Why no Zats or Staff Weapons in Atlantis?

[TheUnknown]

As said before, the zats may have little effect on the Wraith. Originally, Martouf was meant to survive two hits in "Divide and Conquer."

[ACharmedAsgard]

This is a question I've asked myself many a times, why would they not use such a commonly used device in Atlantis, ok the wraith may withstand a shot or two better then humans, but all it would mean is for who ever has the zat to shoot more.

[PG15]

Shooting more = less time to escape.

Look at Col. Everrete(sp?) in Siege Part 2, that gun would've eventually killed the Wraith like in Siege Part 1, but he didn't have time to unload the needed amount of ammo.

[ussrelativity]

At least they showed it's use (the zat) in "The Return".


YEE-HAW!!!

800 POSTS!!!

[fugiman]

I'm just saying that if I was to go to a universe and maybe not have a chance to come back to earth I would like to have a weapon that shoots alot so I wish I could a Zat. I mean why not take a zat they are great stun weapons and I wonder how they would work on wraith. I mean how many shots does a Zat have like infinte? So thats all I'm saying I would have gotten one just for the logical reason

[StevenCaldwell]

yeah but we have the wraith stunners tho, sort of the same!

[[SGC_ReplicÅtors]]

what about those asuran guns theres got to be some of them lieing around somewhere in atlantis or on any ancient ships

[lord_Jakub[SG-1]]

Haven't you noticed that no one still used for example zat gun in SGA ?
I wonder why these goa'uld technology to paralyse were not used in SGA yet. For example when they needed to catch alive wraith. Correct me if I'm wrong.. but it would be nice to see some Milky way tech.

Another thing I would like to mention is that Atlantis is losing puddle jumpers time to time.. maybe it is time to build new Earth gliders-like ships - maybe something between puddle jumper and gate glider. Earth has enough knowledge to build few.. (when we have 2 intergalactic ships we can build few new F501 )

[wise one]

you never know they might make a new ship simliar to the darts, they would have culling beams and maybe the energy the dart has and a visible screen on it, it would look quite cool actually.


zats have always belonged to sg-1 and if they bring small weapons like that then they would start bringing in bigger things like a hatak that would be some crossover problems.

[Major Tyler]

Zats don't work on Wraith. They regenerate so fast that the effect (both initial and cumulative) is negated almost immediately. If you had 5 or 6 guys rapid firing at a Wraith simultaneously, it might have some effect, but that's not very practical.

[Chemp]

They used Zats in the return part 2.

[Hatcheter]

Hatcheter’s “not another zats thread” standard reply form:

In the world of Stargate, there are some very plausible reasons why they didn’t take zats:

Reliability Zats are alien weapons, and Earth has not yet shown the ability to reproduce or even understand their functionality. No military unit would use weapons they are unable to maintain or repair. They would use the weapons they are familiar with, that they can repair or reconstruct as needed.

Availability When the Atlantis expedition left, the Milky Way was still embroiled in the Jaffa Rebellion. The SGC would have been funneling all recovered weapons to the rebel Jaffa, keeping very few for research or supplemental equipment. With the rebellion now over, there's not much in the way of battlefield salvage anymore.

Functionality We have seen races that are unaffected by zats. The Wraith, with their incredible regenerative ability and extreme tollerance for pain, may be one of them.

Ultimately, TPTB wanted to separate the two shows, and limiting the crossover of alien stuff created in SG-1 was one of the biggest ways to do that. Atlantis got naquadah reactors, so they had to give up the zats.

[pliepl]

Zats don't work on Wraith. They regenerate so fast that the effect (both initial and cumulative) is negated almost immediately. If you had 5 or 6 guys rapid firing at a Wraith simultaneously, it might have some effect, but that's not very practical.

I disagree. We don’t know if they do or not and to go out and say that they absolutely won’t is a bit premature. If the Wraith had regenerative abilities so effective that rendered them immune in the way you would suggest, than wraith stunners would have no affect on them. We already know that is not true.

Hatcheter’s “not another zats thread” standard reply form:

In the world of Stargate, there are some very plausible reasons why they didn’t take zats:

Reliability Zats are alien weapons, and Earth has not yet shown the ability to reproduce or even understand their functionality. No military unit would use weapons they are unable to maintain or repair. They would use the weapons they are familiar with, that they can repair or reconstruct as needed.

Availability When the Atlantis expedition left, the Milky Way was still embroiled in the Jaffa Rebellion. The SGC would have been funneling all recovered weapons to the rebel Jaffa, keeping very few for research or supplemental equipment. With the rebellion now over, there's not much in the way of battlefield salvage anymore.

Functionality We have seen races that are unaffected by zats. The Wraith, with their incredible regenerative ability and extreme tollerance for pain, may be one of them.

Ultimately, TPTB wanted to separate the two shows, and limiting the crossover of alien stuff created in SG-1 was one of the biggest ways to do that. Atlantis got naquadah reactors, so they had to give up the zats.

Reliability : Zats are probably one of the most reliable weapons in the SGC’s arsenal. In the 9 years (zats weren’t intro’d till the end of season 1) of SG1’s run where they’ve been used, I can’t remember a single instance where they “failed” (broke down) or ran out of energy (ammo) like you’re suggesting. It’s a much more reliable weapon than P90’s and handguns (which often ran out of bullets or can mechanically break…. moving parts) which seems to be standard issue for SG1/SGA teams so I don’t buy the “they’re unreliable” argument. Zats would make the perfect sidearm weapon for an SG team.

(off topic) interesting enough, in Season 9 episode “the scourge” I thought it was convenient that Sam and Teal'c (who usually has a zat sidearm) were armed with a pistol sidearm for that one mission.

Availability: that’s probably not an issue anymore. Giving Atlantis expedition 100 (or even just 25 for "active/on duty" personel) zats (for the security force) is probably more than within the abilities of the SGC.

Functionality: see my comment above in regards to the wraith. as for others, there’s only been a few instances where zats were ineffective, most of which was not the fault of the weapon.

Kull armer: bullets were just as ineffective
Replicators: bullets more effective but only against spiders (we’ve yet to see in SGA)
Shields: bullets were just as ineffective

P90’s and standard military gear crossed (evan dell laptops) over from SG1 to Atlantis so there’s no reason that zats couldn’t.

The only real reason for zats not being on Atlantis is because of the writers wanting to keep the two series apart. Although with the end of SG1, a zat crossover wouldn’t be as intrusive if SG1 was no longer a running series.

[Major Tyler]

I disagree. We don’t know if they do or not and to go out and say that they absolutely won’t is a bit premature. If the Wraith had regenerative abilities so effective that rendered them immune in the way you would suggest, than wraith stunners would have no affect on them. We already know that is not true.

The Wraith stunners work on a different principle than zats. Zats work on the principle of cumulative effect, increasing the disruption on a target's nervous system with every shot. Wraith stunners work on a principle of total body paralysis, which includes the muscular system, along with intense neural suppression.

Plus TPTB flat-out told us that zats don't work on Wraith...

[pliepl]

The Wraith stunners work on a different principle than zats. Zats work on the principle of cumulative effect, increasing the disruption on a target's nervous system with every shot. Wraith stunners work on a principle of total body paralysis, which includes the muscular system, along with intense neural suppression.

“…work on a principle of total body paralysis, which includes the muscular system, along with intense neural suppression.”

Aren’t you describing a zat hit (first shot) there as well? The stun portion of the two weapons work in the same manner you’ve described yet you’re trying to argue there’s no way the zat’s can stun a wraith even though a wraith stunner can. As far as I can remember, when a subject is shot with a zat, (s)he freezes (“total body paralysis”), collapses(“includes the muscular system”), and passes out (“intense neural suppression”). Not as eloquently put as you have for the description of the wraith stunner, but it’s describing the same effects.

They’re both stun weapons (zat more destructive after the first hit) meant to incapacitate a target by disrupting the victims electrical system. The difference being the zat can be lethal/destructive after the first shot (or cumulative effect as you put it).

Plus TPTB flat-out told us that zats don't work on Wraith...

Could you provide the source for this, I did a search and couldn’t find were that was mentioned.

I’m more inclined to believe that the writers didn’t want to “crossover” between the two series than just simply consider it not working.