ZPM manufacture

[Xaeden]

Actually I do think the Ancients can build ZPMs fast enough to keep the shield at full strength indefinitely. I think they left because they knew the war was lost and it was pointless to stay.

So the Ancients had all this easy to access ZPM power and yet they chose to try to replace it by tapping vacuum energy from their own universe, they designed a whole outpost not to rely on ZPM power but on geothermal power, and they tried to supplement/replace Atlantis' dependency on ZPM power by creating a geothermal drilling platform? No, they clearly had a problem keeping up with the energy demands created by the war with the Wraith.

[Coco Pops]

So the Ancients didn't have a hand in creating the wraith problem in the first place did they?

[thekillman]

So the Ancients didn't have a hand in creating the wraith problem in the first place did they?

Technically, no.

[Coco Pops]

Technically, no.

Well that's good then.

[garhkal]

So the Ancients had all this easy to access ZPM power and yet they chose to try to replace it by tapping vacuum energy from their own universe, they designed a whole outpost not to rely on ZPM power but on geothermal power, and they tried to supplement/replace Atlantis' dependency on ZPM power by creating a geothermal drilling platform? No, they clearly had a problem keeping up with the energy demands created by the war with the Wraith.

To me, the whole reason they went into the Project Acturus power generation issue, was cause they had lost their ZPM manufacture base..

[thekillman]

To me, the whole reason they went into the Project Acturus power generation issue, was cause they had lost their ZPM manufacture base..

Both scenario's are equally likely. But yea, the Wraith won trough attrition, so the Ancients not being able to keep up with production is the most likely assumption.

[epg20]

I have ben thinking about where they made the zpms, and came up with an idea, how and where they made them, and why they stopped .

[meenamjah]

the whole thing doesn't make sense. how did wraiths get to such numbers in the first place? it's not like they had an unlimited source of food.

[epg20]

the whole thing doesn't make sense. how did wraiths get to such numbers in the first place? it's not like they had an unlimited source of food.

keep watching, that question gets answered.

[charmscale]

I've got a slightly different question. They had to be making ZPMs somewhere, in Pegasus or the Milky Way. Why has no one found this ZPM manufacture site? Unless it was totally destroyed somehow, odds are it would be identifiable once it was found. If it was totally destroyed, then who destroyed it? It's possible that if it was in Pegasus the Ancients destroyed it rather than let it be captured by the wraith. Perhaps, now that Legacy is letting us see the Wraith point of view, we'll find out. That important an event has to be remembered in Wraith history. Or perhaps it is out there. Perhaps it has just not been discovered by anyone who could tell what it was.

[Brother Freyr]

I don't recall, why does the Atlantis database contain no information on where ZPM production was (once upon a time) located? It might have been an interesting story to visit the remnants and speculate on why those planets were chosen, and what the remains might reveal.

Oh wait, nevermind. Probably for the same security reason there wasn't a convenient list of shipyard locations for Aurora-class ships.

[thekillman]

I don't recall, why does the Atlantis database contain no information on where ZPM production was (once upon a time) located? It might have been an interesting story to visit the remnants and speculate on why those planets were chosen, and what the remains might reveal.

Oh wait, nevermind. Probably for the same security reason there wasn't a convenient list of shipyard locations for Aurora-class ships.

Both have an extremely simple answer: the wraith targeted and destroyed those first. It's likely that these locations were visited offscreen and found nothing but ruins.

That being said, it's likely that no ZPM manufacturing plant exists whatsoever. Each lasted millenia under normal use. They were probably made as-needed.

[garhkal]

Which makes you wonder, how many they had at the height of their civilization?

[thekillman]

Which makes you wonder, how many they had at the height of their civilization?

Couple of dozen probably. The Asurans are credited as having an unlimited supply, but considering how long Atlantis could be powered by even just one, they probably only had a hundred or so. For tricks like in First Strike they could just produce more, as i suspect the main advantage the Asurans had was mass production.

Remember that as far as we know, the Lanteans had two cityships and a planetary settlement in Trinity. That's it. I suspect that the Pegasus ancients were vastly less numerous, spread and rooted than many suspect. Comments like not having enough power despite possessing the single most powerful powersource known and losing the war despite winning every battle suggest that the Ancients were strong enough to win, they just couldn't replace their losses, suggesting that their infrastructure and industry was either immediately destroyed by the Wraith or it was largely absent to begin with.

Considering that the Ancients seemed to have stuff that lasted extremely long (cities, powersources, etc) it's safe to say they didn't need extensive industry, especially since the Pegasus Ancients only seemed to escape for the purpose of ascension, not to continue their race.

[Bhousden]

the whole thing doesn't make sense. how did wraiths get to such numbers in the first place? it's not like they had an unlimited source of food.

They captured an Aurora class ship taking it's ZPM to power a cloning facility.