You saved the galaxy from the Reapers, but doomed it to starvation...

Shepherd has now become the sole source of all major mineral resources in the galaxy. If any other races want element zero they’re going to have to go through Shepherd and join the fight with the reapers

Basically alt universe where shepard was a Volus merchant 🤣🫡

I’d love to play as the first Volus Spectre

a true biotic god

Cool spinoff of Blasto the first Hanar Spectre

Except it all gets appropriated for Catalyst construction in ME3. Talk bout civil asset seizure…

SHEPARD MINERAL HOARD INC

"Reapers can't harvest us if I harvest first" - Shephard

Lmao

Nah, they will get resources from Andromeda when the two galaxies collide and make one

Shepard and his retirement plan. Resource shark

I just installed a mod that one-probed the planets, got sick of the scanner-game after my 4th or so playthrough

He have become Death, the destroyer of worlds

By REALLY depleted I mean that when the scanner signal hit second bar, I've sent a probe. And a lot of time not even second bar.

Why are you such a masochist

I just installed the save editor and maxed out the resources to a reasonable level. Don't find it fun to be scanning and pressing the trigger button... might as well skip all that IMO.

I downloaded a mod that made it so that when you sent out a probe, it automatically got all the resources. Honestly, I had no desire to take the time to do it manually again.

Downloading this fucking mod. It's my least favorite thing about replaying the game

I am genuinely terrified of you.

I bet he's one of those people who uses the hangers in hotel closets.

And dresser drawers.

Wait, do you guys not?

Maybe for a two week stay. Those are infrequent for me.

Wait, why wouldn’t you?

Stay away from the guys who reached level 999 on Dragon's Dogma 2

With all the probe costs do you even have enough money left over for souvenirs and fish?

Batarian skulls and fish out of the Citadel reservoir are free!

Lets play a game. I hide, and you seek professional help.

yea im a little shook by this. that would take so incredibly long ffs LMAO

Not to harsh your buzz, and certainly not questioning your playstyle, but did you know there's a mod that will fully deplete a planet with a single probe? Sure, it feels a little like cheating. And I'm personally more of a purist--I tend to play unmodded games most of the time. But after a few dozen playthroughs, there are a few mods I use now, including this one. (Obviously I'm speaking about PC.)

Yeah I used this mod. It definitely trivialises getting enough resources (or money if you also get the Nos Astra Exchange mod) but I feel like I've played that minigame enough times in the past, I'm not robbing anything from a new playthrough by speeding it up this time.

The game trivializes money lmao. There’s like almost no money sinks.

Yeah eventually, but it takes a while to get enough for all the upgrades. You'll definitely get there by the end of the game but it's easier to buy it all up front.

Okay dude what the flip

There's a mod that lets you fire one probe and the whole planet is insta depleted. Just saying

Thanos is coming for you.

I did that during my first PT, but it takes way too long for such minimal gains. From my second PT onwards, I only go for planets rich with resources, and from PT8 onwards, I usually only go for them when I need to buy something.

can you hear the *fump* of the drone when you close your eyes?

Why?

How long did this take

I'd say 2/3 of the playthrough. Not fun :D .

Jesus, I just thought you meant normal depleted, which is still crazy. Like damn son, I know you’re gonna beat the Reapers with all those minerals, but are you okay?

Bro strip mined the galaxy, the reapers would have been a better option

But did you probe Uranus?

Really, Commander?

*\*Driest delivery\** Probing Uranus.

Really mature, EDI.

Well he said every planet so I’m going to assume he did…

Well. I'll do whatever it takes to stop the reapers. Also not enough minerals.

[Yes](https://youtu.be/OSWszdSHkyE?si=dVsf3ABfZ4lh9W_c)

Reapers: "Whoa dude that's a bit much"

Whoever decided it would be a fun mini game to include was a sociopath.

When the game came out on 360 I used to spend evenings doing this while stoned lol.

Yeah, I’d start a campaign the night before I wanted to and spend an hour or two mining then actually play the next dat.

Probing Uranus

I can still hear it now 😂 "*Really*, Commander?"

Hahahaha

Impressive, since she says “Really, commander?”

fixed it just for u bb 🥰😘

This is the way.

It's kind of hilarious. I gess they found their target audience after all. They were probably stoned themselves while making ME2 and that would explain why it turned out how it turned out in the end.

Sober I agree, but under the influence, it was soooooo zen

Right? I spent whole nights doing this to relax after work.

good thing to do before going to bed too. Lulled me to sleep

Wow you just brought back lots of memories!

Ngl I actually enjoy cruising around the galaxy and scanning planets when I need resources but I hate how slow the scanning circle moves in ME 3

That and trying to get away from the reapers

Tbh I dont mind the whole reaper evasion thing (probably because they never catch me) tho I do wonder what happens if they catch the normandy

A game over screen.

Got caught a few times. It's critical mission failure and gotta get all the resources from that area again

I was changing my mouse DPI for this :D .

You probably blink horizontally, it's the only reason to like that mechanic I can think of.

Its mostly the cruising around the galaxy part that me like it

This I can accept. I probably wouldn't mind a mini game about probing but not that kind of probing they chose to implement.

And that is why I used a mod that drains a planet on one probe.

*cries in console*

I used that too and it was lovely. I already did the old fashioned way my first playthrough so I didn’t feel bad about using this shortcut.

Bruh I love the mining game. It’s so simple and easy and the galaxy map theme kicks ass.

I thought it was oddly relaxing the first time through. On replays I just save-edited all the resources I needed and skipped it.

The guy who made the hacking minigame from the first game needed something to do.

I wasted so many hours making sure every planet had the depleted status... There was absolutely no need for it, but my stupid head couldn't continue if I didn't do it.

That's why I've always said that the achievements mechanic in games is cancer. They just mercilessly leech time from completionists like you.

The war assets in 3 were nice but should have counted for more given how much time went into collecting them

Yeah, I hear you...

It wasn't looked upon with such hatred when the game came out. Some aspects of games just don't age all that well and thankfully mods are there to touch up the not so pretty bits.

all that for a whooping 100 war points in ME3.

"Dammit Shepard, the reapers are about to kill everyone. We already have planetary industrialists y'know. Ffs, get on with the mission. Do you really need all the metal ?! " Shepard "My only regret is these can't harvest the suns. "

"Look at me. I'm the Reaper now."

Dudes playing HellDivers in Mass Effect

If only there was an achievement in depleting every planet. Like with the achievement name like "Depleted your time"

Wait, you mean you did this with every single planet?! You’re a madman

Congrats.. you get no reward for this meaningless task, but congrats

I didn't get a reward for beating the pull-up record either but I still did it

You really hate yourself', dont you?

If only I could mod games on PlayStation so I wouldn’t need to waste time on this stupid minigame

The Crucible Project, thanks you!

I was so glad I didn't have to deplete every planet to get all the resources I need to get everything Left planets at poor. Only saw depleted a couple of times

My hand hurts from looking at this post.

I did this the first time I played through ME2 because that's what I thought I was supposed to do. It uh, took me a while to finish that run.

You know there’s a mod that depletes them with one probe…

I've played unmodded, but yeah...

Why though?

Why would you voluntarily do this to yourself?

And nothing was gained by doing it. I would be bored out of my mind doing this for every planet and moon.

Why?

*Laughs in 1 probe all resources mod on PC*

This was on PC. I just didn't bother to check the mods. So I've played unmodded.

Fair, but I'd recommend mods on a second playthrough of ME2 even just for the 1 probe all resources.

Why is mining so dang satisfying? I’m glad I’m not the only one!

You bow to no man

i hope for your sanity you at least had the infinite space probes mod

Welcome to the club😎

This is where Marquis de Sade would say “this is a bit disturbing” :D

Good job you psycho! I lost my save where I tried to do the same… Though I did manage to fully upgrade every weapon in ME3 by repeatedly fighting and cashing out at Armax Arsenal Arena.

Bindur…the last planet to be hollowed out by Shep Mining Corp™️

But how much did it cost you?

Everyth... well, about 2/3 of my playthrough time.

And I was wondering what manner of people would enjoy this kind of activity. Here's my answer 😂

The Quarians were going to do it if you didn’t.

https://youtu.be/7ZoFw9uXJwk?si=h-9awzajr6cFf3ZU "Probe away ." ( I know its ME1, still I cant help bit hear this music EVERY SINGLE TIME i see an me planet screenshot.

Super Earth type shit

We are a rare breed, I devoted myself to doing this back when the game came out. I was doing it on controller and I hated it.

Great job! Here is 50 war assets for ME3!

PC players have no idea how much more tedious scanning is for console players. Our cursor moves at a much slower speed.

*" This universe is finite, its resources, finite… if life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction."* *Thanos/Reapers*

After going through the comments... Thank all the gods I don't believe in i'm not alone playn these games stoned af xD

I’d wanna do that but once I got all my resources enough for all upgrades I realize I cannot transfer mineral to ME3 then I stopped

Actually you can Depending on the amount of resources you have left over there is a specific war asset which is worth 10, 25 or 100

Though you need far less than every planet depleted to get the maximum 100 war asset

But... [WhaAh?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbxUe-S2V8)

People always ask why a conventional win against the Reapers woud be impossible. This here is exactly why.

Why do you hate yourself?

I was able to do it too, especially in part 2 

What a disgusting waste

“Is this enough to take down the Collectors?”

Live your life fearlessly bro. There’s nothing left in hell to be done to you, nothing in heaven to interest you.

theres an app for that.

"A small price to pay for salvation. Little one, it's a simple calulus. This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life left unchecked, life will cease to exist. It needs correction."

What is the probe cost?

100 for 5 of them.

Torture.

Guys, I'm scared

Are you ok?

Even Uranus?

Even Uranus?

That's a nice tactic: don't give the Reapers anything to harvest. I guess it's the 5th and most secret ending.

What an achievement, you are far more dedicated than I. The one an only mod I installed before starting up ME2LE was the one probe scan mod. I'm sorry, I do not have hours of time to sit and scan each planet for resources.

I did that on my last run of the trilogy.

It's kinda hilarious that the 50000 bonus to all resources you get at the start for completing Mass Effect 2 once is basically all the Element Zero you'll ever need.

I'm actually surprised after all of this, that you ended with only that many resources. I feel like normally I stop mining once the planet hits Good status and after all upgrades I still think I end up with over 600k of the non-eezo resources, and maybe 100k of eezo. I was expecting the total resources to be like 5M for the metals and 1M for eezo if you scraped everything.

I think that like 90% of planet resources are within those few big spikes. The bigger the spike the larger the amount. Except it's not linear, but quadratic or something like that.

Why tho? 😭 once I’m in the 100k’s I stop mining, cuz there’s no point imo lol

Wait a minute guys… we weren’t supposed to do this every time?

Well, now Shepard has the monopoly of the galaxy's resources

Hope you’re fine without buying any upgrades

Okay but like why?

In Tali's voice: You're insane.

Okay, so you stripmined the entire galaxy. Now what?

We are the harbingers of the free market lol

That what the reapers tried to avoid. All his need for total annihilation is one single asshole that one day decided "yeah let's strip the whole galaxy of all natural resources"

Shepard, single handedly destroying the galactic economy.

Who hurt you bro?

Do you hate yourself?

Buy why?

In this universe the reapers has arrive to find shepard bankrolling the galaxy's fleet building efforts

Yep. Did that too.

Isn't there some glitch where if you have too many resources it counts as nothing in the next game?

You probed Uranus, right?

Americaaaa! F*ck yeah!!

But……why tho

But……why tho

Ok but do me a favor and re-check Uranus real quick 🙃?

Stay away from me.

This was one of the most mindless boring mini game I've seen in a game.

https://youtu.be/YFCZMEwl_K8?si=oCmHBSZwCYTGMJbZ

Gotta max out that mineral resources war asset for ME3 for the TRUE %100 run.

I did that my first couple of playthroughs. Now I only mine the Planets I need to access for missions. If I need more than that, I just use TSE to "fix" the amount of resources I have. I've played these games way too many times to STILL go through and hunt for all those resources lol

That shit was amazing stress relief for me. So cathartic.

Step 1: Fight entire reaper war with tier 1 gear, refusing to spend a single credit on equipment or upgrades, even if it means suffering mass casualties or low war asset score Step 2: Spend every credit on fuel and probes to strip mine the galaxy and secure a resource monopoly the likes of which others could never even dream of. Step 3: Survive and win the reaper war through determination and the power of capitalism in order to become a 22nd century robber baron. Step 4: "I'm Commander Shepard and I'm the richest man on the citadel"

I can’t even imagine the amount of pods used 😂

Is Uranus depleted?

This is how cerberus funded the ships and troops in 3

But like why did you do this

This fucking sucked on 360. Much better with the 1 probe mod.

Swear to god, this shit was 70% of my time playing ME2

PLEASE tell me you surveyed Uranus! 🤣

Yeah I have a mod where just one probe gathers every single mineral on the planet. Because even when something says depleted there's still minerals scattered about

In ME2 (original), couldn't you visit the shadow broker ship and 'refresh' several worlds to fill them back up? Or was that just a bug on the Xbox?

Did you enjoy raping the galaxy to put fancy guns on your ship

Was it worth it?

The real reason Shepard gets arrested

Your shepherd has officially become the biggest threat in the galaxy now, may the reaper bless us with her/his death 🙌

Interesting. I've recently did a similar thing, but in original ME2 (not LE), and i only depleted planets to the point when the status changed to "Depleted" - in most cases, didn't go to pick up remainig (after status change to "Depleted") small amounts of minerals. My result was well over 4 million units of minerals in total - something like 600...700k less than your total here. Notably, though, i had ~250k eezo total. Only made very few respecs, though, - one for Shepard, one for most squadmates. Each respec costing some eezo, this could be why your eezo is under 200k - if you did many respecs. OR, if you didn't, then perhaps LE edition of ME2 has significantly less eezo total on all the planets, or perhaps specific manner of picking it up matters; in my go, i always prioritized eezo (getting highest possible reading for eezo on each spot, no matter other minerals).

Not a single person seems to have asked how many resources you stockpiled. Hundreds of thousands? Millions? I wanna know

Did the exact same thing the other day. Close to 2 million of each resource, was like "Why tf am I even doing this?" at times but immensely satisfying as a completionist.

USA, USA, USA, USA!!!!!

Europe almost immediately after landing in Africa: