Connected Badge

Okay; I've got yet another variation that worked:

Talked to Ansaldo as soon as I could (initially he would not talk to me and I got the "too busy" message). The Diviner Maros would NEVER talk to me (always gave the "too busy" message, no matter when I tried to speak to him); so I had no option of "alternating" the side contacts.

But the radio showed up just as it should and I used it...no problems getting both badges. One thing to note is that in the mission when you have to kill Ansaldo's kid brother; I accidentally completed the mission because I missed him on the first pass; but I guess I got credit for it because I went back and found him.

Also; on the last mission does anyone think that the Legacy lieutenants will count toward the gladiator? Cause I'm thinking...lots and lots of lieutenants..that CANNOT damage you...I'm all over that!

I know there is not a way to track if they are counting or not; what does everyone think?

According to Dr. Aeon, you need to have done Maros' arc in order to have him as a helper, which is not the case for either of the other two helpers.

I wondered about this. I ran the arc last night solo and never saw anything about it. I thought it'd be the Bilko thing but I guess not!

Now the question is, do I even feel like going back to run the arc again? >.<

OK, I just got these two badges, using this thread as a reference. Here are my notes on how I got the badges.

After accepting the first mission, the last bit of filler has text in blue at the bottom, telling me I can choose to work with Lorenz Ansaldo or Vince Dubrowski. It also says that I can work with Diviner Maros if I've done his arc.

Being that this character is a Level 50 Hero Scrapper turned Villain, I have not done Maros' arc. So, I chose Ansaldo, as per Snow Globe's advice.

Inside the mission door was a radio. Using it gave me an (Optional) Mission Objective. I completed the (Optional) Mission Objective, and then the Mission.

After talking to Vincent Ross and accepting the 2nd mission, there was once again text in blue at the bottom of the last bit of filler. Interestingly, this text SPCIFCALLY tells you to talk to Diviner Maros.

I talked to Maros, and he gave me info for my next (Optional) Mission Objective. Once again, inside the mission door was a radio, and using it gave me another (Optional) Mission Objective. As before, I completed the (Optional) Mission Objective, and then the Mission.

After I exited the mission, I called Ross. This time, the blue text said if I was working with other factions, I should contact them. Once again, following Snow Globe's advice, I went back to Ansaldo, who set me up for a third (Optional) Mission Objective.

As before, a radio at the door gave me my (Optional) Mission Objective, which I completed, along with the mission. After exiting, I called Ross again.

This time, Ross told me to talk to Darrin Wade, and there was no blue text. I tried talking to Maros anyway, and he gave me the standard, "Looks like your busy" text. Ansaldo did the same thing.

After talking to Wade, I had to call Ross again, where I got my next actual misson (instead of a FedEx). Interestingly, the blue text said if I was working with other factions, I should contact them. Instead of talking to Ansaldo, I talked to Maros, and he set me up for my next (Optional) Mission Objective.

Once in the next mission, I tried to use the raido to talk to Maros. However, nothing happened. The radio did nothing. Thinking I had screwed up talking to Maros, I made my way to Botis, and at the end of talking to him, I was presented with a 3rd option, in addition to the options to keep my promise and free him or to renege and fight him. The 3rd option was to ask about the power behind the Leviathan. Botis could tell that I'd been in contact with Maros, and answered my question (with a little fluff text, and a Clue).

After beating down Botis and exiting the mission, I called Ross, and got my next mission. Once again, there was no blue text. Regardless, I went and talked to Maros again.

Maros gave me my final (Optional) Mission Objective, telling me that if I contact him once I'm in the mission, he'll come help me. And sure enough, as soon as I clicked on the radio inside the door, Maros spawned. His rank was classified as Seer. I didn't think to check his HP, but I don't think he took much damage.

He was really nice to have, as he continually cast Fortitude on me, and used his Psi attacks on foes. With his help, I managed to take on the Slag Golems with no problems. Granted, I was running at -1, but I'm pretty sure I did that in the Beta, and still had some issues with them...

Once I finished the mission:

Congratulations! You earned the Keeper of Coral Lore badge.
Congratulations! You earned the Connected badge.

So, there you go. Talk to Ansaldo, then Maros, then Ansaldo, then nobody, then Maros, and finally, Maros one last time, remember to use the radios just inside the mission entrance to be given (Optional) Mission Objectives, do the (Optional) Mission Objectives, and you should get the Connected badge.

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Biggest Troll on the forums? I'll give you a hint:

Well I did this arc on my main badger (EI Kin/Rad Defender) and at first I did the arc all the way through and didn't get the Connected badge (but got the one for doing the arc).

I then asked my friend how he got it and he said I had to talk to one of the contacts....sure enough it's there in the blue text that I never read

I had the option of talking to Lorenz (? Family contact guy), a Cage Consortium contact (forgot name) and/or Maros.

I chose the Family contact so I talked to him before entering the first mission. Went in the first mission, clicked radio, went through the text. Did the extra obj. and finished the mission.

Then talked to contact then back to the Family contact and repeat.

There was one mission where I couldn't talk to the Family contact person (he gave the default "you have other things to do." message) and it said only Maros could help me so I did NOT talk to Maros figuring the arc has 'multiple' objs. for diff. contacts based on who you chose at the beginning.

Went through the rest of the arc doing the whole "talk to contact, talk to Family contact then click on radio once inside mission."

Got the Connected badge and the Family contact guy that helped out in the second-to-last mission even died

Hrm... so wait, in the 5th mission we're supposed to call the side contact again? Why doesn't it say so then? In all the previous missions it tells you something like, "If you've been working with blah blah... call them now blah." I've gone through this arc twice without realizing that the 5th mission was another of this variety because there's nothing there to inform me so. Talk about unintuitive and here I was wondering why I wasn't getting "Connected."

I was able to get the Connected badge on a lvl 50 hero turned villain and used Maros as the helper without having run his arc. He just wouldn't talk to me until after the first mission was over.