So yeah, I recently watched Interstellar movie and I was really impressed by the astrophysics of the movie.
The Space-Time Dilation concept was well explained.
Back to Mass Effect series, this Space-Time Dilation concept didn't have much of an influence on the game, which is kind of unrealistic. It would be cool to see this concept in the future Mass Effect games, mostly in the main story (If it were included for random exploration as well, well, things could get a bit awkward).
I'm don't think ME ships are affected (much) by time-dilation.
The projectiles fired by a Dreadnought reach less than 3% of lightspeed, and these are faster than any ship without FTL-drive will ever get.
Once the FTL drive is activated there is no time-dilation because of space-magic the mass effect on mass, and speed of light.
Basically, inside the mass free corridor a ship moves in, it still only reaches its small%c velocity, even though this is FTL for everyone outside the corridor/ME-field.
Besides, space-time dilation as a game mechanic is booring as hell, as you'd never actually see it. Only having to adjust the clock any time you dock somewhere.
Edit: Missed a word
Well also there's the Sci-Fi Writers have no sense of scale, time, space, distance, whatever. Rule of cool dominates that.
Me thinks that, it would be very difficult to pull something like this off in a game.
There are other related problems that are easier to solve if game devs are willing to go the extra mile and be a little bit more Sci than Fi.
From the codex:
"Faster-than-light drives use element zero cores to reduce the mass of a ship, allowing higher rates of acceleration. This effectively raises the speed of light within the mass effect field, allowing high speed travel with negligible relativistic time dilation effects."
Time-dilation is there but it is minimal because of the mass effect envelope.
I wonder why the Protheans didn't go that route. Rather than trying to preserve their species in underground vaults, they could have sent a ship with a few thousand people to closely orbit a black hole, being careful not to tip over the Event Horizon. They could have effectively time traveled to a point after the Reapers had left.
Well first they would need to explain how exactly, reducing your mass enables you to fly FTL. Right now it's just space magic.
Well first they would need to explain how exactly, reducing your mass enables you to fly FTL. Right now it's just space magic.
It is. Reduced mass allows higher rates of acceleration but the FTL part is more tricky. According to our current understanding of the universe, no object could travel faster than the speed of light. In theory, the way around that limitation would be the so called "warp drive". It compresses space-time in front of the craft and expands it at the back allowing for some ridiculously high speeds, many times the speed of light. But this is Mass Effect and not Warp Effect so mass effect cores it is then.
Like Heimerdinger, I also thought it was actually explained pretty well and the magical powers of Eezo give them enough wiggle room to make the entire issue theoretical enough that we can't really say for certain if that might be possible or not (which is exactly what good soft SF is, take one magical substance and build you universe around it with theoretical principles from today).
Now, if the rumors are true and we do go to a new galaxy though, they need to step it up from light speed to ludicrous speed.
Guest_AugmentedAssassin_*
Like Heimerdinger, I also thought it was actually explained pretty well and the magical powers of Eezo give them enough wiggle room to make the entire issue theoretical enough that we can't really say for certain if that might be possible or not (which is exactly what good soft SF is, take one magical substance and build you universe around it with theoretical principles from today).
Now, if the rumors are true and we do go to a new galaxy though, they need to step it up from light speed to ludicrous speed.
I don't think Mass Effect is soft Sci-Fi, Nor do i think that Eezo was created to remain this illusive. The story required it to be an illusive substance. Because basically it's a strange and alien substance that's created when stars go supernova. So, it's logical that not much of it should be known.
Now, if the rumors are true and we do go to a new galaxy though, they need to step it up from light speed to ludicrous speed.
FTL now stands for faster than ludicrous speed
Like Heimerdinger, I also thought it was actually explained pretty well and the magical powers of Eezo give them enough wiggle room to make the entire issue theoretical enough that we can't really say for certain if that might be possible or not (which is exactly what good soft SF is, take one magical substance and build you universe around it with theoretical principles from today).
Now, if the rumors are true and we do go to a new galaxy though, they need to step it up from light speed to ludicrous speed.
The point I was trying to make is that we know from general relativity that:
1. All objects with a rest mass must alway travel slower than c in all reference frames.
2. All objects without a rest mass must always move at exactly c in all reference frames.
Effects like time dilation and length contraction are a direct consequence of the above.
In order to implement these effects into the game you would first need to explain how exactly the mass effect fits into general relativity.
The point I was trying to make is that we know from general relativity that:
1. All objects with a rest mass must alway travel slower than c in all reference frames.
2. All objects without a rest mass must always move at exactly c in all reference frames.
Effects like time dilation and length contraction are a direct consequence of the above.
In order to implement these effects into the game you would first need to explain how exactly the mass effect fits into general relativity.
Ok, first of all, I am not a physicist, so all I am saying here is from what I remember from school and from reading some Steven Hawking books a long time ago. But from what I do remeber, you are perfectly correct.
If I understand correctly though, ME uses a loop hole in current day physics, which is that we reference everything to c = light speed in a vacuum. We know that light speed is actually slower in a high density medium (i.e. light travels slower in air than in a vacuum and yet slower in water, etc., right? The slowing of light is propertional to the mass of the medium, IIRC.
In current time, we never observed (and there is no theoretical concept for) any medium in which light travels faster than c. But if you could essentially get some material that messes with the mass of objects directly, you may just have some wiggle room -> Enter Mass Effect.
All ME does, is it gives us Eezo, which has the - admittedly magical - property of generating a field within which light travels faster than c, let's call it d. Now, to my (limited) knowladge, it is unknown what consequences this would have on the speeds that other objects in that field can achieve but it sounds reasonable to me to predict that within this field, the speed of other objects are now limited by d instead of c. If such an object (e.g. a space ship) were to approach d within the field, you would have to deal with serious time dilation effects, yes. However, according to the codex, ships in the ME universe don't nearly approach d (or the speed of light in any reference frame). They still travel at a low percentage value of d. The thing is that because of the magical eezo, d might be 5000 times c or whatever number you want to come up with. Therefore, seen from normal space, the ship travels faster than c without ever approaching d and therefore without time dilation effects.
Now, obviously, you rely heavily on the magical effects of eezo but the cool thing about this is that eezo, with the same magical properties does all sorts of stuff in this universe (like biotics, new construction materials, weapon and shield technology, artificial gravity, etc.) and all of it relates back to that same effect of the material, that it can change mass.
I don't think anyone disputes that this effect is space magic (hence, I consider it soft SciFi but it does adhere to one of the principles of what (at least to me) makes good SciFi. And that is that you take one assumption and extrapolate (mostly) logically from there. In this case it is "let's assume that there is a material that lets us generate a field within which the mass of matter can either be increased or decreased". For example, I think the Star Trek equivalent would be "Let's assume that we have a way to generate and control limitless amounts of energy by using Antimatter".
All other explanations for what goes on in this universe have to link back to that one assumption. Of course, you are using some highly theoretical stuff in your explanations and I am sure that some of the energy requirements for certain things don't add up by a long shot but IMO, the better you can explain stuff, the more believable the universe. And at least as far as technology is concerned, ME was always pretty good at that.
Of course, if my physics stuff up there is completely wrong, feel free to correct me, everyone, as I said, I am far from an expert.
Oh and cookies for everyone who caught onto the Spaceballs reference. May the schwartz be with you.
Edit: By the way, it turns out that we can make an estimation for d. We know that ME ships can fly about 12 LY/day. (reapers are faster but let's go with normal ships). So if the ship were to fly at light speed, d would have to be about 12 x 365 = 4830 x c. As I said before, we cannot approach light speed, so let's say we can fly at 0.1% light speed (which is already quite fast), so d would have to be 4839 x 1000 = 4830000 x c. Admittedly, that would be a rather drastic mass effect but there ya go.
Now, if the rumors are true and we do go to a new galaxy though, they need to step it up from light speed to ludicrous speed.
Not necessarily.
Speed isn't really an issue for reaching Andromeda so much as fuel consumption and drive discharge. Those are the two problems that would absolutely have to be resolved if a ship was going to travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda in the next game. If they can solve those two problems they can reach Andromeda at the present rate of 12 light years per day, it would just require the crew to spend five centuries in cryosleep.
[...]
However, according to the codex, ships in the ME universe don't nearly approach d (or the speed of light in any reference frame). They still travel at a low percentage value of d. The thing is that because of the magical eezo, d might be 5000 times c or whatever number you want to come up with. Therefore, seen from normal space, the ship travels faster than c ever approaching d and therefore without time dilation effects.
I'm just going to point out that outside the ME field is another reference frame (to my understanding at least) , so from that pov d should be equal to c.
But don't mind me 
I'm also pretty sure that these reference frame thingy in special relativity is one of those things that really no one understands.
Not really an edit:
German Wikipedia claims that in general relativity the reference frame c equality only holds true in a 'local' vicinity. Reason is the space time bending of massive objects! (Aka, why black holes can delay and catch photons despite photons having no mass).
Somewhat surprised: I guess the codex wins this one! 
Ok, first of all, I am not a physicist, so all I am saying here is from what I remember from school and from reading some Steven Hawking books a long time ago. But from what I do remeber, you are perfectly correct.
If I understand correctly though, ME uses a loop hole in current day physics, which is that we reference everything to c = light speed in a vacuum. We know that light speed is actually slower in a high density medium (i.e. light travels slower in air than in a vacuum and yet slower in water, etc., right? The slowing of light is propertional to the mass of the medium, IIRC.
In current time, we never observed (and there is no theoretical concept for) any medium in which light travels faster than c. But if you could essentially get some material that messes with the mass of objects directly, you may just have some wiggle room -> Enter Mass Effect.
The process you are describing here is called refraction and it does not change the speed of information c. Other massless particles like neutrinos that do not interact electromagneticly still move at c, no matter what medium their going through. You can actually create materials with a negative refraction index so that the phase velocity of the electromagnatic wave exceeds c. However the wave front or the individual photon and therefore the information, would still only travel at c.
There is absolutely no wiggle room here. If the mass effect can reduce an objects effective mass it would allow for easier acceleration, however the kinetic energy required would still approach infinite when accelerating towards c. If the mass effect allows you to reduce your rest mass to 0 then the normandy would instantly travel at exactly c, while suffering from 100% time dilation. But the normandy and everyone aboard would probably disintegrate into their subatomic particles, since electrons, quarks and gluons cannot exist in this state.
All ME does, is it gives us Eezo, which has the - admittedly magical - property of generating a field within which light travels faster than c, let's call it d. Now, to my (limited) knowladge, it is unknown what consequences this would have on the speeds that other objects in that field can achieve but it sounds reasonable to me to predict that within this field, the speed of other objects are now limited by d instead of c. If such an object (e.g. a space ship) were to approach d within the field, you would have to deal with serious time dilation effects, yes. However, according to the codex, ships in the ME universe don't nearly approach d (or the speed of light in any reference frame). They still travel at a low percentage value of d. The thing is that because of the magical eezo, d might be 5000 times c or whatever number you want to come up with. Therefore, seen from normal space, the ship travels faster than c ever approaching d and therefore without time dilation effects.
If the mass effect field actually changes c in its vicinity, than you create a scientific mess of such a magnetude that you can only sort it out with space magic. c is a fundemental constant of our universe, if you change it, you change EVERYTHING. The Normandy might very well just stop existing as soon as you turn on the ME field.
Thats why most Sci-fi universes dicide not to mess around with fundamental constants and instead invent ways around them with concepts like worm holes or 'warp space'.
German Wikipedia claims that in general relativity the reference frame c equality only holds true in a 'local' vicinity. Reason is the space time bending of massive objects! (Aka, why black holes can delay and catch photons despite photons having no mass).
Somewhat surprised: I guess the codex wins this one!
Yes, in bend space time c can appear slower to an outside observer in a different reference frame. However the photon does not slow down. It still travels at c in a straight line. The space it's traveling through is simply bend so that the distance it travels in a certain time appears shorter and curved.
Bioware writers will never win against Einstein!
As I said, no expert. 
That said, the specifics of what exactly happens within an ME field are by definition not known (just like the warp field, as described in so many scifi publications is mostly used in name only and all sorts of magic happens within). So who knows, maybe the inside of an ME field should not be considered "in our universe".
Every SciFi universe does need some space magic, to make things happen.
As I said, no expert.
That said, the specifics of what exactly happens within an ME field are by definition not known (just like the warp field, as described in so many scifi publications is mostly used in name only and all sorts of magic happens within). So who knows, maybe the inside of an ME field should not be considered "in our universe".
Every SciFi universe does need some space magic, to make things happen.
I agree. Every SciFi universe starts to fall apart if you start digging to deep into the underlying science. And there is no problem with that as long as it appears logical from the outside.
Well at least OP now has quite a detailed explenation of why time dilation isn't necesserary in ME
Guest_AugmentedAssassin_*
Well, My point is, Just because it was never explained doesn't mean that it's space magic, It's just a narrative necessity. And actually, Very Recently NASA may have accidentally broke the speed of light in an experiment that created Star Trek-like wrap field. I don't think Mass Effect has any scientific problems from its own perspective. Could use more insight on a lot of stuff, Yes, And that was due to happen. But let's NOT get into that subject. If you know what i mean.
Well, My point is, Just because it was never explained doesn't mean that it's space magic, I don't think Mass Effect has any scientific problems from its own perspective. Could use more insight on a lot of stuff, Yes, And that was due to happen. But let's NOT get into that subject. If you know what i mean.
Like any big Scifi universe ME has loads of scientific problems, like the one i just discribed above. However like any good Scifi universe, it knows how to cover them up well enough so that causality and logic appear to be intact. Atleast at first glance. And I agree, insight is much more needed in terms of plot then some ultimatly nonsensicle and futile attempt at a scientific explenation for the mass effect.
Very Recently NASA may have accidentally broke the speed of light in an experiment that created Star Trek-like wrap field.
That was just one odd measurment and still needs much further expierementing in order to be confirmed.
Also a warp drive does not violate general relativity. It creates a bend space time bubble around the ship, that then carries the ship forward. The ship itself does not move through space time faster than c. So no, NASA did not break the speed of light.
Well, My point is, Just because it was never explained doesn't mean that it's space magic, It's just a narrative necessity. And actually, Very Recently NASA may have accidentally broke the speed of light in an experiment that created Star Trek-like wrap field. I don't think Mass Effect has any scientific problems from its own perspective. Could use more insight on a lot of stuff, Yes, And that was due to happen. But let's NOT get into that subject. If you know what i mean.
I tend to agree that "space magic" is a rather hard word for it but in the end, it's as good as "unexplained narrative necessity". I don't even use it with a negative connotation. As I said in my previous post, the constrains should rather be in the number of assumptions one makes and ME is pretty good there.
I would also agree that the beauty of such good SciFi is that it teases the imagination. Of course, if you dig very deep, you are going to prove the writers wrong (otherwise, we'd already have FTL travel) but until you get there, these stories do have the power to inspire ideas, even in the real world and to make the audience always push and probe the boundaries of known science. Because as we all know, science and our knowledge about our own universe is an ever evolving process.
Personally (and without having any actual facts to back it up) am confident that it will be possible for us to travel faster than the speed of light some day (if we don't bomb ourselves into oblivion first). Why? Because of the simple fact that we can imagine a universe in which we can transport from point a to point b with barely a difference in time, whether perceived by others or ourselves. Whichever theory turns out to be the most feasible to use in the end, whether it be wormholes, warp fields or whatever, if we do accept the hypothesis that the cosmos is infinite, there will be a way to get there.
... And thus - realizing how preachy I sound, - Father Fob concludes his sermon. 
Guest_AugmentedAssassin_*
Like any big Scifi universe ME has loads of scientific problems, like the one i just discribed above. However like any good Scifi universe, it knows how to cover them up well enough so that causality and logic appear to be intact. Atleast at first glance. And I agree, insight is much more needed in terms of plot then some ultimatly nonsensicle and futile attempt at a scientific explenation for the mass effect.
That was just one odd measurment and still needs much further expierementing in order to be confirmed.
Also a warp drive does not violate general relativity. It creates a bend space time bubble around the ship, that then carries the ship forward. The ship itself does not move through space time faster than c. So no, NASA did not break the speed of light.
I realize that the wrap drive isn't breaking the speed of light, But it's challenging the basics of the relativity already. You know, Einstein re-imagined astrophysics and he and Eddington proved that Newton's laws were wrong. That's the beauty of science, Nothing is constant because we don't know a lot about space. Like we don't know much about Dark Energy or Dark Matter or a bunch of other stuff.
As for covering up the "Flaws", I don't see it that way, As an aspiring director, Not every detail can be revealed or explained thoroughly. It's just necessary for the storyline.
I tend to agree that "space magic" is a rather hard word for it but in the end, it's as good as "unexplained narrative necessity". I don't even use it with a negative connotation. As I said in my previous post, the constrains should rather be in the number of assumptions one makes and ME is pretty good there.
I would also agree that the beauty of such good SciFi is that it teases the imagination. Of course, if you dig very deep, you are going to prove the writers wrong (otherwise, we'd already have FTL travel) but until you get there, these stories do have the power to inspire ideas, even in the real world and to make the audience always push and probe the boundaries of known science. Because as we all know, science and our knowledge about our own universe is an ever evolving process.
Personally (and without having any actual facts to back it up) am confident that it will be possible for us to travel faster than the speed of light some day (if we don't bomb ourselves into oblivion first). Why? Because of the simple fact that we can imagine a universe in which we can transport from point a to point b with barely a difference in time, whether perceived by others or ourselves. Whichever theory turns out to be the most feasible to use in the end, whether it be wormholes, warp fields or whatever, if we do accept the hypothesis that the cosmos is infinite, there will be a way to get there.
... And thus - realizing how preachy I sound, - Father Fob concludes his sermon.
I approve. But i think what any writer can pull off can actually be practical in real life but in a different form. Just like this Star Trek experiment, You just have the idea but you don't know how to make it practical. And that's why i find the concept of Eezo brilliant. That they're creating a whole new world based on this idea of this new and strange substance and the mysteriousness of the reapers as well i was kinda hoping for an epic twist that would explain it all at the end of ME3. And they had the preliminarily plans for that, The Dark Energy ending. According to the codex:
"Element Zero, also known as "eezo", is a rare material that, when subjected to an electrical current, releases dark energy which can be manipulated into a mass effect field, raising or lowering the mass of all objects within that field. A positive current increases mass, a negative current decreases it."
So, Dark Energy was present ever since the beginning of the trilogy, And the writers had a lot of ideas to create in order to explain the mysteries that were supposed to be explained. That included the Organic vs Synthetic conflict, But i think because many of the core founders of Mass Effect left BioWare after ME2, The storyline kinda changed.
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