Was it right for Sam to OK the rescue mission?

[Mattathias2.0]

CotG: Foremost recognissanse. The president OK:ed a foremost recognaissance mission. And when they did go for the rescue mission, they screwed up and the Goa'uld immediately knew the Tau'ri were a threat. Major screw-up.
Moebius: That was an alternate "us" consisting of a bitter old man, a geeky woman and a yet geekier man. Besides, according to the tape, it would be pretty easy. But, yet again, untrained alt!SG-1.
Rising: John sweet-talked Elizabeth into going along with a rescue mission without any information. And we all know how well that ended. So it's hardly a good example. In fact, it's a good example of why the expedition shouldn't be mounting rescue missions half-cocked anymore since the past, it's give nthem so much grief.

So you see, going off half-cocked has gotten them in serious trouble before. They should know better by now.

I never said it didn't get us into trouble. In fact, I'd say we met all of our main off-world villains in this manner.

Considering the circumstances surrounding Travelers, it was far less a threat compared to those in Children Of The Gods and Rising.

[FallenAngelII]

I never said it didn't get us into trouble. In fact, I'd say we met all of our main off-world villains in this manner.

Considering the circumstances surrounding Travelers, it was far less a threat compared to those in Children Of The Gods and Rising.

Not really. All they knew when they mounted the rescue mission was:
* Not Wraith or Asuran
* Spaceships capable of taking down a puddle jumper
* Spaceships with hyperdrive technology

So they knew it was a race advanced enough to have all that, yet they had never encountered them before. It was huge unknown. For all they knew, they could've turned out to be a new great enemy.

[Mattathias2.0]

Not really. All they knew when they mounted the rescue mission was:
* Not Wraith or Asuran
* Spaceships capable of taking down a puddle jumper
* Spaceships with hyperdrive technology

So they knew it was a race advanced enough to have all that, yet they had never encountered them before. It was huge unknown. For all they knew, they could've turned out to be a new great enemy.

*Correct
*We knew there was one hyperspace window, so 'spaceships' we weren't even sure of, and I would imagine it doesn't take a lot to take down a puddle jumper

Prior to mounting the rescue mission, we did know there was one Lantian ship involved. We also knew he had accessed there communications array to send it, and it was probably damaged (meaning a damaged Lantian ship).

I do recount you stating earlier that maybe whoever captured and manipulated him into sending the message by a technological device or something. Due to the Wraith, it has given little room for any races to advance technologically that far. The only races we know who were capable of possibly doing what you stated are the Wraith, Asurans, and the Misty Aliens from Home. All of those races don't require any exra technological means to accomplish that.

[FallenAngelII]

*We knew there was one hyperspace window, so 'spaceships' we weren't even sure of, and I would imagine it doesn't take a lot to take down a puddle jumper

Of course it was a spaceship. What else would open up a hyperspace window? And John's PJ wasn't the modified one with the hyperspace generator, as far as we know.

Prior to mounting the rescue mission, we did know there was one Lantian ship involved. We also knew he had accessed there communications array to send it, and it was probably damaged (meaning a damaged Lantian ship).

Yes, but we knew that the ship that opened the hyperspace window wasn't Lantean, meaning our enemies were in posession of other ships as well.

I do recount you stating earlier that maybe whoever captured and manipulated him into sending the message by a technological device or something. Due to the Wraith, it has given little room for any races to advance technologically that far. The only races we know who were capable of possibly doing what you stated are the Wraith, Asurans, and the Misty Aliens from Home. All of those races don't require any exra technological means to accomplish that.

And here we're back with the unknown part. We know they have spaceships capable of hyperspace travel... and nothing else.

[PG15]

How do you suggest we gather said intel?

[FallenAngelII]

How do you suggest we gather said intel?

At least try gathering said intel? Instead of rushing off headfirst after, what, few hours, a day, tops without knowing a single thing (almost) about these new potential überenemies of ours... because it went so well the last couple of times!

The point is that you can't just rush off on rescue missions without at least a smidgeon of knowledge about what you'll be facing. For all they knew, these could be some other failed Ancient experiment a la the Asurans just waiting to be awoken a la the Wraith and then they'd be facing three extremely dangerous enemies.

[Xaeden]

Hey, they speak English, use terms like "days, weeks, years" and use the Imperial System. But there's also torture, mind probing, hypnotism, whatever. They couldn't be sure that John had really sent that and that he hadn't been coersed into sending it.

Technically they don't speak English within the plot. The writers just have the characters ignore the language issue and dive right into things. So you really can't use that as an example - Mckay knew that morse code could only come from Sheppard so that's all we need to know.

Yes, because sending off 5 puddle jumpers (of which you have a scarce number left) into unknown territory for recon against an unknown new enemy possibly as advanced as you or even moreso is so smart.

No it's not. The right call is to get some intel before rushing off into the unknown.

They did have intel and they were in the process of collecting more. When they went the system Sheppard was broadcasting from Mckay expanded the sensors and detected something that appeared to be a ship. Which means that they knew they were not up against multiple ships at that point. Of course you think that they should've been more careful incase it was a trap, but they were very careful - They approached the target while cloaked and we all know that Ancient cloaks are so good that neither the Wraith nor the Asurans can detect a cloaked jumper. Hell, a Goa'uld cloak was good enough to hide a cargo ship from an Ori ship (they were worried that expanding the cloak as Teal'c was doing could give him away, but otherwise they were fine with him being there). That was the perfect way of gathering intel in a situation like that so I don't see your problem. Once they had full intel they decided it was worth the risk to attack, but since they didn't get around to it we don't know if they intended to split their jumpers up so the one firing is the only one who gives away their position or what.

[PG15]

At least try gathering said intel? Instead of rushing off headfirst after, what, few hours, a day, tops without knowing a single thing (almost) about these new potential überenemies of ours... because it went so well the last couple of times!

Sometimes there is just no intel to get. Even McKay said so, that outside of scanning near the planet, there is no way to know where Shep was and thus no extra intel to be gathered until they got the SOS, which in this case would be a lead.

And following leads are good, especially when you have nothing else to grab onto.