Here are the designs for the two new Goa'uld ship classes seen in the last few chapters of Robotech: The Stargate Saga.
Nar'kesh Frigate
Class: Nar'kesh
Type: Attack Frigate
Role: Fast Attack Ship/Escort
Dimensions
Length: 200 Meters
Beam: 180 Meters
Height: 38 Meters
Crew Compliment
4 Minimum
120 Jaffa and Goa'uld Overseer
300 Jaffa Warriors (not always embarked)
Propulsion
Inertialess Gravitic Sublight Drive
Goa'uld Interstellar Hyperdrive
Power
1 Naquada Reactor
2 Naquada Generators
Weapons Systems
2 Dual Heavy Staff Cannon Turrets
8 Dual Staff Cannon Turrets
8 Plasma Repeater Arrays
Defences
Conformal Goa'uld Energy Shields
1.5 Meters Naquada-Trinium Hull Armour
ECM Suite
Goa'uld Cloaking Device
Support Craft
1 Tel'tak Cargo Ship
6 Death Gliders
Other Systems
2 Ring Transporter Arrays
Subspace Communications Array
Developed by the Goa'uld inventor and System Lord P'tah the Nar'kesh-class frigate was developed out of a need to quickly build up the naval forces available to the System Lords to counter the numerically and initially technologically superior forces of Sokar. A fast and agile little vessel the Nar'kesh combines great speed and agility with powerful weaponry and is rapidly becoming a staple of many Goa'uld fleets from both factions in the civil war due to their ease of construction in comparison to other warships like the Ha'tak or the Sha'ha'tak-class motherships.
It is believed that even when the civil war ends this class of Goa'uld vessel will remain in production and use due to its versatile capabilities. While fully capable of fighting solo many Goa'uld have adopted the practice of sending out groups of up to five Nar'kesh, these wolf pack tactics allow this small vessel to take on and destroy much larger vessels such as a Ha'tak. This makes it an ideal choice of warship for lower ranking system lords who might not have the resources or manpower necessary to construct many mothership-class vessels.
Propulsion and Power
As with other Goa'uld vessels the Nar'kesh employs an inertialess gravitic drive system for sublight propulsion. This system generates and manipulates fields of gravitational and anti-gravitational force that alternatively push and pull the ship in whichever direction it wishes to travel. Due to its much smaller size the Nar'kesh is able to accelerate to much higher sublight speeds than any other Goa'uld vessel which combined with the presence of a cloaking device makes the Nar'kesh a highly useful long range scouting vessel as well as a powerful line combatant.
Faster than light propulsion is achieved through a standard Goa'uld interstellar hyperdrive though the model used aboard the Nar'kesh features a number of improvements over the standard drive. These improvements mean that this class of vessel has a notably higher hyperdrive speed than any other small Goa'uld vessel and is easily capable of keeping pace with the fastest motherships.
Power for the Nar'kesh comes from a single naquada reactor that provides the lions share of the power that the vessel requires to function. When in combat conditions two smaller secondary naquada generators can also be engaged significantly increasing the strength of the vessels energy shields and firing speed of all but the heaviest of the vessels cannons.
Weapons Systems
For its size the Nar'kesh is a very well-armed vessel capable of punching well above its weight especially when striking with the support of other Nar'kesh or assistance from other attack vessels such as the Nal'kesh and the Al'kesh bombers. The weapons systems of the Nar'kesh are: -
Dual Heavy Staff Cannons (x2) – the heaviest weapons carried aboard the Nar'kesh are two dual heavy staff cannon turrets. One of which is mounted on the dorsal side of the vessel directly in front of the central pyramid that houses the vessels main habitation and command levels. This turret has a hundred and eighty degree angle of rotation and up to a hundred and forty degree elevation of one or both barrels. A second dual heavy turret is located on the vessels underside amidships and has a full three hundred and sixty degree angle of rotation and a hundred and sixty degree angle of elevation for its barrels. Both of these dual heavy turrets are meant primarily for use against enemy capital ships and ground fortifications and cannot track rapidly enough to engage smaller attacking craft.
Dual Staff Cannons (x8) – the standard anti-ship weapons of the Nar'kesh as six dual staff cannon turrets. These turrets are placed one aft of the central dorsal pyramid, one forward of the dorsal dual heavy turret, one on either side of the pyramid and four on the vessels underside in a near identical pattern. All of these turrets have a eighty to ninety degree angle of rotation and can elevate one or both barrels up to a hundred and forty degrees. While faster tracking than the heavy turrets – and indeed can track fast enough to engage bombers – these turrets are not capable of accurately engaging fighters beyond a spray and pray approach.
Plasma Repeater Arrays (x8) – a purely defensive weapon the plasma repeater consists of a small rotary cannon that near continuously emits small but intense bolts of plasma at very high velocity. While not very effective against the shields of larger vessels these rapid fire bolts are fully capable of ripping apart fighters and are primarily designed for this purpose. There are eight arrays – each consisting of between two and three rotary cannons – spread around the hull of the Nar'kesh for optimum defensive coverage.
Defences
As with the much larger Sha'ha'tak the biggest advance with the Nar'kesh is in its defensive systems. Much like the larger vessel the shields on the Nar'kesh are a new design that projects a force field only three or four meters above the hull of the vessel and which precisely follows the contours of the hull. This new shield system takes considerably less energy to generate while making the force field considerably stronger than any previous shield system possessed by the Goa'uld.
As with all new Goa'uld vessels the Nar'kesh is equipped with a cloaking device capable of hiding the entire vessel from both visual and sensor detection. Combined with the use of wolf pack tactics this cloak makes the Nar'kesh a perfect hunter-killer vessel as well as a potent ambush craft it is capable of lying in wait for several days if needed before the cloak begins to overexert the vessels power systems.
Sha'ha'tak Mothership
Class: Sha'ha'tak
Type: Mothership
Role:Line Combat/Flagship
Dimensions
Length: 900 Meters
Width: 750 Meters
Height: 400 Meters
Crew Compliment
24 Minimum
2000 Jaffa and Goa'uld Overseers
5,000 Jaffa Warriors (not always embarked)
Propulsion
Inertialess Gravitic Sublight Drive
Goa'uld Interstellar Hyperdrive
Power
1 Naquada Reactor Cluster
12 Naquada Generators
Weapons Systems
8 Superheavy Staff Cannons
24 Dual Heavy Staff Cannon Turrets
42 Dual Standard Staff Cannon Turrets
40 Plasma Repeater Arrays
Defences
Conformal Goa'uld Energy Shields
3 Meters Layered Naquada-Trinium Hull Armour
ECM Suite
Goa'uld Cloaking Device
Support Craft
4 Nal'kesh Long Range Bombers
8 Al'kesh Midrange Bombers
8 Tel'tak Cargo Ships
12 Tel'kash Troop Transports
14 Squadrons of Death Gliders
Other Systems
6 Primary Ring Transporter Platforms
10 Secondary Ring Transporter Platforms
12 Subspace Communications Arrays
Designed by the Goa'uld inventor and System Lord P'tah after the outbreak of the Goa'uld civil war the Sha'ha'tak is a new breed of Goa'uld mothership. The Sha'ha'tak is considerably larger and far more powerful than the Ha'tak that proceeded it, indeed this class was designed specifically to be more powerful due to the need to counter the upgraded Ha'tak motherships of Sokar.
Due to its increased size and complexity few Goa'uld actually have the ability to build many of this class of mothership with only one or two being built per System Lord and even then those in the lower ranks of the System Lords do not have the ability or resources to construct one of these vessels. For those who are capable of building one a Sha'ha'tak is a prized possession as it is an immensely powerful warship that is capable of taking on multiple Ha'tak-class motherships and destroying them.
Propulsion and Power
As with other Goa'uld vessels the Sha'ha'tak employs an inertialess gravitic drive system for sublight propulsion. This system generates and manipulates fields of gravitational and anti-gravitational force that alternatively push and pull the ship in whichever direction it wishes to travel. Due to the greater size and mass of the Sha'ha'tak compared to the Ha'tak this class of mothership is slightly slower and less manoeuvrable at sublight speeds than its predecessor however this was not considered a problem due to the vessels vastly greater firepower.
Faster than light propulsion is achieved through the standard Goa'uld interstellar hyperdrive. Due to improvements in subspace field generation coils as well as the greater power generation capacity of a Sha'ha'tak this massive vessel is surprisingly swift in hyperspace though it is still not capable of intergalactic travel in a viable timeframe.
Power for the Sha'ha'tak is provided by two different sources with the lions share of the power coming from a naquada reactor cluster in the centre of the vessel. This cluster consists of three reactors that are designed to provide power to the ship in parallel though in theory a single reactor could power the entire ship. However doing so would result in the affected reactor running dangerously hot and thus is something that generally should not be done. In addition to the naquada reactor cluster a number of smaller naquada generators are spread out throughout the ship and can, if the need arises, provide sufficient power to the ship to escape into hyperspace should its main reactors be disabled.
Weapons Systems
As befitting its nature as both a command and control ship and the most powerful mainline combat vessel in the entire Goa'uld armada the firepower possessed by a Sha'ha'tak is immense and includes the very latest in Goa'uld plasma weaponry. The weapons systems of a Sha'ha'tak are: -
Superheavy Staff Cannons (x8) – these massive weapons are the most powerful plasma pulse weapon ever designed and deployed by the Goa'uld aboard a starship. Due to their immense power draw the cannons are only capable of firing a maximum of four shots each before there plasma reservoirs are depleted and must be rebuilt, a process that can take up to two minutes especially when the ship is engaged in sustained combat and the vessels numerous conventional weapons are also demanding fresh supplies of plasma from the plasma generators. Despite this slow recharge rate the superheavy cannons are devastatingly powerful with a single salvo of bolts being able to rip right through the shields of a conventional Ha'tak and destroy it. Two of these cannons are mounted on each of the extreme edges of the diamond-shaped superstructure that surrounds the central pyramid of the ship and due to their size are fixed position weapons.
Dual Heavy Staff Cannon Turrets (x24) – the standard heavy energy weapons of the Sha'ha'tak each dual heavy turret is capable of firing up to ten consecutive bolts per barrel before their plasma reservoir is depleted and must be refilled, a process that takes up to thirty seconds. Three of each of these turrets are located along the spine of each of the eight connecting arms that join the external diamond-shaped superstructure to the pyramidal core of the vessel and have a hundred and forty degree angle of rotation and a ninety degree angle of elevation per cannon. Due to their large size these cannons are relatively slow tracking and cannot reliably engage anything smaller than a frigate.
Dual Staff Cannon Turrets (x42) – The standard secondary energy weapons of the Sha'ha'tak the dual staff cannons are capable of near continuous fire with a pause no longer that three seconds between salvos. The dual staff turrets are spread out across the hull of the mothership in a pattern that allows optimum amounts of firepower to be directed upon all angles. These turrets have a much higher tracking speed than the heavy turrets and are capable of engaging most targets with only fighters being able to evade being engaged by them in anything other than a spray and pray fashion.
Plasma Repeater Arrays (x40) – as with the smaller Nar'kesh frigate the Sha'ha'tak is equipped with plasma repeater arrays for use against hostile fighter craft. Each array consists of three rotary pulse cannons that due to their high rotation speed release a continuous stream of small plasma bolts that can rip apart any fighter they hit and in numbers can even pose a threat to the unshielded hull of an enemy capital ship. Eighteen of the arrays are spread around the central pyramid to protect it and the most vital areas of the ship from fighter attack with the rest spread out across the rest of the ship for optimal defensive coverage.
Defences
Like with the smaller and much more nimble Nar'kesh the most impressive advance possessed by the Sha'ha'tak are its defensive energy shields. Unlike with the previous classes of mothership – the Ha'tak and the even older Cheops – where the shields existed as a bubble around the ship, the shields of a Sha'ha'tak hug close to the hull with the force field being projected only three meters above the outer layer of the hull. This new conformal design is not only far more energy efficient but results in a force field that, despite its reduced power demand, is actually far stronger than a bubble shield.
In addition to the shields the Sha'ha'tak has a thick armoured hull made of a trinium-naquada composite that is designed to soak up the heat of incoming plasma blasts and covert the heat into energy which can then be syphoned off into the ships power systems.
As with all new Goa'uld ships the Sha'ha'tak is also equipped with a cloaking device allowing it to both carry out covert reconnaissance of a target as well as mount ambushes.
Support Craft
As with all motherships the Sha'ha'tak is a formidable carrier as well as a battleship. Four specialist bays on the vessel allow it to service and restock the munitions of bomber-class vessels such as the Al'kesh and the Nal'kesh. These bays are located halfway up the core pyramid and can be accessed by heavily armoured hatches set between the upper and lower connecting arms of the outer framework.
In addition to bombers the Sha'ha'tak is home base for fourteen squadrons of death gliders. These are launched from one of eight bays located around the lower hull beneath the lower connecting arm of the exterior framework to the core pyramid. This marks a slight departure from previous Goa'uld designs which had the launch bays at the very base of the ship but was built into the design to allow both more fighters to be launched and retrieved at once and provide the bays – which like all hangars are a natural weakness in a starships defences – with greater protection especially from the ventral plasma repeater arrays.