The al'kesh - bomber or capital ship?

[Mr Prophet]

So in various episodes the al'kesh is referred to as a mid-range bomber and as a cruiser. Which is the more apt? In the original appearance it looks a little bigger than a teltac, but later on it's clearly a pretty substantial piece of space hardware.

So what is its role? Does/can it dock on board a ha'tak for long-range flight? Does it carry troops?

What do people make of this particular vessel?

And okay, so the title of this thread could easily be: 'The al'kesh: How cool is that?', but I am interested.

Edit: Oh; and I'm no naval expert, so if a cruiser isn't quite a capital vessel, please forgive my inaccuracy.

[aAnubiSs]

It can probably carry a few troops, but I think it's primary a bombing vessel.

[Anubis]

I believe the Al'Kesh are to be primary large bomber ships, a upgrade to a Death Glider and Scout Ship. It hasn't really shown any troops on board one of these in any episodes!?

[Mr Prophet]

I believe the Al'Kesh are to be primary large bomber ships, a upgrade to a Death Glider and Scout Ship. It hasn't really shown any troops on board one of these in any episodes!?

In The Other Guys they seem to be transporting troops on/off the al'kesh, which is clearly a great deal bigger than a teltac (it appears to have comfortable cargo space for several Stargates), but then all information from Felger episodes should probably be considered suspect.

[Bacardi]

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im sure in "The Other Guys" sg-1 were captured by troops from an Al'kesh.

theyre reffered mostly as Mid-Range bombers but they also have guns, as seen in many ep's, for example...umm off the top of my head..."Avenger 2.0"

i think theyre kinda a general purpose attack vessel, kinda like armoured vehicles in our armed-forces.. capable of carrying some troops from here to there in relative safety, but also capable of kicking butt if needed in battle..

[Mr Prophet]

im sure in "The Other Guys" sg-1 were captured by troops from an Al'kesh.

theyre reffered mostly as Mid-Range bombers but they also have guns, as seen in many ep's, for example...umm off the top of my head..."Avenger 2.0"

They have a twin-gun turret on the belly, used for fighter defence among other things (Exodus). They have either multi-purpose ordnance or both bombs (Last Stand) and some kind of torpedo for use against ha'taks (Exodus). We also know for a fact that they have hyperdrives (Grace), transport rings (The Other Guys) and can have cloaking devices (Exodus), and it makes sense that they have shields, since the smaller teltacs do.

In The Other Guys, the troops certainly appear to have come down in an al'kesh, but they may simply be transporting from the ha'tak vessel in orbit, as they are being held on a ha'tak later. If it were not expecting to do any bombing, I guess they could strip the ordnance bay for transport, much as Jacob removed the internal partitions of his teltac to contain the mine in Serpent's Venom.

I don't think we've ever seen the interior of an al'kesh, but I picture it as being a little more Spartan than other Goa'uld vessels. I suppose I see it as a fairly flexible, but basically very serious vessel, with less of the usual Goa'uld penchant for style-over-substance. Essentially a Jaffa ship instead of a Goa'uld one, intended for battle instead of prestige work. This I base on nothing but conjecture.

[spg_1983]

Actually if you look closley in "The Other Guys" there are two al'kesh in the foreground but in the background landed is a ship that looks slightly different, the one in the back is a troop transport that the majority of jaffa would have come down on, the al'kesh probably carry a few but not the bulk

[Anubis]

Next time these episodes are aired I'll take a closer look. But if I made a guess perhaps one of these ships could carry about twenty or thirty people. I like the weapons that the ship has also. Quite powerful

[Mr Prophet]

Actually if you look closley in "The Other Guys" there are two al'kesh in the foreground but in the background landed is a ship that looks slightly different, the one in the back is a troop transport that the majority of jaffa would have come down on, the al'kesh probably carry a few but not the bulk

I think there's a few of those heavy transports - I call them 'barques', after the egyptological word for 'barges' - in Last Stand and Full Circle as well. I only recalled one ship in The Other Guys though.

[spg_1983]

I think there's a few of those heavy transports - I call them 'barques', after the egyptological word for 'barges' - in Last Stand and Full Circle as well. I only recalled one ship in The Other Guys though.

im sorry you are completely right! i was thinking of "Last Stand" at the scene where they look over the hill and Jack goes "They appear to be landing a few troops" wrong episode but the point is the same.

[Teal'c]

The Al'kesh is a bigish ship. But, I'm pretty sure it could fit in the cargo bay of a mothership, which in Enemies and Exodus, looks considerably bigger than the Tel'tac in it. Plus the ones in Full Circle were not seen exiting hyperspace with Anubis' ship.

It carries a good few of those bombs (From Exodus, Summit, Full Circle etc.) maybe a couple of dozen... so I'd say the lower half (probably not the whole half) would be devoted to the weapons storage and power (for the twin cannon turret). The hyperdrive would also take up space. So I'd say it wouldn't hold very many troops, a couple of dozen perhaps.

As for shields, several episode indicate that they don't have any (48 Hours, Lost City etc), but then they're mostly used for ground troop support and staff weapons would pose much of a threat (And glider cannons only if you get a good shot with them)

The Troop Transport (Summit, Last Stand, Redemption Part 2, Full Circle) doesn't appear to have any shields either, but seems like it can carry upwards of one hundred troops.

Anyway, the Al'kesh is a pretty fast ship, as fast as a Ha'tak, and would probably be deployed before a Ha'tak would be considered.

In closing, the Al'kesh rules

[Mr Prophet]

As for shields, several episode indicate that they don't have any (48 Hours, Lost City etc), but then they're mostly used for ground troop support and staff weapons would pose much of a threat (And glider cannons only if you get a good shot with them)

Both of those were in atmosphere though, where shields are less effective. Besides which, shields strength is adversly effected by narrative imperative. You may be right, there's just no earthly reason for it not to have shields and the pounding it takes in Exodus before it goes down suggests to me it has shields.

Anyway, the Al'kesh is a pretty fast ship, as fast as a Ha'tak, and would probably be deployed before a Ha'tak would be considered.

Cite your sources for the speed of an al'kesh. Do we have any indication it can go as fast as a modern ha'tak?

Of course, since Teal'c - not you Teal'c; Teal'c Teal'c - calls it a 'mid-range bomber' (in the same ep. he calls it a cruiser), presumably it doesn't have the same endurance as a ha'tak. I'd guess that they're used to soften up ground-to-orbit defences before the less-manouevrable ha'taks arrive, as well as offering close ground support.

In closing, the Al'kesh rules

On this we are in accord.

[Teal'c]

But in Exodus it wasn't hit, it was flying so close to the hull, Teal'c couldn't hit it, well, he eventually did and that knocked it offline.

And in Avenger 2.0 their Al'kesh travels 400 light years in a matter of hours. Even using conservative figures it still places it as faster than the Ha'tak.

[crono2004]

Really I think that it is only a bomber, it looks enormous because of the bulkload of ammo it can carry, but the bombs can be cleared out to transport troops.

[Mr Prophet]

And in Avenger 2.0 their Al'kesh travels 400 light years in a matter of hours. Even using conservative figures it still places it as faster than the Ha'tak.

Yes. Some 17 times the speed at upwards of 1 light year per minute to the ha'tak's 0.06 (Enemies). This actually makes me a little skeptical of the comparison. Given that a teltac is supposed to be cpable of twice the speed of light and the nearest star to Sol is 4.22 light years away - a lot more than the 'day's travel' proposed in Tangent at 2 light years per annum - I'm actually doubtful of every speed calculation ever given for a spaceship in Stargate.

Still, I'll buy the al'kesh matches a ha'tak for speed.