The Lantean Drone Weapon Discussion Thread

[padr49904]

Ok what happened to that city on athos there could of been drones there too bad the wraith whiped the planet of everything.

[padr49904]

they used three together we only had one

Yeah but the kept making more to use do you think they took the zpm machine back with them to earth.

[2ndgenerationalteran]

three zpms powered atlantis, the wraith during the war probably wasnt targeting atlantis the whole way through because there were possibly hundreds of city ships making atlantis not of any significance. and would have averted alot of wraith ships. so during the time when there was advanced races making resistance to the wraith atlantis probably could handle most of what the wraith threw at them. but when the other strong holds were destroyed the remaining wraith gathered and focused on atlantis. and the lanteans probably knew that they couldnt handle that much pounding and submerged the city. i am highly doubtful atlantis faced more than a dozen ships at one time.

[waykins]

I have a number of questions about the drones (obviously ) that I hope you can answer:

01. How much concentration would it take a person with the gene to fire the drones from the control chair? (with Jack, Carson and Sheppard being the only ones to fire them).

02. I take it that the drones are classified as swarm missiles ie attacking a target until it is destroyed... (not exactly a question but its something that I've been wondering about)

03. Can drones be recoverable? (Probably not but I'll ask anyway)

04. If they can't find a target do they just fly until they run out of power or does the person controlling them shut them down?

05. (Bit of a dumb question coming) Can the puddlejumpers drones be replaced?

Well thats me for now thanks for the help.

[immhotep]

1: depends on the strength of the gene, but i think as it is one of the chairs basic functions it wouldnt take too much effort to fire a drone; making it hit something or do complex features is a different matter.
2: depends on the mode. i always thought drones had three opperating modes, Swarm, trio and singular; swarm is outpost style superweapon. Trio is three drones (like in rising) and single is just like in the tower with rodney blasting through the roof. i think swarm mode is an advanced feature that makes the drones act differently than in the other modes which are clearly point and shoot.
3: I think yes, but it pends on what they hit...if it got blown up then most likely the the drone cannot be recovered but if like in rising the drone is shut down or passes through a ship then it can probley be recovered.
4: Both, if it misses then it continues until its shut down or it run out of range/power. (this would be in single and trio mode, swarm mode would likely be different)
5: Yes, we have seen how the drones are stored now, im sure they can be reloaded easily now, either manually or automatically.

[Wraith_Hunter]

1: depends on the strength of the gene, but i think as it is one of the chairs basic functions it wouldnt take too much effort to fire a drone; making it hit something or do complex features is a different matter.

1. Huh! There is no strength of the gene, they either have ir or they don't. Operating Ancient tech simply requires the ATA gene. To control it, it is nothing to do with how much you have. It's to do with the mental aspect & the ability to focus the mind.

2: depends on the mode. i always thought drones had three opperating modes, Swarm, trio and singular; swarm is outpost style superweapon. Trio is three drones (like in rising) and single is just like in the tower with rodney blasting through the roof. i think swarm mode is an advanced feature that makes the drones act differently than in the other modes which are clearly point and shoot.

2. If they had 3 modes, then what about 'It's good to be king', when O'neill fired 2. This means that we've seen 1, 2, 3 + tons being fired. So it's pretty obvious that it's down to the operator's experience how many Drones are fired & what kind of task they accomplish. There is no set limit of how many can be fired.

In 'No Mans Land' we saw that there were tons too many that were launched towards the Hive. Whereas in 'Lost City' they were directed to multiple targets. Therefore that amount of Drones should have targeted both Hive ships. Again down to user inexperience.

03. Can drones be recoverable? (Probably not but I'll ask anyway)

Seriously doubt it, even if it survives initial destruction of target. They seem to be more than a simple weapon like a missile. They look to be organic in nature, as well as having the ability to seek targets on their own etc. This leads me to believe that there's a lot more to it than being a piece of hardware. If it's activated but doesn't get to the target, such as 'The Tower'. Then I probably would say they could be re-used again.

4: Both, if it misses then it continues until its shut down or it run out of range/power. (this would be in single and trio mode, swarm mode would likely be different)

Another Huh! What if it's in double mode! Seriously to Waykins original post. There is honestly not enough info to even hazard a guess at this. I doubt mind control alone can keep it going in space on it's own. They obviously have some sort of advanced propulsion system, so without knowing more about it then it's impossible to say. They could run for mins, hours, days themselves as long as they are being controlled via the chair.

While they have the ability to fly & seek targets on their own, once they are no longer receiving a signal from the chair/user, they simply go offline & deactivate as seen in 'The Tower'.

05. (Bit of a dumb question coming) Can the puddlejumpers drones be replaced?

Yes, being that they wouldn't be able to get as many stored as ina warship etc, then given the fact that they can go through gates etc. They were probably used all the time when the war was still going on, so probably went through a lot of Drones. It may not be totally simple but I'm sure once the drive pods are extended, they should be able to replace them themselves without too many problems.

[immhotep]

FYI double mode was two firings of the single shot mode. In NML it was in swarm mode but didnt have the drones to go in to the full swarm superweapon mode.

[Wraith_Hunter]

FYI double mode was two firings of the single shot mode. In NML it was in swarm mode but didnt have the drones to go in to the full swarm superweapon mode.

Watch 'IGTBK' again & you'll see they were launched together.

So in signel mode it goes 1, double mode it goes 1 & 1 again. Then in triple mode it goes 3 at the same time. Afraid not!

In 'NML' they did have an armoury FULL of Drones, so how can you possibly say they didn't have the Drones to do anything.

In case you say how do I know: I'll say they told me so in 'Inferno'

SHEPPARD: We've got an armoury full of drones on board. Maybe we can blast through the hangar door.

Therfore it's down to the users mental ability to control the Ancient tech!

[Harekin]

Also that was only one salvo of drones fired in NML, they just didnt have the power to fire another salvo...the question I have is was there a control chair on board or did the ship simply control them? Cos it just seemed like Radek pushed a button and they fired.

I agree about it all simply being down to knowledge and experience.Proven by the fact O'Niell had the full knowledge of the Ancients in Lost City so he would've known how to use the drones to their MAXIMUM destructive potential.

Lastly, the drone arnt housed in the drive pods...they have thier own little thing that pops out. Watch Sanctuary to clearly see this.

[fadeproof]

Is it just me, or do the drone weapons seem like the Israeli Python5 Air-to-Air missile?

Both have high manoeuverability and both can be fired in a 360 degree arc (going backwards while your vehicle is going forward). The only difference seems to be the propulsion system to me.

[Adrius]

Is it just me, or do the drone weapons seem like the Israeli Python4 Air-to-Air missile?

Both have high manoeuverability and both can be fired in a 360 degree arc (going backwards while your vehicle is going forward). The only difference seems to be the propulsion system to me.

Holy crap, that's a missile!

[fadeproof]

It's the most advanced missile in the world right now and is so good that it actually makes older, slower but more manoeuverable fighter jets BETTER than the newer generations of super fast stealthy jets. Apparently, the pilot just needs to look at his target and the missile locks on--no more need to keep the plane directed at the target for hours for the lock like in Top Gun.

[Adrius]

Know what kind of missiles F-302s use?

[Wraith_Hunter]

Also that was only one salvo of drones fired in NML, they just didnt have the power to fire another salvo...the question I have is was there a control chair on board or did the ship simply control them? Cos it just seemed like Radek pushed a button and they fired.

I honestly don't see that as the problem m8, simply because they had already taken serious damage before they had even fired any Drones. After that, the other ship concentrated main fire on Orion, which by then was doomed. I would see it is they didn't have anything left by that point as all main systems seemed done & they probably couldn't even have fired a single 1.

Lastly, the drone arnt housed in the drive pods...they have thier own little thing that pops out. Watch Sanctuary to clearly see this.

They are housed in the drive pods, to fire, the pods need to be extended. If the drive pods are closed, the turret is hidden. If you watch 'Rising' which gives a good close up view of it at the end. You see them housed in the pods. The pods also need to be closed before they can go through the gate.

[Maf.e.u]

1. Huh! There is no strength of the gene, they either have ir or they don't. Operating Ancient tech simply requires the ATA gene. To control it, it is nothing to do with how much you have. It's to do with the mental aspect & the ability to focus the mind.

Actually yes there is a strength aspect, the gene degrades as generations pass unless futre generations mingle with someone with the gean etc.