Avoid Reaper IFF trigger to do side quests

[Radius9]

I heard there is something called a Reaper IFF mission or something, maybe it's a device, and that basically after that the end of the game happens very quickly.

I have just done the collector ship on the colony and heard this is a good time to do side quests. I would like to do as many as I can so I don't want to trigger the Reaper IFF thing that starts the timer and brings the end of the game quickly.

Do I decide when the Reaper IFF thing happens? Is there a way to avoid it starting, like not recruiting more squadmates? I'm confused about what I have read online.

Thank you so much for the help.

[Kurosu]

Yes you control when it happens. In essence dont do any more main quests ( the next Illusive man objective). Recruit the rest of companions and do all their side quests. Then proceed with the main quest without worries.

[Dethlane]

There will be one more main quest triggered automatically, after which you'll receive IFF mission. Whether you go for it immediately or not is entirely up to you. And yes, it's hella recommended to finish all crew quests before going for IFF.

[Cap Buster Boogie]

Obtaining the Reaper IFF is the last quest you should do before you start to do Side Quests, primarily because it's also the quest that gives you the last Team Member Legion After that, then you can do side quests. The game only ends when you decide to go through the Omega 4 Relay, at your discretion.

When people say the game ends quickly after that, they're likely referring to that being the last mission that drives the story before starting the ending.

[Dethlane]

Originally posted by Knuckles the ♥♥♥♥♥♥:

The game only ends when you decide to go through the Omega 4 Relay, at your discretion.

When people say the game ends quickly after that, they're likely referring to that being the last mission that drives the story before starting the ending.

Thing is that after you go for IFF, collectors' attack triggers after 1-3 missions (depending on how much you've completed already) and once it happens, you have to go through omega 4 relay immediately if you wanna save everyone, otherwise some (or almost all) "general" crew members die. That's why it's best to do all squadmates' tasks (recruitment and loyalty) and only then go for IFF. Additional tasks and DLC are irrelevant, you can do them even after you finish main storyline unless you hella screw it up and end up dead.

[Cap Buster Boogie]

Originally posted by Dethlane:

Originally posted by Knuckles the ♥♥♥♥♥♥:

The game only ends when you decide to go through the Omega 4 Relay, at your discretion.

When people say the game ends quickly after that, they're likely referring to that being the last mission that drives the story before starting the ending.

Thing is that after you go for IFF, collectors' attack triggers after 1-3 missions (depending on how much you've completed already) and once it happens, you have to go through omega 4 relay immediately if you wanna save everyone, otherwise some (or almost all) "general" crew members die. That's why it's best to do all squadmates' tasks (recruitment and loyalty) and only then go for IFF. Additional tasks and DLC are irrelevant, you can do them even after you finish main storyline unless you hella screw it up and end up dead.

That's fair, I had actually completely forgotten about like.. the "crew" crew. Generally it's usually just the squadmates that get the focus.

[IrationalFear]

Originally posted by Starblind:

I have just done the collector ship on the colony and heard this is a good time to do side quests. I would like to do as many as I can so I don't want to trigger the Reaper IFF thing that starts the timer and brings the end of the game quickly.

Do I decide when the Reaper IFF thing happens? Is there a way to avoid it starting, like not recruiting more squadmates? I'm confused about what I have read online.

For future reference, the mission you just completed is referred to in the community as "Horizon."

The next main plot point is called "the collector ship." This mission will be forced at some point after horizon (EDI won't let you use the galaxy map until you talk to The Illusive Man and start this mission).

Completing the Collector Ship mission will unlock the non-forced main mission called "Reaper IFF." You don't have to do Reaper IFF until you are ready, it just sits there on the galaxy map like any other mission. Eventually you will complete this mission in order to progress the plot and finish the game; after completing Reaper IFF, a timer starts (off-screen). If all loyalty missions available were completed prior to Reaper IFF, the timer is for 1 mission, and is a 2-mission timer if not. You can squeeze an extra specific mission into that timer, if (either as the only mission or the second mission on the 2-turn timer) is a loyalty mission on a hub world with at least one other available mission (Citadel and Tuchanka each have two loyalty missions, Ilium has one loyalty mission and two recruitments).

Note that Collector Ship is triggered only when you meet the requirements to attempt the suicide mission (so you can delay it if you so choose, such as on a painful Insanity run that wasn't NewGame+): having 8 squadmates, and completing any 3 missions after Horizon.
-You will already have at least Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, Archangel, and Jack before you can start Horizon (5). The other 3 minimum are up to you (such as, say, Grunt and the two DLC characters, which can be recruited before Horizon).


It is not necessary (when trying to get through the suicide mission with zero casualties) to recruit everyone or get everyone loyal; it is, however, much more difficult otherwise , and even impossible if you don't recruit Tali or don't obtain loyalty from either Jack or Samara or Morinth.


Be aware that, unlike ME1 and ME3, the game does not end after the final mission in ME2 (unless you die as story, not combat). As long as the relevant character survives that mission, you can still do any DLC missions, recruitment/activation (Grunt and Legion) or loyalty missions, or side missions left (can even do romances after final mission).

The only things you can't do after the suicide mission are the errands for the Normandy (Chakwas' serrice ice brandy, the FBA couplings for the engineering crew, Gardner's rations, Kelly and your fish) because the normal crew all has overriding dialogue, and loyalty missions for characters that died already. Be aware that two squadmates can be killed on their loyalty mission (as a decision, not some failure on the player's part), though one can only happen if done after the suicide mission.
If you are worried about a character dying or want to see some of Legion's special dialogue such as during Tali's recruitment, you can delay their recruitment until afterwards. Although, this sounds like your first run of the game, so this won't mean much to you yet.

[Radius9]

Wow thanks so much. These are great answers. I'm going to import my ME2 save into ME3 so I don't want to lose any characters etc. This is very helpful as I have been trying to piece it together from the internet but I got confused.

[*Unintelligible Screaming*]

Shameless plug to a guide I wrote quite a few years ago: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=239452428

Read that if you want to be confused by my ♥♥♥♥♥♥ writing, or just take away this TL;DR: Make sure everyone is loyal, get the weapon, armor, and shield ship upgrades, and DONT do reaper iff until those are done. After finishing reaper iff, do legions loyalty mission, take care of the tali/legion conflict with the paragon or renegade option, then charge into the Omega-4 Relay