Kill ‘Em All — We’ll Make More

I spend a lot of time here at GWC pointing out how similar the Cylons are to humans in terms of their capacity to think — and therefore their capacity to possibly (in some far, theoretical future) make peace with humans. But, as I’ve said before, that’s not going to happen any time soon — regardless of how much “juice” Aaron and his collaborator buddies grow “together.”

So, for just a moment let’s consider that purely practical issues involved in fighting an enemy that can reproduce fully experience soldiers ina matter of hours instead of decades.

Seriously, think about it for a moment: To make a new Viper pilot, two humans have to hook up, have sex, have a child, and raise her/him, then maybe — just maybe — she/he’ll turn out to be capable enough to be trained (over time and at great expense) as a Viper pilot. Cylons, on the other hand, simply grow another raider. And, if they’re lucky enough to be near a Cylon-occupied planet — or brought along a “resurrection ship” — they can even load it up with a previously-dead raider’s experience and knowledge — including that cained from its death.

As Sean pointed out below, it seems that they can reproduce the most complex individual Cylons — the human-appearing ones — in about an hour. I wonder how long it takes them to build a centurion? Or a raider? Or, for that matter, a basestar?

Any way you look at it, you’re fighting an enemy that can reproduce themselves to whatever extent their resources allow. And they hold the resources of twelve entire colonies plus whatever resources they called their own before the war.

Wow. Let’s just say that the colonial fleet isn’t going to win a war of attrition. At some point they’re going to have to turn the tide with something more than simple battles. I wonder what form that’ll take?