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For those that watched "Countdown," did you see that Aquatic ship? HOLY SEA COW!
Sorry if I'm giving anything away, but Enterprise fit in it's freakin' shuttle bay and even looked like a shuttle when it was launched! How big is that? HOW BIG?!
mactavish out.
SC: I think that the Reptilian vessel is either a warship or a cruiser, but unless it's a really big Heavy Scout, I'd guess that it was smiply "scouting around."
mactavish out.
Don't want to spoil anything... so
That Aquatic ship stomped whatever it shot at, I know that much. As for size, it looked like it might be almost Galaxy-sized. I mean, all we could say when it showed up was, "Wow.... big ship!!!" :D
Warning: Possible Spoilers
So here's what we've learned this week:
* The Primates' and Arboreals' vessels (Size 3-5) are possessed of average armaments and STL propulsion systems
* The Reptilians and Insectoids are "belligerent" and [consequently] heavily armed; the Insectoids seem to prefer smaller (Size 3) well-armed fast attack vessels, and the Reptilians are more interested in larger (Size 5) cruisers - slower but with more potent weapons
* The Xindi use beam weapons (plasma, phase cannon, particle beam, laser, or something completely new), but the Insectoids seem to use pulses of energy rather than beams; they do not appear to make use of torpedoes or missiles of any kind
* The Aquatics build extremely (Size ~9-12) large capitol ships and modest (Size 5-6) cruisers
* The Aquatics' ships are apparently the most heavily-armed of all Xindi vessels, but they are slow (i.e. powerful like whales, but balanced with lower speed)
* The Xindi appear to not have warp drive, instead relying on their ability to generate subspace vortices; they use impulse drive to pass through these corridors
* From the battle scenes we can see that the Xindi do not have shields
We learned that the Arboreals are uncomfortable around water. We also learned that the Sphere Builders are capable of directly controling the spheres from their transdimensional realm. Unsurprisingly, we learned that nobody can trust the Reptilians.
Finally, we've learned that the Reptilians use a neural parasite - injected directly into the neocortex - to alter prisoner behavior and make them more receptive to direction/easier to control; the parasites are apparently harmful, causing progressively worsening neural trauma and (presumably) death.
Has anyone considered that the vortices are dependent on the spheres?
Btw, doesn't vortices remind you of the quantum slipstreams in VOY?
I have indeed considered that the Spheres have something to do with the Xindi FTL subspace corridors, but I can't imagine what. Perhaps they weaken space to the point that the Xindi are able to open temporary wormholes.
My guess is that if they have anything to do with the spheres or the Guardians, it's that the Sphere Builders taught the Xindi how to utilize that technology, but that it does not actually have anything to do with the Spheres. If they did, then how could the Xindi use them to travel to the Sol system (where there are no spheres)?
mactavish out.
Yes that's one of the reasons that I find them a bit overpowered - they are rather TOO like slipstream ! :D
Anyway it does make me think though.. Perhaps the subspace strands that the spheres make make it easier to make the coridoors - basically making space already weak there to open the rift.. however their drives can make them without - only it's just allot harder.. this makes for an interesting possible game mechanic - basically within the expanse the Xindi are faster than Enterprise - but without they are slower.. once they have left the weakened subspace area it's harder work for their engines to work at all - hence possibly explaining why future starships don't / can't use it. it DOES have the advantage that starships can't be detected in this era - but then maybe by the TOS era with more advanced subspace sensors they can detect them - rendering any advantage moot as they operate slower than conventional warp drive anywhere expect within the delphic expanse ??