New Shot of Tempest (as in, not a trailer screenshot or whatever) on PS4 Pro Website

You can have an emphasis on exploration, not warfare, and still have guns on your vehicle. Nothing says you have to use the guns on innocent people. But if the Andromedan equivalent of a Thresher Maw ambushes me while exploring, I'd like to be able to shoot it without having to get out of my vehicle and expose my team, thank you.

This is actually even more important if Ryder's team is supposedly not the "combat elite" of the galaxy that Shepard's apparently is now considered. Maws either took out or nearly took out Shepard multiple times. For a not!Shepard, every advantage you can get would be important.

Nice! It reminds me of pistol whipping Hunters to death in the original Halo. It could be done, just took some determination. And proper footing.

Then have concealed weapons rather than none at all.
Plus I don't but the we want to look nonthreatening when we will be carrying an arsenal on our backs. I doubt any alien race will be like "Carrying up to five different weapons on your person is something peaceful people do, but a single gun on their IFV? That's too far."

Maybe they do have concealed weapons. All we know is that the picture doesn't show any and we've been told it won't have a cannon. For that matter, the crew is something of a concealed weapon anyway!

It's true that the exigencies of the gameplay may require the party to look more threatening than would generally be sensible (depending on the circumstances) but it's not inconcievable that Bioware thought of that and only requires the squad in combat gear when it won't be an issue.

Well, then it's time to call orbital bombardment to prove our peaceful intentions.

It worked for the Sangheili in Halo 3. They glassed half of Africa to show they were friends with humans(by saving us from a Flood infestation). 

I haven't read the several pages that has transpired already, but i think at the very least this vehicle will be armed with light weapons to protect itself. Even in that latest vid it displayed them running from hostiles and that Asari firing her weapon at the enemy. It just depends on what direction they want to go in. Will these segments of exploration be combat free or will they be staged with combat levels or both?

I remember in ME2 there was simple assignments where you would go to a planet just to briefly power up a satellite with no to very little combat involved, but you still had your arsenal of weapons. It would kinda make sense for the crew to have decent firepower when landing on these planets because you never know what you are going to expect.

So far everything we know(which is almost nothing by the way) seems to imply we aren't going as a military expedition.

I remember that. I found curious how he choose to say we fled the Milky Way.

The reference to the cannon is a) because the old Mako in ME1 had one and because that’s what Bioware specifically said the new one didn’t have. They haven’t said it doesn’t have smaller arms hidden somewhere so I’m not trying to support their absence only the cannon’s absence!

Presumably it still has shields and armour and speed. It’s not defenceless just offenseless

The point is, it’s not a military vehicle it’s a transport vehicle. Why shouldn’t a civilian expedition have transport vehicles that aren’t loaded for bear? It seems perfectly reasonable to me. Even the army have trucks and jeeps that don’t have weapons on them.


Maybe, but it seems to me that flying an American fighter plane into Russian airspace would be asking for it to be shot down and tantamount to a declaration of war. It’s a provocation and it wouldn’t be logical to be so provocative on a diplomatic mission.


I used the Amazon example because I just watched the first episode of Hooten and the Lady which rather emphasized the dangers of the Amazon! But what we know of the dangers isn’t the point. The point is, even if we wanted military hardware for something like that it would be extremely difficult for any civilian expedition to get hold of it. That’s why they don’t have them. Why waste time with hacking your way through the undergrowth risking snakes and dangerous animals if you can just drive through in a tank? Because it would be completely impractical to try to get hold of a tank!

Well, also because the trees would get in the way. But you know what I mean

Assuming they are leaving the Galaxy to escape the Reapers they don’t have any choice on the matter. If they can’t get hold of military hardware then they still need to get the hell out of Dodge, as they say! I imagine they do have a certain amount of offensive capability but maybe they had to ration it and maybe the Mako didn’t make the cut. Plus, let’s not confuse defense with offense. The Mako is a tough nut to crack with its armour and its shields, its speed and manouverability and its self-repairing omnigel. It has plenty of defensive capability. It can survive and flee and call for support just as well with or without guns. But they’re not planning on invading Andromeda. Their survival is probably going to depend on co-operating with the natives, not fighting them. Offensive weaponry isn’t necessarily going to be their number one priority when outfitting the mission.


Works for me

So what that ME1 mako had a cannon? Didn't they say no cannon about 2 years ago? Either way, I don't see the vehicle having a large cannon because it looks like it couldn't support the weight
You go ahead and presumably have you shields and armor. That can help for only so long. Having weapons will give it more time to get away, survive while waiting for reinforements or maybe able to defeat the enemy depending on how large a force is attacking

While that is true, they can be fitted with weapons if need to be and they're also near other vehicles that do have weapons mounted on that vehicle.
Maybe nothing. You were incorrect in your example

I don't know what the hooten and the lady thing is so that means nothing to me. Knowing the dangers is the point. It helps to know what you face instead of going in blind. Is it possible that no matter how well Ryder is prepared that the enemy could wipe us out very easily? Yes At least you have something to defend yourself with. That's all you can do.

I don't agree. The trailers show no reapers. The trailers show Earth in good condition. The trailers shows the ships built. I would say there's no panic at all. The latest trailer with the shuttles heading to them are most likely carrying the last of any volunteers and supplies before the ships head to Andromeda. At that point they have everything they need.
Defenses for the mako and anything else would be the last thing that should be rationed.
What? ME1 mako may of been tough, but it still could be destroyed. Small arms fire could destroy it. The thrasher maw can destroy it by hitting it one time. It had no speed and the maneuverability wasn't that great. But it did have the cannon and smalls arms fire that can rotate 360° to deal with the enemy which helped a lot
Maybe.
Is there a reason for making that comment? I don't believe anyone has ever mentioned invading Andromeda except you.
I'm sure we will get help from the natives, but having weapons to defend yourself helps just in case.