JC should do a T2 on the sequel

[Human No More]

Originally Posted by Banefull

I was under the impression that vehicles were manufactured on Pandora. The only parts that were shipped over were things could not be produced locally such as advanced electronics.

As I said before - good luck manufacturing vehicles, putting them together, testing, fuelling and arming them without a base
Vehicles were (mostly) locally made, but when Hell's Gate is no longer controlled by the RDA, that isn't going to be possible - therefore, any attack would basically be marines on foot.

If the humans ever did return...

Hell's Gate can still detect them. People on Pandora even know almost exactly when they will arrive. It's not like that much would be needed anyway - Hell's Gate is the only safe place to land, and a single missile or turret will destroy the shuttle. Of course, this is even assuming that Hell's Gate is maintained as a possible landing area, where plants would easily overgrow most of it.

Once on the ground, the steroelithography plant would be put back into operation and the defenses would be manned again. In the # of humans at Hell's Gate thread, we reached a general consensus that there were about 600 or 800 individuals at Hell's Gate.

Again - they can't use it because they do not control Hell's Gate, and I understood the consensus as being 400-600, although yes, around 150 were likely marines. Either way, the ISV doesn't carry weapons, as those were manufactured on Pandora.

If all 200 individuals on the ISV were devoted to defense, then we have a full complement of soldiers. Basically it would be a struggle to hold out until the next ISV arrived.

Except that all the ISVs already on the way do NOT contain 200 marines, maybe 30 maximum.
200 marines on foot wouldn't last a day.

As far as wildlife goes, the humans held out under more dire circumstances in the past. In the beginning, when the humans first established a base, there hardly any heavy weapons, no perimeter fence with sentry guns, and no air cover.

That was before the human actions threatened all life on Pandora. Any humans that arrive will certainly find all life on Pandora to be extremely hostile to them.

The next ISVs cannot just turn around. They have to refuel at Hell's Gate so the humans would be forced to try desperate measures.

"We will send a shuttle up with fuel, and you will turn around and leave, or we will not send the shuttle up and wait until your power and therefore life support fail". Even if they tried to make some kind of attack with the shuttles on the ISV, they have maybe 30 marines, and a cargo of manufactured goods and avatar tanks .

I am no fan of Selfridge either but either he will return or James Cameron will have to introduce a new face.

Yet that doesn't mean he is going to become Quaritch.

If everything was known yes, but only the RDA's side of the story will be told. Many of the details would be obscure to the average bureaucrat on Earth.

I've already addressed that many times. Transmit a normal light-speed signal with all the data of what happened (especially since everything seems to have video cameras on it) to Earth, and it will arrive 2 years ahead of the returning ISV and be accessible to anyone on Earth capable of receiving it, including governments.

Well it depends on a lot of things. I wonder if the ISV that left can make it all the way back to Earth.

IT refuelled while in orbit - and even if fuel was not 100%, as there is no friction in space, it could travel at a lower velocity - 0.5c would take less fuel to reach, and increase journey time - remember that no fuel is needed for the deceleration phase at Earth. On the assumption that the cryo units use minimal power, then a trip on less fuel may be possible, if very slow. Either way though, it is extremely unlikely that they did not refuel while in orbit, as they were for just over three months.

If a full return trip is impossible the only option would be to link up with the next ISV en route and travel to Pandora together.

Decelerating by themselves would use up all their fuel and they would then be stuck in interplanetary space - not an ideal predicament. This is hard scifi, and is is difficult to impossible to change such a course after it has started. Again, 2 shuttles worth would be maybe 60 marines (actually, only 30 since there were none on the return ISV), and still no carried weapons.

We may see a standoff situation where the humans are just holed up sitting in Hell's Gate without venturing outside. Not much conflict there and perhaps in the third movie, the next few ISVs start to arrive and thats when hostilities break out again.

Perhaps if they hadn't already left, but Hell's Gate has been all but abandoned - as I explained above, it can not be instantly taken, especially not by 30 unarmed marinesre