Questions tagged [mass-effect]
Mass Effect is a series of award-winning science fiction video games, developed by BioWare. The player controls a character called Commander Shepard through a well-developed story line.
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What propulsion system are the Reapers using?
In the Mass Effect trilogy, the main races (Humans, Turians, Asari, Quarians) ships use a "traditional rocket type" propulsion:
Human ship (Normandy)
Asari ship
However, Reapers don't seem ...
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Why didn't the Catalyst use the Synthesize solution by itself?
In the Mass Effect franchise, at the end of Mass Effect 3, you have the possibility to select the Synthesise option, therefore stopping the cycle and avoiding war between organics and synthetics. The ...
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In the Mass Effect Universe, more specifically ME3, why are there no Quarians on Rannoch?
In ME1 what we know of the Geth comes from the information we get from the pause menu, and more personally from Tali. She tells of how the Geth drove her people from her home world, and how they (the ...
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Why does Legion have to be used instead of any Geth?
In Mass Effect 3 if Legion survives the second game you find him in a Geth ship boosting Reaper codes against his will, but even if he doesn't survive they make a remake of him as a form of VI. But ...
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Why did the geth never leave Rannoch?
So you have the geth, a robotic race that overthrew their former masters, the quarians, and cast them off their shared homeworld of Rannoch to go live in outer space, while they hide from the rest of ...
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How did they maintain the Nexus/Arks in good condition?
The exposition of Mass Effect: Andromeda is that the Nexus and the five Arks are on a journey to the Andromeda Galaxy in FTL-travel. This travel needs approximately 600 years and the colonists are in ...
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What happened to Husks after synthesis ending of Mass Effect 3?
If Shepard chooses synthesis ending (green one) - what actually happens to Husks? Are they dead or they become sane?
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Why does the Normandy SR-2's CIC have so many crew stations?
The Combat Information Center of the Normandy SR-2 (Cerberus configuration; I haven't played ME3) appears, despite having oceans of empty space, to also have more crew stations than it could ...
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If two Ardat-Yakshi mate together, will they both die or survive?
In the Mass Effect universe, the Ardat-Yakshi are some rare kind of Asari that will cause death in the partner they mate with. The most well-known Ardat-Yakshi is Morinth.
I am wondering, however, ...
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Why is the Asari councilor in Aria's pocket?
In Mass Effect 3:
Video is subtitled with open captions, but here's a transcript for people with crappy internet:
IMMIGRATION OFFICER: So you admit you and your ...
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What happened to the Collector General when Harbinger "Assumed Direct Control" of another collector?
In the end we see that the Collector General is released from his Assumed Direct Control that Harbinger had over him when the Collector Base is destroyed, implying that throughout the game the ...
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How come the Asari are natural biotics?
Millions of years ago, the Reapers built the Mass Effect Relays and left them behind for future civilizations to use and study. The hope was to force those civilizations down a technological path ...
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How do turians reproduce?
Compared with the Asari, developers didn't give too many details about turians.
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Why is Kirrahe brown?
In Mass Effect, Captain Kirrahe looks like this:
In Mass Effect 3, if he survived, he looks like this:
Unlike Shiala in Mass Effect 2, Kirrahe does not have a "Why are you brown?" dialog option.
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How did the spaceships travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda without running out of fuel?
How did the spaceships travel from the Milky Way to the Andromeda galaxy for 6 centuries? How did they not run out of fuel? Or do those spaceship have nigh infinite fuel?
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Why did the Reapers not harvest other galaxies?
If it only takes 600 years to reach Andromeda, and it has lots of species, why didn't the Reapers go there to harvest stuff instead of traveling 50,000 years into dark space?
There should be plenty ...
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Mass effect: Andromeda planetary transportation
I get that the Mako (now the Nomad) was brought back because of the nostalgic good part of the original game.
Now comparing an all terrain buggy with wheels with a hover buggy: does not a hover car ...
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What is the name of the track that plays before the Geth Armature fight on Therum?
The other night my friend was having me listen to samples from the Mass Effect soundtrack(s) (she said there was more then 1 for the first game) that she was going to get me, making sure that I ...
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How did Legion know that this was the right choice?
Spoilers for Mass Effect 2 and 3 are unmarked because there's no point in spoilerifying the whole question.
When Shepard talks to Legion on the Normandy during ME3, Legion characterizes a previous ...
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First contact protocol(s) in Mass Effect
I wonder, what are (or have been) first contact policies for each species in Mass Effect along the timeline ?
I found some examples in the corresponding wikia, like the peacefull first contact ...
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How do they get to Andromeda so fast?
So this has been bothering me since I saw the teaser trailer yesterday, in the teaser they said it took 600 years to get to Andromeda from Earth. This just sounds WAY too short a period if time. So I ...
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What did Desolas mean by "civilian rulers?"
In the middle of a lengthy monologue (Mass Effect: Library Edition volume 1 p. 167, originally in Mass Effect: Evolution #4), Desolas says this:
According to the in-game codex (Secondary Codex -> ...
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Why is the krogan genophage dilemma portrayed so inconsistently?
The ethical problems with the Krogan stem from their massive birth rate: an adult female who lives for centuries pops out ~1 surviving child per Solar year and ~999 that don't survive, or a total ...
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In Mass Effect 3, how do the Reapers attack Earth without anyone realizing they are getting close?
In the ME2 DLC Arrival, the Reapers are revealed to be entering the galaxy near a specific Relay so that they can use that relay to get onto the network and start attacking. After we blow it up, they ...
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Why did Catalyst offer the other options to Shepard at all?
In Mass Effect 3,
The above is with reference to the below video major ending spoilers:
If Catalyst already believes that to be the ideal solution, why offer the ...
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Why did the Reapers bring the Catalyst to Earth?
At the end of Mass Effect 3, the Reapers seize control of the Citadel (which is the Catalyst) and bring it to Earth orbit. Out of universe, it's obvious. A final stand on Earth is simply cool. But ...
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Are there any official images of Salarian Warships
The Mass Effect Wiki confirms that the Salarian's do in fact maintain a small yet technically advanced fleet, including 16 dreadnoughts with stealth capability covertly obtained from both the Normandy ...
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What is the chronological and correct reading order for the Mass Effect series?
There are several books, comics and of course the games for the Mass Effect series. I'd like to know the chronological reading order for all the media related to the universe.
Books:
Revelation
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Did the Salarians ever crash in New Mexico?
Out-of-universe, the salarians of Mass Effect were based heavily on the stereotypical "Gray Man" aliens made famous by the supposed Roswell UFO crash. Their long thin limbs, enormous eyes, relatively ...
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How are the Reapers numbers sustainable?
Throughout the ME series we see Reapers being destroyed. Notable examples of this are:
Sovereign in ME1 after it was disabled
The Reaper on Rannoch
The Reaper on Tuchanka
During the Final battle for ...
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Why weren't the various societies of Mass Effect able to see the previous Reaper harvest via telescope?
The Milky Way is ~100,000 light years across, and the penultimate harvest took place ~50,000 years ago. If they wanted to see what happened back then, couldn't they literally look back in time? ...
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Why do the geth use standard drones to control fighters?
In Mass Effect 3, a standard geth drone is shown piloting a fighter, just like a human would. Why do the geth need physical controls like this? It is repeatedly emphasized that geth do not normally ...
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Why did no one attack the Geth after the events of Mass Effect?
In Mass Effect 2 you learn that the Council still believes the Geth build Sovereign. So why did the Council (or anyone else) never tried to destroy a race supposedly capable of building a ship that ...
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How fast do ships using FTL travel in Mass Effect?
I've been looking for some info on the FTL speeds of ships in Mass Effect but I have been unable to find anything. Can anyone provide a speed and sources? If not can anyone provide the time it takes ...
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Why didn't the Normandy crew experience time dilation?
In the Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2, Commander Shepard and the Normandy crew travel to the galactic core to destroy the Collector Base.
The Collector Base is located on the accretion disc of a ...
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Why did Wilson betray Project Lazarus?
The opening sequence of Mass Effect 2 features Wilson, one of the specialists assigned to revive the dead Commander Shepard, betraying the team and trying to kill them all with the station's mechs. ...
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Who is the master of the pattern?
Toward the end of Mass Effect 3, Shepard encounters a Prothean VI called Vendetta. This VI has something very interesting to say about the nature of the universe:
Vendetta: Our studies of past ages ...
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What early contribution did Humans make to Citadel space?
According to Avina near the very beginning of Mass Effect 1,
"In recognition of their work to expand interstellar trade and establish a standardized galactic economy, the Volus were granted an ...
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Why didn't the Council attack the geth immediately?
Shortly after the Morning War, the quarians asked the Council to destroy the geth. The Council instead decided to close the quarian embassy, and otherwise ignored the problem entirely.
Given the ...
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Does Mass Effect provide a lore reason why you can't use enemy weapons?
Is there a reason given why you can't just take weapons from enemies that you've killed? For example, in the Metal Gear Solid series they (sometimes) state that enemy weapons are locked, through DNA ...
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How could humans and turians communicate during the First Contact War?
A supplementary codex entry added in Bring Down the Sky states (or at least very strongly implies) that universal translation does not exist in the Mass Effect universe. But in Mass Effect: Evolution,...
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When did the Illusive Man become indoctrinated?
Indoctrination is a slow process, but by the comments from various characters in ME1, it seems like it's not that slow: as I recall, the Tholian hostage describes it as taking "days, even weeks" ...
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What does XO mean/stand for? [closed]
In the first Mass Effect game, After obtaining the Normady when you leave the Ship's VI says
XO Presley has the Deck.
and when you return it says
XO Presley stands relived.
Now i am assuming ...
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Why do people traveling FTL using Mass Effect Relays not experience time dilation?
I have a limited understanding of the physics of it, but as far as I know time dilates at higher velocities. Meaning that time essentially passes slower for objects moving at higher velocities. Why ...
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Do Mass Relays aim and point?
In cut scenes where the Normandy uses a Mass Relay it runs along side it, even the Conduit when the Mako used it shot upwards (however the Mako doesn't dive into the ground when arriving on the ...
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Why is the Citadel relay needed?
From what I read about the Mass Effect 2 DLC Arrival, Shepard destroyed the Alpha Relay because this was going to be an entry point of the Reaper invasion, so destroying it delayed the invasion.
Even ...
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Is it just the Milky Way the Reapers attack?
At the end of Mass Effect 2 we see the Reapers outside the Milky Way approaching and during Mass Effect 3 in the Galaxy Map they seem to appears on the edges and make their way inward.
I am wondering,...
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Why were living humans used by the Collectors?
In Mass Effect 2 you learn that the reason the Collectors were abducting humans was to turn them into a paste in order to create a Human Reaper.
Considering the Composition of the human body and how ...
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How quickly do Krogan reproduce, naturally and after the Genophage?
The Mass Effect Wiki says that krogan females can produce up to 1,000 fertilized eggs in a year. However, we also know that Tuchanka is an insanely dangerous place to live: between the thresher maws ...
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Why did the Human Reaper look Human?
I'm guessing that the real answer here is "because the writers changed their minds," but is there an in-universe reason for why the proto-Reaper at the end of Mass Effect 2 actually LOOKED human? ...
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