A page dedicated to analyzing the capabilities of Goa’uld Ha’tak class ships, colloquially known as Goa’uld motherships. from Stargate SG1.

Speed

Hyperspace Speed.

We can derive the maximum speed of a standard Ha’tak from the episode “Enemies” where a Ha’tak is thrown 4,000,000 light years off course. It was going to take the ship 125 years to travel back. This gives us;

4,000,000

125

This simple calculation derives a maximum speed of 32,000 times the speed of light. I am aware that on one occasion Teal’c stated them to have a maximum speed of 10 times the speed of light, however he seems to clearly be wrong, and it is probable that the Goa’uld do not tell the Jaffa the true capabilities of these ships.

Sub light speed.

In space sub light speed is effectively unlimited, until you reach relativistic speed that is speed comparable to the speed of light, and subject to noticeable effects from Einstein’s theory of relativity. The capabilities of a ship can be described using acceleration. A good example of the accelerate capabilities of a Ha’tak is in the episode Exodus The Ha’tak seems to be able to travel the distance from Vorash to it’s star in a matter of a few minutes. However this is an unreliable estimate, as it is common for scenes to be omitted from television, and as such we are unable to derive any meaningful acceleration from that incident, although we are told that it decelerates to 5% of the speed of light, meaning that the ship’s velocity was already considerable.

Shields

The shields of a Ha’tak seem to be capacitance based. In other words they are able to store energy and use it to counter the energy directed at the ship, without necessarily being able to replenish that stored energy quite so easily. This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of this is that the shields of the ship can function even if the ship’s reactor(s) are not functioning. The disadvantage is the effects of weapons being cumulative, in other words repeated weapons attacks that do not have the energy to penetrate the shields may overwhelm them. Goa’uld sheilds seem to be at least partially “Frequency based” this means that they oscillate on and off at a fixed rate, or frequency. One possible reason for this is to allow the ship to transport people and equipment while it’s sheilds are active.

The most impressive feat accomplished by the shields is surviving the detonation of a one thousand megaton bomb against them, which would mean they survived approximately five hundred megatons

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Docking Capacity

Docking Bays

There are several docking bays, at least two and possibly a great number, aboard a Ha’tak. They are easily able to hold a Tal’tak / Cargo ship (above) and possibly an Al’killesh midrange bomber. We have also seen the Goa’uld deploy a heavy drop ship type craft (“Last Stand” season 5), which seems to have come from a Goa’uld Ha’tak in orbit of the planet in question.

Glider Bays

A Ha’tak usually carries many def-glider fighters, possibly several hundred. These are usually launched from apertures near the ‘bottom’ of the ship, although on one occasion we have seen them launched from a large door in the side of the ship, this could either be an entirely separate bay, or a retrieval door for gliders when they are not in a combat situation. This door may have also been used to launch the drop ship seen in “Last Stand”

Sensors

Faster Than Light

A Ha’tak clearly has sensors capable of detecting a ship approaching at faster than light velocities, in hyperspace. This is shown in the episode “Exodus”

Slower Than Light

Ha’tak shields seem to be based around electromagnetic and neutrino scanning. The neutrino scanners are seen to be operating, scanning Vorash’s star before it’s detonation in “Exodus” In “Enemies” a Ha’tak hides in the outer layers of a blue giant star to avoid detection by enemy vessels. This indicates that the Goa’uld use EM scanning, or some other sensing system that is affected by radiation.

Cloaking Devices

The exact technique of cloaking a ship is mysterious, and to modern science, a complete impossibility, though we know that Ha’tak can be cloaked, this is a rare event. The Goa’uld Lord Anubis also has sensors capable of detecting and targeting cloaked ships. There is no evidence to suggest that cloaked ships are forced to leave their shields down. Though cloaked ships cannot enter or exit hyperspace while under cloak. Apophis used a fleet of cloaked motherships in the episode “Serpent’s Venom” it is likely that these ships arrived in the Tobin system some hours before the meeting he himself attended.

Landing Pedestals

Ha’taks are able to land on the surface of planets. They usually use pyramids to land on, possibly to spread their weight over a larger surface area. This would be supported by the episode “Double Jeopardy” where the pyramid is significantly larger in base size than the Ha’tak. It should be noted that Sokar’s Ha’tak (above) do not land on pyramids, but instead on very large Mastaba like structures. This is possibly due to his long isolation from the system lords, perhaps pyramids were first built after his exile.

We have also seen the Goa’uld Heru-ur use some form of self constructing pyramid technology (“Thor’s Chariot”), These pyramids actually expanded on screen. They may have been prefabricated or my have been constructed from on site materials.

It is also worth noting that we have seen an Alternate universe Goa’uld ship land on top of a mountain.