35 réponses à ce sujet

[Atomic_Boom22]

I know that there are two kinds of relays one that links to mutiple ones and one that are only tied to one other. As far as my understanding goes they are FTL on steriods, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Burningwolf]

Umm think of it this way.they open a rift from one point to another.You go beyond ftl speeds to the point where your going from galaxy to galaxy in mere moments.



FTL still takes time to get from point a to point b.The relay's are instant.

[FouCapitan]

FTL flight uses Mass Effect fields to reduce a ships mass and move it faster than light speed, roughly 5 trillion km per hour (12 light years in a 24 hour span is the average FTL flight speed)

Mass Relays create a virtually mass free corridor between on relay and the next. By warping the mass between these two points to near nothing, travel is practically instantaneaous from one end of the galaxy to the next.

Considering the Milky Way Galaxy has a diameter of nearly 100,000 light years, Mass Relay travel is the only way to travel to other star systems without taking trips of several years.

With this, a trip from the Local Cluster (Earth) to the Citadel would take over 7 years (1/3rd of the Galaxy in distance, roughly) to travel using FTL drives only, not including the time it takes to discharge the drive cores.

Modifié par FouCapitan, 21 septembre 2010 - 05:05 .

[vdeity]

It works under the same principal though, right?

It's just that the Mass Relays are so massive (big and tough enough to survive a star going nova, I think was the case of the Mu Relay). They have gigantic element zero cores.



If they could create a ship as big as a relay, I wonder if they'd be able to pull off something similar.



Though, I wonder how the conduit worked. The two connection points between you know where and you know where both seemed pretty small, and it took a full sized relay (Mu Relay) for the Normandy to get out to you know where.



Hmm.

[SSV Enterprise]

The functional difference is that regular FTL has a limited speed and still takes time to travel distances measured in lightyears. Mass relays are functionally instant- the moment you activate one you appear at the other, with no time elapsed (this is stated in the novel Revelation)

[wizardryforever]

Also consider that even if you wanted to travel at normal FTL speeds, the electrical buildup in your eezo core would build up to the point of blowing up the ship if it isn't discharged regularly. This is why normal FTL through deep space is dangerous, there's nowhere to dump your buildup. That's also why FTL is only used to travel to systems without relays.

[ForumHelper]

So that's not like the Warp drive:)
"Mass relays are functionally instant" - so that's a totally different thing than FTL, more like teleporter of some kind.

FTL needs to take some time, it can't be instant, since you still have a "limit" of some kind. You just go faster than light.

Modifié par SarKter, 21 septembre 2010 - 06:46 .

[OneDrunkMonk]

Would be kinda like a teleporter no? Same basic principal? Mass is broken down transported then reassembled. I can only imagine the effect that has on organic material.

[SSV Enterprise]

I suppose mass relays have the same result as a teleporter, but they are not like Star Trek transporters which break down and reassemble objects.

[PsyrenY]

OneDrunkMonk wrote...

Would be kinda like a teleporter no? Same basic principal? Mass is broken down transported then reassembled. I can only imagine the effect that has on organic material.

No, the relays leave the bodies intact. They just lower their mass.

[OneDrunkMonk]

I suppose this is one of those subjects where people end up talking about folding space, wormholes, time travel, paradoxes and on...Or you could liken it to a fridge, you may not know how exactly it keeps things cool but that doesn't stop you from keeping your beer cold by using one.

[wizardryforever]

OneDrunkMonk wrote...

I suppose this is one of those subjects where people end up talking about folding space, wormholes, time travel, paradoxes and on...Or you could liken it to a fridge, you may not know how exactly it keeps things cool but that doesn't stop you from keeping your beer cold by using one.

Yeah, probably.  Though the OP wouldn't have started the topic if they didn't want to know.  For the record, I do know how a refrigerator works (basically).

Modifié par wizardryforever, 22 septembre 2010 - 03:10 .

[OneDrunkMonk]

I believe in order to lower an object's mass you have to convert it on some minute level (molecular, atomic, sub-atomic) to something less dense. So for that instant of travel through a mass relay you basically become a breakdown of particles. Now I'm thinking of the movie Supernova and am wondering if perhaps the crew of any ship going through a mass relay would have to be in some kinda protective pod with it's own mass effect field in order to maintain organic integrity. Breaking down matter is easy but reassembling it in the proper order...

[Dman3003]

They use mass effect fields to lower mass to near nothing. Allowing for near instantaneous travel. Simple as that. But the heavier or more objects going through means more drift as it still has to raise their weight without squashing them.

[xbeton0L]

SarKter wrote...

So that's not like the Warp drive:)
"Mass relays are functionally instant" - so that's a totally different thing than FTL, more like teleporter of some kind.

FTL needs to take some time, it can't be instant, since you still have a "limit" of some kind. You just go faster than light.

actually thats exactly like a Warp drive. or wormhole. the mass relays *reduce* mass between two points similar to how optic fiber cables transfer light with no obstructions.

it just goes outside of the warp/wormhole theories. but exactly similar.

[xbeton0L]

^^
except that with warp drives or wormholes, mass is actually increased to reach desired effect.

also, this does not cover time distortion in a mass-free environment. mass regulates time, therefore the more of it you have, the slower time progresses. thus, if your mass is reduced to near-zero on any scale, time relative to your surroundings is infinitely slowed - relative to you is infinitely increased. to an outside observer it would appear as instantaneous travel -  to you it could take eons.

when ever dealing with the "event horizon" sh8t gets inverse.

Modifié par xbeton0L, 22 septembre 2010 - 04:45 .

[Pileyourbodies]

Theres a great description of FTL in the ME codex, FTL is really really fast, like 200X the speed of light according to the Codex entry. However the Mass effect universe is one of the few SciFi universes that understands how big space and even going 200 light years in a day is not much.

[xbeton0L]

Pileyourbodies wrote...

Theres a great description of FTL in the ME codex, FTL is really really fast, like 200X the speed of light according to the Codex entry. However the Mass effect universe is one of the few SciFi universes that understands how big space and even going 200 light years in a day is not much.

and quoting FTL = you don't just "go" it.

c is like the second hand of the great great grandfather clock of the universe. light, as far as we know, is near-massless. relative to anything going as fast as it would encounter a time stall - meaning, velocity/mass has become so  great time no longer flows normally for the particle and inversely for the universe relative-to that particle. a minute scale of the event horizon of a singularity, where time slows to a complete stop.

anything beyond it would constitute time traveling backwards or the cease of time progression. it's like the walls of our universe, only backwards. 

Not sure what to make of this. And I'm not sure what to make of time. time dilation. google time.

[silhouette80]

Mass relays just augment existing FTL. Instead of being stuck on one side of the galaxy or even in one spiral arm, the network spans the entire galaxy.

[FuturePasTimeCE]

they're like a extra boost? because warp speed is probably slow in comparison to hyperspace? like in star trek voyager... if a mass relay was present they wouldn't have been lost for 10 years, they just could have taken a warp speed to instant hyperspace jump from a quantum anti-matter accelerator machine aka mass relay to get back into their main alpha quadrant of the galaxy and regrouped with the rest of starfleet.

Modifié par FuturePasTimeCE, 22 septembre 2010 - 05:33 .

[Bebbe777]

I would put it like this. FTL in Mass Effect is like a slow version of Warp Speed from Star Trek, maybe Warp 2 or something. Perfect for traveling between stars in a cluster but between clusters it is not practical.



A Mass Relay is more like a super version of Battlestar Galactica´s jump drive. The ships in ME jumps instantly from one point in space to another, several hundred to thousands lightyear apart. As a passenger you dont even feel the jump.

[FouCapitan]

How Mass Relays actually work.

[cihimi]

Mass Relays are objects or tools used to travel massive distances, point to point. Faster Than Light is a method of travel. The relays are "jumps" to lessen travel time.

[silhouette80]

Bebbe777 wrote...
I would put it like this. FTL in Mass Effect is like a slow version of Warp Speed from Star Trek, maybe Warp 2 or something. Perfect for traveling between stars in a cluster but between clusters it is not practical.

If this is any indication, than FTL in mass effect is actually faster than warp drive.  Note that theoretically it would take TNG Enterprise 25 hours at warp 9 to reach Alpha Centauri.  A mass effect vessel can cover 3 times the distance in roughly the same amount of time.  What mass effect does is add a sense of scale to the galaxy, reminding us that space is really really big. 

[Bebbe777]

silhouette80 wrote...

Bebbe777 wrote...
I would put it like this. FTL in Mass Effect is like a slow version of Warp Speed from Star Trek, maybe Warp 2 or something. Perfect for traveling between stars in a cluster but between clusters it is not practical.

If this is any indication, than FTL in mass effect is actually faster than warp drive.  Note that theoretically it would take TNG Enterprise 25 hours at warp 9 to reach Alpha Centauri.  A mass effect vessel can cover 3 times the distance in roughly the same amount of time.  What mass effect does is add a sense of scale to the galaxy, reminding us that space is really really big. 

Hmm yes. Warp 9 sounds better relative to its speed. In Revelation I think it is mentioned that it could take anything from hours to days to reach another system within a cluster.