140 réponses à ce sujet

[von uber]

Inspired somewhat by the constant moaning about Liara being upset over Thessia being invaded,

what was the rational behind Shepard assembling the galaxies fleets to attack the Reapers around Earth (apart from saving Humans)?

Always puzzled me this one - don't forget this is the strategy before anyone knew what the crucible was or did (in fact it is mentioned in the Prologue). Given that all the other major races are getting (or will be) hammered by the Reapers, why not assemble the fleets around say Palaven or Thessia where the stronger militaries are?

[Invisible Man]

at first I think it was about hitting the reapers before they breakout, though I wouldn't have liked the odds of the citadel fleet going up against a more concentrated force of reapers. after that point I don't think there was a strategy.

[MegaIllusiveMan]

I think it was on Earth because Harbinger, the so proclaimed leader of Reapers, was invading it. Also, because the Reaper Armada is heavily concentrated there

[Barquiel]

An Earth-centric scenario sells better...but it never made any sense. Both Thessia and Palavan have had much greater strategic importance than Earth. There was also some dialogue in the leaked script where this is discussed, but these scenes unfortunately got cut.

[Vigilant111]

Maybe it is because the humans are the weakest out of all four council members? Anderson has warned that if humanity was to survive, it needs all the help it can get

[Steelcan]

Because thats your mission as tasked by Anderson, save Earth.

 

In ME1 its to stop Saren, in ME2 its to stop the Collectors.

 

Argue about the strategic importance all you want, but the series has always been human centric and Earth is the end goal.

 

Why are we saving Earth?  Because last I checked every single person on this forum is a gorram human.

[katamuro]

Well wasnt it said somewhere that a lot of reapers were concentrated in the solar system? Plus as it was said before me Earth centric story sells much better.

[ImaginaryMatter]

It's almost like the story knew the game would come to a final showdown around Earth.

 

It always really bothered me. Throughout the game we're constantly told that the Reapers cannot be defeated conventionally, yet most of the game is based around collecting forces for that very reason (also, wasn't Udina's plan to recapture Earth considered a waste of resources by everyone else? Isn't that what we're doing?). Since BioWare went with the Crucible as the ultimate goal for victory I think it would have benefitted the plot if the missions were mostly structured around the device. I almost had completely forgotten about it by the time Thessia comes around.

[Tevinter Soldier]

its called a counter attack.

 

as said if the main force is concentrated on earth it makes sense to hit them there.

 

there no defending anymore the reapers came through its all about attack and counter attack.

 

as you say the stronger militaries are on Palaven and Thessia, for one if you leave earth to get destroyed it allows the reapers to centralise forces for the next major attack.

 

by attack the main force at a less important location it

A) buys more time around the more important locations (despite the invasions they are small scale)

forces the reapers to recall re-enforcements that would other wise spread around the galaxy.

 

if you loose it allows you to fall back to two different locations based on there importance or split the fleets

this makes the enemy have to consider what to do next attack one location or two?

 

you have to understand the reaper force is too big a force to defend against castle theory suggests every planet would be over run eventually your best hope is to engage them in areas where you don't need to hold back (personally i would have crashed a very large dreadnought into the charon relay just to see if it would stop them)

[Han Shot First]

The only reason for the focus on Earth is because the players are human, and "Take Back Earth" is a much dramatic advertising slogan than "Take Back Fictional Planet X!"

 

It doesn't make any sense given the lore. Palaven or Thessia are far more strategically important than Earth is. As of Mass Effect 3 the Alliance is only the fourth-ranked power in the galaxy behind the Turian Hierarchy, the Asari Republics, and the Salarian Union. Palaven is the homeworld of the most militarily powerful species in the galaxy, and Thessia is the galaxy's most economically important planet.

 

I suppose it makes sense why the Alliance would be interested in having the counterattack occur at Earth rather than Palaven or Thessia, but why does everyone else go along with it? I do think that was one of the flaws with ME3's writing. If you're going to make Earth the focus you have to provide a reason within the lore for why Earth should be more strategically important at that moment, as everything prior to ME3 says the opposite.

 

As it is, I just head canon it as there being less Reapers currently in the Sol System than there are near Palaven or Thessia and the counterattack going after a compartively 'soft' target.

[von uber]

But it makes no sense in game. The idea is to buy time to build the crucible. Wasting the galaxies forces in a head on assault on the reapers strongest position would speed up defeat.
The best thing would be to let them finish harvesting earth to gain the time needed.

[Barquiel]

I think the best strategy would have been the tactic the Asari tried on Thessia, just with more ships. Take out the reapers harvesting Thessia and Palavan, supply the resistance, fall back,...and not to throw all our ships into a firefight witht he biggest concentration of Reapers in the galaxy.

[Steelcan]

Obviously the best plan would have been to lure the Reapers to Thessia and then regroup.

[ImaginaryMatter]

The only reason for the focus on Earth is because the players are human, and "Take Back Earth" is a much dramatic advertising slogan than "Take Back Fictional Planet X!"

 

It was the advertisement campaign that made me wary of ME3 (I didn't buy it until a few months later, luckily the ending controversy really knocked the price down).

 

I always thought a slogan like: "Mass Effect 3: Break the Cycle" would have been a better slogan. But then again that would have been targetted to mostly returners instead of new comers which was probably the target audience for the advertising.

[cap and gown]

It really bites when the plot is based on the marketing campaign, rather than the marketing campaign selling the plot.

[themikefest]

Had the artifact been revealed earlier, the crucible may of been used with the Citadel in the Serpent Nebula instead of being at Earth.

[SwobyJ]

Because Shepard is being increasingly indoctrinated and being fooled that to head to Earth with the galaxy, all fighting focused around a beam (sorry, is is 'Conduit'? Game tells me both) that pops out indoctrinated thralls, is a good thing that needs to be done.

[kazumasoju]

   I was under the impression after the ending of mass effect 2 that Humans were the main focus of the reaper invasion because of their rapid expansion. This was resulting in higher numbers of them around the galaxy ( through out  mass effect 2 its the humans who are disappearing no the other races from what I remember ), For example the human reaper at the end. Also, the earth systems were the first to get attacked and the only ones who seemed to be actually getting things organized for the galaxy. Yes, the reapers were attacking the whole galaxy though earth was giving them the highest return in terms of reaperized forces thus its easier to attack the other worlds. Its also mentioned that the reapers would send out hordes of husk before they began invading most civilizations ~ husk are reaperized humans

[RZIBARA]

I love how so many people here these forums care so little about Humanity, when they are bloody humans. Nothing but a bunch of sell outs, all of you. Earth is the human home world, damn right I'm going to fight for it.

[Steelcan]

I love how so many people here these forums care so little about Humanity, when they are bloody humans. Nothing but a bunch of sell outs, all of you. Earth is the human home world, damn right I'm going to fight for it.

 

Filthy asari lovers

[Barquiel]

I love how so many people here these forums care so little about Humanity, when they are bloody humans. Nothing but a bunch of sell outs, all of you. Earth is the human home world, damn right I'm going to fight for it.

I don't have a problem with Shepard caring about Earth (it's a bit too much, but ok). But I have a problem with Shepard acting like everyone else should care about Earth while their own homeworlds are under attack. Why would the Asari/Turians/Salarians would just agree to pull their fleets away from their own worlds in order to save Earth? The problem with the storyline is that these races were willing to commit to Earth before the Citadel was even at Earth. "Save Earth over the rest of the Galaxy" is a great marketing line, but it makes no damn sense at all. In scifi the universe shouldn't revolve around humans and this old "Humans are special" trope is completely boring imo.

[themikefest]

 I have no problem with them defending their homeworlds, but they weren't doing crap in helping build alliances. It was all done by Shepard. A human.

[katamuro]

 I have no problem with them defending their homeworlds, but they weren't doing crap in helping build alliances. It was all done by Shepard. A human.

 

Because that was the whole point of the game. If they were doing it on their own the whole premise would have been different. After all lets remember that the writers who wrote the story also made it so that shepard is an irreplaceable part of it, the player should feel like accomplishing something. 

[von uber]

"Shepard! The council have arranged a conference and alliance to discuss building the crucible! We need you to take the Normandy and patrol sectors 65 to 79 and report back whilst we build the thing."

[Han Shot First]

I love how so many people here these forums care so little about Humanity, when they are bloody humans. Nothing but a bunch of sell outs, all of you. Earth is the human home world, damn right I'm going to fight for it.

 

 

It isn't that people object so much to there being a focus on retaking Earth. It is that there is no justification given for it in the lore, and no justification in ME3. 

 

The Alliance is a fourth-rate power behind the Turian Hierarchy, Asari Republics, and Salarian Union according to the lore. Palaven, as the homeworld of the most militarily powerful species, and Thessia, as the most economically important planet, should have a strategic importance many times greater than that of Earth. So why is the counterattack occuring at Earth? And why should the Turians or Asari send their fleets to Earth when their own homeworlds, each of which is more strategically important than Earth, are under attack?

 

That isn't to say that having Earth be the focus of ME3 was inherently wrong. Just that if the writers were going to go that route, they shouldn't have ignored their own lore. You need to give a justfication for Earth being the focus within the plot, whether that is hitting a Reaper weak spot (more Reapers being deployed to Palaven and Thessia) or some other reason that makes Earth a better option for a counterattack at that time.

 

Having Shepard tell the Turian Councilor that he needed Turian fleets to save Earth at a time when Palaven was burning, with no further justfication beyond "because humans," was as silly and ridiculous as having Shepard try to convince Ashley to join a Cerberus ship at Horizon by sayng, "C'mon..it will be just like old times."

 

It also followed on the heels of other aspects of the series where the humans were presented as special, even if it required ignoring science. For example in Mass Effect 2 in order to make humans special snowflakes, its said that the Reapers are focusing on humanity because of their great genetic diversity. This was a "LOL Wut?" moment, as humanity isn't genetically diverse at all. In fact we are one of the least gentically diverse species on our own planet.

 

In conclusion, the less 'humans are special' ego-stroking in ME4 the better.