Mechanis
Confirmed Extremely Screwed
- Location
- Absconding with Alacrity
TLDR: you need a galaxy-spanning polity not only to secure the resources and population you need, but also so you can spread your infrastructure enough to absorb damage. The Reapers have millions of dreadnought-grade warships and billions of lesser warforms like Destroyers, if you try to fort up in one system they just throw more drone tonnage at you than your entire system has mass, star, planets and all. Spreading your infrastructure out means they can't just hammer it all at once with utterly overwhelming force; keep in mind that they can and do break down entire planets for raw materials. You can build up enough to beat them, with the galaxy at your back, but that's simply as much a function of area as one of infrastructure; as inconceivably colossal as the Reaper Armada is, even they don't have the ships to attack the entire galaxy simultaneously; it's just far, far too large for that.
Re Heatsinks: The removable/disposable heatsinks aren't a thing, because when your heatsinks aren't good enough you build better heatsinks. The entire point of the way ME weapons are designed is that they have functionally infinite ammunition with no fiddly bits you need to keep track of or clean in the field. The whole reason to use them over conventional firearms is the ability to totally seal the 'working bits' from environmental factors like dust or weather, combined with the massive simplification of logistics. The whole removable heatsinks thing utterly compromises both those advantages, without providing a significant improvement in performance- no matter what the lore might claim, someone in ME1 utilizing good fire discipline isn't going to be putting less rounds out than someone in ME2 or 3 doing the same. The simple fact is it greatly compromises the ability to weatherproof weaponry, complicates your logistics, and adds one more thing a soldier has to keep track of in battle, without providing a substantial advantage.
Now, that being said, there are weapons (like your Very Nice Pistol, for example) that use multiple heatsink systems ala a classic revolver, but (again like your pistol) these tend to be limited-issue or specialist weapons because of the increased cost and complexity such systems add to a weapon. Equally, some weapons require higher-density power sources that are impractical to render field-chargeable, such as Flamethrowers or Rocket Launchers; these require either specialized power feeds connected to a suitably powerful reactor or large bank of high-density batteries, or ultra-high-density 'Power Cells' that are disposable simply because when you cram that much energy into a battery the size of a soup can it doesn't do good things to the battery.
TLDR version: ME weapons of the classic bent are nearly completely solid-state, with only a handful of moving parts that can wear out. Equally, the lack of any need for field-removable bits means you can completely seal the things from environmental hazards to a far greater degree, and means you don't need to carry anything besides the gun itself in the field. Adding removable heatsink 'magazines' compromises those advantages without offering significant advantage in return, making doing so militarily unsound. Thus, the idea is present in this AU, but never got off the ground because none of the various military acquisitions committees went for it. Think Gyrojet pistols/rifles, one of those things that was an Interesting Idea but just never went anywhere beyond a couple of short production runs by 1-2 companies.
Of course, then the Reaper War happened, and adding another thing that could run out in the field was binned immediately. Especially when a solder might not have a free hand to fiddle with his or her gun because they're too busy using it to omniblade Husks in the face or throw out tech or Biotic attacks.
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