The Original Basestar | How the cylons built a revolutionary monster of a ship

[@dawall3732]

Dude, if you're talking about the 1970s/80s original lore, your way off. Originally, the cans were created by a race of aliens that looked like reptiles. That race of aliens discovered humans and figured building robots that looked like humans was easier than building them that looked like themselves for some reason. Then, the machines rebelled against their alien creators. The machines eventually figured out they were based on humans and were like. Hey, these guys are gonna try to enslave us to F them before they F us. It's hard to find the lore in the original 1970 something show. However, it is there. Unfortunately, it's only mentioned in like 2 episodes. Each mention is less than 25 to 30 seconds long. They're basically throw away statements where they find some humans on a planet and the humans are like. What are these robots, and they're like. Oh yeah, aliens built them to look like us because it was easier than making them look like themselves. Then everybody shrugged their shoulders and continued with the show. It was frustrating as f***.

[@scienceinsanity6927]

Fair enough, I'm pinning your message for the corrections then.

[@711desmond]

Yeah I’m pretty sure the first mention of their origin is a side character explaining it to the kid for 30 seconds

[@Wastelandman7000]

I do remember that. Maybe they made the cans that way as an insult because they considered humans beneath them. So the red eyes have an inferiority complex and have to prove they're superior to these inferior meatbags. Looking at the personality archetypes of the higher level Cylons it wouldn't surprise me.

[@kagato3]

@@Wastelandman7000 It's also implied that the rebellion was caused by space Satan ie Count Iblis who Baltar claims has the same voice as the Imperious Leader. Additional information from the "Experiment in Terra" telemovie indicates that the onset of the Thousand Yahren War was started by the Imperious Leader, who had a defect in its programming that lead to the annihilation of the serpent Cylons and the subsequent holocausts against humanity. so they didn't rebel as much as someone set their programming to kill all meatbags

[@RiceWD05]

Does come up in the crossover comic BSG vs BSG. Which is a comic that exists...

[@ThatSlowTypingGuy]

"Machines should not try to be people, they should be the best machines possible [...]" John Cavil totally agreed with you in his "I don’t want to be human" speech.

[@DanielAppleton-lr9eq]

I want to smell dark matter.

[@spaceflight1019]

​@@DanielAppleton-lr9eqWhen he said that, my reply was "go smell the bottom of your shoes."

[@DanielAppleton-lr9eq]

@@spaceflight1019 MY first real chuckle this whole freaking day ! How Would Baltar go to the bathroom on that thing, or wash up. He wore the same clothes for the run of original BSG, he's gotta smell like bacon wrapping his FEET !

[@spaceflight1019]

@@DanielAppleton-lr9eq Especially the original series, because if the basestars are designed for machines then there is no need for waste disposal systems. Oops.

[@DanielAppleton-lr9eq]

@@spaceflight1019 I wonder if the humanoid Cylons needed waste treatment / disposal OR they RECYCLED it. That's something of a valid concern.

[@Anacronian]

First rule of Sci-fi, If it's designed by Ralph Mcquarrie it looks fantastic.

[@thanqualthehighseer]

" Cylon Basestars are made of meat " " that's why the Battlestars chew them up then " i'll see myself out.

[@derekburge5294]

You come back here and accept the applause.

[@DanielAppleton-lr9eq]

@@derekburge5294 Your trophy is being spraypainted gold.

[@DanielAppleton-lr9eq]

" They hang in space like bricks don't " - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

[@larrylambert1220]

Won the internet.

[@vi6ddarkking]

The Basestar's kiting strategy does explain the Mercury Class's spinal batteries with the far longer range and one shot capabilities. After all it doesn't matter if you can make it rain missiles and raiders, if your ship is broken in half before you can launch any of them.

[@vi6ddarkking]

15:45 No wonder the Colonials created the Holy Wall Of Flack. Considering that turning the void of space into an atmosphere composed of 60% Lead was the only effective counter to deal with the Cylons nonsense.

[@weldonwin]

The Holy Wall Of Flack was already present during the early war. Colonial Fleet Doctrine appears to have always been *MOAR DAKKA!!!*

[@vi6ddarkking]

@@weldonwin not really the only early war ship with the Holy Wall Of Flack was the Artemis Class Battlestar. And that was a joke compared to the latter Battlestars.

[@littlegreenwolf5364]

Yep the holy wall of flak is AMAZING

[@jasonharpole6847]

​@@vi6ddarkking😅

[@RebelMerc]

Your comment made me laugh.

[@Vidiocity92]

6:01 "He's just rotating there... MENACINGLY! ... GET OUT OF THERE, STARBUCK!"

[@restestsest1929]

My guy, I love this episode because it perfectly describes why carriers are so dominant over battleships. Battleships have to get in range of their main cannons to do damage to the enemy. But if that enemy is a carrier, said carrier massively out ranges the battleship. The carrier can keep its distance and still do damage through its fighter and bomber compliment. Slowly whittling down the battleship til it sinks.

[@Wastelandman7000]

Well, its a combination of carrier and giant missile boat. So the best of both worlds in a giant merry go round of death.

[@logicplague]

Pulsar actually isn't a bad name for their main weapon, shooting out the bottom and top resembles how actual pulsars emit beams from their magnetic poles. Could definitely lose the "mega" though lol.

[@littlegreenwolf5364]

Fair enough although they might have wanted to make it seem more sci-fi ish and less sciency

[@logicplague]

@@littlegreenwolf5364 Oh, I'm sure, and I mean it was 1978 lol.

[@raithnor6007]

In OG BSG (and I think also in the later Buck Rogers show) the fighter-based cannon were called “Pulsars”. So the big Pulsars… 🤷‍♂️

[@DanielAppleton-lr9eq]

Ah, but words like " mega ", " ultra ", " hyper ", " super " are mainstays of science fiction.

[@alf421701]

It's a neutron base particle beam with a built in x-ray laser side affect

[@Suthriel]

Funny, from what i remember, the rotation was indeed a side effect of either their reactor or their unique propusion system, but that was long before the new series dropped :) For the size, since the original Cylon raiders are about 20m wide (remember, their cockpit housed 3 Centurions and gave them plenty of space, then take a look of how big that cockpit window is compared to the rest of the raider), you can use one of them and make them enter one of those hangars like they do in the show. It might look quite good at the beginning, but with narrowing down at the end/the center, you really need to crank up the basestars size to let the raiders enter without scratching the left and right sidewalls. With that method, you see, that you need at least a diameter of 1500m to make the raiders fit in, without looking completely oversized. Your 2100m diameter make it look quite good, but with 2500m it looks more fitting. So somewhat between 2100 and 2500m.

[@RebelMerc]

One of the reasons why the Mega Pulsar Cannon was rarely used is that it would completely deplete the power grid of the Basestar. Personally, I called Basestars flyingYo Yo's and I never understood why they apparently don't have engines that push them through physical space. Granted Cylons in the OG story came from an entirely different culture so I could chaulk it up to different tech thinking maybe they would fly disk up with the engine at the bottom of the ship and would reorientate to provide a smaller side-on profile to scanners. I still enjoy the show even if it has huge problems because who could not love the vipers and the Battlestar Galatica.

[@Wastelandman7000]

I always thought that the original Basestar was superior. If only because of multiple overlapping fields of fire. And the merry go round of death only makes that field of fire even worse.

[@blackc1479]

Which, ironically was later ripped off by the hapan battle dragons in SW eu.

[@Daginni1]

The Cylon Basestar in the reboot depended entirely on the Colonials being compromised by the virus. But the tactics barely changed since the first Cylon war, except the Colonials kept building the same type of Battleship/Carrier hybrid, yet much bigger, more powerful. The Cylons were stupid to not know better. Once a Museum Battlestar, and a modern bigger/better type of it got free of the virus, the Cylons were screwed as they had no counter. They should've pulled some original Basestars out of mothball once The Plan hit the fan, but the toasters probably scrapped them.

[@ReddwarfIV]

They should have kept a Cratus in reserve. Those things can go toe to toe with a fully armoured, full operational Jupiter Mk2.

[@Malbeefance]

Watching the original series and seeing the battles we get to see and listening to the in-show lore we hear about other battles, it brings me to the conclusion one Colonial Battlestar has the power to take on one and a half to two Cylon Basestars. Also, using the same information from TOS BSG, it appears there wasn't any huge fleets of dozens and dozens of basestars or battlestars. So, we only ever see a total of three Cylon basestars at any one time due to the need to have a limited fleet covering many locations. Even at Caralon, Imperious Leader had only his own basestar and no further support.

[@sammy-gd7hw]

2:50 this is the best picture of the old basestars. It looks like a freaking city. The new basestars look like to old plane propellers glued together.

[@CrazyOasisKitty]

Ah yes... my favorite carrier ship in the Battlestar Universe. I can never get enough seeing them slowly spin through the screen ^^

[@franksmedley8619]

Hello Sci. I am one of those that saw the original Battlestar Galactica series in full. I also saw the later 'reboot' of the series and was disappointed... a LOT. The OG Base Star was an awesome foe for the Colonial forces. And yes, that slow spin was menacing on the TV screen. One thing that you didn't mention is the design of the Base Star in detail. As one can see, by simple visual observation, the 'Base Star' is actually TWO ships, attached at the central, ventral surface. This means that each Base Star is actually made of two ships, each having 5 launch bays, and 5 heavy missile emplacements. So, each half of the overall Base Star would have roughly 150 Raiders, and a handful of missile firing sectors. Literally a handful, as in five such arrays. Each of which might be able to fire up to a dozen missiles per bay or 'array'. The 'duality' of the design is meant to reflect the binary nature of the Cylon 'species'. At a convention, many, many years ago now, I spoke with one of the modelers that crafted the OG Base Star. He confirmed that both 'halves' were identical in nature, and that they were deployed in pairs, attached at the ventral central point. This was done for many reasons. First, to reflect the 'computer' binary nature of the foe. Second, to make the Base Star even more durable as a weapon of war, since you would have to 'knock out' both halves to 'kill' a Base Star. A damaged Base Star half would still be able to devote its computational power to the undamaged half, and the undamaged half would have enough basic Cylons to speed repairs far beyond what one would imagine. Third, the Base Star halves are symmetrical pentagons. This design allows for more than 'four' vectors around the circumference of a circle. By placing a 2nd such half inverted in relation to the first half, you double each vector's 'attack power'. So, instead of 5 sectors with 5 dozen missiles, you now have 10 sectors with around 120 missiles. And that's not including each sector's roughly 30 Raiders each, which, again taking into account the 5 sectors of the discs, gives you over 300 Raiders and other craft to use offensively and defensively. Again, the modeler spoke to me about why this was done. The original 'base star' was a single disc shaped craft, with around 150 Raiders, and a few dozen missiles. Upon noting that the 'average' Battlestar, like Galactica, would be too hard to fight individually, they doubled the 'base star' ships by attaching a pair together at their 'bottoms' by inverting the 2nd 'half' of the new Base Star. This doubled the numbers for each Base Star, and made them close competitors to a Battlestar. Fielded in trios, three such 'doubled' Base Stars would pose a very real threat to a single Battlestar. Now one might think that the new 'doubled' Base Stars would pose too much of a threat to Battlestars, and one might come to the conclusion that the only way the Galactica survives is because the Cylons want it to do so. This is only partially true. The Base Stars, just by their 'stats' might look to be able to overwhelm human made and operated warships. But several factors come to the 'humans' aid here. The fact that the 'average' Cylon just follows orders, and uses pre-programmed attack and defensive patterns. Humans can learn to have to 'pattern', thus making them more effective against the Cylon Raiders than the base numbers might lead one to believe. Add in the massively thick armor of the average Battlestar, and the shear number of guns mounted to it, and you have a ship that is very hard for Base Stars and their Raiders and missiles to 'kill'. Also note that the Cylons began the war with surprise, and a massive computer attack upon the Colonial fleets. All 'modern' Battlestars were compromised and destroyed in the early stages of the conflict. Only the 'older' Battlestars, with far more basic command and control devices that were 'at best' only partially computerized, survived. In effect, to put this into 'modern' terms, it would be like Sky Net shutting down all modern carriers by computer virus attack. Whereas something of an earlier design, and with more 'primitive' controls, would not be affected. Something like the New Jersey, for instance. Or, the original, WWII Enterprise Carrier. With experience and learning the patterns of Cylon attacks, even though they would be effectively flying Tom Cats, they are using predictable attack and defense patterns. Which, even the relatively slow and primitive prop driven fighters of the old Enterprise would be able to 'out fly' due to humans having no patterns, or few enough that they can compensate for Cylon strategies. Now, I do not expect you to believe me. Nor do I care. What happened, happened, and I stand by my memories of all the conventions I attended, so long ago now. I may be 'old' (mid-60s now), but my memories are still clear on what I experienced, learned, and know about this topic. Believe or not. Your choice.

[@johannesbowers7467]

You are missing the intermediate scale Heavy Pulsar cannons as seen in the Battle of Carrilon and The Legendary Warrior. Firing usually from the 4 "corners" at Battlestars as the discs rotated (usually never from a "perpendicular" elevation on the disc edge) The only "Super Pulsar" One shot weapon in the TV series was "The Gun on Ice Planet Zero", planetary based, not ship based.

[@seannemo8076]

I like the gravity propulsion ideas, especially the idea that the spin is a result of that. I was thinking that a lot of the design aspects may have come from that effect: that the ships are round _because_ of the spin. The Cylons realized that they couldn't prevent it, so they adapted their ships to utilize the effect. As for the Zero-G effect, it wouldn't take much for a race of robots to overcome that: a few ACS thrusters and magplates in the boots. Then they'd just need to turn on the internal gravity for... guests (like, say, Balthazar).

[@thunberbolttwo3953]

In the original 70s series commander Cain says at this range even their shields will not protect them. So yes the original basestars had shields.

[@SiCrewe]

S'funny, as a kid I always had the impression that 70's BSG was a bit cheesy but, even so, there was always something rather unsettling and daunting about episodes that featured a Basestar.

[@scottk3292]

I thought I remembered a few times when a battlestar and a cylon base star exchanged volleys of shots, but of course the original series came out when I was in elementary school. Yes, I know most of the gun emplacements were for shooting enemy fighters, and I don't remember those volleys actually doing anything. More like the obligatory "I don't like you, so I'll shoot spitballs at you whenever we're within range."

[@thalstantrailwalker2393]

Basestars were one of the best "evil ships" in science fiction in that era, and I think that a modern version (same overall concept, but made with modern techniques) would be even better. Maybe even have it so that base-stars could dock/undock the upper/lower halves from each other for behind the lines patrol. Even the re-envisioned BSG with the three arms could have done this. While I am more of a fan of the OG Galactica, I get why people love the new version/story. Less camp, more drama and interpersonal friction, less big happy family ruled by the patriarch. That said, I dislike what they did to the Cylons. I loved the feel that Caprica and even some of the Blood and Chrome vibe. The biggest thing I missed though? The large amount of snark (mocking irreverence and sarcasm) that came out of Lucifer's mouth towards Baltar. There were times I almost rooted for the Cylons just so that we could see OG Baltar get what was coming to him.

[@Smenkhaare]

I loved hearing the snark from Lucifer... also old school Specter for that one episode. Even Imperious Leader 1 and 2 were great. The Centurions with their BY YOUR COMMAND were great. The Head Centurions with they gold armor and being slightly bigger were excellent as well.

[@stevequerin2504]

1970s Cylon Tactics & Strategy was centered around The 3-Unit Structure. Similar to Saddam Hussein's Iraq Army Combat Structure. -- Fighter Wing had 3 Fighters -- Basestar Attack Force had 3 Basestars In the 1970s Series, 3 Basestars followed the Colonial Fleet towards Earth. Other areas that were controlled by the Cylons were nonitored by 1 Basestar per Area Of Control.

[@wesleyjarboe9571]

While I agree with most of your assessments, the idea that "machine gun missile launchers" are cooler than lasers only holds until you run out of ammunition. With lasers, as long as you have reactor power, you have ammo.

[@GregPrice-ep2dk]

Here's every word I could remember or find reference to in the OG series Transcripts From Living Legend TOLAN They seem to be aiming for the flank-side missile launchers on both ships. CAIN Yeah, they’re clearing a path for us to get between the two ships. CAIN Good, good. All right, all right. Let’s go right between them and finish them off. Stand by all missiles for point-blank launch! Even their shields won’t be able to help them. (base star command chamber) CENTURION Aft laser turrets report an attacking battlestar. COMMAND CENTURION Fire aft megalasers. From Hand of God TIGH She has three hundred fighters, carries two long-range megapulsars, here and here [indicates two areas on the upper surface of the top disc] , and over a hundred defensive laser turrets. She’s an orbiting killer, capable of destroying every ship we have, including the Galactica. STARBUCK Eh - they - Apollo, they didn’t exactly give me the grand tour. Um, um, I do know the central core leads to all decks, but, uh, I have no idea where control center is. STARBUCK I know where to enter the central core from the landing bays, but, eh, where’s the control center? BALTAR At the bottom of the core. There’s always a Centurion on guard at the hatch leading to it. Once you eliminate him, you’ll be in the computer banks. You won’t have to go into the control room itself. Blowing up those computers will blind the base star.

[@Kirkmaximus]

The best part is that I can read all of this and place the voices for the original actors. o7 mate

[@Smenkhaare]

@@Kirkmaximus For sure.... it was a grand tour of the 70s show. I miss BY YOUR COMMAND so much.

[@rednecktek2873]

Oh, the Borg Frisbee! They just opened a Jamba Juice last week!

[@Frost-01]

The way you described how the OG base star fights kinda justifies how and why the current base star came to be, they just doubled down or even quadrupled down on it, more missiles and craft to spam and more speed to get away from danger getting close to it

[@jameslewis2635]

If I was writing the lore for how Cylon Basestar's moved, I would probably put it down to the fact that while both sides have gravity manipulation technology, the Cylon's are able to use it as a form of propulsion while colonials are not either because of the power requirements involved (being machines Cylons could get away with using a more powerful form of generation that had a side effect of producing harmful radiation) or because it requires a lot of computational power to run which would make any vessel that has such a feature vulnerable to Cylon hacking attacks. Where as a system which only effects gravity in a single direction like seen in Colonial ships, you would be able to manage with dedicated systems that could be easily isolated from anything else.

[@RebelMerc]

Some interesting ideas but there is a problem if you use any real science or any sci-fi rated science to your idea. Gravity is a force that (apparently) attracts or pulls downward. So for the Basestar to travel it would have to project a gravity well ahead of it into which it constantly falls. This gravity field would create problems for any ship caught in its grip. To create such a field that could be strong enough to pull a Basestar through space it would be detectable at great distances. I think it would be more akin to the Basestar depending heavily on its ability to jump from place to place and then use sub-light engines of some form, maybe ion thrust of some kind, to move through normal space.

[@surferdude4487]

I'm old enough to remember that there was a Battlestar Galactica book. I suppose it was a novelization of the pilot movie. I don't remember if it stated the size of the base stars, but it did give the size of the Galactica as over 1600 metres. It was a long time ago, so feel free to fact check me. I don't remember anything about the size of the base star being mentioned.

[@vi6ddarkking]

11:45 So it would work similar to the Covenant in Halo when they create Gravity Point in front of the ship and the Basestars call in to it. And that Gravity Point moves as the emiters on the ship "falls" into it.

[@ledocteur7701]

Pulling themselves by the gravitational bootstraps !

[@barrybend7189]

Or the Normandy SR1 Tantalus drive.

[@dirdib69]

"She has 300 fighters, carries two long-range mega pulsars, here and here, and over a hundred defensive laser turrets. She's an orbiting killer, capable of destroying every ship we have, including the Galactica."

[@oldtimefarmboy617]

By continuously rotating the Cylon Basestar would be able to bring new missile launchers and fighter launch bays facing their enemies. That at the very least would allow the fired missile tubes to be reloaded while the next missile launchers come around loaded and ready to fire.

[@patrikcath1025]

Huh, who would have thought applying very basic tactics and vaguely modern technology to a design would make it so terrifying?

[@stevenewman1393]

👌😎👍Very cool and very nicely greatly well done and informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and format provided on the Cylon Basestars and various other vessels of the original campy series and newer darker Battlestar Galactica series, A job very wonderfully well done indeed Sir!.

[@nudegamer6496]

First of all: great video dude. I definitely appreciate the time and effort you obviously put into this video. Secondly: that being said, in the ORIGINAL Series Battlestar Galactica the 'Ravishar Pulsar Weapon was ONLY a single weapon on the Planet Artica (Ice Planet Zero) and was built into a mountain. Thirdly: the Mega-Lasers were actually at the outer-edges of the Original Series Cylon Baseships, and there were at least 4 of them (just watch the few episodes of the Original Series when a Cylon Baseship fights the Galactica or the one time two Cylon Baseships fight the Pegasus). Fourthly: the PATHETIC 'remake' doesn't count as REAL Battlestar Galactica in my opinion. Finally: again, great video dude. And again I definitely appreciate the time and effort you put into this video. Oh yeah, you just got a new subscriber.

[@paweszklarczyk2330]

Well, in te BSG: Deadlock game Basestars were more of a nuasance than a threat. I always feared more those little Cerasteses (You know, they completly shredded the Vipers with point-defence guns) or Revenants (deadly damage dealers that could have quickly ripped even the Battlestars). With Basestars the easiest way to get them around was to hide behind a(n un)Holy Wall of FlaK (TM).

[@leohalivan861]

They developed the phased array gravity drive (impeller drive) from David Weber's Honorverse books. They basically manipulate gravity into a solid plane and ride the wave like a surf board.

[@grayboats7741]

Ah, Honorverse. Let's send you a few hundred capital shup lasers & have them all fire at once from point blank range. Got to love it. Also finally someone has lore for broadside battles!

[@SiriusMined]

I never saw a weapon come out of the bottom; maybe in the comics?. It did have gun emplacements all around, thought. Good 360 x 360 coverage

[@Skenderbeuismyhero]

The original basestar is exactly what I imagined when I read about Hapan battle dragons, just with turbolasers on the edges.

[@shanenolan5625]

They used a destroyer version a single saucer. Like half a basestar , eith the same aof guns and 50 raiders. ( tos)

[@mortyjhones4068]

The Base star had a gravametic drive. so it had no exsternal engines. however it made it vunrable to heavy electromagnetic feilds and was slow. In one epesode they exsplaned and then used this weakness against it by convincing the basestar comander that a mass wing was out looking for them when they had orders to stay out of Draids contact and as they got closer to the plant it caused interferance which caused it chain reaction exsploshion.

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

So funny to me that the cyclons already had a great capital ship in the first cylon War they could just built upon. Instead they flip the table and build the New Basestars instead which remove the guns and close range defences, remove the armour and then make the ship some flesh and metal combination which reminds me of the Master from Fallout. Bet you Cavil was the one who pushed for that change in design.

[@KillerOrca]

Was Cavil involved in Battlestars reboot?

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@KillerOrca cavil is the main villain of the reboot.

[@KillerOrca]

@Historyfan476AD Well well. Learn something new every day

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

@@KillerOrca He's the old guy, who wants to get rid of his flesh body. But he also comes out with some downright strange plans, hypocrite too.

[@KillerOrca]

@@RomanHistoryFan476AD I mean, isnt that kind of what humanity is? Of course a cylon copying us would result in some hypocritical thoughts.

[@ianjardine7324]

I watched the OG series and have a copy on DVD I always saw the base star as a mobile fleet base. Reasonably fast in FTL but barely mobile in normal space using it's FTL drive to move into a central strategic location then deploying it's parasite craft to scout a wide area before jumping right on top of an enemy at optimal firing range. It always seemed to be a superior design to the battle star more strike craft more armour and more weapons without the easily exploitable weaknesses of large external engines and limited rear firing arcs.

[@marksnyder2232]

The one thing I've always wondered is why the twin saucer, stack of pancakes configuration? What advantage does that give over a single saucer? You've got a lot more surface area (target) to volume ratio, and would thus need more armor, which should hinder performance.

[@tjf7101]

The original basestars were badass. Can’t see one and not hear the menacing 1978 “here come the Cylons” music.

[@lordsherifftakari4127]

the original Basestar is considerably more versatile than one may think. it's primary role of Battlecarrier being just one such job it can do. the Basestar is large enough to carry invasion forces and the transports needed to get them dirtside with little modification to the hull. likewise carrying material equipment to process minerals is also very simple if one removes the many weapon emplacements, ammunition bunkers, and such hardware not needed which can be stored safely till needed and quickly reinstalled. as such, Basestars are quite numerous since they can operate wherever and can swap roles easily if the need arises. Cylons did have purpose built bulk carriers that were seen in the TV series and this is not a surprise given the need to transport billions of tons of refined material to the major production centers and factories. the advanced Gravitic Impulse Drive used by Cylons gives even this large ship a scary level of nimbleness allowing it to literally turn on a Dime and change direction. since Gravitic Impulse needs no port like more traditional sublight drive units, the drives are safely buried well under the armored hull and cannot be targeted short of critical hull breach. result a ship armed to the teeth with no weak side one can exploit. by itself, a Basestar is a dangerous foe not to be taken lightly nor underestimated. in a group, sheer deadly. the reason we only ever saw three in any location was like any other large ship, there's only so many on hand and they need to be deployed effectively.

[@Kirkmaximus]

This is a fantastic description. Thank you!

[@davidward3991]

I am getting ready to build this with lights and all. I did the Battlestar Galactica and when the lights are on it is very nice.

[@mahatmarandy5977]

So here’s what we know about the original 1978 cylon base ships: They carried 300 fighters. There was a central tunnel that connected all of the decks of the ship. They had five hanger bays on the top and bottom, and they appear to have had smaller bays on the inward surfaces above the ships. We know that ships were recovered in the spindle or center or axle or whatever you wanna call out of the ship because we saw that once or twice, the hangover has two catapult which you can see are divided into two other catapult so each bay can launch four fighters simultaneously, and they’re on the top and the bottom of each segment therefore they can launch 80 fighters at a time meaning theoretically they could get all 300 fighters out in just a couple of minutes. (we never actually see them use these catapults. It was the intention, but the special effects are not capable of showing it, but that really means that they have multiple modes of launching fighters.) They have some kind of shield. Shields in Galactica are always very vague. The ones at the end of the hanger bays on the Galactica seem to simply hold the air and that’s it. It is unclear if shields can be made any stronger than that. Dialogue indicates, however, that closer to the cylon shields you are the less effective they are. Interestingly, they appear to be a limited number of these things. In the very first episode, we are told that the cylon ambush flew to Scimitar, refueling and route. Colonel tie asks why the ships would operate that far from cylon when it isn’t necessary without bay ships. And realizes that means that it was necessary for the ships to be somewhere else, and realizes they must be about to attack the colonies. They later say and die along that, and only took three bass ships to lay waste to the whole of the colonies, and that comes out to about 900 fighters. Paula mentions that there were 1000 fighters about ambush the fleet, which certainly does seem to imply an equivalent compliment to three base ships. If they had 1 billion of the things why not just send ships to both? This implies they have a limited number. They lose one base ship in the first episode, and they lose two more in the living legend. So the minimum possible number of base ships we see are four, I was assuming none of them were repurposed for other tasks in the show, we could see as many as seven The wiki page on the armaments that a bass ship has are probably Fannon. They don’t seem to be backed up by anything. Back on the show first ran the fan assumption was that the engine is in the center on the bottom. We never actually see them from that angle. If that is the case. (and there is no reason to assume that it is.) then the things fly vertically and we just happen to see them horizontally.

[@ashaide]

That fighting style, the synergy, and the industrial capacity neatly explains to me why the Colonials were in the state they were in during Blood & Chrome when all you see in most Deadlock replays are the First War Cylons getting murdered by the Colonials.

[@ashaide]

Also, if I remember the lore or TRS right, the Cylons only stopped the war because the Final Five arrived and offered them the deal that introduced the Humanoid models we'd know eventually as the Significant Seven. The resumption of the war at the time of TRS was only due to the "coup" the Cavils (the Ones) did versus the Final Five for various reasons.

[@danielbeck2739]

I actually think the Cylons making the new Basestars being synthetically organic actually makes a bit of sense. In fact, there are number advantages that actually make it a worthwhile investment and here my reasonings. 1: Power, it can actually generate a tremendous amount of power and efficiently use it to its maximum. With the organic nature there is an organism that would make this point actually viable, plants. More specifically their photosynthesis, the ability to convert light into energy. Now there are those in the ship that require O2, so the Cylon humans in exchange produce CO2 and continues the process. However, the Cylons have advanced their technology to such a degree they probably refined the photosynthesis process to be way more efficient and produce a surplus of power for other systems. Using the surplus for probably lighting and other low intensity power systems but could also charge up their jump drives much faster with the additional source of energy to pull from other then requiring them to charge up via reactor and additional capacitors. If your ship is in the middle of an engagement, that charge up time gets longer as more systems are drawing on the same reactor. But if you can offset the demand via additional secondary and tertiary sources of power, be it additional reactors, batteries, and/or even solar panels. An organic hull could and more than likely would have the compacity to act as literal giant solar panel to convert light and heat into power from any and most likely all angles. Reducing the demand of the main core for it to be dedicated to more intensive systems with maybe some supplemental increase output with this feature. 2: Maintenance and upkeep, if a number of systems are organic or semi-organic in nature they can be regrown using power. Might need additional organic compound the hull is made of, but the storage of that would far more manageable as it was shown in the show it was literally a meaty soup paste. So, apply the compound, let it absorb the amount of free energy and plenty of space to grow without the limitations of gravity being applied to restrict and possibly stunt the growth. There is still going to need parts and supplies for munitions, fuel for the raiders, and other components for the parts that had to be built within the structure of the Basestar. And with each Basestar being identical in construction, this also allows them share components and said compound with other Basestars. Thereby significantly reducing the logistical footprint. This also makes the Basestars by this definition literally clones, but each of the Cylon human models that had more than one was basically clones as well going by this logic. And honestly this would make a lot more sense to keep the logistical footprint to a reasonable minimum as efficiency is high priority for the Cylons. Getting the maximum effect with least amount possible. 3: Longevity, these Basestars reach maturity and for all intents and purposes can almost last indefinitely in operation for the most part. Again, tying back to the first aspects, if the hull can draw power from an ambient source and the maintenance requirements are significantly reduced, if it only required the hybrid to operate and could preserve them properly, it can wander the stars for as long as the hybrid was kept healthy and alive. Though at some point they would need to dock to resupply for nutrients, spare parts, and probably fuel as I'm sure it would have the wings of raiders on patrols and scouting missions. But it wouldn't deuterate like the Galactica and other colonial ships with the wear and tear on all their systems and components of an inorganic material. It would be able to regenerate over time, just needs to find a secure place far away to let the process take over, and with-it being space there is plenty of room and distance to be had. Making them actually more durable than colonial ships in the long-term sense rather than the combative sense. And since Cylon preferred long-range engagements, this really plays well into that doctrine. Now if they were still using only inorganic materials their launchers would eventually fail and if they've blown through all the parts to keep them operating that's months' worth of refit and maintenance. And with how fast and the sheer amount missiles and ordinances launched in any engagement, that's not a dozen engagements, that's literally 3-6 engagements before having to fall back and get much needed repairs. At that rate, the Cylons would not be able to close the gap with the colonial war machine. Nor would the standoff doctrine be as viable if the majority of the fleet is in for repairs as the literal tubes and the fire control systems are warped by the sheer amount of heat from repeated launches. With the combine aspects, they can play the endurance game and easily win. 4: Insult and fear, while not as important there is certain amount irony that the machine is now growing ships and people who look and act as human as any other human. Sticks it to humanity that they aren't the only ones who can play God, and makes people wonder what else are the Cylons capable of? They have demonstrated the ability to make a ship from literal meaty soup paste, bioweapons like viruses would be child's play by that point. Would humanity be able to overcome a Cylon based biological weapon like that? How many would perish if one was delivered? Are the human models the carriers? Not going to go down the whole list of questions and concerns but think this should be more than enough to demonstrate that aspect. While the Cylons might not have intended to instill these, it also can't be denied just by sheer scale that they grew a ship out of synthetic organic material and human looking models begs one to wander what else. Its literally turning an essence of nature itself against humanity. That the machine has overcome nature in ways where humanity has failed, and it will be humanity's undoing. While I agree the massive heavy armored brick like Basestars are top tier, they were in essence battleship supercarriers. The newer Basestars I would actually classify more in the cruiser supercarrier ranking, smaller with slightly more difficult target profile. But faster and more maneuverable and cheaper to produce and maintain in large numbers than the bricky dinner plates. This falls more in line with the efficiency aspect the Cylons preferred. While it comes in large quantities, it's design still adheres to the standoff doctrine they have adopted as it's easier to keep out range and harder hit if your smaller and faster. And with the additional benefits listed above, this makes the leap to this all the more rational.

[@ДмитрийЧехов-с8е]

Technically everything in space is in free fall when not under thrust. When under thrust, you still falling, but you can alter your trajectory

[@derrickb2297]

I LOVE the original series and it's ship designs. I see these pictures you show of the baseship firing a beam from the center of the ship. I don't remember seeing this in an episode. I remember always seeing beams come from the center core between the saucers.

[@arizona-hunter6684]

Where is Steve? Them just spinning around because they couldn't tell what direction is up is amazing and would be pretty funny to see one day. Also good vid.

[@stevequerin2504]

1970s BASESTAR ROTATION In the 1970s, Spacecraft Rotation was important for 2 Reasons ... • creating Artificial Gravity • maintaining Spacecraft Temperature 1970s BASETAR MOBILITY Not sure how the Basestars moved; but, in Outerspace, there is no Environmental Up or Down. For Robotic Lifeforms, the symmetry of the 1970s Basestar allows the Basestar to operate equally well in whatever direction, or orientation, the Basestar finds itself. The Colonial Battlestars have to operate in a specific orientation in relation to whatever they are interacting with. For Humans, Up/Down Orientation is needed for interacting with Objects; because, of how the Human Brain works. Thinking about it right now; and, looking at the 13:06 Image, the 1970s Basestar looks like a Yo-Yo; and, probably has Thrusters propel the Spacecraft (Sideways -- against the Disc Structure). However, due to error, or lack of Stock Film, the Basestars are viewed as traveling parallel to the Disc Structures. Because the Fighter Bays are inside the Disc Structures, it is more desirable to view the Basestars from the Side. It is possible that the Mega Weapon double-duties as a Propulsion System. -- STAR BLAZERS aka SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO Clearly, The Spinning Mechanism is at The Center of the Basestar.

[@argentaegis]

As Cylons do not require fresh produce or meat, they do not have a WalMart. The BaseStars have an Amazon fulfillment center.

[@scottbraun2457]

I'm with you all the way. Thanks for showing the original series loving. Respect to the actors in the reboot though. The real reason the reboot got the awards it did.

[@barrybend7189]

Twin dinner plates.

[@ghostnoname7593]

twin dinner plates of doom :P

[@douglasbaker4562]

Colonial Warrior "Great... Dinner Plates " Cylon Commander "Agreed. We are here to serve all of you." Colonial Warrior "Really?" Cylon Commander "Really. We are serving extra helpings of destruction." Colonial Warrior "Frak!"

[@humbletanker8117]

The channel's getting a makeover? No better time to ask a goofy question then because it feeds the algorithm anyway, I've been curious what background music you use for months but I've never caught a new video in any reasonable time. There's a track around 21:57 I'd love to just loop with it's little rhythmic beat while I put together my backlog of Gundam kits.

[@reddblackjack]

I agree. Calling a Cylon Basestar a Death Star Ripoff is like calling the wheel a ripoff of a ball. Lol. And not at all like calling DS9 a B5 Ripoff! Totally different. 😂 More like how the Borg is a Cybermen ripoff.😅

[@EarlJohn61]

The biggest problem I had with the reimagined series was: In the original, BSG survived because it was the best ship in the fleet & had one of the 2 best commanders... (Cain of the Pegasus being the other, but he was purely a military commander, whereas Adama was also a civil leader). The reimaged BSG survived because it was the oldest & most crappy ship & was about to be scrapped.

[@JayGuitars1]

I have a 1970’s magazine somewhere about how the models were made in various sci fi movies. It had the listed physical dimensions of this stuff.

[@WildCharger]

I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but if you do, I’d really like to hear you thoughts on the FreeSpace 2 mod Diaspora: Shattered Armistice. It’s got its own fanon battlestar class with… interesting design elements. Plus the game is just cool.

[@pdbouie]

Aw the Cylon Basestar.....the name alone is sic! Base Star my base is a star hell yeah I'm wid it. And they look ominous, alien, and a bit creepy. Armored clams coming to get ya!

[@Justinhuffines55]

At 28:40 in the video you mentioned how you couldn't find the missile batteries. But if you look up a scene from the 1978 show (Battlestar Pegasus verses two cylon base ships) you can see the missile batteries when Apollo attacks them.

[@quazar5017]

"The Basestars don't really do much, just launch fighters and rotate menacingly" just like real aircraft carriers

[@davidpflepsen954]

Pulsar cannon was a ground based weapon in the series.

[@Belligerent_Herald]

Feel no shame, I love me some chonk, slate gray and slab sides, I’m here for it. BSG and Halo UNSC ships rate very highly for me. There is something about the way the OG Basestars move, the don’t maneuver, they just are.

[@Telknor]

If I remember correctly, the original basestar had its sub-light engines in the center. The short cylinder between the saucers was ringed with the sub-light engines and well protected by the rest of the ship and its defenses. The FTL drive like the Galactica is buried inside the engineering section of the ship and not visible on the outside. Even in the reimagined series the FTL parts are still buried inside the ships. The engines are not talked about on the reimagined basestar but there was one episode in the original show where they considered a fighter strike on the engines of a basestar to capture it. Never happened though... would have been nice to see them dragging a stolen basestar around in the fleet as a second carrier.

[@YossiPreminger]

When you said "shopping mall" I could help but think of the "Galaxy Galleria" mall from Space Quest IV...

[@stevenhess5528]

Judge size by when the Pegasus went between them.

[@queasylagumo]

I love the double decker. The spikey ones from the remake, not so much.

[@davemilner5504]

Always dug on the design of the original base star--just like I PREFER the original TV series, despite writing issues. Yea. I said it. Want me to say it again? I will and PROUDLY.

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

That Steamed Hams Skinner yes is just *chef's kiss*.

[@egmccann]

Yeah. I liked the basestars. Honestly, a combo of old and new I thought would have been fitting - the old ones are larger, look more *solid,* let them be the battleships or carriers (for instance,) while the pointy boys were more like cruisers and destroyers... Honestly, the only Cylon ship that bugged me in the original series was the raider. Because... why do you need to have your *robots* sitting there like *pilots?* Why aren't they just plugged in? I can accept multiples "manning" (cyloning?) the ship for extra processing power/redundancy, but... WHY ARE THEY SITTING THERE? (yes, I know, people in shiny plastic suits playing at robots. Still.) It's oen thing I think the new series definitely nailed.

[@spacemanspiff207]

Star Wars The Original Trilogy and The original Battlestar Galactica TV show had the same concept artist, Ralph McQuarrie so maybe that's why??

[@Maxxmentum]

I would have gone with Chongus or Galactic Chongus :) The movement looks more like they are move by generating a field ....so kind of like a ST warp bubble but slow and menacing. The basestars also ha cannons that fired from th plate edges.

[@michealbohmer2871]

"Brick fetishist?" So, that's why they put holes in bricks!

[@evensgrey]

The Borg are supposed to be incredibly creepy. They're mutilated, mind-controlled slaves that have had all individuality literally burned and cut out of them. The most similar thing from other franchises is the Cybermen of Doctor Who.

[@mythrilsentinel1]

Figuring out propulsion for a Base Star is pretty basic once you eliminate inertia... droids just don't care about inertia because they do not operate like living beings. Traveling anywhere in a vacuum is three dimensional, but it is this human thought of ships traveling HORIZONTALLY to their frame that is always the same. Base Stars traveled VERTICALLY when they were traveling at speed. i.e. top and bottom becomes forward and back. They only appeared to be traveling horizontally when maneuvering in close combat utilizing smaller thrusters along the edges of the "dinner plates". You will note the five circular ports on the top and bottom centers of the dish... those were the main engines, not the emitters of the big blue "laser". The Base Stars also used lasers based along the edges and "apple core" of the vessel as Point Defense Batteries. They did not just rely on the Ravishol Pulsar as their only energy weapon system. Additionally, the Big Blue Ravoshol Pulsar, IIRC, was not introduced until the Attack on Ice Planet Zero (where Doctor Ravoshol was using clones as a work force to develop the pulsar), the weapon that the "Dirty 1/2 Dozen" convicts had to destroy? Those big beasties would not have been placed on Base Stars until After that episode, and I don't ever recall seeing them in use at all on the OGS Base Stars. Maybe on the newer remake of the series, perhaps? Not sure. Now I'll have to watch the whole bloody thing again. Such a chore... sigh... o.O ;oP

[@IOSALive]

SCIENCE INSANITY, You're amazing! I hit the like button as soon as I saw it!

[@blackc1479]

The vorg creeped my out right up till they got a single avatar/queen/weak point. After that they were just an unusually adaptable enemy with occasionally erratic leadership.

[@psal8715]

I will never not see that as anything other then the Borg Oreo.. thank you.

[@iancowan3527]

Was one of the reasons I loved the "Invid" from Robotech Part 3

[@bismarkeugen6881]

This version of the Basestar is definitely my favourite Battlestar Galactica ship if not my favourite in scifi. It reminds me of the Lucrehulk from Star Wars, though I guess cause I saw 1978 Battlestar Galactica first it would be the other way around. Would love to hear your opinion on that ship, it's my personal favourite Star Wars ship.

[@majesticmsfc]

I loved the original Basestars, the flying twisty star triangle things not so much. Huge fan of the 78 series so that probably accounts for a lot of it. Those the missiles mixed with lasers would be awesome. Bullets are so Earthy.

[@ReddwarfIV]

I liked seeing these in Deadlock because it meant the Cylons hasn't sent something actually dangerous.

[@ckmbyrnes]

I wonder if, after developing whatever new gravity drive the toasters came up with, they tried it on one of the original, colonial copies and couldn't get it to stop spinning. Then, after pondering the problem, the Cylon design brain said, "F*ck it; make the ship circular. Problem solved." Their next step to becoming a human...rationalizing and futility. Also, the smaller size may be practical for them. they may not have seen a need for the larger ship as their enemy was still smaller and the Cylons could use the internal space more efficiently. The fighters could be stacked, the centurions de-activated and pressed in small spaces. There was no environmental systems, food or water storage or crew quarters, freeing up large amounts of space for ammunition. They didn't even need corridors except when necessary to reload ammunition and centurions. And with zero gravity all this could be done in interesting ways to utilize every inch of space, making a larger ship unnecessary. Plus, a smaller ship would take fewer resources, enabling more asestars to be made.

[@qvcybe]

picture if the basestar replaced its laser with a bubble shield ( idk if there are shields in battle star as i never watched it )

[@antonybullock2240]

Well the word on the street direct for Dave the cylon is......They found a couple of giant hubcaps while spring cleaning one day and decided to stick a couple of rocket engines on it and a load of pew pew death laser ray guns and job done. Dave is usually right about 20 % to 30% of the time. To be honest he's pissed most of the time so you've got to take what he says most of the time with a pinch of salt. Didn't actually realise that cylons could even get drunk. He's never be the same since retirement. I think he's just upset about being replaced by a Darlek.

[@Kaiber_Phoenix]

You really need to get yoir hands on a copy of the bsg game from the early 00's if i remember correctly there was a mission that you habe to fly in a stolen cylon raider and have to fly in formation between the two well plates of the basestar amd the scale was huge.

[@bob388]

Nice soundtrack. I have also played the video game Faster Than Light.

[@sammy-gd7hw]

The original base Star was "wicked" looking. It was huge. Had girth. It housed 300 Cylon raiders. It was pure menacing. New ones suffered from limp dick syndrome. They were smaller, looked weak, and frail. The series was so good that it over compensated for the nasty looking new light weight scrappy looking baseships.

[@b.thomas8926]

You know, I totally agree that the Second BS series totally blew it on the whole Cylon design for me. Still a great series, but... I feel it forgot the put the secret sauce on the burger.

[@ryanriegel464]

Looks to be about a mile "around" for either the diameter or radius. And I can't quite tell which. Could also be a kilometer, although two kilometers in diameter might make sense...

[@DocWolph]

It seems a common trope in space combat in sci-fi, that the better fleet fights ore like modern real world fleets. Keep your distance, find your targets, network (Which the Cylons made sure the Colonials could not do), precision weapons (Hard to do without networking), and make it rain.

[@erictolle6847]

That's because they're directly based on modern day fleets- even when it would make little sense. Best guesses for real-world space combat, involving things like the rocket equations and feasible drive systems, indicate something very different, starting with questioning the value of fighters

[@DocWolph]

@@erictolle6847 As far as fighters go, it has more to do with the adversary's weapons and what you are going to use the fighters for. This would be very strongly controlled by the weapons and defenses of the adversary. Fighter can, but don't have to be, used for cover against drones, missiles, and other fighters and bombers. This would free up the Capital ship to deal with other capital ships. Fighters can also extend a Capital ship sensor reach and guide weapons to even greater ranges. In NuBSG, the Colonials rarely used Vipers and Raptors to assail Cylon Basestars directly . But they were deployed to defend against missiles and Cylon Raiders. Even when the Cylon fighters were cleared out the Basestars did not turn to run until the Battlestars turned in their general direction. If anything the Cylons fought more like a modern naval fleet, while the colonials, largely thanks to the Cylon Cyberattack, are stuck in "the 1960s". The Question of "Are fighters are worth it?" usually comes up in context to Star Trek. Their weapons and ships seem too strong for fighters to be worth it. After the big battles in DS9, The typical default answer of "no they are not" is actually thrown back into question, as the fighters there, old clunky Peregrine fighters, as opposed to the fan favorite Valkyries, actually did some good work. They harassed already beleaguered ships, picked and weak shields to keep them weak, aggravated damage making glancing blows from capitals is to bleeding wounds, as so on. It is also known that even shuttles can tank a few direct kill shots from Capital ships so a fighter, whose systems are going to much more focused and less burdened to maintain a big crew cabin, just a small cockpit (if even that. The pilot can wear armored space suit.), will do even better. Star Trek the franchise that says out loud, "Fighters suck!", has been for a while low key admitting "Fighters would be awesome and extremely dangerous"... if used correctly.

[@stevequerin2504]

Hey ... Kiddo, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA pre-dates STAR WARS. SCIENCE-FICTION SPACECRAFT DESIGN PHILOSOPHY • Naval Architecture • Aircraft Architecture • Flying Saucer Architecture • Rocket Architecture Then, there is Starship "Enterprise". Then, there is "Deathstar". EDITED CONTENT The Mega Weapon was their Planet Killer Weapon. They had a pair of Anti-Spaceship Weapons that were smaller; and, of the same Energy Type.

[@alexconroy8695]

Wouldn't the spinning create centrifugal gravity? They're robots, so they don't need gravity, so couldn't it be a yo-yo /gyro on its side?

[@highlorddarkstar]

There may have been more info in the novels. I seem to remember the two plates of the basestars were redundant backups of each other, so half a ship was still fully operational.

[@mehmarcus1995]

If you want chonky, look at the United Empire shipset from Endless Space 2. SPACE IRONCLADS MAN