How long could Mass Effect last against the Federation?

[Star Wars 888]

Let's say that the Federation is for some reason invading the Citadel races from Mass Effect by using a worm hole. Due to safety, logistical and political concerns they may only send 1 tenth of their forces at a time with a delay time between waves of 2 months.

A Federation defector warns the Citadel Council, which are usual ignores the threat, except for Captain Anderson who warns Shepard, who uses his influence to warn the council races. Although Shepard isn't completely believed, the council races begin to monitor the wormhole more closely, increase their military spending and stay on higher alert.

Who wins?

[adam_grif]

Ah yes, "The Federation". A communist human empire from the 23rd century, allegedly waiting behind a wormhole. We have dismissed that claim.

Who wins?

Trek shields will interact with ME railguns, but it's not certain whether Kinetic Barriers will interact with phasers or not. MEverse will crush the federation mercilessly on the ground, but that's not unusual for Feds in vs scenarios.

What is the size of the Fed fleet? Which series is it from? Have they built up for war? From memory they had hundreds of ships in DS9 when on a war footing, but I'm uncertain about that. Cruiser (<500m iirc) sized ships are possessed in the hundreds by the the Systems Alliance, with a much larger figure possessed by each council race. Dreadnoughts are KM+, but only possesed in limited numbers (35 for Turians, 20someting for Asari, unknown for Salarians, 8 for SA). Their weapons are likely to gut a federation ship with a couple of shots, if we take the 38 KT figure given by the codex as canon.

That said, ME ships will NOT be highly durable without barriers. Even the larger ones. Regular swarm tactics for fighters / frigates against Trek ships probably won't be very useful because they are designed to counter kinetic barriers, specifically.

If they come through in waves of 10% of Fed strength, the galaxy can most likely repel them.

[Feil]

There's a zappy beam weapon in Mass Effect 2 that is described as firing 'focused radiation'. Your shields protect against it (although it eats through both shields and health rapidly, being a heavy weapon).

[Star Wars 888]

Mass Effect dreadnought heavy guns are about 3 times Hiroshima, which is far weaker than Star Trek capital weapons. The Federation is more advanced than the Citadel races by quite a bit, but Mass Effect has the very fast mass relays as a strategic and logistical asset, although that may be their weakness; a Federation fleet could capture the Citadel and then the Citadel races are screwed.

In this scenario the Mass Effect races will have a better starting position. If they can repel the initial invasion force, the Federation will have a hard time establishing a foothold since their warp drive fuel is limited to a few thousand light years. Therefore they would have to capture a developed planet relatively intact (which would be difficult; Mass Effect has the ground advantage in both quality and quantity) and hold it while developing an infastructure.

BTW, this is 24th century Federation in this scenario. One would assume that both sides would militarize in a war.

[Feil]

The guns in question are kinetic-kill weapons. The comparison with nuclear bombs is accurate, but only for determining their effects if used like nuclear bombs. In space, a nuclear bomb (or a mass-annihilation photon torpedo, IF we suppose that it has the multi-megaton firepower that we NEVER see ANYWHERE in ANY of the episodes of Star Trek) kills its target by shining really bright light at it.

As a useful point of comparison, the energy imparted to a target by .45 bullet to the forehead, spread out across the volume of that bullet, delivered instantaneously, would give you a painful burn. The bullet itself will blow your head off. The bullet will kill you through a thin layer of almost any imaginable intervening material, whereas a wet rag draped over your forehead will completely neutralize a directed energy pulse a thousand times more energetic than the bullet.

We have, as it happens, seen what happens when a Star Trek space ship is struck by a kinetic-kill weapon (like, for instance, a space fighter crashing into it). The space ship either crumples or explodes violently.

I don't have any idea what the capabilities of Mass Effect's space ships are, and I'm not particularly well-versed in Star Trek, either, so I have no stance on who would win - but whoever wins, it certainly won't be because a kinetic-kill weapon with 37kT of energy behind it was unable to kill a Star Trek warship.

[Ford Prefect]

The Federation is more advanced than the Citadel races by quite a bit

What's your criterion for 'more advanced'? Serious question, but just for my own curiousity.

[OsirisLord]

We call in the krogans.

Well that was over pathetically quickly.

[Caiaphas]

Can you give fleet counts? Be really helpful for determining a few things for both sides.

As for Mass Effect, exact fleet numbers are even more vague, but there's at least a hint--Joker brings in a single fleet to the Citadel near the end of ME1, and I counted, eh, around a dozen ships before the camera moved off. The Normandy apparently blocks some of them, because I could've sworn I'd seen a few little shapes behind it, and apparently the fleet was still in the process of jumping in, because when you look again, when the fleet is making the run on the Geth fleet, there are a lot more than just one dozen.

I suppose the most critical questions to be answered here are would kinetic barriers block phasers and would ME ships be able to either dodge or destroy Trek torpedoes? If phasers are particle beams, then yes, ME shields do work against them. Torpedoes might be able to be destroyed--the larger ME ships have anti-torpedo lasers mounted on them, according to the wiki. If both are true, then Trek loses a lot of its combat effectiveness.

Oh, and mass relays are going to be huge in this; according to the wiki (again) reinforcements are minutes away from the Citadel, thanks to the mass relay network. All depends on how many ships the Mass Effect guys can muster and where that wormhole is located.

Regular swarm tactics for fighters / frigates against Trek ships probably won't be very useful because they are designed to counter kinetic barriers, specifically.

Yeah, fighters are probably going to get slaughtered if they try those tactics; do both sides have knowledge of each others' capabilities and technology?

[wautd]

How easy/hard will it be to work out the mass relays? The feds well be seriously handicapped in strategic speed if they can't.

[Lord of the Abyss]

We call in the krogans.

Well that was over pathetically quickly.

The Feds offer to use their advanced medical science to cure the genophage in return for an alliance? And do so?

That WAS over quickly...

[adam_grif]

The only exact fleet counts in ME we have come from the Codex

"At present, the turian fleet possesses 39 dreadnoughts, the asari 20, and the salarians 16. Each of the human Alliance's eight dreadnoughts is named for terrestrial mountains. "

As far as cruisers go, the Systems Alliance lost 8 cruisers in the battle of the citadel if you take the paragon ending, which is apparently considered a "significant loss". Having poured through some codex entries, I wouldn't peg the ratio of Cruiser : Dreadnought at anything higher than 4 to 1 in light of this. But even that is pure speculation.

What is firepower like?

The 800 meter Everest dreadnoughts are known to be ~38 KT. The length of the ship is the prime factor in determining firepower. Frigates are in the hundred meter range, Cruisers are larger but unknown. It's a very naive calculation admittedly, but if you divide by length and assume that it's 100 meters for a frigate and 200 meters for a cruiser (Normandy SR2 was twice the length of the SR1, and still considered a frigate, so this is a somewhat conservative estimate of cruiser length), then you come out at 4.75 KT for a frigate gun and 9.5 KT for a cruiser gun.

... intuitively I wouldn't assume that high, however.

How easy/hard will it be to work out the mass relays? The feds well be seriously handicapped in strategic speed if they can't.

It won't be instant but don't expect it to take more than a day if they're actually trying to figure them out. They're designed to be extremely user friendly for reasons that are spoilers.

There's a zappy beam weapon in Mass Effect 2 that is described as firing 'focused radiation'. Your shields protect against it (although it eats through both shields and health rapidly, being a heavy weapon).

Are you referring to the particle beam? Because that's a particle beam. Which fires things that aren't massless.

HOWEVER, if we take gameplay to be canon (which is very dubious, but...) then ME shields block directed sunlight... somehow. Codex says it's only good for repelling objects with mass. As far as I'm aware, no official ME canon has been given by the devs.

I don't have any idea what the capabilities of Mass Effect's space ships are, and I'm not particularly well-versed in Star Trek, either, so I have no stance on who would win - but whoever wins, it certainly won't be because a kinetic-kill weapon with 37kT of energy behind it was unable to kill a Star Trek warship.

Codex is not useful for giving ME warship information except the 38 KT for Dreadnought main guns. That's a "low end" dreadnought, because it's the gun on the smaller Everest class. Some (unknown number) of the non-human ones are larger and more powerful, although how much more is unknown.

We call in the krogans.

Well that was over pathetically quickly.

No. The Krogan are tougher than regular soldiers, but ME ground-soldiers are already going to be laughing the Federation Away teams to death due to every man having personal shields, armor and powerful, long range, auto-aiming guns. Genetic and cybernetic enhancements are standard issue.

The real issue is decided in space, because if Federation can maintain space superiority then the ground-advantages are irrelevant, they have enormous tactical mobility advantages thanks to beaming (which can also be potentially weaponized), and ortillery is going to blow away your ground forces unless you're deploying significant anti-space weapon systems on the ground (which we have never seen in MEverse). Certainly, the Systems Alliance doctrine calls for minimal garrisons posted on their worlds with a large fleet as a rapid response force for actually combating the enemies, so large antispace weapons seem unlikely.

[CSJM]

Also, while ME races do have the mobility advantage, they have no FTL sensors, while Federation does. When Federation ships warp in, they will have tactical advantage. That said, they might still overpower the Federation fleets, unless some smart transporter work is done, with boarding parties or transporting vital parts of enemy ships into open space. Kinetic Barriers won't stop transporters, right? Or would they?

[open_sketchbook]

Yeah, no number of redshirts can deal with even a slightly prepared ME universe crew. They'll be scythed down in moments by Alliance marines.

[Star Wars 888]

Range: Mass Effect dreadnoughts according to the Mass Effect Codex have an effective attack range of thousands of miles, which is strange; the slugs clearly aren't relativistic, (they're 283 km/s) so how do they travel that far in any reasonable amount of time? By the time they get there a mobile enemy ship could have moved out of the way. Maybe they're homing, but they were stated to be kinetic slugs. "knife fighting" ranges are stated to be a few dozen kilometers. As for Star Trek, their range seems to vary greatly. Apparently sometimes they're firing from hundreds of thousands of miles away, but then other times fleets have to go within a few miles to hit a HUGE and not that mobile borg cube. Based on most sources Mass Effect has the advantage in attack range.

Firepower: Mass Effect dreadnoughts have a main gun with the firepower of 38 kilotons and a recharge rate of about 2 seconds. This is rather weak compared to Star Trek, whose photon torpedoes can be fired far more rapidly, are more numerous and have a firepower measured in the megatons.

Mobility: Given that shooting kinetic slugs from thousands of miles away at 283 km/s and expecting them to hit in Mass Effect is apparently a plausible strategy, Star Trek wins this by quite a bit.

Durability: Mass Effect shields are capable of withstanding those 38 kinetic slugs by a decent margin. Star Trek shields vary from being able to withstand volleys of several megaton photon torpedoes to getting damaged by flying debris.


In an even space battle with competent crew and commanders, Star Trek would probably beat Mass Effect. Their ships are too maneuverable to get hit by a Mass Effect dreadnought's main gun at thousands of miles, thus reducing the range advantage. Star Trek weapons are in the megatons and can probably one shot Mass Effect dreadnoughts, so Star Trek would win in an even space battle.







In ground combat however, it's a horrendous one sided massacre in favor of Mass Effect.

[dragon]

As to kinetic protection of ST shields we have seen shuttle craft bounce off the shields, but that might have been from the deflector fields. We know the deflector shields are mostly designed for protection from high energy particles that you would get at significant interplantary speeds.

There's a few times time various ships go through asteroid fields did they ever mention impacts or having to protect from the debris.
edit- The Enterprise extended the navigational shields to protect around Harry Mudd's vessel to temporarily protect it from asteroids while its crew were transported to safety.

We also know that small personnel shields can protect from kinetic as well, such as when worf used the shield to protect against the bullet.

edit-um that should be navigation shields for the partical protection.

The Enterprise extended the navigational shields to protect around Harry Mudd's vessel to temporarily protect it from asteroids while its crew were transported to safety.

[Swindle1984]

As for Star Trek, their range seems to vary greatly. Apparently sometimes they're firing from hundreds of thousands of miles away, but then other times fleets have to go within a few miles to hit a HUGE and not that mobile borg cube. Based on most sources Mass Effect has the advantage in attack range.

Name an instance in Trek where a Federation ship and any other ship are firing at each other from hundreds of thousands of miles away. Name a single instance where they're not easily in visible range of one another for combat. And if by "within a few miles" you mean "spitting distance" of a Borg cube...

Firepower: Mass Effect dreadnoughts have a main gun with the firepower of 38 kilotons and a recharge rate of about 2 seconds. This is rather weak compared to Star Trek, whose photon torpedoes can be fired far more rapidly, are more numerous and have a firepower measured in the megatons.

Name a single episode where a photon torpedo has demonstrated firepower in the megaton range.

Mobility: Given that shooting kinetic slugs from thousands of miles away at 283 km/s and expecting them to hit in Mass Effect is apparently a plausible strategy, Star Trek wins this by quite a bit.

That's it? Really? That's all you're basing "mobility" on? How about the Enterprise-D wallowing like a beached whale while an obsolete Bird-of-Prey raped it in Generations? Or another Galaxy-class just sitting there while a Jem'hadar ship flew into it. Or the whole "execute evasive maneuver Riker-theta", "aye sir, executing a slow left turn" thing?

Durability: Mass Effect shields are capable of withstanding those 38 kinetic slugs by a decent margin. Star Trek shields vary from being able to withstand volleys of several megaton photon torpedoes to getting damaged by flying debris.

Again, name an instance where we saw photorps with a yield in the megaton range.

In an even space battle with competent crew and commanders, Star Trek would probably beat Mass Effect. Their ships are too maneuverable to get hit by a Mass Effect dreadnought's main gun at thousands of miles, thus reducing the range advantage. Star Trek weapons are in the megatons and can probably one shot Mass Effect dreadnoughts, so Star Trek would win in an even space battle.

In ground combat however, it's a horrendous one sided massacre in favor of Mass Effect.

The soldiers in Starship Troopers (the movie, not the book) could probably launch a one-sided massacre against Federation ground forces.

Actually, that'd be kinda funny to see, in a "who can be even more grossly incompetent and ill-equipped" kind of way. The fascists would probably win since they actually wear flak jackets, helmets, and make use of grenades and nuclear RPG's, as well as human wave "tactics", but still...

[Star Wars 888]

Name an instance in Trek where a Federation ship and any other ship are firing at each other from hundreds of thousands of miles away.

Some trekkie sites showed examples of that happening, assuming that they're telling the truth.

Name a single instance where they're not easily in visible range of one another for combat. And if by "within a few miles" you mean "spitting distance" of a Borg cube...

Well yeah, those borg battles are horribly unrealistic.

Name a single episode where a photon torpedo has demonstrated firepower in the megaton range.

Tech manuals.

That's it? Really? That's all you're basing "mobility" on? How about the Enterprise-D wallowing like a beached whale while an obsolete Bird-of-Prey raped it in Generations? Or another Galaxy-class just sitting there while a Jem'hadar ship flew into it. Or the whole "execute evasive maneuver Riker-theta", "aye sir, executing a slow left turn" thing?

Even that's fast enough to dodge a somewhat fast moving slug from thousands of miles away.

Again, name an instance where we saw photorps with a yield in the megaton range.

Tech manuals.

Did you look at my username?

The soldiers in Starship Troopers (the movie, not the book) could probably launch a one-sided massacre against Federation ground forces.

I'm not sure about that. In terms of ridiculous incompetence, movie Starship Troopers mobile infantry is definitely up there in being the most incompetent military force in fiction.

Actually, that'd be kinda funny to see, in a "who can be even more grossly incompetent and ill-equipped" kind of way. The fascists would probably win since they actually wear flak jackets, helmets, and make use of grenades and nuclear RPG's, as well as human wave "tactics", but still...

flak jackets - wouldn't stop phasers
helmets - wouldn't stop phasers
grenades - true
nuclear RPGs - which they have horrible tactics at using. Instead of arming them before a battle and using them constantly, they have them unprepared and arm them after they see a bug and have to frantically arm them while being attacked and only occasionally use them.

[dragon]

Name an instance in Trek where a Federation ship and any other ship are firing at each other from hundreds of thousands of miles away. Name a single instance where they're not easily in visible range of one another for combat. And if by "within a few miles" you mean "spitting distance" of a Borg cube...

Sure
Journey to Babel Kirk orders the open fire when the Orion ships hit 75,000km
In a matter of Honor Riker tells the Kligon to hold fire untill 40,000km to allow less reaction time.
In the Wounded Data states The Warship is 300,000 kilometers from the Phoenix and they have a visual overlay showing that the Phoneix is just barely out of weapon ranges. Data then reports the cardi open fire yet the had only shifted a small percentage.

Name a single episode where a photon torpedo has demonstrated firepower in the megaton range.

I don't know about photons, but Plasma warheads blew through the deflector shields of outpost 4 and caused massive damage to the base a mile inside the astroid killing everyone with one hit.

We know that photons can be modified, which at one point they had modified one to the point where it could destroyer a small planet. And while that was dialog and might have been exgrarration no else else even batted an eye.

Riker was shown pretending adding antimatter to the Pakled weapons to increase their power.

In Voy Living Witness a Torpedo with 25 Isotons(type 6) can destroy a city, granted they don't say how big a city is.
In Voy Scorpion part two the type 6 had a range of 8 million km. Granted most likely only a portion of that is powered the rest is ballistic trajectory.
Voy scorpion part two type 10 torpedo could be fitted with higher yeilds.


In TNG the Nth degree it was stated that if shielded ship fired a torpedo at close range the firing ship could suffer damage.

DS9 "Apocalypse Rising", Damar states that a "full spread" of photon torpedoes is sufficient to destroy the "Klingon High Command and everyone else within a few hundred kilometers".

ENT The Expanse The photonic torpedo is equipped with a variable yield antimatter warhead. The variable yield was described by Malcolm Reed as being able to "knock the com array off a shuttlepod without scratching the hull, or put a three-kilometer crater into an asteroid." Antimatter to the warheads on NX-class starships is provided by the ship's antimatter reserves.

[dragon]

Also found these even though the one seems off. However watched the episodes real quick to verify and they're right

A photon torpedo explosion of 25 isotons could destroy an entire city within seconds. (VOY: "Living Witness")
A 54 isoton yield gravimetric charge could blow up a small planet. (VOY: "The Omega Directive")
An 80 isoton yield gravimetric torpedo was used by USS Voyager to destroy a harmonic resonance chamber containing approximately 144 million omega molecules (72% of approximately 200 million) in 2374. (VOY: "The Omega Directive")
A bomb with 90 isotons of enriched ultritium had the explosion radius of 800 kilometers. Such a bomb was used to blow up a ketracel-white facility in Cardassian space in 2374. (DS9: "A Time to Stand")
200 isotons was the explosive yield of a photon torpedo with a class-6 warhead. (VOY: "Scorpion, Part II")
A 5 million isoton explosion of a multi-kinetic neutronic mine could affect an entire star system. The shock wave had a dispersive force radius of 5 light years. (VOY: "Scorpion, Part II")

Since it's wiki I verified by watching the episodes in question. Now I gotta go scrub my brain.
link

[keen320]

Name an instance in Trek where a Federation ship and any other ship are firing at each other from hundreds of thousands of miles away. Name a single instance where they're not easily in visible range of one another for combat.

Original series, the "Balance of Terror" Episode. While I don't remember them specifically stating the range, the Enterprise was using its warp drive to get around a lot. Unless Kirk was a complete moron at it (which the Romulan he was facing didn't think), he would be firing at extreme range if he was using warp drive. Besides, he couldn't see the Romulan ship because of it's cloaking device. While it may be a strategic disadvantage, warp drive would give the Federation a huge tactical advantage.

Name a single episode where a photon torpedo has demonstrated firepower in the megaton range.

Photon Torpedoes are matter/antimatter weapons, so by definition they are in the megaton range. Otherwise no one would use them over nukes, because they would be far less cost effective.

A partial answer to the grenades bit is that the Federation, if desperate enough, could overload a phaser to generate a very powerful blast. However, this would probably take a few minutes to prepare, unless you had prepared it beforehand, which seems unlikely. Also, it would emit a very obvious high pitched whine, and probably take at least 10 seconds to detonate.

Question: Why do these scenarios always seem to involve the Federation? Someone like the Romulans would seem far more likely, as they have an actual motive to do this. The Federation would probably lapse into goody-goody negotiator mode the moment they realized what they'd done.

[Ford Prefect]

Photon Torpedoes are matter/antimatter weapons, so by definition they are in the megaton range. Otherwise no one would use them over nukes, because they would be far less cost effective.

The advantage of antimatter is energy density. You'd use it for sub-kiloton weapons if you could make a big enough volume and mass saving.

[Stofsk]

As for Star Trek, their range seems to vary greatly. Apparently sometimes they're firing from hundreds of thousands of miles away, but then other times fleets have to go within a few miles to hit a HUGE and not that mobile borg cube. Based on most sources Mass Effect has the advantage in attack range.

Name an instance in Trek where a Federation ship and any other ship are firing at each other from hundreds of thousands of miles away.

I don't know about hundreds of thousands of miles away. In 'The Changeling' the Enterprise fires a photon torpedo at a small target (by small I mean has a shorter height than Kirk or Spock, considering they both pick it up later in the episode) 90,000 km away. And it hits too.

Name a single instance where they're not easily in visible range of one another for combat.

Single instance? There are plenty. 'Balance of Terror' has the Enterprise shoot at an invisible Bird of Prey and spends much of the episode at warp. 'Errand of Mercy' they hit a Klingon warship that had just come into range to trigger their defensive systems. In 'Journey to Babel' they fight at warp speeds against an Orion ship.

For that matter the fact that Trek ships can fight whilst in warp is one advantage they will have over Mass Effect warships. Refer to 'Elaan of Troyius' for an instance of warp strafing where a Klingon D7 battlecruiser snipes at Enterprise which has sabotaged warp engines.

Name a single episode where a photon torpedo has demonstrated firepower in the megaton range.

The Motion Picture: a single photon torpedo is fired on a large asteroid and destroys it completely.

In an even space battle with competent crew and commanders, Star Trek would probably beat Mass Effect. Their ships are too maneuverable to get hit by a Mass Effect dreadnought's main gun at thousands of miles, thus reducing the range advantage. Star Trek weapons are in the megatons and can probably one shot Mass Effect dreadnoughts, so Star Trek would win in an even space battle.

I like how you totally discount the mobility aspect. The fact is Trek ships can shoot their weapons at warp and in TOS most of the space combat scenes occur whilst the Enterprise is at warp velocities. They can also fire on targets that are using impulse engines whilst at warp as well.

In ground combat however, it's a horrendous one sided massacre in favor of Mass Effect.

The soldiers in Starship Troopers (the movie, not the book) could probably launch a one-sided massacre against Federation ground forces.

Now who is wanking? The STT universe has no armour, no air support and no field artillery (though they do have rocket launchers, but Trek has grenade/mortar launchers), and their spaceships are glorified transport vessels that don't even fire when fired upon. It wouldn't even get to a ground fight between them and Star Trek.

[Stofsk]

The Federation is more advanced than the Citadel races by quite a bit

What's your criterion for 'more advanced'? Serious question, but just for my own curiousity.

Trek has some interesting gadgets and gizmos, but on the whole I'd say they're more similar than they are different. One thing they have which is beyond the ME universe is transporters.

Of course, one wonders why the Federation would even try to fight the Citadel races. They'd be more interested in talking to them. Par for the course from SW888 to invent a scenario where the antagonists act completely contrary to their entire established character.

[Batman]

Name a single episode where a photon torpedo has demonstrated firepower in the megaton range.

The Motion Picture: a single photon torpedo is fired on a large asteroid and destroys it completely.

An asteroid that is impossible to scale thanks to there not being a single scene where we can determine the DISTANCE of the asteroid from the big E. Nor was a size for the asteroid ever stated (in fact they didn't even CALL it a 'large' asteroid, merely 'an asteroid'). Nor was the asteroid vaporized. Fragmentation energy for a 400m diameter asteroid (which may or may not be the size of the asteroid in question, I essentially pulled it out of a hat)) would be no more than 64KT. For a 40 meter asteroid, it would be a mere 64 tons. ALL we know is the asteroid was large enough to threaten the big E with nav deflectors down.

[Stofsk]

It doesn't matter. The best you can say is 'we don't know.' Trek will destroy any ME ship but for different reasons. They have no FTL sensors, and they can't fight at FTL velocities. That's a crippling disadvantage ME has no answer to. ME's primary defences are geared towards fighting with KE weapons at thousands of km ranges, and countering said weapons with point-defence lasers, shields that only defend against KE impacts, and ablative armour. Phasers and photon torpedoes can bypass those defences (point defence is not going to do anything against a warp-speed weapon like a photon torpedo, and the kinetic barriers are incapable of affecting DEW and ablative armour can stand up to it but for how long, especially when the ME ship can't fight back at something travelling at warp velocities?) and the tactical use of warp drive means battle is dictated by the trek commander.

The strategic speed of ME FTL is a different story, but that depends on the mass relays, and really all it can do is shuttle Citadel ships to where they can get destroyed by the Star Trek ships. And the circumstances of this versus is horribly vague. Since it seems Trek is uncharacteristically invading the ME galaxy for whatever bullshit reason, their only hope is to mine the entrance to the wormhole with anything and everything they can spare. So it depends on where the wormhole is in the first place, how far away it is from the nearest mass relay, and how persuasive or intimidating Shepard is feeling that day when he tried to convince the Citadel races doom is coming and nobody believes him (maybe he should stick guns in people's faces more, that might endear them to him).