User blog comment:Arbington/The Next Cycle/@comment-5267262-20120803203730

can I just point out this: while the reapers indeed have done around or above 18000 cycles. They have many species to harvest each cycle and by the sounds of it the protheans didn't necessarily kill any reapers and they would not have been the first to not cause casualties (statistically). So the estimate of overall making a single reaper each cycle is probably a vast underestimate and hence the actuall number of reapers could be several times this number. E.G. there are 8 races in this cycle who have uncontrolled population numbers (hence enough to definately make a reaper out of) the batarians, humans, asari, salarians, turians, volus, elcor and hanar. Plus there are another race or two that may be sufficient to be harvested: quarians and krogan. (drell are far too few at this stage) so this gives up to 10 new reapers this cycle (call it 9 since quarians and krogan are maybe) while destroying 2. If this was an average cycle then the estimate should be closer to a net of 7 reapers created each cycle. This would mean that the total is more likely to be around 126000 reapers. Now you have to chuck a fleet out every 145 days. You better hope the reapers come in waves allowing you to regroup because there is no way that you will manage that rate of armament, let alone maintenance of each fleet; some of which would be the full 50000 years old by the time the reapers return and hence would have been scrapped. I feel that over the next couple of cycles the reapers may start having more losses than harvests but the yahg cycle is far too early to eliminate the threat entirely.