They nerfed the Asgard beam?

[Xaeden]

The Ori ship took 2 or 3 hits to it's hull after the shields had failed, same as the armoured wraith ships so the Ori ships must've been armoured pretty well. The first Ori ship was only blown up quickly because they hit the engines which caused a massive explosion. Also the Oddy had a ZPM plugged in when taking on the Ori ships, that may of affected how strong the beam was, it did look more refined than the current ones, which would mean the Ori hull is even stonger than wraith. Oh yeah also the Hives do have windows, you can see them all over the ship and actually see Michael looking out of one in his quarters during 'No Mans Land'.

Actually, my argument had to do with the size of the ship and if you hit systems that will cause secondary explosions. Same as you. The part that you quoted was my explaination of what one might say in regard to what Zamboni was discussing, but further down I say that I don't think the hull is an issue here at all (it only is in regards to other types of weapons). Any sizable ship can take a hit from an Asgard beam and survive depending on where you hit it given that the beams don't generate their own explosions as I mentioned (their power has to do with their ability to quickly breach an enemy's defenses) and the more massive the ship, the less likely you will be to hit such an area.

Also, yes I'm inclined to think the ZPM played a factor in beam strength as well, but I don't see how it does anything in regards to how quickly an unshielded ship is destroyed. Rather I suspect that it just affects how quickly those beams can take down a shield. However, until we see a ZPM powered 304 attack a replicator warship or until we see a regular 304 attack an Ori ship (which isn't bound to happen) we can't know for sure.

Anyway, thanks for the info regarding windows. I completely missed that and will go back and look.

[andy tyler]

The cloak only works on a ZPM powered ship.

DANIEL: we're cloaked
O'NEILL: the ship doesnt have that
DANIEL: it does now, having a ZPM helps

[PG15]

What I thought was odd was that she retreated. The weapons performed fine.

Same. I figured that she may have wanted to avoid taxing the shields since they were basically going from ship to ship to ship to...etc.

[Zamboni]

On a separate note, why is it that the Wraith weapon blobs are so accurate now? In almost all Wraith-to-Wraith battles, we see the blobs flying slowly and inaccurate, and the Wraith ships are always next to each other in close proximity...

Did Michael's transformation into human make him realize all the Wraith's faults or something? The Wraiths are now equipped with super ships!!!

And Rodney didn't just "push a button" to make a replicator... Not only that, it seems to contradict what Niam (or whatever his name was) told Weir...

Didn't the Asurans come about after the replicator cells bonded together by themselves to imitate the Lantians?

Anyway, it's Rodney McKay! He can make a computer out of rubber bands and tape!!! (or is that MacGyver?)

He ought to invent a weapon that fires ancient drones that shoots Asgard beams!!! Also it'd be fueled by coffee, so we get a running joke of him choosing between victory and his coffee supply...

[SoulReaver]

I thought the Asgard beam is the "pwnz all" weapon spanning two galaxies... The best "one hit wonder" of all time! What happened? Now the Wraith ships need TWO HITS to die? And some of them can even withstand it?

uh you're kidding right ? you are kidding, right ? right ?

have you seen the size of a hive ? these things are ****in huge. a 304 is like a gnat next to these things. they can survive a direct hit from a naquadah-enhanced nuke. the very idea that only 3 hits from the asgard beams (which would look like needles if scaled correctly btw), only powered by mere naquadah generators at that, could destroy a hive is the apex of absurdity not to mention inconsistency

I reckon that hive was already damaged by a previous pass. this at least would make some sense. this would need to be confirmed on JM's blog though (ie. PG, we need your services ^_^)

[SoulReaver]

but I agree the wraith guns were unusually accurate - although they were also kinda underpowered, judging by how long a 304's shield could sustain concentrated fire from 3 hives (in the end when sam rammed the phoenix into that hive, the shields were still up - wtf...)

[2ndgenerationalteran]

Rewatching it they hit in such a way that they significantly destroyed structural integrity. They hit the sides of that center gap in the hull making it longer and a final shot on the side pretty much turning the "O" shape into a "C" twising it till it blew up. Second ship not so much on target, but for the first one they had more than enough time to target. Doesnt exactly have to be a super powerful weapon if you know how to use the specific weapon to its specific advantages which they pulled off when they had the first strike and time.

[Zamboni]

uh you're kidding right ? you are kidding, right ? right ?

have you seen the size of a hive ? these things are ****in huge. a 304 is like a gnat next to these things.

Size matters not...

Or maybe she lied...

[Konrad9]

Size matters not...

Or maybe she lied...

If you're in a Hive and your primary systems are hundreds of meters apart from each other, you're not going to get the kind of chain reactions, catalysts, or wildcat destabilization of the ship's engines.

Likewise, if you're in a 304 and your primary systems are right on top of each other, one of Q's class-4 pen grenades will wreck you.

[Ranlier]

The Asgard Beam weapons, it should be noted, are by their nature Anti-Sheild weapons- which makes them perfect against Auroras and Ori motherships (both of which rely nearly entirely on sheilds for their defense.

Hives, however, are based on strong regenerative hulls. Its like stabbing a person with a pencil- it WILL take more than a few hits to take them down.

Drones were created to function more like bullets, tearing through hulls and sheilds alike, which is why they're more effective.

[jasminaGo]

The Asgard Beam weapons, it should be noted, are by their nature Anti-Sheild weapons- which makes them perfect against Auroras and Ori motherships (both of which rely nearly entirely on sheilds for their defense.

Hives, however, are based on strong regenerative hulls. Its like stabbing a person with a pencil- it WILL take more than a few hits to take them down.

Drones were created to function more like bullets, tearing through hulls and sheilds alike, which is why they're more effective.

Unless you hit a person in the heart, or in this case an immportant system which will cause all other systems to shutdown or overload.

[MechaThor]

I thought the Asgard beam is the "pwnz all" weapon spanning two galaxies... The best "one hit wonder" of all time! What happened? Now the Wraith ships need TWO HITS to die? And some of them can even withstand it?

Shouldn't the Phoenix just cut through all the Wraith like hot knife through butter? Now it's like hot knife through... frozen butter that's really really thick and cool the knife mid-way and it gets stuck... Then exploded, and butter fly everywhere...

They should totally fit two Asgard "pwnz" beam on each ship... Double the combat capacity... In fact, fit two of everything on there... Two shield generators, two ZPM... And clone a Carter then put her there too!!! I mean, we've got clones running everywhere anyway.

And whatever happened to the Ori Daniel Cloak upgrade? If you want to "hit and run", use cloak!!!

While they're at it, put some Ancient drones on the ships too, forget those useless missiles! They never do anything!!!

Drones >>> Missiles, 'nuff said.

Ok so lets have Earth have a beam weapon that wins EVERYTIME! Like that won't get boring!

The Wraith are Atlantis main villian and am sure they will be around for a long time to come, If we could beat them so fast there would be no fear that the wraith are any danger!
Also Hives are pretty dam big, can self heal and have been know to take a few gd hits in the past!

I like it that the Hives can stand there own unlike them one hit wonder Ha'taks.

[Supergateship1]

Seems to me, the asgard beam weapons are powerfull, but it depends on where you hit the hive ship, if you hit round about the center, where the power seems to come from, and you get lucky them 3 shots will take it out completly, how ever if grace the back end of it to the side, it wont do too much damage to the massive thing. The best place to take out a hive with one shot would have to be the dart bays, afterall, judging at what the rail guns donw in no man's land, you fly in super fast, get yourself side by side and aim a running shot across the bay, and if your lucky you will get min damage and take out the ship in one shot or completly disable it, making it easy to kill in your own time, special good if you have 2 of more hives ships your in a fight with.

or you could just beam a shaped nuke over to outside the dart bays and sit back and watch it go boom.

[Zamboni]

Ok so lets have Earth have a beam weapon that wins EVERYTIME! Like that won't get boring!

Earth already wins every time... Even without the Asgard Pwner Beam.

And whoever said pencil can't kill, hasn't seen The Bourne Identity... Though that was a pen, not pencil, less splinters this way.

[nx01a]

I always loved the Shadow Vessel slicer beams from Babylon 5. Cut ships right in half in one sweep. Alas, the Asgard plasma beams can't do that.

I'm quite happy with the power of the beams and their effectiveness against Hive Ships. Two shots looked like they effective crippled one, the third shot was just to make sure the job was done.