I finally beat Mass Effect! =D Options

[Sobana]

I finally beat the first Mass Effect game! Yay me, only took a little bit over 23 hours of game play. While there was some nice lore, world building, conversation options and cut scenes it felt unnecessarily padded and drawn out like they were planning to make this a monthly subscription but changed their minds at the last minute. I spent some time after that trying to figure out what I was doing all that time and I couldn't remember what was eating up all my time. Then I realized I must of spent like 16 hours of game play just walking from point A to point B and admiring the scenery. Four hours walking about the citadel two minute long elevator rides and five minute trips in the Mako between objectives on planets really devours time.

The combat was rather uneventful, everything died in 1 to 2 hit, my companions killed most of everything for me, the named NPCs had just as much or less health as their minions and there was no combat mechanics outside of take cover then shoot.

While it was interesting picking conversational options, it didn't feel to realistic seeing how everyone just agreed to what ever I said. I told someone to just give up and release the hostages and they did, no conflict after that, like I used a Jedi mind trick on it. Some of the story didn't sit well with me, like the Alliance has a huge army but still relies on one person to solve all their critical missions. 'Terrorists are about to crash an asteroid into a planet and kill millions of people? Better leave that to the discretion of a sole agent!' 'Aliens are invading one of our solar systems!? There is only one man with hopefully enough free time to solve that problem!'

The moral alignment system seems a bit uneven too. Save a burning bus of orphans get 2 paragon points, tell someone their shoes don't match with their tie get 295 renegade points!

But despite all my complaints, I'm sure Mass Effect 2 is a lot better and I look forward to playing that! =D

With that all said and done, the only question I have left is what is the Krogan birthrate? I know that genopath virus only allows like 1 in a 100 to survive birth or what not, but how many offspring do they normally have that they can out produce an incest race that can give birth every few minutes or so?

[Nyarlathotep]

Oh hey, your suspension is up.

My favourite part is the music, honestly.

[Sobana]

I liked to consider it a voluntary extended absence and I presume you probably missed me too.

Yes, the music was pretty good.

[Rust]

With that all said and done, the only question I have left is what is the Krogan birthrate? I know that genopath virus only allows like 1 in a 100 to survive birth or what not, but how many offspring do they normally have that they can out produce an incest race that can give birth every few minutes or so?

The Genophage makes only one in every thousand pregnancies viable, and all we know about rate of maturation/litter numbers is second hand information gleaned from side conversations. From the sounds of things, the Krogan do have a "Childhood" though how long it is is unknown. And given comments, it sounds like Krogan give birth the same way Humans do - one at a time.

[Sobana]

With that all said and done, the only question I have left is what is the Krogan birthrate? I know that genopath virus only allows like 1 in a 100 to survive birth or what not, but how many offspring do they normally have that they can out produce an incest race that can give birth every few minutes or so?

The Genophage makes only one in every thousand pregnancies viable, and all we know about rate of maturation/litter numbers is second hand information gleaned from side conversations. From the sounds of things, the Krogan do have a "Childhood" though how long it is is unknown. And given comments, it sounds like Krogan give birth the same way Humans do - one at a time.

Gestation must be wicked fast for them to produce numbers that can quickly overwhelm the galaxy in a few years if left unchecked. I mean it just boggles my mind to think that the Rachni who can produce one egg an hour and reach maturity in a week can be outmatched by a singular birth rate. While it did sound like they give birth one at a time, in their biography it said they were lizards so I imagine they clutches of eggs. Seeing how much credit is given for their fast reproduction, I imagine they must give birth to a dozen or so eggs each week which would bring birth rates to about 500 a year per female. If you cut that down to about 1 in a thousand it stands to reason only one offspring survives every two years per female.

Which may still be faster then average human reproduction, but I can also imagine they must have short live spans and their constant lust for battle make an offspring born once every two years seem like they are slowly dying off.

[Rust]

Gestation must be wicked fast for them to produce numbers that can quickly overwhelm the galaxy in a few years if left unchecked.

That struck me as a byproduct of Krogan just being that flipping tough. They've got two or three of every major organ and even a redundant nervous system. Their home planet was a death trap even before they blew it to pieces in a Nuclear war, so Krogan tended to breed fast and often - while I don't know how long their childhood lasts, I do know that appearently gestation in pregnancy is much faster then Humans (To quote Wrex from Mass Effect 3: "You won't believe how fast we can pop them out.")

Plus they're long lived - almost as long a lifespan as the Asari. Throw in no data on how long they remain fertile (But fair being fair if they live to be 500, figure 450 years of fertility), and all that factors into a race that can spread like wildfire on non-hostile worlds.


But really, the Krogan's problem wasn't massive birth rate or barely checked aggression. The problem was the Salarians uplifted them out of expediency to fight the Rachni and only to fight the Rachni. The Krogan weren't equipped with the knowledge of how to successfully sustain other world colonies. They had no concept of ecological conservation, coming from a aggressive jungle world/burnt out wasteland. All they knew was expand or die and none of the Council Races bothered to try and fix that mentality. Indeed, by the end of the series it seems clear that the Krogan were thrown into galactic civilization without the least idea of what "civilization" meant. Heck, even the Krogan are still trying to figure out who they are as a people.


EDIT: But yes, the Krogan are a dying race by the time of Mass Effect. They aren't in danger of going extinct any time soon, but the implications are they are merely remaining at a constant number at any given time.

This post has been edited by Rust: Apr 18 2012, 03:43 PM

[Slander]

They aren't in danger of going extinct any time soon, but the implications are they are merely remaining at a constant number at any given time.

That was the point of the genophage, according to dialogue in 2 and 3. It was never about wiping them out; it was about keeping their population numbers low, but stable, so they could continue to exist without overwhelming the rest of the galaxy.

[Kalidor]

How about we don't talk about later games in a thread about the first game.

[Lizard King]

The first is still my favorite. The other two seemed very formulaic by comparison. I remember buying an Xbox 360 for the first one. I was so pumped for it. I feel like bioware has really lost its magic.

[Sobana]

I don't mind them taking offset quotes from the 2 and 3 game as long as they don't reveal any of the story. some of those qoutes I might never hear or simply over look.

The first is still my favorite. The other two seemed very formulaic by comparison. I remember buying an Xbox 360 for the first one. I was so pumped for it. I feel like bioware has really lost its magic.

It seems like a lot of games the longer they go on the more 'magic' they lose, I guess it goes with trying to strain out already explained concepts in more depth in new games. But, the quality of bioware games in general seems to be losing it's edge in recent years from once it came. I guess that has to do with them trying to mass produce games every year giving them less time to develop to ideas and themes. In comparison, Valve takes for every to release a game but it is usually more memorable then it's competitors.

But really, the Krogan's problem wasn't massive birth rate or barely checked aggression. The problem was the Salarians uplifted them out of expediency to fight the Rachni and only to fight the Rachni. The Krogan weren't equipped with the knowledge of how to successfully sustain other world colonies. They had no concept of ecological conservation, coming from a aggressive jungle world/burnt out wasteland. All they knew was expand or die and none of the Council Races bothered to try and fix that mentality. Indeed, by the end of the series it seems clear that the Krogan were thrown into galactic civilization without the least idea of what "civilization" meant. Heck, even the Krogan are still trying to figure out who they are as a people.

While that does seem true, shifting from tribe warlike mindset to a galactic community will have it's problems, I still think their natural life cycle might of played a major part in it. The main issue I gathered from the Krogan rebellion was that their species overpopulated their colonies to fast and they tried to expand into already owned ones. It appeared their death rate was pretty high and after being uplifted their natural death rate quickly dropped. With what you said, I'm starting to few them more like the rabbit invasion of Australia, with the absence of any predator, they really didn't have any way to control their growth and up to that point they didn't need one. I think the virus might act as an artificial predator that would decline their population to those numbers if they haven't ever left their planet.

[Rust]

While that does seem true, shifting from tribe warlike mindset to a galactic community will have it's problems, I still think their natural life cycle might of played a major part in it. The main issue I gathered from the Krogan rebellion was that their species overpopulated their colonies to fast and they tried to expand into already owned ones. It appeared their death rate was pretty high and after being uplifted their natural death rate quickly dropped. With what you said, I'm starting to few them more like the rabbit invasion of Australia, with the absence of any predator, they really didn't have any way to control their growth and up to that point they didn't need one. I think the virus might act as an artificial predator that would decline their population to those numbers if they haven't ever left their planet.

All very true. The Rabbit Invasion is actually a very good analogy. Remember, on their home world the leading cause of Death was "Eaten by Predator" until Gunpowder was invented. Then it became "Death by Gunshot".

Really, all of Tuchanka's native ecology tends to aggressively invade other ecosystems. Varren infestations are quite common, along with another export of theirs...

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Thresher Maws

[chiasaur11]

Gestation must be wicked fast for them to produce numbers that can quickly overwhelm the galaxy in a few years if left unchecked.

That struck me as a byproduct of Krogan just being that flipping tough. They've got two or three of every major organ and even a redundant nervous system. Their home planet was a death trap even before they blew it to pieces in a Nuclear war, so Krogan tended to breed fast and often - while I don't know how long their childhood lasts, I do know that appearently gestation in pregnancy is much faster then Humans (To quote Wrex from Mass Effect 3: "You won't believe how fast we can pop them out.")

Plus they're long lived - almost as long a lifespan as the Asari. Throw in no data on how long they remain fertile (But fair being fair if they live to be 500, figure 450 years of fertility), and all that factors into a race that can spread like wildfire on non-hostile worlds.


But really, the Krogan's problem wasn't massive birth rate or barely checked aggression. The problem was the Salarians uplifted them out of expediency to fight the Rachni and only to fight the Rachni. The Krogan weren't equipped with the knowledge of how to successfully sustain other world colonies. They had no concept of ecological conservation, coming from a aggressive jungle world/burnt out wasteland. All they knew was expand or die and none of the Council Races bothered to try and fix that mentality. Indeed, by the end of the series it seems clear that the Krogan were thrown into galactic civilization without the least idea of what "civilization" meant. Heck, even the Krogan are still trying to figure out who they are as a people.


EDIT: But yes, the Krogan are a dying race by the time of Mass Effect. They aren't in danger of going extinct any time soon, but the implications are they are merely remaining at a constant number at any given time.

Well, for male Krogan, we know that they can keep the Quads pumping well past 1,000.

HIGHLIGHT to view:
Wrex seems to still be going strong in ME3, and he's old. He was alive for the very end of the Krogan rebellions, as far as I can tell. That's ancient.

[Sobana]

I think Krogan might be my new favorite species on this game, but I never seen any female Krogan on my adventuring. Are there any or do male and female Krogan look a like?

[Rust]

You won't actually see a Female Krogan until the third game. They are talked about quite a bit in Mass Effect 2 - where you actually get a lot of insight into Krogan culture.