What Realistic Space Travel Concerns Would You Like To See In Andromeda?

True. But I would much prefer the sense of scale to be better represented, before we move on to capturing the z axis. 

In regards to the the method of traveling to Andromeda, I've personally always been a fan of the species of the galaxy uniting to create their own version of a Stellar Engine, using existing tech.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine

While trying to move an entire main sequence star and its corresponding solar system would be out of the question, something smaller, like say a brown dwarf, or 'hot' Jupiter would fit the bill nicely. The benefit of using the stellar engine lies in the fact that it is self sustaining; the host star itself providing the thrust. Plus, as an added bonus the system of the star in question will be dragged along with it; which depending on the type of planetary bodies present will mean the Andromeda colonists will be carrying along their own living space and/or fuel source.

Clearly, a system rich in ezzo would be the best candidate, like something with a (relatively) small asteroid belt orbiting the star. That will provide the fuel necessary for the maintaining of the mass effect fields, as well as being a perfect place to discharge any static build up and providing ample living space for the colonists.

Now the obvious question would be in how the galaxy is going to move a brown dwarf; which despite it's small relative size is still a massive stellar body. The answer of course is the use of mass effect fields, large, mega-industrial sized ones. Now where is the galaxy going to field something that powerful? Easy, with the use of several generators not unlike the ones the Turians used to provide the entire moon of Merene (sp?) with a gravitational field strong enough to hold an earth-like gravity and atmosphere across it's entire surface. Get fifteen to twenty of these generators in position around a target brown dwarf and you would be able to substantially reduce the star's mass, but not it's solar output.

All of this combined will mean that the system in question would be able to get 'up to speed' in a reliable time frame, and seeing as how the use of a stellar engine is more or less unlimited in terms of acceleration; due to a constant thrust being applied by the star's own radiation output; would mean that this 'vessel' could reach Andromeda in roughly the same amount of time as it would with BioWare's current method, but wouldn't be relying on the creation of hereto unknown technological advancement. Also, it would provide the colonists a ready built home system to operate out of once they reach their destination.

Plus, how much cooler would it be to pull up to Andromeda driving a freaking STAR, than some measly little ark ship? 

The Catalyst is a broken machine, with access to Immortal Space Cthulhu.  What is time to a creature like that?  We've already seen what insane extremes it's willing to go to for its "solution".  Starbrat already took its mandate far far beyond original intentions.

@ Iakus: You missing the part where the cycle happens every 50k years? There on a time line here. It's not infinite time to jaunt around multiple galaxies. They would have to have a single Reaper, Citadel, and relays, in EVERY galaxy they intend to watch over as the giant asshole-dick guardians they think they are.

There very real time restraint with in the Milky Way sorta puts a giant dent in worrying about other galaxies. I think your seeing a problem where one doesn't exist in this case.

@ hanako Ikezawa: Damnit that's right, forgot it was number of light years per day not some multiplier of light speed. So if we did (which the Reapers obviously have as they have no need to stop) the whole 600-800 years is very reasonable. Hell, the slightly slower travel might be due to the static charge build up counter measure, and that there massive absurdly large ships.


Anyway there's an estimated 100 billion Galaxies in the 'observable universe' and there's about 100 billion estimated stars in the milky way (other estimates are higher like 400 billion). So while I'm pretty confident the Reapers could manage 2, maybe 3 galaxies they wouldn't be able to manage all of them. Not sure why they would even bother trying honestly.

Frankly I hope we don't hear about the Reapers much past some secret are character learns for the real reason the ARK project was created. You know, hidden little email we find or something and us as players can be all 'Reapers, uh huh we know, we played the last games'. I'm happy to see them gone entirely, didn't much like that plot device lol.

It makes sense that there would be at least some qualifiers in play, as it is physically impossible for them to preserve ALL life - if this was indeed their mandate, they would have to reap the entire universe. Gotta draw some realistic lines, why not draw them around the Milky Way?

Also, as an aside, seeing you without the Minsc avatar just feels wrong.

If there were qualifiers, the Leviathans would not have been mulched to begin with.  That's the thing, the Reapers are not operating with any limits to their behavior, so they can dream up all sorts of wacky things to "preserve" life.  They're broken machines.

What is Hulk not worthy?  

And I agree with that sentiment in relation to everything but the Reapers. We already know why the Reapers are only in the Galaxy. Go replay ME3 ending again if you want. If that's not enough I don't know how they could do much of anything besides making it some side story. There's no real way they could explain why the Reapers aren't in Andromeda with out it directly involving Reapers and them willingly telling us. You know what I mean?

How would you expect them to explain why the Reapers aren't in there past what we already know when they have 0 to do with the new game? I mean they have to make this thing accessible to new comers. They want to ignore, with out stepping on, the ending of ME3 which is the main driving force behind why they're putting it in a new galaxy. It also opens up some interesting supply/support issues and all that.

I'm all for a little secret reasoning for the ARK projects existence and are characters discovering the real reason why but that could never actually explain why the Reapers aren't there past the information we have. Not with out the Council being all 'yeah we talked to one Reaper who totally wasn't with the rest and said this is why they never left the Milky way, he was a cool guy for an evil death robot'.

Everything else agree with, hope we get good explanations for (with out it being to hamfisted). Reapers not being in Andromeda? Your going to be really, really disappointed if the current information that already mostly explains it isn't enough.

I can see the Reapers doing the Local Galactic Group, which consists of 4 galaxies(Andromeda, Milky Way, Triangulum, Large Magellanic Cloud) and a few dozen dwarf galaxies. It would only take them about 1,000 years to get to Andromeda, harvest it, and come back to the Milky Way. So them being able to harvest the ones in our group within 50,000 years is possible. I much prefer them being a never-stopping force that between harvests of the Milky Way are harvesting other galaxies than just them taking a nap between cycles. I don't see them going any further though since the other groups are too fat away to really be a problem. Plus with the Catalyst looking for a solution, it makes sense to use multiple galaxies as a variety of experiments just like how the Milky Way is one. It also ensures that the galaxies near us don't develop to a point to be a threat to the Reapers or the life they are 'preserving'. 

While I support the Reapers being intergalactic within our Local Galactic Group, I do not want to see them play a major role in the new games. What I want to see is their legacy, like perhaps we can get to Andromeda with Reaper or Collector tech since they can make the journey, or having Mass Relays, an icon of the franchise, remain in the franchise.

We'd never be able to build Mass Relays in Andromeda, at least not anywhere close to the timeframe the games would take place. Mass Relays are a project on a scale never tackled before, both in size and sophistication, and that was with a galactic infrastructure available. We would have no such infrastructure in Andromeda for hundreds or thousands of years. If there are to be Mass Relays, they would have to be there before us which means the Reapers(unless some ancient cycle did what we did and built them between when they ran away and when we ran away). Plus I can think of so many cool things that could happen if we discover a Mass Relay in Andromeda that wouldn't be possible if we built them.