Mass Effect: What happens when humans make warp drive?

[Corvus 501]

So, NASA and some other physicists devaloped the warp drive, and associated gravaty controll tech, including inertial dampeners. Humans travle out of the sol system using a drive much faster than all but the most powerful mass effect FTL systems, and don't find out about mass relays until after First Contact. However, the Turians after seeing humans arrive in the 314 system, think that humans must have used the relay to get into the system, and open fire after the human ships activate their EM, and plasma barrier shields.

[SilverDragonRed]

There are a couple of problems with this scenario. First, no one would assume that the humans used the relays because dormant relays being activated alerts people on the Citadel. The Turians would still fire on humans vessels due to Relay 314 and the Shanxi colony being in Turian-claimed space, and they're a bunch of dicks.

Secondly, you seem to have given the human ships energy weapons. If they're any stronger and longer ranged than the hilariously weak Collecter ship beam weapon, you've turned the First Contact War into the First Contact Turkey Shoot.

[Corvus 501]

Humans don't really have them, the Turians only think that they do, because the shields look (to somone not used to energy weapons) like some type of overcharged plasma cannon.

[Corvus 501]

Also, the Turians think that humans are using relay travle because human ships are nearby a relay, and 314 is a prime relay, I think.

[Corvus 501]

Humans don't really have them, the Turians only think that they do, because the shields look (to somone not used to energy weapons) like some type of overcharged plasma cannon.

The EM shield (a powerful electromagnetic field projected from emitters set on shock obsorbers) and plasma barrier (large volume of ionozed gas trapped in a magnetic field, dosn't to anything to stop lasers) look (to the ignorant ) like a plasma torpedo launch system.

[Simon_Jester]

You know how "ionized" is spelled, right? And "do?"

Also, how ignorant do you have to be to mistake a defensive system (which is only, y'know, used to defend the ship) for an offensive one? How do you mistake "they used this to deflect incoming fire" for "they were shooting at us?"

[Corvus 501]

What the plasma barrier LOOKED LIKE was a plasma cannon on a massive scale, not that it was.

[biostem]

I'm a little confused by the OP - please clarify the order of event:

1. Humans enter Turian-controlled space.
2. Humans activate their defensive systems, (the plasma barrier you described), just because they detected the Turian ship?
3. The Turians mistake this defensive system as an energy weapon, (powering up or otherwise), and decide to open fire on the human ship?

The scenario tells us little about the human ship's capabilities - can their plasma shield block the Turian weapons indefinitely? Are the humans using matter/antimatter warp reactors, like in Star Trek? Can they exploit the speed advantage during combat?

[edaw1982]

Overreacting to a relay being opened and encountering an alien ship are two different things.
The Turians, and indeed *every* council race is aware of the existence of barriers, being as that's one of the main defensive systems of their armour and ships.

So they probably wouldn't go 'By the Spirits! This ship has an energy field surrounding it, totally somthing with which we have never encountered before!!', at the very least they're more liable to get their hackles raised, get pissy about some alien race galavanting around their patrolled territory and flange angrilly at these funny looking mandible-less space pijaks.

And because it won't start a shooting war because the humans weren't screwing around with relays, and the Turians, despite..or because of being 'Space Romans' will not be inclined to shoot at the aliens just for having funny ships and a weird shield barrier.
As wars tend to be rather costly affairs for both sides with a reasonably equal footing.

The Asari will be called in, and they'll waft around diplomatically, they'll go "Oh this FTL it's not what we'd use but, well I'm sure it has some....use.." whilst secretly kicking themselves and keeping a very leery eye on these humans who now, suddenly have the Blitzkrieg advantage.

The humans of course will probably build up a fleet because, 'Ahh aliens with weapons and lots of starships we can't let them have a leg up on us!', and because they're using a different tech base, might be more inclined to chaff under the restrictions imposed by the Citidel.

[Anacronian]

Just how fast is this Warp technology the humans develop? - since normal FTL in the mass effect universe is around 4000C it would have to be a very fast warp system to make any difference.

[Starglider]

Just how fast is this Warp technology the humans develop? - since normal FTL in the mass effect universe is around 4000C it would have to be a very fast warp system to make any difference.

If he's referencing Star Trek, the fastest sustained warp speed we've seen from a Federation ship was about 3000c, which Voyager maintained for at least five days when crossing Borg space.

[edaw1982]

So ME FTL tends to be used in short spurts?

[Anacronian]

So ME FTL tends to be used in short spurts?

I'm not sure but i don't think so - With most Mass Relays having 100+ light years distance between them and a standard ship being able to do 10-15 light years a day they do at least seem to be in FTL for days.

[Simon_Jester]

Could someone unpack for me how mass relay technology is used, and how Mass Effect FTL works in general? I gather that the relays are ancient artifacts; what is their effect? Do they teleport ships instantly from relay to relay? Does it take time to get from one relay to another? What means exist for ships to move independent of the relays?

[Anacronian]

Could someone unpack for me how mass relay technology is used, and how Mass Effect FTL works in general? I gather that the relays are ancient artifacts; what is their effect? Do they teleport ships instantly from relay to relay? Does it take time to get from one relay to another? What means exist for ships to move independent of the relays?

Mass Relays = near instantanious travel over huge distances-There are two kinds of mass relay, primary and secondary. Primary relays can propel a ship thousands of light years but only link to one other relay, its "partner". Secondary relays can link to any other relay over shorter distances, only a few hundred light years.

FTL = Means of travel between relays, The ship uses a mass effect field to lover it's mass to nothing and then uses thrusters to accelerate the ship to superluminal speeds - 4000c to 5000c is standard speeds for the races of the galaxy, Reapers are about twice as fast.

Edit : found a picture that shows some of the primary relays.

[Batman]

It's a game so nobody gives a damn about the physics making sense anyway but all you get by reducing the ship's mass to zero is the ability to move at lightspeed. To move FTL you have to reduce the mass of the ship to less than zero.

[Anacronian]

It's a game so nobody gives a damn about the physics making sense anyway but all you get by reducing the ship's mass to zero is the ability to move at lightspeed. To move FTL you have to reduce the mass of the ship to less than zero.

I should correct myself - the CODEX just reads : FTL drives are devices which allow ships to travel at FTL speeds through space. FTL drive cores work by exposing element zero to electric currents, creating mass effect fields. It reduces the mass of an object, such as a starship, to a point where velocities faster than the speed of light are possible.

So yeah i was wrong to put in the "reduce to nothing.." - my mistake.

[Batman]

Not that I see how that is supposed to work using reaction engines anyway-you reduce the mass of the ship, you reduce the mass of the fuel on the ship, which in turn reduces either your thrust (less fuel mass thrown out the back of your ship so not as much going faster) or your powered endurance (reduced mass means you have to throw out more fuel to maintain acceleration which means you eat through your fuel stores faster).

[Simon_Jester]

OK, so handwave handwave...

Anyway. Basically, mass effect fields are arguably a form of 'warp' in their own right given that you're surrounding the ship in a field that alters its inertial mass. And in Mass Effect, ships have a standard built-in drive that runs at something on the close order of 3000c (between one and ten thousand).

This is totally independent of the mass-relay system of long range interstellar 'jump gates.'

Gotcha.

In that case, yeah, standard Mass Effect FTL will make any form of FTL 'warp' drive nothing more than an amusing parlor trick, unless said drive has the ability to move a ship at an average speed of more than about ten to fifteen light years per day.

FTL 'jump' drives could still be interesting if they allow the ship to instantaneously jump short distances out of its onboard power supply, a la BattleTech.

[Anacronian]

OK, so handwave handwave...

Anyway. Basically, mass effect fields are arguably a form of 'warp' in their own right given that you're surrounding the ship in a field that alters its inertial mass. And in Mass Effect, ships have a standard built-in drive that runs at something on the close order of 3000c (between one and ten thousand).

This is totally independent of the mass-relay system of long range interstellar 'jump gates.'

Gotcha.

In that case, yeah, standard Mass Effect FTL will make any form of FTL 'warp' drive nothing more than an amusing parlor trick, unless said drive has the ability to move a ship at an average speed of more than about ten to fifteen light years per day.

FTL 'jump' drives could still be interesting if they allow the ship to instantaneously jump short distances out of its onboard power supply, a la BattleTech.

Yup pretty much fast Star Trek + Stargate.

[edaw1982]

So essentially, the FTL is the slow lane and Mass Relays are like getting on the fast lane of a motorway?
And all tech, from FTL to mass relays was either designed by the reapers in some contrived 'lets-kill-everything-off-but-not *everything* and let them develop enough tech that they make things interesting using the technology we bread-crumbed around the place...rather than wiping them out before they become a niggly issue' means of keeping the status quo?

Would've been more interesting...if not entirely original (but what is) if it was a species using their own tech rather than using the same as everyone else to tip the balance.
I mean it would've been fun if it was one of those 'Ha ha point and laugh' races like the Volus. 'Ha ha asthmatic spaceJe--wait how did you circumvent the Reaper fleets? Dafuq?...You developed your own FTL method?....Sonoffabitch'

Although I suppose even that has been done before.
But still, it'd be better than 'Humans are awesome because humans wrote this so suck it aliens' cliche in sci-fi.

[APlayerHater]

Huh, didn't know how fast ME ftl was. Guess I missed that codex entry. Yeah, given your level of warp you're either going 1c or 3000c, and that's not even getting into ships that are supposed to have transwarp drive. Well, given that we don't really know anything about the stuff this human ship has, do we just assume it's Star Trek stuff? Phasers and photon torpedos. Step aside Sir Isaac Newton, there's a new sonofabitch in space.