Shape of a cityship's shield

[wise one]

you have to remember that the asurans built the cityship far grander than atlantis itself they are not excactly the same

[Cap116]

you have to remember that the asurans built the cityship far grander than atlantis itself they are not excactly the same

Good point, maybe that is one reason that it is different. And also it is not like the Asurans haven't had 10,000 years more to add-on and update the Ancient technology they use. Therefore, making sure the shield encompasses all of the city, including the star drive.

[mizzoueng]

I think we are seeing a biosphere when in space and an actual shield/biosphere when in aerial/sub-orbital flight. In flight (ON a planet) you would need the shield only above to protect the people walking around the city from the wind/rain/hail/lightning. The fact that the ship flies means there is some form of advanced inertial dampening aboard, so it is plausable that the city could remain in orbit or move around a star system and normal life would resume in the city. Thus the shield/biodome. I think they would leave the dome on the bottom during space flight just for the extra space to contain oxygen from the planet they were on and just to have the space if they wanted to bring jumpers or ships within the shield.

[Cap116]

After watching "Progeny" as few more times, I realized, that the shield encompassed the entire city when it was in Hyperspace, and when it dropped out of Hyperspace it the shield covered everything but the engines. Check the some of the screen shots. After seeing this, I don't know what is goin g on with the shield.

[Mister Oragahn]

The visible dome only covers the top half in any occasion. But that's not much sensical, therefore an invisible part.

[Cap116]

The visible dome only covers the top half in any occasion. But that's not much sensical, therefore an invisible part.

Good point

[ur uncle urgo]

if they could make a shield invisible why didnt they. i mean for cosmentic reason i personly dont want to look at a shield all day and the enemy wouldnt nothe had an active shield if they didnt have advanced sensors or your shields were more complex and they would think you where a sitting duck.

[RepliHawk]

if they could make a shield invisible why didnt they. i mean for cosmentic reason i personly dont want to look at a shield all day and the enemy wouldnt nothe had an active shield if they didnt have advanced sensors or your shields were more complex and they would think you where a sitting duck.

I agree

[PSp2gamer]

I think of it this way:

The Shield has multiple modes

1. Off- No part of the shield is on at all.
2. Take off/Space mode- Shield is on over habitable sections, keeps section habitable. Lower shield is off to conserve power/allow sublight engine function.
3. Battle Mode- Shield encompasses the whole cityship at full strength.
4. Hyperspace mode- Shield covers whole ship to protect from hyperspace radiation.

For those who say you cant have shields on during hyperspace:
1. Not everyone knows everything about hyperspace so we could have been given false information.
2. We are talking about the Ancients! If it can be done, they did it!

[Cycrow]

I think this dome is not really a shield its just a kind of life support bubble like the darts have, cuz its already been established that shields dont work in hyperspace.
the shield would probably cover the entire city but the life support bubble doesn't have to.
plus remember in "The Storm" Zalenka said they could shield only select parts of the city if they wanted to.

actually its never been established that shields cant be used in hyperspaces.

the only thing that was ssaid that that the asguard power generator on thier ships wasn't powerful enough to run both the shields and the hyperdrive at the same time. So when they are in hyperspace, thier shields are down.

but this doesn't mean its the same for the ancients, with a few zpm's powering the city it will have alot of power to engage both the shields and the stardrive

[Ouroboros]

Take a look at this image


http://www.stargatecaps.com/sga/s3/3...rogeny666.html

Wow, chalk one more up to ancient arrogance I guess.

Those other pics from the bottem don't really show anything because you could just as easily be looking at the top shield again. The schematic thing is the only proof of there being a shield on the bottem it seems. Is it possible that circle could be representing something else?

So far we've only ever seen objects hit the topside to, those Wraith weapon hits and the crashing darts in siege all hit the topside. They were all stopped by the visible bubble thing to so it seems like that's what the actual shield is supposed to be.

I think one way to possibly explain this is that the cityships were never built for space warfare. They were built millions of years ago to spend most of their time landed on various planets just sort of chillin'. They have defensive weapons but they're not battleships. With that in mind you'd only really need a shield on one side to keep the air in any maybe deflect any crap that you flew into in space from hitting the more fragile parts of the city.

Remember to that all the other ships in stargate fly around without shields when they're not in battle, so it's not like flying without shields is unheard of and crazy. It's fairly standard practice in fact.

[Mister Oragahn]

But most of these ships have decent armor.
Atlantis has been described as remarkably fragile.

Plus only covering the top doesn't make sense, even when landed and siting like a duck, as a missing explosion of even one megaton will send quakes through the whole city and do lots of damage. Needless to talk about the effect of a nearby ground hit from multi megaton or multi gigaton weaponry, it's literally unthinkable to have a shield only protect the superior half.

[Cap116]

I think after reading most of the posts, something occurred to me. The fact that is a city, and is open to the elements (balaconies, open windows, and etc.) kind of explains why the shield or bubble is visible during hyperspace travel. Not like a ship that when travelling in hyperspace that is completely sealed with its own life support, etc. So the shield/bubble is activated to create that sealed off environment.

[Nightgod]

I think after reading most of the posts, something occurred to me. The fact that is a city, and is open to the elements (balaconies, open windows, and etc.) kind of explains why the shield or bubble is visible during hyperspace travel. Not like a ship that when travelling in hyperspace that is completely sealed with its own life support, etc. So the shield/bubble is activated to create that sealed off environment.

I belive the shield is a half bubble, only the top is protected( As seen in the pictures posted above). This would explain why the ancient did not fly the city to earth during the wraith War. Once the city takes off they would have been shot down. Think about it

I think of it this way:

The Shield has multiple modes

1. Off- No part of the shield is on at all.
2. Take off/Space mode- Shield is on over habitable sections, keeps section habitable. Lower shield is off to conserve power/allow sublight engine function.
3. Battle Mode- Shield encompasses the whole cityship at full strength.
4. Hyperspace mode- Shield covers whole ship to protect from hyperspace radiation.

For those who say you cant have shields on during hyperspace:
1. Not everyone knows everything about hyperspace so we could have been given false information.
2. We are talking about the Ancients! If it can be done, they did it!

I don't belive there are multiple modes for the shield, only one type which protects the city in the water or during flight. None of the episodes we have seen so far support your statement. We only heard the Stargate team say shield up or shield down( maybe not the down part).

[ur uncle urgo]

they must have had something they could at least modify it remember "the ancients think big."