How fast is the normandy in mass effect

Generally, one gets the impression that offence is way superior to defense in Mass Effect space battles. The Normandy carries a Mako M35 tank destroyer. It is deployed as a reconnaissance and exploration vehicle on remote planets with a solid surface.

Thanks to its jump jets and Mass Effect drive, the Mako can be air-dropped on its own. And it can jump high enough for the Normandy to scoop it with a fly-by except presumably on high-G planets. The main thrusters are used for intra-system flight. For military ships, this will be an antiproton drive.

All thrusters, from the humble chemical rocket to the antiproton drive, consume some sort of fuel. Well-trod star systems usually meaning systems with a mass relay have immense fuel dump space stations that a ship can dock on to buy fuel. The next level is using the Mass Effect drive aboard, if any. These manipulate the nominal mass of the ship so the thrusters become much more efficient, allowing for relativistic speed and eventually faster-than-light as the Mass Effect warps physics.

A fast FTL ship can cross about 12 light-years per day. The Normandy can presumably do a smidgen more than that. However, a Mass Effect drive builds up a colossal charge of static electricity. On average, a ship can operate at FTL speeds for 50 hours before electricity buildup becomes critical. To get rid of this electricity the ship must approach a planet large enough to have a robust magnetosphere, retract all sensors and weapons, and ground themselves.

The torrent of electricity creates an aurora borealis. This means that even FTL flight is relatively slow. Starships can interface with mass relays to indicate their mass and their destination. The relay will then align with another relay, create a Mass Effect tunnel, and shoot the indicated mass into the tunnel.

Travel using such a tunnel is done within seconds. The largest mass relays can cover thousands of light years, and the smaller ones still allow travel to another relay hundreds of light years distant.

Where exactly a ship appears near the destination relay is a bit random — the heavier the ship, the larger the drift. Skilled and experienced pilots operating light ships, like Joker, can transmit additional last-minute information to reduce this drift. This can be critical when assaulting a system, to have the fleet stay more or less in formation — and be able to act immediately rather than waste precious time regrouping. The Widow system counter-attack by the Fifth Fleet of the Systems Alliance — the Battle of the Citadel, at the end of Mass Effect — seems to be a good example of a well-executed mass relay jump by a massive Naval force.

Human supremacist terrorist organization Cerberus is known for its deep infiltration of the Systems Alliance. They clearly had double agents even within the Normandy Class project. As a result, by Mass Effect 2 they already have built their own Normandy-class frigate — three years after the Normandy shakedown cruise. The main difference is that the SR2 is about twice as large as the SR1. Cerberus seemingly went for their own take on the experimental Tantalus drive core, which foregoes compactness in favour for raw power.

The SR2 is apparently still considered a frigate. Though it is not apparent in Mass Effect 2 , we learn in Mass Effect 3 that the Cerberus version of the Tantalus drive core is thrice as powerful as well as being twice as large. With the Cerberus design philosophy it is unlikely that the static charge management capacity is much improved, though.

It likely still hovers around the standard ish hours before discharging. If there is indeed a link between the power of the core drive and the power of the spinal mass driver cannon, then the latter must be quite powerful for its weight. The Internal Emission Sinks have been improved to better absorb blue shift emissions, which chiefly occur when emerging from FTL flight. This allows the Normandy to quickly ninja its way into the vicinity of a secure solar system.

This is important for morale during long operations with few shore leaves. It even includes a huge fish tank as an ostentatious status symbol. The latter will have most Systems Alliance sailors rolling their eyes at the gratuitous waste of space and energy. In true Cerberus fashion, the SR2 comes with equipment that is completely illegal and has a non-trivial chance to result in some horrible bloodbath.

Namely, it has an Artificial Intelligence AI. Yet normal procedure in Council space is to terminate AIs on sight — particularly since the Geth War years ago and the geth assault on the Citadel.

The Enhanced Defense Intelligence E. It also packed potentially revolutionary cyber-warfare capabilities to remotely hack enemy systems for sabotage and intelligence. The new Normandy has a large armoury and a fully-equipped research lab. This is important since its staff must meet extremely demanding tactical and scientific objectives without access to a support structure.

The lab was sufficient for polymath genius Professor Mordin Solus to work without hindrance and without slowing him down. This implies tremendous computational power on top of what is necessary to run EDI. This included customized weapons, armour, omni-tools, biotic amps, modern biotic implants, ammunition, spare parts, etc.. But omni-gel can only go so far. During Mass Effect 2 , Commander Shepard orders a number of major projects that require a fortune in rare elements.

This chiefly means platinum, palladium and iridium, plus of course Element Zero. The Normandy SR2 is equipped with systems to extract these resources from planets, asteroids, etc.. These include long-range sensors operated by EDI, and disposable probes that can be launched at a promising site.

The probes are cheap. Therefore, one assumes that they are little more than a relay for the sensors of the Normandy to scan the area around the probe in much greater detail. The actual mining is abstracted out in the game, but for tabletop RPG purposes we could imagine that :. Early on, the Commander acquires a M44 Hammerhead light hovertank. This peculiar vehicle is parked in the bay along with the shuttles.

Phones Laptops Headphones Cameras. Tablets Smartwatches Speakers Drones. Accessories Buying Guides How-tos Deals. Health Energy Environment. YouTube Instagram Adobe. Kickstarter Tumblr Art Club. Film TV Games. Fortnite Game of Thrones Books. Comics Music. Therefore, Shepard can return to a mission world later to pick up gear when the Commander is of a higher level. For example, if Shepard lands on Noveria but leaves immediately without performing any missions, the "Noveria locker" is available, but the gear need not be taken.

Shepard can then go to Feros, and a "Feros locker" is made available although it is the same interactive locker in the Quarters. Shepard can take the gear while at Feros, then go back to again to Noveria and pick up gear from their locker again. Shepard can only take gear from each locker once. For example, once gear is picked up from the "Noveria locker", going to Noveria again later will not restock the locker. An elevator located in the quarters can be used to descend to the engineering and storage sections of the Normandy.

The M35 Mako is stored on this level, Ashley Williams is cleaning rifles next to the squad lockers, Garrus Vakarian is attending to the Mako, and Urdnot Wrex is idly observing opposite the Mako. Opposite the garage, a door leads to the engineering section proper containing the Normandy's drive core. Here Shepard can find Engineer Adams and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya observing and maintaining the core's functional integrity.

The Normandy's IES internal emission sink stealth system is her most notable feature. For centuries, it was assumed that starship stealth was impossible. The heat generated by routine shipboard operations is easily detectable against the near absolute zero background temperature of space.

The Normandy, however, is able to temporarily "store" this heat in lithium heat sinks deep within the hull. The IES stealth system has a few limitations: The system doesn't work during FTL flight because this blue-shifts the Normandy's emissions beyond the sinks' ability to store, and even while out of FTL, any visual scan i. However, this is rare since most ships rely on scanners rather than visual contact and spotting another ship in space is difficult. The Normandy can go to 'silent running' for around hours, or drift passively through a system for days before having to vent and give away her position.

The stored heat must eventually be radiated, or it will build up to levels capable of cooking the crew alive. The stealth system is powered by an experimental piece of equipment called the Tantalus Drive Core which is, proportionally, about twice the size of any other ship's core - Tali'Zorah nar Rayya is fascinated with how the Alliance managed to fit it into such a compact vessel.

Joker mentions the oversized drive core affects the Normandy's balance, but it's nothing he can't handle. The Tantalus drive generates mass concentrations that the Normandy "falls into", allowing her to move without the use of heat-emitting thrusters. The core not only makes the Normandy quiet and fast, but also means she can run at FTL speed for much longer before having to discharge the drive.

It is staggeringly expensive at billion credits , or equivalent to the drive core costs of 12, fighters according to Rear Admiral Mikhailovich. It may also be equipped with advanced Javelin dual disruptor torpedoes. During her shakedown run , the Normandy launched from Arcturus and headed to Eden Prime to covertly recover the Prothean Beacon that had been unearthed on the planet.

Unfortunately, a surprise geth attack complicated the mission and the beacon was destroyed. The Normandy then travelled to the Citadel , where Captain Anderson resigned as commanding officer, allowing Shepard to assume command in his place.