Even in Battlestar Galactica, this was never pretty. Many times the producers of the show effectively portrayed these fights as they really do occur in the real world-quick, brutal, and oftentimes happening under less than ideal conditions for the combatants. Cylon Centurions are known to be largely mechanical in their construction. Various original stories and conjecture indicate that at least some of these creatures are partly organic, but effectively they should be treated as machines for combat purposes if only due to their heavy augmentation. They appear to be big and probably very strong. They have at least a reasonable level of armor protection.

I do not recall any instances of an unarmed human or other creature attacking one of these beings with bare hands and doing very well-if it happened at all, it didn't happen often. They are almost always armed with a laser weapon and also carry edged weapons. Although they appear ponderous at times in the series and films, it occurred to me that speed is a required attribute for successful sword handling and they did indeed put the fear into Baltar in the original movie (but did not kill him). A Cylon may be able to move pretty quickly after all. The electronic eyes of the Cylon may include night vision capabilities in addition to aiming aids to make up for any dexterity problems with their carried weapons. On the plus side (for the Colonials) the Cylon's preferred method of shooting is to stand in place or march slowly forward, thus exposing the Cylon to retaliation in kind. Their armor does not appear to be able to resist a direct hit from a Colonial laser pistol.

Their armor gleams atrociously and will facilitate getting a bead on them even in conditions of near total darkness. They make mechanical noises, and between this, the armor, and their red eye, stealth on foot is difficult if not impossible. GSG-9 and Delta have nothing to fear from the Cylons outsnooping them. Colonial warriors tend to favor pistol-size lasers whereas the Cylons tend to carry a rifle-size version of the laser, which also mounts a bayonet. First, we note that a laser, unlike a ballistic weapon, will not generate recoil. This helps your aim. The Cylon "rifle" may have longer range or more power due to the increased length of the emitter. The Cylons either don't need to or don't want to use the length of their weapon as an aiming aid-the longer sight base would mean more shooting accuracy, probably-and tend to fire it from waist-level. The plus of the bayonet is obvious-if the fight comes that close-and the saw-edge on the bayonet certainly can inflict a severe wound.

However, the Colonial pistol is probably faster handling and more maneuverable in tight spaces. For practical purposes, an equivalent number of Cylons with their rifles have never been seen to be a match for an equivalent number of Colonials with their weapons. Both of these weapons have a detriment for the humans, at least-the very pronounced flash that these weapons make upon firing will destroy your night vision in darkness and in an extended fight this would probably give the Cylons an advantage. Aside from that, these versions of the laser weapon are probably the closest thing to "real" that has been seen in any science fiction series. Weapons-grade lasers known on Earth tend to be outside of the visible light wavelength-the "blast" probably should be invisible to our vision. The carried laser is clearly a different style of weapon than the turbolaser on board a warship or in the Colonial Landram.

I speculate again that these might be a plasma-based weapon that is based on laser energy, but is supplemented by fuel energy directed like a bullet onto matter. During the Colonial assault on Gamoray (from "Living Legend, Part II"), one of the Colonials -- Bojay -- was hit by a Cylon laser weapon. It was mentioned that he was bleeding as a result of the hit. Without moving into some of the really nasty details of wound ballistics, let me say that designing firearms to inflict especially severe, unsurvivable wounds is a well honed if not grisly science here on Earth, and probably also on Cylon. The bullet from the Russian AK-74 has a pin in the nose that makes it tumble when it hits a human body, and the original version of the American M-16 had a slow rifling twist that did much the same thing.

A Cylon laser could be calibrated to limit the cauterization that one would expect from a laser injury. A laser would tend to burn through a body. Rapid blood loss is one of the more reliable ways to kill a human, or other organic creature. I tend to believe that the more humane Colonials may frown on such tactics, perhaps to their detriment when facing less noble enemies. The CGI graphics in the trailer let us see one example of a Cylon that appears to be outfitted as a heavy weapons carrier with at least two mounted heavier lasers on shoulders. Given the possibilities with this trend, it may be more appropriate to treat anything larger than the conventional Centurion as a vehicle for combat purposes. It is doubtful that this one, and probably any larger ones, are as vulnerable to laser fire as the Centurion. Beyond the occasional run-ins with Warriors, the Battlestar Galactica series did not have too many infantry-style actions between Colonials and Cylons.

As is the case with our armies on Earth, you would expect both Colonials and Cylons to have their basic weapons, followed up with crew-served weapons that would be carried and employed by teams, and then the heavy backups, ie. mortars and portable missiles, for these engagements. Although a lot of their war was fought in space, you do have to land on and secure the planet or space station or asteroid once you clear the skies overhead of the enemy; a battle in space ultimately has the aim of securing some solid ground within the space. Viewers may recall that the "mountain gun" that the Colonials faced down on the arctic planet (from "Gun on Ice Planet Zero") was destroyed by planted charges; Colonials probably supplement their lasers with hand grenades and mines when closing in on a troop of dismounted Cylons.

Given the Cylon propensity against taking cover, these would be even more effective than normal. Ultimately, we must acknowledge that the budget played heavily into what we did and did not see in the series, no matter how much fun it may be to try to figure out what really was happening. The Colonial Landram and its mounted laser made several appearances, to the detriment of the Cylons. The new movie will have some new things to look at. When the Galactica was ambushed, along with the fleet, they were on a peace mission.

A ship loaded to the gills with ordnance might look really suspicious on a "peace mission," so it is a good possibility that some of the new sights that we may see in the next movie can be explained by saying that the battlestar did not have it's full complement of firepower aboard when the Colonies were wiped out. You would probably also have many specialized escort and support ships for the battlestar, as I alluded to in my point defense article. It would be a shame (for the Cylons) if the Colonial Fleet stumbled across some stashes of war supplies or brought enough fabrication ships on line to restore the weapon racks of the Galactica to their full glory. We have not seen most of this ship's interior.

Perhaps it is just as well that the movie did not show the scenes that most likely did happen on the surfaces of the Colonial worlds following the destruction of their fleet-namely, the "mopping up" of surviving humans by Cylons of various persuasions with time on their hands. Colonials probably did not keep significant numbers of personal weapons-one thing that was conspicuously absent from the "aftermath" of the escape, when the fleet is surveyed, were significant numbers of guns in the hands of refugees. With everyone picking up and running as they were, it would have been hard to screen passengers for heat packed, even if the passengers were willing to put up with the measure.

This was probably just as well for the underfed Fleet, but certainly spelled doom for stragglers confronting Cylon "Einstanzgruppen" sweeping through the ruined cities and landscapes. It is unlikely that any prisoners that were taken were kept for very long. Their fate would appear to have been, as they said in the Greek theatre, "abskena" - our root word for "obscene", or "not fit to be viewed."