93 réponses à ce sujet

[Vengeful Nature]

Why are they landing?

If you're in space, all you need is one of these, which is a fairly rudimentary weapon for the technological state of the ME universe. Hell, we've seen examples of these things in action in-universe. And that was from some tinpot paramilitary group who happened to get their hands on a run-of-the-mill spaceship. We even have examples of several planets that the Reapers have apparently done this too in previous cycles (Aphras, Etamis, Bothros, Joab and Tosal Nym). Why not bombard Earth into a place even bacteria couldn't survive, call it a day and go home?

But they need people to make ground troops, you say? All those little people to be turned into husks, you say? Why would you need ground troops when you have spaceships with the some of these babies?

But they need to reproduce, you say? Well, setting aside the fact that that whole human goo thing is stupid, you won't need to reproduce if you don't have any casualties... because your sitting pretty, light years out, shooting the above weapon at the poor, hapless civilisation you've decided you don't like for whatever reason.

Maybe the target planet is heavily shielded, you say? Well... don't look at me like that, Reaper Bob, just carry on shooting, we know that even the best shield systems fail if they're shot enough. It's not like ammunition is scarce - you could fire something the size of a tennis ball at a small fraction of the speed of light and it would have the same effect as multiple nuclear warheads.

Your thoughts, if you please...

Edit: added the links to the planets that gone squished before.

Modifié par Vengeful Nature, 07 juin 2011 - 05:30 .

[sp0ck 06]

I don't think their goal is necessarily the utter destruction of planets, but rather the systematic extermination of "advanced" life forms. Thus hitting Earth with a gravity bomb would not be in the Reapers interests. By destroying everything they remove the ability for new life to evolve, rendering the Reapers' own existence irrelevant

[Shad0wOGRE]

Because they think like machines, and machines are stupid. They've been stuck in the same loop for their entire existence.

Simply put, they land because of bad programming.

Also, we wouldn't have much of a game if they did as you suggested. But you probably already knew that and were just flamebaiting. Why would you do that you say? Because you are a troll.

[Wulfram]

Even a fleet of conventional dreadnoughts could pound earth cities to dust with their main guns fairly quickly

If all the reapers wanted to do was kill stuff, the whole set up with relays and cycles would be pretty pointless.

Why ramming things at FTL isn't a standard part of Mass Effect warfare is difficult to explain, however.

[Travie]

Heh, reaper bob

[Vengeful Nature]

sp0ck 06 wrote...

I don't think their goal is necessarily the utter destruction of planets, but rather the systematic extermination of "advanced" life forms. Thus hitting Earth with a gravity bomb would not be in the Reapers interests. By destroying everything they remove the ability for new life to evolve, rendering the Reapers' own existence irrelevant

But they've done it to other planets. Plenty of them, in fact.

CommanderNuetral wrote...

Because they think like machines, and machines are stupid. They've been stuck in the same loop for their entire existence.

Simply put, they land because of bad programming.

Also, we wouldn't have much of a game if they did as you suggested. But you probably already knew that and were just flamebaiting. Why would you do that you say? Because you are a troll.

My intention is to have a debate about why the Reapers are landing.

The word 'troll' gets thrown around far too much these days.

I disagree with the highlighted statement. The urgency is still there if the Reapers are hanging above us pelting us with relativity bombs. Sure, we wouldn't have the bombastic, baysplosion intro, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Shepard escapes aboard the Normandy just the same, except the horror, impunity and cold efficiency of the Reapers is left intact.

Modifié par Vengeful Nature, 07 juin 2011 - 05:07 .

[Ghost Warrior]

sp0ck 06 wrote...

I don't think their goal is necessarily the utter destruction of planets, but rather the systematic extermination of "advanced" life forms. Thus hitting Earth with a gravity bomb would not be in the Reapers interests. By destroying everything they remove the ability for new life to evolve, rendering the Reapers' own existence irrelevant

I think you got it.

[jamesp81]

Wulfram wrote...

Even a fleet of conventional dreadnoughts could pound earth cities to dust with their main guns fairly quickly

If all the reapers wanted to do was kill stuff, the whole set up with relays and cycles would be pretty pointless.

Why ramming things at FTL isn't a standard part of Mass Effect warfare is difficult to explain, however.

Probably cost.  An FTL drive is very expensive, and it might judged not cost effective to use weaponized FTL drives as large anti-ship missiles.

[sp0ck 06]

Vengeful Nature wrote...

sp0ck 06 wrote...

I don't think their goal is necessarily the utter destruction of planets, but rather the systematic extermination of "advanced" life forms. Thus hitting Earth with a gravity bomb would not be in the Reapers interests. By destroying everything they remove the ability for new life to evolve, rendering the Reapers' own existence irrelevant

But they've done it to other planets. Plenty of them, in fact.

What other planets have they utterly destroyed?  As in, Death Star

[Syreniac]

The reason that they don't use super-relativistic weaponry is probably that a mass effect core that can get to FTL is really expensive, making it more logical to make it into an actual working spaceship rather than a one-shot missile. Or something.

[Vengeful Nature]

Ghost Warrior wrote...

sp0ck 06 wrote...

I don't think their goal is necessarily the utter destruction of planets, but rather the systematic extermination of "advanced" life forms. Thus hitting Earth with a gravity bomb would not be in the Reapers interests. By destroying everything they remove the ability for new life to evolve, rendering the Reapers' own existence irrelevant

I think you got it.

But we know they've done the same thing to other civilisations. It's not like all the civilisations we see come from the same planets. Lifebearing planets seem to be relatively common enough to produce many many cycles as it is.

jamesp81 wrote...

Wulfram wrote...

Even a fleet of conventional dreadnoughts could pound earth cities to dust with their main guns fairly quickly

If all the reapers wanted to do was kill stuff, the whole set up with relays and cycles would be pretty pointless.

Why ramming things at FTL isn't a standard part of Mass Effect warfare is difficult to explain, however.

Probably cost.  An FTL drive is very expensive, and it might judged not cost effective to use weaponized FTL drives as large anti-ship missiles.

It doesn't need to be faster than light. Even a small fraction of lightspeed is devestating. See the "Newton is the deadliest SOB in space" thing from ME2.

Modifié par Vengeful Nature, 07 juin 2011 - 05:11 .

[amcnow]

CommanderNuetral wrote...

Because they think like machines, and machines are stupid. They've been stuck in the same loop for their entire existence.

Simply put, they land because of bad programming.

Also, we wouldn't have much of a game if they did as you suggested. But you probably already knew that and were just flamebaiting. Why would you do that you say? Because you are a troll.

This defies the very definition of a "hyper-advanced" A.I.  I'm more inclined to believe they land because it gives them a better opportunity to harvest organics (like previously stated).  That is their mission.  Orbital bombardment wouldn't be in their best interests for two reasons:

1. Bombarding surfaces wouldn't be as effective since organics could just bunker down.
2. Mass destruction of habitats (planets, space stations, etc) would defeat the purpose.  They (reapers) thrive on a continual cycle of organic extinctions.  They can't do that if the galaxy lacks any habitat in which organics can re-emerge.

[Khayness]

You don't nuke your food.

[Vengeful Nature]

sp0ck 06 wrote...

Vengeful Nature wrote...

sp0ck 06 wrote...

I don't think their goal is necessarily the utter destruction of planets, but rather the systematic extermination of "advanced" life forms. Thus hitting Earth with a gravity bomb would not be in the Reapers interests. By destroying everything they remove the ability for new life to evolve, rendering the Reapers' own existence irrelevant

But they've done it to other planets. Plenty of them, in fact.

What other planets have they utterly destroyed?  As in, Death Star

Not utterly destroyed. But they've bombarded other planets with RKVs before. Hold tight right here, I'll get you a link.

[Vengeful Nature]

Khayness wrote...

You don't nuke your food.

Don't you have a microwave, then? Kidding.

[KainrycKarr]

They're harvesting the galaxy, not destroying it.

You pick your fruits, veggies, and whatnots, but you don't set the field ablaze.

[KiraTsukasa]

Because Sir Issac Newton is the deadliest mother f***er in space? The Reapers want to destroy advanced civilizations, not the planets themselves.

[Vengeful Nature]

amcnow wrote...

This defies the very definition of a "hyper-advanced" A.I. 

Was just about to make that point. What do the Reapers run on, Windows 95?

I'm more inclined to believe they land because it gives them a better opportunity to harvest organics (like previously stated).  That is their mission.  Orbital bombardment wouldn't be in their best interests for two reasons:

1. Bombarding surfaces wouldn't be as effective since organics could just bunker down.
2. Mass destruction of habitats (planets, space stations, etc) would defeat the purpose.  They (reapers) thrive on a continual cycle of organic extinctions.  They can't do that if the galaxy lacks any habitat in which organics can re-emerge.

1. But the Reaper attack appears to happen so fast that no one has a chance to bunker down anyway. Besides, if your RKVs are travelling fast enough, you don't have much of a warning.
2. Again, we have plenty of examples (links still incoming ) of Reapers de-life-ing planets. The galaxy has over 400 billion star systems. Life bearing planets are going to be more common than you hint at.

[Someone With Mass]

KainrycKarr wrote...

They're harvesting the galaxy, not destroying it.

You pick your fruits, veggies, and whatnots, but you don't set the field ablaze.

If you're a Reaper, you might do both.

[Ghost Warrior]

KiraTsukasa wrote...

 The Reapers want to destroy advanced civilizations, not the planets themselves.

This is it,simply put.

[Vengeful Nature]

Some of you seem to misunderstand what I mean by bombarding a planet with these things. Your not destroying the actual planet a la deathstar, your bombarding the surface into lifelessness. The planet still exists after you've done it.

[Wulfram]

jamesp81 wrote...

Probably cost.  An FTL drive is very expensive, and it might judged not cost effective to use weaponized FTL drives as large anti-ship missiles.

Taking out a Dreadnought with something like the Normandy's shuttle seems like a good trade to me.

[sp0ck 06]

Vengeful Nature wrote...

Some of you seem to misunderstand what I mean by bombarding a planet with these things. Your not destroying the actual planet a la deathstar, your bombarding the surface into lifelessness. The planet still exists after you've done it.

What planets have the Reapers done this to?

[Ghost Warrior]

Well we already know they want a certain amount of humans alive to create a new Reaper.

[Vengeful Nature]

Found those links I was looking for. The planets of Aphras, Etamis, Bothros, Joab and Tosal Nym all appear to have suffered from RKV bombardment.