so bioware lied out of their ass on this one huh.... 
 
im at the end of the game with 4500 effective military strength and my only mission is the final mission, and ive looked up that the best ending requires 5000 effective military strength points. 
 
and apparently word on other forums is that this is NOT achievable without playing multiplayer.... 
 
can anyone confirm if they have finished the game with 5000 effective military strength points, WITHOUT playing the multiplayer ? 
 
i want to just lash out and say that this is the worst thing ever  that they could have done but this couldnt be true i mean hell they announced that it doesnt require to play multiplayer to get the best ending 
 
http://social.bioware.com/forum/Mass-Effect-3/Mass-Effect-3-General-Discussion-No-ME3-Spoilers-allowed/A-note-about-multiplayer-in-relation-to-the-endings-9665384-1.html 
 
but apparetnly thats a big lie

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-mass-effect-3/17-5777/

Don't believe everything you read on forums.

I have over 5000 and haven't touched the multiplayer. I'm not even finished with the story anytime soon.

I had 7,000 worth of assets and got the "best ending" without playing multiplayer. Just enjoy the game and hope you enjoy the ending more than I did.

I got 6700 and I know I missed stuff.  Both Kasumi and Zaeed's side quests bugged out on me and were undoable along with a bunch of citadel sidequests that were just too obnoxious to deal with.

you people are blowing my mind, cause i swear i did everything and only ended up with 4500, 
 
guess i didnt, time to reload a save then

You arer not missing anything with the ending dude just keep playing like you are.

SPOILERS AHOY!

What ending do you get with such a strong military? I just finished it, my Shepard decided to let the beam fly, destroying all of the Mass Relays and sending us back a thousand years. Apparently the Normandy crashlanded on some planet. And now, credits.

Can anybody tell me what is going on? I feel like the entire series was just retconned in like, ten minutes.

I got the over 5000 ending and it did not seem to make a difference at all. I honestly can't even see how it WILL make a difference. I'll youtube it I guess. my point is, I really wouldn't worry about it..

The multiplayer is way more fucking fun than scanning Goddamn planets.

The multiplayer is way more fucking fun than scanning Goddamn planets.

I'm not entirely sure how the endings could be different to be honest. I did everything in the game, except multiplayer, and ended up with a score of 7091.

Finished with 7197 war assets, no multiplayer played at all. Still not sure about that ending, need to sleep on it.

I only did 4 side missions and my effective military strength was...

@Turambar said:

I got 6700 and I know I missed stuff. Both Kasumi and Zaeed's side quests bugged out on me and were undoable along with a bunch of citadel sidequests that were just too obnoxious to deal with.

Had a number of quests bug out on me too, becoming unfinishable. As far as I know, there is currently no way to 100% the Mass Effect series.

At least apparently Conrad Verner acknowledges his own bug from Mass Effect 2.

@mrfluke said:

@MikkaQ: did you do all the side quests in all 3 games, like what did you do to get the 5000 points,

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

the only race thats pissed off with me is the salarians, but fuck them, everyone else is working together

I don't know how I got that high, I just did every sidequest as soon as I was able to. Almost at 6000 now and just got the achievement for beating all N7 missions.

But yeah the import I brought in had everything done and done well across the last two games. I doubt that had too much to do with it.

I was just about to make a thread asking if 6000 overall strength was good enough. Apparently it is. Hope so at least.

No military strength is high enough to prepare you for the way Mass Effect 3 ends.

You need over 4000 EMS for the 'best' ending IF you properly execute a certain interrupt during one of the ending scenes. If not, you need 5000+ EMS. So basically you don't need multiplayer at all, and even if you did it's not a big deal, if you play 2 rounds the readiness go above 60% which can be a pretty big boost and takes like 30-40 minutes.

You need over 4000 EMS for the 'best' ending IF you properly execute a certain interrupt during one of the ending scenes. If not, you need 5000+ EMS. So basically you don't need multiplayer at all, and even if you did it's not a big deal, if you play 2 rounds the readiness go above 60% which can be a pretty big boost and takes like 30-40 minutes.

There's a difference between Total Military Strength and Effective Military Strength. Your Total Military Strength is halved if you don't play any multiplayer which is kinda crazy for xbox users in my opinion since the game doles out its endings based on your Effective Military Strength.

Edit: According to spoiler free forums you need 5000 EMS to get the "best" ending

@Tennmuerti: 8000 is certainly possible with NG+

I had over 6000, apparently without even finding out that vernor is in the game or zhaeed had a sidequest somewhere.

umm i was at 6887 with the final mission left and i did every mission.

@Tennmuerti: 8000 is certainly possible with NG+

A lot of people here seem to have confused total and effective military ratings...

@Ihmishylje said:

A lot of people here seem to have confused total and effective military ratings...

I know right? I have a little over 7100 Total which would give me 3550 Effective with no multiplayer. I have no intention of waiting a couple days to beat the game due to multiplayer. So for the best ending so I am just going to use a save game editor and boost my numbers artificially.

Yup. That did it. I'm over 16,000 total strength now.

@CaptainCharisma: Hi there everybody!

After beating the Sh*tt out off Reapers i felt quite god but the bullsh*t ending where evrything goes fine except Shepard dies really pisses me off..!!! ahhrruuhh...

My Millitary strength = 6214

Effective millitary strength = 3107

Galactic Readiness = 50%

And the Effective millitary strength bar was more than full and green..... but as per IGN we need it to be atleast 4000

for a good ending were shepard lives, So wht possibly went wrong with my game ???

@Tennmuerti: Well I thought the same, As per IGN we need 4000 EMS (Effective Millitary Strength) that means our

Total EMS must be 8000!! I ust want to know whether is it possible to get this much EMS whith radiness 50% ???

My Millitary strength = 6214

Effective millitary strength = 3107

Galactic Readiness = 50%

And the Effective millitary strength bar was more than full and green..... but as per IGN we need it to be atleast 4000

for a good ending were shepard lives, So wht possibly went wrong with my game ???

I did everything I could do besides maybe two or three bugged and unfinishable side quests, and my effective military strength was I believe 3800 something.

Well, crap... there's literally nothing I can do besides play multiplayer.

But I mean... considering this is the end of the series and all, I'll probably just youtube the ending at this point.

The multiplayer is way more fucking fun than scanning planets.

As long as you have the bar full you get all 3 choices. if you have 5000 strength then one of the endings changes a little more significantly than the others. Getting through this game with almost no readiness...you really dont lose anything. Its not like the loyaltymissions in ME2. This isn't pivotal in an obvious sense anyways. You can play it how you want and get that ending. Its not like ME2 where if you dont play the loyalty missions and fuck up the suicide mission then you can't import into 3.