I can't remember where I saw it but somebody on one of the myriads of ME fan sites out there suggested a plot twist where the Arks doubled as Mass Effect relays. According to the ME wiki, it was built by the initiative using an experimental drive core for the long voyage. What if they used Prothean technology unearthed by the Ryders to construct it? And after the events of Andromeda, now they can settle on different planets in the cluster, leaving the Arks to be reconstructed into Mass Relays. The Pathfinder still has more to do and is eager to explore, as seen at the end of the game. Ryder and crew can continue exploring outside of the cluster, placing a footprint on new worlds (while discovering new species and the outlier Angaran settlements mentioned in the game). Take an ark once things are safe and then place them on different points in various systems to get across parts of the galaxy easily. Naturally, this would take a long while, but perhaps it could add some fuel for the next game, all the while dealing with the Kett incident and maybe some shaky diplomacy relations with the Angara. Who knows, maybe the Benefactor already knew the Arks were capable of this and assigned some engineers to make sure there was a smooth transition. Plus, with the chance to still access Ezo resources, you can definitely apply this to the reconstruction. Thoughts?

I think it's more probable that they will find some kind of remnant tech that allows for faster travel. Either some kind of relay like thing or faster / better ship drives that they manage to adapt to our ships. They aren't going to force a canon ME3 ending- it just won't happen. It would create too much of a *-storm for starters which would be more detrimental to the games than anything else they could do to them. If, I stress if, because I don’t think it will ever happen. If the milky way is ever revisited, they will either find a way to adapt all possible endings (even the cycle continues - could have been hidden pockets of milkyway species to return after the reapers are gone) or, they will do some kind of alternate universe. 600 years into the future - Sheps dead anyways no matter what ending you picked. The others could have died too for any number of reasons even the long lived species. It'd only take a question to the player about what ending they picked and a line or two of dialogue to sort it. Our games now tho are andromeda and I expect the further into andromeda we get the more disconnected we will be from the milkyway.

Well, speculating, as usual, it might be possible that some data could be retrieved from MW, based on its ending. Given that it's not yet clear if the next instalment will consider an ending to MW trilogy ... let's assume that people back in MW would be reconstructing the relays, and that knowledge would prove fundamental to pass along to those in Andromeda, because with the knowledge given by the reapers, whichever the end picked, but mostly the Control and Synthesis ending, things would turn out easier to pass along.

It was said back then that the endings wouldn't influence MEA in any ways, right. Still, I'm starting to think that there's still too much influence coming from the MW's events in this game. I'm ok with them generically speaking, but I'm not sure if it'll work properly later on. I don't know what they intend with their plot. Regarding what you said about the arks, it would add a touch of mystique, yes, but it would also add a strong uncertainty for something so many lives would depend on. However, crossing the first relay demanded boldness, Alec's boldness. It would make sense in his case relying his future upon something uncertain such as something he doesn't really understand. If that's the case, then your suppositions could be based on that.

Well guess there's only 2 ways the story could progress with regards to the milky way, it's either: 1) Bioware already mentioned that they wanted to make MEA separate from the trilogy, if they hold true to their intentions, then the Quarian Ark would probably be the last thing from the milky way that we will see. Anything after that Bioware will need to commit to a canon ME ending. 2) Bioware needs to bring back Milky way elements for whatever reasons(needing to boost sales? needing to damage control and recover from poorer MEA ratings?), then they will need to sort out a canon ending for the ME trilogy(there are a total of 10 possible endings for ME3, redx3 outcomes(depending on war assets), bluex3outcomes and greenx3outcomes+ shooting the catalyst(cycle continues). Then possibly one of the ways they can do this is the ark as mass relays theory, Quantum Entanglement etc.

I don't think that they will build new relays between Andromeda and the Milky Way unless they plan to launch a new series of Milky Way ME games, but I'm almost surprised that they didn't manage to sneak the Citadel end of the Conduit on an Andromeda bound vessel. That actually could make for some interesting twists to the game, especially if the Ilos end was moved somewhere the Reapers wouldn't look. If you had enough of the vessel put together at transit, you could actually build much or most of it in transit as the materials were shipped in a bit at a time

Arks as Relays...possible? | EA Forums

20 Replies

Anonymous
9 years ago
Well, speculating, as usual, it might be possible that some data could be retrieved from MW, based on its ending. Given that it's not yet clear if the next instalment will consider an ending to MW trilogy ... let's assume that people back in MW would be reconstructing the relays, and that knowledge would prove fundamental to pass along to those in Andromeda, because with the knowledge given by the reapers, whichever the end picked, but mostly the Control and Synthesis ending, things would turn out easier to pass along.
Anonymous
9 years ago
If I'm understanding correctly, I don't think ME:3's events would have an impact, considering they left before those events (between 2 & 3, I think?). I would think they may already have the knowledge to make/change them beforehand so they can (or perhaps already) put it into effect with the initiative project. Not knowing exactly how the Arks were made, I'm not quite sure but it seems possible and would be cool lorewise.
Anonymous
9 years ago
It was said back then that the endings wouldn't influence MEA in any ways, right. Still, I'm starting to think that there's still too much influence coming from the MW's events in this game. I'm ok with them generically speaking, but I'm not sure if it'll work properly later on. I don't know what they intend with their plot.

Regarding what you said about the arks, it would add a touch of mystique, yes, but it would also add a strong uncertainty for something so many lives would depend on. However, crossing the first relay demanded boldness, Alec's boldness. It would make sense in his case relying his future upon something uncertain such as something he doesn't really understand. If that's the case, then your suppositions could be based on that.
VladVonCastein
9 years ago
Well guess there's only 2 ways the story could progress with regards to the milky way, it's either:

1) Bioware already mentioned that they wanted to make MEA separate from the trilogy, if they hold true to their intentions, then the Quarian Ark would probably be the last thing from the milky way that we will see. Anything after that Bioware will need to commit to a canon ME ending.

2) Bioware needs to bring back Milky way elements for whatever reasons(needing to boost sales? needing to damage control and recover from poorer MEA ratings?), then they will need to sort out a canon ending for the ME trilogy(there are a total of 10 possible endings for ME3, redx3 outcomes(depending on war assets), bluex3outcomes and greenx3outcomes+ shooting the catalyst(cycle continues). Then possibly one of the ways they can do this is the ark as mass relays theory, Quantum Entanglement etc.
fudgietroll
9 years ago
I don't think that they will build new relays between Andromeda and the Milky Way unless they plan to launch a new series of Milky Way ME games, but I'm almost surprised that they didn't manage to sneak the Citadel end of the Conduit on an Andromeda bound vessel. That actually could make for some interesting twists to the game, especially if the Ilos end was moved somewhere the Reapers wouldn't look. If you had enough of the vessel put together at transit, you could actually build much or most of it in transit as the materials were shipped in a bit at a time
ViViD_Prime
9 years ago
Perhaps there is no response to the arrival beacon is because there was a 4th ending aka everyone died shepard and co all got harvested and the cycle contiuned
Anonymous
9 years ago
Hmm, I guess I'm not really seeing why the endings would matter anyway because the timeline veers off beforehand. So whatever happens after they left doesn't really matter storywise but lore wise they would probably figure that the reapers came and your ending of choice occurs. Changing the arks into relays could even be an afterthought; sort of a "since we had the technology in the MW, we could do something like that for the Andromeda galaxy to get around".
Anonymous
9 years ago
Although the risk it would pose bringing such technology along and it got stolen, or even dominated by any unfriendly civilization. It would not be safe for MW either.
Anonymous
9 years ago
True that. Although I guess the same could be said for SAM considering how that turned out. (And I still think something ominous could happen with SAM and the remnant in the next game; especially when the Quarians show up).
ViViD_Prime
9 years ago
personally i think nothing will happen with sam there are enough threats already without making an ai the villian again

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Arks as Relays...possible?

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