Now that Eos has an outpost and Prodromo is a thriving Initiative community, let’s talk about some of that stuff we told you to ignore during Mass Effect Andromeda's "A Better Beginning" mission.
Mining and resource collection
Throughout your adventures on Eos (and any planet), you’re going to see out-of-place-looking rock formations (they’re usually even brightly colored). These are resources — specifically, minerals. Pick these up because they get used to build new weapons, armor and various modifications to your gear.
Shortly after you pick up your Nomad (Mass Effect: Andromeda’s version of the Mako), you’ll start getting tips and hints about mining, but not much in the way of explanation. You’ll also get a new mining icon on your map. This is similar to the minerals above, but on a larger scale.
How to find deposits
When you get close to one of the mining locations marked on your map, the mining computer icon in the upper left of your screen will start blinking. Open up your mining computer (on consoles, you do this by pressing right on the D-pad) and watch the graphs. These indicate the (let’s call it) size of the deposits of the various elements you’ll find. (There are no numbers associated with the graphs, so it’s still a bit of a gamble).
Chances are, when you first open up the computer, those graphs will all be at zero, meaning there’s nothing there — no matter what SAM, that blinking icon or your map are telling you. Your job is to drive around a little bit and watch those lines. When you find somewhere with satisfactorily high concentrations of whichever element you prefer, launch your probe to collect it.
There’s a radius around the probe marked by a glowing orange line. You won’t be able to launch another probe inside this radius — which means you’re only going to be able to launch one probe per deposit (per visit to the planet), so chose the location carefully.
AVP Cryo Deployment Perks
AVPs are the Andromeda Initiative’s gamification of the order in which settlers get thawed out. And it’s up to you to make that call. As you earn the points by doing things that make the Heleus cluster more livable, you’ll hit Nexus thresholds that allow you to wake the next block of colonists you choose.
Each block has associated rewards — things like additional research points, additional resources or inventory expansions.
Andromeda Viability Points are shown in the upper right corner of your menu screen. You’ll earn these points from completing tasks on planets — especially from activating terraformers and establishing outposts. You’ll also earn a few here and there from Heleus assignments and additional tasks.
You’ll learn all about these from Director Addison and her assistant Vladimir Brecka after you complete Mass Effect: Andromeda's"A Better Beginning" priority ops mission on Eos.
First Murderer walkthrough
With all of the heavy lifting done, you’ve got the time to poke around on Eos a little and clear out some of those to-do list items that have been stacking up. Let’s talk about the "First Murderer" — one of the very first Heleus assignments you picked up when you first got to the Nexus.
- If you haven’t yet, talk to the distraught turian woman in the Militia HQ on the Nexus.
- Head straight across the hall to the brig to speak with her husband (the accused murderer).
- Go back to the Militia HQ and talk to Kandros.
- Use the terminal in the middle of the room to listen to the audio log.
- Then head up to Operations to talk to the witness Cassidy Shaw.
- Go talk to Director Tann.
- Travel to Eos. You’ll have a marker on your map for the murder site. Get to it.
- From here, just keep following the markers on your HUD, finding pieces of armor and scanning them.
- That trail will lead you to a kaerkyn nest in a cave. Clear them out, and scan the final piece of armor.
- Travel back to the Nexus and talk to Rensus again.
- Take your findings to Director Tann.
- We’re not going to tell you which way to answer his final question. That’s on you.