This guide will help you explore the Port Hanshan area of Noveria in Mass Effect.
Noveria: Port Hanshan Map
Noveria: Port Hanshan Overview
1 – Arrival
Now that you’ve been cleared through Noveria’s customs office, your next goal is to get clearance from Administrator Anoleis to travel to Peak 15.
2 – Merchant Opold
Opold is a hanar, so he looks and speaks exactly like Delanynder did back at the Citadel. As with Delan, Opold sells a variety of items that you should pick up as they become available, such as Medigel/Grenade upgrades, the Elkoss Combine License, and the Rosenkov Materials License.
Additionally, he’s already been made aware that you’re a Spectre and doesn’t waste any time trying to make an “arrangement” with you. Opold tells you that he’s picked up a “special item” for a customer, but the item is not permitted here in Port Hanshan. Since you have clearance to bring virtually anything onto the planet, Opold asks if you’d be willing to smuggle it in for him. If you inquire about who the item is for, Opold will be hesitant to tell you. A successful Charm (“See it my way.”) or Intimidate (“Tell me or I won’t help.”) line, though, will reveal that it’s for a Krogan bounty hunter named Inamorda.
Regardless of whether or not you’re shooting for Paragon or Renegade points, you should agree to smuggle the item in for Opold. Accepting the task will trigger the “Noveria: Smuggling” assignment and will result in the package being delivered outside the Normandy’s door back on the Noveria: Port Hanshan Docking Bay map. With the package in your possession, there are four courses of action you can take:
- You can bring it to Opold and hand it over for 250 credits. A successful Charm (“You needed me.”) or Intimidate (“I hope that’s a joke.”) line will increase the sum to 500 credits.
- You can bring it to Opold and tell him that you’re going to keep it instead, in which case you’ll gain an item upgrade consistent with your character level. However, you’ll anger Opold and Inamorda in the process, and will even have to fight the Krogan bounty hunter and two other Krogan thugs the next time you approach the Normandy on the Noveria docking bay.
- You can bring it to Administrator Anoleis at area #4 and expose Opold’s smuggling scheme. This earns you some credits, experience, and a pass to leave Port Hanshan for Peak 15. You can also keep the “contraband” upgrade if you issue a successful Charm (“I’ll keep the upgrade.”) or Intimidate (“The upgrade is mine.”) dialogue option. Keep in mind that you’ll never be able to buy or sell items with Opold again if you choose this option.
- You can bring it to Inamorda at area #11 and offer to sell it directly to the bounty hunter. The Krogan will admit that he’s paying the hanar more than he wants so is happy to buy it directly from you for 500 credits. If you’re persuasive enough, you can feed him a Charm (“This is worth more.”) or Intimidate (“Be serious.”) line to increase the amount to 750. Either way, you’ll earn some experience and two Renegade points for taking this route.
3 – Gianna Parasini
The red leather-sporting lady you met at the customs desk also handles Anoleis’ secretarial duties. She’ll answer a few questions about the seventeen research complexes here on Noveria, as well as the largest companies that are stationed here: Elanus Risk Control Services, Binary Helix, and Synthetic Insights, Ltd. When you’ve heard enough, inquire about a meeting with Anoleis (at area #4) and she’ll send you in.
If you weren’t able to convince Anoleis to give you the pass necessary to leave Port Hanshan, then Gianna strikes up a conversation as you try walking out. After explaining that you can’t “bludgeon through bureaucracy”, she quietly tells you to go find Lorik Qui’in at the hotel bar. According to Parasini, Anoleis isn’t the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan.
Later, if you were able to convince Lorik Qui’in to testify against Anoleis, you can return here and tell Gianna the good news. She gives you a garage pass out of Hanshan for helping her out, then proceeds to arrest Anoleis and haul him away. This earns you a good amount of experience and several Paragon points.
4 – Administrator Anoleis
Anoleis is easily the most arrogant Salarian you’ll meet in the game. After brushing you off with an introductory insult of some kind, you can talk to him about his policies, Saren, and Matriarch Benezia. Apparently Benezia arrived with some cargo and Asari Commandos a few days ago, though Anoleis isn’t willing to give you clearance to track her down at Peak 15. You’re going to need to figure out a way to earn or squeeze a pass out of the quick-tongued alien.
One such method is to give Anoleis the package that Opold has you smuggle into Port Hanshan for him. Another route is to give him Lorik’s evidence from the Synthetic Insights office. If you choose the latter method, you’ll have to feed him a successful Charm (“I’m not here to arrest you.”) or Intimidate (“You’ll do what I say.”) line to get a pass in exchange for the evidence. If neither of these routes appeals to you, you can also get a garage pass from Lorik or Gianna (see below for the details).
5 – To Mezzanine
This elevator will take you up to the Port Hanshan Mezzanine.
6 – To Plaza
This elevator will take you back down to the Port Hanshan Plaza.
7 – Mallene Calis
The yellow-robed Asari standing in this corner wants you to speak with Rafael Vargas (area #9), who she claims is a sales rep for Binary Helix. Mallene wants him to think that you’re here to investigate his company’s “dirty laundry”, but what you’ll really be doing is distracting him while a device she gives you uploads viruses to his wireless network. These viruses will be monitoring and assessing the risk imposed by the Asari Commandos recently brought to Noveria by Binary Helix.
Obviously this task is a little shady, so turning her down will net you several Paragon points and you can be on your way. However, if you accept the job, she hands you the device and gives you a bit of advice about Rafael’s behavioral patterns. Apparently he rubs the back of his neck when he becomes nervous, so Mallene thinks that would be the perfect time to press him on whatever subject you’re discussing.
The “Noveria: Espionage” assignment has two main solutions. If you want to take the noble route, you can go over and reveal the Asari’s scheme to Rafael and provide him with the cracking device so their IT staff can feed it false data. This earns you a bit of experience and two Paragon points should you break the bad news to Mallene. However, you can lie to the Asari and receive the promised 500 credits (plus a 250 credit bonus with a successful Charm (“That’s all?”) or Intimidate (“More.”) dialogue option). This nets you a similar amounto of experience and a whopping several Renegade points.
If you actually want to follow through on Mallene’s job, then you’ll have to make as many as four tough Charm or Intimidate choices to keep Rafael from catching on. Once the device issues a squeal, you’ll know to end the conversation and return to Mallene. Report your success and she’ll hand over the 500 credits (or 750, as above). This nets you experience and two Renegade points.
8 – Lorik Qui’in
Lorik is the Turian that Gianna may have already mentioned to you earlier. Speak with him about Matriarch Benezia and then move on to inquire about a means to get to Peak 15. It seems that Lorik is the manager of the local Synthetic Insights office, where he was able to uncover some incriminating evidence about Anoleis’ shady dealings. As a result, the Administrator has shut down the office and has his goons searching the place to destroy said evidence. If you go there and retrieve the evidence for Lorik, he offers to give you his garage pass to leave Port Hanshan. Accept and he provides you with an OSD to copy the evidence on to.
Once you have the evidence, you’ll be approached by Gianna Parasini who will ask that you get Lorik to testify against Anoleis. Tell Lorik you have the data and that internal affairs wants him to testify. He becomes a bit angry that you’re dictating how he should use the evidence, but a successful Charm (“You’d be a hero.”) or Intimidate (“Damn right I will.”) line will make him see things your way. This is worth twenty-four Paragon or Renegade points, but you won’t end up with Lorik’s garage pass. You’ll need to go pay a visit to Gianna at the administration office (area #3) in order to get what you need.
If you simply give Lorik the evidence without asking that he testify, he offers to give you the garage pass that he promised earlier and 500 credits. A successful Charm (“You owe me.”) or Intimidate (“Anoleis would pay more.”) line will get you the garage pass and 750 credits. Either way, you’ll also receive a nice amount of experience points.
9 – Rafael Vargas
Rafael is the Binary Helix sales representative involved with Mallene’s “Noveria: Espionage” assignment. See area #7 for more details.
10 – Salarian Businessman
While you can’t actually speak to this Salarian, the 10-credits-a-minute phone call he makes to his Elder Brother while you’re within earshot distance sheds a little extra light onto the Lorik/Anoleis situation.
11 – Inamorda
Inamorda is the bounty hunter that contracted Merchant Opold to smuggle in an advanced weapon upgrade for him. See area #2 for a couple of options that directly involve the Krogan.
12 – Terminal
Decrypt this terminal to uncover a log revealing a security leak at a doctor’s base in the Newton system. This triggers the “Doctor at Risk” assignment, which will take you to the planet of Ontarom in the Newton system of the Kepler Verge cluster.
13 – Security Control Unit
Decrypting this control unit will disable the security system at the Synthetic Insights office.
14 – To Synthetic Insights Offices
This elevator will take you up to the Synthetic Insights Offices.
15 – To Plaza
This elevator will take you back down to the Port Hanshan Plaza.
16 – ERCS Guards
Port Hanshan security isn’t too happy to see your squad showing up at the scene of an “investigation.” They’ve sealed the office, but you can try Charming (“You’re here illegally.”) or Intimidating (“You can’t take us.”) your way in. If successful, you’ll receive several Paragon or Renegade points. For whatever reason, though, you’ll still wind up having to do battle with all four of them.
17 – Upgrade Kit
The lower level of these offices has an upgrade kit for you to rummage through.
18 – Locked Crate
Break into the secure crate sitting up against this wall for some more goodies.
19 – Weapon Locker
You know the drill. Decrypt and loot.
20 – Door Control
This last door on the left is locked, but you can decrypt the control mechanism to gain access. Inside, you’ll discover a wall safe (with a lot of credits!), a Medical Kit, and a Technician Kit.
21 – Lorik Qui’in’s Office
Ransack the secure wall safe and medical kit in Lorik Qui’in’s office, then use his computer to download the evidence to the OSD he gave you.
22 – Sergeant Kaira Stirling
Once you’ve secured the evidence from Lorik Qui’in’s computer, you’ll bump into Ms. Stirling again flanked by some ERCS guards. It’s pretty obvious where this is headed, so just choose a dialogue response and start firing. When Kaira and her thugs have been decimated, you’re free to leave the offices without further incident.
23 – Gianna Parasini
When you leave the Synthetics Insights office are obtaining Lorik’s evidence, Gianna confronts you in this hallway and tells you that she’s had reports of noise coming from the office. Shrug it off and she’ll tell you to meet her in the Mezannine area (area #24) for a drink before you talk to Qui’in.
24 – Gianna Parasini, Again
Gianna reintroduces herself as a Noveria Internal Affairs agent and admits that she’s been undercover for six months in an attempt to expose Anoleis’ shady dealings. Now that the evidence has been recovered, she wants you to convince Lorik to testify against Anoleis. Don’t worry about the garage pass out of Port Hanshan – Gianna promises to get you whatever you need if you help her out. Check area #8 for more information on how this plays out.
25 – Anoleis’ Wall Safe
If you brought Lorik’s evidence to Gianna and had Anoleis arrested, then you can treat yourself to the loot and credits inside the Salarian’s private wall safe.
26 – Lilihierax
This Turian mechanic will answer a few questions about Matriarch Benezia, Peak 15, and Synthetic Insights. According to Lilihierax, the satellite uplinks at Peak 15 have gone down and all communications to the facility have been severed as a result.
27 – Garage Entrance
To gain entrance to Port Hanshan’s garage, you’ll need to show a valid pass to the ERCS guard stationed outside the door. There are multiple ways of obtaining such a pass – see above for details.
28 – Geth Ambush
As soon as you’ve entered the garage area, you’ll come under attack by two Geth Stalkers and two Geth Destroyers. When you’ve taken them down, Maeko Matsuo and two guards will enter the garage and demand to know what happened. Tell her about the Geth and she’ll leave to report the attack to the Executive Board. Judging by the amount of cargo brought to Noveria by Matriarch Benezia, there are most likely a lot more Geth on the planet.
29 – Upgrade Kit
After the Geth have been dealt with, grab the items inside this Upgrade Kit.
30 – To Aleutsk Valley
Jump into the Mako here and head north to reach the Noveria: Aleutsk Valley map.
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