Talk:Caprica City/Archive 1

Nuclear attack

Can it be safe to assume that Cap City was attacked by a neutron bomb instead of conventional nukes? Granted, the "landlord bomb" (neutron bombs kill people but don't destroy buildings) is largely a myth, but there is enough of a truth to it if they are used tactically. I'm assuming that the Cylons would have the know-how to use such weapons in the optimal manner.--Mitsukai 01:11, 20 January 2006 (EST)

It's likely, and maybe even worth speculating about in-text (although I'd prefer that to be on Fall of the Twelve Colonies than here), but not okay to state as a definitive fact. --Peter Farago 01:22, 20 January 2006 (EST)

Nuclear weapons on the show appear to use ordinary Plutonium, and are not neutron bombs. And we see shock waves moving through the city briefly. What may confuse you is that we see Helo in cities that aren't destroyed: the Cylons destroyed most cities, such as Caprica City (the capital), but they intentionally spared a few cities like Delphi. Our educated guess is that they were spared so the Cylons could use them as military ground bases. But most of the cities on the planet have been destroyed. --Ricimer 13:25, 20 January 2006 (EST)

Geography of Caprica

Okay, let's break this down. Helo and G-Sharon first set down at most a few hours outside of Caprica, since Baltar was able to make it to their Raptor on foot. Helo then runs for about six days before meeting C-Sharon. They can't have spent the 4 days between "33" and "Water" traveling far, since Sharon's purported raptor is still within binocular range. Two days later, in "Bastille Day", they arrive at the deserted city.

That puts Unnamed City #1 no more than about 8 walking days from Caprica City.

They stay there until "Litmus", and then hit the road again in "Six degrees of separation", passing a countryside bridge. This time they're running with substantially greater urgency. In "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down", they find themselves in the sewer system of a second unnamed city.

That puts Unnamed City #2 no more than about 11 running days from City #1.

8 Days later, they pass through another rural area in "The Hand of God" while they overnight in a barn. By now, Delphi is "eight or ten" days off.

In "Colonial Day", 11 days later, they make it to the outskirts of Delphi. Two days after that, they make it down to the spaceport. Within another day or two, they arrive at the museum.

Thus:

Caprica City <--8 days--> Unnamed City #1 <--11 days--> Unnamed City #2 <--8 days--> Unnamed rural area <--13 days--> Delphi Spaceport

Does anyone have any notion as to how much distance a fit man of Helo's build could cover in a single day? --Peter Farago 21:51, 19 February 2006 (EST)

That's a pretty interesting/tricky question. Lots of variables. Under ideal conditions, a fit man could probably travel 50 miles in a single day pretty easily. Flat, smooth roads, plenty of water and food/energy would make 5mph for about 10 hours possible. I'm betting we're looking at less than ideal conditions for Helo though. Since this is an infantry situation, he'd probably want to avoid the roads ("linear danger areas", where enemies might approach quickly with little notice). Taking it offroad would considerably slow him down, most likely, especially if he is not familiar with the area. Also, we're not just talking about a single day, since whatever pace he is traveling must be spread out over almost a week. Also, considering that he's "behind enemy lines", his movement would likely be slowed by having to be cautious about being spotted, using/identifying cover, etc. And that's all assuming that he's got food/water on hand and doesn't need to spend time foraging for such things. Taking that all into account I'd think 10-15 miles a day would be a pretty admirable pace. Speaking from experience, I ended up running a marathon as a fit person who really hadn't done the proper training. I completed it, but could hardly walk straight (due to soreness, etc) for the next few days. You have piqued mine (and my wife's) curiousity on this topic, and we discussed the possibility of doing an experiment on this topic sometime. --Steelviper 22:58, 19 February 2006 (EST)

My curiosity is piqued, too. Worthy to add to the Science in the Re-imagined Series article, perhaps? --Spencerian 00:12, 20 February 2006 (EST)

I've been wanting to work on a "Geography of Caprica" article for a while, but haven't been able to get around to it. There might be enough material here to re-create the old Caprica (RDM) article with a blurb-and-link on The Twelve Colonies (RDM). --Peter Farago 00:30, 20 February 2006 (EST)