Ai Andromeda Sensor data 2+ million years old

1. Wait, what? Sorry, that doesn't make much sense to me If that was explained somewhere and I missed it, fine. But I don't see how the top "barrel" could be a scope in any traditional sense. For one, it looks identical to the other barrel. For another, you can't look through it. Are you suggesting it's a laser out of the visual spectrum linked to a soldier's HUD for aiming? Lastly, why, then, would many weapons which feature two barrels, like the Avenger, have built-in scopes (pre-ME3) if the gun already had a scope?

Sorry, I'm not trying to argue per se, I just don't understand. I always assumed that:
A. They shots alternate between firing from each barrel to reduce heat generation while maintaining rate-of-fire (although, oddly, the bottom barrel is usually smaller).
B. We didn't see muzzle flashes or weapon mods such as extended barrels on the bottom barrel because it was easier to animate/model etc.

This is supported by images like the Mass Effect 2 cover, which shows both barrels in Shepard's Avenger and Thane's Shuriken smoking from use, as well as vents next to both barrels.

2. Yes, we know there are biotic enemies, courtesy of the GI article. "-Different enemies require you to use different tactics (some are shield heavy, some use heavy biotics etc)"

Although now that you mention it, I suppose we don't know if those enemies will actually be Andromedans... They could be the inevitable Milky Way space pirates that will appear to add enemy variety and more internal conflict in the story (the Explorers Wanted scripts mentioned this happening, and while those might not appear ingame, I have no doubt the pirates in them will).

I kind of hope some of them will have biotics though. And I hope we encounter more than just 2 intelligent species Partly because of itself, and partly because it would limit our first contact scenarios down to one, really, since we all know how first contact with the Kett goes...

3. It does seem like all of that will happen in quick succession, probably in the prologue. In fact, I got the impression that almost all of the footage from the latest trailer was taken from the prologue, so I would think that's Habitat 7, yes. I also agree it's possible the Kett are simply there for the Remnant tech and not the world itself, though they must be quite hostile in that case, since the humans didn't even go there for that tech in the first place and weren't any real competition.

Hmm, if they did activate something, could it be responsible for the changes to the planet? I still have a feeling one of the uses for Remnant tech would be terraforming. Alternatively, it might have, intentionally or otherwise, brought down the Hyperion, which would naturally make the humans pretty pissed at them. After all, getting caught in a gravity well would be a logical way to have a ship that massive (with huge potential firepower/escort fleet) be so easily disabled.

You make a good point about how integral the relays were in the story, and I hadn't thought about it all grouped together like that. However, I'll just have to repeat what I said last post: I never disagreed that the relays were iconic, only that they weren't the symbol of Mass Effect.

As a footnote: While N7 is certainly evocative of Shepard, it grew into more of a general symbol of Mass Effect over time. It was put onto merchandise and plastered all over marketing and even things that weren't really related to N7, like the multiplayer characters. While it happened in a slightly circular manner (came from Shepard, but N7 merch turned it into a more general symbol which prompted even more plastering), it still ended up being incredibly iconic simply as a symbol for the franchise. So much so that Bioware is using it to a huge degree in Andromeda marketing despite wanting to differentiate between Ryder and Shepard and saying things like "You're not Shepard, you're not N7!"

Even showing context-less images of the Ryder twins in N7 gear despite them normally being shown in Initiative-standard white. So either that's not a plot-point and they're milking it for marketing for all it's worth, or it is a plot-point and their attempts to distance Ryder and the game from Shepard and the trilogy aren't as serious as they claimed.

I agree both that the Reapers' mandate as explained by Starkid would extend to all life, everywhere, and that therefore the Reapers should have harvested many galaxies. But like so much else in ME:A's premise, it's not really about making sense, it's about working to fight themselves out of the corner ME3 put them in for the sake of continuing the franchise. To do that, they can't have Reapers in Andromeda even if it makes sense they should be there.

But... whatever. While I would have liked them to continue the story in the Milky Way, they were never going to do that, so it is what it is. I'm trying to make the most of the game despite the flimsy premise, and we won't know exactly how flimsy it is until launch, because of possible reveals. As long as the game itself, aside from the premise, is logical and well-written, I'll be satisfied.

However, I suppose if they wanted to, they could have had relays in Andromeda placed there by the Reapers without having to deal with the endings, since the Reapers could have all been currently in the MW during ME3 with Andromeda being next on their harvesting list, leaving the possibility of advanced species being there. But as I said, they chose to have the Reapers only ever harvesting the MW, and I suppose that makes about as much sense as the rest of their mandate does, so

On that note, it'll be interesting to see all of the species in Andromeda who haven't been "inevitably" wiped out by synthetics, and perhaps get along with them instead

That's a question I've been waiting for an answer to since ME:A's announcement. While they could handwave that they reverse-engineered the tech from Sovereign (since as you say, the Reapers didn't have this problem), that still doesn't explain:

1. How they planned on making the trip in 2176, before they knew about Sovereign.
2. Why no one else wondered how the trip would work since as far as they knew, that tech didn't exist.

I wonder how, or if, they'll explain this. As I said before, I'm not trying to be a downer, but some things are still pretty silly.

But they wouldn't be using LADAR... Why would they? They're using a much simpler method of scanning Andromeda: Looking at it. Yes, with a really good telescope or perhaps an interferometric array, but it still comes down to simply looking at Andromeda, not sending out imaging pings.

Not that it really matters anyway, the data being 2.5 million years out-of-date or 5 million.

They wouldn't, because of the inverse square law. Unless they have gamma ray burst-strength RADAR/LADAR emitters, which I'm not entirely sure would be sufficient.


Traditionally BioWare has used the word "sensor" in Mass Effect to refer to RADAR/LADAR tech. Had they used the word telescope instead, I would not have made that connection.

Actually i would add 5 million. 2.5 for the signal to reach andromeda and another 2.5 for it to come back.

Seems to me they could always drag a relay with them

I was suggesting that, rather than making their own Relay, they could just drag an existing Relay with them to Andromeda!

Of course it would have to be one that nobody else was using

That would be interesting. The Citadel is a relay and can move. Why not all the relay's? One theory I have is after the harvest, the reapers move the relays to areas to help the younger species  advance faster so the reapers could show up 50 000 years later.

Man, what a bunch of fuckin' trolls.

I think at the moment we don't have the technology to make our own but it's possible they're just carrying a pre-built one along inside the Nexus!

Even the protheans who were more advanced from a technology point of view were just starting to understand how to replicate de Mass Relay technology.

By the way for that to work they would need to bring two relays, a start and ending point. Only the citadel was able to "open a wormhole" to bring the reapers from outside the galaxy.

But i don't believe this will happen. Since the game is limited to one cluster of stars i think the ships will rely only on conventional FTL to travel.

That's an unnecessary assumption to make. The simpler conclusion is that they simply have a relay out in dark space linked to the Citadel that they hibernate around until it's killing time.