These ships really puzzle me.
They're called mid range bombers or something in Goa'uld, and have been used in different ways.
The funniest one is against troops, where they hover like 50 meters above the ground, and drop glowing balls of explosives or so.
The yield may be worth several thousands of megajoules, or less.
Yet, we've seen them used in other ways.
Aside from their role as tug ships (seen dragging Goa'uld cargo pods in Bounty I believe), they were seen firing their turret at Teal'c and O'neill in Exodus, used by SG-1 to scare off army men from an alien civilization.
These are very low end in fact, because the yields are often worth a portion of C4 and that's all.
However, we've all seen them used repeatedly against capital ships.
Exodus
An Al'kesh uncloaks within the shield perimeter of the Ha'tak used by SG-1 and starts shooting at the ship's hull with its turret, all at the same time dropping blue (ion?) bombs. The bomber did deal some significant damage to the ship's hull, which I remind you, is made of naqahdah, and has been seen able to withstand direct hits from other Ha'taks's main weapons, and resist the intense radiations of a blue giant for an hour.
Heroes
Al'keshes do straffing runs and drop bombs, blowing up small bits of ruins (pillars, walls, etc.).
Lost City Pt II
A couple of Al'keshes make circles around the Prometheus and try to wear her shields down, by dropping bombs. But the presence of the ancient outpost beneath seems to forbid Goa'uld from using greater yields.
Prometheus Unbound
Daniel and Vala move the Prometheus out, which is assaulted by Death Gliders and Al'keshes.
Reckoning
Probably the weirder case, where Ha'taks and Al'keshes, under Baal's command, are firing at Teal'c's and Bra'tac's ships.
Ok, Baal clearly was holding back then, but most impressive is the size of the fireballs fired from the Ha'taks. When they hit, they splatter against the shields of the rebels ships over a large arc.
But when the Al'keshes attack fire at the ship with their turret
And they seemed to deal some significant damage as well.
There's another episode involving the Trust I think, where the Prometheus is threatened by an Al'kesh, and fires two missiles at the Goa'uld ship, blowing it up.
There's also that old episode where Zipacna assaults a Tok'ra base with his ships, and we see a group of Al'keshes drop more bombs, which would be in the high megajoule range.
It's not the firt time that bits of dialogue have refer to Al'keshes as powerful ships either.
So what's the solution here? Are Al'keshes' weapons more or less weak in terms of pure energy against solid matter (high megajoule range), but able to weaken capital ships, with shields rated in the considerable gigaton range), thanks to some fancy technobabble?
If yes, this would have interesting implications on the weapons of Ha'taks, which are powerful enough to drop 200 megaton shots (at least) on cities.
They're called mid range bombers or something in Goa'uld, and have been used in different ways.
The funniest one is against troops, where they hover like 50 meters above the ground, and drop glowing balls of explosives or so.
The yield may be worth several thousands of megajoules, or less.
Yet, we've seen them used in other ways.
Aside from their role as tug ships (seen dragging Goa'uld cargo pods in Bounty I believe), they were seen firing their turret at Teal'c and O'neill in Exodus, used by SG-1 to scare off army men from an alien civilization.
These are very low end in fact, because the yields are often worth a portion of C4 and that's all.
However, we've all seen them used repeatedly against capital ships.
Exodus
An Al'kesh uncloaks within the shield perimeter of the Ha'tak used by SG-1 and starts shooting at the ship's hull with its turret, all at the same time dropping blue (ion?) bombs. The bomber did deal some significant damage to the ship's hull, which I remind you, is made of naqahdah, and has been seen able to withstand direct hits from other Ha'taks's main weapons, and resist the intense radiations of a blue giant for an hour.
Heroes
Al'keshes do straffing runs and drop bombs, blowing up small bits of ruins (pillars, walls, etc.).
Lost City Pt II
A couple of Al'keshes make circles around the Prometheus and try to wear her shields down, by dropping bombs. But the presence of the ancient outpost beneath seems to forbid Goa'uld from using greater yields.
Prometheus Unbound
Daniel and Vala move the Prometheus out, which is assaulted by Death Gliders and Al'keshes.
Reckoning
Probably the weirder case, where Ha'taks and Al'keshes, under Baal's command, are firing at Teal'c's and Bra'tac's ships.
Ok, Baal clearly was holding back then, but most impressive is the size of the fireballs fired from the Ha'taks. When they hit, they splatter against the shields of the rebels ships over a large arc.
But when the Al'keshes attack fire at the ship with their turret
And they seemed to deal some significant damage as well.
There's another episode involving the Trust I think, where the Prometheus is threatened by an Al'kesh, and fires two missiles at the Goa'uld ship, blowing it up.
There's also that old episode where Zipacna assaults a Tok'ra base with his ships, and we see a group of Al'keshes drop more bombs, which would be in the high megajoule range.
It's not the firt time that bits of dialogue have refer to Al'keshes as powerful ships either.
So what's the solution here? Are Al'keshes' weapons more or less weak in terms of pure energy against solid matter (high megajoule range), but able to weaken capital ships, with shields rated in the considerable gigaton range), thanks to some fancy technobabble?
If yes, this would have interesting implications on the weapons of Ha'taks, which are powerful enough to drop 200 megaton shots (at least) on cities.
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