Why Geth and Quarians won't be in Andromeda and why you should be ok with it.

Yes, I think it's an excellent idea. All the precedent for it is already set. And outfitting the arks to the best of the Milky Way's ability ranks higher in my books than "omg gotta pew pew all geths!". As does bringing as many of the species over so the core of what made ME awesome is not lost.

Krogan aren't dying because of the genophage they're dying because of their utter incapability to stop killing themselves. The genophage adjusts for viable fertility rates. That means krogan should be able to breed enough to sustain a population at the ME level of tech and cushiness. Only problem is the krogan never got that message, they still want and expect to breed and die by the thousands while building or contributing precisely dick to their society or the larger galactic one. Clearly the krogan aboard the ark will need to be different and more evolved than 99% of the krogan we've met to date.

Please read my points again. We know the non-heretic geth are not intrisically hostile to organics. If Legion was set out to inform us of this fact, surely others could be sent out to contact the arks. I posited a third faction split off from the true geth (or even the majority to account for ME3's less than stellar geth efforts) and contacted the arks to offer assistance. Clearly this would've needed to be handled delicately, they couldn't just show up en masse. But it could be done, easily. In fact it sort of is in ME3 anyway. Legion's tale is not common knowledge to the greater galaxy and if you make peace or choose the geth, the geth join the war effort and pretty much start showing up and shooting Reapers along side organics who are noticeably freaked, but go with it. Obviously without a common enemy to bring them together, reconciliation won't come as easily. But it's far from impossible.

And as other people have pointed out, organics staying awake is not about lifespan, it's about resources (air, food/water) and the psychological strain of what being awake in such isolation would bring. AI are perfectly suited to monitor the whole trip and none of the limitations of organics apply. I'd be shocked if the arks have no AI at all, geth or no geth, or cutting edge VIs at minimum.

That's something that should hardly be permanent given they have the technology to rebuild someone from death. Also while Miranda was "the first one [Lawson] kept", Oriana appears to be the last. Since what he wants is a legacy, it would make sense that that little hiccup is corrected. Oriana may be the final end result of that research and as such, not be burdened with that flaw.

All of them? 'Cause I've seen bald humans!

No Quarians on the Ark? Unlikely, especially given the fact that not every Quarian returns from their pilgrimage. Throw in their technical expertise and the AI would be stupid not to bring them along. Geth on the other hand I can easily see being thrown out the window. Quarians are just generally disliked and seen as something of a parasite, but Geth are outright feared. OTOH they are the ones that can the most easily infiltrate anything, given that they are in fact just software. All they need is a Datastorage unit and they are good to go. Time will tell though.

If the Krogan, and possibly the Quarians and Geth are going, I want the Rachni to make the trip too.

People say that the Krogan are great warriors? Please, the Rachni are far more disciplined, possess natural weapons and armor on par with modern technology, and they can survive in extremely hostile atmospheres without the need for protective environment suits. Plus they can replenish their numbers far more quickly and be ready to fight far faster than the Krogan could, even with the Genophage removed.

People say that the Geth and Quarians are great mechanics and users of technology? The Rachni are too, and they can do all that literally moments after hatching. You didn't see any Geth or Quarians making massive strides on working with the Crucible using only 'civilian' populations like you did with the Rachni.

You also don't have to worry about having enough room to spare on the Arks for the Rachni to maintain a healthy population; they can do just fine with a single royal egg. And this egg can easily remain viable for up to 2,000 years, more than double the time required for the Andromeda Initiative to make the trip.

Geth have no civilians. Geth programs are fully functional from the moment of their creation or replication or whatever. Though I suppose you could argue that building the hardware will take more time.

Regardless, this isn't a contest. Sadly I don't think the rachni will make it. There's only one queen left and it's possibly dead. Finding another royal egg hidden somewhere will smack too much of a ME3 "breeder"-style asspull. Apart from the yahg, I think the rachni are the only species thus far that are fairly certainly not going to be there.

Oh, I wasn't trying to imply that the geth would just waltz in there with everyone else, only pointing out that "a single organic" did, or could, achieve peace with them in 2185. I agree that if they're present, it's either through secret talks with the leaders/founders of the Initiative or through infiltration. I'll respond to the second paragraph below.

To be honest I forgot about Miranda's infertility I suppose at this point I'll have to amend my statement to: It might be possible for same-sex couples to have biological offspring. As Element Zero pointed out, we don't know exactly how good the tech is since it's not explained much and the codex isn't infallible, though I think we can say it's very good if they use it routinely on all soldiers etc. And as CrutchCricket pointed out, it's likely Oriana doesn't suffer the same problem seeing as how her father was obsessed with a legacy. If so, Miranda might be able to remedy that issue for herself as well. But even aside from all that, we don't know exactly what caused her infertility, so it still might be possible same-sex couples routinely have children together in the ME verse, since it wasn't explored either way as far as I know.

Ah, I see your logic As an aside, I guess this probably means we'll see more female krogan.

Hanako already covered this, but I just want to add that you can still see stillbirths in eggs.

It could be interesting. While I think it would be a contrivance to say the least to have the protheans, or the rachni, or the geth (depending on how they do it) appear in ME:A, I really just want more time to explore their species and cultures. Especially those, in fact.

It's because it's their species' Hat Like krogan being proud warriors, or turians being big on honour, or salarians being geniuses, or asari being, uh, apparently attractive to everything ever

I will miss all the species that don't make the trip for whatever reasons Bioware comes up with

True. I'd almost bet money (no, I'm not betting anyone) that we will have a lot of krogan of the mercenary sort; but we will have at least that one, maybe a group, of a more philosophical sort. He, she, or they will have come along because they see no future for the krogan people in the Milky Way, just as Wrex described in ME. It's not hard to believe such krogan might find the idea of the Ai more appealing than their present lives. I'm sure Ai recruiters had a pitch for each and every species demographic we will meet aboard the arks.

The same could apply, in various ways, to any species we wish. (...except the Geth. I'm still not buying the Geth. There's no logical way for our synthetic buddies to come along. )

In the second Mass Effect novel the Quarians start deep space explorations with the ship the Idenna. They could easily add another ship or a quarians garrison on one of the arks. Book 2 took place between ME1 and ME2 as I recall. But I might be a little off with the time line.

Yes you are correct. Ascension takes place between ME1 and ME2. ME2 has some references to it, like the hostility between Quarians and Cerberus. 

I don't understand what you mean after these posts? That was answered yesterday, and these posts are only a few hours old. 

How would it cheapen the Rannoch storyline? Give me specifics please. 

While I disagree with it being best not to mention them at all, I agree that this game they don't need platforms and could remain software. Maybe there is a Geth in the Tempest serving the role EDI did in the Normandy, or ran the Nexus and Arks during transit while the organics slept. Or I like the idea I saw where there is a twist where a VI?Ai ally, whether squadmate or NPC, are actually Geth but were hiding their existence by pretending to be the different VI/AI. Like you said, they are the easiest to work with once they are allowed to go. 

In-universe, there's absolutely no reason for anyone leading the initiative to attempt to approach the geth. The only experience anyone had with them at this point was their assaults on Eden Prime and the Citadel. No one knows exactly what the geth would really offer, or if any benefit they could provide would be worth the risk of approaching the Veil to seek them out, since past attempts ended in failure. Needless to say, the geth are considered hostiles that are to be shot on sight, even if ME2's inclusion of Legion as a team member that you can freely roam the Citadel seems contradictory. The only reason Shepard even got Legion on the team was because they happened to cross paths as their separate missions led them both to the derelict reaper. The quarians at least would be a viable option in that there's low risk of any conflict, only the odds of getting a large number of them would be slim as they generally insist on a commitment to their flotilla and families, what with their being endangered compared to other races. 

Like the 'IoT' bots that brought down DNS services with DDoS attacks a few weeks ago?

It would be hilarious if there was a reference to the 'internet of things' stupidity in MEA. "We put toasters on the internet for no good reason, and now they've got Geth inside them."