So, why no one ever mentioned the Andromeda Initiative in the trilogy?

You claim to have not bought into it... yet, what you object to is allowing them to depart from what they've written into lore before now.  You don't want them to start fresh with a new galaxy and create a new lore with a different basis for FTL travel, etc.  You keep dragging them back to the same old problems.  That's not "expecting better" from them... that's simply not allowing them to even try to deliver "better."  It would be "better" to just allow them to say this is the new Mass Effect.   The story starts in the Andromeda Galaxy in 2685.  Stop asking for explanations why and how it relates to the old.  Just let the old go so that they can create from scratch a more consistent lore for the new story... unfettered by their past "mistakes."

But nooooo... the "fan" base keep hammering on this until Bioware has no choice but to come up with "something"... and that something will likely be an inadequate explanation because the foundation that the fans insist they explain is faulty... and the fans know that... so... the fan's motives then must be to maliciously bring down Bioware because they resent the past and can't move on from that.  It's a shame really.  We'll all end up with no game to play.

It works OK before Reaper arrival. We don't hear about Presidental Elections, or latest Asari pop star mega scandals or other big news that would come in daily. So it's not THAT big of a stretch that Ai wouldn't be brought up despite being a huge milestone for Milky Way civilization. However, as soon as the issue of going extinct arises during Reaper invasion, it's unfortunately jarring that Ai wouldn't be instantly brought up in multiple conversations. But that's as always the issue of adding new suff with (partially) prequels.

Ha, I just thought of something that would super cool of BioWare to do: a tiny patch that retrofitted the Trilogy with a couple NPC conversations and a codex entry for the Andromeda Initiative - how sick would that be!

I know this wouldn't happen...but far out, it would be pretty darn amazing if you ask me.

If I knew how to make mods....I would get this done ASAP: anyone here make mods by chance?

The "Andromeda Initiative Retrofit" would be a great lore reinforcing mod for sure; all it would need is a few voiced lines, an NPC here and there and a few bits around the Citadel/Extranet and we're sorted - it could even span all 3 games, with different degrees of progress being updated in the news etc, with mention of the AI leaving in ME3...and "how I wish I went on the Andromeda Initiative now that the Reapers are murdering us all" schtick. 

Well, that is exactly what it is. The Arks are much bigger than any ship seen in the trilogy (Reapers included) and the Nexus is almost as big as the citadel. 

And I don't think the AI is in the trillion range, but hundreds of trillions. Or at least enough trillions that it becomes not possible. Unless you make the Mass Effect a very simplistic, not realistic universe. 

The Arks seem to be as big as the Destiny Ascension (3km in length if I recall correctly). Now the Destiny Ascension is supposed to be a magnificent ship, according to the Mass Effect wiki, "is four times the size of the largest human ship" and "it has almost as much firepower as the rest of the asari fleet combined".
Completely out of the blue, the Andromeda Initiative has the largest and most impressive fleet in the galaxy since the Prothean extinction. And no one in the trilogy seems to give a damn about it.

This crappy deus ex machina event to save the ME franchise (just to make money out of it) is seriously below Bioware standards.

In terms of financing, we know absolutely nothing of the finer details, other than it's scope has expanded over time.

It's not a Systems Alliance initiative, but that doesn't mean there aren't multiple large factions with stakes in this... everyone's assuming humanity are wearing the cost alone (or like, one person? lol)...but with multiple ARKs for multiple council races, there are sure to be big backers whose motives are yet largely unknown (not to be confused with the AI motives/reasons for being, which are clear cut exploration/expansion it seems).

Perhaps some of these backers are weary of the Reaper threat?
Perhaps some are going to be onboard and are running away from things..
Perhaps some are just idiots with too much money and not enough hobbies?

Who knows, we don't...that's for sure...I'm excited to find out though.

If orientation video is anything to go by, we'll find out enough about Nexus and Arks within a month or two. Hopefully they'll also mention one of biggest questions from old fans about the list of taken species.

That's still a stretch, they are on the background and we don't know how far.

Maybe BioWare will provide, in game or via release of information over the next few weeks, substantial information to help better explain/rationalise the whole premise of Andromeda and the logic behind the Arks and Nexus.

But even if they don't, letting something like this so strongly deter you or antagonise you from Andromeda, without yet playing the game or giving time to see if there will be the scientific realism and lore abiding standards you are seeking to explain all this away, isn't really going to allow you to view Andromeda in anything but a negative lens, and thus you will likely find a whole lot more else to complain about and criticise BioWare for, probably before the game is even released. It's exhaustive to a point, and sometimes game developers really don't deserve all this ache from the fan base when they are trying to please them, again to a point.

To an extent it almost feels like to some, BioWare haven't put a footnote wrong until now (I could be wrong there), but there have been plenty of areas in the trilogy that broke the suspension of disbelief and realism was never 100% or the experience completely immersive.

Without giving the chance or time to see if the explanation is there, and that the realism is sustained, for some it would seem that Andromeda is already set up for failure, and in that case, why spend so much time on these forums, doomsaying the game, and being overly negative, when we are still fairly in the dark regarding the overall plot and narrative, other than the premise and plot driving motivations for Ryder.

I could go into the fact that the whole ending debacle is the reason we are going to Andromeda in the first place, which may not have been the case if it wasn't for the continued five years of whining over them, but I've said enough for now on this.

THIS





Author: swimmingtrunks.tumblr.com/post/152862794467/ive-been-thinking-about-this-ever-since-the?is_related_post=1

The Hyperion was being build on Moon's orbit as was shown in the Briefing video on MEA site. No idea about the others.
But there was really no reason to secrecy since they did need to recruit people to the journey.