Questa discussione ha avuto 10 risposte

[Hrulj]

I've gotten into ME, Star trek, Star wars and other Sci-fi lore and for now, to me, it seems that all other universes are extremelly overpowered compared to ME. Ships firing weapons with Gigatons of yield, shields and armor capable of withstanding those gigatons etc...

 

My Question is, does ME really have most realistic portrayal of weapons and power of space ships? Why did ME designers go low with yield, where others went to extreme power? Is that good/bad? And is there any Sci-fi universe with more realistic design?

[Getorex]

That would actually be Babylon 5.

ii Belive the upcoming miniseries on SyFy called "The Expanse" will do an excellent job too, if it follows the books closely.

[Gago]

Not the most realistic (telekinesis, element zero, telepathy) but it is close. That is actually a big reason why I prefer Mass Effect than other titles like Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Warhammer and etc.  

[KrrKs]

Imo, the most realistic would probably be Asimov's Trantor/Foundation 'verse*.

 

*But I'm not sure if he ever came about actually explaining hyperdrive

[gothpunkboy89]

Not the most realistic (telekinesis, element zero, telepathy) but it is close. That is actually a big reason why I prefer Mass Effect than other titles like Star Wars, Star Trek, Halo, Warhammer and etc.I

I don't know Halo is pretty good.

[Gago]

I don't know Halo is pretty good.

It is pretty good, I didn't say it isn't, just that imo ME is better.

[MrFob]

Realistic? Well, let's see:

- We have an element that emits a field to change the mass of objects when you subject it to electric current

- We have aliens that are apparently all based on DNA, as it occurs on earth

- We can reanimate people that were dead for 2 years

- We can build a device that we don't understand and that can disperse the essence of a person throughout the galaxy and use it to change every living thing into an organic-synthetic hybrif

 

I wouldn't call it realistic by a long shot. Does that make it bad? Not at all. I think it started out really well because it used one really unrealistic thing (eezo) and built the entire universe and it's technology around it. Unfortunately as it went on, this hallmark of the series was abandoned in quite a few ways and more and more unrealistic plot devices were introduced.

 

Also, low yield weapons? Let me quote an extract from the codex entry on dreadnoughts:

"An 800-meter mass accelerator is capable of accelerating one twenty-kilogram slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s (1.3% the speed of light) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of about 38 kilotons of TNT, about two and a half times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima."

 

These ships can basically fire mid-sized nukes every 2 seconds. Their destructive power is so devastating that they are forbidden from firing on a target with a planet at it's back on the chance that they could miss and basically obliterate the planet by accident. And at this point we haven't even started to talk about Thanix cannons and reaper weapons yet.

 

Sorry, I love the ME universe but to say that it's realistic or toned down or anything like that, I can't see that at all.

 

Also, most of the other franchises mentioned here, like Babylon 5 (soul hunters, telepathy and transformation from humans to energy beings, etc.) or Asimov's universe (where it's really ever explained how anything actually works), I wouldn't call realistic. Not more so than e.g. Star Trek for example. Ultimately they all take huge liberties as far as the science is concerned. But again, that doesn't make them bad, it is necessary for SciFi after all, to go beyond what is realistic in order to tell an interesting speculative story. It's more important to keep the balance between what you need to get your universe to work, consistency and the amount a suspension of disbelief that you require from your audience just right. As I said, I think ME started out with a very good balance but deteriorated a lot after ME1, IMO

[gothpunkboy89]

Realistic? Well, let's see:

- We have an element that emits a field to change the mass of objects when you subject it to electric current

- We have aliens that are apparently all based on DNA, as it occurs on earth

- We can reanimate people that were dead for 2 years

- We can build a device that we don't understand and that can disperse the essence of a person throughout the galaxy and use it to change every living thing into an organic-synthetic hybrif

 

-We have elements that when using their radiation we can see pictures inside of people when it interacts with correct set up. X ray as old but good example. The concept of an unknown element that is extremely rare able to when charged electrically to reduce or increase the mass of an object is out there isn't the most realistic. But isn't that far fetched when you look back at what we can do with certain elements now.

 

-DNA is the very basic building blocks of life. Human, Asari, Salarian, Krogan and Turian and Quarian have similar DNA structures. How ever they clearly evolved very differently due to their environments. As well as far as I'm aware there are no cross species babies between any of these. The only ones that are capable of cross species reproduction are the Asari and even then it is always an Asari baby.

 

- Yea that one is way out there. Maybe if they were cryogenically frozen at the time of death but the set up the game gives.....

 

-Maybe maybe not. If you could accept the idea of a Reaper as possible then this is equally possible.

[MrFob]

-We have elements that when using their radiation we can see pictures inside of people when it interacts with correct set up. X ray as old but good example. The concept of an unknown element that is extremely rare able to when charged electrically to reduce or increase the mass of an object is out there isn't the most realistic. But isn't that far fetched when you look back at what we can do with certain elements now.

 

-DNA is the very basic building blocks of life. Human, Asari, Salarian, Krogan and Turian and Quarian have similar DNA structures. How ever they clearly evolved very differently due to their environments. As well as far as I'm aware there are no cross species babies between any of these. The only ones that are capable of cross species reproduction are the Asari and even then it is always an Asari baby.

 

- Yea that one is way out there. Maybe if they were cryogenically frozen at the time of death but the set up the game gives.....

 

-Maybe maybe not. If you could accept the idea of a Reaper as possible then this is equally possible.

 

Since the OP compared it to the likes of Star Trek and was posing the question if it was more or less realistic in that frame of reference, that's what I answered to. You can of course imagine all sorts of things and as I said, I don't consider this bad at all. However, claiming that ME is somehow more realistic than any other SciFi franchise is far fetched IMO.

 

 

Oh, and btw, I do find that giant organic-synthetic hybrid space ships (aka reapers) are a bit easier to rationalize by extrapolating from today's technology than the synthesis ending, but that might just be me.

[GDICanuck]

I'd put Alien as one of the more realistic sci-fi universes out there, CRT screens and all.

[aoibhealfae]

Most of the elements in ME was derivative from other scifi. Biotics in particular is clearly space magic. I think at the moment, The Expanse is probably more realistic and gritty. You only get gravity while under thrust rather than 'dark energy' field. But I'm not a physicists so its not my purview.

 

But most biological aspect of ME was amazing. The medical aspect, nature in alien world, alien life, chirality, human biotics, medigel etc. Lazarus project was too far but overall, its very science-y.