Mass Effect: Mass Relay | FTL System Breakdown

[@Spacedock]

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[@PeterFendrich]

Mass effects dual approach of having ships capable of FTL, but reliant on external stations for significant travel was a great system in my mind. Not only did it all make sense in The lore and physics as presented in the setting, it gave the setting a lot of depth, and added some interesting variations into how different factions could approach their naval doctrine.... It gave the entire interstellar travel some Hardline rules, but expansive story options

[@PeterFendrich]

The one thing about the whole system that was definitely mentioned, but rarely actually affected gameplay, would have been the communication lags, and it would have been interesting if that had come to the forefront a little more often, and really highlighted the importance of the quantum entanglement communication technology, and why that was going to be such a game changer.

[@thomasp506]

@@PeterFendrich They actually say in the codex that ships had FTL communications, even without a QEC. It's basically the same premise as a Mass Relay, but its the ship or station that produces a mass effect conduit to beam communications through. They make a point that they have FTL comms, but no FTL sensors, which makes recon ships and probes more important.

[@PeterFendrich]

@@thomasp506 Yeah they have FTL communication with the com network, but it's also explicitly stated that there is a huge time delay lag after you get past a certain distance. As I recall, it's mentioned both when EDI is explaining the first quantum entanglement communicator, and then again remarked on a couple times in Mass effect 3 in background comments as com networks are going down due to the reapers taking out infrastructure.

[@thomasp506]

@@PeterFendrich Normal FTL comms would be beamed to nearby ships within a few light minutes, allowing near-instant comms instead of the few minutes of delay. Over longer distances, you could beam comms over the mass relays. The more steps involved, the more delay is incurred, but it's still less than the hundreds of years it would take to send a message across multiple star systems at light speed. The idea behind the QEC is that it provides instantaneous communication between two points regardless of distance with no reliance on mass effect infrastructure.

[@PeterFendrich]

@@thomasp506 I'm not sure I'm following your point.... Your point seems to be "there was FTL communication without QEDs" which, yes, clearly is the case.... But, again, my point is there seems, based on comments made, to be a noticable delay, and it requires a whole infrastructure in place: hence why everyone with knowledge of QEDs talks about the extreme potential of them to revolutionize communication in the galaxy.... And I wish we could have seen a bit more of the contrast actually in game. Are you saying something different and I'm misunderstanding?

[@rommdan2716]

Physics: No, you can't travel faster than light Mass Effect: All right, we change the lightspeed value then. Physics: .... Wait, you what?!

[@vonfaustien3957]

I mean Futurama did it

[@williamhare4456]

Mass Effect: we created an element with an atomic weight of zero. Physics: Wait that already exists it’s called radiation.

[@november382]

@@williamhare4456 Depends on the type of radiation, but in essence you’re correct. But creating an element with zero mass would be something incredible, since that would basically mean you managed to create a solid material out of photons. I remember a project I read about years ago, something or another about researchers attempting to slow down light and literally weave materials out of the photons. I have no idea what the outcome of that experiment was..

[@seemslegit6203]

Wasn't the whole equation that they reduced the object's weight to zero? As an object with mass needs an infinite amount of energy to achieve light speed?

[@rommdan2716]

@@seemslegit6203 Not, because the mass effect field increase the speed of light locally too, that's why they glow blue.

[@mervjohnson8010]

Mass Effect's is my favorite FTL system. I love the short range free moving shipboard vs long-range infrastructure dynamic.

[@MazzaAzi]

We'll the mass effect team DID work with actual scientists to figure out a believable system of FTL. which is also why theirs a available info dump on basically everything (including a random porno mag). *GOD* I miss when Bioware were allowed to make near perfect RPGs and I hope ME4 doesn't become a repeat of MEA (Slight side note but: I love how much sense Mess Effect Based FTL makes. It literally Reduces the collective mass of the ship to allow it's sublight drives to go FTL)

[@BogeyTheBear]

Babylon 5 had a similar setup, with Jumpgates being the primary means of FTL transitions, but you can build a ship large enough to form short-term jump points for its own use.

[@mervjohnson8010]

@@BogeyTheBear I've actually never watched Babylon 5. But that sounds really interesting.

[@BogeyTheBear]

It's an interesting setup. In the B5 world small freighters, shuttles, even one-man fighter craft all have the navigation and support systems to travel through hyperspace-- they just lack the means to enter/exit hyperspace on their own. They rely on a jumpgate or have to piggyback off a capital ship with the power to make a jump point. Even then, most capital ships prefer travel via a gate and utilize their jump drives only when tactical neccessity demands it due to the energy costs. Also, it takes several days to take a jumpgate offline, so an active gate is very much a neutral entity that allows hostile forces through as well as friendly ones.

[@mervjohnson8010]

@@BogeyTheBear Recommended episodes to skip too to see this?

[@Cailus3542]

Oh heck. I just realised as I was watching this. The Reaper IFF completely eliminated the problem of mass relay drift. That's how the Normandy (and the Collectors) survived passing through the Omega 4 relay, by arriving at the exact point of space necessary to be safe. The Alliance found the Reaper IFF when Shepard gave them the Normandy, and knowing that the Reapers were coming, the Alliance immediately retrofitted the fleet with the technology, allowing perfect and precise mass relay jumps with no delay. Either before or during the Reaper War, the Alliance shared this technology with the other Council races. This is why, when the Council fleets attack Earth, they're able to move the entire armada in perfect formation through the relay all at once. The Reapers thus cannot ambush the armada by picking them off as they jump in piecemeal, forcing the Reapers to establish their defensive live in Earth's orbit instead. All because Shepard and their team secured the Reaper IFF. Love it.

[@mackenziebeeney3764]

That….did not occur to me. That makes perfect sense though.

[@1234andrewjacksmith]

I mean they already had the ability to move ships in perfect formation by moving them as a single mass unit though that increased the dirft due to how it works basically it scans the entry corridor for how much mass you tell it and if it is in multiple ships will keep their relevant positions in place though increase how much drift they would experience or you could send them in group but have them all jumbled up and possibly crash into each other so conventional plans is to move fleets as one mass This is talked about in the trans-relay assault codex though the IFF may have played a bigger role if the reapers weren’t brain dead called letting them use the relay to earth due to reaper signals despite the reapers having the citadel aka the control centre for the relays not to say it might not have also remove the drift so they arrived next to the relay

[@Il_Exile_lI]

This is a nice theory, but I don't know how much I buy it. In general, the cutscenes showing space travel and/or space combat are not really all that accurate to codex lore to begin with. In ME1 we see the arrival at Ilos as the Normandy appearing right next to the receiving relay, and this is well before the IFF (unrelated, but that cutscene also makes it look that relay is basically orbiting Ilos, which is pretty silly). Additionally, the space combat we see looks like Star Wars battles with tons of ships in close proximity, whereas the codex says space combat takes place with ships totally out of visual range of each other, up to thousands of kilometers apart. I think we just have view those space cutscenes as artistic license with the goal of looking cool, rather than as totally lore accurate depictions of events.

[@deepdungeon8465]

​@@Il_Exile_lIyeah, and considering they have to do it fast enough and get to the catalyst because Reaper reinforcement Legions are arriving in Sol System.

[@JustTooDamnHonest]

It never got old when you approach a relay and got into position as it charges up your FTL drive and then it slingshots you to your destination. The Mass Relays were truly a thing of beauty.

[@natzo89]

Its interesting to read the theories and codex on how defences and trade are dependent on the relays. Unlike Slipspace or Hyperdrives where you can jump pretty much anywhere (not Star Wars), systems with multiple relays are nexus of trade, while warfare is centered around relays since fleets need to cross them unless they are in the cluster. The turians had to send bombs first to clear the other end in order to attack the Reapers. Setting static defences pointing at the relay would make sense too. Or a minefield.

[@MaxRavenclaw]

I never did fully understand Star Wars Hyperspace. Some stories suggest it's near limitless, others say you had to travel strictly along hyperlanes. What's cannon in the end?

[@jenshep1720]

@@MaxRavenclaw in theory you can go anywhere. in practice, loads of stellar phenomenons impede travel in hyperspace, so efforts are focused on finding routes with as little of that as possible, and logically those get used the most. thus, hyperroutes. however, hyperspace is also a separate dimension apparently, so ehhhh......

[@Gothic7876]

@@MaxRavenclaw You have Hyperlanes which are just well travelled and well mapped routes. It is possible to not use the lanes, but is highly dangerous. And it’s hella expensive to map a new lane. So in a way, it is theoretically limitless, but practically speaking it isn’t.

[@mattstorm360]

@@Gothic7876 This also explains planetary blockades only using a few ships around a point instead of dotted across the planet. There are points where you enter hyperspace which is usually where the blockade is. Not around the planet but at the hyper space point leading to and from that planet.

[@GaldirEonai]

@@MaxRavenclaw You're blind to realspace while inside hyperspace, but you can still crash into things that are big enough to have a mass shadow in hyperspace. If that happens, depending on the mass and angle of "impact", one of three things would happen. 1.) You get dumped out of hyperspace badly rattled but mostly ok. 2.) You get dumped from hyperspace and your hyperdrive melts into a pile of slag from the feedback, stranding you. 3.) You get smeared across eleven and a half dimensions and emerge into realspace as a very impressive shower of particles. So people tended to prefer very carefully mapped routes, the hyperlanes. But if you were adventurous and/or desperate enough...

[@DrakeAurum]

I hadn't previously heard that "fleets that transit together can go as a single package to prevent drift" explanation. Definitely seems like a bit of an after-the-event backfill to cover the obvious discrepancy between the "random exit point" gubbins we get in the lore and the right-on-the-dot visuals we see every time one or more ships jump in right next to the relay.

[@hoojiwana]

Yep its one of the (many) codex-only things in Mass Effect lore. It can be explained that ships arriving one by one like that are all going one-by-one and just being lucky. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@Phoenix-vf4nd]

Yeah a fleet of ship can go through a relay in maintained their formation. But the increase mass cause more drift so their expected exit point would be larger.

[@BogeyTheBear]

The larger the subscribed mass, the less accurate the destination would be. It was a strategic trade-off: Do you jump through the entire fleet in good formation and risk them arriving too far off the mark; or do you send smaller formations (or individual ships) in a noticeable scatter but with greater accuracy?

[@aserta]

@@hoojiwana I mean, it's pretty simple to understand how it works if you look at the other clues about mass effect technology and eezo. The ship based FTL basically creates a big negative space volume for the ship to fly within. Without it, it would be ablated by space schmutz. Then you extrapolate that to the Relays and it's pretty clear that their larger mass, larger power is responsible for punching a space conduit (hence the name for the Prothean one) using the ships to clean it as a byproduct. "packet" is a very basic name for saying that it considers all one unit, locks them in the configuration they entered the region, and thus flings them from point A to point B where the other Relay catches them and stops their momentum. It can only be this way, because there's no hyperspace or other dimension involved here. It's all mass manipulation, the only thing eezo can do. There's no space lasers, no magic four legged elves cleaning the space between Relays, and the Reapers don't put on maid outfits and clean either. So you take the small scale ship FTL and upscale it in reverse mode of actions to the bigger Relays (as the units themselves are static). What's more amazing (and hinted) is the sheer stupid powerful power sources they must contain. Whatever means of powering the eezo they have, is so strong that it can probably punch through a planetoid or more... considering there's bound to be something between Relays in excess of 50000 years of stellar drift, let alone millions...

[@shadowthoughts7959]

Theoretically speaking, due to the post-Rachni War law banning dormant relay activation, there could be an entire other galactic civilization with its own network that simply cannot connect to ours because the "paired" relays are left dormant on our end, disallowing use from the other side. While we had our asses kicked, an entire network of other species could have simply remained unaware, or possibly even preparing for a war with the reapers using tech/evidence left behind on their end from previously successful cycles of harvest. Given how many reapers were destroyed during our conflict, and likely during each, and that reapers only birth 1 new addition per civilization (still not stated whether this means by species or by entire galactic civilization, the former meaning multiple new reapers per cycle), any in this extra civilization would have an easier time fighting the reapers had the plan not worked with the Crucible, and survivors scattered from a lost Earth could link up and take out enough to force the reapers into a tactical retreat to bide time. I have no doubt that the next step would be activating dormant relays out of desperation to create new colonies far from key worlds and rebuild quickly, putting is in contact with other species who could be rallied to help for their own sake. The "Allow" ending in this case would not ensure our demise, but simply serve to show that the back-up plan by Liara was successful and would still be pivotal in the event of another reaper return in a newer and more expansive galaxy.

[@cringemeat9430]

Im pretty sure the reapers turn them all on before leave so whatever is trapped behind the relay would be let out

[@aserta]

Doubtful but not unlikely. You have to remember that the council bans it, but they can't ban outsiders porting in. So if an advanced civilization existed out there, they're either outside relay network or they're outside reaper control.

[@funnynameforme4091]

@@cringemeat9430 Vigil in ME1 said that the Reapers used census date to find out where civs were so I doubt if no one knew about it that they were be a reaper activity

[@HammondOfTexas]

Holy shit i loved that game series so much! Played and replayed it so often that i eventually dreamed about walking around the Normandy as Sheperd ^^ trying to get all the best possible endings, trying every option.. man those were some good games.. (we don't talk about andromeda)

[@compmanio36]

Nice screen name. RIP Don S Davis.

[@JFDSmit-rm6tw]

Andromeda got a lot of punishment for being too PC and for good reason. Game companies are supposed to focus on playable games with proper plot and character development, not about pushing ideology and cowering to The Sarkeesian and her ilk. But it was a nice little time waster, and I liked driving the Nomad a lot more than the Mako.

[@ledocteur7701]

I really tried to get into andromeda, and yeah.. as much as I still consider it a mass effect game, the villains are just so boringly cliché and the missions so repetitive that I just can't finish it. the character we play at is just so dull, were did all of that absolute badassery that Shepard had went ?? the other characters are okay tho, and the NPCs having all a story of their own is still here, even if it isn't quite as good than in ME2 and ME3.

[@bizklaustdeity3115]

Andromeda was fine as a side story Mass Effect game for me, the concept and the story itself left a bad taste in my experience plus the bugs towards end game were getting out of hand and somehow managed to finished the game only to be left by a cliffhanger that was continued in the novel form which I don't want to read because I'm not really into on the rest of the story in the end.

[@voodoominerman]

Andromeda is good, and you should play it. That is all. Also, *waves hand over head*

[@Victor-056]

The Endings usually determined _how_ the Relays got damaged, and what happens to them afterwards. Destroy: Relays explode and are rendered burnt out husks, but the explosion is seemingly contained to only the Relay and the Nearby Planet. (Since the Sol system and a lot of Planetary systems notably have their respective "Cradle Worlds" left untouched by the blast wave.) They are never repaired and left to Decay. Control: The explosion damaged the Relays, but rather than being rendered non-functional Husks, they remain in repairable condition for the Reapers to fix up. Synthesis: The Relays only lose their Eezo Core and Gyroscopic rings, but otherwise, the main bodies of the Relays are left intact, and are thus, easily repairable when compared to the Control Ending (Which actually shows the Charon relay splitting in half.)

[@viniciusbaltar632]

But the relays are repaired in the destroy ending. I've only ever played ME3 with all the DLC, so the Extended Cut might have to do with it, but at least in the "Good Destroy Ending" we get to see in Hackett's monologue that the Mass Relays were damaged but eventually repaired. Same thing goes for the Citadel. However, there's no indication of how much time had passed since the Crucible's activation

[@Dahaka27]

While this is partially true you don't have all the info. On top of this you also have the effects of low and high readiness. The high readiness destroy ending has just the rings of the relay destroyed.

[@MegaTech81]

That's not true at all. The canonical destroy ending (high EMS) shows the relays getting repaired by all the races. They need it to get home too.

[@MagnoliaNox]

I love the Mass Effect lore. The amount of detail and world building really makes it a fantastic universe to explore. Thanks for the video!

[@helixfire64]

I always love seeing Mass Effect content on this channel, heck I love this channel!!! Thank you so much for your work @Spacedock!

[@CS_Mango]

Love the inclusion of sovereigns quote.

[@Rastek19]

Anderson:"Shepard, i know it was a pretty fucked up killing all these batarians but I know it was more important to delay the reapers" Shepard: "The reapers???"

[@lunamageice]

ME trilogy is still one of the best and most beautiful games to this day imo

[@vaevictisgd5249]

Sheeeeeeepaaaaaaaaard Seriously, more Mass Effect videos please guys. Your channel is amazing and Mass Effect too, you need to combine them together more often

[@justicetaylor3050]

I remember discussion along the lines of many allied aliens being doomed to starvation because the Mass Relays were the sole means of returning home and resupplying. Various races couldn’t eat earth food, and earth wasn’t in shape to provide food either. It was said the survivors would be at each other’s throats in a food crisis.

[@huyang7734]

They could set up hybernation chambers to sleep through hunger while waiting for relevant infrastructures to be rebuild. Beside, population dropped significantly after the Reaper war so they wont need much resource to feed everyone.

[@MsterJamesJT]

"Tube of space" THATS HOW IT WORKS?! Man im kinda shook. Mass relays always facinated.

[@sage_thunderleaf487]

Great. Now I wanna play the Mass Effect trilogy again lol

[@hoojiwana]

Writing this script very nearly set me off on my own playthrough! It still might! - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@sage_thunderleaf487]

@@hoojiwana I'm with you there brother. I still have a few classes and romances I've yet to try for the trilogy, so I just might give into my temptation.

[@JulianTdama]

I was just watching mass effect content when this video dropped 👍. Also, greetings from Germany 🇩🇪👋

[@gladiator5365]

Hello!

[@hoojiwana]

Hello Germany!

[@ZinXlX]

Was it ever mentioned if any species in the cycle where Commander Shepard is in that managed to reverse engineer a Mass Relay ? Like building their own relays so it would be much safer and convenient.

[@PeterFendrich]

I know Liara's mother mentions that one of the reasons why she fell out of favor with the matriarchs in thesia is that she said they needed to start building their own independent relay network. The statement is nebulous enough that I'm not 100% sure if she's saying they need to figure out how to do it, or is implying that they know how, but just nobody sees it as important since the relay Network already exists, but in either event it would seem to imply that the Asari either actually new how to theoretically build mass relays, or we're close to understanding how to theoretically build mass relays. Though I don't think there's any evidence that they actually had practically built one.

[@voodoominerman]

The Protheans were experimenting with the idea in the previous cycle at the point that the reapers invaded, and were generally more technologically advanced than the races in our cycle. It is also worth noting that Sovereign did keep an eye on the technological development of the galaxy, and would likely have actively sabotaged any research into the building of relays through the use of indoctrinated agents.

[@ZinXlX]

@@PeterFendrich Ahh alright thanks ! Been so long since I've played the game and details are quite fuzzy now. I'm just curious cuz from the looks of it the Relays are super important so it would have made sense to copy it and make their own. Especially for military purposes, you do not want to jump into a relay where the other side has built up a strong defense around the exit points.

[@Lahiss]

Geth converted several Relays into a Space telescope that could get present footage from Andromeda (as opposed to two and half million years old), but that one couldn't send ships through. After the Reaper war the Galaxy kinda has to figure out how to repair the relays since they were all busted by the Crucible blast (and next Mass Effect has canonized Destroy ending, so no Reapers around to rebuild them).

[@adambielen8996]

@@Lahiss So the Geth are canonically extinct? That sucks.

[@Darth234Ravenous]

I always wonder, Are the reapers capable of doing long range jumps without the relays? Considering that they built them and the citadel, It's most likely they have a means of travel more advanced.

[@Adrenalin844]

They supposedly reached the galaxy from dark space in a few years after all of their regular routes into the galaxy were sabotaged. It would make at least some sense, since FTL capabilities in ME are directly linked to the size of the eezo core of the ship, and reapers can get measured in kilometers when it gets to size.

[@alvisalendran]

Sort of? They have eezo cores that are much more powerful, so they can do more effective short ranged jumps and maneuver better than they should, but they can't do full put relay scale jumps without the relays

[@Dahaka27]

"Conventional" Mass Effect FTL travel technically has an unlimited range as long as you have enough H3 (helium 3) fuel for your thrusters to propel your starship and as long as you have a way to discharge the static build-up generated by the eezo core which reduces the ships' mass to point that FTL travel becomes possible. The larger your eezo core relative to the size of the starship the lower you can reduce your mass and the faster the FTL effect. The static build-up causes the eezo core to detonate if not discharged. Normal starships don't have enough fuel or nearby planets to dump static build-up when exploring deep space which keeps Mass Effect ships normally confined to star systems with planets and sources of fuel. Reapers probably use something similar to the ODSY Drive System that the Mass Effect Andromeda Arks use that uses an enormous eezo core where the static building within the drive core is recycled in ships system to power the vessel thus preventing an eezo core detonation and a hydrogen ram scoop that harvests interstellar hydrogen that is somehow converted to helium (possibly in a fusion reactor) to power the ship's thrusters to propel the ship. Reapers have massive eezo cores, will have methods of reusing or discharging static on the fly and use an exotic drive system to propel themselves through space, as they do not have visible thrusters they probably do not need fuel in the same way as other ships do.

[@secondsein7749]

Nope they don't. This is evident when Shepard disabled the main relay, the Citadel that prevented the entire Reaper force from coming. Ever since then the Reaper has been taking the long route to get to us.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@@secondsein7749 they still have far faster regular ftl then the majority of milky way galaxy species did. they still used the mass relays since it was just faster to do so when harvesting.

[@seemslegit6203]

Do relays have interiors? They look like they have windows, and their sheer size gives lots of internal volume. Also, if they physically move for each jump to align with the target, how does this work in terms of traffic congestion?

[@daka3785]

I'm pretty sure they do have interiors, I forgot but I'm sure I read somewhere that they become "hubs" for galactic travel. So maybe people have trading and shipping inside idk..

[@seemslegit6203]

@@daka3785 maybe, although the shield makes it sound inaccessible

[@foxman105]

From what I remember from my playthrough, they have service crew. Civilisations that find them eventually learn how to service and operate them. It's like an Air Traffic Control station where they take in transmitted coordinates and point the relay in the right way so it can slingshot the ship in the right way and in the right distance.

[@daka3785]

@@foxman105 no but why did the reapers build the mass relays with rooms with sizes fit for human scale things and not races like Leviathans??

[@foxman105]

@@daka3785 That I don't know. I'm only theory-crafting here, but I assume that intelligent life follows patterns of evolving certain size and shape. All the planets are roughly Earth gravity and mass. This means that certain general body shape will eventually form and you have an upper limit on how big the animal can be if they want to be plantigrade, digitigrade or ungulate bipedal animals. You exceed certain weight and the bone structure starts to collapse or wear prematurely. Leviathans aren't really a race that should be able of interstellar travel, considering that they're aquatic. How are you going to evolve past stone age if you can't use heat of a fire to start crafting metal? They're an anomaly.

[@cass7448]

The Council's law against activating dormant relays is honestly really stupid. By all means mandate military oversight of such operations, but if the idea is to prevent another surprise invasion... surely you'd want to know what threats are on the other side ASAP, before said threats come through on their own? It's also giving a huge advantage to explorers outside the Council's jurisdiction. Imagine if the Geth were a bit less isolationist and made first contact with humanity without the Council knowing. Deliberately limiting your own knowledge of the galaxy outside your borders is a recipe for disaster.

[@secondsein7749]

They are extremely stupid. They consider the Rachni to be the biggest threat to the galaxy before Reapers came along and spare no expense to destroy them. However when the Geth uprising happen, they go "yeah the Geth aren't a problem. We'll just tell the Quarian that they have to solve it on their own if they wanna ever get back in the fold,". The thing is, the Geth has the potential to be even worse than the Rachni. Yet because of writing decisions where we need an enemy, the Geth where left alone long enough until we came into the scene. The council were damn lucky half of the Geth decided to be chill and didn't do much. If the entire Geth decided to amass their tech and weapons, the council is doomed.

[@cass7448]

@@secondsein7749 I wouldn't put it past the STG to have some kind of anti-Geth virus either being developed or in storage. We already know the Geth are somewhat vulnerable to digital attacks.

[@JenkoRun]

We've known the council are idiots since the first game, not surprising they make idiotic decisions.

[@samwill7259]

The tube that does the zoom.

[@dariustiapula]

I like to imagine the Reapers just place relays to empty places by basically yeeting themselves to that area. With enough resources to build a single return relays.😄

[@DyspareEmbodied]

But how do they stop? I would think maybe that with the fact that this cycle they perpetuate has gone on maybe millions of years that they mapped the galaxy with FTL and then built the Relays at points of interest. As machines, the concept of patience and time would mean absolutely nothing to them. Just my theory.

[@deepdungeon8465]

​​@@DyspareEmbodied Reaper speed in FTL is 10k+ times the Speed of Light. Humans and other Race is 50 times the Speed of Light. So there you go, those space squids are hella fast even if their just in cruising speed.

[@uncanny-YT]

Is this going to be a new series, looking at the different FTL tech of various settings. I can't wait until you get to Warhammer 40k, "yeah, it's just hell"

[@Dafeaz]

Not sure if there's enough lore out there, but I'd love a breakdown on the Hyperspace Core from the Homeworld series

[@artembentsionov]

There are three. There’s also an intergalactic drive in HW Cataclysm/Emergence

[@cass7448]

They'll probably talk about Homeworld stuff when the new game comes out.

[@sanghelian]

I don't think this channel has ever covered elite universe has it? That is something i would really like to see, ships, stations, technology and interstellar protocol to cover dozens of videos!

[@DrownedInExile]

One of these days I'll get around to actually playing Mass Effect...

[@ajzebadua]

Interesting, went with the destroy option

[@John.Angell]

The destruction of the relays (and singular Shepherd death) killed an otherwise incredible trilogy.

[@Daedhart]

Im still confused why the Reapers bothered using the Citadel as a relay if they could just casually fly to the Alpha relay in the first place...

[@evang.4523]

It’s explained that from the Citadel they can gain control of the entire relay network and shut it down, isolating everyone in the galaxy. Makes me wonder why they didn’t take it in ME3 until the end

[@Daedhart]

@@evang.4523 Ehh...maybe. Doesnt really feel like they really need it; including to your point why it took them so long to take it.

[@echos5823]

The citadel became "useless" when the last protheans using the Ilos-Presidium relay to sneak onto the citadel and disable the "shut fown all relay" function. Sovereign in ME1 went to the citadel to try retart this function.

[@SwiftGundam]

I thought it was 14 km from what the first book said? And that was a Primary Relay. In fact, I still wonder if there is any physical identifier to tell a Primary and Secondary Relay apart. Not to mention how exactly does one direct where a Secondary Relay send a ship?

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

**sigh** looks like i’m going to have to do a complete playthrough of the Mass Effect Trilogy for an 8th time.

[@rmeddy]

Nice , good stuff I think the relays and what is possible with them is still the most interesting conceit in the overarching narrative of this franchise I really hope they lean into this and the Dark Energy premise for future games especially with what ever is going on with which ending would be considered "canon" I have a big bonkers idea for how they should resolve that though.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

Can't wait for Mass Effect 4.

[@taylorgarrett793]

it does make me wonder if they could be moved. cause how else did they get them there in the first place? that would mean the reapers had to spend 1000's of years traveling at sublight speed to get to the spot to make the relay

[@anuvisraa5786]

porbabli

[@anuvisraa5786]

a funi ting is that the mas relay sistem is the besto posible solution to the flt problem

[@ClassicMagicMan]

1,000 years for an immortal machine being doesn't seem like a big deal.

[@compmanio36]

Why sublight? The Reapers had a big mass effect core, and could travel in FTL same as the Normandy could. Slower than a relay to be sure, but not sublight.

[@bizklaustdeity3115]

Machines. Robots. They literally waited millennia per millennia to feed once per cycle they deemed suitable anytime. Totally normal for them.

[@xzaratulx]

This was the single greatest video games series ever existed (ignoring the ending)

[@Chaindustries]

"The relays where shattered" Oh jesus don't remind me.

[@FlameBringer84]

I see Spacedock continues to be based and consider the Destroy ending canon.

[@selectthedead]

Physics: You will need continuesly more energy the closer you get to light speed, but energy equals mass! Mass Effect: Was is mass? Let's just make it Zero!

[@vandabo]

So, when they crashed an asteroid into a relay it blew up like a supernova, wiping out its star system... But that didn't happen when all the relays were destroyed later on?

[@Gothic7876]

Perhaps the energy that would of been released was used to connect the relays via the signal?

[@shadewolf0075]

The alpha relay was far more advanced then the others. Basically if the reapers got to it before shepherd destroyed it. They could have done a blitzkrieg 1940 france style on the galaxy. The major concern for the crucible was that it could cause what you are saying if they didn't make it just right

[@voodoominerman]

As far as I understand it, the whole crucible thing caused the energy of the exploding relays to be output in a relatively harmless form.

[@Dahaka27]

There are different levels of destruction imposed on the relays depending on your EMS rating (galactic readiness) at the end. The lowest possible readiness causes catastrophic damage, shattering the entire relay likely causing novas while the highest levels of readiness simply knocks out the eezo core and shatters the gyroscopic rings, disabling it.

[@talonus202]

I've waited a long time to see this covered! Glad you finally got to it! Hopefully, you'll cover the ark ships from ME: Andromeda, as well.

[@JC-qp6cu]

You should do a special on the Olympic class ocean liners the story of the titanic has been recounted in many Scfi series it would be a good way to mark 110 since the titanic disaster.

[@blacksuite1]

You would think the relays would explode with the same energy as the one from the arrival DLC in ME2.

[@Phil-D83]

One got destroyed by an asteroid hit. That one to the center of the galaxy was interesting.

[@VeeTOHFan]

Physics: you cant travel faster than light Mass Effect: yOu CaNt TrAvEl FaStEr ThAn LiGhT

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

You've gotta wonder is there an ever increasing one way citadel in dark space that unless the citadel transmitted the codes in dark space to which most or all reapers are docked to?

[@Kosh1516]

Suggestion: Ambassador Kosh's Ship please

[@josephpugh7047]

Will there be another audiobook released? The Sojourn was great I can't wait to see the next installment.

[@Spacedock]

Yep! Volume 3 coming this year, stay tuned!

[@billvolk4236]

Enabling FTL by giving your ship negative mass raises a lot of questions. Do you have to turn the thrusters the other way and fly backward while your mass is negative? If you run into a piece of positive-mass space junk, wouldn't it press harder on you and punch all the way through you rather than bounce off?

[@ca7642]

Someone, please explain the magic Prothean Conduit that somehow shot us INSIDE the praesidium without splattering us along the Citadel's hull.

[@Doc41295]

I love me some mass effect content.

[@slaykills6763]

Can you do a break down on the Raza from the TV series Dark Matter

[@Zamun]

Thanks for the contnet.

[@levitan71]

star wars galaxy would have loved these.

[@nerdwatch1017]

This game could make an awesome series/trilogy of movies if done right!!

[@charlestownsend9280]

Am I the only one who thinks that it's weird that no one thought of blowing up relays during the during the previous two large conflicts in the mass effect universe, the one with the big bugs and the one with the krogen? At worst you strand the enemy in an area of space and at best you destroy their fleet and strand any survivors. If you're already badly losing that seems like a great strategy (especially for the bugs, just blow up their one relay and no more reinforcements).

[@vonfaustien3957]

Everyone aperently assumed the relays were borderline indestructible and no one thought to test it by smashing a dwarf planet into one. I mean that one near the end of the first game aperently tanked a super nova and was just blow out of its orginal position perfectly intact and functional

[@jbz4788]

Iirc they did think of it they just couldn’t physically pull it off as their weapons couldn’t penetrate the shields of the Relays. (And what was done in Me2’s arrival Dlc was probably easy enough to prevent as the relays would actually be guarded during wartime)

[@Jovian999]

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING for anyone who hasn't played ME2 or ME3.

[@DeliriumGameRoom]

Incorrect on the relays being shattered. It was only the Charon Relay from what we see. All others remained intact after the Crucible firing.

[@Cbibeau27]

You should do a video on moff gideon argitents light cruiser

[@Bateluer]

Hope the lack of ME Relays in Andromeda gets explored further at some point.

[@idontwanttoputmyname403]

The reapers originate from the Milky Way is probably the reason.

[@Bateluer]

@@idontwanttoputmyname403 Thats not what I meant. I know the Reapers made the relays and that there's no Reapers in Andromeda, yet. I meant that the lack of relays is going to limit the Milky Way races in Andromeda to far smaller regions. The MW relays let the Citadel races spread over most of the galaxy, the Andromeda Initiative won't have that advantage. Lot of potential there . . . if its explored.

[@idontwanttoputmyname403]

@@Bateluer Oh okay. You just mean you want to see how the storytelling in the Andromeda galaxy changes around the fact there aren’t mass relays. Could be interesting. I don’t really want to go back to the Andromeda Galaxy that badly myself though.

[@Bateluer]

@@idontwanttoputmyname403 I think it'd really allow a lot of story telling opportunities. Without Mass Relays, the bulk of the Andromeda galaxy is functionally inaccessible. That's a lot of potential for exploration, new species, planets, so on.

[@secondsein7749]

@@Bateluer they seem to have solve the non-relay ftl issue since they wouldn't be able to reach Andromeda if they haven't. As such the Andromeda fleet likely don't need relays.

[@awesomehpt8938]

Hitting relay in 3….2….1

[@Marconius6]

One things that's always confused me about relays is that apparently not every star system has one; which means ships have some method of FTL other than relays anyway. I'm guessing that's what they used to get to the Andromeda galaxy as well, since there's obviously no relays there... then again how did they travel inside the Andromeda galaxy afterwards? So overall, it seems like despite the relays supposedly being "vital", ships could travel just fine without them...

[@patrickschulz2193]

well, to be fair, in ME: Andromeda, the plot is taking place in only a singular cluster rather than the entire galaxy. As to how they made the journey, they created a modified Drive system that managed to "recycle" the static build up that would normally occur during sustained FTL travel, but still needed cryostasis; they travelled for roughly 800 years if I recall correctly.

[@PeterFendrich]

Yeah there seems to be a common misconception about the scale of Mass Effect Andromeda.... The game basically takes place in a single local cluster, specifically BECAUSE the Initiative doesn't have Mass Relays.... they're pretty much stuck where they landed.

[@patrickschulz2193]

@@PeterFendrich granted, there's always the possibility that one day, they'll reverse-engineer the kett warp drive that brought those guys to the Heleus cluster (even though I think it still took the kett years in the first place).

[@patrickschulz2193]

As for no visible relays, i mean, ships can canonically go to FTL speeds but the distances that can be reached through those are not nearly as efficient. By comparison, a ship travelling under its own FTL drive is akin to walking; using a relay is taking the bus, which have fixed stops and don't go everywhere. See also the Reapers' arrival in ME3 - after both the Citadel and Alpha relays were no longer options, the Reapers instead flew back to the Milky Way by conventional FTL. Theirs is more efficient but it still took them a little while. When they did arrive in batarian space (which is closest to where they were relative to dark space), they used the nearest relays to spread across the galaxy while destroying the batarians on the side (which was made easier by the indoctrinated military officers, scientists and engineers who, for years, had studied the Reaper corpse found at Dis.)

[@ravager2-636]

Hyperspace Cannon Go!

[@paulconrad6220]

Please do some more Freespace vessels!

[@auroratheicewingrainwinghy1665]

Hey, Spacedock, would you mind doing the Viscount class star defender from Star Wars Legends? It's a really good ship that I like a lot and i would love to see you do a breakdown on it.

[@kevinclover1875]

I always thought that the relays were placed so that there was no matter in the path of travel. Any official word?

[@secondsein7749]

It would be impossible to find a spot that has a straight path of no matter. The likely answer in line with the game mechanic is that it in transit ships are able to pass harmlessly through matter, kinda like our Bionic Charge able to go through anything in our path to our target.

[@Max_Flashheart]

Big Badda Boom

[@dionesvaldez088]

THE MASS RELAY

[@Bananakingchad]

Imagine being a new species discovering relays only for them to all go boom 😂

[@lisap546]

And then suddenly you're part synthetic

[@blakedevitt6948]

Wonder what it would he like to travel through a Mass Relay without a ship. Like just a person with no ship or whatever. Im sure it would just tear them apart. Maybe not Synthetics, but organics for sure.

[@RG-zt4ox]

The real question is how many humans does it take to activate a dormant mass relay

[@Reepicheep-1]

Spacedock: a critique. Pull out your phone, and watch your vid there. Now look at Ship Stats 0:35 on. Can you PLEASE make the font larger? I have a harder time reading 1 mm high text after 40.

[@TheMegamaster44]

Okay so like the conduit somehow doesn't require line of sight even though it is noted that the relays normally do and it is like the one thing I don't understand

[@hoojiwana]

Shhhhhh don't think about it too hard. - hoojiwana from Spacedock

[@commanderfreakkz5688]

Does FTL jump work without the relay?

[@VegetaLF7]

Yes, ships have FTL drives independent of the relays, but consume fuel and have a limited range before needing to refuel. Think of using the relay network like using highways, while your ship's FTL drive would be regular roads. You'd take a relay to the closest relay to your destination and use your FTL drive to fly to the system you wanted to visit before shifting to your regular sub-light drive for closing in to the ship/station/planet you're heading to.

[@noneedtoknow07]

Kind of resembles the hyperspace gates on cowboy bebop

[@VegetaLF7]

Similar function, vastly greater distances

[@toradora1439]

Thats only if you went the Renegade route. I personally prefer the Paragon route.

[@wardywards8831]

Good old railgun powered ftl

[@corydorton2660]

1st to comment but that's one thing I liked about mass effeit about mass effect is the fact is that most ships cannot use their own FT flight to get around or takes months or even years without spending a lot of money on advanced Technology so overall it's a very interesting system and it kind of makes sense while the reapers knew which each civilization intake

[@timesthree5757]

That is the one part I hate.

[@Gaarafan007]

They do, though. In Mass Effect 2 you can see that Mass Relays will lead to a system in a cluster with a relay, but you must use FTL to travel between systems in a cluster. The system with the Relay is typically more advanced economically than other systems in the cluster.

[@Dahaka27]

This is incorrect. Almost every starship has an element zero core thus making it capable of FTL travel. Ships of differing levels of capability have larger drive cores that make them "fast" enough and thus capable of leaving systems while some would likely have a less complex core that makes them only useful over stellar distances such as being able to FTL to locations inside a star system. Remember, space is BIG.

[@bigsarge2085]

👍🏼

[@renton0915]

When are you gonna do Andromeda?

[@mateocabaguio4444]

Well the Mass Relays could have been used as superweapons

[@philrm99]

Cool

[@DisinterestedPix]

Fourth. I love your videos. Could you do a Spacedock about the Jupiter and Resolute from the new Lost in Space series soon?

[@joelseriesandmovies8892]

Comeback withvBattlestar Galactica for the civilian ships breakdown and the battle of Ragnar Anchorage ...please 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@eyeofthasky]

1:18 Charon, "KA-ron", the boatman of greek underworld, not "Sharon" some random female >_>

[@-JA-]

👏👍

[@gilbja01]

USS Arges NX-2100

[@Iceflkn]

Did any race refuse to use the relays? Functioning outside the grand plan?

[@Daehawk]

I playing ME3 for the 4th time again. Ive replayed the entire series at least 5 times through because theres no better space action rpg shooter out there. But I find every time I use a mass relay Im thinking how stupid they look. A big old thing sitting in space that my ship doesn't even enter it just gets electrified and flung to the next area of space. Silly.

[@GhostRydr1172]

"...leaving the survivors to rebuild". That's debatable. And no, the "revised" ending really makes no sense either.

[@templarsam]

The most interesting theory about relays that I ever heard was about that relays actually connect different universes, not systems

[@ghostkai8713]

That doesn't make any sense with how Mass Effects physics, or its own universe, work.

[@ThePCguy17]

@@ghostkai8713 Honestly that's part of what makes it interesting.

[@Dahaka27]

That theory doesn't work. You can in theory travel via conventional FTL from one relay to another and find the destination relay when you get there, its just way slower.

[@ThePCguy17]

@@Dahaka27 If I recall correctly, aren't interstellar distances too large to be covered by ship-board FTL except MAYBE over an Asari's lifespan? Has anyone actually wasted that kind of time proving a theory that seems self-evident? Again, it's a stupid theory. It's just also fascinating because of how it's not easy to dismiss completely.

[@Dahaka27]

@@ThePCguy17 You are right, I don't think Mass Effect ever says it was done like that, I just gave an example. They can also communicate over large distances and FTL telescopes exist in Mass Effect canon that can look over enormous distances in real time rather than essentially looking into the past (which is what happens with real astronomy)

[@zacharyparadis]

Chairon

[@viewernewest]

So, Spacedock doesn't accept EA's ending to the Mass Effect trilogy?

[@MPKb19]

Comment for statistics

[@xelthiavice4276]

"survive a supernova" but.... not a space rock.... get yo facts right boyo

[@marcomessina8474]

marco