Replicator Ships: No Genes Required?

[LtHawk]

What scares me more than anything about the upcoming Human/Wraith vs. replicator fight is the fact that replicators are just that, replicators, they dont require the gene to make the ancient tech work, which opens the door for any species to capture their ship(s) to use it. Yes, they comminicate to each other and their systems like the wraith do (but in a more technological way obv.) but replicators still want to be human, so they still make physical control interfaces, but they wouldnt require the gene.

Now that is scary.. what if the genii got ahold of one.. Iam not worried about the travelers having a aurora class ship, but iam worried about the Genii getting their hands on one...

What if its not the replicators that are going to attack, what if iam right and its a different race that got ahold of a repli-rora(replicators aurora class) ship and attacked atlantis?

[Alendra]

As they replicate Ancient tech, they may have incorporated the need for the ATA gene, but that gene "only" does some things that I forgot (Beckett explains it in the 102 "Hide and Seek"), but that robots can duplicate easily I think.
Sure that would be kinda scary but, how do you plan on capturing a rep ship ? You can disable the ship sure, but there would still be the rep on board, and they won't give the ship just like that ^^

[Vala_M]

I think it does because Sheppard still flied the jumper in "Progeny", remember the Asurans can incorperate living matter as well so it's possible they have some sort of living matter in them containing the gene as well.

Vala,

[LtHawk]

quite true on both counts. And these replicators are different, they dont replicate the ships they need or want, so they are constrained somewhat to the thinking of the ancients that built them. Thats something that has bothered me, if they are really replicators, then why actually spend the time and material building the actual ships, and not building ships that can replicate... well, iam outta class, peace out till tomorrow.

[geeksandlies]

The ATA gene is required to operate crucial Ancient devices not all! Thingslike trhe chair or the PJ basically anything with a form of Nural interface requires the ATA gene otherwise all the expedition members without it wouldnt be able to even open the doors! Plus as we have seen McKay can overide things to work without the ATA gene needing to be supplied!

[talyn2k1]

quite true on both counts. And these replicators are different, they dont replicate the ships they need or want, so they are constrained somewhat to the thinking of the ancients that built them. Thats something that has bothered me, if they are really replicators, then why actually spend the time and material building the actual ships, and not building ships that can replicate... well, iam outta class, peace out till tomorrow.

See in my mind this is the problem with calling the Asurans Replicators - their imperatives get confused with those of the MW Replicators.

The main imperative of the MW Replicators was to replicate, absorb new technology, and defend themselves.

The main imperative of the Asurans was to destroy the Wraith, until the Wraith found a way to deactive this command.
When they became sentient, they created themselves in the form of their creators. They do not have the imperative to replicate and absorb tech as the MW Reps do, their main imperative was, until recently, shut off. As a result, they have spent the last 10,000 years emulating the Ancients, which means building ships as they do and living as they do.

A few of my friends have been getting up on their soap boxes about the Asurans attacking human colonies, stating that they shouldn't do it as they are not programmed to attack humans. Their 'Attack Wraith' command over rides their 'Attack Human' desire.
The simple answer to this is that their 'Attack Wraith' command includes a clause to attack their greatest weakness. Now that they are free to attack humans (thanks to McKay opening up their base code), the Wraith's main weakness is us. Therefore it makes perfect sense that they would begin attacking human worlds.

While wiping out human planets is not the most morally justifiable action, tactically it is the best choice.
1. There is minimal chance of losing ships / people as most of the planets are primitive and defenseless.
2. The fact that there will be little to no resistance means that this method of attack is quick and many planets can be slaughtered in a relatively short space of time. Alot quicker than trying to attack a Wraith planet capable of fighting back.
3. If the Wraith are smart, they will fall back to be able to totally defend a smaller quantity of food, rather than having a large amount of space to defend which the Asurans can easily penetrate.
This means that, in time, many planets will be left undefended for the Asurans to consume and build new ships.

It would appear I've gone a little off track here. That lot will be handy to use if a thread pops up about Asurans tactics

[Alendra]

Just to clarify, the Asurans NEVER had anything in their programming to prevent them from harming humans, they had a command that forbid them from harming Ancients

Spoiler on "The Seer"

Spoiler:

Remember "Hot Zone" ? (season 01), the little nano virus that killed everyone exept people with ATA gene ? In "The Seer" McKay think that the Asurans where behind this virus, but they couldn't harm Ancients, so they made their weapon to shut down if ATA gene was detected.

[talyn2k1]

Just to clarify, the Asurans NEVER had anything in their programming to prevent them from harming humans, they had a command that forbid them from harming Ancients

Spoiler on "The Seer"

Spoiler:

Remember "Hot Zone" ? (season 01), the little nano virus that killed everyone exept people with ATA gene ? In "The Seer" McKay think that the Asurans where behind this virus, but they couldn't harm Ancients, so they made their weapon to shut down if ATA gene was detected.

I stand corrected

[MartianManhunter]

I think that the replicators did incorporate the need for the Ancient gene into their tech. It would be like an extra security measure incase an advanced race came along and tried to get their hands on a Aurora class. But I also think that, being replicators, they are able to easily override this by directly interfacing with the technology, especially since they have a basic understanding of Ancient tech, so it wouldn't really be that hard for them to do so.

[Archaeis]

Along the point of the Genii getting their hands on the Asuran ships, I would say that is near impossible. They have no way to get into space, and even if they found a ship that had crashed, they have nowhere near the techinical expertise needed to repair something like that.

[Elite Anubis Guard]

I wouldn't say that. They've had some experience with Wraith tech and they're not that primitive. Depending on just how damaged the ship would be, they might be able to. Remember, there's alot of Ancient tech out there for them to find and fiddle with to learn.

As for needing the gene. Personally, I doubt it. Maybe they put something similar in but that's unique for them. Or maybe both? Remember, Sheppard could still fly the PJ which means either they've put the gene requirement in but also an alternative so they can use it, they haven't put anything in or they themselves have the gene somehow.

[from_orion]

I think that the replicators did incorporate the need for the Ancient gene into their tech. It would be like an extra security measure incase an advanced race came along and tried to get their hands on a Aurora class. But I also think that, being replicators, they are able to easily override this by directly interfacing with the technology, especially since they have a basic understanding of Ancient tech, so it wouldn't really be that hard for them to do so.

We don't know if they incorporated the gene requirement in their technology, but we know from return pt 2 when they fired drones on the jumper that they are able to use the chair platform which definitely requires the gene to function.

[Alendra]

There's 2 possibility, either they have somehow the gene, or they can emulate the things the gene do in order to make Ancient tech work (such as the chair).
But that's probably another plot hole, and I don't think we'll ever know that ^^

[wise one]

i dont think the genii would know how to fly a ship like the aroura they would likely press anything and fail and shoot it like they did with the wraith mind machine.

the wraith would bypass the gene thing somhow like how that wriath altered sheps jumper

[Athosian Death facilitator]

1-- The Asurans have designed ancient technology to adapt to their unique nano physiology. I would imagine the Ancients designed them around it, however we haven't seen the Asurans use the chair platform(have we?)

They use initialized Ancient technology, which doesn't require the ATA gene.

2-- I'm pretty sure that you need the Ancient gene to operate the Ancient technology.