Things that don't make sense (v2)

and E.T sort of-ish....lol

Did they know it was called the conduit?

No one knew at that time that the mini-me relay on the presidium was  the conduit.  Shepard learned that when on Ilos.

What do you mean when? You brought up Shepard mentioning it when talking with the council, but no one knew at that time what it was. 

And archaeology and information brokering are vastly different skills as well. DeinonSlayer made a very good point about how information brokering for Liara is like trying to play the stock market with a cursory knowledge of mathematics. It would require being able to read people, know who to trust, how much information to give away and whether they in turn are bluffing or know more than they let on. Liara was established as socially awkward to the point she couldn't even tell when Shepard was joking. We never see her develop the skills, only somehow she has them without any struggle or effort while Garrus, Kaidan, Ashley and Tali all have had some form of military training. When we first see Tali, she doesn't cringe, she throws a grenade and dives for cover when she is ambushed. When we first see Garrus in combat, he's carefully assessing the situation and taking advantage of the enemy's distraction immediately. Ashley was first introduced on the run but able to fight back before regaining ground. The first time we see Liara...she's cowering and shrinking while everyone else is doing the fighting. She doesn't even have the sense to take cover and clearly didn't have the sense to keep calm when she got herself trapped in stasis. She faints every time after a mind meld (while Shiala is hardly winded) and is stumbling and oblivious as to why Ashley or Kaidan are upset when a love triangle occurs between her and them.

Gameplay does not support Liara as an experienced combatant or a socially savvy person in ME1. It's all tell, no show. And I've read people's posts about their time in the military. Basic training is more than just marching and shooting guns. It's about training muscle memory, reflexes, psychological endurance and more until you're reacting properly in highly tense situations. Somehow Liara gained a talent for information brokering and fighting with no build up or demonstration of aptitude for it. 

Interesting.

Liara cowers when facing the krogan on Therum. Why? I would do all I could do to survive. Cowering wouldn't be one of them. Lets jump about 3 years into the future. On Thessia, facing a similar situation, Liara this time is wearing armor and has a weapon in her hand. Kai Leng is the enemy. He runs towards her. What does she do? She freezes. She ends up being thrown across the screen or as I like to call it, ends up flying on Kai Leng Airlines. Its obvious she hasn't learned anything in the past 3 years. After talking with Vigil, if t'soni is taken to Ilos, she will want to stay and study the archives. I guess she doesn't want to stop Saren. She's not focused on the mission. On Mars, after seeing the video showing the people dying, she has doubts about stopping the reapers. Having negative waves is not going to help. One thing she says that is funny, during the Mars mission, is she will make a comment about A/K being capable. She may want to look in the mirror.

As far as her being an information broker. It doesn't make sense. In ME1, she will say many times, if taken on missions, that she's studied the prothean's for however long, and even want to stay on Ilos to study the archives. She just forgets about them to go after the shadow broker to find Feron.  What's funny is she will say, after the broker is killed, she now can help find a way to stop the reapers. Nothing was stopping her. 

With Tali, she throws a grenade to avoid being killed. She most likely would have been killed even if Shepard didn't show. But she did enough to keep herself alive. In ME3, and if her loyalty mission is completed, she is an honorary Admiral. I laughed when I heard that. I laughed even more when I chose the geth and she stood there doing nothing to prevent the upload. So much for that Admiral crap. 

I do agree that it didn't make sense for Ashley to rise in rank like she did from ME2 to ME3. I could understand being made Warrant Officer of maybe 2nd or 1st Lt, but a Lt. Commander, no. Then she becomes a spectre. What happens when the sequel is released? Will A/K be reassigned to do what the council wants him/her to do?

I think Citadel was made silly on purpose in order to make people feel good. Let's be honest, they wanted to smooth people over who hated the ending. It's kind of like an alternate ending for some. Some people even made a mod which essentially skips right to the DLC after the main game finishes.