How could they build so fast update/ repost.

I posted over a year ago how they hell did the AI make the arcs so fast within 10 years and i said it wasnt possible. Here is my update on that:





Like the original post lets start with context.So in universe we know a Kilimanjaro alliance dreadnought at 1km, has a crew of 2000, and long took up to 2 years to build per dreadnought, in some cases a year. Arcturus station which has a ring diameter of 5 km and and two arms extending 5+ km being able to house 45,000 people and was built in 11 years. though it was livable and suto operational 4 to 5 years after construction began. The crucible which is known for being 10 km was built in 6 months but that was with the blue print and depending on how you played ME3 had either most of the alliance working on it or most of the galaxy working on it. Anything else in the mass effect universe is hard to get a comparison on how long it was built because, well there is no information on it. The life ships the quarians have are much larger and hold more people than either the arc or the crucible, but they have have been worked on for 2 centuries after the quarians fled their own home world so we cant use that as comparison. The destiny ascension is 3 km long (though i have no idea how it is measured as it is oddly shaped compared to most warships.) and holds a crew of 10,000 asari. But no info on how long it took to build the ship, so we cant really use that either. We see alot of the things Cerberus has built including a large and impressive fleet (for the size of the organization) and numerous stations but they have been around since the first contact war and we again have no idea how big or long any of their biggest projects took. And they were backed by sympathetic backers from within the alliance industrial complex.





Now here is what we know about the AI and what they had to build. From the founding by jein garison to the launch to Andromeda was a little over 9 years. Early on she ran out of money for the project which at the time was only meant to send a small team to go over until the "benefactor" came in and funded most of the project. Then the benefactor demanded the initiative take on a larger scale to receive his backing and take on more people, and she agrees. Later after the event of the first game the benefactor and Alec ryder decide to hasten the time table and within two years they launch for Andromeda before the reapers show up. All in all the project costs in the quintillions of credits within 9 years. Here is what they had to build within 9 years:





1.) 5 arks at lengths of 1.5 km long that have to do all of the following: travel at FTL unassisted with a mass relay for 600+ years nonstop with the use of the brand new, cutting edge, and experimental ODSY engine, hold up to 20,000 colonists and crew of varying species in cyrosleep for that 600+ years plus house and keep them alive afterwards till the are on their golden world (again this is accounting for the arcs having primarily one species in the majority but still having different species aboard. Or in the case of the quarian ark numerous species spread within a ship in equal numbers in theory), then once within Andromeda get to the nexus and dock, afterwards then assist in colonization of the golden worlds, and be able to do all that without any dry dock time for 600+ years at FTL and maybe never having any proper dry dock time period.





2.) build the nexus station that is 17.5 km long holding up to 100.000 people of all different species that can go FTL for 600+ years non stop with ODSY engines without the assistance of a mass relay and for 600+ years with no dry dock or in-defiantly wont have dry dock, be able to have everything it needs to construct itself a huge 5 km diameter ring and another 17.5 km wing, and have it be a representative council and capital of the milky way species (aka becoming the Citadel of the Heleus cluster) so that needs to be build with more permanence than the arks.





3.) build an entire fleet of smaller support ships including: 5 tempest scout ships( we known from in game the were built before heading to Andromeda by Kalo), a fleet of shuttles, probes, and pre fabricated buildings.





All in all thats a hell of a tall order. But do i find it impossible like my original post? Believe it or not i dont think its quite impossible, though it would have to have been incredibly difficult. The biggest issues the initiative would have is the fact it has 9 years to design, prototype, approve, and build all from scratch 6 huge vessels that have to be built pretty strong to last that long without proper dry dock repairs. But we see that even dreadnoughts can be built within a year, and things like Arcturus stations may have taken 11 years to complete it was operational and occupied within less than half that time. So its not far to assume that even though the arks are 50% larger than a dreadnought and the Nexus is three times larger than arcturus station it isnt much of a stretch that they could be built within a similar if not slightly longer time frame but still within the 9 years allowed. Plus the Nexus after having no Ark support for a year, hit by the scourge loosing god knows how many people including Garison herself and most of the upper command, and a rebellion they were at least able to construct the base frame of the rings and second wing and more within a year, which is incredibly impressive. And for the most part the Arks arent built to last much longer after they arrive in andromeda, unlike the nexus which is built with longevity in mind. Granted they do have to still do alot including house 20,000 people each of varying species and keep them alive for 600+ years which is still a very demanding. And they would have enough money from the Benefactor to get this all going. But realistically they would have less than 9 years to build all this since the benefactor didnt step in till after Garison was nearly broke which may have been a year or two after founding. Then with the fact the time table was shortened by alec and the benefactor to get out on time also probably made things much harder, so alot of corners were completely cut. We also know the council didnt help because they would never due to the fact the Initiative used AI which is illegal and the alliance didnt help because Admiral Hackett said the crucible was the biggest thing the alliance ever built and that was smaller than the Nexus. But we have no idea who else helped with the AI other than the benefactor. That could leave alot of possibilities.





So the TLTR version is: it is possible they could have built it all within a short time but it would have been outstandingly difficult to get done within 9 years.





But what do yall think? is there something i missed that may be in the books? maybe a quarian ark book coming out in june may give us more answers? what do yall think?