The Tempest thread (confirmed 100% weaponry free)

Right there with ya. Some of the cutscenes showing fighters maneuvering quicker/easier/faster than an F14 (and outside of a planet's atmosphere)... are just silly, imho. Rule of cool at work.

Armor plating could weigh quite a lot, too - which you'd want if you were ever going to engage in combat in the Nomad.

And speaking of weight (mass), I'm sort of hoping that things like gravity and atmosphere will be taken into account, especially since they'll have Frostbite's physics engine at their disposal.

I can imagine a desire to strictly limit the Tempest's (and resident Nomad's) overall weight especially since it's designed to land on planets. The only time I remember the Normandy ever landing directly on a planet was on Virmire, and that was the SR1 - otherwise it docks at spaceports and sends ground crews out in the Mako, Hammerhead, shuttle.

I can imagine wanting to land the Tempest someplace with a thin crust - like on ice or a lava field with a thin crust on top - and the planet's gravity along with the ship's overall mass being an important consideration. Also, wanting to be able to escape quickly from planets with high gravity / atmospheric conditions.

If I get my wish, gravity and atmospheric conditions will affect things like our rate of speed (on foot and in the Nomad), how high we can jump with the boots, how quickly bullets arrive at their targets, how long we can stay on the planet. I guess we'll see.

How is that any different than TIM being the apparent sole funding behind Cerberus - with all of its outposts and stations, numerous scientists and costly research techniques, a fleet, and an army that it believes to be capable of taking over the Citadel?

Most Council species have numerous dreadnoughts and other ships.


I don't recall ever seeing any codex entries or other in-world lore having to do with the usual process followed in colonization. We did see a number of colonies in TMW with minimal (if any) defenses. IIRC, part of the ME2 mission on Horizon involved initiating the newly installed GARDIAN laser systems. The colony had been founded in 2168, and it was just getting these defenses in 2185. The colonists on Feros formed their own militia to protect themselves. Etc.