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How fast do ships using FTL travel in Mass Effect?


I've been looking for some info on the FTL speeds of ships in Mass Effect but I have been unable to find anything. Can anyone provide a speed and sources? If not can anyone provide the time it takes to travel between two well known (in our universe) stars?



Answer



As listed in the wiki, and repeated in each of the games at one point:



FTL drives are devices which allow ships to travel at FTL speeds through space. FTL drive cores work by exposing element zero to electric currents, creating mass effect fields. It reduces the mass of an object, such as a starship, to a point where velocities faster than the speed of light are possible. With a mass effect drive, roughly a dozen light-years can be traversed in the course of a day's cruise without bending space-time and causing time dilation.



As a simple modification of e = mc^2, if you reduce mass thru magic technological implementation of element zero, you are able to travel at light speed or further (negative mass) with reasonable power requirements.



Obviously hand waved bs, but consistent with the titular Mass Effect used for basically everything in game.


Further more FTL speeds in game vary story wise based on engine size or ship type. That said, 12 light years is 7.05419978 × 10^13 miles. That's a little under 3 times the distance to the closest star to earth, Alpha Centauri. With a Mass Effect ship, you could make it there and back in less time than it takes to drive across the US.


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