ZPM or Naqahdah generators now?

[Vala_M]

In last night's episode (Be All My Sins Remember'd), Dr. Zelenka goes and fixes the Naqahdah generator for the medical bay. I thought that Atlantis used the ZPM to power the whole city except under circumstances where they didn't have a ZPM. Have they decided that the ZPM is only for emergencies now?

Vala,

[fugiman]

I think the ZPM is used for shields and other critical systems while the genderators are for more secondary systems as we one have 1 ZPM on atlantis and it needs 3

[Vala_M]

Except that in previous episodes, mostly season 2 episodes, it was shown and stated in dialog that the ZPM was used instead of Naqahdah generators as it could power more of the city. Even Weir said in one episode that the city could support a larger contingent with the ZPM. And in "Critical Mass", McKay removed the ZPM and started up the Naqhdah generators.

Vala,

[jhkplaya888]

perhaps they are being smart and saving the zpm to when they actually need it. not wasting it just powering the city when a couple of naquida generators are good enough

[happyclappy]

yeh, just coz they said it in season two doesnt mean they didnt change the set up for this season... rodney is always messing with things the work after all... whats why things keep breaking!

[Vala_M]

But the way it was implied and/or mentioned was that the ZPM has much more the energy output and durration than the Naqahdah generators. Unless they brought in more generators. Last time I checked, Atlantis had two ZPM's not one so it wouldn't make sense to not use them. The nearly depleted one from the Tria and the new one from Asuras.

Vala,

[PG15]

Can't they use both?

[garhkal]

perhaps they are being smart and saving the zpm to when they actually need it. not wasting it just powering the city when a couple of naquida generators are good enough

Since they are back down to having only 1 ZPM i feel this is the most likely situation. Also maybe they use the Naquida generators for critical systems as back ups..

[JSPuddlejumper]

The ZPM was close to being depleted when they got to the planet, which implies that Atlantis energy requirements are titanic to fly through space with shield constanly on and all other systems of the city working.

Which could be the main reason why Wraith Hives have no shields, the massive energy requirements like some have said. Even for the Cruisers.

McKay et al should have logically been looking to make ZPMs...Atlantis database, hello! Maybe towards the latter of season 5, they finally try to make ZPMs? I am sure they would be very tough to make, but still make an effort.

[Raven6666]

Which could be the main reason why Wraith Hives have no shields, the massive energy requirements like some have said. Even for the Cruisers.

McKay et al should have logically been looking to make ZPMs...Atlantis database, hello! Maybe towards the latter of season 5, they finally try to make ZPMs? I am sure they would be very tough to make, but still make an effort.

From what I remember, when Weir was explaining what ZPMs were to the Asuans in Progeny, they had to explain their function. The Asurans when we first met them probably hadn't changed their names for their tech since the real Lantians tried removing them. You just cant use a Control+F to find a ZPM, otherwise if McKay had directly explained, on camera, that the Ancient Database could only be inputted and outputted as Ancient, you would most likely need someone fluent in Ancient to access any type of menu to find a Search function. For ethical reasons, TPTB may not want our Heroes to be overpowered, as in finding their ultimate source of power and being able to make an endless stream of it(unless making a ZPM consumes a planet.)

Perhaps the Massive Beam from the ship in Early SGA(First season) that John and Teyla had no idea about is the ship's way of feeding, if that is the case, then perhaps it is derived from what I had a possibility for from ZPM's being made by a Planet being consumed (However, the Asurans would have plenty, hence my theory of planet-consumption->ZPM is highly unlikely).

Another theory/reason why Wraith ships don't have Shields is this:
Back-Info:
We know Wraiths are evolved versions of the Iratus bug when it was fed a certain amount of Human DNA, Lantians would know this, hence possibly not go near the Iratus. However, from the Iratus homeworld seen in Season2 Instinct and Conversion, there would've been a Gate+DHD, so its likely Lantians weren't sent to an Iratus planet as a sort of punishment/prison.

However, if Lantians were sent to Iratus planets as a punishment/prison, and some of those Lantians had some tech with them(or knowledge)[BUT WITHOUT PROPER SHIELD KNOWLEDGE] and the Iratus Bugs evolved around the informed peoples, then after an emergence of a primordial Wraith, information would be derived and ships made.

A last reasoning is that, because there were so many Wraith/Hives in the beginning and that they can reproduce/build (respectively) quite quickly to a certain point, then why need shields?

[thekillman]

i say the iratus killed some ancients and created ancient wraith, but due to the iratus dna not all ancient knowledge was given to the wraith. this theory is based on the assumption that ancients pass on their knowledge genetically. you say 'then we wouldve had ancient technology level. i say no. we didnt understand the ancient knowledge. and tons of it faded away as the ancients were outnumbered by us. thus we would have no ancient knowledge. and we dont pass on memory genetically

[ijffdrie]

the naqaudah generators have infinite durability, zpm's dont
zpm's are crucial for defense

[Vala_M]

The ZPM was close to being depleted when they got to the planet, which implies that Atlantis energy requirements are titanic to fly through space with shield constanly on and all other systems of the city working.

Which could be the main reason why Wraith Hives have no shields, the massive energy requirements like some have said. Even for the Cruisers.

McKay et al should have logically been looking to make ZPMs...Atlantis database, hello! Maybe towards the latter of season 5, they finally try to make ZPMs? I am sure they would be very tough to make, but still make an effort.

No, the ZPM stolen from Asuras had 75% power left in it, it was shown on one of the laptop displays in "Reunion" when Carter was contacting Atlantis from Earth. The one from "Moebius" had 66% left in it before it was depleted. The one from the Tria probably has less than 5% in it but nothing was confirmed.

Vala,

[Ranlier]

The medical bay stands to reason would have two separate power systems, as interruption of power can be outright catastrophic.

They would want a functional naquadah generator standing by, at the very least, should the ZPM not be able to power the bay for any reason.

[umopapisdn]

It makes more sense, they are in regular contact with earth now, there is always at least 1 ship free unless there are some wierd circumstances that form plotholes, that means that they can have a pretty good supply of naquadah generators and so it wouldn't make sense to use the ZPM when they have other power and they know that the ZPM is the only thing good enough to power the sheild. Also the constant supply of power to the medical bay makes pefect sense.