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[NoUserNameHere]

Both Mass Effect games have started with a prologue that drastically alters the playing field, so to speak.



Ergo, Mass Effect 3 opens with a prologue that will explain or even show what the Reapers contingency plan is.

[D3thray]

EJon wrote...

In the ending - they were in front of the Milky Way galaxy. They're not far away from attacking.

You have no concept of galactic distances do you?  If they were even traveling 100 times the speed of light they're still about 1000 years from reaching the EDGE of the galaxy.  The only remotely practical way for them to get around even in the Mass Effect universe is via mass relay.

[Shannara13]

adam_grif wrote...

If they're using normal FTL, how are they storing several years of fuel? Also, how are they avoiding the drive-charge problem associated with FTL travel? Ships have to stop after a few days of cruise, maximum, to discharge somewhere. You can't discharge into vacuum.

Reapers aren't normal ships and I doubt they have to fuel themselves up in the normal sense.

[adam_grif]

Shannara13 wrote...

adam_grif wrote...

If they're using normal FTL, how are they storing several years of fuel? Also, how are they avoiding the drive-charge problem associated with FTL travel? Ships have to stop after a few days of cruise, maximum, to discharge somewhere. You can't discharge into vacuum.

Reapers aren't normal ships and I doubt they have to fuel themselves up in the normal sense.

Well they aren't perpetual motion machines. They have to refuel at some stage some how.

This is only a problem if they're going FTL - thanks to inertia you can cruise at relativistic speeds until the cows come home without slowing down. But if you're out in the local galactic void you'll take thousands of years to reach home, and ME3 won't be taking place 1000 years in the future...

[thisisme8]

D3thray wrote...

EJon wrote...

In the ending - they were in front of the Milky Way galaxy. They're not far away from attacking.

You have no concept of galactic distances do you?  If they were even traveling 100 times the speed of light they're still about 1000 years from reaching the EDGE of the galaxy.  The only remotely practical way for them to get around even in the Mass Effect universe is via mass relay.

So ME3 starts 2000 years after ME2?  Phew, then nobody will remember some of the...  liberties I took in the name of saving the galaxy.

[Shannara13]

adam_grif wrote...

Shannara13 wrote...

adam_grif wrote...

If they're using normal FTL, how are they storing several years of fuel? Also, how are they avoiding the drive-charge problem associated with FTL travel? Ships have to stop after a few days of cruise, maximum, to discharge somewhere. You can't discharge into vacuum.

Reapers aren't normal ships and I doubt they have to fuel themselves up in the normal sense.

Well they aren't perpetual motion machines. They have to refuel at some stage some how.

This is only a problem if they're going FTL - thanks to inertia you can cruise at relativistic speeds until the cows come home without slowing down. But if you're out in the local galactic void you'll take thousands of years to reach home, and ME3 won't be taking place 1000 years in the future...

Yes but a human can go almost a month without food. Something that lives for millions of years can probably go considerably longer.

I doubt that the reapers are so stupid that they would place themselves so far from the galaxy that they would "starve" before getting there if something happened to the mass relay. I am sure they have a contigency plan. In all the million years they have been doing this for the Citadel was probably destroyed by wars between organics at least a few times.

[Darastryx]

Whatever happens, it's going to turn in one hella battle. And we can already see how Shepards's choices have/will make a difference.



You've already gotten a promise of help from the Rachni queen, who's race almost took over the galaxy, convincing the Quarians to hold off their war with the Geth, reprogramming the heretic Geth in what could be a heavy handed attempt at getting their help when the Reapers come.



I can see how it's going to be the sci-fi version of Dragon Age; you're building a massively huge army to battle the Reapers. But even with all that, I don't think it'll be enough, considering how powerful a Reaper is, let alone a fleet of thousands.



My guess is, that in ME3 you'll be trying to discover some kind of method or weapon that'll make killing them a lot easier.



At least, that's my guess.

[adam_grif]

Shannara13 wrote...


Yes but a human can go almost a month without food. Something that lives for millions of years can probably go considerably longer.

I doubt that the reapers are so stupid that they would place themselves so far from the galaxy that they would "starve" before getting there if something happened to the mass relay. I am sure they have a contigency plan. In all the million years they have been doing this for the Citadel was probably destroyed by wars between organics at least a few times.

1. That's a horrible example. Humans may be able to survive for a month without food, but humans aren't burning Delta V to inflict velocity change on an interstellar rocket. They're wholly uncomparable.

2. The cycle worked just fine for millions of years without any backups like that. They can get home easily enough, all they need to do is reach high relativistic velocity and cruise. But this is going to take time.

Why should we assume that they left a back-door allowing them to get home in a couple of years without any kind of refueling or drive charge discharge?

This problem won't be at all addressed by Bioware, I guarantee it. It won't even come up in dialogue. They'll just be like "OH NO THEY'RE BACK!"

[Chained_Creator]

adam_grif wrote...

Shannara13 wrote...

adam_grif wrote...

If they're using normal FTL, how are they storing several years of fuel? Also, how are they avoiding the drive-charge problem associated with FTL travel? Ships have to stop after a few days of cruise, maximum, to discharge somewhere. You can't discharge into vacuum.

Reapers aren't normal ships and I doubt they have to fuel themselves up in the normal sense.

Well they aren't perpetual motion machines. They have to refuel at some stage some how.

This is only a problem if they're going FTL - thanks to inertia you can cruise at relativistic speeds until the cows come home without slowing down. But if you're out in the local galactic void you'll take thousands of years to reach home, and ME3 won't be taking place 1000 years in the future...

They're literally millions of years ahead of every other sentient species in the galaxy. Because the only other species that was close dies in Mass Effect 2. (And that was only because the Reapers deliberately advanced them.)

I very much doubt deings that have existed for millions of years (The Reaper in Mass Effect 2 is 37 million years old or older.) do not have a "back up of a back up of a back up" ad infinitum plan.
Sovereign was not joking when he said "There is a realm of existence, so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it."

Modifié par Chained_Creator, 02 février 2010 - 01:42 .

[Frotality]

for all we know they are angrily looking over a galaxy they cant realistically reach. if they are simply flying there, then its a last resort. if a hooligan is causing trouble, you can shoot him in the head to solve it, but you'll probably look for more subtle, effecient, and long-term solutions. thats what the reapers did, and it failed, so bullet in the head time.

[elucid07]

Invalidcode wrote...

Satanic Hamster wrote...

Well... ONE Reaper (Sovereign) couldn't stand against the entire galaxy. Hundreds/thousands/millions of Reapers, through?

Hard to tell right now, ME1 was:

1 Reaver  Reaper + Geth VS 1 Alliance Fleet + Citadel Fleet + 1 Dreadnaught.

ME 3 could have Reaver Reapers every race we know already + more.

Fixed.

[adam_grif]

Chained_Creator wrote...

I very much doubt deings that have existed for millions of years (The Reaper in Mass Effect 2 is 37 million years old or older.) do not have a "back up of a back up of a back up" ad infinitum plan.
Sovereign was not joking when he said "There is a realm of existence, so far beyond your own you cannot even imagine it."

You don't really get how this works do you. It doesn't matter how advanced your tech is, you can't ignore physics. Increases in velocity require expenditures of energy. They also require expulsion of remass. In MEverse you can ignore Remass, and you just need power (something about inducing high gravity areas of space in front of you to propell yourself in that direction). So the reapers still need electricity.

Not just any amount, enough to maintain faster-than-light velocities for several years. They've been coming for what, more than 4 years now? Since before ME1? And they'll need to still be coming for a few more, to get here in time for the ending to ME3?

That's six years of movement and built-up drive charge with no way to refuel or dissipate charge. Which is a bit silly if you think about it. Maybe if they explain that there were like refueling stations between dark space and our galaxy or something?

[Chained_Creator]

Frotality wrote...

for all we know they are angrily looking over a galaxy they cant realistically reach. if they are simply flying there, then its a last resort. if a hooligan is causing trouble, you can shoot him in the head to solve it, but you'll probably look for more subtle, effecient, and long-term solutions. thats what the reapers did, and it failed, so bullet in the head time.

(Not talking to you, personally, but this question bugs me.)

What do people mean "can't realistically reach"? The Reaper you investigate is THIRTY-SEVEN MILLION years old, and the only reason it's still there is because it was very heavily damaged, and its mass effect core is STILL RUNNING.

Pardon me if I do not care for your "cannot realistically reach" scenario, they can do whatever they damn well please regarding anything about travel involving lots of time. Mass Relays are for convenience, not necessity.

adam_grif wrote...
You don't really get how this works do
you. It doesn't matter how advanced your tech is, you can't ignore
physics. Increases in velocity require expenditures of energy. They
also require expulsion of remass. In MEverse you can ignore Remass, and
you just need power (something about inducing high gravity areas of
space in front of you to propell yourself in that direction). So the
reapers still need electricity.

Not just any amount, enough to
maintain faster-than-light velocities for several years. They've been
coming for what, more than 4 years now? Since before ME1? And they'll
need to still be coming for a few more, to get here in time for the
ending to ME3?

That's six years of movement and built-up drive
charge with no way to refuel or dissipate charge. Which is a bit silly
if you think about it. Maybe if they explain that there were like
refueling stations between dark space and our galaxy or
something?

Thirty seven million years. Mass effect core still powered and running. (Not that it was in the same spot for thirty-seven million years, but that it existed for that long and was obviously very well maintained for a ship so large and for being that old.)

Modifié par Chained_Creator, 02 février 2010 - 01:57 .

[KalReegar]

Its obvious that the Reapers reproduce by harvesting the genetic material of the races they destroy. Hence why the current Reapers have tentacles. They last harvested the Protheans, who had tentacle faces. And thus they were now harvesting humans, because humanity is the greatest species to the Reapers, since one of their own kind was destroyed by humanity. To harvest their material would make the Reapers stronger. So the Reaper fleet now approaches, and if they succeed in their conquest, the next Reaper line will have the material of the asari, turians, salarians, elcor, humans, batarians and every other spacefaring race in the galaxy.

[adam_grif]

Chained_Creator wrote...

Thirty seven million years. Mass effect core still powered.

The ship was hibernating doing nothing at all until you went on board to spring a trap. The ME core was down until you got on board, wasn't it? And it was a trap set by the collectors anyway, so if it needed fuel they would have given it some.

Modifié par adam_grif, 02 février 2010 - 01:57 .

[Chained_Creator]

adam_grif wrote...

Chained_Creator wrote...

Thirty seven million years. Mass effect core still powered.

The ship was hibernating doing nothing at all until you went on board to spring a trap. The ME core was down until you got on board, wasn't it? And it was a trap set by the collectors anyway, so if it needed fuel they would have given it some.

No, it was maintaining a mass effect field to keep it from falling into the star.

[adam_grif]

Ok, I have officially given up on ME science. There is nothing salvageable here.

[Shannara13]

adam_grif wrote...

That's six years of movement and built-up drive charge with no way to refuel or dissipate charge. Which is a bit silly if you think about it. Maybe if they explain that there were like refueling stations between dark space and our galaxy or something?

Why do you think that they couldn't simply have that much energy stored away? Billions of years of technology advancement can do alot.

[Chained_Creator]

adam_grif wrote...

Ok, I have officially given up on ME science. There is nothing salvageable here.

I don't pretend to understand Reaper technology. It is quite literally something we cannot explain. Everything we invoke is invalidated because our understanding of Physics is not the same as the Reapers understanding of the subject.

They have had tens of millions of years to work with the laws of physics (According to our understanding) to develop ways to travel at thousands of times the speed of light (Dark space to the Citadel).

Yes, I know it's a "fallacy" to assume that, but I would contest that the Reapers really do know more than we know. Everything about space travel technology in the Mass Effect universe is Reaper tech. Not human. Not Asari. Not Turian. Everything is based on a species that is so far advanced beyond our own that we literally cannot comprehend them. Sovereign was correct. We are ignorant, fumbling idiots playing with toys we do not comprehend.

[akintu]

So, the danger of not discharging a drive core is that a crew gets fried. What is the danger to a ship with no crew? Is there a reason a Reaper could not simply allow its drive core go nuts?



Now, assuming a Reaper can run its drive core at max capacity as long as it has a power source, there's no reason they can't cruise at FTL speeds. A ship with a crew is limited by fuel needed to accelerate and decelerate, and by how long the drive core can by powered up before needing discharge. A Reaper wouldn't have the discharge limitation, it would seem. Remember, the Reapers built the Mass Relay network. I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason for the sentient starship idea came as a result of building a Mass Relay network. Given the limited range of crewed FTL ships, you would basically need a Reaper to build the Mass Relays.

[Dardove]

Bigeyez wrote...

Ninjawaffle23 wrote...


I guess that makes sense. I just figure with them being super computer gods they would have soem kind of fail safe or at leats a plan B...
If they are coiming here personally they're gonna be  piiiiiiissed...well as pissed as an "Old Machine" can be...

Presumably their Plan B is what we take down in ME 2.

Wouldn't that have been Plan C? I thought Plan A was the keepers activate the citadel once everything is ready for the Reapers, but the promethans disabled that. So Plan B was ME1.

[Thessair]

adam_grif wrote...

Ok, I have officially given up on ME science. There is nothing salvageable here.

It doesn't seem to me that much science fiction is based on real science. Personally, I'd be satisified if get a plausible explanation for the Reapers arriving so quickly (assuming they will) that fits within the ME universe framework, not ours.

[adam_grif]

Shannara13 wrote...

adam_grif wrote...

That's six years of movement and built-up drive charge with no way to refuel or dissipate charge. Which is a bit silly if you think about it. Maybe if they explain that there were like refueling stations between dark space and our galaxy or something?

Why do you think that they couldn't simply have that much energy stored away? Billions of years of technology advancement can do alot.

Tech advancement is irrelevant because it doesn't stop you being constrained by physics. The limit on energy density is anti-matter, which holds bucketloads of energy. But Six+ years of continuous FTL travel? No way. 37 million years of mass effect fields counteracting gravity? You're joking.

Yes, I know it's a "fallacy" to assume that, but I would contest that the Reapers really do know more than we know.

Yes, obviously they know more than we know. But storing 37 million years of fuel on your starship is beyond implausible, beyond ridiculous.

Are we certain that they were there for 37 million years? Since itw as a collector trap and we only found it recently is it possible they dragged the reaper there recently?

[zfactor]

Shannara13 wrote...

adam_grif wrote...

That's six years of movement and built-up drive charge with no way to refuel or dissipate charge. Which is a bit silly if you think about it. Maybe if they explain that there were like refueling stations between dark space and our galaxy or something?

Why do you think that they couldn't simply have that much energy stored away? Billions of years of technology advancement can do alot.

Considering they were in the empty void between galaxies (which we know almost nothing about) there could have been dark or negative matter, combine that with normal matter (like the hydrogen floating around in space) and they cancel releasing a lot of energy.  They could have stored some matter from the prothean extintion to combine with dark matter as a power source for a long amount of time.  (explains how they survive in dark space for millions of years)  And if they ran out they could always disassemble a few reapers to use as matter in the reaction...

That is a bit of a stretch, though......

[BS Veyron]

Im feeling the whole Independence Day Virus that filters out to all of them kind of thing.