • Assignments
      • The Normandy Revisited
      • Noveria
      • Objective 1: Visit Noveria; Speak to Anoleis
      • Objective 2: Access Port Hanshan's Garage
      • Objective 3: Investigate Peak 15
      • Objective 4: Confront Benezia; Escape Noveria
      • Showdown: Matriarch Benezia
    • Chapter 4: Feros
      • Assignments
      • The Normandy Revisited
      • Feros
      • Objective 1: Visit Feros; Secure the Tower
      • Objective 2: Cross the Skyway
      • Objective 3: Investigate ExoGeni
      • Objective 4: Destroy the Thorian
    • Chapter 5: Virmire
      • Assignments
      • The Normandy Revisited
      • Virmire
      • Objective 1: Visit Virmire; Reach the Camp
      • Objective 2: Infiltrate Saren's Base
      • Objective 3: Disable the AA Tower
      • Objective 4: Set the Nuke; Flee Virmire
    • Chapter 6: Lockdown
      • Assignments
      • The Normandy Revisited
      • The Citadel Revisited
      • Objective 1: Return to the Citadel
      • Objective 2: Speak with the Council
      • Objective 3: Meet with Captain Anderson
      • Objective 4: Steal the Normandy
    • Chapter 7: Ilos
      • Assignments
      • The Normandy Revisited
      • Ilos
      • Objective 1: Visit Ilos; Investigate Ruins
      • Objective 2: Disable the Security System
      • Objective 3: Enter Archives; Pursue Saren
      • Objective 4: Access the Conduit
    • Chapter 8: Endgame
      • The Citadel Besieged
      • Objective 1: Get Your Bearings
      • Objective 2: Scale the Tower
      • Objective 3: Break the Cycle
      • Objective 4: Usher a New Era
    • Spectre Assignments: First Citadel Visit
      • Citadel Maps
      • Citadel Assignments
    • Spectre Assignments: Noveria and Feros
      • Noveria Maps
      • Noveria Assignments
      • Feros Maps
      • Feros Assignments
    • Spectre Assisngments: Uncharted Worlds and A Return to the Citadel
      • Uncharted Worlds
      • Return to the Citadel
    • Spectra Assignments: Virmire and Citadel Lockdown
      • Virmire Assignments
      • Citadel: Lockdown Assignments
    • Spectre Assignments: Miscellaneous Assignments
      • Background Assignments
      • Alignment Assignments
      • Squad Member Assignments
      • Collection Assignments

Mass Effect (PC) Guide › Essentials › Spectre Orientation Department

Galatic Ecomomy

The galactic economy is based on credits as currency and omni-gel as a valued resource.

Credits

There are always people looking for hired help, in exchange for a few easy credits, of course.

The primary galactic economy is an open market system based on the credit currency. Credits are used for all purchases regardless of the agent’s location across many systems.

Your credit account is easily accessible by those wishing to provide payment for services rendered, such as helping them find someone important to them or protecting them in times of crisis.

Galactic citizens are usually generous when offering rewards, but the credit amounts vary wildly from a mere pittance to an impressive bounty, depending on the value of the agent’s services to the person in question. (It’s also based on the agent’s experience level!)

Credits are earned in the following ways:

  • Selling collected items to stores (for starters, the sell price is 15 percent of the buy price until Charm and Intimidate abilities improve that relationship)
  • Killing any opponent
  • Collecting from treasure containers
  • Completing missions and assignments (reward based on difficulty)

Tip

There are many credits to be gained by selling undesirable equipment found or won in battle, but by far the most lucrative assignments are conducting mineral surveys for the Alliance. Large deposits of rare ore can bring in of thousands of credits per survey!

Omni-Gel

  • Omni-gel is a valuable resource gained by liquidating items in the inventory or salvaging items in the field. You gain 4 omni-gel with each salvaging.

Omni-gel is a multipurpose resource specific to synthetic or technology-based objectives. It can be used in a wide variety of situations where credits are useless, such as repairing the Mako during ground missions, overloading a security system, or rebooting a mainframe.

Tip

It takes time to accumulate large quantities of omni-gel so don’t use it lightly. It’s best to be very stingy with it so you’ve got enough when you really need it (such as rebooting the VI Mira on Noveria).

Tip

All excess gear can be liquidated into small quantities of omni-gel by selecting the item in the Equipment screen. Left click the omni-gel button to convert the selected item. Try to liquidate low-level items first, since they are worth fewer credits.

Stores

Every major spaceport is complete with a store or two where you can purchase new weapons, upgrades, licenses, and more to outfit the squad appropriately for its next mission. Make it a habit to visit all the local stores to learn about the latest gear releases from various manufacturers.

The inventory of equipment and weapons found in stores is directly linked to your agent’s experience level. Hence, as the agent reaches higher levels, increasingly advanced weaponry and gear become available (refer to the next section on manufacturer licenses).

Charming agents will get a bit of a discount, but even 10 percent off won’t make much difference when purchasing X level gear.

Sell price is typically 15 percent of the buying price, but intimidating agents can often bully a better deal from the shopkeepers.

Tip

When browsing through a store’s inventory, shrewd agents pay particular attention to the item’s rarity, which is displayed above its cost or sell price (depending whether you’re in the Buy or Sell screen).

Common items are cheap, but limited-edition items are expensive, and unique items are worth their weight in gold, as they only show up in stores once. When they’re bought, you’ll never see them again in that store.

Note

The store menus include a third Buyback screen, which tracks the items you’ve sold to stores and might want to repurchase. The Buyback items list is shared between all stores so it’s easy to get back items you wish you hadn’t sold.

Manufacturer Licenses

Anyone wishing to purchase advanced weaponry and equipment on board the Normandy must first purchase a requisitions license for every specific manufacturer.

Some licenses are quite common but some are from highly secretive or hard-to-find manufacturers located across the galaxy. Agents should make the collection of all licenses a high priority so they may equip themselves and their squad with the best gear available.

Agents should visit all shops regularly to find and purchase any available manufacturer licenses, which can range from 100 credits for common licenses to 30,000 credits for rare or hard-to-get licenses.

The next time you visit the Normandy’s Requisitions Officer, you can purchase items by the new manufacturers from the convenience of your own ship.

Note

A complete list of manufacturers can be viewed in an upcoming section of this guide: Combat.

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