Should the Arks have been armed

Of course they should have. Shocking naivete. At least they had readily accessible weapons lockers

They are a private civilian expedition. Governments of Milky Way would not have been keen of allowing serious arms to AI, as well I doubt they could have afford to arm a small fleet.

And then enter the kett. Even if unwinnable, would be a lot more comfortable blowing them out of the sky

I think the argument plausible that Milky Way governments simply weren't on board with private entities armed with capital ship weaponry.  Not if they can help it, at least

I think there should have been military personnel with weaponry and perhaps armed smaller ships. A dedicated hanger bay on the arks for military craft in case of defense. Without a doubt, they could have suspected that there may have been the presence of other species that they were not aware off, and thus would have taken protective measures before they left.

All in all, I believe they couldn't arm the arks due to legal issues in the Milky Way, but they should have had protective measures aboard for military personnel for safety purposes.

Well look at the happened to the council representatives on the Yagh homeworld,if you want peace then prepare for war.
The first contact war started when the Turians directly attacked the Human forces at the relay,there was no meeting just aggression.

Absolutely they should have been.

I can understand the logic behind the Tempest being unarmed, but the arks should have some form of defensive capability. Something along the lines of advanced shielding/armor and anti-missile systems.

They did seem to at least bring along fighters, but that was it for anything nearing offensive capabilities without modifying shuttles or the Tempest.

Overall the Initiative is very much a hope for the best side of things. I think Tann even said they thought they would be able to reason their way out of any hostilities. The game makes it really clear throughout that the initiative were almost pacifist in their outlook on things. The constant "Things will be different here in Andromeda" is crazy if you ask me.

If the arks had been armed the Kett would've destroyed them completely.

In hindsight, yes, they should have been armed. A lot of asari and salarians would still be alive if they had defenses.

I understand why they weren't, and I can't fault them for that decision, but I imagine it's a decision they wouldn't have repeated if they could go back and do it all over again.

Of course the AI does have weapons. But the distinction is whether they send an Exploration/Colonization ship with a handful of marines, or whether they send an expeditionary force packed in a Warship.

The distinction is a conscious one and not an oversight by the writers.
The Natives (Angara) graced two types of aliens from outside the Helius Cluster.
One, from Andromeda Proper, comes the Kett, Armed with Warships and aimed at not only conquering Helius, but also Assimilating them.
Two, from the Milky way, the AI, riding in on large Colony ships, aimed to integrate and cohabit Helius.


This is a thematic choice on how to tackle the matter of "what is the proper way to colonize"?
By not arming the AI arks, the writers are saying that the AI should not be seen akin to Columbus or other conquistadors who "discovered" and then wiped out the native populace.

I don't think they have the answer (how could they???) but they are definitely probing the question.

In the Hyperion entry in the codex, or was in in the AI one, either way it said that goverments werent happy with a private organisation building 4 dreadnaught csize ships and concessions had to be made, i assume that means guns

personally i think "nuke the motherfuckers" would be a appropriate and justified reaction