What would have happened if Cerberus wasn't able to bring back Shepard?

#ReapersWin

The ship would be called the Hades Dog. It works from a mythological standpoint and as a remindeder of events of ME1.

Miranda is the only person who could lead the mission but she probably would die in what would have been her loyalty mission. Jacob would have been XO but I doubt Miranda would have taken him to find his father, citing it as a waste of time. After Miranda's death, he'd be in charge but he's not up to the task. This is a guy who thought he'd do the vent job on the SM so he clearly makes poor decisions. Jack would never come along, not with the way Miranda would treat her. Or she might come aboard, since it would be the only way to survive the destruction of Purgatory, but she'd abandon them at the first opportunity since Miranda would never promise to give her access to the files. Given that Miranda was against opening the tank, Grunt would not be recruited. Garrus wouldn't work for Cerberus, given that he was around for events of ME1. Same with Tali, who also has the additional reason that Cerberus attacked the flotilla. Moreover, Tali would almost certainly have died on Freedom's Progress when the YMIR mech destroyed her squad. Mordin would still join. He knew what Cerberus was all along and his reasons wouldn't change just because Shepard wasn't present - so long as Miranda was willing to cure the plague (which she might to get what she wanted). Thane would probably join because why not? Samara only joined because Shepard was "honorable". Couldn't say the same for anyone in Cerberus. Not entirely unlikely that Morinth would be recruited instead. Kasumi and Zaeed would both join because they were paid to do so. Legion probably wouldn't be encountered since it was seeking Shepard specifically.

With all this said, it's very unlikely they'd survive the SM. Miranda might be willing to upgrade the Hades Dog but she might not get the perks that come from her non-recruited squadmates. As someone else pointed out, the Cerberus troops probably wouldn't be up to the task before them. Morinth probably could defend against the seeker swarms but the reality is that with Jacob in charge, and no one to tell him not to go into the vents, they'd be leaderless. Morinth probably wouldn't follow anyone else. Once Jacob was dead, the rest likely would have abandoned the mission and returned to the ship and back through the Omega-4 relay.

The ex-Alliance crew most likely wouldn't have been recruited. They were there to be friendly faces for Shepard. I have no doubt TIM would believe that his own people were up to the task of flying the ship, working in engineering and tending to medical problems. Oh, and whatever crew they did have would have been abducted by the Collectors and turned into Reaper food.

Result: Collectors finish their human Reaper, it calls in the rest of them (probably through the Alpha Relay since no one would be around to stop it from happening), the Reapers invade - killing all major races, and the cycle continues.

Removing Shepard from the board would be a losing proposition.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that A/K almost certainly wouldn't be on Horizon.  They were only there because TIM released evidence that Shepard was alive.

I doubt even half of the team would join if Shepard was never brought back. That alone would've pretty much closed the lid on the Suicide Mission. The Collectors probably would have successfully repelled Cerberus and finished the Human Reaper. Then, a wildly unprepared galaxy is slaughtered by the Reapers.

Assuming that Miranda is not a complet dull idiot - and she isn't, she is a perfectionist - she would have started the suicide mission only if well prepared (one upgrade of the normandy was proposed by jacob, no reason no to do it).
A crew of 7-8 is big enough to complete the missione. And there are other mercenaries to engage around the galaxy. If miranda was in charge, no attempt of recruitment would have been made with tali, for example. Just pick another zaeed.
But even if Miranda failed, who cares. Just another reaper to fight, not a big difference.

The alpha relay was shot down by the space marines (canon)

In ME3, anderson is once again commander of the normandy.
He is as badass as shepard, maybe more, so no problem with any mission. Less contacts, no save import, so ems is very low. But he knew kai leng, so on thessia Anderson is better prepared and not over-confident. Kai leng lies dead, the prothean IV is safe, no battle on the earth, TIM doesn't inform the reapers that the citadel is the key component of the crucibile, and the crucible quietly docked on the citadel in the serpent nebula.
Only avialable option: low ems destroy.
The end.

miranda and her team died during the suicide mission.
then joker delivered the normandy to the alliance.

but Anderson could have used another ship.
I can't believe that the normandy is the only stealth ship of the alliance/council. Maybe the most effective/advanced, but not the only one fit for rogue operations.

I don't think the Illusive Man would have placed Miranda in charge of the mission because he doesn't believe she's the right leader for it. I think he would have recruited someone similar to Shepard's psych profile.

I think Miranda and Jacob would still be in their same roles.

Mordin, Thane, Zaeed, and Katsumi are recruited the same way.

Samara would join simply because she thinks the mission is noble.

I think Garrus would join the mission because he knows the threat of the reapers and knows Shepard would do the same thing.

Tali wouldn't join because of her hatred of Cerberus. Unlike Garrus, I don't think she could put her feelings aside to work with them knowing the danger of the reapers without Shepard. Maybe she would if they had some leverage on her people if not then she would probably die with her father.

The wildcards are Jack, Grunt, and Legion. Jack is too unpredictable and the whole prison break scene probably wouldn't have happened. She may even escape when you're docked somewhere or you'll be forced to kill her.

Grunt is 50/50 depending on the person in charge.

Legion might join you since you have a common enemy but will be less likely to trust you.

Not just humanity.  Shepard was fighting for the entire galaxy.

Weren't all recruitments in ME2 done with the purpose of making things more comfortable to Shepard, or something like that? I think that the only one who would receive any invitation at all would be Mordin and maybe Zaeed.

Forward Unto Dawn

I really like this comment. it makes so much sense.

From ME Wikia: "the shields, the armor, and the cannon. Tali, Jacob, and Garrus, respectively, provide these upgrades."

You are absolutely right, and I missed this non-sequitur. How is it that T/J/C have upgrades for the Normandy - Especially Jacob! How did he provide an upgrade that the I.M. overlooked?  Thanks for noting this. It went right over my head while playing the game. Sometimes I'm very gullible and accept the story progression without really thinking about this kind of story nonsense.