New BSG In Hindsight: A Cylon Weakness

[Pbartender]

~stuff~

I love Sci-Fi movies and TV shows, but the reality is that future space combat will probably be more akin to submarine warfare than the way it's normally visualized.

Yep, all good points, and very true.

Read Asimov or Niven... They both do a pretty good job of portraying what fairly realistic futuristic space combat might look like (accounting for the requisite science-fictional technologies added into the stories).

In general, the weapons tend to be high powered lasers, high powered guided missiles, relativistic projectiles, or sub-light engine exhaust (usually in the form of a fusion torch). Combats tend to take place between only a few ships at distances of thousands or millions of miles. And half the combat is detecting the other ship and avoiding detection. Usually the goal is to kill the crew or disable the engines (thereby killing the crew by abandonment in deep space), since the ship itself tends to be so difficult to effectively destroy.

Very much like submarine combat.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Now that would be the way to detect Cylons. They didn't need to have Baltar develop a Cylon detecting device that failed. all they had to do was lock a person in a room that had an EM field until the EM field revealed the person was a Cylon. Or perhaps find some way to generate an EM field throughout the entire ship for a few days, long enough to reveal who is a Cylon and who isn't.

Baltar's device did not fail, though. It detected Boomer as a cylon, but the cowardly Baltar was alone with her and was afraid she would kill him, so he said that she was not a cylon.

 

[wolff96]

Yep, all good points, and very true.

Read Asimov or Niven... They both do a pretty good job of portraying what fairly realistic futuristic space combat might look like (accounting for the requisite science-fictional technologies added into the stories).

The "Mass Effect" game series is extremely good and well considered in this respect as well. It's not really part of the game -- since there are never space combats outside of cut-scenes -- but if you read the information in the Codex on weapons, armor, and shields, it's amazingly well done.

Granted, they have a fictional partical to base all their tech around, but if you allow that one discrepancy, their science is nigh-on to perfect. I'd link to an article on TvTropes here, but I don't want to steal anyone's day.

Regardless, my favorite bit in that game is that the main ship is a "stealth" ship. All that means is it can mask it's thermal and energy signals for a while -- the ship is still perfectly visible but much harder to detect. *Exactly* like submarine combat...

 

[El Mahdi]

Baltar's device did not fail, though. It detected Boomer as a cylon, but the cowardly Baltar was alone with her and was afraid she would kill him, so he said that she was not a cylon.

Damn that Baltar! Cowardly little...


I don't remember exactly (as that was quite a while ago and I'd have to rewatch the episodes to be sure), but I think that Number Six (the one only Baltar could see) also had something to do with convincing him to not reveal Boomer.


As an aside (not that I haven't derailed the thread enough already), James Callis made a BSG joke on Eureka last season. It was the Ex-Files episode from last August. A few of the main characters were seeing and interacting with visions of past people (like Nathan Stark). Somebody asked Dr. Grant (James Callis) if he was seeing anybody, to which he replied "nobody except a tall blonde in a red dress..." Classic!

 

[NewJeffCT]

Damn that Baltar! Cowardly little...


I don't remember exactly (as that was quite a while ago and I'd have to rewatch the episodes to be sure), but I think that Number Six (the one only Baltar could see) also had something to do with convincing him to not reveal Boomer.


As an aside (not that I haven't derailed the thread enough already), James Callis made a BSG joke on Eureka last season. It was the Ex-Files episode from last August. A few of the main characters were seeing and interacting with visions of past people (like Nathan Stark). Somebody asked Dr. Grant (James Callis) if he was seeing anybody, to which he replied "nobody except a tall blonde in a red dress..." Classic!

Yes, I think you're correct, the Number Six in his head told him not to reveal Boomer...

And, good joke by Callis. I was wondering whatever happened to him, as I remember seeing him in one of those Saturday night SyFy Grade D movies once.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

Double post

 

[JacktheRabbit]

There are huge plot holes with trying to work the pilot into the logic of the series. If Leoben ,and other human forms, have that much silica in them the an MRI or CAT scan should detect that easily.

Then there is just the plot stupid parts. Why put him on the station? He accomplished nothing except expose one of the models, and demonstrate a weakness that should have been exploited by the BSG crew. Unless this one nebula was unique the fleet should have been looking for and jumping into every one like it they found to sicken and expose all the Mbundu forms that seemed to have no problem wandering the fleet.

The whole show was a demonstration of the danger of having a very elaborate plot and writing it all by the seat of your pants.