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Issues with Stargate Atlantis
deaftravis05
Member Posts: 4,885 Arc User
So I was going over new technologies coming out and realised that a ZPM is in essence, a battery and probably rechargeable. That got me to thinking. Atlantis is a massive city ship with skyscrappers filled with windows and apparently solar panels.
since the windows are probably the solar panels, why did the city always have power problems and were forced to rely on the generators brought with them by the Expedition Team?
The solar panels would had been enough to provide basic power to the city. So why didn't they use the excess power to recharge the ZPMs? Sure it wouldn't had been much power as ZPMs were a lot of power, clearly well in the gigawattage range but it would had been a source of power to draw upon.
It's an advanced city, probably with nanites able to repair the city (clearly maintenance was done as there was no mold, dust or TRIBBLE like that when the humans arrived) and solar power panels that should had been enough to provide amble power for the city's low energy-cost systems.
since the windows are probably the solar panels, why did the city always have power problems and were forced to rely on the generators brought with them by the Expedition Team?
The solar panels would had been enough to provide basic power to the city. So why didn't they use the excess power to recharge the ZPMs? Sure it wouldn't had been much power as ZPMs were a lot of power, clearly well in the gigawattage range but it would had been a source of power to draw upon.
It's an advanced city, probably with nanites able to repair the city (clearly maintenance was done as there was no mold, dust or TRIBBLE like that when the humans arrived) and solar power panels that should had been enough to provide amble power for the city's low energy-cost systems.
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Also, it might be more of a repair issue than a charging issue. It is possible that ZPMs don't store energy, but convert vacuum energy into a usable form. Just like how Warp Drives are not powered by Dilthium, but matter-antimatter annihilations. The energy is still available, but not in a usable form. So either new dilithium crystals are needed or the dilithium crystals need to be recrystallized. So after centuries of use or extensive use, damage is caused to the ZPMs so that they no longer convert vacuum energy into usable energy.
Kinda debunked by the fact Atlantis not only has Lightning Rods on the towers, they actually USED electrical energy, via lightning strikes during a superstorm, to raise the city's shields to protect them from a megatsunami. Was only enough to protect them from the wave, but it worked. They also had to evac the areas they wanted to use as power conduits.
I always figured ZPMs were like batteries. The Ancients may have had ways of recharging a ZPM, but the Expedition Team didn't have that capability, so the ZPMs were basically batteries.
I thought that larval Goa'uld weren't able to take hosts.
So far I'm on season 5 and it hasn't happened again.
There's an episode in the 6th season where it does happen again, but it's rather spoilery for that particular episode so I won't mention more than that. Just keep watching.
But they were Atlantean Lightning Rods not Terran Lightning Rods so if Atlantean technology utilizes different type of energy instead of electricity, then they would have a way to convert electricity into something usable by their systems. So it would be possible to hook up an electrical generator to the lightning rods, but they would have to evac those areas.
Here is the proper definition of a ZPM. "A ZPM houses a pocket of subspace-time known as the quantum foam (subatomic wormholes constantly opening and closing and fading in and out of subspace). Zero point energy is extracted from this pocket until it reaches maximum entropy, at which point the pocket collapses, leaving behind a useless shell." So there is no hope of charging it or repairing it just replacing it.
the ZPM is not a rechargable device, once its used up, thats it. the ZPM when charge is as useful as a nuke when sabotaged. atlantis doesnt have solar panels, not that i ever saw. when atlantis was travelling through space and loosing energy, there was no way to replace that lost energy and the requirements just to power the engines alone are staggeringly high. it drains the zpm of power from shields, gate shield, use of internal systems and a dedicated life support if fully used when space travelling.
again there was no proof atlantis ever had solar power.
the nanite issue, think you are confusing the replicator nanites with humans repairing the systems instead. as for the dust and mold issue, the city shield can keep all those nasties clear like life support. the only things that were left unattended were the dead potted plants.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Atlantis is an old old city, sure it looked new and shiny when the team was there (tbh that was my only beef, I loved han and chewie in the series)
But that was the issue I think, a lot of the power issues were most likely due to the fact that there were tons of areas of the city bleeding power or not transferring power properly (thus still bleeing power)
I think of it as that unspoken your just suppose to go with it story subplot.
What bothers me is, SG Atlantis had potential to go another season or 2 to finish it all up
And SGU had finally started to go good, but at the too late no return we pulled the plug point.
funny how we got 17 years of Stargate TV series with just 3 shows
if only sci fi tv was decent these days (crossing fingers for xfiles return to be decent)
However, mirrorchaos' statement that there are no solar panels is false. I don't know if they are referenced before or after that episode, but solar power is used to supplement a highly advanced future iteration of a naquadah generator in the 4th season finale "The Last Man".
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
I am not even sure that the city is able to really float on its own and doesn't need constant energy for pumps or force fields to stay up.
is that atlantis solar power plants or that brought from earth? and its stated by you as "future iteration" meaning there is no such thing at that time, but its coming.
so basically its not false yet. the opinion stands until you find something more solid.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
2. I said power the basic requirements of the city, not all its advanced tech. The generators couldn't power the advanced tech either.
3. Hmm, I do recall MacKay thinking of a way to put more energy in the ZPMs, but I guess he abandoned that.
episode of when he stated it?
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Yeah, it is a bit odd that Atlantis' natural state seems to be 'afloat'. Doesn't quite mesh well with the city's high mass.
Actually, if you went back and reread what I said, you'd notice that 'future iteration' was referring to a naquadah generator, NOT the solar panels.
1. Not something I'd have been able to catch without rewatching the episode, but yeah. That's a pretty solid argument in my favor.
2. Well, it's likely that they only came up with the solar panels for that episode. Alternatively, it can be handwaved away as SERIOUSLY low power generation which was only made useful by the 'red giant' state of the star.
3. It was in 'Tao of Rodney', right? If so, then he merely said that he could improve the efficiency of the city's power systems, thus prolonging the ZPM's lifetime.
How about 'the same episode we were already discussing', AKA 'The Last Man'? :P
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
how can i be sure of that? youre ask me to put words in other persons mouth.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
2. The time he was talking about power storage in the ZPM, and a bit farfetched, was in when he was infected with the virus in season 1... that nanite virus?
3. I would imagine the solar energy output for Atlantis would be the same as a panel here on Earth. Theirs though would be more efficient. However perhaps the panels were installed post-season 1 as a backup for energy systems to reduce the load on the generators and ZPM?
Modern Aircraft Carriers and Supertankers/freighters are massive and they float.
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/c/ca/MortalCoilCity-ship.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090204235339
If you look at it from above, we see a lot of surface area covered by the city. And from below...
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/e/ef/AsuranStardrive.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090609205619
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/1/14/AtlantisDescends.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081218190704
Could be a good comparison to an Oil Rig. Also, Atlantis could have some form of balast system like submarines, which were kickstarted by the failsafe that made Atlantis rise to the surface. We may have seen a burst from the engines at the time, but it wasn't a sustained burst. Might have only been enough to get the city going up until the balast system kicked in to make the city more boyant.
ive had the chance to run through the episode in question, its one of those future episodes that ceases to exist, that makes it just as dubious as the year of hell for a hard canon claim.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Were led to believe that the Ancients/Alterrans basically used them for EVERYTHING as such, the thing that really bugged me about Atlantis is, they would not move their entire civilization to another galaxy without a means to produce power. That being the case, where is the facility on Atlantis to manufacture ZPM's?
The Ancients would have built a facility in Atlantis to build both ZPM's and Jumpers. It only makes sense when moving your entire civilization to another galaxy.
Seriously, 3 ZPM's powered the Atlantis shield under water for 10k years,... yet, they were always depleting ZPM's rather quickly.
"There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
they show the factory to produce ZPMs in one of the last ones with Weir. And yes, they would deplete power far too quickly. Plot armour...
its not that they couldnt its that they were not able to hold full control over the host 24/7. which isnt good for one hiding or trying to complete a mission
I must have missed that one, which episode is that?
Just seems like that would have been THE major item that would have been an all resources on deck sort of thing. The way they went through ZPM's they would have pulled all stops and brought in anyone necessary to get a ZPM factory back up and running full speed.
"There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
This Stargate wikia article on ZPMs might help.
From the descriptions in that article, a fresh ZPM would have "an output of between 100-200 Terawatts for a duration of about 3,300 years (roughly 2
http://stargate.wikia.com/wiki/McKay_and_Mrs._Miller
It's a pretty good one and it highlights the dangers with the project. Dunno why they didn't try again once they got another zpm
Oh ok yeah, I saw that one. Just didn't see the part where they found the Ancient's ZPM factory,... guess I'll have to watch the episode again. I have all of 'em and it's not like I won't enjoy it,... lol
In any case, it just seems that finding/reactivating the Ancient's ZPM and Jumper factories would be THE top priority. They just never seemed to be. Though they did have a habit of going from crisis to crisis,...
"There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard