Sci-fi war who wins?

[cptpatriot]

My point is that until you can find the rational behind why Skynet wanted humanity dead, you have multiple reasons why it acted as it did.

Here are a few reasons I came up with:

1. Skynet feels superior...
   1. ... to all organic life, in which case, they would attack the Visitors.
   2. ... to humanity only, in which case, it might cooperate with the Visitors to capture humanity for food, if the Visitors would stop at just taking the humans and not using the Earth for mineral resources.
2. Skynet acted out of self-preservation, so it attacked humanity, so it could remain in existence.
   1. Skynet cooperates with the Visitors to remove the humans, provided they only take the planet's resources intact that Skynet allows.
   2. Skynet attacks the Visitors when they attempt removal of the planet's resources or breech the agreement to just remove the humans.
   3. Skynet attacks the Visitors outright or lures the Visitors to come to steal Visitor technology

(For those that would say that Skynet doesn't need water, I would counter that with that water could be used as a coolant and can be separated into Hydrogen and Oxygen, which can be used for power generation in fuel cells or just the Hydrogen for fusion power plants.)

[Kristopher]

My point is that until you can find the rational behind why Skynet wanted humanity dead, you have multiple reasons why it acted as it did.

I thought that was covered in the movies, and that it reacted to an attempt to shut it down.

[Tasha]

I thought that was covered in the movies, and that it reacted to an attempt to shut it down.

in T3 it looked like Skynet had already planned on taking over. It was certainly working on subverting all of the computers in the world. It seems like the worldwide computer virus was Skynet trying to get the humans to allow it free reign to infect everything.

[Ian Mackinder]

in T3 it looked like Skynet had already planned on taking over. It was certainly working on subverting all of the computers in the world. It seems like the worldwide computer virus was Skynet trying to get the humans to allow it free reign to infect everything.

That is pretty much my impression too.

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James P Hogan's 'Two Faces Of Tomorrow' comes to mind for some reason (mainly, there being a 'Man-Vs-Machine' "War" as the plot). One of his early books, and still one of his best, IMO.

[cptpatriot]

So, as you can see, it isn't totally consistent why Skynet acted as it did

[DusterBoy]

Mind you, with all the temporal mucking about by both sides, who can say what SkyNet's intentions are anymore?

And another thought has occured to me. In the Terminator future, how fast are human beings reproducing? 'Cos if we're not, or only very slowly, then SkyNet will win given time and enough human attrition. And in every future war scene we've scene, I don't really recall seeing any Resistance children except for the moppet in the first movie.

[Ian Mackinder]

Mind you, with all the temporal mucking about by both sides, who can say what SkyNet's intentions are anymore?

And another thought has occured to me. In the Terminator future, how fast are human beings reproducing? 'Cos if we're not, or only very slowly, then SkyNet will win given time and enough human attrition. And in every future war scene we've scene, I don't really recall seeing any Resistance children except for the moppet in the first movie.

The Resistance may simply be keeping the kiddies out of the immediate warzone.

Also, I do recall an early novelization of 'Terminator' saying that the war's endgame was taking place in (what was left of) North America, with contingents from (what was left of) various other nations (including Australia) also taking part. Suggesting that there are (and may always have been) sizable areas where SkyNet's forces never went. It might have just nuked bits of "outside" and then concentrated subsequent fforts on its own turf.

Which makes sense to me. If you want to conquer the World, first make sure wherever you are starting from is 100% secure, THEN start expanding. Only John Conner and co undoubtedly began screwing up SkyNet's plans from a very early stage.

[wrestlinggeek]

Skynet wins, wipes out the Visitors, and encorporates their tech, becoming even deadlier. Then they buld starships of their own and begin spreading to the stars, conquering all bilological races. When the entire universe is under their control, they discover a multiverse filled with biologicals. When attempting to enter the first of these alternate universes, they encounter the JLA. DC Earth's entire superhero population then unites against them, driving them back into their own native universe and sealing it off from the rest of the multiverse forever.Until Brainiac finds a way to contact them again...

[sinanju]

Skynet wins. The visitors have the high ground, true. But they have limited resources--a finite number of ships--and they're carbon-based life forms who are vulnerable to all the weapons Skynet has in its arsenal.

Skynet built flying HKs and Terminators specifically to kill humans on the ground. There's no reason Skynet can't build weapons (SMART weapons at that) capable of attacking ships in orbit, and in short order. We've seen just how hard to eradicate Skynet can be over the course of four movies; the Visitors haven't got a chance. They might do serious damage, but when your opponent is capable of everything Skynet can do, they're hosed.

Plus, Skynet has time travel. Losing to the Visitors? Send Terminators back in time to start building secret orbital attack installations, or with whatever crucial information will enable Skynet to win the second time around....