By the sounds of it, they first invaded and colonised the planets in their home system, much like us colonising Mars. Couple that with with being able to reach other systems. Either the Ancients had super fast craft capable of travelling between systems without Jump nodes, or they may have had the technology to use suspended animation or crogenics.
I agree. The ancients most likely had to travel between systems at sublight speeds.
I think what happened was, the Ancients were like the Romans of our era. Except they conquered their ENTIRE planet with little resistance. And somehow, they managed to unite their entire planet as one and then set out to colonize planets in their own solar system. Take note, that it took them thousands of years to do this, just like how it took the humankind around 10,000 years to reach its current stage. You could say it was actually 3000 years, from the dawn of civilization to the current time period.
Then when they realized they could no longer expand, they discovered subspace. Then, just like the Vasudans and Terrans, they started to colonize distant planets and this drew the attention of the Shivans. They had been traveling in subspace just as long as the Terran and Vasudans did. The Ancients did NOT use subspace for over centuries. They spent centuries conquering without subspace, like the Humans/Terrans or possibly Vasudans, but spend almost the same amount of time as the Terran and Vasudans did using subspace travel.
This explains why the Ancients were around the same technological level as the Terran and Vasudans. Minus 5-10 years difference in advancements and the fact that the Terran and Vasudans had to develop more rapidly because of the Great War. As for why it took the Shivans so long to exterminate the Ancients, perhaps the Ancients had colonize some systems that did not have any accessible subspace node via the giant colony ships. But the Shivans were persistent, and took to using conventional means of travel to wipe out the last of their race. This further more leads me to the theory that the Ancients lived in a system without any accessible subspace nodes. They must have had to resort to using subspace nodes in close-by systems.
My theory for how the Ancients conquered other systems before subspace is, that the Ancients used massive colony ships that reach nearby systems. They would land on those planets and find no sentient life. So they began colonizing a handful of perhaps 2-3 systems. Then, they realized they could no longer expand. That is, until they discovered subspace which gave them the ability to expand much more rapidly.
That is an interesting theory Gamma_Draconis. With much respect I have to disagree at least in part. I break down and understand the first part of the ancient monologue in the following clauses:
1. The ancients were proud and the strongest people.
2. For thousands of years their empire expanded.
3-4. For an extremely extended period of that time as the ancients expanded they did not encounter any advanced life.
5. As they made advances exploring the farther reaches of the galaxy, the ancients were concerned that all their reachable systems would have been stripped and their resources exhausted.
6. Consequently they wouldn't be able to go anywhere.
It is true and possible that the ancients could be referring to their expansion over a planet in clauses 1-2. However, this is belied by the juxtaposition of the term "exploration" and "explore" with universe and galaxy immediately in clauses 3-6. There is no mention of a planet per se. Clauses 3-6 indicate that the ancients had been travelling beyond their solar system for a great part of those thousands of years and it seems telling that it is never referred to anything less like "centuries" or "decades" or "a couple of years". Instead the passage refers only to the expansion of the ancients over their galaxy and the only time span expressed is over "thousands of years."
There is some merit to the notion that the ancients had been travelling with subspace for a far shorter duration. The passage implies that perhaps they had met the shivans only after several months of exterminating and subduing other species. But this is unclear. Another just as plausible interpretation, is that the ancients were so relatively superior to the others that it only required months to eliminate a couple species. Obviously technological advancement wouldn't progress that much given the ease of their victories.
The fourth ancient monologue bolsters this second interpretation considerably.:
There are a few of us left. We know we will soon be gone. And so we can see our fate as others will see it. There will be little legacy. No great expressions of what we once were. Our technology, our achievements if ever they are seen again will spawn none of the awe that filled our conquests.
We know our fate. We are being eliminated. When we travelled subspace the cosmic destroyers took note.
When we conquered and colonised in galaxies where we had no place the destruction and the anguish and the loss were the clarion call of our doom. And so the destroyers came for us
What is remarkable about this passage is the admission that the ancients had expanded beyond their galaxy and had
conquered and colonized in other galaxies. It seems reasonable that such an enterprise would have taken at least many centuries, if not thousands of years. The ancients would have to explore all the systems in their galaxy until they would find a jumpnode to another galaxy, or construct various knossos portals, then they would have to conquer over their enemies which would have taken considerable amount of time. I don't think they would have eliminated everyone in just a couple months. Then they would have to find suitable places, gather resources, construct whatever and reproduce and colonize not just in one other galaxy but for as far as we know it could have been dozens of galaxies. It is indeed difficult to agree with the notion that the ancients had been travelling amongst the stars only as long as the GTA or PVN.
IIRC, extrasolar subspace jumps are impossible. Subspace requires large gravity wells - that doesn't exist out there in open space between systems. There's nothing of interest there anyway. Why would ANYONE want to travel there?
As far as we know, that is correct, at least according to the technological limitations of vasudans and terrans. There is no evidence that the shivans or the anicents are also as limited.
I agree with you that large gravity wells don't exist out there in open space between systems,
naturally. Perhaps the shivans or the ancients could create an artificial gravity well? Conversely: if you were an ancient, if it is true that subspace travel is impossible in extrasolar space, then wouldn't you or some of you go there to flee the shivans? Perhaps the lucifer fleet had been mopping up the remnants, hence their unexplained appearance in Ross 128 and Ikeya, etc.
