F302 powered by a Z.P.M

[Lostpinky]

if they decided to put a Z.P.M into a F302 what would happen... Shields?

Hyperspace finally working for it...?

What else?

[Xaeden]

None of that would happen, it would just blow up. Lifeline established that ZPMs cannot be used to power something so small as they are designed to steadily channel massive amounts of energy into whatever it's powering. A F302 or a jumper just aren't capable of handling all of it.

[Ripple in Space]

It would be pointless & wasteful, but with proper R&D, the F302 hyperdrive would work properly. 302s don't have shield generators in the first place, hence nothing to power.

[Dev Corvin]

Actually that's not strictly true, a ZPM is essentially just a large battery. It's the interface circuitry which makes the difference to whether or not the power can be safely channelled, not the ZPM itself.

But outfitting a F-302 with a ZPM would be a pointless activity of the highest form. It would be far more effective to create a new ship from scratch with Ancient technology such as a jumper cloak/shields, the prototype hyperdrive engine, and a front-mounted Asgard energy weapon, with a power junction large enough to support maximum energy transfer from the ZPM to the shields and weapons. We already know a ZPM is capable of delivering 1% of its TOTAL energy capacity per second (that was stated in an earlier Atlantis episode as the maximum power transfer rate from a ZPM.

Essentially, a small ship with a shield generator and weapons tied directly into a ZPM would be capable of withstanding simultaneous assault for tens of Wraith Hive ships, much the same way Atlantis was, but with significantly reduced power drain due to the fact that the active shield area would be significantly smaller.

The benefit to using the same shield technology used on Atlantis / the puddle jumpers is that Lantean shields are capable of draining power from the ZPM at its maximum rate, unlike ship-based shields such as Asgard/Goa'uld (or even Aurora class shields) which continually draw power from the ships' generators into a shield buffer which is MUCH larger than the rate of flow between the generators and the shields would be if connected directly. Hence the "shields are at 20%" quotes.

Lantean shields work differently, as they are capable of withstanding SUSTAINED assault from thousands of ships without allowing any penetration, essentially forming a completely weapons-tight bubble for as long as it is able to draw power at a rate equal to the energy assault on the shield boudnary.

So yeah, new small ship, ZPM, Lantean shield generator, hyperdrive engine, and Asgard cannon == ownage ship.

Only problem is, it would provide the SGC with an INSANE advantage against their enemies.

[Mister Oragahn]

Let's make a few things clear.

In theory, you could power things incredibly small with a ZPM. The ZPM itself is a device that manages to redirct flux of immense energies, all internally, until it gets poured through whatever power slot you plugged the ZPM into.

So we know that the ZPM's power can be carried through extremely tiny (subspace?) conduits, or whatever they use.

Now, putting this on a F-302? Maybe, but the ZPM wouldn't allow more energy to be poured than what the F-302 can deal with.

It all depends of the maximum power an earth made device - that can fit in a F-302 - can handle.

While I wouldn't be surprised that the Ancients would have starfighters shooting huge beams that rip planets apart shoot'em up style, I don't see the F-302 ever achieving this.

At best, the only systems I think they could exploit would be Lee's prototype energy gun, assuming they can make lethal or dangerous for equipments, and of course the hyperdrive.

I don't know how much energy a F-302 sized hyperdrive can handle, but you wouldn't have to worry about the instability of naqahdria anymore.

Actually, if they had spare ZPMs, they may have been able to make such tests.

[kirmit]

None of that would happen, it would just blow up. Lifeline established that ZPMs cannot be used to power something so small as they are designed to steadily channel massive amounts of energy into whatever it's powering. A F302 or a jumper just aren't capable of handling all of it.

How did you get that in 'lifeline'? I thought Mckay was in the process of hooking the ZPM upto the jumper.

[Dev Corvin]

How did you get that in 'lifeline'? I thought Mckay was in the process of hooking the ZPM upto the jumper.

Yep, all he said was that he had to properly calibrate the power flow so that when the hyperdrive window opened they didn't just incinerate lol.

[Womble]

So yeah, new small ship, ZPM, Lantean shield generator, hyperdrive engine, and Asgard cannon == ownage ship.

Only problem is, it would provide the SGC with an INSANE advantage against their enemies.

Not really. The scarcity of the ZPM supply would balance things somewhat (it is, in fact, the only thing keeping balance at the moment). A lot would also depend on the storyline. If, say, an expedition member turned out to have been replaced by an Asuran replicator or brainwashed by the Wraiths, and he would steal the ship and defect, that could give Atlantis the headache of the century

[Xaeden]

Essentially, a small ship with a shield generator and weapons tied directly into a ZPM would be capable of withstanding simultaneous assault for tens of Wraith Hive ships, much the same way Atlantis was, but with significantly reduced power drain due to the fact that the active shield area would be significantly smaller.

That would only be true if shields failed as soon as their power supply ran out. However, an infinate power supply that works on a level that is able to boost the shields without overloading the ship is still not going to be able to take a lot of firepower.

How did you get that in 'lifeline'? I thought Mckay was in the process of hooking the ZPM upto the jumper.

As I understood it, Mckay was in the process of hooking it up to get a short burst of power, not to utilize it as a steady power supply for the jumper. The jumpers are designed to work off of stored energy in much the same way an electric car works. Eventually they need to plug it again or it will go the way of the jumpers from The Tower. All a ZPM should be able to do is replenish its buffers and then it needs to be removed (like the ZPM power from Atlantis is able to do). However, If it's continuously working at any output the energy would have nowhere to go and overload those buffers. They would have to design something that would shut the ZPM off just before that happens and activate it again when they do need it again so they had an infinate supply of power, but even if they were to do that it would not generate the same effect as we see on a 304 size ship.

As for 302s there's a reason why a 304 can power a large shield area with naqahdah generators where as they cannot hook up one naqudah generator to a 302 and install shield generators. They need to first improve their technology before they can utilize higher end power sources for such a craft.

[Dev Corvin]

That would only be true if shields failed as soon as their power supply ran out.

Which they do...

All a ZPM should be able to do is replenish its buffers and then it needs to be removed (like the ZPM power from Atlantis is able to do).

No, when the ZPM gets yanked from a Lantean city, half the city dies... There's no buffering whatsoever. We saw that early in Season 2 when the Goa'uld sabotaged the safety protocols.

As for 302s there's a reason why a 304 can power a large shield area with naqahdah generators where as they cannot hook up one naqudah generator to a 302 and install shield generators. They need to first improve their technology before they can utilize higher end power sources for such a craft.

The whole point with the Lantean technology in Atlantis is that it's DESIGNED to handle the power flow from a ZPM. Specifically, the shield / cloak generators used on Atlantis and the Puddle Jumpers.

[Boxytheboxed]

no
it wouldnt work
just no
it might combust into ponies or something

[Dev Corvin]

In FACT, considering how the ENTIRE city is cloaked through the use of a puddle jumper's cloaking generator hooked up to the ZPM, we know that the cloaking/shield generator from a Puddle Jumper can handle the power flow from a ZPM already.

[Xaeden]

Which they do...

No, you're thinking of Atlantis. Both jumpers and Aurora class ships lose shields before they run out of power, just like every other ship. Atlantis is the exception.

No, when the ZPM gets yanked from a Lantean city, half the city dies... There's no buffering whatsoever. We saw that early in Season 2 when the Goa'uld sabotaged the safety protocols.

Again, I wasn't talking about Atlantis, I was talking about the jumper. Jumpers store a finate amount of energy that it gets from plugging into Atlantis. In order to get energy from a ZPM to the shields of a jumper it needs to go through where it stores that energy first. Atlantis is designed to move energy around completely differently so you're comparing Ancient apples to Ancient oranges.

The whole point with the Lantean technology in Atlantis is that it's DESIGNED to handle the power flow from a ZPM. Specifically, the shield / cloak generators used on Atlantis and the Puddle Jumpers.

Where was it said Puddle Jumpers were designed to handle the power flow from a ZPM? I mean obviously they use ZPM power from the city to replenish a jumper's power supply, but they designed jumpers to unplugged once they were fully powered. They did not design them to have a ZPM constantly plugged in (otherwise there would be a slot where Mckay could insert one into any jumper - instead he has to rig something up).

More so only the city's conduits are capable of moving ZPM power about at different levels so the output doesn't cause an overload when doing something simple like powering lights. However, for Mckay to make a ZPM work with a jumper he would first have to design something that worked in a similar way to city's conduits so it stopped accepting power after the jumper was full and then have it accept small amounts of power again when the jumper starts to lose power. I mentioned this in my previous post and I also mentioned this being completely different from having a ZPM constantly powering the shields of a bigger ship which is why it would not produce the god-like fighter ship you were hoping for - It's still relying on its own power source, the ZPM is just making sure that power source never runs out and again the shields of a jumper would go long before the power of a jumper goes. Shield technology isn't just amount the power source available, it's also about the design of the generators and whatever small ones they were able to fit on a jumper are just not going to match the ones you've seen on Atlantis.

In FACT, considering how the ENTIRE city is cloaked through the use of a puddle jumper's cloaking generator hooked up to the ZPM, we know that the cloaking/shield generator from a Puddle Jumper can handle the power flow from a ZPM already.

You assume that worked by sending power through the cloaking generator and then extending that simple cloaking generator to the entire city. More likely what happened is that the shield generators were capable of mimicing the cloak technology after they interfaced the cloaking generator with the city's shield.

McKAY: I wouldn't say simply, but yes -- by interfacing a Jumper's stealth cloak generator with the city's shield, we should be able to render the city invisible.

Although in truth, we were given very little details on how this is done so your FACT is just speculation. Which is fine to bring up in a discussion so long as it's not labeled as FACT.

[2ndgenerationalteran]

back to the 302s, why would you waste a ZPM on that, yes it could probably handle shields and a stable hyperdrive but why? The ship would be redesigned to carry those new technologies and even so there isnt even a bathroom for long journeys its just pointless.

[kirmit]

back to the 302s, why would you waste a ZPM on that, yes it could probably handle shields and a stable hyperdrive but why? The ship would be redesigned to carry those new technologies and even so there isnt even a bathroom for long journeys its just pointless.

Well I think a 302 would be a waste but something similar would be a good idea. It would have to have energy weapons, a shields and hyperdrive but also be slightly bigger than a 302. The Advantage of having a ship like that with a ZPM is that you can send that in the take out the bigger ships, they're smaller targets, much more manouverable and less costly/time consuming to build.