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Divergent Codex: The Revised History of the First Contact War (Mass Effect)

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Tjakari said:
In what world do questers choose the most boring option? Are we this afraid of debt?
Are we this traumatized from college??
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when they recognize that the story will diverge noticeably already from 2 extra centuries of less haphazard colonization and a different relay and can afford to take the canon choice as an acceptable middle ground between nuking our eezo tech development or deepening our DP dept for a head start on replicating Eezo weapons. a balanced response rather than a all in on one direction or the other.
 
Randino Treviani said:
when they recognize that the story will diverge noticeably already from 2 extra centuries of less haphazard colonization and a different relay and can afford to take the canon choice as an acceptable middle ground between nuking our eezo tech development or deepening our DP dept for a head start on replicating Eezo weapons. a balanced response rather than a all in on one direction or the other.
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I wholeheartedly believe that if you're not significantly diverging from canon, then it's a waste of time. And will generally vote accordingly.

I don't like the crater option, and I REALLY don't like piecemeal debt management like this. If you're going to force us to make significant tradeoffs, put all options in one plan vote and may the best one win.

But I'll put up with it, for now, in hopes of something significantly diverging from canon.
 
With the extra time we gave Humans from the first vote maybe they developed ai since they had extra time with no contract with the Council and their thoughts on ai
 
I wonder if we'll get an option for humanity to have run into another species before opening the mass relay to Council space.
 
CanYouMeme said:
I wholeheartedly believe that if you're not significantly diverging from canon, then it's a waste of time. And will generally vote accordingly.
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yes, and I'm saying we have diverged significantly from canon. several interstellar human policies and a first contact with a very different species that is likely to go undiscovered by other council races for some years is a fairly large divergence. enough of one that one choice being canonical doesn't remotely push us back.
 
Stars Burning said:
With the extra time we gave Humans from the first vote maybe they developed ai since they had extra time with no contract with the Council and their thoughts on ai
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Bluntly, that would be hideously boring. We're trying not make a UNSC reskin here. Personally, I think that it'd be much more interesting if we explored more of the alliance's genetic engineering innovations. Like for example;

Article:
In the 22nd century, manipulation of the human genome became commonplace. Techniques of genetic engineering advanced to the point where the rich could custom-build fetuses that grew into stronger, smarter, and more attractive adults. In more permissive regions, custom-designed life forms and 'uplifted' animals occupied an ill-defined niche between 'property' and 'sapient being'. Travel to planets with unique forms of life brought an awareness that Earth's unique biodiversity could be lost if spliced and hybridized to gain useful alien qualities. The Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act was passed by the Systems Alliance Parliament in 2161. It imposed sharp restrictions on controversial uses of genetic engineering, but provided government subsidies for beneficial applications.

SCREENING AND THERAPY: Most governments provide free assessments and corrective therapy for genetic diseases in prospective parents. This has nearly eliminated everything from cystic fibrosis to nearsightedness. The earlier screening and therapy is performed, the more comprehensive the results. Though ideally performed on artificially fertilized zygotes in a lab, procedures are available for embryos in the womb and newborns, out of respect for personal beliefs.

ENHANCEMENT: Improvement of natural human abilities is legal, but adding new abilities is not. Treatments to improve strength, reflexes, mental ability, or appearance are permitted; adding a tail or the ability to digest cellulose is not. Some genetic enhancement is provided for free to Alliance military recruits, but the average citizen must pay for the privilege. The process can take years to reach fruition in an adult.

ENGINEERING: Artificial hybridization of genes from compatible non-human species with human genetic code is illegal. Creation of designed life is broadly legal (and mainly used for terraforming and medical applications), but sentient creatures are heavily regulated, and creation of sapient life is outlawed by both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council.


So things progressing further down this path to the point of some nations uplifting certain animals, creating human offshoots, or even just massive advancements in cybernetics would be pretty cool.

On a wider note, having humanity encounter other aliens would open the doors to alternative paths. The rachni at least, managed to scatter so many damn savior ships that Binary Helix managed to stumble upon one and experimented upon the queen. A rachni war would probably be a massive source of divergence points - especially if they managed to escape into the wider galaxy - or end up joining the Systems Alliance as another member.
 
flotter said:
So things progressing further down this path to the point of some nations uplifting certain animals, creating human offshoots, or even just massive advancements in cybernetics would be pretty cool.
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I do like that idea, I also think it might make a good amount of sense for humanity to start adapting itself if it's been over 100 years and they've spread out a lot, but are likely constrained somewhat by low Eezo tech levels, because with Genetic augmentations they could more easily settle many worlds that would otherwise be completely useless for them that were well within their explored and settled space.
 
Thornez said:
DP stands for "Divergence Points", they are gained and lost by selecting options that deviate from the established canon of the Mass Effect series. Typically options that hinder Humanity and aid their enemies grant DP, whilst those that help Humanity or weaken their enemies cost DP.

DP is carried over between updates, so it is possible to bank DP when you think you might need it later, or even go into DP debt if you think that a current option you couldn't otherwise afford is too valuable to pass up. Though be warned, failing to pay off your DP debt for too long may have dire consequences.
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A reminder of how DP works.
dgr11897 said:
No my assumption was that the 100 years of extra development did that.
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It's 200 years actually.

Wide spread genetic augmentation seems like a bit of a stretch at the two century mark. Maybe in trial phases at best.
 
Randino Treviani said:
Wide spread genetic augmentation seems like a bit of a stretch at the two century mark. Maybe in trial phases at best.
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I wouldn't say so, considering that people have considered "designer babies" in the present day. If you keep in mind how humanity has been consistently accelerating it's capacity to create and advance technologies as the years go by, I wouldn't find it surprising to see decades from now. That's just my two cents on the matter.
 
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dgr11897 said:
I do like that idea, I also think it might make a good amount of sense for humanity to start adapting itself if it's been over 100 years and they've spread out a lot, but are likely constrained somewhat by low Eezo tech levels, because with Genetic augmentations they could more easily settle many worlds that would otherwise be completely useless for them that were well within their explored and settled space.
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flotter said:
Bluntly, that would be hideously boring. We're trying not make a UNSC reskin here. Personally, I think that it'd be much more interesting if we explored more of the alliance's genetic engineering innovations. Like for example;

Article:
In the 22nd century, manipulation of the human genome became commonplace. Techniques of genetic engineering advanced to the point where the rich could custom-build fetuses that grew into stronger, smarter, and more attractive adults. In more permissive regions, custom-designed life forms and 'uplifted' animals occupied an ill-defined niche between 'property' and 'sapient being'. Travel to planets with unique forms of life brought an awareness that Earth's unique biodiversity could be lost if spliced and hybridized to gain useful alien qualities. The Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act was passed by the Systems Alliance Parliament in 2161. It imposed sharp restrictions on controversial uses of genetic engineering, but provided government subsidies for beneficial applications.

SCREENING AND THERAPY: Most governments provide free assessments and corrective therapy for genetic diseases in prospective parents. This has nearly eliminated everything from cystic fibrosis to nearsightedness. The earlier screening and therapy is performed, the more comprehensive the results. Though ideally performed on artificially fertilized zygotes in a lab, procedures are available for embryos in the womb and newborns, out of respect for personal beliefs.

ENHANCEMENT: Improvement of natural human abilities is legal, but adding new abilities is not. Treatments to improve strength, reflexes, mental ability, or appearance are permitted; adding a tail or the ability to digest cellulose is not. Some genetic enhancement is provided for free to Alliance military recruits, but the average citizen must pay for the privilege. The process can take years to reach fruition in an adult.

ENGINEERING: Artificial hybridization of genes from compatible non-human species with human genetic code is illegal. Creation of designed life is broadly legal (and mainly used for terraforming and medical applications), but sentient creatures are heavily regulated, and creation of sapient life is outlawed by both the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council.


So things progressing further down this path to the point of some nations uplifting certain animals, creating human offshoots, or even just massive advancements in cybernetics would be pretty cool.

On a wider note, having humanity encounter other aliens would open the doors to alternative paths. The rachni at least, managed to scatter so many damn savior ships that Binary Helix managed to stumble upon one and experimented upon the queen. A rachni war would probably be a massive source of divergence points - especially if they managed to escape into the wider galaxy - or end up joining the Systems Alliance as another member.
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dgr11897 said:
No my assumption was that the 100 years of extra development did that.
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flotter said:
What? No; did you even read the article? Everything I just listed was both eezo independent and something that the Alliance already had in canon, nevermind after two centuries of refinement.
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Guys, the most that genetic treatment can do in Mass Effect is curing some genetic diseases, get an increase in strength/reflexes of around 10% and gain some minor extra capabilities like digesting cellulose as 5% efficiency... And that is the top of the top treatment for military special forces of the Asari and Turians...

Don't get your hopes to high (unless yo want to Spend 10 DP on that, then we may get catgirls)
 
In the subject of tech, we absolutely do have better tech in non-Archive related fields. Because we PAID for those extra centuries.

The Archive was a massive boon, but it was not the end all be all of human tech. And that guy above is correct, human genetic engineering should be mostly unaffected by not having access to Prothean BS.

The 25 points spent MUST outweigh the mere 5 gained by giving up the Archive.
 
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I'll see about writing a couple Omakes, one about Defense Monitor Doctrine(patrols are going to be smaller due to paucity of Eezo Drives, but you can churn out a lot of ships if you accept a lack of Eezo and subsequent inability to move between systems) and a bit on the polities of humanity and their responses to a lack of Barriers.
 
ilbgar123 said:
I'll see about writing a couple Omakes, one about Defense Monitor Doctrine(patrols are going to be smaller due to paucity of Eezo Drives, but you can churn out a lot of ships if you accept a lack of Eezo and subsequent inability to move between systems) and a bit on the polities of humanity and their responses to a lack of Barriers.
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I don't know. not all systems have a Sol like distribution of elements, and minimal eezo tech, interstellar mining and trade becomes a bigger logistics nightmare. Kind of limits humanities ability to build and maintain a giant fleet of ships.
 
Randino Treviani said:
Wide spread genetic augmentation seems like a bit of a stretch at the two century mark. Maybe in trial phases at best.
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Humans had things like Medigel the citadel didn't have at first contact because unlike the citadel they didn't ban genetic augmentation.
All System Alliance soldiers had some level of basic augmentation.

With a two centuries more time, I could very easily see it being normal in every day life.

Also i think people are very much underestimating how long two centuries is.

Fanhunter696 said:
Guys, the most that genetic treatment can do in Mass Effect is curing some genetic diseases, get an increase in strength/reflexes of around 10% and gain some minor extra capabilities like digesting cellulose as 5% efficiency... And that is the top of the top treatment for military special forces of the Asari and Turians...
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That isn't a result of that it's capable of, that's a result on the way the Citadel regulates it, it's borderline illegal, so much so they only barely allowed Medigel when the humans introduced it.
 
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Also, just because we dont have a prothean site on Mars does not mean we never found ANY prothean tech caches. Humanity has settled enough of their local relay network to split off into separate star nations after all, that means multiple well developed garden worlds at minimum.

It's even possible that we've already colonized Eden Prime and found the beacon there, though unlikely for narrative reasons.
 
Roaming_Guardian said:
Also, just because we dont have a prothean site on Mars does not mean we never found ANY prothean tech caches. Humanity has settled enough of their local relay network to split off into separate star nations after all, that means multiple well developed garden worlds at minimum.

It's even possible that we've already colonized Eden Prime and found the beacon there, though unlikely for narrative reasons.
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Humanity managing to wake up Javik and maybe a few others would be a fun divergence that isn't just nerfing things.
 
Roaming_Guardian said:
Also, just because we dont have a prothean site on Mars does not mean we never found ANY prothean tech caches. Humanity has settled enough of their local relay network to split off into separate star nations after all, that means multiple well developed garden worlds at minimum.
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I'm less worried about the tech cache, and more worried about the fact that we may not have the blueprints for the Crucible. We don't stand a chance against the squids in a stand up fight, no way no how.
 
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