If I remember correctly, this bone-stone stuff (the ancient engine) doesn’t fly on it’s own, there has to be some kind of tension, another function of those thick wires. You see that the engine also goes down if you shoot imperial ships.
I’d say that the float engine of a ship is normally kept active / switched on by devices within the grafted-on Imperial part of the craft. That would explain why the whole ship goes down when the manned part of it is damaged; but this is not always the case. If you remember the boss of Zwei Episode 2, that ship’s float engines just lifted off into the sky when they were broken away from the body of the thing. Apparently they never became deactivated.
Anyway, I’d suggest that, with the ships just being Ancient Age float engines with Imperial metalwork grafted on, the Empire would have simply created landing / docking gear as appropriate. I’d expect that the actual means of docking / landing is located within the carrier ships, though, and that they aren’t normally capable of just landing anywhere.
If I can find any good images of landed ships, I’ll tell you.
A question I’ve been meaning to ask: are Float engines some sort of bio monsters? Although they don’t seem alive like other bio-engineered creatures, they do have an organic appearance and they have the same green energy flowing through them (at least in PD Orta). I was wondering if they were perhaps “grown” instead of built.
I believe that somewhere in PDO’s encyclopedia it stated / implied exactly that - i.e. that all of the Ancient Age’s structures were created through genetic engineering, rather than physical craftsmanship. Float Engines, monsters, “ruins”; everything with that stone-like (or bone-like) white appearance. If I come across the passage of text, I’ll post it.
Well actually it’s that piece of text that made me come up with that question 
Here’s the passage:
“Previously, it was thought that only plants and animals contained genetic materials, but as research on the Ancient Age continued, scientists soon realized that the manipulation of genetics was the very foundation for all ancient technologies.”
Actually, it would make sense that even Towers are living beings. Drones interfaced with them just as they did with other creatures. They would also be able to adapt to the environment and for example breath air to purify it.
Yep, that would all make sense. In terms of the Float Engine thing, they seem to fly in the same way that most Pure Type monsters do, as well - that is, via some kind of antigravity / repulsion rather than normal flight. It’d make sense if a standard Float Engine was just a simplified monster without a consciousness, limbs, weapons etc.
Also, some things like Mel-Kava noticeably blur the lines between “inanimate object” and “living creature”. All this would certainly explain why every Ancient Age building, artefact, relic, creature and weapon looks structurally similar.
makes me wonder thought how such things (e.g. float engines or buildings) would get their energy. Pure types get it from eating things(or do they?) but i cant imagine a building doing that.
Apparently, pure type monsters don’t eat - I’ve just noticed this quote from PDO’s encyclopedia, describing the pure types:
“They are usually in a dormant state, almost as if hibernating. However, if a human approaches, these creatures will spring to life and will not cease until destroyed, or their targets are destroyed. These creatures are also highly photosynthetic, therefore do not require any sort of digestive organs.”
Azel is also - technically, at least - a pure type, and at some point in Saga she tells Edge that she does not need to eat or drink. So, as odd as it may seem, the Ancient Age’s ruins and creatures gain energy through photosynthesis. Like plantlife. Apparently…
Well now that you say that… perhaps that’s why Edge’s gun didn’t work at the beginning of PDS? It was kept away from the sun for too long maybe? But how come it didn’t err…die?
And there’s the question of how could those biomonsters live in that place then…
Ah well… this was discussed before that’s why it came to me now…
Well i havent discussed it before so lets dredge up the crap again!
I presumed that Edges gun did not work because he wasnt bonded with a dragon at that point, however the only evidence I have is that it was shaped like a dragon and it started working when he got lagi.
Also I have a theory on how the pure types could live inside a structure with no sunlight, I believe it is possible that the structure would give them energy, the structures are huge and could photosynthesize a lot of energy. We have seen monsters in hibernation in structures (e.g. in PDZ) which seem to be connected or hanging from cables in the building. Isnt it possible that these creatures could be getting their energy from the building?
It’s more likely they store energy.
Plus any building at the excavation site wasn’t getting much sunglight either :x
Your thought about Edge’s gun was what I had thought at first as well (it’s written in another thread) but someone mentioned the gun doesn’t work at a later time again when Edge is about to shoot someone. I think it’s around the part Edge gets captured… If I’m right then perhaps it really is the fact it didn’t get light since when he was captured it was again kept in the dark for quite sometime while Edge was being tortured propably…
Anyway, just a few thoughts, I really don’t know if it can be explained fully and I haven’t put that much thought into it…
Interesting thoughts on the floatage engine - i’ll be sure to include these thoughts about the engines possibly being “creatures” of sorts when i update my site.
I’d love to get some more images of imperial ships, if anyone has any shoot me an email at: wookie_roar@hotmail.com