Talk:Faster-than-light communication/Archive 1

Is it really FTL?

It should be noted that just because the Cylons can transmit signals over long distances, that doesn't necessarily mean those signals travel faster than light. A sufficiently strong signal could (in theory) travel very long distances, especially if the Cylons have set up amplifiers at strategic points in space. Only when the time it takes for the signal to arrive is very short can we assume it's FTL. I personally think very few of the examples are FTL communication:

(Note: 1 AU = 150 million kilometers, the average distance between the Earth and the sun)

• Tracking the Olympic Carrier in "33"
  • A radio signal can travel 594 million kilometers (~4 AU) in 33 minutes, which is less than the distance between Jupiter and the sun (~5 AU), and not nearly the distance between Pluto and the sun (~39 AU). Since the Fleet has shown to be able to jump from one system to the next, it's likely it did just that during the jump chase. This means the tracking on the Olympic Carrier was either an FTL signal, or the ship transmitted the jump coordinates to the Cylons before jumping away.
• Resurrection
  • We know there was indeed a Resurrection Ship following the Fleet, which could even have FTL-capable transmission drones to transmit Boomer's consciousness to Caprica. A Raider may also have been able to do just that.
• D'Anna's documentary
  • Again, a fleet of 2 basestars, associated Raiders (around 1,500) and a Resurrection Ship was following the Colonial Fleet. The Raider D'Anna called in didn't have to come from very far, and the signal could have taken its time. Also, D'Anna says "two Raiders were lost relaying it back to the fleet", which indicates the Raider transmitted the documentary to the Fleet rather than transmitting it to Caprica directly. The Fleet may have dispatched a Raider (plenty of them around, anyway) to jump to Caprica and deliver the documentary there.
• Tracking the tylium ship
  • The Cylons are a long time behind on the Fleet. Note that the Cylons only get to the Fleet's previous location 6 to 12 hours after they've jumped away. Since the Fleet waits 12 hours for the Raptor to rendezvous with them, they only jump every 12 hours minimum. In 12 hours, a signal can travel 13 billion kilometers (=86,4 AU), which is a quite realistic distance to jump.
• Basestar communication
  • Use Raiders as go-betweens. Every basestar has 800 Raiders, so they can spare a few.

I suggest this article be revised to say "possible FTL communication", since there is a plausible alternative in each case. --Catrope^{(Talk to me or e-mail me)} 10:27, 21 March 2007 (CDT)

The article says that the Cylons might have FTL communication. It isn't definite, but just lists possible evidence. It's true that the Cylons could follow the Fleet in a really short distance. But personally I really have the impression that they are hanging several star systems behind.

However, I don't really see any concrete evidence for basestars communicating with each other. And that would the best situation to use Raiders as relays. --Serenity 10:48, 21 March 2007 (CDT)

Nothing more to add here, other than the fact that the only instance of two basestars communicating to each other is "Torn", where the Baltarstar receives communication from the hybrid on the infected basestar at Lion's Head. -- Joe Beaudoin ^{So say we all - Donate} 17:01, 21 March 2007 (CDT)

Yeah, the page is here for people to list examples of potential FTL communications, or definite ones if we find them. FTL via raider-messenger only works to a ship if you know where it is to jump to it. That requires all ships to constantly send raiders back every time they jump to keep central command aware of all their movements. Possible, but pretty difficult. I must admit it is never explained why it takes 33 minutes to re-track the fleet each time. As for 33, recall that the Carrier fails to jump, and 33 minutes later, no Cylons, and this is why they suspect the ship. Had the transmission been pre-jump, there would have been a Cylon attack 33 minutes later, and then no attack 66 minutes later. This strongly suggests the OC is transmitting somehow from the new location. The Cylon resurrection ship can't be just a short distance away all the time -- it's quite big, I would have to believe they would see it (with optical telescopes) as well as detect any radio noise etc. Tracking the mining ship is harder -- there is no way to track a lightspeed signature unless you get very close to it first. Everything we've seen suggests you can't tell where a ship jumped to by watching it jump, else we would have seen double-jumps every time they flee the Cylons etc. There is clearly a distance limit on Cylon FTL and resurrection. The ship in Torn that is infected is many light years away, and IIRC they move ships to stop them from resurrecting. If it were their own isolated resurrection ship for just that tiny area of space at lightspeed, no need to do that.