Everything you ever wanted to know about Hiveships/Wraith.

[lord groovy]

You are absolutely right about my question.

Do we know how many energy weapons the Hives and Cruisers have?

Well from that screen captures in "The Hive" S2 E11, 3 on each side which made 6 for the whole hive :

Spoiler:

About the cruisers don't know. Maybe 2?

[thekillman]

more. but we surely know they're mostly in the nose

[Daryl Froggy]

Uh... so there are more than two energy weapons for a cruiser or more than six energy weapons for a Hive?

How can we tell that they are all in the nose or not?

[Ouroboros]

The number of weapons a hive or cruiser has is something else that's unknowable. Like they've been doing for years the stargate FX people seem to just arbitrarily draw bolts coming from anywhere on the model they please. Even the appearance, size, speed colour, pretty much anything you can name about the bolts isn't consistent often from one scene to another, let alone episode to episode.

[Daryl Froggy]

Well how many places on Hives and Cruisers have we seen bolts come from? That is all I really want to know.

[asdf1239]

3 or 4 on a hive in the last man

[lord groovy]

3 or 4 on a hive in the last man

And this is why a Hive is not a battlecruiser but just a colony ship with the bare minimum of weapons. Only the cruisers and the darts are made for battle... Well even the dart is a multipurpose ship since it's used for culling and troop transport...

Hell even Hiveships that were supposed to be a bother to the Ancients Auroras are toast once they encounter a 304. I know that Atlantis teams use massively the hit and run tactic but do you seriously believe that the Ancients didn't use that too. And because of some magical plotshield, they failed where the humans managed to succeed. Something's wrong here.

[thekillman]

and you've only found that out now ?



the Wraith seem to be seriously underequipped

[lord groovy]

and you've only found that out now ?

the Wraith seem to be seriously underequipped

It's just that when you seriously think about it, Wraith tech could be better used :

Faceless Wraiths for example seemed to be also mindless walking drones. If Teyla managed to hack into Wraith telepathic network you could assume that they could be controlled through that same network.

From the beginning, the smart Wraith could have just send them to the frontlines and take control only for specific tasks (hacking computers or interrogating SGA teams). Inside the hives, if it's too taxing using their telepathic powers for detecting intruders, they could at least put some movement detectors linked directly to sleeping chambers. Even a slightly suspect event would result in a dozen of soldier coming from all directions. How come the Hives are made from living materials but seemed to be so apathetic?

And back to those faceless soldiers, whenever you see them it looks that they are far superior to the other type of Wraiths (smart ones and queens). If all of those were put to sleep, do you really think the Wraith will still have their feeding problem. They could feast on humans surely for decades. Currently they are just dead weights consuming an unnecessary amount of food. At the very least, put them back in sleeping chambers when they are not needed.

To all that you could probably add the possibility to transform darts into living drones. What's the point of their biotechnology if it's only for the show?

[thekillman]

How come the Hives are made from living materials but seemed to be so apathetic?

Wraith tech appears to be mainly made of dead matter. so it lives, then programmed celldeath takes over, kills the cell and the remains have some function. that being armor, conduits, etc etc etc.


i agree, the drones can easily be disposed of. you know what? feed on the drones. there should be sufficient male soldiers to do the work.

To all that you could probably add the possibility to transform darts into living drones. What's the point of their biotechnology if it's only for the show?

you know, there are more forms of Biotech than something being an organism.

living stuff is more vulnerable, dead stuff harder to regenerate and has just the designed functions.

[lord groovy]

Wraith tech appears to be mainly made of dead matter. so it lives, then programmed celldeath takes over, kills the cell and the remains have some function. that being armor, conduits, etc etc etc.


i agree, the drones can easily be disposed of. you know what? feed on the drones. there should be sufficient male soldiers to do the work.




you know, there are more forms of Biotech than something being an organism.

living stuff is more vulnerable, dead stuff harder to regenerate and has just the designed functions.

But in the last episode when Atlantis tried to transform Todd's faction into non-life-sucking Wraith, it seemed to me that his Hive started to deteriorate because unforeseen mutations were taking place. How can such a thing happen if it is completely made of dead material?

I rather think that both are used, living stuff and hard-dead stuff. It's probably one of them that is weak to hyperspace radiation. My idea is just to 'upgrade' that living part of the hive. Make it smart to no longer have to watch for every underdog of the galaxy.

[thekillman]

i never said they were completely dead. but it might explain why it's so hard for them to change stuff: the dead matter has to be removed without blowing up the ship, then rebuilt. the cancerous form shows what happens when the changes aren't properly done.

[asdf1239]

probably the outside hull is like a shell of dead material like a snail or shellfish while the interior is alive and handles all the functions

as a species the wraith are probably doomed to a slow painful death from starvation or war

[lord groovy]

probably the outside hull is like a shell of dead material like a snail or shellfish while the interior is alive and handles all the functions

as a species the wraith are probably doomed to a slow painful death from starvation or war

Well that was the same general consensus about the human species back in WW2. I tend to think that as long as there are smart people amog them they will manage to avoid that.

And seeing the general similarities between SG1 and SGA, I guess that at some point we will have among the Wraith the equivalent of Ra or Anubis i.e a guy who no longer bows to a Queen but will make her bow to him. Todd failed to do that principally because of a variety of reasons.

[thekillman]

actually i was thinking more along the lines of:

-the outer armor is a composite of living and dead tissue. the dead tissue is better than our strongest polymers. the organic matter generates this material, so it causes healing.

-the structure is made of a honeycomb composite of dead material, surrounded by a mantle of living material.

-the rest of the ship is made of honeycomb composite, with a dead tissue honeycomb strucure filled with living matter