You'd assume some of the key personnel would have families, that'd likely be accomodated.
Maybe one of the kids will fly the ship. 
Seriously though, ME doesn't have the best track record with kids. If they have to be there, they better not overdoes.
How do you get to another galaxy? Relays don't work right?
Well i thought it best not to suggest antagonising Liara fans.
Really? Why is that upsetting?
I would have put the chances of Liara's return, being long lived and not previously killed, higher than just about any past companion...
While that's true, I think my larger point is that what's important is the ostensible reason for such construction. Exploration vs. galactic war. "You yell barracuda, everyone goes huh? What? You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July."
Well yeah, nothing to show from it from Shepard's perspective. I don't see the issue with the motivation being bleak.
Is there anything that wouldn't be an enormous gamble?
I'm not sure why Reapers would suddenly be able to detect something that's trying to escape more competently than they were able to detect what I stated above.
Either they are omniscient or they aren't, and if they aren't then that possibility is a justifiable contrivance to escape the quagmire of continuing the series after ME3. In my opinion, of course.
I think if fans go into this not expecting to compromise at least a little bit on suspension of disbelief, then they'll probably be disappointed. At the very least, give BW the same leeway with contrivance that ME1 and ME2 had.
No doubt for your second point. As for the first, I'm still not sure why full disclosure to Shepard matters from the Council's point of view.
Really? Why is that upsetting?
I would have put the chances of Liara's return, being long lived and not previously killed, higher than just about any past companion...
Since Liara is there until the end of ME3, this would necessitate the Ark ship not to leave until after the ending, which causes a lot of problems on its own (and IMO renders the whole "new galaxy" concept rather useless).
Really? Why is that upsetting?
I would have put the chances of Liara's return, being long lived and not previously killed, higher than just about any past companion...
Not a particular Liara fan but i can imagine the fallout(having been on the other end when the comics implied Miranda lied to Shep's face in Citadel).
Deal with it i knew about the Ark Project but didn't tell my lover/friend.
You'd assume some of the key personnel would have families, that'd likely be accomodated.
Since Liara is there until the end of ME3, this would necessitate the Ark ship not to leave until after the ending, which causes a lot of problems on its own (and IMO renders the whole "new galaxy" concept rather useless).
Not a particular Liara fan but i can imagine the fallout(having been on the other end when the comics implied Miranda lied to Shep's face in Citadel).
Deal with it i knew about the Ark Project but didn't tell my lover/friend.
A universe in which the Catalyst can end the Reaper threat,
is also a universe in which a few choice past companions, through 'plot transportation' may cross the new protagonist's path.
Nothing is impossible
Plus the Ark Project would dwarf the Crucible project, so there will be leaks and those leaks will be heard by the Reapers.
How do you figure?
So how come the Shadow Broker didn't know about this plan that everyone is talking about? A secret so secret it's kept secret from a secret spy network? That's some secret.
The Shadow Broker isn't omniscient, in the same way that intelligence organisations and private individuals in our world don't know everything.
The same Council races that buy and sell the Broker's information would presumably also know what not to tell him or her.
And sometimes things really are that secret. I posted it before, but during the Manhattan Project only 12 people in the United States knew roughly what the aim of the operation was; fewer than 1000 knew that it involved atomic physics,
I get your association there. Still doesn't excuse the redirection of resources and man-power, though.
The entire thing hinged on a defeatist attitude involving the Reapers. Every single person involved with the ark project, including the PC, is running away. That's a pretty glum foundation for a spun-off narrative, even if colonization of a new quadrant of space is the consolation prize.
Not necessarily. This was always going to be a contingency plan; there's simply no way to build enough ships for even a significant fraction of the galaxy, and we know the Council stayed for the assault on Earth in ME3. Framed in this way, I think it's completely morally acceptable to build a Plan B that has enormous upside compared to committing ~12 more ships to Priority: Earth, while still betting your own lives on saving the galaxy with the Crucible.
There has to be some point when the sheer number of organic life signatures surmounts the effects of an IFF.
Maybe. If there is, it hasn't been established to my knowledge. Is the IFF even the thing that masks organic sigs in the first place? This isn't my area of strength.
Personally, I'd like to see this new Mass Effect game be superior in narrative to both ME1 and ME2, and this idea already gets them off to a shaky start.
Sure, but it might already be a sunk cost. To BioWare, they may just focus on what they can do narratively once they dig themselves out of this hole, and I'd be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt to do it. Does anyone think the how and why of the Ark won't be confined to a few Investigate lines and maybe an NPC or two at the beginning, at most?
Peace of mind and situation awareness. Life will continue even if Shepard's objective fails. That context eases the burden, and it also makes the details about redirected resources and man-power upfront, instead of a secret that'd be easily traced by one of the three information experts on the Normandy.
I don't think easing the burden has much practical use, though. Why wouldn't you want the galaxy as desperate as possible? Peace of mind....I guess. Still, everyone person who knows that doesn't have to is one person that could spill the beans to the enemy.
To bring up another point:
Does anyone think that BioWare is going to have the races inhabiting the other galaxy be relatively 'uncivilized' compared to us? Are we going to be like the Spanish Conquistadors upon discovering the Aztecs, and just start taking their stuff?
I mean logically, a native alien population would have their own infrastructure and supply lines pre-established compared to the mass of refugees coming in from the Milky Way so unless Andromeda is technologically undeveloped I don't see how a small band of outsiders can hope to compete with beings that have evolved and developed here for and undisclosed amount of time. I guess the narrative could plop us down in an uninhabited region of Andromeda, but garden worlds are usually highly prized by most species.
This could provide a nice morally ambiguous scenario for the player, as we are undertaking an imperialist expansion into uncharted space. What right would we have in taking worlds and resources from other civilizations present in the area? Would we try and negotiate, or just take what we need by force? Unfortunately, I don't think BioWare would go with something like that, I have never seen them craft a story that showed humanity (as a whole) in negative or morally dubious light. Typically, they have the evil aliens/monsters being the aggressors, instigating unprovoked attacks on us, and generally giving the player something to kill without consequence.
The Khet race mentioned in the (supposed) survey doesn't seem to posses any redeeming qualities; they look to just be a chaotic evil faction that opposes the player. It could be very interesting if the Khet are actually an established species with depth of character and they are attacking us because we are muscling into their territory, taking their resources, and generally pushing them off of suitable worlds.
Dragon Age portrays humans in morally ambiguous light.
Anyway the concept art shows civilization that seems about on the me1-3 level. Maybe a bit behind?
Not all humans though. Sure the Chantry does some rather questionable things, along with the Dalish Elves, Dwarf Nobles, and the Qun, but those only represent a faction of those respective species.
In the supposed scenario that the leak gives, you have all of humanity being represented by a small group of colonists and I am not too sure that BioWare would make our land grab attempt out to be a morally grey issue. More than likely it would depict us as the innocent refugees, and the natives as the evil antagonists.
Not all humans though. Sure the Chantry does some rather questionable things, along with the Dalish Elves, Dwarf Nobles, and the Qun, but those only represent a faction of those respective species.
In the supposed scenario that the leak gives, you have all of humanity being represented by a small group of colonists and I am not too sure that BioWare would make our land grab attempt out to be a morally grey issue. More than likely it would depict us as the innocent refugees, and the natives as the evil antagonists.
The entire thing hinges on a defeatist attitude involving the Reapers. Every single person involved with the ark project, including the PC, is running away. That's a pretty glum foundation for a spun-off narrative, even if colonization of a new quadrant of space is the consolation prize.
ME Next could take place several generations after initial colonisation, so our PC would be a native of Andromeda and the tone would be significantly lighter than if it were set immediately after having fled the Reapers. I reckon this is where they're going regardless, since we seem to be a new pathfinder with combat training but little else in the way of life experience.
We could still get a sense of that tone from conversations with older characters, but the game would feel mystical and intriguing rather than hopeless.
If they are using some variation of an ark for this colonisation venture, then leaving some time between arrival and when MEN is set is almost mandatory for the Helius Cluster to be populated by more than just the new races.
Chantry, Orlais, Tevinter. Hell humans get the blame for starting Blights due to arrogance.
Good point.
I agree that how this colonization will be portrayed is an interesting question, though.
I think it should be kept as neutral and grey as possible.
Yes, the races from the Milky Way have nowhere else to go, but they are essentially an alien invasion of the Andromeda galaxy. The information on the survey (if true) has the player going out to hundreds of worlds to establish colonies, mining operations, and other pieces of infrastructure. That doesn't sound like a refugee camp to me, more like the beginnings of an empire. Now that in and of itself is not bad, but if you consider that we might be pushing into other native aliens' territory and we are essentially taking their stuff, it doesn't exactly paint us as the beacons of heroism either.
Conflict is inevitable in such a scenario, but I would like it to be more than a just a simple good vs. evil story. I mean if the situation were reversed, and some alien civilization was colonizing worlds in Alliance space, humans would do something about it. There should be shades of black and white on both sides.
The Khet race mentioned in the (supposed) survey doesn't seem to posses any redeeming qualities; they look to just be a chaotic evil faction that opposes the player. It could be very interesting if the Khet are actually an established species with depth of character and they are attacking us because we are muscling into their territory, taking their resources, and generally pushing them off of suitable worlds.
Yep, I hope this sort of stuff is explored too. It would be pretty interesting if we spent the whole game building colonies with a sense of triumphlalism only to have it thrown back in our faces at the end of the game that this is basically imperialism.
Though, from the story synopsis it feels like the Helius Cluster was occupied by the Remnant in large numbers, but they mostly disappeared, and now both humans and Khet are coming in as outsiders to try to claim this region. Sort of like a terra nullius situation, except some of the original inhabitants have remained behind to guard their lost treasures.
One of my favourite parts of ME3 was the conversations with batarians on the Citadel and the way BW tried to humanise them a bit, especially after Shepard straight-up murdered like 300,000 of them.
(Damnit, Arrival.)
I was actually wondering if ME:N could take place long after the initial resettlement, at a point when it has become necessary for the settlers to expand.
How else would you have the numbers to colonise places? Also, that would be the only way to make other races encampments more than just a load of prefab colony huts.
Yep, I hope this sort of stuff is explored too. It would be pretty interesting if we spent the whole game building colonies with a sense of triumphlalism only to have it thrown back in our faces at the end of the game that this is basically imperialism.
I think this would be a very unpopular topic for U.S. players.
ME Next could take place several generations after initial colonisation, so our PC would be a native of Andromeda and the tone would be significantly lighter than if it were set immediately after having fled the Reapers. I reckon this is where they're going regardless, since we seem to be a new pathfinder with combat training but little else in the way of life experience.
We could still get a sense of that tone from conversations with older characters, but the game would feel mystical and intriguing rather than hopeless.
If they are using some variation of an ark for this colonisation venture, then leaving some time between arrival and when MEN is set is almost mandatory for the Helius Cluster to be populated by more than just the new races.
If it does happen I hope its not set too long after colonisation, so you still get the pioneering sentiment as well as the reflection with older characters about the exodus.
I was actually wondering if ME:N could take place long after the initial resettlement, at a point when it has become necessary for the settlers to expand.
That seems plausible for sure.
The "pathfinder" initiative could have trained promising humans (and other races?) to go out exploring various parts of Andromeda for habitable worlds and resources.
I'm wondering now if maybe lots of people have continued living on the Ark and resource shortages or population pressure has meant we need to find a permanent place to settle down? The leak talks a lot about finding "a new home for humanity".
It makes me think *this* might actually be the inside of the ark - notice that the "sky" curves upwards and it's actually made of panels like the inside of a ship.
Interesting points. I've always assumed we'll be jumping in right after the arrival to Andromeda, but it does seem like waiting a bit would open more opportunities for story and provide for a less frenzied and confusing intro to the game world.
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