War Assets Questions. I'm Hella Confused!

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Hey folks,

I have a few questions regarding War Assets numbers in MELE3.
I looked some of the information up, but I'm confused. Some sources state that 7400 assets are required for the perfect destroy ending. Others that it's 7800. Which is it?! My last run I had 7000 or 7100 assets, just short of 7400, but now I'm wondering if need more than that?

Also, I just started third run of ME3, and my starting number of assets is 645. Is this a good starting point for perfect ending? Or will I come up short? I did all the DLCs in ME2 except FIrewalker in hope that would help, but I haven't replayed ME-1 originally, I am not sure sure how much weight ME1 carries when it comes to war asset count in ME3.

Could someone, please, fill me in? Google gives various results to be informative.

Thanks!

[Mr_Faorry]

It's 7400 for the best ending. 7800 is an overestimate which keeps getting parroted for some reason.

Your starting war assets are pretty well irrelevant, and your choices throughout 1&2 matter far less than you'd expect when it comes to war assets to the point that they're pretty well irrelevant too. You start off small no matter what but get plenty as you play through the game.
Just make sure you do all the planet scanning and all the fetch quests on the Citadel because nearly 1/4 of all possible war assets comes from those. Otherwise it's pretty easy to get high enough by just playing the game, only way you'll really fall short is if you're skipping side content.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Mr_Faorry:

It's 7400 for the best ending. 7800 is an overestimate which keeps getting parroted for some reason.

Your starting war assets are pretty well irrelevant, and your choices throughout 1&2 matter far less than you'd expect when it comes to war assets to the point that they're pretty well irrelevant too. You start off small no matter what but get plenty as you play through the game.
Just make sure you do all the planet scanning and all the fetch quests on the Citadel because nearly 1/4 of all possible war assets comes from those. Otherwise it's pretty easy to get high enough by just playing the game, only way you'll really fall short is if you're skipping side content.

Thanks for the information. I did most of side missions in the previous playthrough, and still came up short. I think the only ones I DIDN'T do was listening to conversations between NPCs that eventually lead to some minor war assets boosts?! Like a Turian/Asari couple chatting at the docks or the two Asari at the Hospital. I've read somewhere that listening to all twelve (!!) conversations of the latter yields war assets. Not sure how crucial those are.

I'll try doing all systems scans. Now that I have a mod that disables those pesky Reapers, it seems a lot more bearable of a task xD

Thanks for the information, much appreciate it.
Some articles made it sound like ME-1 & 2 give huge asset boosts, but I guess not. WIsh the game would clarify more on it on its own than have people go digging through information that often contradicts each other. Is there a mod I can use to make this work easier in the next playthrough?

[Zsrai]

ME1&2 don't give huge War Assets, but the choices you make can enable options in ME3. That's how they are important, but it's not a direct War Asset number.

A lot of those minor War Asset numbers are like +/- 25 or so, the biggest ones are just doing the main missions, major side missions, and (especially) the DLC. The DLC really inflate your War Assets and make it pretty easy to get a high amount if you do them all.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

ME1&2 don't give huge War Assets, but the choices you make can enable options in ME3. That's how they are important, but it's not a direct War Asset number.

A lot of those minor War Asset numbers are like +/- 25 or so, the biggest ones are just doing the main missions, major side missions, and (especially) the DLC. The DLC really inflate your War Assets and make it pretty easy to get a high amount if you do them all.

Awesome! Thanks so much! I will try to exhaust all possible DLCs and all missions :)
If I fail for the third time, I'll be crying quietly in the corner

[Zsrai]

Are you skipping a lot of side quests or something? My last trilogy run had me at about 8400 War Assets and I wasn't min-maxing them, just did all the DLCs and side quests throughout the series.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

Are you skipping a lot of side quests (like Cerb bases and such) or something? My last trilogy run had me at about 8400 War Assets and I wasn't min-maxing them, just did all the DLCs and side quests throughout the series.

Nope, not in ME3. Not that I can think of anyway. i did all the side quests + DLCs (even got Citadel DLC war assets) that I could find. The only thing I could think of was not doing DLCs in ME2 bc save got corrupted. Shadow Broker and Project Overlord CTD'd no matter what I did. Oh, and I didn't scan ALL the systems in ME3 on second run, only those I had fetch quests for. As for ME2, had to replay the entire game to get everything to work properly. We'll see if I get this time :) I'm doing my patrol rounds for random conversations that would start fetch quests to see if i can maximize my efforts.

[Zsrai]

ME3 planet scans have a lot of small Assets that can add up, that could very well be the few hundred you were short.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

ME3 planet scans have a lot of small Assets that can add up, that could very well be the few hundred you were short.

Thanks for all the helpful pieces of advice! Much appreciate it!
With the mod that disables Reapers when scanning getting those extra war assets is so much simpler :D I feel like I'm cheating, but that is such an annoying mechanic

[Zsrai]

Originally posted by Shadow The Innkeep:

Originally posted by Zsrai:

ME3 planet scans have a lot of small Assets that can add up, that could very well be the few hundred you were short.

Thanks for all the helpful pieces of advice! Much appreciate it!
With the mod that disables Reapers when scanning getting those extra war assets is so much simpler :D I feel like I'm cheating, but that is such an annoying mechanic

Even if they catch you, the game auto saves every time you enter a system so it's not like you have to roll back very far. They are, sadly, kind of toothless. No judgment on avoiding the damn noise though.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Zsrai:

Originally posted by Shadow The Innkeep:

Thanks for all the helpful pieces of advice! Much appreciate it!
With the mod that disables Reapers when scanning getting those extra war assets is so much simpler :D I feel like I'm cheating, but that is such an annoying mechanic

Even if they catch you, the game auto saves every time you enter a system so it's not like you have to roll back very far. They are, sadly, kind of toothless. No judgment on avoiding the damn noise though.

Idk why but I actually like the Reaper noise from audio FX perspective (I must be indoctrinated LOL). There is smth about it that gives the game that extra atmosphere. But they are annoying when scanning the galaxy bc they also don't leave the area immediately. You have to go back after a mission or two if you wanna grab what you left behind. Mod makes this whole experience hella easier. I'm up to 4k or so in assets, so hopefully i can pull this playthrough for the best ending :)

[Silverquick]

Well I finished everything I could find and ended up at 7350 war assets, and still got the Sheppard Survives ending after destroying the Reapers. Well I should say hints at survival ending where the rubble pile moves and the old man talking to the little boy.

So I am not sure its even 7400 anymore.

[Apollyon]

Originally posted by Silverquick:

Well I should say hints at survival ending where the rubble pile moves and the old man talking to the little boy.

Not even that. It's just an easter egg from the old games where you needed to play multiplayer to get high enough war assets to even see it. All it does is add fuel to the cope for people who were desperate for Shepard to somehow survive yet another impossible mission - in inordinately cliche fashion.

[Crypto Gamer]

I imported from ME1 and 2.

And currently made Geth and Quarians made peace(only possible from import).

Currently just above 7400 Assest and got the achievements too.

Citadel DLC and some slight exploration still left.

Likely lot of war Assests from ME1 and 2 are "indirect"

Eg.if you did not complete a loyality mission in ME2,many charaters will die in their cameo ME3 or if they died in the suicide mission they can not give your their 25 Asset Reward.

Tali Or Legion dying in ME2 means 1 fleet dies out likely losing out on 500+War Assests.

If you not imported from ME1 means Wrex is dead+some ME1 side quests are not completed.
But it likely has less effect on"indirect"war Assest.

Without ME1 you also can not recruit the Rachni queen long term.

Not sure if Fresh Start non import ME3 can rech 7400 War Assets.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Crypto Gamer:

I imported from ME1 and 2.

And currently made Geth and Quarians made peace(only possible from import).

Currently just above 7400 Assest and got the achievements too.

Citadel DLC and some slight exploration still left.

Likely lot of war Assests from ME1 and 2 are "indirect"

Eg.if you did not complete a loyality mission in ME2,many charaters will die in their cameo ME3 or if they died in the suicide mission they can not give your their 25 Asset Reward.

Tali Or Legion dying in ME2 means 1 fleet dies out likely losing out on 500+War Assests.

If you not imported from ME1 means Wrex is dead+some ME1 side quests are not completed.
But it likely has less effect on"indirect"war Assest.

Without ME1 you also can not recruit the Rachni queen long term.

Not sure if Fresh Start non import ME3 can rech 7400 War Assets.

I have Rachni Queen, i was more curious about side missions in ME1. I didn’t do them all. I was wondering if THOSE affect war assets in any major way.

I also got the achievement for assembling majority of the fleet below 7400 score. Pretty sure as long as you meet thr minimum threshold, you get it. 7400 is a baseline requirement for the best [destroy] ending.

Non-imported ME3 is a terrible idea. Default world state in ME3 is awful. Many character die by default in previous games or are never recruited; decisions you make in ME1/2 by default are bad, like Maelon’s data is destroyed and that leads to female Krogan to die. I watched someone make a video about it, and Non-imported ME3 is a mess not even worth trying.