[blowfish]

I dont know. Maybe the shivans take Aliens experimenting on their kind personally, like someone insulted their mother.

Insulting someone's mother is a reason for war? A reason to sacrifice millions of their kind?

Apparently

[Kopachris]

Maybe the Lucifer's reactors are different from the Sathanas' reactors.  It's not enough for there to be an explosion, it has to have a large enough energy density.  And as shown from the ending cutscene from FS2, Terrans and Vasudans don't just live on their home planet.  "Many of us lost a place that we call home."  Plus, they need all the Sathanases they have to destroy Capella.  Just one imbalance in the amount of energy in their subspace pulses could ruin their plans.  They only made as many Sathanases as were necessary to make Capella go supernova.  Then they found out we would develop space technology by the time they got here.

Also, yes, I have seen Shivans retreat.  Several times, in fact.  Can't name a specific mission or anything, but I've lost some directives because Shivan fighter or bomber wings jumped out before I could mercilessly exterminate them.  

[Mischief Maker]

And the Shivans aren't destroying for resources, they're destroying the resources.  I think they're just trying to get home, but don't want to hurt people.

Well they sure did a bang-up job of that at Vasuda Prime.

"Bzzexxxbzzzzrrrt!  I thought I told you to set the Lucifer's beam cannons to Hug, not Annihilate!"

[Retsof]

And the Shivans aren't destroying for resources, they're destroying the resources.  I think they're just trying to get home, but don't want to hurt people.

Well they sure did a bang-up job of that at Vasuda Prime.

"Bzzexxxbzzzzrrrt!  I thought I told you to set the Lucifer's beam cannons to Hug, not Annihilate!"

[Kopachris]

And the Shivans aren't destroying for resources, they're destroying the resources.  I think they're just trying to get home, but don't want to hurt people.

Well they sure did a bang-up job of that at Vasuda Prime.

"Bzzexxxbzzzzrrrt!  I thought I told you to set the Lucifer's beam cannons to Hug, not Annihilate!"

Would you rather they let everything along every subspace connection to Capella get wiped out?  Or just a couple planets that they were still able to evacuate a lot of people from?  Who'd want to live on Vasuda Prime anyway?

[Jeff Vader]

And the Shivans aren't destroying for resources, they're destroying the resources.  I think they're just trying to get home, but don't want to hurt people.

Well they sure did a bang-up job of that at Vasuda Prime.

"Bzzexxxbzzzzrrrt!  I thought I told you to set the Lucifer's beam cannons to Hug, not Annihilate!"

Would you rather they let everything along every subspace connection to Capella get wiped out?  Or just a couple planets that they were still able to evacuate a lot of people from?  Who'd want to live on Vasuda Prime anyway?

Umm... Vasudans? Say what you want about Vasuda Prime, but for Vasudans, it's still their home.

[Kopachris]

And the Shivans aren't destroying for resources, they're destroying the resources.  I think they're just trying to get home, but don't want to hurt people.

Well they sure did a bang-up job of that at Vasuda Prime.

"Bzzexxxbzzzzrrrt!  I thought I told you to set the Lucifer's beam cannons to Hug, not Annihilate!"

Would you rather they let everything along every subspace connection to Capella get wiped out?  Or just a couple planets that they were still able to evacuate a lot of people from?  Who'd want to live on Vasuda Prime anyway?

Umm... Vasudans? Say what you want about Vasuda Prime, but for Vasudans, it's still their home.

Yeah, even though where I live is a desert, I wouldn't want it to get destroyed.  But all this brings up a huge flaw in my theory: why couldn't the Shivans have simply built a communications device similar to our own and get their xenolinguists to figure out how to communicate with us?

[Droid803]

And the Shivans aren't destroying for resources, they're destroying the resources.  I think they're just trying to get home, but don't want to hurt people.

Well they sure did a bang-up job of that at Vasuda Prime.

"Bzzexxxbzzzzrrrt!  I thought I told you to set the Lucifer's beam cannons to Hug, not Annihilate!"

Would you rather they let everything along every subspace connection to Capella get wiped out?  Or just a couple planets that they were still able to evacuate a lot of people from?  Who'd want to live on Vasuda Prime anyway?

Umm... Vasudans? Say what you want about Vasuda Prime, but for Vasudans, it's still their home.

Yeah, even though where I live is a desert, I wouldn't want it to get destroyed.  But all this brings up a huge flaw in my theory: why couldn't the Shivans have simply built a communications device similar to our own and get their xenolinguists to figure out how to communicate with us?

They don't have slaves to build them an ETAK.
Or maybe, they were in too much of a hurry.
Or *points to the theory about plasma communication*

[Kopachris]

Yeah, even though where I live is a desert, I wouldn't want it to get destroyed.  But all this brings up a huge flaw in my theory: why couldn't the Shivans have simply built a communications device similar to our own and get their xenolinguists to figure out how to communicate with us?

They don't have slaves to build them an ETAK.
Or maybe, they were in too much of a hurry.
Or *points to the theory about plasma communication*

So now you're trying to support my theory?  They had plenty of time, they built the Lucifer on the way from the other side of the galaxy.  How hard could it be to scan our communications systems with their advanced sensors and build one?

*/me goes to eat a hard-boiled egg.*

[Droid803]

I actually was going along with this one:

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/Trailer_Shivan_Theory

[terran_emperor]

Who says they havent built a comms device like ETAK?

Maybe they just refused contact since any phase in Vasudan or any Terran Languages translates as an insult in Shivan.

Ie "Belgium" could be the worst Shivan swear-word
"I seem to be having a great deal of difficulty with my lifestyle lately" the worst insult imaginable to a shivan
Any greeting/friendship message - A very rude comment about the Shivan's Mother

[aurora_energy]

What if the sathanis used the reactors used to power the EM generator to power the shields whilst they're not in use? Pointless, but possible.
But even so, it would take at least 100 bombers to take one down, and even then it would take a while. you need beams... and beams go straight through shields.

[Akalabeth Angel]

IMO it would be because beam cannons would be able to pierce the shields. No canon evidence but still logical.


Otherwise, in my stupid theory I think that the Shivans in FS1 and the Shivans in FS2 were not in contact with each other for thousands of years, and the FS1 Shivans were the only ones who "invented" the cap shielding. No canon evidence for that either, but whatever.

       Hmmn, my theories vaguely similar. But rather than that, I just figure the nebula and/or shivan comm node system are REALLY far away. The Lucifer fleet came through the Knossos, and then in desperation to stem the tide the Ancients turned off the Gamma Draconis Knossos. So the Lucifer was trapped here, but that didnt matter since the Ancients couldn't touch it anyway. So the Lucifer wipes out the Ancients, and its fleet goes around looking for other guys.
       Then the GTA/PVN comes along, the ancient Lucifer fleet is still nearby and eventually attacks them but once they're destroyed the Shivans are all gone. Then 20 years later, some douche bag turns on the portal and re-opens the door to shivans and from out of the portal comes the new, advanced Shivan fleet. The new fleet is equipped all with beam weapons, but they've abandoned the Lucifer idea since they decided to go with other tactics. Hell, maybe the whole thing about ancient ruins giving new enemies ways to kill us (the shivans) has led them to nuking the entire star system instead of just the planetary surface. After all, the shivans dont really care about planets. Supernovas will give them more fuel as nebulas, and they can get ship building material from wherever. Debris, anything.
       Maybe they've also decided to not put all their eggs in one basket, why have one super weapon when you can have 80 not-quite-as-super-but-still-really-buttkicking weapons.

       But basically, Lucifer fleet is an older-style Shivan fleet that was trapped on the wrong side of the knossos. (wrong side for both the Shivans and the Ancients, haha)
       Sathanas fleet is a new style Shivan fleet (and much more up-to-date).

[Droid803]

       Then the GTA/PVN comes along, the ancient Lucifer fleet is still nearby and eventually attacks them but once they're destroyed the Shivans are all gone. Then 20 years later, some douche bag turns on the portal and re-opens the door to shivans and from out of the portal comes the new, advanced Shivan fleet.

Bosch had the portal opened so he could ally with the Shivans. He didn't intend for a second great war, it just happened that way.

[Akalabeth Angel]

       Then the GTA/PVN comes along, the ancient Lucifer fleet is still nearby and eventually attacks them but once they're destroyed the Shivans are all gone. Then 20 years later, some douche bag turns on the portal and re-opens the door to shivans and from out of the portal comes the new, advanced Shivan fleet.

Bosch had the portal opened so he could ally with the Shivans. He didn't intend for a second great war, it just happened that way.

       Yeah I know what his intentions were. And as noble as they may have been, he's still the cause of countless deaths in both the NTF-Rebellion and the second Shivan-incursion.

[Snail]

Ie "Belgium" could be the worst Shivan swear-word
"I seem to be having a great deal of difficulty with my lifestyle lately" the worst insult imaginable to a shivan
Any greeting/friendship message - A very rude comment about the Shivan's Mother

Shivans don't communicate with sound, they communicate with quantum pulses.

And the concept is stupid. It's not like "hello, we want to make peace with your species" is a swear word in Japanese/French/Italian/Latin/Mobuisian or anything.

[ShadowGorrath]

Lucifer is 12 times smaller than a Sathanas and needs much less energy to have it working. Sathanas would need aprox 60-62 reactors.

[Kopachris]

Lucifer is 12 times smaller than a Sathanas and needs much less energy to have it working. Sathanas would need aprox 60-62 reactors.

Where'd you get that figure?  The Colossus, which is 12km long, fits 12 Lucies, as said by the cutscene.  The Sathanas is 6km long, about half the size of the Colossus (well, maybe 2/3 the size, if you're actually going by volume).

[Mars]

Uh... no.

They're both 6 km

[Snail]

Where'd you get that figure?  The Colossus, which is 12km long, fits 12 Lucies, as said by the cutscene.  The Sathanas is 6km long, about half the size of the Colossus (well, maybe 2/3 the size, if you're actually going by volume).

Wrong.

The Colossus is 6km, as is the Sathanas.