Discussion Night Inactivity

[angar31]

It's said in anime and manga that titans are unable to move during nights. So why do Scout Legion not use that fact? That mission when they encountered Female Type on the way to Shiganshina would be much easier at night - they wouldn't have lost so much people. Instead they chose a suicide - going out in the morning just onto hordes of hungry titans. WHY? Also, it would be quite easy to reduce Titans' numbers by attacking them at night when their unable to move thus vulnerable.

 

[epictoads]

The mission to Shiganshina was secretly to lure out the spy (female Titan) so wouldn't have worked at night. There could be problems with sending out such a large formation at night anyway (the only way of knowing where to go would be stars) and smoke signals wouldn't work. A small party could manage it if they stayed together and knew where they were going probably
I doubt going out at night and killing as many as you can would do much in the grand scheme of things, there are so many Titans inside Wall Maria and beyond coming through.

The unable to move after being in the dark for a few hours is more of a convenience for the scouting legion than a means of attack. I don't know if you've read the Manga or not because there's a bit on Titans at night.

 

[ImmortalZodd]

http://www.mangareader.net/shingeki-no-kyojin/38/15

 

[kkck]

As the link above suggest, the issue is that they can't see. Not all titans become inactive at night, some take a decent while to reach that state. Night would be particularly impractical when it comes to the long range titan detection formation. They would have to make the formation significantly smaller to make up for its limited visibility which kinda beats the point of the formation altogether. Even merely navigating the terrain could prove to be a huge issue with no visibility, its not like they have public lighting services beyond the wall. The purpose of the scouting legion is to investigate titans, the night might also come in the way of the investigating part.

 

[lordoffantasy]

large problem with that is that while the titans are inactive at night does not mean they are immobile. slower and more sluggish and unwilling to run, but still not immobile.

the onylway they could make thsi totaly their advantage is if they had some way to see at night. however they do not have the tehcnological experience to create nigthvision goggles or any of the sort....... though i always found it somewhat odd that they have access to the technological prowess to create those movement systems.

 

[Maxby12]

What about the night?

Hello, I am new at this website (fan of SNK) and I'm starting my activities with this thread:

The other day after watching a chapter of SNK anime I noticed the reactions of the titans about the darkness, they eventually get tired or passive but it doesn't affect the same way to all the titans. Anyways, after this I wondered why SL or any kind of squad doesn't go for missions at the night when almost all the titans are PASSIVE???

I just can't think about why they don't actually take profit of it or at least it hasn't been shown on the manga.

Sooo, what do you think people?

 

[TheOwl]

Re: What about the night?

There are two main problems with night expeditions: Poor visibility that makes the communication form of the SL in Long-Range Scouting Formation useless, and low morale among soldiers because at night people are supposed to sleep, not fight or run away from Titans.

A night mission can be carried out in an emergency (as was during the fake breach of Wall Rose) or for a very important mission that involves few people, thus diminishing the risk of mutiny because of low morale (Armin and Hanji's idea when proposing to seal Wall Maria at night).

Welcome to the forums, by the way !

 

[kannazuki]

Re: What about the night?

Welcome, Maxby!

There are two main problems with night expeditions: Poor visibility that makes the communication form of the SL in Long-Range Scouting Formation useless, and low morale among soldiers because at night people are supposed to sleep, not fight or run away from Titans.

A night mission can be carried out in an emergency (as was during the fake breach of Wall Rose) or for a very important mission that involves few people, thus diminishing the risk of mutiny because of low morale (Armin and Hanji's idea when proposing to seal Wall Maria at night).

I think poor visibility was the number 1 issue. I don't remember the exact chapter but during the Phantom Wall Breach arc, there was talk about it. Or that might have been while they were talking about a possible plan to retake Maria. I vaguely recall talk about how (obviously) if they use torches, they instantly become titan-bait for the few oddball titans that are still alert enough to move around. Anyone remember the chapter? And worse, as of the Beast Titan chapters we know there are some titans that can move freely as they please at night. About the sleep deprivation/mutiny issue, I wouldn't worry about that. RL armies have training for working odd hours or on low sleep. I expect they'd have something of the sort for fictional soldiers/police as well. In the end, if we're talking about titans like Eren or Reiner, then running around at night avoiding titans could work because they can reliably fight one or two off if they need to, but just one titan is dangerous for humans in the best of conditions, nevermind the fact they'd not being able to use 3dmg at all.

 

[PIXISSUUU]

Re: What about the night?

Moving carts and supplies necessary for retaking Wall Maria would be pretty tough at night, and would be really slow going. There are no possibilities for visual based (smoke round) communications either. Any titan encounter would be fatal since you couldn't aim 3DMG either.

This leads me to another question. Are Shifter titans sun-powered as well? The only thing I've seen to contradict that is Eren changing into a Titan inside a cave (although its not clear if he's outside by a cave entrance, or completely inside (didn't see any torches). I think its a strong possibility Eren can't transform without sunlight so any nighttime op to reseal Wall Maria might require them to wait til dawn.

 

[Maxby12]

Re: What about the night?

Wow! I don't see it that way, I mean, are night missions really that dangerous? Don't think so since how many titans are outside while the late night? The problem about the men's moral can be handled out by commanders and so... I know if they catch on a titan they're screwed because of the non possibility of working with the 3DMG, nevertheless they could be going on a sneaky mission with the only precaution of avoiding the last titans that are walking over the field. I just can't think about the negative points of the night time.

 

[PIXISSUUU]

Re: What about the night?

Wow! I don't see it that way, I mean, are night missions really that dangerous? Don't think so since how many titans are outside while the late night? The problem about the men's moral can be handled out by commanders and so... I know if they catch on a titan they're screwed because of the non possibility of working with the 3DMG, nevertheless they could be going on a sneaky mission with the only precaution of avoiding the last titans that are walking over the field. I just can't think about the negative points of the night time.

Well, if you've ever been offroading or driven across a field, even driving across a seemingly flat field can be a VERY bumpy affair. Moving at high speed, a car is at serious risk of major damage. That's WITH the benefit of modern suspension systems and rubber, air-filled wheels. This is why the average speed of a horse drawn carriage was around 8-15 kmph. (http://www.ask.com/question/how-fast-does-a-horse-and-carriage-go) Technically, the speeds they acheive in SnK are nearly impossible. At any rate, moving at those speeds during the nighttime is about the same as suicide. Even if you were trotting at 15 kmph at night, you nor your horse wouldn't be able to see ditches, small cliffs, creeks, rivers, etc. If you tried to see them by torchlight, by the time you saw it, you'd be on your way to a terrible fall. If you had carts or wagons attached to the horses, it gets even harder to stop and, even more dangerous if you crash. If you don't believe that it would be that difficult, try going for a run in an unpaved grass field in pitch black and with just a flashlight. You'll likely get a broken ankle.

The other question is, even if they could do night maneuvers successfully, what would they do? The mission up until they found Eren was to transport materials needed to plug Wall Maria. That sort of mission certainly could not be done with nighttime movements as it requires lots of carts (not a small team, with a few elite troops, for example). Armin recently suggested a nighttime mission to deliver Eren to Wall Maria, but that's only possible if the mission does not require lots of carts, and only needs a small elite team.

The impressive performance of the suspension in the series adds to the case that better technology is available, but is just being suppressed.

 

[kannazuki]

Merged older and newer threads on exactly the same topic (titans at night), and thanks to reviewing it (see above in this same thread), I now remember it was chapter 38 I was thinking of before. You can see there how difficult it is for people on horseback to move quickly because torches barely give them any lighting. Easy pickings for a night owl titan.