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

Yeah, it's still on there. I know the rumor was that it had been removed, but it's still in the text. It was only removed from the timeline. I don't know if BioWare realizes this, but their removal was half-assed.

Edit: I see someone addressed this. It was still fun to use "half-assed" in a sentence. I should use it more often.

That's actually within realm of possibilities. Alliance for example is capable of building one dreadnought per year, so Arks could even be built one after another with a lot of spare time in the end. And Nexus is approximately 8 times larger than Ark, so give it separate construction line and here you go. Just don't forget your infinite money cheat-code.

One thing that pisses me the fuck off, is fans saying the Andromeda Initiative isn't possible because private funding wouldn't have enough money to finance the Andromeda Initiative.



Note I'm not discussing why private individuals would fund the Initiative, that is a separate conversation entirely. I'm only explaining why funding the AI with private capital would be possible.



From what I've gathered by playing the Mass Effect games, watching Youtube videos, and reading the lore of the Mass Effect series, the galaxy's economy definitely seems to run on Neo-Liberal Capitalism and trade.



The primary economy of Earth right now is Neo-Liberal Capitalism. Right now, just 62 people own approximately 46 goddamn percent of all the wealth in the world, over $2 trillion, and also have $7.6 trillion stashed away in cowardly tax havens.



If the economics of Mass Effect are anything like this at all (hint hint, they hella fucking are), then I have almost no fucking problem whatsoever believing the AI is financed by private individuals.

That would be a great scene for sure, really like the idea of the Reapers being brought up as a footnote that really drives home the situation they may be in....they may be the last humans left in the universe at that point, so this mission really needs to work out for everyone involved.

Cool thinking mate

Remember that the Crucible (a giant space ship) was build in less than a year while the citadel races fought the Reapers. So i don't think it would be impossible for them to be build by people who had the money and the desire to invest in this journey.

I know it was the most extended theory when we were all in the dark (more than we are now, I mean), but it's pretty understandable that they don't want to link the Reapers with the central plot of Andromeda in any way. I'm more intrigued about the fact that the Ai's ultimate goal seems to be to create a MW - Andromeda stable route, because that would mean that either the Andromeda story arc, however long it is, ends without the Ai fulfilling its purpose, or we will eventually contact the Milky Way again. And with 4 extremely divergent endings to account for, I don't see any way to do so without a massive retcon (or releasing 4 separate games ).

I feel they need some other story hook to explain the why and the how. Just having it be they decided to do it for resources and exploration is incredibly weak.

From one standpoint I fully understand the wanting to get as far away from MW as possible,which is the only reason we are going to another Galaxy writing-wise imo.On the other hand, MW is what I as a player cared about and leaving it FOREVER and never ever coming back doesn't make sense in the long run.Even though if it is the most logical choice short term.
However,If Mass Effect wants to keep existing as a franchise for many years to come, they won't be able to run away from the MW Galaxy forever.They are bound to return to it one day.One way or another.It is inevitable.
Now will it make sense? I have no idea. But ME is based on a ludicrous amount of space magic so...?Why not?
I don't think fans will have a negative opinion a lot if in 10 years we get a huge "Return" to the MW.It will have been so long after the ME3 ending that we will be nostalgic enough to accept anything they serve us.
My speculation goes a bit like this:
The people who went on the AI mission will try to establish contact with the MW. I know it has been like 600+ years for the MW but for them ,everyone and everything they knew is a fresh memory.It will only have been -depending on how many years have passed and how many games- just a few years since their arrival.
They will learn what happened but it might be in a legend form rather than facts and commander Shepard will be known as The Shepard.Maybe if enough time passes they might develop tech to counteract the "choices" of ME3 s ending.Or maybe discover Wormholes or advanced tech that makes them travel in time.Imagine a game where our Andromeda hero s mission is to reverse travel back and reverse that and retake the MW.I know it is crazy...But anything is possible with space magic

Point is, I am 1000% sure that the franchise will one day return to its true home. I cannot imagine a future with Mass Effect games that take place everywhere else but never again in the MW.


Edit:My response may be not entirely on topic but oh well...To answer the OP question I ll say we just don't know yet for sure if the AI doesn't hide other motives.I am sure the Garson probably is made aware of an imminent extinction level invasion , but is keeping it secret not to make anyone panic and send the AI program into chaos and disarray.

Truth be told, i believe if the ME franchise keep itself alive(still very young with less than 10 years) one day Bioware will find a way to do this because i don't think they won't create stories in the Milky Way ever gain.

But for now i guess MEA is a good way to keep Mass Effect alive while bypassing the most annoying fan(atics). And who knows, maybe the game does have some sort of nice connection to the previous trilogy.

However, "exploration is cool" was the entire motivation for the Star Trek universe... why is it not appropriate for the Mass Effect one?

Well, they haven't gone to Andromeda on Star Trek as far as I know, nor do Starfleet go on one-way trip missions where they're never going to see their families and friends again.

But the Federation also seems to be much more of an ideal society than Mass Effect's Milky Way, with poverty mostly abolished and little if any conflict between Federation worlds. Earth even has a "weather modification net," such that Picard catches onto a mystery in one episode upon discovering that someone's parents were killed in a tornado (such things apparently just don't happen in 24th century Earth). We can argue over whether that's realistic or not, but it does seem built into the premise, so it makes more sense that people are turning their attention outward.

Mass Effect's galactic society is much more fractious and "messy." I could imagine some humans being a little pissed that the Andromeda Initiative's budget isn't being spent on protecting their colonies in the Traverse from batarian raids, or helping get the Tenth Street Reds off the streets.

The budget spent on the Initiative isn't from the various governments, it's from private benefactors. They're free to spend their money as they wish, and since nobody seemed to care that they didn't help on those issues in the trilogy, I doubt that most of the population will care about them spending it in the Initiative.