Goa'uld Weapons vs the Replicators

[fugiman]

Why do the Goa'uld weapons suck so bad against the replicators? I understand the zat not working but why not the staff weapon? The staff weapon shoots a plasma blast that should explode the replicator blocks, but it doesn't. So why do projectile weapons work so damn well but Goa'uld weapons don't? Also why don't the zats disengrate after the third shot?

[123NotIt]

maybe they're resistant to energy weapons, but nonresistant to kinetic weapons? and zats haven't disentegrated in a long time...

[ManiacMike]

Im thinking it has to do with how the replicators have molecular bonds and they probably absorb the energy while, projectile weapons fire mass rather than energy.

[deadman]

But liquid plasma bas mass, I think that the writes probably just wrote themselves into a corner.

[VSHARMA]

I’ve seen Teal’c effectively use a staff weapon to stop a Replicator. Not too such that Replicator exploded or Not.
I wonder how Asurans would respond to a shoot from a Zat or Staff Weapon. We all seen the effect Ronan’s Gun has on them.

[Wraith_Boy]

Why do the Goa'uld weapons suck so bad against the replicators? I understand the zat not working but why not the staff weapon? The staff weapon shoots a plasma blast that should explode the replicator blocks, but it doesn't. So why do projectile weapons work so damn well but Goa'uld weapons don't? Also why don't the zats disengrate after the third shot?

Simply because the original versions were built via Asgard materials. This stuff they use to construct their ships is probably very strong & designed originally for protecting the human populations against the Goa'uld. Which is how the protected planets treaty was established, but after encountering the Reps they were unable to enforce it. Then comes the ones that spead into the galaxy, they replicated using Goa'uld materials which they can tweak & upgrade. So they probably adpated themselves to make them once again impervious to Goa'uld weapons.

To me, it's simply to do with the fact that they are able abosrb the Goa'uld energy impacts. Whereas bullets cannot be absorbed because they are too primitive.

Zat's obviously have limitations on what they can do, after all what happens if you hit a cargo ship, Al'kesh or whatever 3 times while landed. Kull warriors are another prime example of something that can absorb weapon impacts.

Although kinda mute point as Reps are finished in SG-1 land for a while now. As well as Zats/Staff weapons never having been used in Pegasus since Atlantis started, so can't be even thought of against the Asurans.

[Womble]

But liquid plasma bas mass.

But it doesn't have the density.

A kevlar vest that can stop a bullet cannot stop a much slower arrow- because an arrow has higher sectional density. Same thing here. A plasma blast is essentially a bubble of hot liquid; a bullet is a piece of solid metal that has a higher sectional density and therefore can do more damage against metallic objects... I think.

[Arania]

But it doesn't have the density.

A kevlar vest that can stop a bullet cannot stop a much slower arrow- because an arrow has higher sectional density. Same thing here. A plasma blast is essentially a bubble of hot liquid; a bullet is a piece of solid metal that has a higher sectional density and therefore can do more damage against metallic objects... I think.

Depending on the design of the bullet itself (i.e. armor penetrating vs. hollowpoint) you are fairly on the mark. However, assuming that the staff is indeed a plasma-based weapon (A reasonable assumption), then the bolt will still have a certain element of kinetic energy. In reality, a plasma weapon with a shot like a staff would have to have an insanely high muzzle velocity to overcome blooming and ambient cooling, and the material used for the plasma bolt would have to have an absurdly low (I.e. near zero) thermal conductivity in order to not lose significant energy while in flight. Additionally, there would have to be alot of the material in order to produce a noticable effect, which would increase overall density, and increase KE. However, most of the damage caused by a plasma-based weapon is primarily thermal and ionic, which kinetic impact damage being secondary. Considering the staff weapon bolt diameter compared to a replicator, its probably reasonable to assume that there is no block-severing tension induced in the replicator body at impact. Bullets, on the other hand, have a much more focussed impact area, which the replicators are vulnerable to.

Plasma weapons arent really designed for that effect anyway, i mean, a plasma cannon (Realistic pulse plasma cannon) mounted on a spacecraft is badass ('specially considering orbital velociticies in space combat scenarios), but it would be largely useless against a replicator or any other creature that is resistant to atomic-level damage.

I would like to see how well a replicator could handle a high-KE particle beam though, that might have a more noticable effect than a staff weapon...