Atlantis is flawed

[Mio]

Three ZPMs powered a powerful shield around a WHOLE CITY for 5-10million years.

5 to 10 million years.

It's not like they died out after 50 years.... 5-10 million!

[ES2018]

Perhaps the arrival of the Atlantis team and the automatic turn on of the power systems indicated to the city it was time to resurface. They just didn't know what was happening.

[IWantToBelieve]

They didn't get decompression sickness because the Ancient city was pressurized. It's like riding in an airplane, same principle. You don't get altitude sickness (or die) when you fly into the upper atmosphere.

[Mio]

Hey, whatever, Atlantis rose by itself, so I figure theres many safety protocols in the computers. Also, shield failure iminent doesnt mean shield is actually down. And power going off within the building doesnt mean power was down, because power had to be used to get Atlantis to surface with the thrusters.

That could have been a completely different power system....one incompatible with the shields.

[IWantToBelieve]

I see what you all are saying. This was my take on what happened. When shield failure was iminent the cities fail safes kicked in, and diverted power to the engines (hence the lights going down), and the city was rocketed to the surface. Interior pressure wasn't affected because the shield didn't lose integrity in their main section until after they had surfaced.

I think it's like someone else pointed out, if they had actually lost shields , the city would've been destroyed immediately.

[DownFallAngel]

But the ZPM's are pretty much out of power...
So, the Ancients never thought of a backup power, or at least a way to recharge the ZPM's. It could have a way to replicate the ZPM's like the way the Asgard can replicate stuff. The city is suppose to be self-supporting since its built for travel.

The ancients never took into account that they would have to sink their own city. Plus, what other powersource do you know that could sustain an entire city, after stellar travel for thousands of years, hold up a shield, that has an entire ocean holding it!? TELL ME!! lol

[aAnubiSs]

Lemon juice!

[DownFallAngel]

Luke Has No Part In This Conversation!

[GhostPoet]

Uhh..dude...I don't think the Ancients ever PLANNED on dying out. Thus they would have created more power supplies when maintenance was required.

Your logic is flawed.

[Mio]

The ancients never took into account that they would have to sink their own city. Plus, what other powersource do you know that could sustain an entire city, after stellar travel for thousands of years, hold up a shield, that has an entire ocean holding it!? TELL ME!! lol

Millions, in all probability.

[gavinjcd]

OK, we know that Atlantis left Earth several million years ago. We know from the Antartic base that the ZPM's are finite, and that the stargate/DHD discovered in Antartica is one of the oldest in the network.

Atlantis could have been sitting under that Ocean for MILLIONS of years holding that forcfield up before the Earth team walked in. It really isn't that complicated. Power is finite.

GavinJCD
http://www.jemirojim.org

[DownFallAngel]

So that would mean that atlantis at one point consisted of 4, not 3 ZPMs. 3 in Atlantis, and one in the core aka the outpost?

[EYU86]

OK, we know that Atlantis left Earth several million years ago. We know from the Antartic base that the ZPM's are finite, and that the stargate/DHD discovered in Antartica is one of the oldest in the network.

Atlantis could have been sitting under that Ocean for MILLIONS of years holding that forcfield up before the Earth team walked in. It really isn't that complicated. Power is finite.

GavinJCD
http://www.jemirojim.org

No one said the ZPM's had infinite power, we just said its pretty weird that as advanced that the Ancients were they had no backup power sources to the ZPM's on Atlantis, like relying on solar energy or a power plant built in the city.

[DownFallAngel]

They also did not expect to take such drastic measures to do what they had to do to get were the SGA team is now. Also, it would have taken alot of power to power up the gate to get everyone back to Earth, maybe that is were alot of the power drain came from also?

[EYU86]

Thats probably right, to gate that far, both gates must need alot of power.

One more thing thats been an itch on my back, did Earth just give up its most powerful defensive system just for a one way trip to Atlantis? Now that the ZPM on Earth is pretty much drained, they won't be able to use the Ancient outpost, well for defensive purposes at least.