Mass Effect: Andromeda | Ep. 03 – Eos – Outpost Assignments & The Nexus

Friday means Mass Effect: Andromeda, and we’re finally back for Episode 3! This time, we’re continuing our work on Eos, investigating what the colonists have been getting up to, and trying to make some progress before heading back to the Nexus.

Naturally, things don’t quite go to plan. Between mysterious voices, a questionable murder investigation, dangerous Remnant technology, and a rather unpleasant creature, there’s plenty to keep us occupied. We even manage to unlock an upgrade I’ve been looking forward to!

🌌 About the Game

Mass Effect: Andromeda takes us far beyond the Milky Way into the Andromeda galaxy, where humanity and other species are searching for somewhere new to call home.

We play as Ryder, a Pathfinder responsible for exploring unfamiliar worlds, overcoming hostile environments, and helping the Andromeda Initiative establish a future. Along the way, our decisions shape the relationships, settlements, and opportunities available to the people depending on us.

🪐 Where We Are in the Journey

We’re now three episodes into our Andromeda adventure, and we’ve already made some important progress on Eos. Activating the mysterious Remnant vault has improved conditions on the planet, allowing the Initiative to establish its first successful outpost.

However, establishing a settlement doesn’t mean everything is suddenly safe. Radiation remains a serious problem, colonists need help, and there are unanswered questions surrounding earlier attempts to settle the planet.

Our next job is to explore the outpost, deal with outstanding assignments, and eventually return to the Nexus to see what else needs our attention.

🚀 What Happens in This Episode

We begin by exploring the new settlement on Eos, speaking with the colonists and finding out how everyone is settling into their new home. After everything we’ve done to make the planet more habitable, it’s good to see the outpost taking shape, although there’s still quite a bit of work ahead.

The colonists are dealing with everything from power and water supplies to medical facilities, scientific research, and education. One resident is even thinking about what the children should be learning, including whether Milky Way history is still relevant now that everyone is living in Andromeda. There’s also an opportunity to pick up an improved armour blueprint, which is always useful.

Lieutenant Bradley seems reasonably optimistic about the settlement’s future, and the scientists are interested in the changes caused by activating the Remnant vault. Unfortunately, the radiation outside the protected areas is still dangerous, something we’re reminded of several times as I attempt to explore places we’re probably not supposed to reach just yet.

While wandering around the settlement, I start hearing some rather strange voices. I’m not entirely sure what I’m hearing, but chat notices something too. happy_cat_lady describes what sounds like faint screams, while EntertainJD quite reasonably points out that hearing voices probably isn’t a good sign!

Frodo helps identify the section of the stream where the sounds can be heard, and we mark it to investigate later. I’m still curious about what’s causing it, although we don’t manage to establish exactly what we’re hearing.

I’m also attempting to explore the outpost in something resembling a sensible order, working my way around the buildings and checking everything as we go. That proves easier said than done when there are stairs, unfamiliar structures, containers to investigate, and plenty of things worth scanning.

One of our assignments leads us to a group of missing colonists who have been experimenting with Remnant technology. Apparently, they believe they can find a way to control the machines and use them to help protect the settlement.

Following the clues takes us through work records, the medical facilities, and evidence connected to a Remnant monolith. Eventually, we locate the missing workers, but things become considerably more urgent when a countdown timer appears.

Well, technically, it had already appeared. I just hadn’t noticed it because it was sitting right at the edge of my ultrawide monitor!

That leaves us rushing towards the objective while dealing with dangerous conditions and hostile Remnant machines. We manage to fight our way through and rescue the workers, although they’re not particularly enthusiastic about being told their experiment was a bad idea.

They argue that controlling Remnant technology could help defend the colony and even assist with farming. Ryder isn’t convinced, particularly given the danger they’ve already caused, and the workers eventually agree to back down.

The assignment also gives us something I’ve been looking forward to: enough skill points to finally upgrade Throw!

Yes, we’ve unlocked the much-anticipated double ball slapping. We can now launch two biotic projectiles instead of one, which should make dealing with groups of enemies considerably more entertaining. Naturally, I’m keen to start testing it.

Another assignment takes us into a rather unusual murder investigation involving the death of security chief Reynolds. Nilken has been accused of killing him, but the evidence doesn’t quite match the original account.

We visit the location where Reynolds died and begin examining the remains, scanning pieces of armour and looking for anything that might explain what happened. There are also some hostile creatures in the area, because apparently investigating a crime scene isn’t quite complicated enough on its own.

The evidence reveals that Reynolds was shot from behind, while information recovered from his omni-tool indicates that another weapon was responsible for the fatal injury.

Then we discover an audio recording suggesting that Nilken actually did attempt to shoot Reynolds, but missed.

That creates a rather interesting situation. Nilken appears to have intended to murder Reynolds, but he wasn’t responsible for the shot that killed him. So what exactly should happen to somebody who attempted a murder that somebody else ended up committing?

We spend some time discussing that with chat, including how a jury might look at the evidence and whether attempted murder should be treated differently. It’s an interesting little mystery, even if it doesn’t leave us with a particularly straightforward answer.

Meanwhile, saving the game becomes an ongoing subject of discussion.

Frodo repeatedly reminds me to save, especially whenever I’m about to do something potentially dangerous. Somehow, despite providing these reminders, he still ends up getting blamed when things go wrong.

Gary joins in, Frodo points out that he already told me to save, and before long we’ve got #blamefrodo appearing in chat.

It becomes a running joke throughout the evening, particularly when I continue testing the limits of the radiation zones and trying to reach objectives that really aren’t accessible yet.

The Nomad helps us cover plenty of ground, and we make use of its different driving modes and jump jets to negotiate the terrain. Unfortunately, even the Nomad can’t do much about the more severe radiation, so some areas will have to wait until conditions improve.

Our exploration eventually takes us to Site 2, the abandoned settlement known as Resilience.

This is where things become considerably more serious. Through recordings, abandoned equipment, and the remains of the colonists, we start piecing together what happened to the people who originally tried to establish an outpost here.

The settlers faced terrible weather, dangerous radiation, and eventually attacks from the kett. What should have been another chance to establish a home ended in disaster.

We investigate the site, scanning bodies and examining the remains of the settlement, before encountering a group of hostile kett and one particularly unpleasant creature.

This thing is large, aggressive, and appears to spit something that I can only describe as lube.

Unfortunately, it’s also rather difficult to kill.

The resulting fight becomes one of the more challenging parts of the episode. Our shields disappear surprisingly quickly, additional enemies arrive, and our companions aren’t always able to remain on their feet.

I attempt to use the surrounding structures for protection, including moving around a pole to avoid attacks. That doesn’t work quite as well as expected when enemies seem perfectly capable of clipping through obstacles or climbing over things I thought would keep them away.

We also discover that the creature can climb, which isn’t particularly helpful when you’re already struggling to find somewhere safe to stand.

There are several unsuccessful attempts, plenty of frustration, and a few occasions where we end up back at an earlier point. EntertainJD certainly seems entertained by the possibility of another death loop.

At least our newly upgraded Throw ability gets a proper test. Double ball slapping is useful, although it doesn’t magically solve every problem when you’ve got an enormous creature and several kett trying to kill you.

Eventually, we manage to defeat the creature, clear out the remaining enemies, and make some progress with the investigation.

We also uncover information about a defensive project the original settlers had been developing. There are components and schematics to locate, although following everything up proves a little awkward with the various objectives, difficult terrain, and radiation restrictions.

After spending so much time fighting our way around Eos, returning to the Tempest seems like a sensible idea.

This gives us an opportunity to spend some proper time talking with the crew, learning more about their backgrounds, and discovering what they think about the Initiative and our situation in Andromeda.

One of my favourite conversations is with Suvi. We talk about science, faith, and what it means to explore an entirely different galaxy. She has an interesting perspective on the discoveries we’re making, and there’s even an opportunity for a little flirting, which I’m happy to explore.

We also learn about the technology used to observe Andromeda before the Initiative arrived, including information connected to the Geth.

Kallo tells us more about his involvement in the development of the Tempest and his concerns about the missing salarian ark. It’s interesting getting some background on the ship itself, particularly from somebody who helped bring it into existence.

Not every conversation leaves quite such a positive impression, though.

Peebee continues to irritate me. She’s certainly enthusiastic about Remnant technology, but her attitude, constant restlessness, and reluctance to answer personal questions aren’t doing much to change my opinion of her. At the moment, she’s definitely one of my least favourite companions.

Cora isn’t doing particularly well either. We hear more about her time serving with the asari huntresses, along with her feelings about Alec Ryder choosing us as the new Pathfinder instead of her.

I understand that she’s disappointed, but the repeated references to her asari training are becoming a little tiresome.

Fortunately, the rest of the crew provide some interesting conversations.

Vetra talks about her sister Sid and the way she’s learned to acquire supplies and make useful contacts. Liam discusses his background in crisis response and his hopes for starting again in Andromeda, while Gil gives us an insight into what it takes to keep the Tempest running.

Lexi is concerned about the wellbeing of the crew, and we also learn more about the memories Alec Ryder apparently locked away within SAM. That’s something I’m interested in investigating further as the story progresses.

Drack provides more information about Krogan history, his family, and his concerns about Spender on the Nexus. There’s clearly quite a bit happening behind the scenes, and I’m looking forward to seeing where some of these conversations lead.

Of course, while all this is happening, Twitch chat is providing its usual entertainment.

We receive a raid from asmith501, bringing a couple of viewers over to join us. It’s always lovely when another streamer stops by, and Smith quickly gets involved in the conversations and community activities.

Our Hunger Games and heist events produce some entertaining results throughout the evening. Smith wins one of the Hunger Games rounds, while I eventually manage to claim victory in another.

That leads to Smith accusing me of luring him off a cliff, bringing back memories of an earlier occasion when he’d been persuaded to jump off one. Apparently, he’s still not forgotten about that!

The heist and Stargate activities also keep everyone occupied. Smith and I receive special commendations for helping rescue SG-1, and there’s plenty of celebration when the results come through.

tbrgamingcore joins us and cheers 75 bits, which is very much appreciated.

Elsewhere, happy_cat_lady is refusing to share her legendary Midnight Shreddies, while Frodo, Gary, and EntertainJD are keeping the conversation going with their usual jokes and stories.

We also wander into discussions about Skyrim, including missing spells, troublesome followers, and quests that don’t quite work as expected. Frodo shares an amusing story about paying for a follower who eventually turned hostile after running into one of his spells, leaving him to deal with the consequences.

There are conversations about Stargate, Red Dwarf, The IT Crowd, and plenty of other subjects that have very little to do with Mass Effect, but that’s part of the fun of the livestreams.

Eventually, we make our way back to the Nexus, where there are still plenty of people to speak with and assignments waiting for us.

I’d originally hoped to spend more time working through some of those Nexus missions, but we’ve already had a rather eventful session. Between exploring Eos, investigating the missing colonists, examining Reynolds’ death, surviving Resilience, and catching up with the Tempest crew, we’ve managed to cover quite a bit of ground.

Rather than start another collection of assignments when we’re already running out of time, I decide to leave the remaining Nexus business until our next visit.

We finish by looking ahead to the upcoming streams, including Skyrim and our next jigsaw puzzle session, before thanking everyone for joining us and supporting the channel.

The evening ends with a raid into Fahr_Avayana’s stream, giving everyone somewhere else to continue the fun.

We’ve made good progress, unlocked an ability I’ve been wanting for a while, and still have plenty to investigate when we return. Hopefully, next time I’ll remember to save before getting into trouble.

Although I’m sure Frodo will remind me anyway!

▶️ Watch the Episode

Want to see how our Eos investigations unfolded, including the difficult battles, questionable decisions, and double ball slapping?

You can watch Mass Effect: Andromeda Episode 3 on YouTube below.

You can also explore the Mass Effect: Andromeda series playlist or visit my YouTube channel for more gameplay.

If you enjoy the episode, remember to leave a like, share your thoughts in the comments, and subscribe for more!

🔴 Join the Adventure Live

Exploring Andromeda is much more entertaining when we’ve got everyone joining in. Whether you’re helping me find an objective, reminding me to save, or laughing at another unexpected death, you’re always welcome.

Come and join us live on Twitch or YouTube. You never know what we’ll discover next, or who chat will decide to blame when something goes wrong!

💬 Community & Links

The adventure doesn’t have to end when we leave the Tempest. There are plenty of ways to keep in touch, explore more content, and support everything happening in our community.

Live — Join us for gameplay, discoveries, and the occasional questionable decision:

Twitch | YouTube

Community — Catch up with everyone between streams and see what’s coming next:

Discord

Socials — Follow along for updates, clips, and more from the channel:

TikTok | Bluesky | Instagram | Facebook | Threads | X

Music — Take a break from exploring distant galaxies with my music:

Spotify | Apple Music

Support — Help keep the streams and community going:

Fourthwall | Teespring | Streamlabs

More — Discover my other projects and what I do beyond gaming:

Business Centre | Download the Brochure | About Me | Blog

💾 Double Throw Unlocked, Nexus Still Waiting

We’ve made some good progress on Eos, completed investigations, survived a difficult encounter, and finally unlocked our double Throw upgrade. There’s still plenty to explore, particularly on the Nexus, so we’ll be picking up those outstanding assignments when we return.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, especially asmith501 for the raid and tbrgamingcore for the bits. We finished by raiding Fahr_Avayana, keeping the community fun going after our own stream ended.

Until next time, I’ll try to remember to save. Although I’m sure Frodo will remind me anyway!

— Dr Ravenholm