Random question about shepard and Ryder

[R0cket96]

I know i’m probably overthinking this. But, does anyone else wonder if due to Shepard’s cybernetics and Ryder’s almost complete reliance on the SAM implant, that two of the deadliest people in Mass Effect could probably be stopped by an EMP? Or do they somehow have protection against that sort of thing? What do you guys think and if BioWare has any opinion on this I would definitely love to hear it.

[EgoMania]

Well, is it cybernetics for Shepard or bio-engineering? I haven't really delved into that topic but I didn't get the feeling that when Shepard was rebuilt it was as a cyborg.

As for Ryder, well, that sounds like a riskier situation. That implant must have a power source to keep it running and shutting that down with an EMP could be conceivable. 

To be honest, I really don't like this idea of an AI enhanced protagonist myself. It's the implant that makes you special basically and it can potentially be hacked as well so an EMP hit is not the only concern there.

[R0cket96]

Yeah, I thought about the bio-engineering for Shepard too but I’m sure most of, if not all of the characters who mention them refer to them as cybernetics. I know how you feel though, i definatly didn’t see Shepard as a cyborg after they were rebuilt, I just think the augmentations were designed to repair and maintain Shepard’s organics as opposed to giving them a significant advantage over others. Maybe they become less required as Shepard’s organics further heal and strenghten. You’ve definately made some good points about Ryder’s implant and SAM’s potential for being hacked. It’s these sort of things that sometimes have no clear answer but I could still talk about them for ages. 😆

[EgoMania]

Yeah they do talk about cybernetics but Miranda in her logs also states there was no genetic or neural tampering. So it sounds to me that cybernetics may have been used to reconstruct Shepard but it sounds to me like it was more in support of structural elements like the skeleton and allowing the regeneration of Shepard as very much a living being, which was the idea behind it I suppose. So enhanced but still Shepard's own genes and neurology.

So I don't think that there are cybernetics in the sense of them being electrical systems running the body that can be shut down by an EMP. But that's just how I interpret that.

It's hard to really say...it's still Cerberus we're talking about here

[Jack1Tear]

An EMP wouldn't do much because of the way the implants work. The Implants take from the hosts body when it comes to energy, and the way and EMP works is by damping the electric currents and short circuiting the hardware, which is impossible with human physiology, because of the dispersal of electricity, same with all organic lifeforms. Interesting question though.

[R0cket96]

Huh...Never thought about it that way. That actually makes alot of sense . That settles the matter of Shepard and I guess S.A.M. Node would be Ryder’s  vulnerable point for electronic/cyber attacks instead of Ryder themselves, although we see throughout the game that S.A.M. isn’t the most well defended especially if directly tampered with. Sure the implant going down doesn’t  kill Ryder but it sure has a significant  impact on them.