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[shepskisaac]

TMP may be shortcut for Tempest ship (going by the survey leak).

 

ST obviously means Shepard's Tomb

[Kabooooom]

If that is the Ark, then it could mean that they may be going to Andromeda using relativity instead of mass effect. Traveling at 99.9% the speed of light will cause huge time dilation thus "shortening" the time of the trip for those aboard the ship. Gravity will be generated in the same way as in the Citadel by using centrifugal force.

I pointed this out a year ago and it may very well be correct if this is the ark - it is reminiscent of the Presidium, but it is not a Stanford torus. You see the ground there? It isn't perpendicular to the axis of rotation. It is at an angle to it. Assuming that artificial gravity is created via acceleration and not by the mass effect on this station, then the only way to create an experience of downward force at that angle is to rotate about the central axis AND accelerate linearly parallel to the central axis. This would create a vector that would be roughly in the orientation perpendicular to the "ground" seen in that image. (to try to visualize, first imagine the Presidium, and the direction of perceived force while it rotates. Then, imagine accelerating the Presidium through space while it is still rotating. The inhabitants would begin to feel a "pull" at an angle now, instead of exactly perpendicular to the axis of rotation).

And that would mean that the thing doesn't just rotate - it moves through space linearly as well. Exactly like a ship would. Assuming that this very early piece of concept art had a lot of thought put into it, then it would definitely fit with some sort of ark.

[MstrJedi Kyle]

LOL. Imagine if it's already populated and we just kinda show up outta nowhere.

 

That would be ****** hilarious!!

[Altair_ShepardN7]

I pointed this out a year ago and it may very well be correct if this is the ark - it is reminiscent of the Presidium, but it is not a Stanford torus. You see the ground there? It isn't perpendicular to the axis of rotation. It is at an angle to it. Assuming that artificial gravity is created via acceleration and not by the mass effect on this station, then the only way to create an experience of downward force at that angle is to rotate about the central axis AND accelerate linearly parallel to the central axis. This would create a vector that would be roughly in the orientation perpendicular to the "ground" seen in that image. (to try to visualize, first imagine the Presidium, and the direction of perceived force while it rotates. Then, imagine accelerating the Presidium through space while it is still rotating. The inhabitants would begin to feel a "pull" at an angle now, instead of exactly perpendicular to the axis of rotation).

And that would mean that the thing doesn't just rotate - it moves through space linearly as well. Exactly like a ship would. Assuming that this very early piece of concept art had a lot of thought put into it, then it would definitely fit with some sort of ark.

Goddess. What an amateur mistake on my part, next time I should pay some extra attention to those obvious details.

 

Of course there are several ways of doing it, but I'm not sure they are plausible for travel at almost light speed. There is a documentary from The Universe that talked about that (artificial "gravity" and long trips in space) if memory serves me well. Going to try and see if I can find it on Youtube and see what they say about the subject. There are simply so many things to take into account if someone is planning to do such a monumental trip, it might be easier to say that a space wizard did it but that's not how those of us who like science like to do, so...

[shodiswe]

It's also possible that it's the Citadel that you visit Before you leave for the Andromeda... Before the Reaper war or Before the End of the Reaper war, it could be where you meet the Asari Councilor when she has to consider the continuation of civilisation etz. Or whatever Words she used.

You might actualy stand there watching her talk to the Shepard Hologram Before she turns to speak to you in Mass Effect Andromeda.


The Ark could be anything, standard mass effect drives to propell the Ark ship to Andromeda on a Millenia long Journey. The main character will be using a smaller ship with the Ark as a base, to scout the new Galaxy.

The ARK could also be using Reaper Tech drives from Sovereign, or maybe the Council dug up those early Human FTL drive prototypes and made them work and maybe they are more efficient, maybe they used a combination of human prototype FTL drives and Reaper Tech to make it work. Meaning it would be harder to replicate Another working prototype until you got sizable amounts of Reaper Salvage or similar Tech and materials to construct those possibly expensive pieces of technology.

Or it could have been a 100% Reaper based drive from Sovereign that was patched together from salvage.

I would prefer if there isn't a Citadel in Andromeda that doesn't originate from the Milkyway, because that would suggest that the Reapers are in that galaxy aswell, does that mean there is a Catalyst hiding on the Citadel that they might not be aware off? Will the Reapers be there to level civilisation again?
No more Reapers plz. Already been there and done that.

Big Ark ship that takes the colony fleets and people set to populate a new galaxy to Andromeda.

1.)Could have a conventional drive that fires, then discharges over a very long time in the Vacuum of space,

2.)Human prototype FTL drive Tech that the council helped make work with Reaper Tech as a component.

3.) Reaper salvage drive from Sovereign.

Those are my guesses and preferences. Whatever the case the journey took a lot of time. and they likely used Cryostsasis on most of the if not all of thm, possibly with a rotating crew to oversee the journey.

Maybe you got picked up for the Project for the discoveries you made in the Milkyway that advanced the Project, so they Think your expertice could be needed. Meaning you play through part of the game in the milkyway, getting a chance to revisit familiar locations. Before heading to Andromeda.
You get paird up with that N7 guy as a Consultant or something, and he becommes a mentor to you, (Nhilus) he's then killed and you're forced to mantle the responsibility and Contacts. The expedition might run on hard times and your job will be to get it on track again and get everyone to work together again aswell as handling relations with new Alien species. etz...

Maybe you're ex-military who has worked in the diplomatic corps and in politics and the council picked you to help keep the Project on track managing the expedition, maybe you will be like the human councilor/ambassador to the milkyway expedition initially.
Then you get forced to get your hands Dirty from time to time as things get worse.
(That would be a different type of character as promiced by Bioware)

The Turian Councilor approved because you had Military training, which they value.
The Asari might have approved your Diplomatic and political dosier.
The Humans approved your Connections and political/military career in service to the Alliance, and your way with people that might be good for managing people in stressful situations and keeping thigns on track. (Lore based explanation for your irresistable charm)
Perhaps a Phd in psychology, helping you work through issues and analyse the situation for the best possible responses.
Lore based reason for your Badassery(ex-military service), as some would put it...

[shodiswe]

Maybe that guy who arrange that multi billion or trillion credit deal between the Alliance and the Salarians if Shepard convicned the original guy to take a break and go for a detox...

That last requierment is what makes it tricky, but it would have been good introduction to get up on the political stage early and then work towards the top..


Or you could be an Explorer of sorts... Or both.

Something must have made you a candidate of sufficient prominence to eventually go for a top position.

[Kabooooom]

Goddess. What an amateur mistake on my part, next time I should pay some extra attention to those obvious details.

Of course there are several ways of doing it, but I'm not sure they are plausible for travel at almost light speed. There is a documentary from The Universe that talked about that (artificial "gravity" and long trips in space) if memory serves me well. Going to try and see if I can find it on Youtube and see what they say about the subject. There are simply so many things to take into account if someone is planning to do such a monumental trip, it might be easier to say that a space wizard did it but that's not how those of us who like science like to do, so...

In another thread, I calculated how long it would take to reach Andromeda via a relativistic journey without FTL at 1g of constant acceleration halfway and 1g of constant deceleration in reverse halfway. You can get it down to several centuries from the perspective of the crew, at greater than 99% the speed of light. The trick is how long they can remain at that velocity, as the time dilation and length contraction exponentially increase at that speed and above.

With a ship that rotates like that, the linear acceleration wouldn't be exactly 1g, in order to make the vector sum 1g, but the same concept remains. It'd be a cool idea, but outside the tech of the mass effect universe.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

The theory that it is the Ark also has it as a Citadel-type hub. Its both the means of getting Andromeda and serves as the main hub for the player while you explore Andromeda.

 

I don't have any preferences between the theories that it is the Ark or is a space station native to Andromeda, but I think either way that is going to be our replacement for the Citadel. 

Agreed. It is the Not-Citadel. 

 

I prefer it be native to Andromeda over a space station that made an intergalactic journey. That way at least some of the lore is preserved. 

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I would prefer if there isn't a Citadel in Andromeda that doesn't originate from the Milkyway, because that would suggest that the Reapers are in that galaxy aswell, does that mean there is a Catalyst hiding on the Citadel that they might not be aware off? Will the Reapers be there to level civilisation again?
No more Reapers plz. Already been there and done that.

No, it would suggest that the Reapers have been there in the past, not are there. Just have the entire Reaper fleet travel as one and problem solved since they were all dealt with yet we still have signatures of the franchise around like the Mass Relays and don't have to worry about a Leviathan-tier species.

 

Maybe you got picked up for the Project for the discoveries you made in the Milkyway that advanced the Project, so they Think your expertice could be needed. Meaning you play through part of the game in the milkyway, getting a chance to revisit familiar locations. Before heading to Andromeda.
You get paird up with that N7 guy as a Consultant or something, and he becommes a mentor to you, (Nhilus) he's then killed and you're forced to mantle the responsibility and Contacts. The expedition might run on hard times and your job will be to get it on track again and get everyone to work together again aswell as handling relations with new Alien species. etz...

Maybe you're ex-military who has worked in the diplomatic corps and in politics and the council picked you to help keep the Project on track managing the expedition, maybe you will be like the human councilor/ambassador to the milkyway expedition initially.
Then you get forced to get your hands Dirty from time to time as things get worse.
(That would be a different type of character as promiced by Bioware)

The Turian Councilor approved because you had Military training, which they value.
The Asari might have approved your Diplomatic and political dosier.
The Humans approved your Connections and political/military career in service to the Alliance, and your way with people that might be good for managing people in stressful situations and keeping thigns on track. (Lore based explanation for your irresistable charm)
Perhaps a Phd in psychology, helping you work through issues and analyse the situation for the best possible responses.
Lore based reason for your Badassery(ex-military service), as some would put it...

Why not just make a set protagonist then? With this much determined for you, it definitely isn't "your" character. 

[corporal doody]

The ark theory is Macross 2012, Macross 7, Macross Frontier, and the  upcoming Macross Delta

 

[Kabooooom]

No, it would suggest that the Reapers have been there in the past, not are there. Just have the entire Reaper fleet travel as one and problem solved since they were all dealt with yet we still have signatures of the franchise around like the Mass Relays and don't have to worry about a Leviathan-tier species.

I support the Reapers having visited Andromeda for exactly this reason.

But, I think they are probably going the route of a native Leviathan-tier species that has since vanished (the Super Prothean-trope). That one concept art looks like it is probably some sort of alien relay-type device. They will probably keep some things similar in concept, but different altogether to further distance itself from the prior trilogy. And honestly, I dont think that is a good thing. I think they should have a Reaper made relay network in Andromeda.

[AresKeith]

No, it would suggest that the Reapers have been there in the past, not are there. Just have the entire Reaper fleet travel as one and problem solved since they were all dealt with yet we still have signatures of the franchise around like the Mass Relays and don't have to worry about a Leviathan-tier species.

 

Why do we need to Mass Relays?

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I support the Reapers having visited Andromeda for exactly this reason.

But, I think they are probably going the route of a native Leviathan-tier species that has since vanished (the Super Prothean-trope). That one concept art looks like it is probably some sort of alien relay-type device. They will probably keep some things similar in concept, but different altogether to further distance itself from the prior trilogy. And honestly, I dont think that is a good thing. I think they should have a Reaper made relay network in Andromeda.

One thing that has me thinking that there might be a Reaper-build Mass Relay Array in Andromeda and even possibly being how we get to Andromeda is how cryptic Bioware was on the subject. When asked about exactly that, their response was "I don't think we can get into that". This was when they were talking about iconic symbols of Mass Effect, and immediately after saying that they changed the subject to the Omni-Blade and N7 being there. Why be so evasive if the answer is no?

 

Why do we need to Mass Relays?

Because conventional FTL is impractical after a certain point with our technology. If the cluster we are in is as big as the leak suggests it is, as in has 100s of star systems with 100s of planets, we have long passed that point. But we are in the perfect point for Secondary Mass Relays. Bioware also talked about how they plan to have our cycle's range in Andromeda expand over games, so eventually Mass Relays or something equivalent to them will be needed. 

 

Granted we don't need the Mass Relays specifically, but they give and imply a lot of positives and little to no negatives. 

[Kabooooom]

Why do we need to Mass Relays?

We don't need them, but I do think the relay network (or an Andromeda-native alien counterpart) is a nice touch. Space is incredibly vast, and you should NOT be running into inhabitable worlds around every single corner. In Mass Effect, that was believable solely because the relay network linked them all together. But in a single star cluster, the vast majority of star systems will not and should not feature some strange alien culture like in Star Trek. That's idiotic.

Hopefully, they realize this facet from their own lore. And, I think they do if that concept art is truly indicative of a strange relay-like device. I imagine the setting could primarily take place in the large Helius cluster, but throughout exploring, you discover a handful of relays or relay-like devices that link to other clusters. By the end of the game, you have charted out a tiny, tiny piece of what amounts to a galaxy spanning relay network that should be twice the size of the Milky Way's. Insert ancient mystery about its origin if the Reapers did not create it, or insert implications about discovering a larger galactic society if they did.

Both fit far better with the overall mass effect theme and narrative than just "flying around and exploring a super duper big star cluster" does.

[Ahriman]

Turning Ark ship into cruise liner with gardens and pools seems like terrible waste of resources to me, but I won't be surprised if Bioware really does it.

 

LOL. Imagine if it's already populated and we just kinda show up outta nowhere.

This would be very unfortunate... for them.

[Kabooooom]

Turning Ark ship into cruise liner with gardens and pools seems like terrible waste of resources to me, but I won't be surprised if Bioware really does it.

This would be very unfortunate... for them.

Assuming cryo is out of the question, it is a necessary use of resources and space if it is a generation ship, or if it is intended to be a home in space for a large number of people until a suitable homeworld is found.

When humans spread out to the stars in reality, we will probably do so via generation ships that have large internal living environments. The ship at the end of Interstellar is a good example of the classic design of one. A Bernal Sphere, Stanford Torus, or any of the associated designs of space station colonies can easily be converted into comparable designs for interstellar ships. This is a concept that has existed since the 1970's, has stood the test of time and academic critique, and was a major inspiration for much of the art and design in Mass Effect.

[Ahriman]

Assuming cryo is out of the question

The thing that it's not. They have all required technology from Ilos.

[Kabooooom]

The thing that it's not. They have all required technology from Ilos.

Agreed. And even using very conservative estimates, they could reach Andromeda in 230 years via Reaper FTL tech or approximately 200 years via relativistic travel, and Ilos cryo tech could easily cover that a hundred times over.

I will be disappointed if they go the wormhole or "oh we found a relay to Andromeda" route, unless they work it into the story in a very interesting way.

[shodiswe]

No, it would suggest that the Reapers have been there in the past, not are there. Just have the entire Reaper fleet travel as one and problem solved since they were all dealt with yet we still have signatures of the franchise around like the Mass Relays and don't have to worry about a Leviathan-tier species.
 
Why not just make a set protagonist then? With this much determined for you, it definitely isn't "your" character.

Maybe the game could start with you playing through a few key character shaping locations in the game. Probably wouldn't be that hard, and people would love to revisit lold places they recall from the old trilogy Before goign to Andromeda. It would be your character sicne you played through it, even if the writers decided what possibilities and freedom you had.

[shodiswe]

Agreed. And even using very conservative estimates, they could reach Andromeda in 230 years via Reaper FTL tech or approximately 200 years via relativistic travel, and Ilos cryo tech could easily cover that a hundred times over.

I will be disappointed if they go the wormhole or "oh we found a relay to Andromeda" route, unless they work it into the story in a very interesting way.

The thing is, if they found a relay then they could send QEC through and keep communicating with the Milkyway and request endless reinforcements and collonists.

Not sure how I feel about that, that would also bring the ending into question.

If they launch Before the reaper invasion and the Reaper invasion severs all Contact then that's all fine and well with me.

[Jester]

If that is the Ark, then it could mean that they may be going to Andromeda using relativity instead of mass effect. Traveling at 99.9% the speed of light will cause huge time dilation thus "shortening" the time of the trip for those aboard the ship. Gravity will be generated in the same way as in the Citadel by using centrifugal force. 

Traveling at 99.9% of LS would mean, that we arrive in Andromeda approximately 2.5 million years after leaving Milky Way. 

[Boost32]

Its impossible for them to have launched before the ending of ME3.
Its impossible to reach Andromeda with FTL travel, because they would need to discharge the mass effect core and refuel with eezo, they cant do that in Dark Space. The Pathfinder Initiative must have been launched after the Reaper war to make any kind of sense.

[Ahriman]

Oh here we go again.

 

If you watch the trailer, when he decides to go to a planet you see the greater star map. On the lower right hand side there seems to be 3 things linked up. They look like TMP, ARK, and ST, clearer than when flipping between slides.

Does anyone have any proper image of this? Can't see anything there.

[Dean_the_Young]

 

There's another image floating around on the internet for the Pathfinder/ArkCon logo:

 

 

I can't be the only one who sees the blatant Cerberus emblem.

 

Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Guess I'll expect to see Cerberus back as a conspiracy of some sort behind the scenes.

[Kabooooom]

Traveling at 99.9% of LS would mean, that we arrive in Andromeda approximately 2.5 million years after leaving Milky Way.

You're missing a crucial point - time is relative. Yes, they would arrive 2.5 million years after leaving the MW. But to the crew, they would get there in several hundred at 99.99996% the speed of light or so. Push the speed further and you can get there in a single human lifetime. Special relativity is kind of neat like that.