Alteran City-Ship
Name: City-Ship
Craft: Alteran City-Ship
Type: City / Colony / Oupost / Starship
Scale: Death Star
Length: 800+ meters tall
Skill: Capital Ship Pilot
Crew: Varies Greatly; Skeleton: 1/+10
Passengers: Thousands
Cargo Capacity: 500,000,000 metric tons
Consumables: 20 years
Hyperdrive: x0.0007
Nav Computer: yes
Maneuverability: 1D
Space: 10
Atmosphere: 415; 1,200 kmh
Hull: 2D
Shields: 5D
Sensors
- Passive: 100 / 2D+1
- Scan: 200 / 5D
- Search: 300 / 7D+1
- Focus: 10 / 10D
Weapons
- 3 Type X Drone Weapon Launchers
- Fire Arc: ventral
Crew: 1
Scale: Capital
Skill: Semi-Automated: Capital Ship Gunnery: 4D
Fire Control: 6D
Space Range: 1-18/45/90
Atmosphere Range: 2-36/90/180km
Damage: 12D
Complement:
- Puddle Jumpers: 20+
Description: "Flying city."—Jack O'Neill
A city-ship is a mobile city used by the Ancients. With roughly the same internal space as is found on Manhattan island, city-ships are some of the largest vessels in the known universe. They are also formidable battleships, although their effectiveness is severely reduced when in space.
"Look, the city, as you know, is just a giant spaceship..."—Rodney McKay
The Ancients were already using city-ships several million years ago, when they departed Antarctica for the Pegasus galaxy aboard the city-ship Atlantis. At least one other Ancient built city-ship is known to exist in Pegasus; whether it was constructed there or was part of the Ancients' original migration is unknown.
A city-ship's design much more closely resembles that of a modern city than a spacecraft, with systems and living quarters distributed throughout several towers that extend away from the drive system; while in flight, the top of a city-ship would be considered the "front."
All known city-ships are capable of planetary landing; and indeed, they do not seem to have been designed primarily to function in space. Their hulls are not airtight, at least not in the majority of the ship, requiring the use of a shield to maintain atmosphere. As they are typically powered by three Zero Point Modules, the shields are exceptionally powerful, withstanding days of constant enemy fire with just one ZPM; though probably as a result of this, the hull itself is quite fragile.
As evidenced by Atlantis, city-ships are inherently buoyant, capable of floating on the surface of a large body of water without any apparent technological aid; they can also rest on the bottom of an ocean, though again the shield is needed to prevent flooding.
Some city-ships, such as Atlantis, contain their own Stargates, located near the top of the central On some city-ships, however, this location instead houses the control chair, which in Atlantis is located in another tower altogether.
City-ships carry a large number of drone weapons, which are apparently their only armament as city-ships were originally designed and built at a time when the Ancients had no enemies and could rely on ships for defense if necessary. (The Atlantis expedition did, however, install railguns on Atlantis for use as point-defense weapons against the Wraith darts attacking the city, but these were unnecessary for the Ancients as weapons fire was no match for a shield powered by 3 ZPMs and the city's thousands of drone weapons could destroy any ships attacking the city.)
In addition, city-ships can host a myriad of other systems, many of which can be run without the need for a ZPM. Most of the offensive systems, such as the drones, can be run off a pair of Mark II Naquadah generators, in a state of barely controlled overload. They require a ZPM for extended operations however, as does the shield. The stardrive is designed to function with three ZPMs, but it is possible (though inadvisable) to fly the city with less. The Atlantis Expedition managed to do so with only one ZPM, albeit using additional energy supplied by an Ancient geothermal drilling platform.
Source:
- Stargate Wiki: City-ship
- thedemonapostle