How do you feel about the premise not happening due to the Reaper invasion?

What I'm trying to say is that, it's not necessarily new tech. It's just tech that's impractical to use without breaking the bank for little or no material gain. The Asari could do it but Relay travel is infinitely more practical so why would they? I'm sure the Asari could use non-FTL travel to explore more of the Galaxy. It's existing tech, it's nice and cheap, it just takes longer. But they don't do it because there's nothing to be gained by it. Also, there's no way to know what might await them at their destination and they'd have no backup when they got there. If they really want to explore a new section of the Galaxy there are plenty of Mass Relays that haven't been tried yet that they could use much more easily:


From the Codex:

"There are many dormant primary relays whose corresponding twins have not yet been located. These are left inactive until their partner is charted, as established civilizations are unwilling to blindly open a passage that might connect them to a hostile species. "


As for an in-game reason to go to Andromeda. I have no problem accepting the "because it's there" argument. The desire to push the boundaries is an inherent part of human nature. The bigger the challenge the bigger the appeal.




I was thinking the same thing about recycling the energy. That would solve a lot of power conservation issues that such a long journey would require. I'm not physicist but it seems to me that the more massive the ship the more surface area you have to absorb any build up and dissipate it or redirect it safely.

There doesn't have to be anything new about this tech as long as it's a product of the vessels' size.

You're not entirely wrong. Prohibitive doesn't mean that there isn't enough money in the galaxy to build a larger ship, but economy doesn't work in the simple way you describe. Regardless, the price of the arks would be so outrageous that this is a pointless discussion. If it was just one ark the size of, say, the Destiny Ascension, I could agree with one guy financing the project. But 4 Arks and the Nexus? It just asks us to raise our disbelief to levels that I just find easier to accept it's a retcon and get on with it.

And I wouldn't say the codex is a 100% perfect source of information. But in those cases, it is. Those codex entries were stablishing the lore of the universe. If someone asked why there weren't bigger ships in the universe we would answer: because Mass Effect technology make them impossible to finance. Why only 1% of the galaxy is explored? Because empty space is a barrier to exploration. And I believe the entry that talks about Soverign being a Geth ships make it clear it was not. It was an official version by the council or something in those lines.

The drive core for the SR1 (a frigate!) was 120 billion credits. That's just the core, not the other systems on the ship.

So yeah, prohibitively expensive.

And empty space is a barrier for exploration FOR THIS CYCLE. HUMANS DON'T HAVE REAPER TECH YET! The codex provides lore that is generally known to the galaxy at large. IF there's some project that's in the works that managed to crack that barrier, you'd think that would be generally known, even if it's still being worked on.

Yes, it's an oversized eezo core...FOR A FRIGATE!!! I ship that carries a crew of a couple dozen. As of 2185, the turian had 37 deadnoughts, the asari 20, the salarians 16, and the humans 8. Assuming a crew of 10,000 apiece (possibly less, given the Destiny Ascension was the largest dreadnought ever made) Thats' still less than the population of a single Ark vessel. And will have far greater power requirements than any dreadnought.




The ships still have to be built, along with their magical engines. The eezo refined. Crew trained, equipment purchased or manufactured. This stuff doesn't happen in a vacuum (well, it does, but...you get the picture)



It has to be tech that's known. Theoretical possibilities don't mean beans unless it's applied and proven to work. And a discovery on that scale WOULD make waves.

Population is related to cost when you have to have facilities that can keep them alive and healthy for 600 years. Or more, depending on how easy it is to find a planet for them to live on. And the eezo core will have to be running constantly to make it there in 600 years. That means a constant electrical current running into the eezo core.

And each dreadnought is a massive undertaking that takes multiple years to complete. And this is with Council backing! They are long-term investments designed to protect the Council races. The AI looks like it would cost a fleet of dreadnoughts, and all too likely take all that money, personnel, resources, and flush it down the toilet. Any return on investment would be centuries down the line. And would all-too likely to get no return whatsoever.

And as I said, the 120 billion credits is for a core designed for a large frigate. A dreadnought sized core would be orders of magnitude bigger. And the Hyperion would require one that's bigger still. Now multipley that by five (three more Arks plus the Nexus)



You're also building shp drives that simply don't exist in the ME universe, unless Cerberus secretly developed them at some point.

And Arcturus station is one stationary habitat that holds a complement of less than half the size of the Hyperion, and likely had the full backing of the Systems Alliance. And it still took as long as the entire Andromeda Initiative. Doesn't' really help the case.



Because discharging the drive core of a ship into said ship is a Bad Thing. Something to be prevented. Given the description of how a ship discharges, it appears to work something like a lightning rod, giving the electricity a path to travel into a grounded object. It's an energy transfer. If we are simply transferring the static buildup from the ship to the ship, how does this solve anything?

And again, if this is new tech that was discovered, where's the great Milky Way Migration to other worlds off the path of the relays?



Waitaminute, isn't the bolded part what we're doing in Andromeda anyway? So what difference does it make?

Fine, use the tech to locate the other end of dormant relays. Why aren't they doing that?




THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF UNEXPLORED STARS IN THE MILKY WAY!!!! IT"S JUST AS PRACTICAL TO EXPLORE THEM AS ANDROMEDA!

Sorry, I mispoke. I meant not directly proportional. Of course it's related.

But are you seriously citing power issues as a contradiction to the lore? This is a Sci-Fi world with Sci-Fi technology. I have no problem whatsoever in believing we can keep the lights on for 600 years. You can probably do it today with a good old-fashioned fusion reactor!

Have you been reading my posts at all? I have explicitly said numerous times that Jian isn't looking for a return on investment. She's going on a one-way trip to another Galaxy. The economics of the trip are entirely irrelevant. At least to her.

I agree it is going to be a massive undertaking and incredibly expensive in both money, materials and labour. So what? It's a great adventure, I'd expect it to be. However, I just spent the last post explaining how we have no basis on which to conclude that she can't afford this no matter how expensive it's determined to be.

We do know she has other backers, by the way. I have no idea what they plan on getting out of it or how much of the resources they are providing but there are enough unknowns on that front that I see no reason to see any contradiction of lore here.
My entire argument has been that the only difference required for the ship drives is their size. No secret tech development required.
I thought it was 25,000 per ark? Not sure how it being stationary is relevant. It was still built in space and the arks will be stationary while you're building them!

That's not really my point, though. My point is that build times vary. The Crucible was far bigger and more complex than Arcturus but was done in a fraction of the time. Clearly the build time is simply a case of the amount of resources you pour into it.

How does it solve anything on the Citadel then? How does the Citadel or other deep space stations differ from a ship? Hundreds of ships are discharging into discharge devices on the Citadel all the time. How is it that the Citadel doesn't fry? Or any other space station that uses these things?  It's quite clear that there is already tech that can absorb mass effect drive core discharges without frying the structure on which they are fitted. If there is any lore problems going on it really started in ME1 when they stated these things exist!

My assumption is that they require a massive structure in order to work. Hence why I believe that the only tech required to enable the AI is the ability to build a big ship!

Taking this further, as previously mentioned in other posts, given that there are devices into which you can discharge core energy it also stands to reason that said device could be used to store or redirect that energy for later use. Which would go a long way to address those potential power issues you mentioned earlier.
You really aren't reading my posts are you? I gave multiple reasons why it would be pointless and dangerous to use FTL tech, new or not, to investigate other worlds when there are plenty of unexplored worlds that can already be accessed more safely and easily via existing relays. Or if they really wanted to, using the numerous dormant relays that the Codex mentions.

The difference is that the only good reason to do it is not economic or strategic or political. It's pure spirit of adventure and those with the spirit of adventure are not going to consider it much of an adventure to go to just one more part of the Milky Way when they could use the same tech to go to another Galaxy.

What, wander around the entire Galaxy hoping to stumble across another Relay and see if connects to an existing one in known space? That's one hell of a needle in a haystack they'd be searching for!

Did you not read what I said agian?  I said "further than ever before".

I don't mean to be rude but it's quite frustrating when you keep making statements already answered by the very posts you're responding to!

These explorers don't explore because they're being practical they are looking to push boundaries. Going further than ever before is the whole point. Just one other unexplored place in a Galaxy that would take thousands of millenia to explore thoroughly would be the opposite of pushing boundaries. I've said it before. People didn't go to all the trouble to climb Mount Everest because it was practical. Neither did it matter that there were plenty of other unclimbed mountains that weren't as difficult. The whole point was to climb the tallest one possible!

That's the essence of the AI. It's the ultimate embodiment of man's desire to push the boundaries of what's possible.

The only stasis tech we've seen lasting this long was buried in deep underground bunkers. And even then, failed eventually. The Reapers are the only "immortal" tech we've seen.



We know from a meta perspective (ME3 train wreck). But it's still p*ss-poor storytelling.

And we wouldn't be making pit stops at the Citadel is the Citadel was a decade away via FTL.[/quote]