Just a technical question about the Ancients...

[ValaMcKeller]

If they could build a ship that can fly through a sun, get no damage and use it to recharge itself, then how did they manage to lose a war to the Wraith? They can't be that far advanced and not be able to kill off a species that was only in the beginning stages of development (and couldn't come anywhere near being able to fly through suns!).

[Captain Obvious]

If they could build a ship that can fly through a sun, get no damage and use it to recharge itself, then how did they manage to lose a war to the Wraith? They can't be that far advanced and not be able to kill off a species that was only in the beginning stages of development (and couldn't come anywhere near being able to fly through suns!).

it probably has something to do with avoiding specifically gravity and heat and only the types of radiation certain stars release. Wraith energy technology is different from a star, or at least one would assume. The wraith only won due to massive numbers, not amazing technology.

[Quadhelix]

If they could build a ship that can fly through a sun, get no damage and use it to recharge itself, then how did they manage to lose a war to the Wraith? They can't be that far advanced and not be able to kill off a species that was only in the beginning stages of development (and couldn't come anywhere near being able to fly through suns!).

Well, as we've seen from the damage to the ship, the shield is nowhere near as a effective at protecting against weapons fire. It's quite possible that the shields is so strong because it draws most of its power from the star (or, more precisely, the stresses place on it by the star - like the shield in "Beachhead"). If that were the case, the sudden spike of energy caused by weapons fire would be far more effective against it than the gradual buildup of flying closer and closer to a star.

[Hallowed are the...]

If they could build a ship that can fly through a sun, get no damage and use it to recharge itself, then how did they manage to lose a war to the Wraith? They can't be that far advanced and not be able to kill off a species that was only in the beginning stages of development (and couldn't come anywhere near being able to fly through suns!).

I think the Ancients that survived in Atlantis were beaten because they were a tad too advanced and expected nothing could challenge them. They might have won had they not sent all of their fleet to 'meet with' the Wraith peacefully only to be mercilessly attacked. The Ancients trusted their technology to their doom, and were overrun after their military was obliterated.

As to the Destiny, I've been more intrigued by the question of how old it actually is, how fast it moves/how it moves in FTL, and how the shields held against the amazing forces of a star but were easily being overcome by the vacuum of space?

The age issue is that it is older than Atlantis (launched 3 million years ago) and is only 100,000s of years old. The FTL concept suggests it is only using some sort of supra-lightspeed drive which then begs the question, if there was no hyperspace drive at the time they built Destiny, how in the heck did the Alterans survive after fleeing Origin Galaxy? Do the Ancients make a habit of forgetting their own technological advances as they go?

[Control_Chair]

As to the Destiny, I've been more intrigued by the question of how old it actually is, how fast it moves/how it moves in FTL, and how the shields held against the amazing forces of a star but were easily being overcome by the vacuum of space?

The age issue is that it is older than Atlantis (launched 3 million years ago) and is only 100,000s of years old. The FTL concept suggests it is only using some sort of supra-lightspeed drive which then begs the question, if there was no hyperspace drive at the time they built Destiny, how in the heck did the Alterans survive after fleeing Origin Galaxy? Do the Ancients make a habit of forgetting their own technological advances as they go?

The Destiny is probably older than the Beta Stargate from Antarctica which had an upper age limit of 50 million years. As for the ancients fleeing the Ori galaxy, if they used FTL technology to travel to the Milky Way that may explain why it took them thousands of years to get there.

[Captain Obvious]

As to the Destiny, I've been more intrigued by the question of how old it actually is, how fast it moves/how it moves in FTL, and how the shields held against the amazing forces of a star but were easily being overcome by the vacuum of space?

That was a power issue and the fact that there are too many holes to keep in air on all the holes. I expect them to re-route power away from certain force fields once they get main control on line.Also, I suspect they are going to go Star Trek Style and have the internal force fields and the ship shields be 2 completely different systems.

The age issue is that it is older than Atlantis (launched 3 million years ago) and is only 100,000s of years old. The FTL concept suggests it is only using some sort of supra-lightspeed drive which then begs the question, if there was no hyperspace drive at the time they built Destiny, how in the heck did the Alterans survive after fleeing Origin Galaxy? Do the Ancients make a habit of forgetting their own technological advances as they go?

You are forgetting relativistic time constraints. Because it is traveling at faster than light speeds without hyperdrives, the ship only saw the equivalent of a million years of age, when in fact, for us the time passed much faster. This wouldn't have mattered to the ancients traveling to a new homeland and it actually makes the ship last way longer than it would otherwise.

[Flyboy]

If they could build a ship that can fly through a sun, get no damage and use it to recharge itself, then how did they manage to lose a war to the Wraith? They can't be that far advanced and not be able to kill off a species that was only in the beginning stages of development (and couldn't come anywhere near being able to fly through suns!).

Same reason all major powers seem to have a problem occupying Afghanistan.

[andr3w_iii]

They were overconfident in their technological superiority, for one and the wraith were just that more hungry driven and thanks to their cloning were able to create huge numbers that the ancients couldn't deal with, the ancients could win every battle but never saw how they could win the war, thats why they lost.

[cpt_ahab]

The reasons given above are about as good any answer is gonna be to this problem. And I think this leads to a problem SGA had, which was the tension between treating the Ancients as the supreme civilization (even pre-ascension), and yet making it reasonable that the the Wraith could defeat the Ancients and yet be beatable by humans.

I'm not saying that this tension can't be explain away, but rather highlighting the fact that it kind of feels like it's something that needs to be explained away.

[Wayston]

the wraith also acquired some ZPM's

maybe they made a few of those superhive ships we saw at the end of SGA, those could give even an ancient cityship a good run for its money

[garhkal]

We only know in the SGA verse the one superhive is the first time they did that. The ZPMs thy acquired were all used for cloning.

[Final]

The fact that they were beaten by the Wraith was already hard to believe and this just made it more ridiculous.