Considering the number of classified Alliance secrets Revy will know by then, anyone even suggesting that she be put under the Council's control would be fired. Out of an airlock. Into the sun.
Shepard Quest Mk V, Base of Operations (ME/MCU)
- Thread starter Esbilon
- Start date
The way I understand it the Council offers up a Spectre position, the receiving government creates a list of candidates and then works with the assessing Spectre to select the final candidate.
And really, the SA would pass it up given that Revy's soon going to be making a stealth Frigate that could conceivably take on a Dreadnought one on one and if not win then fuck it up massively.
She's worth more than a Spectre, she can give humanity the sheer technological might to force the issue. In fact I think the Council will offer humanity a Spectre position to keep them in the diplomacy game as Paragon Industries drives a technological revolution.
Upon knowledge of the reapers we created a a Starktech Super Dreadnought, under the command of
Plan B is Peak Krogan armed with whatever mass effect bomb they used to fricassee that planet in ME2 (the one reduced to a planet shaped field of pebbles).
Plan C is Shepherd uses her massive intellect to get Cerberus R&D behind the idea of Reaper supremacy over the galaxy through the use of questionable and immoral research practices. We then take cover and watch as the abomination that inevitably results kills the scientists involved and runs amuck on the reaper forces unchecked.
Last edited:
Don't forget energy weapon wielding space and ftl capable invisible universally biotic troops with peak human capabilities in armor that, by all accounts, can take on both tanks and fighters, if not enemy ships on its own. Revy is going to completely revoltionize warfare, both on the ground and in space. After the frihates and mk 2 are shown (I would like to do a simultaneous demonstration), I wouldn't be surprised if alliance brass permanently assigned a fleet, led by a dreadnought, solely to Revy's protection.
Red tape and laws are only a concern for people who aren't self made multi-billionaires before they reach adulthood. Removing legal restrictions on our research consists pretty much entirely of pointing our legal department at the government and paying them a nice bonus later.
I think the idea might have been that offering that position to Revy would be the council trying to basically get Revy under their control. I mean we know that Spectres respond only to the council, and that the alliance has little say in the matter. Just as an example, when that one admiral wants to inspect Shephards ship, he/she can just tell the admiral (who massively outranks her in SA) to go away.
Odds are that Revy (being human) will maintain good relations with SA, and offer them any tech first. Thats going to give SA a strong edge compared to other citadel species. Odds are the council is going to try a lot of things to make sure they remain in the dominant position and also that the status quo is maintained. Offering a spectre position then could essentially one such attempt. It would basically be a bribe, where the council goes "Give us Revy and humanity will get a spectre".
Even if such offer is given, we would be foolish to accept. The benefits of becoming a specter would be insignificant.
Personally, once the council really understands the scope of what Revy can do, I would expect them to try more major approaches. Such as for example offering to give humanity a seat on the council if SA agrees to share all of Revys inventions as soon as they get them (removing any advantage humanity might get from this essentially).
Actually, this would be a good thing. Getting a seat on the Council means that the Alliance can build three dreadnaughts to every five the Turians build.
Meaning that SA can build just as much dreadnaughts as the Asari or the Salarians....which we could upgrade even further thanks to the tech tree...
True Stealth Dreadnaughts equipped with a spinal Go-Away Beam/Spinal Thanix cannon with black hole guns as their broadsides.....
Eheheheheh....
In what I now realize was a bout of stupidity, since it would mean I have to expand the tech tree again (hopefully not as time consuming this time), I decided to take this:
challange on.
The first problem Esbilon mentioned is that we don't really know the state of the art mining and production.
Production
We know that using the systems built into an omni-tool, or at least a military grade one, you can reduce some technology into omni-gel which is a multipurpose material that can be fed into a fabricator to produce a variety of things.
Fabricators can fit into an omni-tool or weapon and we know they have larger units and the only real limitation I can see for them is that every mention of them has them using things which are covered in the description of what makes up omni-gel:
So the only improvements I can really see are increasing their processing ability to include heavy alloys, which would basically mean producing Omni-gel 2.0, or some fiddling to make them convert Omni-gel into finished goods faster.
Neither of which sounds particularly fun/awesome to me. So I think production is going to stay as it is. Which is fine given that it basically seems to be a slower version of what they do in SupCom and PA.
Mining
On the other hand there is a good deal to make cooler. First off is that a lot of mining seems to be done on planets rather then asteroids.
Now this is almost certainly because asteroid mining was not really the big idea it is now back when Mass Effect was been created. In universe however I think the reason it's so low is because of my next point.
Most mining operations seem to be done by people! While yes there is mention of using robo-mining but going by the codex and a lot of in game stuff it seems that most mining is still done by people. Either physically there or via telepresence. Sure it's more advanced then modern mining with things like the laser drill we saw in ME1 but it's still people mining stuff.
Mining Technology - 200
Entry level tech. Revy learns about current mining technologies and approaches. Unlocks Mining Facility which can be built on land and asteroids, requires X number of miners to operate.
Mining Stations - 400
Normal mining operations involve setting up costly mining facilities on the target asteroid that are typically abandoned when mining is finished. You instead decided to try and bring the mountain to Mohammed and build a station capable been fed asteroids and processing them into raw materials.
(Requires - Mining Technology + Advanced Mass Effect Theory + Basic Directed Energy Weapons)
Advanced Mining VI - 400
Advanced Mining VIs are a step up from normal mining VIs allowing for significantly faster mining by removing inefficiencies of older VIs and reducing the need for human oversight. When combined with Improved Intelligence Algorithms allows for fully autonomous mining operations.
(Requires Mining Technology and Basic Electronic Warfare)
Von Neumann Swarm - 1600
Science Fiction is filled with stories of rouge mining bots threatening to consume civilizations to feed their long dead masters. Your sure however you can prevent that from happening. Maybe. Probably...
(Requires 15m Mech, Improved Intelligence Algorithms, Advanced Mining VI)
Nanotech Disassembly - 1600
Thanks to the lessons in nanotechnology you've learned you can now build your own swarm of the little buggers and have them rapidly render whole asteroids, or even planets given enough time, into purified raw materials.
(Requires Advanced Mining VI and Extremis)
Disassembly Beams - ???
Nanotech disassemblers are all well and good but they take time and have to be manufactured. With this you can just press a beam and the target is broken down into it's composite parts.
(Requires ???)
Those are my ideas for spicing up mining. Personally I really like the idea of attaching an asteroid processing facility to our shipyard given the insane amounts of raw materials required.
Advanced Mining VI and Mining Stations would probably get the Asari really gunning for us since they would eliminate a lot of the issues with mining Eezo from supernova remnants.
There is a reason the Alliance getting a seat on the council is one of my goals.
challange on.
The first problem Esbilon mentioned is that we don't really know the state of the art mining and production.
Production
We know that using the systems built into an omni-tool, or at least a military grade one, you can reduce some technology into omni-gel which is a multipurpose material that can be fed into a fabricator to produce a variety of things.
Fabricators can fit into an omni-tool or weapon and we know they have larger units and the only real limitation I can see for them is that every mention of them has them using things which are covered in the description of what makes up omni-gel:
So the only improvements I can really see are increasing their processing ability to include heavy alloys, which would basically mean producing Omni-gel 2.0, or some fiddling to make them convert Omni-gel into finished goods faster.
Neither of which sounds particularly fun/awesome to me. So I think production is going to stay as it is. Which is fine given that it basically seems to be a slower version of what they do in SupCom and PA.
Mining
On the other hand there is a good deal to make cooler. First off is that a lot of mining seems to be done on planets rather then asteroids.
Now this is almost certainly because asteroid mining was not really the big idea it is now back when Mass Effect was been created. In universe however I think the reason it's so low is because of my next point.
Most mining operations seem to be done by people! While yes there is mention of using robo-mining but going by the codex and a lot of in game stuff it seems that most mining is still done by people. Either physically there or via telepresence. Sure it's more advanced then modern mining with things like the laser drill we saw in ME1 but it's still people mining stuff.
Mining Technology - 200
Entry level tech. Revy learns about current mining technologies and approaches. Unlocks Mining Facility which can be built on land and asteroids, requires X number of miners to operate.
Mining Stations - 400
Normal mining operations involve setting up costly mining facilities on the target asteroid that are typically abandoned when mining is finished. You instead decided to try and bring the mountain to Mohammed and build a station capable been fed asteroids and processing them into raw materials.
(Requires - Mining Technology + Advanced Mass Effect Theory + Basic Directed Energy Weapons)
Advanced Mining VI - 400
Advanced Mining VIs are a step up from normal mining VIs allowing for significantly faster mining by removing inefficiencies of older VIs and reducing the need for human oversight. When combined with Improved Intelligence Algorithms allows for fully autonomous mining operations.
(Requires Mining Technology and Basic Electronic Warfare)
Von Neumann Swarm - 1600
Science Fiction is filled with stories of rouge mining bots threatening to consume civilizations to feed their long dead masters. Your sure however you can prevent that from happening. Maybe. Probably...
(Requires 15m Mech, Improved Intelligence Algorithms, Advanced Mining VI)
Nanotech Disassembly - 1600
Thanks to the lessons in nanotechnology you've learned you can now build your own swarm of the little buggers and have them rapidly render whole asteroids, or even planets given enough time, into purified raw materials.
(Requires Advanced Mining VI and Extremis)
Disassembly Beams - ???
Nanotech disassemblers are all well and good but they take time and have to be manufactured. With this you can just press a beam and the target is broken down into it's composite parts.
(Requires ???)
Those are my ideas for spicing up mining. Personally I really like the idea of attaching an asteroid processing facility to our shipyard given the insane amounts of raw materials required.
Advanced Mining VI and Mining Stations would probably get the Asari really gunning for us since they would eliminate a lot of the issues with mining Eezo from supernova remnants.
There is a reason the Alliance getting a seat on the council is one of my goals.
Because the swarm is made of large mechs.
Mostly because I'm picturing a large mech shaped thing as the actual swarm unit.
Improved Int + Mining AI give it the Autonomous Mining ability neded
15m Mech gives it the body
VN Swarm gives it the self replication ability.
So, while the tech explanations are pretty good, the important question would be "what in game effect do these things have?" If it's just a matter of making it cheaper to build stuff, then it's not worth researching any of this until our factories are taking a couple years to pay for their construction cost. At our current profit rates, I think it takes less than a quarter to pay for themselves.
I do not see Spectre status in Revy's future unless you guys decide to turn her around on a dime.
Political clout sufficient to get Humanity a Spectre or even a Council seat is a different matter entire, and with enough political clout, you might even be able to pick your favorite for those posistions. But that's still quite a bit down the line, and would involve you taking an interest in politics rather than just Science!
Political clout sufficient to get Humanity a Spectre or even a Council seat is a different matter entire, and with enough political clout, you might even be able to pick your favorite for those posistions. But that's still quite a bit down the line, and would involve you taking an interest in politics rather than just Science!
Amberion
Mighty #9
Right now, we build things in shipyards, and harvest raw materials practically by hand and ship the raw materials to manufactories to be made into parts. What if you could disassemble whole asteroids using nanotech and build dreadnoughts in one blow?
I would like us to set up facilities on Eden Prime, as well as help fund the dig site there.
Last edited:
For one they could be used to cut down on the production cost of things.
For instance a Dreadnaught costs 2.5 billion in raw materials. Reducing that would be nice, although by the time we're building one that would be a drop in the bucket.
But my primary reasons are:
1)Increased Eezo Mining
We're not getting Artificial Eezo Production anytime soon so betting mining for it will be very useful.
2)Additional Revenue Stream
Been able to sell raw materials like Eezo, Iridium, Palladium, ect will provide PI with another source of income.
3)Redundancy
When the Reapers show up and start knocking over key sections of the logistics trail having our own mining facilities will be very valuable since it will allow us to keep outputting ships/equipment.
4)Coolness
I just really like the idea.
Fake Edit - And what Amberion said.
Well, I see no reason why science cannot allow political manipulation?
Revy: "I have this INCREDIBLY SUPERAWESOME piece of technology that will revolutionize everything. Give humans a seat on the council and I will share it with the citadel species, refuse and only SA gets to use it. Oh, and I just finished my even more superawesome blackboxing thats utterly unbreakable this quarter, so good luck getting your hands on the tech without agreeing".
Just you know, with a bit more subtlety.
Durabys
Miaow! Break the Chains!
- Location
- the land of the Boii
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And a final production technology that needs you to have both Extremis, Petawatt Energy Lasers, Artificial Eezo Creation, Mass Production of Antimatter and Unobtanium researched:
The Universal Constructor - 12800
The science fiction story writers of Star Trek, Deus Ex, Antaeus Rising and Supreme Commander dreamt of this. You, Revy Shepard, will make it a reality, by combining the miracles of nanotechnology, matter-energy replication, zero-point taps and high energy physics. You will make Post Scarcity a reality and create a hyper-spatial post-economic galactic utopia! Imagine! A self-contained Creation Engine with its own power source and capability to collect mass to build all the things with it!
Last edited:
Durabys
Miaow! Break the Chains!
- Location
- the land of the Boii
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Then you are shit out of luck. Because the rest you like can be quickly repurposed into a Von Neumann weapon too. You can't have the cake and eat it too. Either we will go full Luddite here and not go down that tech tree at all or we will go full speed ahead with it. It still depends on the GM's decision though.
- Location
- Dreary ol' London Town
Suddenly got a flash of scene in the future, a few decades or hundreds of years after Revy is dead, there's another war. Because really, there's always gonna be disagreements, and stupid people, and rash people and wars. And they've repurposed the mining tech Revy invented as weapons and literally eat planets when attacking them. Cut to Liara or whatever asari or krogran that knew us personally being like, "you just had to Revy. Not enough that you automated VI-mining, you just had to make it faster, better, more efficient." As they try to get into a ship and escape the planet.
and then they curse the idjits who started the war. again.
That helps, certainly, but it's not enough in itself.
Then the tech tree should probably reflect that. I would be more interested if we went a World Devastator style route than a Von Neumann Swarm route. Basically, enhance our shipyards to be able to travel to an asteroid and start disassembling it, using the gained matter to create it's output. Basically Just a one or two step update to the shipyards, it would double or triply their production output. It would also make them a bit harder to defend, since they would be camped out on asteroids instead of being in orbit.
So a Tech tree vaguely like:
Disassembly Field (requires repulsors, adv mass effect theory):
- By rapidly altering a mass effect field and a set of repulsor beams, you can dissolve most rigid materials and move them around. Can be used for faster mining, or be turned into a weapon / gadget (i.e. press this against a lock and dissolve it).
Advanced Robotics (Not sure of requirements, but some form of VI and possibly Suit Mk 2 or 3, since the higher level suits have increasingly complex mechanisms):
- Lets face it, Humans are actually pretty bad at precise manual labor. This enabled us to create a facilty which can make anything at high output with no human laborers. Management and some crew are probably still required. This could also let us make all of our vehicles and ships limited self repairing capabilities given sufficient spare parts.
Mining Factories (Requires Light Cruisers, Disassembly Field, Adv Robotics):
- Completely rethink the way space based production happens. Our new Factory Ships will now find a tasty asteroid and disassemble it, popping out finished products on the other end. These ships would be able to create entire ships with only a small amount of imported material (mostly eezo).
(maybe) A Factory Ship can only produce completed ships that are a size category smaller than it, though they can produce all the parts needed make larger ships (those just need to be assembled at a regular shipyard).
This technique also allows our ships to make extensive self repairs and upgrades in the field. As long as the ship isn't dead in the water, it can consume part of an asteroid to completely repair itself in a short period of time. It can also use this technique to integrate new technologies without having to stop by a drydock.
note: this tech would allow us to create World Devastators if we were so inclined.
note2: the factory ships come in 5 sizes, same as other ships. The larger the ship, the higher the production value. We can upgrade all the way up to a Factory Ship V, but that requires superdreadnaught to be researched.
Eezo Handling (Requires Disassembly Field, miniaturized mass effect cores):
- We can now treat eezo like any other matter and process it with Disassembly fields. I don't know enough about how eezo mining works in game to thing of anything interesting to add here, but I want it to also enable something else.
Disassembly Beam (requires Disassembly Field, some weapon tech):
- weaponized matter disassembly is terrifying, so of course we're going to want it. Any enemy that gets in knife range of our ships becomes so much dust in space.
I tried to add in non-production stuff to each tech, to make things a little more interesting. Given the common mistrust of AI in mass effect, I can't see anyone being happy about grey goo. Despite the possibility of disassembling a space station or city with this tech, I think it would be more palatable and more in theme with Mass Effect.
Obviously, Revy will perfect her Neural Link technology, turn herself into a Brain-in-the-Jar, and change her name to "Brackman".
IDK what Auks was or Esbilon is planning but Full Body Prosthetic sounds like the sort of thing that would require Brain-In-Jar or Mental Upload capabilities to work.