The Trinity Device, Failure or Success? (Beware Big Spoilers for this ep)

[Gate Master]

Correct me if Im wrong but the ancients were looking for a means to defeat the wraith. Now granted Arcturus as a stable power source failed. But as a weapon of mass destruction to use against the wraith directly; this could have been very successful. Any device capable of wiping out a solar system would have made short work of any wraith fleet. Admittedly it would have to be used in enemy territory away from friendly worlds but it could have been effective.

Also incase anyones thinking that it would be out of character for the ancients to use their technology in such away lets not forget they were human afterall. Not to mention in the season 9 premier of SG1

Spoiler:

they designed and built those lovely death traps to protect some treasure

Anyway Im interested to here what the other views are on this.

[npattis]

Nah, with so much destruction, they wouldn't be saving anything from the Wraith. Considering they would have to try and compact to move in areas where human worlds are not a threat, and I don't see it as a viable weapon.

[Magneto]

I imagine the tech was so cutting edge it would have been costly to do even for them.

[Prior_of_the_Ori]

It was resource hungry and delicate, they could have risked an explosion within the places they were making them so not really feasible.

Also it would be extremely unethical for a peaceful race to do that. They would be wiping out humans and Wraith with such a tactic to win.

[Ouroboros]

The thing to remember is that both the Wraith and the ancients were trying to preserve the Peagasus galaxy, either to eat it or because they were defending it.

Throwing around system crushing weapons everytime a few enemy ships show up might not figure into those plans to well.

They already had weapons that could destroy Wraith capital ships with contemptuous ease so the use of this particular tech on a smaller scale for that reason would be pretty pointless. They'd have to build it, refit all their ships, there would be nothing really gained for them just wasted time.

[cs-comm]

Maybe if they secretly evacuated certain planets and then used them like mines for when the Wraith stoped by to kull. The Wraith might become so paranoid about going near planets that they would starve. They could probably equip each of them w/ a cloaking device.

Unfortunatly Prior of the Ori is right. This device was developed to late in the war and it was to volatile to be practical.

[NakedJehutyV2]

it's been destroyed

[SmallTimePerson]

it's been destroyed

gate master was reffering to why the ancients didn't build it.

Spoiler:

The ZPM overload can blow up an entire planet (critical mass), if you had a mini one as a warhead that you can choose when it overloaded it would be a very powerful weapon. But the problem is using enough power to caus ethe overload...

[NakedJehutyV2]

i see no mention of zpm

[newtrekker]

It is not the Ancients way to destroy entire solar systems. They are a peaceful race.

[jowb88]

plus the risk of opening a rift in space and time

[Magneto]

plus the risk of opening a rift in space and time

Yeah thats something i would be quite worried about if i was them, messing with such stuff is pretty crazy, ripping a hole in the universe is something not to be taken lightly!

[Quinn Mallory]

Beside the ethical aspect, I don't think you can just waltz into a Wraith dominated region and build the lab and the structure that created the device in "Trinity".

Additonally, I gather that the behavior of the Wraiths are such that they don't really hang around one planet but instead just live in their Hive ships and harvest from planets to planets. So you can only really take out one Hive ship if you set this up at a planet where they are about to harvest (after you evacuate the humans in that region).

[Gate Master]

I understand what you are all saying but I was trying to think from the ancients point of view.
As far as they knew there was nothing left to protect, all the human worlds had been ravaged by the wraith and probably didn't consider that the wraith were caperble of thinking long term by keeping small numbers of humans alive.
The device was also stable unless activated, probably more so than naquada bombs. So transportation should have been simple.
I wasn't thinking of using the weapon in every encounter more as some have suggested a trap of sorts or wiping out wraith bases and construction facilities.
Also given that the wraith hyperdrive tech isn't as advanced and they have to make stops along the way, chances are that some of these stops aren't always going to be near systems of planets where the only thing that would be wiped out would be the wraith.
Also if there are only 60 hive ships or so in the galaxy if worst came to the worst 60 uninhabited systems from a galaxy of millions would have been a small price to pay to save the entire galaxy. But I doubt it would ever have come to that since the wraith aint that bright they could have been lured to a specific place. Again they could have moved atlantis to another solar system and left one behind to wipe out the entire wraith fleet that had them under seige.

[Prior_of_the_Ori]

Yeah but while they said that on screen its never known if there are only 60 in the galaxy. If thats what was left then i dont see how the ancients lost so bad when one of their warships could possibly take on two hiveships. Also the device in trinity was massive, it was like a small island so it would take a long time to build. Would you waste resources on a supposed trap when an enemy was banging on your door or produce something abit more long lasting like defence satelites?

Also Quinn Mallory has a point as well, the Wraith are nomadic so its possible that only a few hiveships would be destroyed which wouldnt bother the Wraith much....just fewer mouths to feed.