Battle of the Citadel | Mass Effect

The War Against the Reapers began before most in the galaxy could even conceive that the threat existed. The first engagement was the Battle of the Citadel.
In High Command, The Templin Institute investigates the greatest battles, conflicts, and wars from across alternate worlds.
New episodes every week.
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Background music: "Final Alliance" by Tenacious Orchestra used under license by PremiumBeat.com .
Ending music "Battle Forever" used under license from Shutterstock.com.

[@awesomehpt8938]

Ah yes “Reapers” The immortal race of sentient starships allegedly waiting in dark space. We have dismissed this claim

[@Lazarus1095]

"OK, Counsel-er..."

[@Jedi_Spartan_38]

That's the main thing I don't get about the aftermath of Mass Effect 1. I understand the Council's desire to keep on labeling Sovereign as a Geth ship but regardless of what it is, it's proof that there are factions with more powerful capital ships than those of the major species in Citadel Space and yet - aside from the Thannix Cannon - there seems to be NO response. For all they knew, the Geth could've hypothetically been building dozens of ships on the scale of Sovereign to turn their strikes in Mass Effect 1 into an all out war.

[@Pridefallen975]

Ah existence

[@Otterdisappointment]

Counseloor

[@andreproudian7032]

2 and a half years later... "Still deny their existence now counselor?"

[@masterthiefesq2440]

The part of this I find most credible based on our current world is the part in ME2 where the Citadel Council dismisses claims that it was the Reapers who attacked the Citadel, only to have you find out in ME3's Citdadel DLC that the Council knew all along it was the Reapers but classified the information - not because it would have prevented the inevitable war, but to make sure they wouldn't be held accountable for their own screwups and failure to prepare the galaxy for what was coming.

[@cordar7547]

Except their respective governments were in fact preparing. The Councilors themselves (who are themselves diplomats working for said governments, not rulers) had their job in this to not speak out about the Reapers in any way that might escape into the public, which at the very least would have resulted in a galaxy-wide mass hysteria - hence their dismissive attitude when facing Shepard in ME2.

[@seekingabsolution1907]

@@cordar7547 I think it genuinely would have helped if they'd been honest perhaps.

[@cordar7547]

@@seekingabsolution1907 Not if it causes the galaxy to tear itself apart before the Reapers even show up.

[@Novenae_CCG]

@@cordar7547 Not public knowledge, but at least let Shepard in on it. Y'know, the one literally on the front lines, actively dealing with the Reaper threat the whole time? Some communication would have been useful for both parties, I'm sure.

[@jeremynikijuluwstanevil7551]

@@Novenae_CCG I agree with you 👍

[@jeremy1860]

Mass Effect had such great ship and station designs 😊

[@TheArrowedKnee]

One of the best sci-fi universes ever

[@georgeorwell8501]

@@TheArrowedKnee but let's forget about andromeda.

[@TheArrowedKnee]

@@georgeorwell8501 I'm perfectly fine with forgetting andromeda

[@editorrbr2107]

The Destiny Ascension is so gloriously alien, and just fits with the Asari.

[@nagger8216]

@@editorrbr2107 Eh, if only the asari themselves were more alien instead of just being sexy blue chicks. Even to this day I don't understand how they look almost exactly like humans from an in-universe perspective

[@Mahbu]

At this point I feel like Commander Shepherd SHOULD have strong feelings.

[@pattonramming1988]

I'm impressed with how accurate that voice actor is

[@ReverendMeat51]

@@pattonramming1988 Same voice actor from the games.

[@jezusbloodie]

@@pattonramming1988 Templin hired Mark Meer, the voice actor of MaleShep, to narrate the Templin report on Garrus Vakkarian and got that lil sounsbyte out of him The Templin Institute will never not milk all use out of that clip on any and every mass effect investigation (edit: when Jennifer Hale tho?)

[@gorvarhadgarson5227]

Deffo the way I played him. Samuel L. Shepard...motherfucker

[@owendiaram3870]

The best part of your comment is that you spelt Shepard's name incorrectly by spelling Shepherd correctly.

[@collecter343]

Whenever I made this choice, I never saw it as saving the Council but saw it as saving the crew and the civilians on the Destiny Ascension, the Council was incidental to the choice.

[@HanaTheSloth]

My first playthrough I gladly sacrificed the Destiny Ascension. Only in subsequent playthroughs did I take a wider perspective over a more practical one, and save as many as I could. I'm glad I took the route I did.

[@tba113]

Directing Hackett's fleet to focus on taking down the monster threatening the millions of Citadel civilians that _didn't_ have a battleship standing by to evacuate them could just as easily be interpreted as the "wider perspective" choice.

[@The_Viscount]

My decision to save the council was politically motivated. Having them in my debt seemed like a better idea then replacing them with Councilors who may view me as having betrayed my oath. I also wanted to save the Destiny Ascension itself. Having the largest dreadnought in the galaxy survive seemed like an investment for the coming war. When Mass Effect 2 launched I felt rather conflicted about my choice, but in Mass Effect 3, I definitely feel like the decision paid off.

[@darcyrobbs6866]

@@The_Viscount See I was sold that by destroying the turians and the council the humans would take over all 3 council seats and add a forth. Destroying the back bone of all the xeno leadership and military in 1 move while maximizing fire on the reaper trying to bring more reapers to fight.

[@ledocteur7701]

even knowing that sovereign would be destroyed regardless of my choice, I still chose to focus on sovereign because while a council is replaceable, the sheer possibility of the reaper arriving early and successfully finishing the cycle is utterly unacceptable. for me, not saving the council was the "wider perspective" choice.

[@The_Viscount]

If I remember right, the reason there's such a disconnect between the visuals of the Battle of the Citadel and the lore around how space combat works in Mass Effect (1) came down to a miscommunication between the art and writing departments. This is why the way fleet engagements are portrayed differs so vastly between Mass Effect 1 and 3. By 2, the writing and animation teams had ironed out the communication issues as shown by the two versions of the Duel between SR2 and the Collector Cruiser. The reason that the Battle for Earth devolves into a melee while the battle for Palaven remained a long range slugging match was due to the rush to deploy troops to Earth ASAP.

[@christophergroenewald5847]

In terms of fleet strength and casualties. The Citadel Defense fleet forces at the Citadel during the battle included the Destiny Ascension, 20 turian Cruisers and an unknown number of frigates. The geth fleet included Sovereign, 30 geth Cruisers escorted by an unknown number of Corvette-sized dropships. During opening volleys, the Ascension would have no doubt put a serious dent in the geth fleet, but was forced to break off attack mid-battle to evacuate the council while her outnumbered and outgunned turian escort distracted the enemy fleet. This entire escort would be lost as Sovereign entered the closing Citadel arms and the Ascension made a break for the nearest mass relay only to be attacked by the remaining geth ships. Without an escort to screen her, the much smaller geth Cruisers managed to outmaneuver the slow, cumbersome vessel, by engaging within the ship's minimum effective range. It was at this point that the Alliance 5th Fleet, lead by the Dreadnought, SSV Kilimanjaro,would arrive. Based on what is known about Alliance fleet structure, I'd estimate that the typical size of an Alliance fleet was 1 Dreadnought, 16 Cruisers, 80 frigates and at least one Carrier. When the 5th Fleet saved the Ascension, it lost a total of 8 Cruisers. Assuming that it lost a proportionally equal amount of frigates, that would have been about half the fleet. During the battle against Sovereign, a further 5 Cruisers are shown to be destroyed. Leaving the Kilimanjaro, three Cruisers and less than 50 frigates to finish off Sovereign after it's shields were down. I know that in the battle it looks like the turians and Alliance have a lot more Cruisers than this, but that's only because Bioware only had one ship model per race to work with. Meaning that in this battle the Cruisers and Frigates of each race looked basically identical. Only varying in scale.

[@boobah5643]

It's also worth pointing out that the _Destiny Ascension's_ main gun, as a spinal mount, could only fire in front of the ship. This makes using it on pursuing vessels when you're trying to flee... problematic. Sure, whatever secondaries she had could hurt them, but those are pinpricks compared to even cruiser-scale spinal-mount mass drivers.

[@christophergroenewald5847]

@@boobah5643 honestly, I'd say that the Ascension get's way more hate than it deserves. It wasn't overwhelmed because it was outgunned by a couple of Cruisers, it was overwhelmed because it was too big for it's role and couldn't maneuver in the close quarters battle of the Citadel. Looking at it from a narrative perspective, the entire point for the Ascension to exist in the story is to demonstrate why mass effect ships are so small. Having almost as much firepower as an entire fleet and a main gun that can one-shot Dreadnoughts means absolutely nothing if your ship is too heavy to turn or aim

[@sumukhvmrsat6347]

Imagine if the Destiny Ascension was to turn around and lead the attack on The Reaper alongside the alliance fleet Imagine 2 fleets one to protect the Destiny Ascension and One to attack the Reaper

[@itsukikawashima5490]

I remember when I first played Mass Effect ten years ago. This whole battle was mind blowing. That was the moment when we actually find out how dangerous a threat the reapers actually were, especially after the reapers descimated Arcturus Station and the Systems Alliance Military suffering it's biggest defeat in human history. Even after destroying the batarian military the reaper armada was quite unstoppable.

[@t-hatguy]

The SSV Kilimanjaro is the flagship of the 1st fleet and pride of the Alliance Navy, it is the inspiration for other Alliance Dreadnoughts so the name Kilimanjaro was adopted as a class or type of vessel within the Alliance navy. With the actual SSV Kilimanjaro serving as Hacketts vessel in mass effect 3. In mass effect 1 the "entire" Arcturus/5th fleet consists of 385 ships. At least two of them (Kilimanjaro class) named dreadnoughts. The SSV Orizaba, and SSV McKinley. Hackett commanding from the Orizaba at the time. In mass effect 2, news reports confirm the loss with all hands on deck of at least 8 cruisers and their 2400 crew, with countless others heavily damaged and still in the process of being repaired as late as the beginning of Mass Effect 3.

[@pll3827]

I liked how normal Citadel citizens would treat you in ME2 (and assumingly other humans) if you chose to save the Council. They're generally friendlier and if I recall, there was less opposition to the humans having a Council seat in ME2. The Council in ME2 was also willing to meet with you, while if you had chosen to abandon them, the new Council wouldn't even spare the time to speak with you.

[@avengermkii7872]

I really love how you wrote in the two big decisions in the game. It's a fantastic way to visual both scenarios that the player would make

[@thealphaomega4888]

So safe to say there’s a giant mass relay in dark deep space that connects directly to the The Citadel. Low key want to know more about dark deep space like what else is out there besides Reapers

[@Cailus3542]

Nothing. It's intergalactic space. It's completely empty.

[@thealphaomega4888]

Yeah I know but still, wish there was something out there. Kind of like SW Legends had some interesting things that were from another galaxy traveling in dark space or between galaxies.

[@jaffarebellion292]

@@thealphaomega4888 I always thought it was some kind of megastructure where the Reapers could dock to hibernate. I think Mass Effect 3 should've ended with us having pushed the Reapers back through the Citadel relay, then assembled a force to hit them in their own territory, with Shepard newly promoted to the rank of admiral and placed in command of the combined galactic fleets. I picture the final mission being a massive push directly into the Reaper home station, like an upscaled suicide mission, but instead of squadmates, you have fleets and armies. Maybe your squadmates can be placed in those armies to grant buffs.

[@bajszosjozsef4850]

@@jaffarebellion292 That's sounds surprisingly awesome. Why did you have to write this down? Now I'm even more saddened that we got the RGB ending instead of this one

[@thealphaomega4888]

@@jaffarebellion292 if I had the funds I’d put you as director to create that he’ll could even make room for ME4 but obviously there would be stuff to handle in the known galaxy. I mean there’s still so much about the galaxy we haven’t gotten to explore like hidden relays hidden worlds other species from previous cycles that are either dead or in some form of hiding. I get the devs could only do so much and EA definitely rushed them but there’s so much to be explored and discovered in ME.

[@brother_bear_one7340]

I like how the narrator covers the possible outcomes as "conflicting reports." I think it a nice touch.

[@chainsawsubtlety9828]

He was vengeance. He was the night. He...was...BATMAN! R.I.P. Mr. Conroy.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

In 2185, the 24th Fighter Group of the Citadel Fleet is awarded the highest honor for a military unit, the Galactic Unit Citation, for its efforts in the Battle of the Citadel, where it was the first unit to engage Sovereign.

[@MrChupacabra555]

Love how the 'Fog of War' immediately after the battle accounts for the different 'Paragon' and 'Renegade' decisions 😄 Question: Starting at 10:50, where did that little section of animation come from? I don't recognize it, but its been a long time since I saw the Mass Effect 'anime', so it could have come from that.

[@Volgrand]

I still stand up and cheer when Joker delivers the killing blow. What a scene!

[@Palpatine001]

Commander Shepard, Admiral Hacket and the 5th (Alliance) Fleet saving the Galaxy's arse Wont be the last time this happens either in the ME trilogy Even the Illusive Man was at the receiving end of all three in ME3 (Fun Fact, the Alliance was the only power to use dedicated Carrier ships which had the Turians absolutely perplexed)

[@Cailus3542]

Well, the major navies did have their own carriers during the trilogy. They saw how effective the Alliance carriers were at Shanxi and promptly followed the Alliance's example. The stealth frigate concept was also copied and dramatically by the salarians.

[@boobah5643]

@@Deridus Try again. The Citadel put strict limits on the number and types of warships its members (and especially junior members, like Earth) were allowed to have. Carriers were largely an attempted end run around those treaty limits that allowed the Earthers to have big ships that weren't dreadnoughts.

[@Exodon2020]

@@Cailus3542 The Salarians obtained the schematics of SSV Normandy and upscaled it to fit their Dreadnoughts, which left the rest of the Council fleets with their jaws dropped.

[@The_Viscount]

@@boobah5643 Yes, and no. The Alliance carriers existed before first contact and were used to great effect during the First Contact War/Relay 314 Incident. In the 30 Years following the introduction of Humanity to the Citiadel Races, the other species would experiment with carriers. However, the Treaty of Farixen was never amended to put restrictions on carrier construction. As a result, Alliance doctrine did shift to become more carrier focused as a way to bypass the treaty. I'm trying to find the source in the game where I learned this info. I'll edit back when I do.

[@Cailus3542]

@@boobah5643 It's canon that by the time of ME3, both the asari and turians operated carriers. The Alliance introduced the concept, but the other races (not being idiots) developed their own. Yes, the Alliance used carriers to compensate for having fewer dreadnoughts, exploiting a loophole in the Treaty of Farixen. Unfortunately, while effective against conventional opponents, I can't imagine the carriers being effective against the Reapers.

[@robertagu5533]

Ahh yes, the one "speck" of dust that gave the Reapers so much trouble in Shepard.. they got so full themselves to finally get a repeated beat down culminating in them LITERALLY depending on who's holding the controller and their mood to be murdered or various versions of owned...

[@matiasgallardoaraya3842]

Ahhh yes...Mass Effect...I remember that story, I just finished the game for the 100th time.

[@realtalunkarku]

truth lmao

[@mattwho81]

Those are rookie numbers, you gotta bump those numbers up.

[@sovietdominion]

wehave dismissed this comment

[@whyjnot420]

Interesting tidbit: In that opening cinematic from Andromeda that you see for a moment @ 8:40, just after the cut that was used for making this video, you can see no less than 7 of the 8 Systems Alliance dreadnoughts that exist at that time (That scene in Andromeda is very late in 2185 around 2-3 months before Shepard is rudely awakened in ME2, so it is possible that it is 7 out of 9 as the codex states that by 2186 there is one more, Orizaba iirc). As forgettable as so much of that game is, that detail always stood out to me. It showed how the Systems Alliance treated the Andromeda Initiative and its Arks as a bigger threat than anything preceding the events of ME3. For contrast, pouring over the cinematics from ME1 I have not seen a human dreadnought, in ME2 a single human dreadnought can be seen anchoring the Citadel Fleet and during the deployment of the Crucible, you can see 3 or so human dreadnoughts escorting it. addendum: you can tell the Systems Alliance dreadnoughts by the 4 prominent thrusters they have on them, similar to Normandy. Alliance cruisers only have 2, one per side (though I believe that there are 2 more on the cruisers that are blended more into the hull). Cruisers also have lots of pointy bits in the bow, dreadnoughts have a more blunted look to theirs. addendum 2: By simply looking at the numbers, System Alliance fleets likely have 1-2 per fleet, possibly 0 given the lack of them shown in 2183. So that show of force at the beginning of ME:A is about as powerful as they could have made it. addendum 3: If there are 8 total when the arks launched, one of them would be at the Citadel as shown in ME2 during the cinematic where Normandy approaches, then this would literally be the entire battle line that the Alliance was able to field for this show of force.

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

I think you should also cover the Second Battle of the Citadel, where Cerberus tries and fails to initiate a Coup and set up a Human-Supremacist Government with some inside help.... Also, is it just me, or is that one Cerberus Cyborg-Ninja look like a Metal Gear Solid character?

[@EGRJ]

Needs more nearly-unreadable tiny text on their equipment.

[@Slavesforsale1]

Good. You opened this message. This isn't actually asari military command. They're busy tending to what's left of their planet. So you survived our fight on Thessia. You're not as weak as I thought. But never forget that your best wasn't good enough to stop me. Now an entire planet is dying because you lacked the strength to win. The legend of Shepard needs to be re-written. I hope I'm there for the last chapter. It ends with your death. -KL

[@robertagu5533]

AND the Battle of Earth too both the naval and ground ones, along with other key places like Rannock, Palavan and Tuckanka

[@singletona082]

The triehard that was bested by a terminally ill drel at death's door? Kai Ling only generates in me a contempt and disgust. 'You want me to take this emo brat seriously when his victories only come because of cutscene mandated success? Get that weak shtuff outta here.'

[@jakespacepiratee3740]

@@singletona082 I hate to say it but at least in design and personality, he reminds me too much of Metal Gear Revengeance's Raiden, or just some other Kojima Character, except he'd probably be named "The Exectioner" or something.

[@Ally5141]

From a tactical perspective, saving Destiny Ascension and destroying geth ships before focusing on the Sovereign is the only valid choice, otherwise you leave Alliance fleet exposed and vulnerable to attacks from returning geth ships.

[@LL-yt7xv]

Please do more of this, battles from alternate worlds!

[@mingchoi8369]

Yep, been expecting a video on the climax of Mass Effect 1 for a long time. Loved how you call the multiple options for Mass Effect as conflicting reports, especially given the apocalyptic scope of the Reaper Wars. Of course, in the multiverse, both options actually occur, with one reality where the Destiny Ascension is saved and the other reality where the Destiny Ascension is destroyed. Anyway, happy veterans day. Hope you'll follow up this video with a HiCom on the Reaper War.

[@devilsadvocate22289]

I love this documentary style of explaining the movements and strategy of the fleets. It reminds me of a fictional version of YT channels like The Operations Room. Very well done and edited! I’d love to see more of these kinds of Major Fictional Battle Anaylsis vids for battles like the Battle of Yavin or something in the future!

[@secretagenttau2233]

GOD I FUCKING LOVE MASS EFFECT!!! The canon ending is Shepard saving the Council! Now I want to play the Legendary edition through again

[@omganotherun]

Makes me nostalgic for Stellaris Invicta. I long for Season 3.

[@Cailus3542]

Superb video and narratio, absolutely top notch. This battle was a fantastic climax to the first game.

[@awesomehpt8938]

Strange! I though it was called the battle of the giant space cylinder

[@noble6339]

Why did I read this in Garrus’s voice?

[@zen-aku9069]

@@noble6339 omg, now I can't stop reading that comment with Garrus's voice anymore

[@inquisitorgarza312]

Paragon Forever, and this was a definitely moment where the Mass Effect Universe was made for me when it gave me the option to save the Citadel Council or let them die, but it made saving them sacrificing human lives or let them die will create future problems with humanity representation.

[@Ariana321]

Last time I was this early, you could romance Ashley in ME1 as Femshep WITHOUT mods.

[@edboy-jo1hk]

Awesome. Would be interesting to see a video how you guys show the first Battle of Earth during the Reaper Invasion.

[@JohnnyElRed]

Your battle videos have gotten a lot better.

[@Vantud391]

“Alliance ships, move in! Save the Destiny Ascension!” “Commander, we’re picking up reinforcement.” “It’s the Alliance! Thanks the goddess!”

[@ElysiumCreator]

Love High Command, hope more is to follow!

[@AvalancheZ250]

This Cycle was unbelievebly lucky. In the Reaper's countless year record of cyclical galactic genocide, this was the one and only time where there was the right people, in the right place, at the right time. And as such, they pulled off the impossible; they defeated the Reapers, or even found a solution to the very conflict the Reapers had tried so long to solve. The surviving Protheans who disconnected the Keepers from the signal, preventing the Citadel from being a mass relay... the defeat of Sovereign by a unified coalition of galactic powers... the thwarting of multiple accellerated methods of the Reaper's pre-arrival meddling and arrival itself... the discovery and assistance of the Leviathans, original progenitors of the Reapers... the uncovered and constructed Crucible, monument to a thousand Cycles' final hopes... and of course the legendary Shepard, who made all the disparate pieces fall into place.

[@Alex13501]

Battle of the Citadel is the perfect culmination of the Mass Effect story, trully, that game was one of its kind.

[@kumisz2]

This new method of animating battles is very good!

[@lorddelta10]

Ah yes, the Reapers looking at Humanity: Clementine will remember this

[@DavidRichardson153]

Now I want to see the wars from the Ace Combat games. They did one for the Human-Covenant War from Halo, so why not?

[@TomMcD71]

Great use of the option that the player can save or sacrifice the council

[@christophertryhorn784]

Mass effect this was one of the very best game series I ever played so damn good

[@starboy199618]

This dude really sounds like a Salarian! Keep up the good work.

[@aleqyaw7936]

This brings back great memories. I was there!

[@VerdeMorte]

Council dismisses Reapers Reapers "dismiss" Council

[@Hellion73]

Wish at some point you could do a vid about the 2nd BOTC (with the little info we still have) and what could had happen to the people left there after the Reapers taken over.

[@majorminsk]

Gotta be honest. Watching this video is making me want to replay the whole trilogy again... For the fifth time. Great video!

[@The_Viscount]

YOU GOT MARK MEER TO DO A THING AT THE END!

[@jordanadams7856]

That was epic!

[@50ftFrankenstein]

Asari deserve more credit for fostering a galactic society that allowed Shepard to create a force that could beat the Reapers. Through context clues it's implied that the Asari were the first dominant galactic species since the cycle started that were not conquerors and had no interest in ruling the galaxy outright, instead believing in creating an interspecies coalition. Protheans apparently were standard as far as dominant species went historically. Conquer and enslave what you need, destroy whatever you don't and keep your government centralized. The Asari broke the mold and created the groundwork for the end of the cycle.

[@KeithenX]

Well retold!!

[@pkyboi937]

*Looks at the DA fleeting and mobbed* Well I guess the Destiny Ascension was more of a fancy showpiece than an effective warship.

[@TG-Maverick22]

This video is amazing! 5/5!

[@user-gq1ow9ct6j]

The Outer Limits Commander Shepherd Like a... well like a missionary.

[@Gregnier]

wait, was that really mark meer at the end?

[@nickolas474]

This channel had a Dossier entry on Garrus, which was voiced by Mark Meer. Hence where the voice clip came from.

[@rramos117]

“Which of these options leads me to sex?” - Renegade Shepard

[@dariustiapula]

I love the big damn hero moment of the SA Navy.

[@questionmark05]

Stargate, mass effect and now more mass effect! Your spoiling me Templin institute! Thank you!!

[@berndb3141]

Yes, More Mass Effect please.

[@paulconrad6220]

Sovereign reminds me so much of the SJ Sathanas from Freespace 2. i wonder if that game was an influence on the ME creators

[@Interitus1]

Had to show the attack on Vancouver at the end.

[@admiralalbion2279]

Now you gotta do the battle for earth

[@kalwinters442]

Why did Sovereign even attack the citadel with the whole reaper fleet only 5 years away, and are they towing the relay connecting to the Citadel behind them or would he have opened the Citadel relay only to have no reapers come through bc they decided to take 'the scenic route' a long time ago

[@NobodyN7]

Won't mind seeing the Fall of Earth, as well as the final battle for Earth.

[@squadie1]

I absolutely love these games (not andromeda) and I hope the next one will be good

[@rhidor8524]

Sounds a bit like a Salarian is telling this, I like it!

[@singletona082]

Thanks to the multiverse. the battle at citadel station played out both ways.

[@whyjnot420]

Decided to take a little break from ME2LE and what do I see? Here's hoping you guys do this battle the justice that burkharts stairway (as I call them) did not when they did a video on this some months back.

[@TheMagicalPinata]

This video is filled with so many inaccuracies; we've already dismissed the claim of these "Reapers"

[@angtaonggala]

Turian: we got dreadnought Sovereign: dread not?

[@walorianfederation666]

Christmas came early.

[@jocax188723]

I always chose to save the Ascension, not because of the three massive idiots aboard, but because of the 9997 other innocent Asari crew. They didn't deserve to die because of the incompetence of their elected leaders.

[@Rio..o7..]

Remember: 1 cycle = 1 Reaper

[@MIXDJ3000]

I would love to see a video of a Templin Institute version of the reaper war just like the video you guys did with The New Republic and First Order. Imagine if the council actually took the reaper threat seriously and studied sovereign to develop weapons that are actually effective against the reapers. Instead of needing 7 ships to kill a reaper, imagine one ship equals to one reaper and Instead of a few days, imagine if it took weeks or even a month or two to take over a system or a planet. To this day it still baffles me the council didn't take the reaper threat seriously. For the first half of ME 1, I sort of understood why the council was skeptic of the reaper threat, but towards the end of the game, they literally ignored the giant reaper corpse in the middle of the citadel as if it never happened in the first place. If they had listen to Shepard, they would realize that Shepard bought them time and the galaxy should have been extinct on ME 1 and on top of that, if the council had bothered to understand the reaper origins, other species in the past weren't as lucky as they were.

[@bajszosjozsef4850]

Where's the scene at 10:51 from? Did they create another ME anime I'm not aware of? Edit: Ahh, it's a brief scene in Paragon Lost. Totally forgot they mentioned reapers in that movie.

[@hangebza6625]

Seeing again how complicated it was for the reaper to gain control of the station in ME1, I remember why I was baffled in my first ME3 playthrough how they could just swoop in offscreen and redeploy it around earth. ME3 was great, but everything after the raid of the ceberus space stations confuses me to be honest

[@THE_REAL_POLITIK]

When is Templin going to rank the major powers of Mass Effect?

[@FC3D]

Now do the biometal wars from Battlezone :D

[@shmee123ful]

Something I've always wondered about, why didn't sovereign reach out to the collectors?

[@insignificantgnat9334]

From what we see in the games there was only a handful of collectors wandering around the galaxy. While they were powerful enough to seize remote lightly defended colonies, they probably lacked the strength to successfully assault a major military target like the Citadel directly. Remember the one ship we see was driven off by a handful of conventional weapons emplacements on Horizon, and the Collectors as a whole were eliminated by a small elite team aboard a lone advanced frigate. So they probably wouldn't have fared too well in a direct confrontation with the Citadel fleet. There's also the possibility that while the Reapers present a united front to outsiders, there's more internal division than we see. Perhaps Harbinger just didn't like letting the other Reapers play with his meat puppets.

[@nagger8216]

Because Mass Effect 2 was stupid

[@thebaccathatchews]

I really should work on my Mass Effect crossover fanfic.

[@abrahamfranciscogalvao3474]

Looooooooooooove The end of this Video. We love you Commander Shepard

[@Otterdisappointment]

If the Citadel exists as the bait to ensure technological and bureaucratic development revolves around it, how the hell does anyone reach it if they need to meet there to advance?

[@nagger8216]

It's mentioned that the locations of the Mass Relays allow civilizations to evolve along the paths the Reapers desire, basically being manipulated into finding it

[@Palpatine001]

1:40 forever unknowable - unless you do the Synthesis option to which the Reapers begin to share cultures they had long ago conquered with humanity and the other races. 2:09 noted that the Reapers hit the Citadel first and as noted here and by Javik + Vigil resistance effectively collapses as the central authority is both gone and also used against by Reaper intelligence gathering. However, this time it was different. Why? There were arguably two prime powers by the time 2183 and 2185 rolled around rather than one, the Citadel Council, and The Alliance which most likely a reason the Reapers went for Earth first not because we were the weakest but most likely to be the most stubborn. Ironic all that time Humans were pushing for a seat on the Council and got shunned it saved our bacon....

[@AhmadWahelsa]

Also a funny fact to think that our species and Krogans is probably the only ones that fought its own species, and with those experiences forged an absolutely powerful military forces when united

[@xyr3s]

I saved the destiny ascension on my first play through. Because as a human, I know that having a fully human council dictating galactic affairs would not go well. Humans can be caring, intelligent and loving, but humans can also be greedy, vengeful and self serving. Saving the destiny I saw as a sacrifice on the side of humans for the greater galactic good. It would also make the council indebted to the humans propelling us to a more significant status on the galactic stage. And I made the peace with the sacrifice because I knew that I as commander Sheppard would make the same sacrifice to save my crew if the need ever arose and why I sacrificed myself at the end for the synthetic ending. I chose synthetic ending because unlike the reapers turning all organics mechanical, it would be a hybrid. Synthetic and organic parts working together in balance. Like the get and the quarians but on a bigger and more smaller scale at the same time.

[@GrandmasterDevo]

Nicely done for the most part, though space between galaxies is referred to as "dark space", not "deep space".

[@DavidMcKinzie]

It has all happened before and it'll all happen again.

[@hansofaxalia]

I get that reverse engineering alien technology is probably a little tricky, but maybe explore and map out the strange superstructure BEFORE making it the galactic capital?

[@dakotalange2858]

Can you do commander shepherd and the various backgrounds

[@Jinny-Wa]

The Enclave woman is the best narrator this channel has

[@casbot71]

There's one major flaw with the Reapers cycle plan. What if a random interstellar war destroyed the citadel before it could be activated?

[@gaiusbaltar8915]

The Citadel wasn't the only way for the Reapers to enter the galaxy, as we see later. It's just the most effective way to conquer it. If the Citadel was destroyed, the cycle would likely be longer and more drawn-out, with the outcome less certain than otherwise, like in ME3. And afterwards, the Reapers could just rebuild it.

[@TheAnakinn]

Welp, guess it's time to replay Mass Effect. Again.

[@antonslavic1899]

still cant get over that the war asset score of the Normandy > the Destiny

[@bigj1905]

People give the Council a lot of flak (deservedly so) but I also tend to think that they really did all they could. Let’s consider for a moment that the council outright believes Shepard and starts to prepare for a war with the Reapers. To have actually have been effective, it would have required retooling the entirety galactic economy to a war economy, mass conscription, martial law, and increased federalization, all against an enemy that wouldn’t show up for another 3 1/2 years. All on the word of one Specter, their crew, and a single dead space ship. People simply wouldn’t believe it, much less agree with it.

[@scotts918]

Long story short - humans kick ass and save lives

[@ThomasMurch]

3:13 - So you're saying that Sovereign would have to ... assume direct control?

[@Negativvv]

Years after playing ME I've just realised Reapers are the worst spawn campers ever...

[@brdd514]

Can we get a "Keys Maneuver" analysis from halo??

[@pauloaraujo5156]

neat

[@terrysimmons8657]

So was the ship at 5:25 stolen from STOL or did they steel it from ME?

[@absboodoo]

"This is commander shepard and this is my favorite channel in the citadel."

[@TemplinInstitute]

watch till the end

[@Marconius6]

Man, this just makes me miss good Mass Effect...