Why no Zats or Staff Weapons in Atlantis?

[destiny khan]

Zats are the best covert weapon of them all. 3 shots vaporize the target, who won't want that? We should not go into "what ifs" in this series otherwise there are blunders beyond belief in every episode in all the 17 seasons.

[Ripple in Space]

why didn't they send some zat guns? Wouldn't they have been better to battle the wraith with?

Possibly.... Maybe not. Zat guns were not all that powerful, there were plenty of instances where humans got hit with a Zat gun and kept on going.

seeing as Wraith can take full rounds of ammo and keep coming them one would assume they'd do the same...

Haven't seen "Midway"?

I have

Cool, so you're just having some fun messing with rkgardner2003 then? I ask because as rkgardner2003 was referencing, Zats stunned the Wraith without a problem in "Midway"...

[Jper]

Sorry to be repetitive, have not seen addressed before..(only on here a year) If I remember right weren't the Jaffa also hard to kill at first but remarkably easier to take down by later seasons, sort of like the wraith were so hard to kill in season 1 but seemed to go down easier with bullets in later seasons...I do remember the stunners...true.

There's an in-universe in-episode explanation for that. IIRC Carter somewhere mentions that the bullets were apdapted with something (don't remember what) to better penetrate Goa'uld armor. Or something like that.

Also, there's also a logical explanation why the Wraith encountered early on in season 1 of SGA were easier to kill than the latter ones. It has to do with the amount of feeding the Wraith have had. A Wraith that wakes up from a long hibernation period without feeding (especially if there's not enough food when they are then all suddenly awake) is significantly weaker than a Wraith that has just fed or lives in an era with plenty of sustenance (read: strong, healthy humans to feed on). I don't know for sure, but I think this is explained in the series, if not at least you can deduct this from events and dialogue in the series with a lot of certainty. Plus, isn't there something about the fact that breeding (inbreeding) of the Wraith over the last 1,000 years or so has made them significantly weaker...

[Aesop]

Possibly.... Maybe not. Zat guns were not all that powerful, there were plenty of instances where humans got hit with a Zat gun and kept on going.

seeing as Wraith can take full rounds of ammo and keep coming them one would assume they'd do the same...

I'd prefer Ronins gun on both the Wraith and the goa'uld personally.

Wasn't it said a second shot from a Zat would kill the target and that a third shot would completely vaporize them? I think this was in the first or second season... I think I heard the third shot function was something the writer's regretted introducing, but it's still there.

[Anonmatel]

I think the main problem with Zat guns in general was that became more powerful and less powerful whenever the writers wanted them to. Without referencing it, the episode prodigy. Where Jack took a shot from a Zat then went for a run.

Apparently all Jaffa children can handle one shot with a Zat according to Teal'c.

The vapourizing of the target came from the finale of the first season. Then barely never seen gain.

[Ripple in Space]

Apparently all Jaffa children can handle one shot with a Zat according to Teal'c.

Teal'c was referring to a Zat not being lethal to Jaffa children. All policemen in America are meant to be able to take a taser jolt and/or mace spray, but that doesn't mean they aren't incapacitated by them--they're just aware of the effects.

[jaseman45]

Does anybody know why zat guns werent used in Atlantis at all. Even in the beginning when they didnt have wraith stunners they never had zats.

[ZRFTS]

I'm guessing because they wanted to save the Zat guns for SG1; while I do think that Atlantis could of used the guns more than SG1, SG1 goes across the known galaxy and gets in more danger than the Atlantis crew.

I will say that if I was in charge of the SGC, I'd give Atlantis Zat Guns.

[rushy]

They didn't find use or room for them.

[rkgardner2003]

I just asked a similar question a couple months ago!

http://forum.gateworld.net/threads/8...s-for-Atlantis

[destiny khan]

Everything like these which do not make sense(there are thousands like these) are all the fault of writers and were plot devices for story telling. There are many things like krull warrior armors and sarcophagus which could have easily been reverse engineered as we had the databases of atlantis and asgards... come to think of it iron man suits could have easily been made and with better tech than what tony stark did(intertial dampeners would go a long way in combating punches from people like hulk or marvel's thor). How could they not reverse engineer stuff like sarchophagus and the hand held healing devices or atleast use them. A little naquadah in the blood is hardly an obstacle for people who are intergalactic travelers now.

[Crazedwraith]

Everything like these which do not make sense(there are thousands like these) are all the fault of writers and were plot devices for story telling.

This is much is true.

There are many things like krull warrior armors and sarcophagus which could have easily been reverse engineered as we had the databases of atlantis and asgards... come to think of it iron man suits could have easily been made and with better tech than what tony stark did(intertial dampeners would go a long way in combating punches from people like hulk or marvel's thor). How could they not reverse engineer stuff like sarchophagus and the hand held healing devices or atleast use them. A little naquadah in the blood is hardly an obstacle for people who are intergalactic travelers now.

A lot of this is silly. Reverse Engineering is not as easy as you think it is. Especially of things like magic healing fields that no-one has a clue of the physics of how they work.

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Now, the out-of-universe explanation is simple; they didn't want too much crossover between Sg-1 and Atlantis to keep the two shows visual distinct for the viewers. Who may only be casual viewers and not remember things like zats from a show they may or may not have watched.

In-universe is harder to explain. The SGC certainly had a lot of zats. Enough that Sg-1 at least routinely carried enough for everyone in their backpacks. And they had enough that random guard in the corridor had one in 'Midway'

The only reason I can think of is that in early SG-1 they often made the assumption that the Ancients fought the goa'uld and their tech didn't get along with the goa'uld stuff. (Like Fifth Race. Though in retrospect it seems more like it was to do with the ATA gene and they didn't realise)

So maybe they thought Atlantis might have internal security systems that would be set off by things like zats appearing. It's not a great reason but its the only one I can come up with.

[destiny khan]

Plenty of these things are reverse engineer-able. The hand held devices are not used by sgc as not everyone has naquadah in their blood. But i think if someone can introduce an artificial gene by using a retro virus then a slight bit of naquadah is not an issue. They could have saved so many lives with the hand held devices alone, even if a sarcophagus is too much for their scientific knowledge to handle. Zats in atlantis won't really set of much alarms as they had the ability to rewrite a lot of fail safes and parts of the OS that was operating the atlantis mainframe. That is a non issue. I would think a gun which can vaporize something in 3 shots is a lot more useful in covert ops and the sound can easily be masked if it is too much trouble. It is all up to the writers really and they made things up along the way and that is why there are so many things that do not make sense. We are just like goauld now, scavengers, who gathered tech rather than inventing it.

[Crazedwraith]

Plenty of these things are reverse engineer-able. The hand held devices are not used by sgc as not everyone has naquadah in their blood. But i think if someone can introduce an artificial gene by using a retro virus then a slight bit of naquadah is not an issue. They could have saved so many lives with the hand held devices alone, even if a sarcophagus is too much for their scientific knowledge to handle.

Why? The concept of a dna retrovirius and being able to survive with heavy metals in your blood stream are entirely unrelated. Because they can do one does not mean they can do the other.

Anyway, i realised after I last posted that I was being entirely fair. healing devices are not inherently any more or less likely to be reverse engineer-able that what they manage to reversed engineer. Artificial Gravity, inertial dampeners, hyperdrive. Etc. They shouldn't have been able to reverse engineer those as easily as they did either. It is like you aid, mainly a function of what the writers wanted them to have. The real reason they didn't get healing stuff is would destroy the tension of the show if they had sarcophacii back at the base to raise the dead.

But to return my original point in this post. Healing rays etc. Are not based on the same principles as the things they did reverse engineer. So those no real reason to say that they must have been able to reverse engineered healers because they reverse engineered engines. Its like saying I must be able to figure out how an MRI machine works because i figured out a jet engine.

Zats in atlantis won't really set of much alarms as they had the ability to rewrite a lot of fail safes and parts of the OS that was operating the atlantis mainframe. That is a non issue. I would think a gun which can vaporize something in 3 shots is a lot more useful in covert ops and the sound can easily be masked if it is too much trouble. It is all up to the writers really and they made things up along the way and that is why there are so many things that do not make sense. We are just like goauld now, scavengers, who gathered tech rather than inventing it.

Well the Atlantis team didn't know they would be able to do that before they went to the city did they? But yeah its not a great explanation. Considering also, that the Atlantis was build long before the goa'uld was around and wouldn't have objected to zats anyway. (but again the characters may not have known that)

Of course its all up to the writers really. And of course they just make it up as they go. It's all they can do realistically. I already said some reasons why the writers didn't include zats in atlantis. But that doesn't help in figuring out why the characters did something in universe, is it?

[destiny khan]

Yes you finally got my point, they reverse engineered and understood of things very very complex. They even started to get an understanding of nano tech for medical uses and would have ended up using natotech to build ships and effect repairs with them too(as was done in the series andromeda). I was actually talking about using goauld hand held devices rather than making their own. What i am saying is that common sense dictates many things but the the writers do not use them as the storylines would be far less interesting. I would love to see a stargate series a 100 year into the future when they will most probably be able to understand most things ancient and asgard. Goauld tech is pretty low compared to those so they won't be a problem by then. Sadly, no more good sci fi shows around.