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Forgive me if this question has been asked before, but this is one of the only things about the show that I never understood.  Watching the mini-series again made me think about it.

They knew there were Cylons in the fleet.

They knew the nebula or whatever it was surrounding Ragnar made Cylons sick.

They knew that the Cylons were not coming in after them.  It seems that there was only one way into the nebula, so they could have shot anyone trying to fly in.  Especially if they posted some Raptors to watch at each of the known turns.

They knew the war was over, and that they had lost.

They knew they were going to run and hide. 

Why not wait for all Cylon infiltrators to get sick? It seems it would have only taken a day or two at most.  Plus if you are going to hide, then having Cylons in your fleet is the very last thing you want, even for the short time while Baltar completes his Cylon detection test.

 

One other thing, why did they not cannibalize Ragnar station before they left?  Future shortages could have easily been guessed, because there were always civilian ships asking for stuff.  Plus it was a safe bet that they were the last humans alive.
 

kwlafayett:

 

  It seems that there was only one way into the nebula, so they could have shot anyone trying to fly in. 

 

That also means there is only one way out.  The Cylons could have gathered an overwhelming fleet there and destroyed them while they were trying to escape.

They were on the clock and they needed to get in and get out as fast as possible before they were trapped.

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20 minutes into the future.

They also knew that the cylons would come in eventually. Like Lebom said - they could fly in , nuke them to oblivion and fly out before being affected by the field there. We are lead to believe that Lebom was there for a while before he got sick

 It would have been nice if they could have stayed long enuf to completely empty the supplies out of there however 

Ragnar was an Ammunition reserve only.  The cylons knew the passage because Leoben was in there waiting for them.  Also the Cylons could have come in at anytime and done the job and gotten out.  Besides the cylons on the base ships had no idea of the effect of the nebula, that was communicated to them by the cylon Galactica marooned on the station, so they would have waltzed in when they felt like it.  Yes the cylons knew there were there too.  Remember they were tracking Olympic Carrier.  And it was not long after the civillian fleet arrived that the cylons arrived too. (Say 33 mins or so????)

As far as I can figure, they got all the supplies out before they left.  Ripping the station apart would have taken time and put them in further danger with Galactica docked to the station and cylons bearing down on them.

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Girls Rule BSG a close second:-)

The question is how long was the Cylon there on the station before the Colonial fleet showed up?  It seems to me it was only a matter of hours, possibly as few as one or two.  His mission had to have been sabotage, and he did not have enough time to complete it.  Also, the Cylons would have come in immediately after the fleet left, and that other guy was already getting sick, that could only have been one or two hours later at most.  Other base stars would have been occupied in mop up operations, and would not have shown up for a day or two at least.  I really think they had the time, assuming it was only a matter of hours before the Cylons started getting sick; the Cylons had not even sent in a scout yet, which would have been the first logical move.  They would have had to scout since it seems clear that no communications or dradis can penetrate the stuff around the station (cylons did not know about the effect until after boarding station).

 

Is there any indication of how long it takes for a ship to navigate through the storm and get to the station? If it took an hour or more to navigate in or out, then you have to figure that the colonial fleet was already in the radiation for 3 or 4 hours before they discovered the cylon fleet waiting outside.

I think they got what they wanted from that supply dump.  Basically it was a floating warehouse.  The structure itself had nothing to offer to make salvaging it worthwhile.  When they learned the Cylons had found them and were waiting, the humans wanted to leave while they still had a chance to fight the Cylons off with one ship, allowing the civilians to escape.  If the Galactica delayed, more Cylon basestars would have arrived. 

Another question is why, since Dr. Cottle confirmed the first Leobon was a Cylon by analyzing a [edit] tissue sample, did they think they needed Baltar and a nuclear warhead to develop a 'Cylon test'. 

And who left Adama that note about there being 12 models? 

Rustydogz:

Another question is why, since Dr. Cottle confirmed the first Leobden was a Cylon by analyzing a blood sample, did they think they needed Baltar and a nuclear warhead to develop a 'Cylon test'. 

And who left Adama that note about there being 12 models? 

the note is easy; one of the 5 unrevealed cylons.  For whatever reason, it seems apparent now that they are not on the same side as the other 7.  Whether or not they are on the same side as the humans remains to be seen. Either that or they were interrogating the second one and he cracked for a moment.  Could have been Baltar trying to remain anonymous, avoid questions like "how would you know?".

 

I really don't know, probably because the Dr's test took too long, and it would be decades before the whole fleet was screened.  They just needed a faster test with a high rate of throughput to root the cylons out within a short period of time.  I have wondered too about why they needed a cylon test when they obviously had a cylon test.  It must have taken an hour or two to get results. Times 50,000 people is 100,000 hours, or 11.42 years to test all people in the fleet.  You would need a test in the 1 minute range.  69 days to test all people with a 2 minute test.

 

I suppose it is logical and makes sense that the humans left because they thought they had no time.  I guess that sense of urgency never came through for me.  It did not seem that apparent in the show.  Still, the station had to have some kind of reactor or fuel supply to keep the lights, heat, and air going,  In a later show there is not enough scrap metal to cover what becomes the stealth ship.  You would think they would have taken everything that was not bolted down, and some that was.

kwlafayett:

 

I really don't know, probably because the Dr's test took too long, and it would be decades before the whole fleet was screened.  They just needed a faster test with a high rate of throughput to root the cylons out within a short period of time.  I have wondered too about why they needed a cylon test when they obviously had a cylon test.  It must have taken an hour or two to get results. Times 50,000 people is 100,000 hours, or 11.42 years to test all people in the fleet.  You would need a test in the 1 minute range.  69 days to test all people with a 2 minute test.

Ok, but Baltars' test took 11 hours per test.  It is possible that Cottle's test was even longer, it didn't seem so when I watched the episode. Basically, he analyzed a tissue sample of Leobon's cremated corpse.  Without killing anyone, they could take blood or tissue samples and expose them to the same degree of heat.  But you may be correct and that method took longer than Baltar's test.  Or we are to believe they could not get enough sample tissue without cremating the test subjects, which is just funny. 

I just watched mini-series again. Dr Cottle's Cylon test was done on cremated tissue sample. They explained that the reduced ash sample revealed that Leobon was a Cylon. So while Dr. Cottle's test was valid it required incinerating the one being tested. Kind of like those old witch trial where they tossed you off a cliff and if you flew to safty you were witch. Not exactly what I'd call a good test.

 Also I notice a little inconsistancy.

 So no one had heard or seen from the Cylons for 40 years yet when Galactica get hit with the nuke from the Cylon raiders Adama say's "Brace for Impact" and Tigh say's "Been 23 years since I've heard that". So does that mean that they fought the cylons 23 years ago or did they fight another enemy who was keen on using nukes? If it was the Cylons then what's with the 40 years story and if not who was the other enemy?

 
Also: The first nuke to hit Galactica did some heavy damage. A single nuke did that. Then later Galatica gets hit by 3 nukes as the fleet jumps away and miminal damage occurs. I suppose Ragnar station may have allowed Galatica to add armor to it's hull but no meantion of that occurs.
 

I suppose that it may be possible that the fleet stayed at Ragnar for several days. It is never made clear exactly how much time is spent there.  Ragnar station looked huge though, maybe it took that long to clean it out and complete repairs to the Gallactica.  Also, they would have needed some extra time to actually get the ship into a battle ready state.  Clear out the museum stuff in the one hangar, re-install combat systems, etc.

 

If that is the case, then it looks like it would have taken a long time indeed for all the cylons in the fleet to catch ill.  Also, the cylon waiting at the station obviously could not have been sabotaging the place, because he would have had plenty of time. His mission must have been to infiltrate any group of survivors that turned up. 

voska:

I just watched mini-series again. Dr Cottle's Cylon test was done on cremated tissue sample. They explained that the reduced ash sample revealed that Leobon was a Cylon. So while Dr. Cottle's test was valid it required incinerating the one being tested. Kind of like those old witch trial where they tossed you off a cliff and if you flew to safty you were witch. Not exactly what I'd call a good test.

 

They used a cremated tissue sample. You don't need to cremate the whole body to get a tissue sample.

The 'weigh the same as a duck' test is by far the more reliable witch test.   ;)

Rustydogz:

The 'weigh the same as a duck' test is by far the more reliable witch test.   ;)

Terry Jones: "And what else floats?" Crowd: "Small rocks!" "More witches!"

Sorry. I don't have anything else to contribute to this thread. I'll bugger off now...

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"Something, something, something, Dark Side... something, something, something, complete!"

One last thought.  If they stayed the battle would have been called Ragnarok and that wouldn't be a good battle to be in.

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20 minutes into the future.