Finish the main quest. Now, I recommend you start out at Casual. No, Normal is NOT Hardcore, and Veteran is NOT Insane. So, go easy, find out where everything is at. Save your money for the next play through. Make sure: You use two allies always! Do ALL side quests with them. Don't worry, those unlock later on, some times different times in the game.

Feros is the planet that has the colonists and is not covered in snow. Now, all you have to do is: Talk with the leader, kill the Geth, now this is important: Talk with him again, then talk with the people in charge of: Food, water, and power, and do their side quests! After that, move up the bridge, go to ExoGeni, find Lizbeth, return to the colony. Now, either upgrade your grenades with the Thorian gas or kill them all. Now, if you kill them and didn't do the side quests, you will NEVER complete them.

This is your first mission. This is important: If you want Insane or Hardcore, you can change the difficulties in-game, but do it BEFORE landing on Eden Prime! This was confirmed in the Bioware Forums. Now, just kill the Geth then de-activate the bombs by standing near them and holding A. After that, approach the Beacon and you're done.

Virmire is the planet you receive from the Council. First, you land, clear the AA guns and approach the Salarian Camp. You can get the Charm/Intimidate on Wrex, who will want to get the cure for the Genophage. Don't worry if you don't have it maxed out, there's another chance later in the game. Now, choose between Kaidan or Ashley to go with the Salarians. Later in the battle, you will have to choose who to save. IF one dies and you're doing the romantic sub plot, it will end there.

Noveria is the planet covered in Snow, and has Matriach Benezia. In order to get the garage pass you need to help Lorik. Go to the garage, kill the Geth, and drive up. Once in the facility, you'll need to activate the VI's core. Either doing the Tower of Hanoi puzzle[search in the site or google for how to do it] or sacrifice 100 omni gel. Then, activate the power and landlines. Once in the tram, you must kill the Rachni, but first go down the elevator to where the survivors are at, get the pass, and to the hot labs. Activate the Purge and get out. Return to the survivors, [SPOILER] Kill them. Go to the end of the place, and go to the tunnels. Find the Matriarch. To kill her, you MUST kill the Geth and Asari Commandos. DO NOT FIGHT HER. Start off, kill the Asari Command rushing you, then RUN TO THE RIGHT and kill the Geth and Commandos after talking with her, she'll go berserk again. Kill ALL enemies, then kill her.

After finishing your Casual, or any play through, select new career and existing ID. Make sure to change the settings in the main menu, difficulty to Hardcore.

WARNING: Whe you start the game in the Normandy, check the setting again and make sure it is set to Hardcore to get these at the same time! If you land on Eden Prime and it wasn't set right, you will not get the achievement for Hardcore.

ALL organic enemies have immune. They are very accurate and WILL cut you to shreds. Take cover often, but watch out for rockets. Use the Spectre Master Gear and a lot of Biotic powers. Lastly, all enemies are the same level as you.

Refer to the Long Service Medal achievement.

Refer to Distinguished Combat Medal and Long Service Medal. Note: ALL organic enemies have immune. They are very accurate and WILL cut you to shreds. Take cover often, but watch out for rockets. Use the Spectre Master Gear and a lot of Biotic powers. Oh, and for fun, enemies and bosses are higher levels than you.

Alright, start with the pistol, since it's the hardest weapon to get kills and the weakest. Register 150 kills, do side quests, for more enemies. Don't worry, kills carry one through careers. Also, YOU must make the kills, your allies can't help you here. Make sure you level the weapon up for more damage. Also, be realistic, if you haven't leveled your gun up and you're facing a Krogan, switch weapons.

Leave the shotgun for last, or third, if you want. Upgrade the weapon for more damage. Now you ask, why for last? In the last missions, enemies will be close together, and with a high level shotgun, you can basically snipe them. IF you don't get the 150 kills, don't worry, they carry on to the next career. YOU MUST do the kills, ally kills will NOT count.

This should be the weapon you use the most in the game. Once it is fully powered, you can destroy Geth Colossus and Gun turrets with the over kill power up. Again, they carry on to the next play through. YOU must make the kills, ally kills will NOT count.

This is the most annoying weapon in the game. If you're not leveled up, it will be hard to get kills with this. Make sure this is your first or second weapon you use, since it's hard. YOU must make the kills, ally kills will NOT count.

Create an Adept character or any character with biotic powers

Use the power on something that can be selected with a target marker. The Citadel Rapid Transport stations are a great place to do this. Also, make sure you have adrenaline rush. Use all the powers, adrenaline rush, repeat all powers, and wait for them to recharge. YOU must do them, allies don't count.

Refer to lift mastery.

For these achievements, you'll need to be an engineer class character. To use these: Press RB and highlight the power you want, then press A. You can map it by pressing X, then all you have to do is hit RB to use the power. Only do that if you're working on one at a time.

To make this faster, use the manual cast for every power you have, then use adrenaline rush. you'll get a second use of every power with that. Now everything will recharge, rinse and repeat.

YOU must do these, ally casts don't count.

Must be an engineer.

The only one of these achievements that MUST be done on an enemy. First, level up to a level 10 and then use all your points on the AI Hacking power. Then you can hack any of the enemies you come across. You will know when an enemy is hacked cause it will attack other foes of yours and will indicate to you it is hacked instead of having an energy bar.

Just find a turret to use it on... Use it, hide, recharge, rinse and repeat. People have recommended the fight with Fist as a great time to do this with the two turrets in his office. Make a save just before this point, hack them both and reload the save. The hacks will go toward the achievement even though you didn't save your game after doing them.

For this achievement, all you will need to do is press the Y button. Make sure you're damaged, or else it won't allow you to use the medi-gel. This carries over play any through. It is likely you'll get it after finishing Hard Core.

Note: You only get ONE chance to get MOST of these.

The Council consists of: Asari, Turians, and Salarians.
The extinct Races are: Protheans, Rachni
The Non-Council races are:Batarians, Elcor, Geth, Hanar, Keepers, Krogan, Quarians, Volus

Turians:
At the very beginning of the game, talk to people about the Spectres and Saren.
Asari:
Either talk with Captain Anderson, or with Avina[The VI about the council races].

Salarians:
Talk to Captain Anderson after the first meeting with the council.

Protheans:
CAN ONLY GET WITH TALKING WITH CAPTAIN ANDERSON!

Rachni:
Talking with the VI near the Krogan Statue about the Krogans, the rebellion, and the war.

Batarians:
After acquiring the Normandy, talk with Captain Anderson. Ask him about him becoming a Specter.

Elcor
Talk to the Elcor diplomat Calyn in the embassy. The embassy is to the right of the Human Embassy.

Geth:
Ask Ashley AFTER finding her on Eden Prime.
.
Hanar
Either with the Preaching Hanar, or with the Shop Keeper that is Hanar. Ask him about his speech.

Keepers:
Ask Avina near the Citadel Tower light.

Krogan:
Automatic by watching the confrontation between Wrex and the Krogan bouncer in Chora's Den.

Quarians:
Talk to Garrus in medical center.

Volus:
Talk with Avina outside the embassies.

By majority of the game, they mean an undefined amount of the game. I recommend that you choose two characters and go with them till the end. Try to not start a side quest without the characters you want. There around 70 side quests including the main quest ones. So, make sure you do around 60 of them before Ilos. IF you haven't gotten the achievement after that, then you should try exploring the galaxy and doing more quests. Remember to talk with allies in order to generate more side quests.

NOTE! Completing the DLC makes a noticeable contribution toward this achievement. You should be able to earn all of the ally achievements before you get to Ilos if you complete the DLC.

The following is a list of missions in the game:

MAIN QUEST:

Prologue: Find the Beacon

Citadel: Expose Saren
Citadel: Garrus
Citadel: Wrex

Feros: Save the colony

Noveria: Matriarch Benezia
Noveria: Lorik Qui'n
Noveria: Peak 15
Noveria: Reactor Repair
Noveria: Reconnect Landlines
Noveria: Contamination
Noveria: The Hot Labs
Noveria: Rift Station

Find Liara T'Soni

Ilos: Find the Conduit

Race Against Time


SIDE QUESTS:

Citadel: Scan the Keepers
Citadel: Presidium Prophet
Citadel: Reporter's Request
Citadel: The Fan
Citadel: Rita's Sister
Citadel: Signal Tracking
Citadel: Jahleed and Chorban
Citadel: Homecoming
Citadel: The Fourth Estate
Citadel: Family Matter
Citadel: Asari Consort
Citadel: Old Friends
Citadel: Xeltan Convinced
Citadel: Planting a Bug
Citadel: Schells and his Data
Citadel: Negotiator's Request

UNC: Missing Survey Team
UNC: Rogue VI
UNC: Hostage
UNC: Major Kyle
UNC: Distress Call
UNC: Missing Marines
UNC: Privateers
UNC: Hostile Takeover
UNC: Matriach Writings [10 needed, I collected 15]
UNC: Missing Scientist
UNC: Turian Emblems [13 needed, I collected 17]
UNC: Minerals [ Rare Earths: 20, I found 23. Gases: 6, I found 10. Heavy Metals: 20, I found 25. Light Metals: 20, I found 22]
UNC: Signs of Battle [10 Medallions, I found 10] [ID Tags: 3, I found 4]
UNC: Negotiations
UNC: Cerberus[SHOULD BE NOTED: There is ONE other side quest to do with them on the Styx Theta Cluster, does NOT appear on Journal, search for abandoned ship].
UNC: Prothean Discs[7 needed, I found 10]
UNC: Lost Freighter
UNC: Espionage Probe
UNC: Hade's Dogs
UNC: Lost Module
UNC: Geth Incursions
UNC: ExoGeni Facility
UNC: Colonists
UNC: Derelict Freighter
UNC: Listening Post Alpha
UNC: Listening Post Theta
UNC: Depot Sigma-23

Virmire: Wrex
Virmire: Kirrahe's Team

NOTE: DO ALL FEROS BEFORE LEAVING TO THE SKY BRIDGE!!!

Feros: Recover Data
Feros: Power Cells
Feros: Varren Meat
Feros: Feth in the Tunels
Feros: Water Restoration


Noveria: Espionage

Asari Diplomacy


ALLIES:

Garrus: Dr Saleon
Wrex: Family Armor
Tali's Pilgrimage

Simply complete the game with YOU having more shield damage than health damage. Take cover often. This is easiest with a soldier class since they can wear heavy armo. Get a good armor with 4 bars of shield early and this will be simple. Also try to get it on your first play as you will take more damage during your Hardcore/Insane runs.

Explore the galaxy! I believe I got this when I landed on the moon/planet that has Major Kyle. Don't worry, you'll eventually land on a planet that you need to do a side quest on.

Yes, credits carry on to the next game. Do all side quests. You get more money being Renegade, push for more credits, sell stuff. You can either save the money in your first play through in order to buy the Spectre Master gear quickly or save it for the second play through. Up to you.

Add the Shredder bullet upgrade to your weapon and allied weapons. Kill anything that is NOT Geth/mechanical. You'll get it eventually. Yes, they carry over to new games. Do side quests. The Cerberus missions have a lot of mercenaries.

Add the Tungsten upgrade to your weapon. By Synthetic, they mean Geth or turrets or anything mechanical. If you don't get this by Virmire, don't worry. The last mission has A LOT of enemies. Do side quests, there are plenty of Geth Ambushes in the beacons.

See completionist achievement for extra info. This achievement is for Ashley.

Do A LOT of side quests. Don't worry if you get one ally first and later the other.  You can get two per playthrough only. It is possible to get these achievements even before going to Ilos if you complete every possible side quest and all main missions. Bring Down the Sky DLC will also help.

Refer to this thread for some insight to these achievements.

Basic plan of attack for ally achievements:

• Complete Eden Prime
• Go to Citadel, talk to Council
• Find Harkin (Chora's Den), Garrus (Med Clinic) and Wrex (C-Sec)
• Take care of Fist (do not pick up his OSD!)
• Rescue Tali in the Wards Access
• Talk to Council, become Spectre
• Head to Therum and rescue Liara

From here, you will have all the allies. Pick the two you want to use and use them for EVERYTHING. If you don't have an ally with decryption and need them to unlock a quest by hacking a computer, switch them in to receive the quest, then immediately go back and switch them out.

Now with your two allies:

• Complete any possible Citadel assignment
• Complete any random space assignments (check this list and see which ones can be acquired simply by visiting a system or planet)
• Complete Bring Down the Sky missions (400MSP off the marketplace)
• Complete Noveria (do all assignments BEFORE leaving the arrival site)
• Complete Feros (do allassignments BEFORE leaving the arrival site)
• Go back to the Citadel and complete any assignments you started on Noveria/Feros
• Complete Virmire (do not kill Wrex!)
• Back to the Citadel once more

You should have the achievements by now, but if you don't, head to Ilos and finish out the game. Many people got a few of the achievements (mainly Liara) at the very last mission.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DO ANY COLLECTION ASSIGNMENTS FOR THESE ACHIEVEMENTS! -- These missions take forever, and they will help, but they are 100% not required to get ANY of the achievements, even Liara.

Do a lot of side quests. If you do them all, by the first play through you'll probably get to level 40. There is a glitch that only gives you 300xp every time, but to do it: Find Liara when SHE IS TRAPPED IN THE BLUE FIELD! Kill the enemies, save, then load the save. Congrats, you got 300 points! I would only recommend that in the early levels. Also, make sure that when on the Mako to kill enemies on foot, not with the Mako, you'll get more experience that way.

You must finish the game once in order to unlock levels 51-60. In total, you will need 862,100 experience points to reach level 60. Do ALL side quests, and it is most likely that you will get this at the end of your second way through or third. Also, make sure that when on the Mako to kill enemies on foot, not with the Mako, you'll get more experience that way.

On Noveria, when you are given the oppurtunity to accept the assignment from Lorik Qui'in to get the evidence to catch the Salarian (Anoleis, the administrator guy who has his own office) in his rend-based scandal, agree to it. He will open up the shut-down elevator, go down there and get the evidence. Upon exiting to go back to him you will run into Gianna (receptionist lady), so talk to her then go meet her in the hotel/bar. She will ask you to get him to agree into turning Anoleis in, agree and go talk to Lorik Qui'in. Talk to him, and do the following:

Step 1:

• (Top Right) Testify against Anoleis
• (Top Left) {Paragon} You'd be a hero
• OR
• (Bottom Left) {Renegade} Damn right I will

Step 2:

• Talk to him again
• (Left) Matriarch Benezia
• (Bottom Right) Another Question
• *Repeat step 1*

Repeat these two steps for whichever one you want until the achievement unlocks, then switch to the other for that achievement. Remember to do whichever way you DON'T want your character to be first so when you finish with the second achievement, you are high in either Paragon or Renegade, depending on your preference.

You can do this with: Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara. Talk with them after every main plot event. Choose the top dialog. Don't worry if you try to get Ashley and Liara at the same time, they will confront you and you have to choose. Once you finish the three planets, and reach the Citadel, you will be close to kissing, and when heading to Ilos, you seal the deal.

This is a main quest achievement. Prove that Saren is evil. Talk with Harkin, find Garus, then bring down Fist. After that, you need to save Tali, and with her evidence, you become a Spectre.

You get two chances to do this. The first is on Virmire, where you either intimidate or charm Wrex into calming down and NOT taking action. The other chance is in the end where you intimidate or charm Saren into suicide.

You must max out either one, or else you will fail.

She's in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Knossos system, and on the only planet you can land on. Drive the Mako till you reach the tunnels. Go down the elevator, and you'll find her, trapped in a force field. Kill the enemies, and activate the laser. Enter the newly made hole, use the elevator, and kill the Krogan.

Finish the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC missions.

You must have access to the Normandy and the Galaxy Map. Head to the Asgard System in the Exodus Cluster, then land on Asteroid X57. There are three assignments here that will help toward your completionist and ally achievements.

• Bring Down the Sky
• Avoid the Blasting Caps
• Missing Engineers