Why don't the Wraith have better biological warfare?

[Mik3y]

Considering the fact that are a race advanced primarily through biology, why don't they just focus more on biological warfare such as bio/chemical components? Viruses, diseases, plagues, and etc. As far as we the Stargate universe is concerned, the Wraith are the most biologically advanced race and have the ability to create pathogens that can simply throw humans into a long coma. Realistically speaking, humans would never be able to find a cure for such tactics until too late. Hell, we can't even cure cancer, HIV/AIDS, or even the common flu yet.

Also, is it possible that the Wraith stunners are made up of biological components? In other words, perhaps they are grown?

[PG15]

But they don't want to kill or incapacitate us for a long time, since we're food to them; and of course, they don't want to make us sick, as no one likes to eat sick food.

[Crazy Tom]

But they don't want to kill or incapacitate us for a long time, since we're food to them; and of course, they don't want to make us sick, as no one likes to eat sick food.

Ta-DA! And BTW, where'd you get the awesome avatar?

And yes, wraith technology is grown, especily considering the evidence provided in The Seed.

[PG15]

Ta-DA! And BTW, where'd you get the awesome avatar?

I made it mahself.

...From a hilarious David Hewlett picture, of course.

[Ouroboros]

For the simple reason that logical extrapolation of their bio tech into things like chemical/biological weapons would make them far far too formidable an adversary to defeat with P90s.

Even modern science can create bio/chemical agents that'll kill mass numbers of people in seconds with tiny amounts. To imagine what the people that can grow a starship out of a virus would be capable of is scary indeed.

Wraith troops for example could just carry some sort of gas emitter that constantly renders any nearby humans into a coma but leaves them unaffected. Or they could seed a planet's atmpsphere with the same agents and simply go in and harvest at will. Or they could seed the air of multiple planets in pegasus with highly contagious airborne germs that only spring into life when exposed to the sort of background energy emissions given off by ancient technology.

The list goes on and on. Proper application of bio weapons at their tech level could easily create a situation where anyone in the vicinity of a Wraith solider or installation and not wearing full NBC gear is instantly incapacitated before they even know what's going on, and that's one of the more modest things you could do with it.

[Mik3y]

But they don't want to kill or incapacitate us for a long time, since we're food to them; and of course, they don't want to make us sick, as no one likes to eat sick food.

I already mentioned this indirectly. What I'm saying is that the Wraith are biologically advanced enough to subdue every human on every world through the use of biological and chemical warfare without ever negatively affecting their food supply. Technology today can already do what the Wraith should be able to do, but I guess this would all make the Wraith too powerful for Atlantis to handle.

[NorseGuy]

They don't care. Until the arrival of the Atlantis they could take what they wanted without a big deal of resistance but surely they should be capable og these kind of things.

[PG15]

^Exactly.

New technology is only created (and widely used) when it's needed. The Wraith can cull their herd just fine without biowarfare, so why bother with more?

[lord groovy]

^Exactly.

New technology is only created (and widely used) when it's needed. The Wraith can cull their herd just fine without biowarfare, so why bother with more?

Hoffan Drug, Michael, Atlantis, Civil war and so on,...

And it is always handy to keep some deadly weapon in your closet. but Ouroboros is right : where they using such biowarfare, we will be seriously in trouble. Something like : "Any Gate travel may be your last".

[PG15]

I don't see how biological warfare can combat the Hoffan drug. Then again, I don't know much about what forms biological warmachines can take. Either way, they tried their best as soon as they figured out its threat, and bombarded the planet from orbit.

Michael's strength is in his stealth; you can't attack something you don't know the location of.

Same with Atlantis.

As for the Civil War, well, I suppose it's possible they have rules in their war as well, just as we do.

[lord groovy]

I don't see how biological warfare can combat the Hoffan drug. Then again, I don't know much about what forms biological warmachines can take. Either way, they tried their best as soon as they figured out its threat, and bombarded the planet from orbit.

Michael's strength is in his stealth; you can't attack something you don't know the location of.

Same with Atlantis.

As for the Civil War, well, I suppose it's possible they have rules in their war as well, just as we do.

I only meant that currently they are currently under a greater threat that before and so they should look for bio-weapon.

Hoffan Drug : I don't really know if there was something better than bombarding the planet. Currently, their best bet would be to make an antidote like Todd proposed.

Atlantis teams : often go offworld. You could do as Ouroboros said : a bomblike the one that killed Original Becket except that it reacts to Ancient Technology. Then you poison the food and water of various planet and just wait.

Michael : A bit trickier. He has lot of operatives and spies. Except finding a way to track his ship I don't know. And he is certainly more prone to using bioweapon against everyone, Wraith and humans alike...

Civil War : Rules? in normal war, maybe. But not here...And Bioweapon would be more safe than bombarding the other hive (because every time they did it, they finally blew up each other).

[Laura Dove]

Civil War : Rules? in normal war, maybe. But not here...And Bioweapon would be more safe than bombarding the other hive (because every time they did it, they finally blew up each other).

Biological warfare, safer?! Biological weapons are, of all weapons, the most likely to bite you in the back. Even if you manage to have them target an enemy species, they can mutate and hit you (especially when you share DNA).

As for wraith wanting to kill humans, Altanteans or otherwise, they don't. They want to feed on them and to find Earth. They need them alive to interrogate them. They could incapacitate them for some time (with the big stunner blast we saw in "Midway", for example), but unless a ship is in the area, it would be of no use. And if the team does not contact Atlantis in time, reinforcements will be sent to rescue them, with hazmat suits if needed.

[EternalAlteran]

Untill the arrival of the Atlantis team the could do anything they wanted, because no one was as advanced as they are (not including Asurans, Travelers and probably the Daedalus variations aliens, because those races didn't interact with the Wraith during the ten thousand years). And using biological or chemical warfare in their civil war is not logical, because the Wraith regenerative capabilities make them immune to most of those weapon if not all of them (except the retrovirus). It won't work against atlantis either because atlantis can protect itself against such threats and in space warfare it would cause explosive decompression in gas form and if they had a way to move penetrate the hull, they would have used it to destroy us.

[lord groovy]

So what had they finally achieve with biotechnology in 10 000 years?

[PG15]

Not much, I don't think. They've pretty much stagnated.