122 réponses à ce sujet

[Han Shot First]

Anacronian Stryx wrote...

ItsFreakinJesus wrote...

searunner wrote...

Is it a assumed that the "Fleet" of reapers started moving at the start or end of ME1? What if the Rachni wars was the first attempt to restart the signal from the Citadel? That could mean that The Reapers left about 2000 years ago from wherever they were and are just now starting to get close enough. That means that they arent going 100000 light years a years but more like a few hundred Even after all that time and getting close to the milky way they would still want to get the drop using the citadel so that would explain the Saren "incident". Is that possible?

What do you mean, 'if"?  That's exactly what it was.

Except it wasn't - read Chorban's mail which clearly states that the keepers are supposed to respond to a signal around now and not 2000 years ago.

I still wonder why so many think that the rachni wars had anything to do with taking over the citadel.

The Rachni Queen tells you that the Rachni Wars started when a 'tone from space" forced the Rachni to "resonate with its own sour yellow note."  That heavily implies Reaper indoctrination.

Chorban also does not say in his email that the cycle occurs at exactly 50,000 years after the previous cycle. This is what is actually said in the email:

You may not understand how important this is, but it suggests that the Citadel wasn't really made by the Protheans! It may have been made by something far older, with the keepers as organic guardians. And what's more, based on my genetic readings, they're supposed to react to...something, some signal or something...about every 50 thousand years. You can measure genetic variances; it's a bit like comparing rings on a tree to see the drought years.

Chorban said that the cycle occurs about every 50,000 years, which is the same as a scientist saying that the Yellowstone Caldera erupts about every 600,000 years. The scientist would not mean that Yellowstone erupts at exactly 600,000 years after the last eruption, but rather the cycle averages out to about 600,000 years between eruptions. The last eruption of Yellowstone in fact, was about 640,000 years ago.

What Chorban says in the email is also in line with what we've previously been told about the Reapers and the extinction cycle. While the mass extinctions average out to about once every 50,000 years, and it has been about 50,000 years since the Prothean extinction, it is the level of development of a spacefaring civilization, rather than passage of time, that is the trigger. As such it is likely that the Reapers first attempt was indeed 2,000 years prior to the events of Mass Effect 1, with the Rachni Wars.

[Northernian]

Given the signs that have bene given to us, I think Repaers found another way of reaching the closest relay possible in the Milky Way. The distances between where they stand in the dark space and the Milky Way is inconceivable. There is no way they could 'walk' that distance by even using advanced FTL drives in 2-3 years. EDI speculated that Reapers must have massive element-zero cores, and this might somewhat validate that they have more advanced FTL drives than regular starships with regular element-zero cores; but even of they double their lightspeed, I still conjecture that they cannot get through that massive distance between dark space and the nearest relay in the galaxy in 2-3 years. Not after losing the Alpha Relay.

But if it is true... that they used their FTL's at max to reach to the galaxy in 2-3 years, then this might be a clue of how to defeating them. The Reapers Shepard and allies will be fighting might be, then, at half-capacity or so, don't have much power. Then, it might imply that Reapers played a huge gamble.

[brfritos]

Dean_the_Young wrote...

While Mass Effect 1 suggested the Reapers would be trapped in Dark Space, that was always far more of an assumption than a supported fact.

People need to remember that only 1% of the galaxy is explored in ME universe, so there's a lot out there we don't know about it.
Also, in the Codex there's a entry saying that mass relays are still encoutered in regions previouslly unexplored, so is safe to assume there's a lot more of them out there. When founded, they are lefted "innactive" until the destination they connect is discovered and verified, wich can take a lot of years, decades or centuries.

Perhaps Reapers are on uncharted or unexplored territories of the galaxy?

The question actually that begs to answer is if the Reapers need to use mass relays for travel to another system, why simply not cut the access to that system by "turning off" the mass relays?
Mass relays are encountered in dormant states and then activated, so we can turn on them, but not turn off?

Modifié par brfritos, 30 janvier 2012 - 04:42 .

[Errationatus]

There's one rather big problem with the Reapers, and I don't know if it's been addressed, but I'll just throw this out there and see what happens...

They're kinda really appear frigg'n limited.

Instead of ringing the Galaxy, the Reapers appear to be all just snuggled up together outside our arm of the Galaxy.
Just that one spot?  Why?  Because it's close to their one Citadel?  If, like Vigil says, the Citadel is one big relay - a Master Relay, as it were, that implies that,

one) the tech is seriously hard to duplicate, and

two) there aren't that many Reapers.  Vigil does say that their harvesting took a seriously long time. Centuries.

Millions of reapers wouldn't need that long.  This implies to me that, without some galaxy-spanning network of Master Relays - having only the one - there probably are only a couple of hundred Reapers.  They, like Citadels, are frigg'n hard to make.

If only one or two Reapers are made a harvesting cycle (where they pick only the most promising species - the Protheans were the only space-faring race the last time around, and we're apparently the most genetically variable this time 'round) - every 50 thousand years, we're looking at no more than maybe 500 Reapers, tops, even if they began the cycle 50 million years ago, barring setbacks and successful resistance.  There had to be some.

So... if we can postulate that maybe the Reapers have one large Reaper-sized relay in darkspace, just outside their hibernation zone, the ones we see at the end of ME2 could have been making for that.  It might take a bit of travel, but not much.  It could have been tied into the Alpha Relay we saw in "Arrival".  Of course, an "Alpha" Relay implies a "Beta" relay, perhaps not as robust, maybe slightly more out of the way.  Their Darkspace relay linked initially and primarily with the Citadel, but that's been closed.  It could be rerouted to link with the Alpha, but that's gone boom.  

So, one last shot, some really obscure relay stuck reasonably in its "just-needs-a-nudge" line-of-sight, in some uninhabited backwater or one that simply hasn't been discovered yet.  Unfortunately for us, it was in our near-galactic neighbourhood.  It wasn't that it took them X-number of years to crawl to their Darkspace relay, just to all arrive and then crawl to Earth from the nearby older, smaller, more obscure Beta relay a couple of lightyears in the boonies.  

I have a feeling that they can't move much faster than anything else with a ME core.  Bigger doesn't necessarily mean faster.  The cores in Reapers aren't just engines, they're the Reapers' hearts.  They have to power the whole 2 klicks or more long Reaper, weapons, barriers, indocrination gland and all.  

One of the Reapers' biggest flaws is that they likely rely on the relays as much as everyone else does.  Of course, it could be like a fella said and they just invert stars into dark energy to make erstatz relays, because, well, it's easier. /sarcasm.

Yeah, it's a deus ex machina, but I have a feeling we're gonna see one helluva lot of those before ME3 concludes.

[TexasToast712]

Interstellar truck stops.

[ParagonForLife]

JakeMacDon wrote...

There's one rather big problem with the Reapers, and I don't know if it's been addressed, but I'll just throw this out there and see what happens...

They're kinda really appear frigg'n limited.

Instead of ringing the Galaxy, the Reapers appear to be all just snuggled up together outside our arm of the Galaxy.
Just that one spot?  Why?  Because it's close to their one Citadel?  If, like Vigil says, the Citadel is one big relay - a Master Relay, as it were, that implies that,

one) the tech is seriously hard to duplicate, and

two) there aren't that many Reapers.  Vigil does say that their harvesting took a seriously long time. Centuries.

Millions of reapers wouldn't need that long.  This implies to me that, without some galaxy-spanning network of Master Relays - having only the one - there probably are only a couple of hundred Reapers.  They, like Citadels, are frigg'n hard to make.

If only one or two Reapers are made a harvesting cycle (where they pick only the most promising species - the Protheans were the only space-faring race the last time around, and we're apparently the most genetically variable this time 'round) - every 50 thousand years, we're looking at no more than maybe 500 Reapers, tops, even if they began the cycle 50 million years ago, barring setbacks and successful resistance.  There had to be some.

So... if we can postulate that maybe the Reapers have one large Reaper-sized relay in darkspace, just outside their hibernation zone, the ones we see at the end of ME2 could have been making for that.  It might take a bit of travel, but not much.  It could have been tied into the Alpha Relay we saw in "Arrival".  Of course, an "Alpha" Relay implies a "Beta" relay, perhaps not as robust, maybe slightly more out of the way.  Their Darkspace relay linked initially and primarily with the Citadel, but that's been closed.  It could be rerouted to link with the Alpha, but that's gone boom.  

So, one last shot, some really obscure relay stuck reasonably in its "just-needs-a-nudge" line-of-sight, in some uninhabited backwater or one that simply hasn't been discovered yet.  Unfortunately for us, it was in our near-galactic neighbourhood.  It wasn't that it took them X-number of years to crawl to their Darkspace relay, just to all arrive and then crawl to Earth from the nearby older, smaller, more obscure Beta relay a couple of lightyears in the boonies.  

I have a feeling that they can't move much faster than anything else with a ME core.  Bigger doesn't necessarily mean faster.  The cores in Reapers aren't just engines, they're the Reapers' hearts.  They have to power the whole 2 klicks or more long Reaper, weapons, barriers, indocrination gland and all.  

One of the Reapers' biggest flaws is that they likely rely on the relays as much as everyone else does.  Of course, it could be like a fella said and they just invert stars into dark energy to make erstatz relays, because, well, it's easier. /sarcasm.

Yeah, it's a deus ex machina, but I have a feeling we're gonna see one helluva lot of those before ME3 concludes.

I dont think the reapers saw a need to build another "Master Relay" as for millions of years they never had anyone stop them they never took any of us a threat to them
there are Thousands of reapers your forgetting that Dreadnought class Sovereign/Harbringer require an entire race to make but the reapers have few of these there main force is in Destroyers and Cruisers which require alot  less 
The reapers dont just take the most promising race they harvest all the most advanced race has the (Honor) of being made into reapers while a few of them are left to be cloned and made into slaves to carry on the reapers work while they return to darkspace
The reapers only needed to bypass the Arrival System and get to the next system with a relay then they could jump to any relay in the galaxy they wished
The Reapers dont need weapons Barriers or any other device all they need is power to the engines unless the reapers carried troops with them they whouldnt even need life support or they could have troops in Stasis 
The Reapers biggest flaw is that they have never been stopped and dont think they can they think they are gods and the reapers dont need mass relays at all they are machines 1 year 10 years or 10k years it doesnt matter as for making stars into dark energy whoever said that doesnt understand anything about the universe as the universe is 70+% Dark energy the reapers could harvest it anywhere theres not a single place in the universe where theres not Dark Energy somewhere 

Modifié par ParagonForLife, 30 janvier 2012 - 07:05 .

[seirhart]

they took a taxi

[111987]

JakeMacDon wrote...

There's one rather big problem with the Reapers, and I don't know if it's been addressed, but I'll just throw this out there and see what happens...

They're kinda really appear frigg'n limited.

Instead of ringing the Galaxy, the Reapers appear to be all just snuggled up together outside our arm of the Galaxy.
Just that one spot?  Why?  Because it's close to their one Citadel?  If, like Vigil says, the Citadel is one big relay - a Master Relay, as it were, that implies that,

one) the tech is seriously hard to duplicate, and

two) there aren't that many Reapers.  Vigil does say that their harvesting took a seriously long time. Centuries.

Millions of reapers wouldn't need that long.  This implies to me that, without some galaxy-spanning network of Master Relays - having only the one - there probably are only a couple of hundred Reapers.  They, like Citadels, are frigg'n hard to make.

There definitely aren't millions of Reapers. Assuming the Derelict Reaper was the oldest Reaper, they'd have about 740. More likely they are in the low thousands, assuming they've been around a a billion or two years.

Nor could millions of Reapers 'ring' the galaxy. To encircle the entire galaxy, you'd need trillions upon trillions upon trillions of Reapers. The galaxy is kinda big.

JakeMacDon wrote...
So... if we can postulate that maybe the Reapers have one large Reaper-sized relay in darkspace, just outside their hibernation zone, the ones we see at the end of ME2 could have been making for that.

No, they were heading for the Milky Way Galaxy. Most likely the Bahak system, where the Alpha Relay is. The (presumed) Relay in dark space only connects with the Citadel.

JakeMacDon wrote...
 It might take a bit of travel, but not much.  It could have been tied into the Alpha Relay we saw in "Arrival".  Of course, an "Alpha" Relay implies a "Beta" relay, perhaps not as robust, maybe slightly more out of the way.

How is that the implication? Especially when humans were the one to name the Relay. It's not like the words 'Alpha Relay' were carved into it. Alpha was just used because it is dated as the oldest Mass Relay. 

JakeMacDon wrote...
I have a feeling that they can't move much faster than anything else with a ME core.  Bigger doesn't necessarily mean faster.  The cores in Reapers aren't just engines, they're the Reapers' hearts.  They have to power the whole 2 klicks or more long Reaper, weapons, barriers, indocrination gland and all. 

I believe Joker says Sovereign moved faster than any ship its size in ME1, and that wasn't even FTL. I think the Reapers, the ones who invented Mass Effect technology, are faster than other similarly-sized ships. Everything else about their ships are better, after all.

Modifié par 111987, 30 janvier 2012 - 08:35 .

[Lotion Soronarr]

Zakatak757 wrote...

EDIT: what is so OOOOMMMGG about the Reapers getting here via normal FTL? In Stargate or Andromeda, hyperspace/slipstream allows travel between galaxies in under a month, and nobody whines about that. The Reapers have about 300,000 light years to travel. So if it took them 3 years to get here, then that would mean they travel at 100,000c. I believe alot of sci-fi's have faster FTL then that (except Trek and maybe Halo).

Scale. Taht's what different. Different sci-fi setting have different FTL methods, but not all are equally believable. The faster the ship, the less believable it is, as hte enrergy requirements go up almost exponentially.

It's basicly the difference between a human bench pressing 200 punds, 500 pounds and 20000 pounds.

[Reptillius]

somewhere in ME I do believe it points out that even Citadel Species ships can potentially travel between systems in the milky way by FTL means if they choose to. It just takes quite a bit of resources to do it and about all they really do it for is exploration missions since Relays aren't allowed to be opened anymore without knowing what's on the other side.

2k years is relative in about now terms on a 50k year cycle. There is easily a 4 or 5k year window to say just when the last reaping was. So it is possible that it was supposed to start when the Rachni wars happened. There is nothing, Not even Chorban's email, that disputes this... We also can't say for certain that it is exactly 50k years that the Reapers do this. That is just a rounded estimation to the best we can figure it happens. 50k years is more likely to be said than say 48k years. There's also nothing concrete to prove that the REapers for unknown reasons don't basically do this at 48k years ago or that we aren't perhaps 52k years from when the Protheans were reaped. Around now is a big window of possibility when dealing with these kinds of numbers.

Milky Way Galaxy Species ships have to vent the heat and energy buildups they experience... This does not mean that the Reapers suffer the same limitation. It is completely possible that they have found ways around this limitation and it's something they don't really want the reaped species to discover. Much like they would not like it for the species to actually understand and unlock the secrets of the Mass Relays.

The cost in time, resources, and tactical advantage does not necessarily make FTL flight into the Milky way considered an optimal or practical plan of attack rather than waiting a couple of extra millenia to subtly retake control of the citadel. For the effort that it takes. Waiting can be seen as much more beneficial and flying in a last resort. Having a member inside the galaxy to activate the Citadel as a relay or troubleshoot problems when it doesn't activate is a far more productive primary contingency... This is exactly what Sovereign was. Sovereigns death triggered the plan of last resort... Flying in and being forced to deal with the issues that such an overtaking inevitably has both tactically and on resources of the Reapers.

Communication is capable in realtime as well as FTL. Done through communication systems set up near the Mass relays and functioning partly through them. It doesn't seem to require the mass relays to truely be activated every time a call is made through the system. This means that Soverieng with his advanced (even for ME) systems can easily be in contact with the Reapers even at the time of his death to make them aware rather than trying to stop an FTL message for ME2. This is further supported by the fact that Harbringer can communicate with and even control the Collectors from outside of the galaxy. Thus proving the superior long distance and real time communicating abilities of the Reapers over the Citadel species.

[tetrisblock4x1]

Well we'll probably be seeing a clown car drive up to the presidium, park outside of the citadel tower, open the car door from which will exit THOUSANDS OF REAPERS.

Modifié par tetrisblock4x1, 30 janvier 2012 - 09:01 .

[LilyasAvalon]

Haasth wrote...

Reds19 wrote...

DetailedSubset wrote...

Op you need to pay more attention when you play ME2

 
why is that?

Well it's explained pretty well, but yes. Their other plans failed, so they're going the old fashioned "Fly there" way. 
Which takes time. And they finally arrive in ME3. 

Reaper Roadtrip!~

[DJBare]

Nobezy wrote...

Unlikely. Desperation born of impatience is not a reaper characteristic. You have to remember time is not of the essence for them, at all.

It's not a characteristic that they "show"; but the very fact they have to hibernate shows they will require resources/energy at some point, that point has been reached, they are desperate.

[Bobrzy]

My opinion is much simpler than your scientific stuff:

Reapers did not want Sovereign to open a Citadel relay just to "speed up" their arrival - it was build to give a tactical advantage. As stated in ME1, when they enter the Citadel relay, they are able to wipe out all leadership of the military in that region, which weakens the resistance in a tremendous way (like they did with Protheans).

Traveling there on their own could slow down the process only a little, but more importantly - it would force them to give away their presence in the moment they enter Alliance - Turian - Citadel space. No surprise attack would be possible at this point, since sensors everywhere would go crazy (not to mention you can just, you know, LOOK at the sky and see that something is coming. Fast.).

Besides, Harbinger said it himself - "we will find another way". Well, looks like they did.

[RyuujinZERO]

 Ok, here's some answers for many of the questions raised:

Q: Why were the reapers in one bundle?
A: The citadel exit relay is a physical object at a physical location, it makes sense for them to be parked ine asy distance of the far end of the relay rather than spread out. Additionally a "ring" is a silly concept - space is 3D.

Q: Why do they need the citadel relay at all when they can fly in?
A: Decapitation attack, you're told as much in ME1. The citadel is designed to be attractive as a hub for the ruling powerbase of the galaxy with it's nigh impregnable defences, keepers, secure alien databases and stuff, when the repeers attack they take out a sizable portion of the power base and also access to vast amounts of records and data on the current species.

Q: How did the reapers learn of sovereign's failure?
A: Quantum entanglement probably, the same way the illusive man communicates at FTL speeds with the normandy

Q: Why didn't the reapers just fly there in the first place. With light-lag and the emptyness of space they could've gotten there unseen anyway
A: Drive core discharge, reapers are still eezo-core using ships. They would have to drop from FTl to discharge their drive cores on a regular basis. Houdreds of giants ships suddenly dropping out of FTL to discharge their cores would not go un-noticed.

Modifié par RyuujinZERO, 30 janvier 2012 - 11:18 .

[the almighty moo]

i like to think that after soveriegn was beaten at the citadel, they though "balls, looks like we better start moving".

then they decided they may as well cause some havoc and got harbinger to try and make a human reaper before they got there.

then in the arrival they got annoyed as some inconsiderate human takes out the relay they were going to use.

there is nothing to suggest that they were stationary until the end of me2

if not, Wizzards did it.

[Medhia Nox]

A mass effect field did it.

====

@Nobezy - or it is, and they're just giving you some tasty Kool Aid to drink down.

====

And the Reapers enlist a massive army of machine warriors - and sneak attack the Citadel (and fail) - because they're not nearly as powerful as THEY tell you they are.

Modifié par Medhia Nox, 30 janvier 2012 - 01:57 .

[Anacronian Stryx]

Han Shot First wrote...

Anacronian Stryx wrote...

ItsFreakinJesus wrote...

searunner wrote...

Is it a assumed that the "Fleet" of reapers started moving at the start or end of ME1? What if the Rachni wars was the first attempt to restart the signal from the Citadel? That could mean that The Reapers left about 2000 years ago from wherever they were and are just now starting to get close enough. That means that they arent going 100000 light years a years but more like a few hundred Even after all that time and getting close to the milky way they would still want to get the drop using the citadel so that would explain the Saren "incident". Is that possible?

What do you mean, 'if"?  That's exactly what it was.

Except it wasn't - read Chorban's mail which clearly states that the keepers are supposed to respond to a signal around now and not 2000 years ago.

I still wonder why so many think that the rachni wars had anything to do with taking over the citadel.

The Rachni Queen tells you that the Rachni Wars started when a 'tone from space" forced the Rachni to "resonate with its own sour yellow note."  That heavily implies Reaper indoctrination.

Chorban also does not say in his email that the cycle occurs at exactly 50,000 years after the previous cycle. This is what is actually said in the email:

You may not understand how important this is, but it suggests that the Citadel wasn't really made by the Protheans! It may have been made by something far older, with the keepers as organic guardians. And what's more, based on my genetic readings, they're supposed to react to...something, some signal or something...about every 50 thousand years. You can measure genetic variances; it's a bit like comparing rings on a tree to see the drought years.

Chorban said that the cycle occurs about every 50,000 years, which is the same as a scientist saying that the Yellowstone Caldera erupts about every 600,000 years. The scientist would not mean that Yellowstone erupts at exactly 600,000 years after the last eruption, but rather the cycle averages out to about 600,000 years between eruptions. The last eruption of Yellowstone in fact, was about 640,000 years ago.

What Chorban says in the email is also in line with what we've previously been told about the Reapers and the extinction cycle. While the mass extinctions average out to about once every 50,000 years, and it has been about 50,000 years since the Prothean extinction, it is the level of development of a spacefaring civilization, rather than passage of time, that is the trigger. As such it is likely that the Reapers first attempt was indeed 2,000 years prior to the events of Mass Effect 1, with the Rachni Wars.

Let us quote the end of chorban's mail as well shall we :..Whoever did this...well, around the last time this signal went off would be around the time the Protheans disappeared. And it's scheduled to go off sometime around now. If any old tech still works, they could have some nasty surprises waiting for us.

Now as in you know now..not 2000 years ago.

I do not dispute that Sovereign had something to do with the Rachni war, i do however dispute that the Rachni wars had anything to do with Sovereign knowing that the keepers would not respond to his signal.

Chronologically the signal is supposed to go of right before ME 1 begins and the events in ME 1 unfolds as sovereign searched for another way to gain access to the citadel after he realizes that the keepers aren't responding to his signal.

Also it is rather ludicrous to believe that Sovereign just dallied about for 1700 years after the Rachni wars without finding a way to infiltrate the citadel.

Whatever reasons the Reapers had to start the Rachni wars must have under the mandate of shaping events to their liking and not an attempt to take the citadel. 

[Lotion Soronarr]

Number of reapers? Unknown.


If we are talking realisticly? Millions..if not trillions. They harvest the entire GALAXY. Think about that for a second.

Humantiy has creatd over 200 large military ships in less than a century. With only the limited resources it had.

If repaers are 40million years old - how many ships could they have built (I'm counting lesser reapers and "direct-control" ship) in that time span? With the combined resources of the entire galaxy?

Mindbogling...
Frankly, the reapers a huge let-down.

[WILLTHRILL20]

I'm relatively new to the mass effect series but my theory was that the reapers had a mass effect relay (lets just say for giggles- 1/8 of the distance here from wherever they come from) that connected to the citadel and when that plan failed they began closing in on the galaxy and looking for new means to close the distance (travel between mass effect relays in a conventional travel method [if relays were broken] is fathomable in the milky way) when they came across another relay that was (lets just say 1/2 the way here) closer that would shave some time off their travel(the alpha relay). And after the alpha relay failed they were closer anyways and just continued to close the distance. I'm not an expert so please, by all means, correct me if the timeline doesn't quite make sense or help me make sense of it if it's completely and utterly wrong. bBy the way all this talk just makes me even more hyped for mass effect 3!!!

EDIT: I read through this and can see if its a little hazy for you all to understand, I had trouble getting this down in words, so if it is just hard to make sense of it I can clarify as well.

Modifié par WILLTHRILL20, 30 janvier 2012 - 02:37 .

[essarr71]

Lotion Soronnar wrote...

Number of reapers? Unknown.


If we are talking realisticly? Millions..if not trillions. They harvest the entire GALAXY. Think about that for a second.

Humantiy has creatd over 200 large military ships in less than a century. With only the limited resources it had.

If repaers are 40million years old - how many ships could they have built (I'm counting lesser reapers and "direct-control" ship) in that time span? With the combined resources of the entire galaxy?

Mindbogling...
Frankly, the reapers a huge let-down.

You're also assuming that the entire galaxy has the resources they need/want.

Exhibit A: They're only interested in humans in this scenario, which make up a very, very, very tiny amount of the galaxy.

[Blacklash93]

DJBare wrote...
It's not a characteristic that they "show"; but the very fact they have to hibernate shows they will require resources/energy at some point, that point has been reached, they are desperate.

The Reapers hibernating to conserve energy was a theory of the Protheans. They didn't know anything for sure.

For all we know they hibernate because they have nothing else to do.

[Anacronian Stryx]

RyuujinZERO wrote...

Q: Why didn't the reapers just fly there in the first place. With light-lag and the emptyness of space they could've gotten there unseen anyway
A: Drive core discharge, reapers are still eezo-core using ships. They would have to drop from FTl to discharge their drive cores on a regular basis. Houdreds of giants ships suddenly dropping out of FTL to discharge their cores would not go un-noticed.

It seems quite obvious that the reapers do not have to discharge their drive cores since where would they do that doing their long trek though dark space?

[Blacklash93]

Lotion Soronnar wrote...
Mindbogling...
Frankly, the reapers a huge let-down.

Why? Because they have large numbers? How is that a letdown?

[Anacronian Stryx]

Blacklash93 wrote...

DJBare wrote...
It's not a characteristic that they "show"; but the very fact they have to hibernate shows they will require resources/energy at some point, that point has been reached, they are desperate.

The Reapers hibernating to conserve energy was a theory of the Protheans. They didn't know anything for sure.

For all we know they hibernate because they have nothing else to do.

I agree it seems more likely, After all a 37 million year old wreck of a reaper still had power to put up mass effect fields and maintain orbit around a brown giant.