Let's hide the jumper using smoke!

[FallenAngelII]

What kind of BS is that? Do the Wraith not have detectors? Do they not have personnel at their consoles at all times to monitor incoming ships and other things (even if they don't, how would we know that? Why would we risk it using smoke in the hopes of the Wraith being incompetent?)?

What good does smoke do? Is that magical smoke that cloaks ships? Where the heck are the darts that were most probably the things firing on the MALP? Are the pilots blind? That smoke wasn't even that thick.

Seriously, let's stop making the Wraith less not-smart than seagulls in order for the expedition to use rather harebrained schemes.

[P-90_177]

Actually considering that those energy blasts looked like stunner blasts as opposed to the ones that would blow the crap out of the MALP like the Dart or hive blasts, I'm assuming that it was Wraith soldiers firing on the posistion.....now my guess is that those masks don't have sensors or IR or anything.

[Flyboy]

Besides, they cloaked the Gateship (yes I am THAT cool) as soon as it was out of the Stargate, so they only really needed a temporary veil.

[FallenAngelII]

I'm talking about the Hives here. What do the Wraith do all day, run around the hives not manning the consoles?

What if enemy ships were to arrive? If no one's helming the bridge detecting incoming ships, they won't know there are ships coming 'til they're actually there and blow them to kingdom come!

[Gersho]

well it's the same as when the Oddy cloaks when they drop out of Hyperspace, my only conclusion (apart for brainlesness) is that the sensors can't pick it up on such short notice (where it should normally detect then loose track in the second ?)

ps: why don't they just cloak before taking the gate ? :/

[s09119]

THE PLAN


Part 1: MALP goes through stargate.
Part 2: MALP arrives. Wraith hives detect single entity and open fire.
Part 3: MALP deploys smokescreen.
Part 4: Jumper goes through stargate.
Part 5: Jumper arrives and cloaks immediately. Wraith detect two entities for a split second, but almost before they notice this, it's back to one.
Part 6: Wraith destroy MALP, no longer read any entities.
Part 7: Smoke fades, stargate deactivates.

[Ethell]

well it's the same as when the Oddy cloaks when they drop out of Hyperspace, my only conclusion (apart for brainlesness) is that the sensors can't pick it up on such short notice (where it should normally detect then loose track in the second ?)

ps: why don't they just cloak before taking the gate ? :/

I read somewhere that a cloaked jumper can't go through the gate, something about the wormhole interfering with the cloaking field or something like that...

[Shan Bruce Lee]

What kind of BS is that? Do the Wraith not have detectors? Do they not have personnel at their consoles at all times to monitor incoming ships and other things (even if they don't, how would we know that? Why would we risk it using smoke in the hopes of the Wraith being incompetent?)?

What good does smoke do? Is that magical smoke that cloaks ships? Where the heck are the darts that were most probably the things firing on the MALP? Are the pilots blind? That smoke wasn't even that thick.

Seriously, let's stop making the Wraith less not-smart than seagulls in order for the expedition to use rather harebrained schemes.

The smoke was to trick the Hives into thinking the MALP was destroyed so they would think the Atlantis team decided not to come through and be able to move freely without the Wraith sending out search parties. It wasn't to hide the jumper.

[FallenAngelII]

.
Part 5: Jumper arrives and cloaks immediately. Wraith detect two entities for a split second, but almost before they notice this, it's back to one.

And they'd be too stupid to see that there were two "entities"? Also, I doubt Wraith ship sensors sense everything.

They can't just scan an area and go "There's a machine there!". Sensors look for specific things, like ships (if they know what Ancient ships are built from, they can scan for those specific things).

The smoke was to trick the Hives into thinking the MALP was destroyed so they would think the Atlantis team decided not to come through and be able to move freely without the Wraith sending out search parties. It wasn't to hide the jumper.

Wait, what? The MALP was destroyed. And even if it wasn't, it would still be tricking them into thinking they decided not to come through if nothing else came out of the gate. There was absolutely no reason to throw out random smoke.

Also, the episode itself disagrees:
TEYLA: Do you think they detected us before we were able to cloak?
SHEPPARD: No, I think the smokescreen worked. (Hopefully they think we just sent the M.A.L.P. through ahead of us and changed our mind when they blew it up.)

Clearly, John is saying that the smoke screen somehow prevented the Wraith ships from detecting the Jumper.

[Gersho]

well they didn't say so, so what i'm about to say is probably total crap, but maybe it's not only smoke, like micro particles that would interfere with the sensors ?

[Ethell]

THE PLAN
Part 5: Jumper arrives and cloaks immediately. Wraith detect two entities for a split second, but almost before they notice this, it's back to one.
Part 6: Wraith destroy MALP, no longer read any entities.

I think the point is in parts 5 and 6: yes, the wraith on the hive ships may have seen two entities for a second or so, but it was gone almost immediately... So they would think they got a malfunction or something...

Anyway, by the time they contacted the Wraiths firing at the MALP to tell the they were reading another entity, it would be gone... And asking them if they saw anything else come through the gate, but they would answer no, thus confirming their malfunction theory...

[Lauriel]

I agree that the point of sending the MALP was to give the Wraith a credible reason for the stargate opening. They see the 'gate open and the MALP come through. They check sensors, maybe, but they have plenty of Wraith at the 'gate with a visual, so they wouldn't be reliant on the sensors.

The smokescreen had a twofold purpose - a) Make them think they had damaged and destroyed the MALP and b) hide the 'jumper from being spotted by the Wraith at the 'gate, rather than the sensors. I think that even if a momentary bleep did register, and was observed, without any further evidence to the contrary the Wraith would reasonably assume that whatever secondary object that had come through the 'gate had been destroyed with the MALP.

Even if some of the Wraith were suspicious and thought that the MALP was a decoy for a secondary object, with the 'jumper cloaked, they have no way of proving the theory.

[FallenAngelII]

So we're all going by the "The Wraith are idiots"-theory, are we? Seriously, the Wraith know Atlantis has Jumpers. The Wraith know Jumpers can cloak, but not when going through Stargates (or they should by now at least, what with never ever having (not) seen a cloaked Jumper exit a Stargate).

They see a second blip (if the MALP even registered! Seriously, sensors are made to sense specific things. I doubt the Hive sensors pick up all indimate objects of at least MALP-size as ship. They would detect every single asteroid or minor debris in space is a ship!) and they assume it's a random malfunction (by both Hives, by the way! Two hives, not one.) instead of the more logical "It's a friggin' cloaked Jumper!"?

And why are people mentioning using the smoke as a way to trick the Wraith into thinking they'd destroyed the MALP? What, like they were going to try to return it to Atlantis? And it took so much fire it was probably a goner anyway. No, the smoke served only one purpose: as a smoke-screen to hide the Jumper (despite not being thick at all).

[Lauriel]

So we're all going by the "The Wraith are idiots"-theory, are we? Seriously, the Wraith know Atlantis has Jumpers. The Wraith know Jumpers can cloak, but not when going through Stargates (or they should by now at least, what with never ever having (not) seen a cloaked Jumper exit a Stargate).

They see a second blip (if the MALP even registered! Seriously, sensors are made to sense specific things. I doubt the Hive sensors pick up all indimate objects of at least MALP-size as ship. They would detect every single asteroid or minor debris in space is a ship!) and they assume it's a random malfunction (by both Hives, by the way! Two hives, not one.) instead of the more logical "It's a friggin' cloaked Jumper!"?

And why are people mentioning using the smoke as a way to trick the Wraith into thinking they'd destroyed the MALP? What, like they were going to try to return it to Atlantis? And it took so much fire it was probably a goner anyway. No, the smoke served only one purpose: as a smoke-screen to hide the Jumper (despite not being thick at all).

Okay, the point I was trying to make was that the smoke was to hide the jumper from being spotted visually by the Wraith on the ground, not the sensors. I said even if they noticed/registered on the sensors, the Wraith would dismiss it, or have no varification - that is the role of the cloak, not the smoke. And I wasn't trying to say the Wraith were stupid - I was saying that the probability of them checking out a momentary, vanished bleep (if it registered or was noticed) after the destruction of the obvious cause would be slim. Even if they did decide to err on the side of caution (or had the munchies) they had no way of determining either what the secondary blip was or where it went, due to the cloak.

I will concede that the smoke being used to help the Wraith think the MALP was destroyed was an affect, not an intended reason. Didn't think that part through well - the destruction of the MALP gives a plausible reason (besides a smokescreen) for the MALP to issue smoke in the first place.

[Jill_Ion]

Since no viewer (audience member) saw the full smokescreen, you cannot say it "wasn't thick at all."