Mass Relay, Omega Relay and Citdel (Mass Effect 1 and 2 SPOILERS)

[thenoblitt]

Okay, I've been replaying Mass Effect 1 after I finished my first Mass Effect 2 run and I ran into something odd.

In Mass Effect 1 it's explained that the Citadel is actually a Mass Relay to the Dark Space where the Reapers lie dormant. And we want to prevent Saren from activating it, because:
"When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed" according to the VI on Iios.

And in Mass Effect 2, we activate the Omega Relay to get to the Collectors and destroy them.

However, this is my question.
If I get it straight, Mass Relays are like a gun, shooting the ships to preset locations.
They are one way machines, and do NOT function like portals.
That is why destroying the Omega Relay would be pointless.

However... how does that go with the Reaper story?
If the Citadel is a Mass Relay TO the reapers, we WANT to activate it and go in and wipe them out, no?
If a Mass Relay is one way, we want to go to Dark Space and destroy their's, am I right?

Or am I missing something here?

Also, I'm rather new at posting here on The Escapist, so apologies if this is in the wrong section.

Why would we Want to go activate it and go to them when one of them nearly destroyed everything itself, they dont have the technology to fight off thousands of reapers as of yet

 

[Theron Julius]

I understand what you're trying to suggest. The Reapers are in a weak hibernation when they are out in dark space. If we went in and caught them like that the will probably all die easily. But the problem with that idea is that they're woken up when the Citadel relay is activated if we are to believe Vigil. And if they're awake they'll probably end up coming through immediately, not sitting around patiently while you blow up the relay.

It doesn't matter anyway. Going in to destroy the Reapers relay would be suicidal and pointless. Destroying a relay is supposedly very difficult or impossible. Destroying a relay while you have a galactic invasion fleet shooting at you IS impossible, no matter what.

Spoiler

Anyway, the Citadel relay doesn't really matter. We see the Reaper fleet moving in at the end of ME2 without a relay. It'll probably take years to get from dark space to the Milky Way without a relay to use, but they're still doing it.

 

[Kjakings]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the considerable genophage foreshadowing. The Krogan were a blunt weapon used by the Salarians to hit the Rachni with until they died off. Even though the Krogan population has died down to about 10% and their breeding abilities 0.1%, they still scare everybody shitless. If you have the Krogan working with the Rachni, then the Reapers will be hard-pressed.

I vote that everybody dies at the end of Mass Effect 3 while taking out a considerable portion of the Reaper force and then we come back with Mass Effect: the rebloodening or something like that, a brand new trilogy where the Reapers are so busy licking their wounds they completely forgot to activate the Citadel until it was 50,000 years later than it should be and the new aliens have a fighting chance from the word 'go.'

 

[AlphaOmega]

I suspect the Citadel Relay will be used as some sort of big Dark Energy Launcher, there is a planet mentioned in both games that has scarring from a huge weapon being fired as a last resort onto a reaper, I do not know this for sure but I think it was using a Relay to launch a huge rocket-thing.

I also Hope we do not just upload some virus to Harbinger (the obvious reaper we will get involved with)

 

[Jenova65]

As far as I know, the Citadel relay can only be activated by the keepers when the Reapers decide it is time, but I may be wrong.

Jeepers Creepers, the Reapers use the Keepers as their peepers.

And welcome to the Escapist, may you enjoy your stay

Go and stand in the corner of the room for that one, dude! ;-)
OP, Welcome to the Escapist

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I have a feeling ME3 will be similar to Dragon Age.

Instead of recruiting just a team, you will be convincing every race in the galaxy to join forces against the reapers.

 

[Jandau]

Okay, I've been replaying Mass Effect 1 after I finished my first Mass Effect 2 run and I ran into something odd.

In Mass Effect 1 it's explained that the Citadel is actually a Mass Relay to the Dark Space where the Reapers lie dormant. And we want to prevent Saren from activating it, because:
"When the Citadel relay is activated, the Reapers will pour through. And all you know will be destroyed" according to the VI on Iios.

And in Mass Effect 2, we activate the Omega Relay to get to the Collectors and destroy them.

However, this is my question.
If I get it straight, Mass Relays are like a gun, shooting the ships to preset locations.
They are one way machines, and do NOT function like portals.
That is why destroying the Omega Relay would be pointless.

However... how does that go with the Reaper story?
If the Citadel is a Mass Relay TO the reapers, we WANT to activate it and go in and wipe them out, no?
If a Mass Relay is one way, we want to go to Dark Space and destroy their's, am I right?

Or am I missing something here?

Also, I'm rather new at posting here on The Escapist, so apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I'll present this in a series short and concise points:

1. You need a Mass Relay on the recieving end as well.

2. Destroying the Omega-4 relay was not an option because:

a.) You were supposed to go rescue the colonists, as we didn't know they were being liquified.

b.) The Illusive Man likely wanted to get his hands on Collector Tech right from the start.

c.) While this is never specified, destroying the Mass Relays might be a bit out of our league technologically. Kinda like smashing a titanim plate with rocks...

3. As for using the Citadel Mass Relay to go to the Reapers, there are four problems here:

a.) We can't. Only a fully functional Reaper can open that relay. That's why Sovereign had to attack the Citadel and that's why the Collectors were growing a new Reaper - To open the way now that Sovereign is dead.

b.) We really don't want to. Even if we could open the relay somehow (which we can't), what can we do to them? They'd kick our asses. At best we might take down a few if they were sleeping at the time. After that, they'd likely wake up and wipe out whatever we send through.

c.) The Council refuses to belive that the Reapers exist. Since the Council controls the Citadel, that pretty much means no mass relay opening in the near future.

d.) If we activate the relay on our end, it might also mean that it can now recieve as well as send, which would basically mean we handed the Reapers our Galaxy...

 

[Lux Solis Invicti]

Spoiler

Anyway, the Citadel relay doesn't really matter. We see the Reaper fleet moving in at the end of ME2 without a relay. It'll probably take years to get from dark space to the Milky Way without a relay to use, but they're still doing it.

Spoiler

That Reaper fleet moving at the end of ME2 is somewhat absurd considering the size of our galaxy. It would take thousands or tens of thousands of years moving at the speed of light to reach the nearest Mass relay if they're in the dark space around Milky Way. Even if it would somehow take only several years or decades, what is the point of the whole Citadel Mass relay, why not just get to the nearest relay on FTL and spread throughout the galaxy from there?

Check out this map, it's creepy to see the actual size of our "small" part of the universe:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Universe_Reference_Map_(Location)_001.jpeg

 

[Lonan]

As of the end of Mass Effect 2, there's no indication of any good way to destroy the reapers. It took the combined galactic fleet of the citadel to destroy ONE Reaper, and there were heavy losses.

Taking the fight to the Reapers is an incredibly bad idea at this point in the game's timeline. We'll have to see if there's any decent anti-Reaper weapon discovered in ME3.

That's incorrect. It took the entire Citadel fleet to destroy one Reaper and an entire Geth armada. Also, the juggernot of that fleet was disabled as soon as the battle began, and was unable to shoot back. Also, it wasn't a Reaper, it was Soveirgn, who was the ONE Reaper who had the sole responsibility of opening the gate (relay) to allow all the Reapers into the citadel to kill everyone. I'm guessing he was MUCH stronger than your'e average Reaper.

 

[Ultra_Caboose]

Man, this is all going way over my head... All I know is this,

If (when) the reapers attack in ME3, I'd better not see this one...

Spoiler

 

[Captain America]

Well the Reapers are in their "hibernation" so they are vulnerable but my question is, how is Harbinger awake and controlling the collectors, and how did all the Reapers awake to form an invasion flat out instead of a suprise attack on the citadel?

oops sorry, this was ment for the next one up mybad...

 

[Captain America]

What I don't understand is how the reapers awoke without the signal, how Harbinger is "awake", and how the Reapers could have been there so quickly if they were woken up (A Year)? I know that the Citadel isn't the only way for them to come but it gives them an advantage over us. Thank you Illium scientists for disrupting the signal to let us destroy sovereign!