- Location
- The general area. Possibly behind you.
I'm not going to say that there is going to be lots of combat in this story, because in all honesty there probably isn't. One of the big problems I have with ME fics in general is that most of them tend to end up being numberwank sessions with vast amounts of data on exactly how long the ships are (they really have a thing about length. It's a little concerning...,) the exact model number of each weapon used, any number of descriptions of battles that could mostly have been avoided with a little care, and so on. I don't need to read that amount of data on each gun, and if I did I could just download a brochure from an arms company, which is what a few fics I quickly gave up on felt like!
On the other hand, it's the ME-verse, at least in part. Things almost certainly will get all blowed up sooner or later. That's sort of how the entire thing is set up, almost as if someone was trying to make a game and force as much combat as possible while ignoring realism... 🤔
Strange, that.
On paper, the Reapers could easily be wiped out with trivial effort. Assuming that (A) humanity and their friends actually know about them, (B) the Reapers don't have the brains to change tactics (I like the orange ones,) and (C) they decide to do something about the problem.
A hasn't happened yet, and absent a random discovery, isn't likely to for the moment, as the Relays have been very carefully and thoroughly purged of anything that would lead someone to the builders. Space is very large, and randomly stumbling across the buggers even with long range planium detectors and the blink drive is still fairly unlikely, except by accident.
B is an unknown. The Reapers are devious and smart, we know that, but they're also dicks, we know that too. It's not impossible that some at least would just come bulling in, cause problems, and disappear in a blue fireball when they sufficiently pissed off the humanx civilizations. But it's also not impossible that they may be monitoring things, as in fact in canon was at least partially true, and might be sitting back and thinking very hard about what the fuck they do now...
C is almost a given, though.
There are also a lot of other parameters involved, so it's not entirely cut and dried. There are certainly situations that could arise where the ability to just fire the fuck off beam wouldn't actually be viable. If you're inside a system with something or someone you value in it and you do that to kill a ship, you might well kill the entire system as well. It's somewhat irresponsible. The big problem with weaponized planium is that it's too good. Even a small amount will cause enormous damage, and that makes it very difficult to use for precision strikes. Zap a Relay, sure, you solve the problem, but you solve it by removing not only the problem, but all the problem's friends, relatives, pets, houseplants, and so on. At times, that could be considered overkill
For the most part, they'd just leave, rather than fight. If they need to fight, though, planium destabilization is the last resort, not the first. At least on purpose.
After all, we've had nuclear weapons since the 1940s, but wars we have are fought with chemical propellants and small lumps of high speed lead more than anything else. No one wants to be the first to take the gloves off, because at that point everything is up in the air.
This, however, is entirely valid, I agree. The insistence that 'conflict' in a story must mean literal armed conflict is something that entirely baffles me. There are a vast, vast number of stories where no one actually kills anyone!
I mean, not that many love stories have a body count... Sure, there are a few but they're the exception
You can have a good story with plenty of tension without using violence at all. I've seen it done. I'm even told I've done it myself a couple of times.
On the other hand, it's the ME-verse, at least in part. Things almost certainly will get all blowed up sooner or later. That's sort of how the entire thing is set up, almost as if someone was trying to make a game and force as much combat as possible while ignoring realism... 🤔
Strange, that.
On paper, the Reapers could easily be wiped out with trivial effort. Assuming that (A) humanity and their friends actually know about them, (B) the Reapers don't have the brains to change tactics (I like the orange ones,) and (C) they decide to do something about the problem.
A hasn't happened yet, and absent a random discovery, isn't likely to for the moment, as the Relays have been very carefully and thoroughly purged of anything that would lead someone to the builders. Space is very large, and randomly stumbling across the buggers even with long range planium detectors and the blink drive is still fairly unlikely, except by accident.
B is an unknown. The Reapers are devious and smart, we know that, but they're also dicks, we know that too. It's not impossible that some at least would just come bulling in, cause problems, and disappear in a blue fireball when they sufficiently pissed off the humanx civilizations. But it's also not impossible that they may be monitoring things, as in fact in canon was at least partially true, and might be sitting back and thinking very hard about what the fuck they do now...
C is almost a given, though.
There are also a lot of other parameters involved, so it's not entirely cut and dried. There are certainly situations that could arise where the ability to just fire the fuck off beam wouldn't actually be viable. If you're inside a system with something or someone you value in it and you do that to kill a ship, you might well kill the entire system as well. It's somewhat irresponsible. The big problem with weaponized planium is that it's too good. Even a small amount will cause enormous damage, and that makes it very difficult to use for precision strikes. Zap a Relay, sure, you solve the problem, but you solve it by removing not only the problem, but all the problem's friends, relatives, pets, houseplants, and so on. At times, that could be considered overkill
For the most part, they'd just leave, rather than fight. If they need to fight, though, planium destabilization is the last resort, not the first. At least on purpose.
After all, we've had nuclear weapons since the 1940s, but wars we have are fought with chemical propellants and small lumps of high speed lead more than anything else. No one wants to be the first to take the gloves off, because at that point everything is up in the air.
This, however, is entirely valid, I agree. The insistence that 'conflict' in a story must mean literal armed conflict is something that entirely baffles me. There are a vast, vast number of stories where no one actually kills anyone!
I mean, not that many love stories have a body count... Sure, there are a few but they're the exception
You can have a good story with plenty of tension without using violence at all. I've seen it done. I'm even told I've done it myself a couple of times.
