BSG new recruit questions (spoilers) by TheSignal

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BSG new recruit questions (spoilers)

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POSTED BY: THESIGNAL
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 20:30
SHORT URL: http://goo.gl/HAeDh
VIEWED: 2008
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Sunday, January 14, 2007 4:36 PM

Spoilers below!

Following Joss's advice, I picked up seasons one and two of Battlestar Galactica and i must admit I'm hooked. It's a frakking good show. My heart will always be with Firefly, of course! I had two questions after season two:

First, I thought the Cylons had some transmission that screwed up networked systems (as in every ship but Galactica and the old vipers), but Pegasus and all her vipers were just fine. What gives?

Second, in the last episode of season two, they've been on New Caprica for one year. The Cylons then show up and say they were one light year away when they detected a nuclear explosion (seemingly explaining why it took them a year to get there). Why didn't they just use their FTL ("Faster Than Light") drives and get there in ten minutes, catching the fleet at what would have been a devasting moment?

I hope there are explanations, as BSG has been very thorough and plausibly scientific (as Firefly is). If these are mistakes, then "R and D" should either slow it down and really iron out their flaws, or simply hire me. haha

Keep Flying Browncoats!

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Sunday, January 14, 2007 5:40 PM

SIGMANUNKI

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSignal:

First, I thought the Cylons had some transmission that screwed up networked systems (as in every ship but Galactica and the old vipers), but Pegasus and all her vipers were just fine. What gives?

Either the Cylons missed that ship (I imagine there wasn't just a few Battlestar's out there), or it is a plot hole.

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSignal:

Second, in the last episode of season two, they've been on New Caprica for one year. The Cylons then show up and say they were one light year away when they detected a nuclear explosion (seemingly explaining why it took them a year to get there). Why didn't they just use their FTL ("Faster Than Light") drives and get there in ten minutes, catching the fleet at what would have been a devasting moment?

The purpose wasn't to eliminate the Humans at that point. It was to "live in peace" with them. To get to the point that the Humans wouldn't put up a fight, the Cylon's would have to catch the humans by surprise. The most effective way of doing this isn't just to show up, but to show up when the Human's thought that the Cylon's were never going to find them.

Given that most people would have moved on planet after a year, it would ensure that most of Humanity would be stuck with Cylon occupation. It would also significantly lessen any potential combat as the Human's wouldn't exactly be battle ready with less than skeleton crews on all ships in orbit. Similarly, any potential counter attack would be significantly crippled as the Human's would have a severe lack of man power.

All this was very sound tactical moves, especially since the Cylon's weren't exactly on a time table. They could have waited pretty much forever.

At least, that's how I see it.

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Sunday, January 14, 2007 5:54 PM

LITTLEALBATROSS

Quote:
First, I thought the Cylons had some transmission that screwed up networked systems (as in every ship but Galactica and the old vipers), but Pegasus and all her vipers were just fine. What gives?

Didn't Admiral Cain say that most of the Pegasus systems were off line at the time because they were preparing for leave or something? I seem to remember something like that... but it's been awhile since I've seen those episodes so I could be wrong.

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Sunday, January 14, 2007 7:32 PM

SIGMANUNKI

Now that you mention it, I seem to recall that they were in for repairs at dry dock or some such as well. Perhaps, TheSignal could check this for us?

----
I am on The List. We are The Forsaken and we aim to burn!
"We don't fear the reaper"

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Monday, January 15, 2007 4:57 AM

THESIGNAL

You're both right (I think, but I'll double check): Pegasus was in for repairs, and their systems got screwed up during the initial attack so they blind-jumped away. That's all fine with me, but what about the subsequent raids and battles with Cylons post-holocaust? Wouldn't they have the same system trouble? I guess all I'm looking for is a bit of fanwank saying they probably learned from their conflicts and remodeled their operating systems to be more like Galactica's.

I had a slight epiphany as to my other query last night when your brain magically sorts things out in that state between consciousness and sleep. Though Cylons and humans are capable of travelling faster than light, light itself (and therefore radiation) is limited to the speed of light as maximum speed. That means that it would take a year for the RADIATION to travel one light year, and then be discovered by the Cylon fleet, wherever they were, and have them immediaely pop over to New Caprica to begin the subjugation.

Thanks, Browncoats!

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Monday, January 15, 2007 5:25 AM

MAVOURNEEN

Welcome to a new obsession, TheSignal.

I'm linking a page here that I have found particularly helpful in understanding the re-imagined universe. It is extremely accuarate, and have resourced it several times. From this particular wiki page on propulsion, you should be able to navigate through to other topics.

http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/FTL

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Monday, January 15, 2007 8:44 AM

CYBERSNARK

Quote:
Originally posted by TheSignal:
You're both right (I think, but I'll double check): Pegasus was in for repairs, and their systems got screwed up during the initial attack so they blind-jumped away. That's all fine with me, but what about the subsequent raids and battles with Cylons post-holocaust? Wouldn't they have the same system trouble? I guess all I'm looking for is a bit of fanwank saying they probably learned from their conflicts and remodeled their operating systems to be more like Galactica's.

Possibly the Cylons didn't know about Pegasus having been out of the area of effect.

They probably just thought: Oh, this one must have some sort of defense against our shut-down signal. Oh, well. Back to brute force.

Or maybe Pegasus found out about the jamming field later and devised a countermeasure on their own.

-----
We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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Monday, January 15, 2007 3:28 PM

DARKJESTER

Quote:
Second, in the last episode of season two, they've been on New Caprica for one year. The Cylons then show up and say they were one light year away when they detected a nuclear explosion (seemingly explaining why it took them a year to get there). Why didn't they just use their FTL ("Faster Than Light") drives and get there in ten minutes, catching the fleet at what would have been a devasting moment?

That one's easy. They were a light year away - the distance light, and other radiation (like from an atomic explosion) travels in a year. As soon as they detected the explosion, they jumped to it's source, and found the humans.

MAL "You only gotta scare him."
JAYNE "Pain is scary..."

http://www.fireflytalk.com - Big Damn Podcast

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007 8:30 PM

JPSTARGAZER

Quote:

First, I thought the Cylons had some transmission that screwed up networked systems (as in every ship but Galactica and the old vipers), but Pegasus and all her vipers were just fine. What gives?

It's also possible that the Pegasus crew figured out why the Cylons could shut down their Vipers in a similar manner to the Galactica crew and made the necessary improvements.

"All I got is a red guitar, three chords, and the truth...the rest is up to you"
--Bono

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