The poor Wraith.

[Tain]

Those poor guys. Flying around in those deathtrap darts. I mean seriously, what kind of species that has been spacefaring for over 10 millenia builds a fighting craft that can be shot out of the air by a few small arms. Its like a modern helicopter being shot down with spears and arrows. Those Wraith are some brave lifesuckers

[Vicious]

First, the wraith don't have shields.
Second, they fly low to pick up unsuspecting villagers.
Third, fellow wraith are expendable and will secure the technology (ie. blow themselves up).
Fourth, you can't fly to fast when picking up unsuspecting villagers because you might fill the buffers to fast in the ship.

[Tain]

While it is true that Wraith apparently choose not to utilize shields on many of their ships, i don't think its because they can't. Just look at the canopy of that wraith dart. It was an energy shield stable enough to replace canopy metal/plexi. I'd say thats pretty advanced, even the ancients didn't make use of such a thing. (that we have seen yet)

I think the shieldless wraith ships is a design decision on their part, not a technological limitation. They chose the old soviet method of war fighting. "Quantity has a quality all its own." It seems to work, just ask the Ancients.


Also, modern real life aircraft don't have shields. Yet, it takes much more than a few P90s and a m240 to bring one down. Even world war 1 era biplanes required the massed firepower of hundreds of men, backed up by a few heavy machine guns to be brought down by small arms. Yet, this is supposed to be a craft that can withstand the riggors of space, operated by a race which has been space faring for over 10,000 years AND were the same guys who defeated the most advanced civilization that we know ever existed.

Personally, i think they should have come up with a more creative way to bring the dart down.

[Tain]

True, if the rocket would have hit the dart, i wouldn't be nearly so dissapointed. However, it blew up a tree instead.

[creed462]

The Wraith what to do with them

To the waith thier soilders are expendible. So are the darts. Besides they had a buzukca firing at it too

[Steve_the_Wraith]

While it is true that Wraith apparently choose not to utilize shields on many of their ships, i don't think its because they can't.

I think that too but for a different reason

Remember in "Lost City" when Anubis's first prime said that the drones bypassed the shields. Well if the Drones ignore sheilds and then most space-ships are in serious trouble.

My theory is that early in the war with the Ancients the wraith realised that their shields would have no effect on the Drones and instead concentrated on armour plating on their ships

[4574]

there was no need for them to evolve their ships/weapons/other tech, because they are the dominant species in their Galaxy, no civilization in pegasus even comes close to wraith tech. plus, they dont care about 1 dart few or less, they hav millions.

[Tain]

True, but its not really a problem i have with the Wraith's doctrine on how they make and use their ships, its a problem with the ships themselves. I just don't see how a ship weak enough to be brought down by a few small caliber bullets would be anywhere near strong enough to survive the G stresses and harsh environment that space flight, by its nature, would force upon it.

and Steve, thats a really good idea about the darts not having shields, i never thought about it from that angle.

[Wraith_King]

While it is true that Wraith apparently choose not to utilize shields on many of their ships, i don't think its because they can't. Just look at the canopy of that wraith dart. It was an energy shield stable enough to replace canopy metal/plexi. I'd say thats pretty advanced, even the ancients didn't make use of such a thing. (that we have seen yet)

I think the shieldless wraith ships is a design decision on their part, not a technological limitation. They chose the old soviet method of war fighting. "Quantity has a quality all its own." It seems to work, just ask the Ancients.


Also, modern real life aircraft don't have shields. Yet, it takes much more than a few P90s and a m240 to bring one down. Even world war 1 era biplanes required the massed firepower of hundreds of men, backed up by a few heavy machine guns to be brought down by small arms. Yet, this is supposed to be a craft that can withstand the riggors of space, operated by a race which has been space faring for over 10,000 years AND were the same guys who defeated the most advanced civilization that we know ever existed.

Personally, i think they should have come up with a more creative way to bring the dart down.

What are you retarded why do you think there was precision bombing in world war 2 because they had to bomb from really high up or be shot down also thats why we dont just send choppers to fight everywhere smartie because one rpg takes down one copper.

Plus look at the Red Baron shot down by one bullet.

Also Hive ships have sheilds didnt thats why the weapons of daedulus did nothing to them.

[Tain]

What are you retarded why do you think there was precision bombing in world war 2 because they had to bomb from really high up or be shot down also thats why we dont just send choppers to fight everywhere smartie because one rpg takes down one copper.

Plus look at the Red Baron shot down by one bullet.

Also Hive ships have sheilds didnt thats why the weapons of daedulus did nothing to them.

They had to bomb from way up because of Anti Aircraft ARTILLERY batteries, and fighter cover. Not a bunch of guys standing around firing pistols at them. Also, i am not talking about rocket weapons. I am talking about about superadvanced spacecraft being shot down with small caliber bullets.

[Dr Weir]

I think that too but for a different reason

Remember in "Lost City" when Anubis's first prime said that the drones bypassed the shields. Well if the Drones ignore sheilds and then most space-ships are in serious trouble.

My theory is that early in the war with the Ancients the wraith realised that their shields would have no effect on the Drones and instead concentrated on armour plating on their ships

Good observation, I didn't remember that. It probably explains why the wraith didn't have shields up until the seige part 3, but after what happened with the Daedulas, I would think if the wraith know how to develop shields they would as they are not just losing darts but hive ships too. Maybe they don't or forgot how to after being the dominant race in the pegusas galaxy for so long.

[MarshAngel]

I think it's also possible that while they can create shields they might not be able to fit shields and transporters and the rest of their crap into a tiny dart and still have enough power and whatever else is necessary to fly at ridiculous speeds. They seem to fly fast enough that the chances of bringing down a significant number of them with any type of weapon are slim enough that of all the things they needed to fit in, they figured they need shields the least.

I can't come up with a decent excuse as to why the hive ships don't employ shields but the best I can guess is they don't need them to fly and depend on drones to defend the big flying house because that's what worker drones do.

Which brings me to another speculation. It's possible that given their bug-like mentality in combination with their stance as warriors they might not even believe in shields, as a matter of philosphy. They might just think that if they are bad enough pilots to be shot down then they deserve to be shot down... the strong survive and all that.

[Ouroboros]

When they first started shooting at it in this episode and the bullets just tinked off the bottem I actually thought it was TPTB trying to show that the machine gun thing in Rising was just really really lucky.

Then of course it happens again and well.... yeah.

I remember also how the darts went 10,000 mph in Seige 3 from space through the atmosphere but they can't stand up to small arms fire. That's several times faster than a typical bullet will ever travel and it's preasure being put on the whole ship at the same time. Looking at this it also shouldn't have fallen apart as much as it did when it crashed at maybe 60mph.

Just darts flying in space at the speeds they do should mean they're virtually immune to bullets. If they're not then small space debris would destroy them at the sort of speeds they can get up to in space.

Why does stuff like this keep happening on Atlantis. It doesn't have to. It's easy enough to prevent it.

I guess if there's one posative thing it's that it looks like this dart was smoking from the same place as the Rising dart. Maybe there's just a weak spot there.

[lethalfang]

What are you retarded why do you think there was precision bombing in world war 2 because they had to bomb from really high up or be shot down also thats why we dont just send choppers to fight everywhere smartie because one rpg takes down one copper.

Plus look at the Red Baron shot down by one bullet.

Also Hive ships have sheilds didnt thats why the weapons of daedulus did nothing to them.

An RPG cannot take down an attack helicopter such as AH-64 Apache. In most cases, an Apache can withstand a small missile fire like Stinger.
A better armored A-10 attack aircraft can shrug off those rockets used to bring down Wraith darts. In most cases, an A-10 can withstand a surface-to-air missile fire. It can fly with only one wing.
From what I've seen in Stargate, an A-10 aircraft has suprior capability to a Wraith dart or a Death Glider. A-10 can also destroy ground troops with far more accuracy and devastation than those shown by Death Gliders.

[ckwongau]

An RPG cannot take down an attack helicopter such as AH-64 Apache. In most cases, an Apache can withstand a small missile fire like Stinger.

During the last Gulf War, i think i remember the news showing how some Iraqi guy shot down an Apache with his shot gun.
it is hard to believe some small arm can bring down an advance aircraft, but sometime it happen in real life.

I remember that movies "Flight of intruder" 1991

At the beginning, the Intruder pilot return to the carrier after the bombing mission, but but somehow some sniper shot at the aircraft and kill the wingman.

I don't know if it were base on some real life incident, but during the Vietnam War, may be one or two aircraft were shot down by small arm fire.

If the Wraith Dart can fly througth the gate , and intercept Earth nuclear missile (Siege pt 3), it also has some from of teleportation capabliities ,if it store people in some sort energy signature, then it must be able to carrie cargo as well.
it is a powerful weapon.
I hope Daedulas take the weckage back to Earth and studies, may be develope an Earth vision of gate ship and may add the teleport capabilities to the F-302.