[ShadowWolf_IH]

i know why earth hasn't contacted the GTVA yet.  because when the lucifer popped out of subspace....well the front half anyway.....the radiation released from her reactors screwed the earth up....now it's that horrible planet of the apes.  ok.......

next theory.......
we all know that shivans can travel through subspace without nodes, or at least that is beleived by some.  if you subscribe to this theory......the shivans have been at terra this whole time, wondering makes us tick.  After all, they had already beaten the vasudans, they wanted to know what finally defeated them.  And they were finding out.  Communications have been cut off by the shivans.

next theory......
if you do not subscribe to the "shivans don't need portals" theory, then perhaps an explosion large enough to kill a natural portal disrupted the em balance of the entire system.....remember that in the early 80's it appeared that the planets were going to line up, and the gravitational forces would rip them all apart. or so the hypothesis went.

  If we expand on this just a little, the position of the planets in relation to one another, coupled with that event (detonating subspace node) created some new anomolies,  or at the very least trashed all of the EM...acting like the EM pulse of a giant nuke, capable of disrupting an entire star system.  With an EM pulse of that magnitude, we would be looking at a world that has thrown itself into barbarism, because it was suddenly without all of it's technology.  

Why didn't this happen in the other systems when we closed portals purposely?  That's easy.  The planets of our solar system were aligned in such a way that it could happen.  This however was a fluke.  And will probably not happen again in the next million years.  In any system.

last theory......
i am full of crap, and this has all been an exercise in imagination.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
and this has all been an exercise in imagination.

That part I agree with wholeheartedly; I haven't heard that kind of "deep" reply to something in months!

[ShadowWolf_IH]

well we do try here at the home for the criminally insa......at the facility.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Sandwich

As of FS2, the GTVA has not succeeded in contacting Sol - fact.
 

Not correct. Pilots of alpha one's rank are completely unaware of any contact between Sol and the GTVA - Fact

Earth has contacted the GTVA but it has been covered up for some reason (A war on earth has killed billions, Earth under attack from shivans) - Possibility.

[Kazashi]

Originally posted by karajorma


Not correct. Pilots of alpha one's rank are completely unaware of any contact between Sol and the GTVA - Fact

Earth has contacted the GTVA but it has been covered up for some reason (A war on earth has killed billions, Earth under attack from shivans) - Possibility.

I think a scenario like this would be more likely. Given that the technology to communicate over distances involved is in existance, and would most likely not have been forgotten by the GTVA to the point where it's totally irretrievable.

In the game/s, do they actually say that they haven't had any contact with Earth whatsoever? On the one hand, I seem to remember them focusing on the jumpnode - x amount of years since the jump node was collapsed, re-establish the node so they can visit Earth etc. On the other hand, were't they somewhat concerned that they didn't know what had happened to Earth in the meantime?

I must play FS2 again very soon....

[karajorma]

Well the comment that the GTVA think that earth's civilisation has fallen is a pretty intersting one. With no communication between Sol and the GTVA there is little reason to think that.
 On the other hand, if they've tried and recieved no responce at all......

[Kazashi]

Now that is very interesting. Assuming the GTVA sends a signal from Alpha Centauri, it's going to take them 9 years to get a response. If they don't hear back they can either assume that Earth either missed the message, didn't know how to respond for whatever reason, or weren't able to respond due to being nonexistant - you get the idea. After listening Earthward for a few months/years to make sure they don't miss the reply, they send another message. Again another 9 year wait. So maybe 19 years has passed in total where they've sent 2 "conversational" comminucations, and haven't received a reply. The more messages they send with no reply, the more likely it would be to assume that they're unable to respond, possibly leading to their assumption that Earth's civilisation has fallen.

Without such communications, they would have to rely on hypothesis and conjecture - maybe people became panicky and rioted at the mention of the Lucifer heading their way, maybe Earth can't cope without contact and trade with other systems - heaven forbid that they should sink back to 21st century levels where Earth could survive on its own....

[ShadowWolf_IH]

actually it's just as feasible that the resultant vibrations in the harmonics of a collapsing jump node could have destroyed the subspace transmitter in the sol system, in much the same way that sonic welders use sound vobrations to put together the dolls for little tykes.  It's also equally possible that this created a cataclysm that finished destroying the ozone layer......and everyone on earth is dead from radiation.  i just hope my exwife was home when this happened.

[vyper]

Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
i just hope my exwife was home when this happened.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by ShadowWolf_IH
actually it's just as feasible that the resultant vibrations in the harmonics of a collapsing jump node could have destroyed the subspace transmitter in the sol system, in much the same way that sonic welders use sound vobrations to put together the dolls for little tykes.  

But that doesn`t explain why Earth hasn`t been using simpler methods to communicate with the GTVA.
 Humankind has the technology to send messages to Alpha Centuri now.

[ShadowWolf_IH]

i discuss that in my earlier post in this thread.

[penguin]

my list of reasons:

• EM interference (or weird subspace effects) from destruction of Lucy and/or D-S node continue to wreak havoc around Sol, causing so much noise it's impossible to get a clear signal out
• EMP (see above) sent Earthlings back to 18th century technology
• Vasudans in the system decided they liked Earth better than the smoking wreckage of Vasuda Prime and overthrew the government
• Lucy #2 popped in and baked Earth
• GTVI has been communicating with them for 20 years but it's classified Level Omega

[Galemp]

• The Lucifer did sterilize Earth and then vanished.
  
  OK, here's a question; what would happen if a ship tried to enter the Delta Serpentis-Sol node, from the D.S. side?
  
  And how could the GTVA be absolutely sure the Lucy was destroyed? Last Terran Command heard Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta wings jumped out after the Lucifer and none were heard from again.

[Mr. Vega]

Techroom:

From the Delta Serpentis system, a squadron launched from the GTD Bastion pursued the Lucifer into the Sol jump node. These fighters and bombers had to destroy the Lucifer's reactors before the superdestroyer extinguished all life on Earth.

According to declassified transmissions, the mission succeeded. However, the explosion of the Lucifer created a subspace cataclysm that collapsed the Sol jump node, severing all contact between Earth and the other systems of Terran-Vasudan space.", 3185)
$end_multi_text

Case closed, the Lucifer was destroyed.

The GTVA probably got this radio transmission from Earth and then nothing.

[karajorma]

One thing. If the EM radiation is bad enough to prevent Sol getting a message out it would also be bad enough that it could be detected from Alpha Centuri.
 In that case there would be no reason for command to assume that Sol couldn`t take the loss of the jump node. They'd know exactly why Earth hadn`t contacted them.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by GalacticEmperor
OK, here's a question; what would happen if a ship tried to enter the Delta Serpentis-Sol node, from the D.S. side?

When you're at the dentist's office, and he tells you to spit into that bowl and you do so, there is that annoying line of spittle strung from your lip to the bowl, correct? Now, what happens when you remove its connection to the bowl? It collapses and smears all over your lip and chin.

Now you draw the analogy.

[penguin]

Originally posted by Sandwich


When you're at the dentist's office, and he tells you to spit into that bowl and you do so, there is that annoying line of spittle strung from your lip to the bowl, correct? Now, what happens when you remove its connection to the bowl? It collapses and smears all over your lip and chin.

Now you draw the analogy.

OK, I really need to block that mental image  I don't want to know how you thought up that one...

[Kazashi]

Originally posted by penguin
my list of reasons:

• EM interference (or weird subspace effects) from destruction of Lucy and/or D-S node continue to wreak havoc around Sol, causing so much noise it's impossible to get a clear signal out
• EMP (see above) sent Earthlings back to 18th century technology

[/B]

Was there any mention/indication at all of the proximity of the Sol jump node to Earth? It's entirely possible that the node's our past Saturn. In that case, then the EM effects wouldn't really affect Earth any more than something like Jupiter or the Sun.

When other ships are destroyed, specifically superships such as the Sathanas or Colossus, there is no mention of EMP interfering with anything. Indeed, you are still able to communicate with wingmen and other ships, and that far off entity known as Command. Was Lucifer really that special, and different, to cause such a large amount of EMP/subspace distortion? For the case of subspace interference, remember that the Epsilon Pegasi node was collapsed while ships were still engaged in Capella. There was no sign of any changes to subspace  - ships kept on jumping. And you are still able to communicate in system and beyond.

This doesn't mean that there was no effect at all on Earth. A lot of this depends on where the node was in relation to the planet.

[Sandwich]

Originally posted by penguin
OK, I really need to block that mental image  I don't want to know how you thought up that one...

LOL - just look for Cosby's The Dentist MP3 on Kazaa...

[penguin]

Originally posted by Kazashi


Was there any mention/indication at all of the proximity of the Sol jump node to Earth? It's entirely possible that the node's our past Saturn. In that case, then the EM effects wouldn't really affect Earth any more than something like Jupiter or the Sun.

 

The cutscene at the end of FS:TGW show Lucy jumping in (or at least half of her) jumping in not far from the Moon.

Could be artistic license, though  Are cutscenes considered canon?  We all know about the errors in the FS2 intro...