SJ Sathanas
The SJ Sathanas is the most powerful space-faring warship ever encountered by the GTVA. With four ultra-heavy beam cannons, a Sathanas outstrips even a Colossus-class vessel in terms of raw firepower.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the following storylines:
- Freespace 2
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| The SJ Sathanas |
Contents
Overview
The prowess of this class was tragically demonstrated when a Sathanas juggernaut destroyed the GTVA Colossus in the Capella system. The only apparent weakness of the Shivan juggernaut is that the massive beam cannons are concentrated at the bow. Aside from a comparatively diminuative anti-warship beam cannon at the stern, the other flanks of the massive warship are covered only by point-defense weapons. However, a Sathanas is still more than able to defend itself and project offensive power via the many hundreds of fighters and bombers it carries in its cavernous hangar. Thus, stopping a juggernaut is almost impossible. Even the "expedient" of disabling the massive warship is hardly worth considering, due to the numerous redundant engines found on the hull. In essence, any attack on a Sathanas-class juggernaut can be considered almost suicidal. Only the Colossus demonstrated enough firepower to take on a Sathanas.
Its prefix designation, SJ, stands for "Shivan Juggernaut."
History
The first combat appearance of a Shivan Juggernaut was in the nebula theater, beyond the first Knossos portal in Gamma Draconis, when the warship destroyed a Vasudan task force assaulting a Shivan gasmining operation. The GTVA immediately began to withdraw from the nebula, though not before sending a pilot in the new Ptah-class stealth fighter to scan the vessel. Based on this information, the Alliance launched a targetted bombing mission to eliminate several of the forward beam cannons (there is no canon consensus concerning exactly how many were destroyed, but at least two were taken out) in the Gamma Draconis system, and the GTVA Colossus engaged and destroyed the weakened juggernaut after it jumped to the Capella system.
After that victory, the GTVA were confident they could eliminate any threats the Shivans could present, and returned to the nebula with the objective of locating and capturing Admiral Aken Bosch. However, that goal failed to be achieved as GTVA forces discovered that multiple Sathanas-class juggernauts were en route to GTVA space. Gamma Draconis was quickly overrun by the swift advance of the juggernaut fleet, which shortly entered Capella. In a desperate gamble, the GTVA fleet held the Shivans at bay while civilians were evacuated to Epsilon Pegasi and Vega. During the closing stages of the battle, the GTVA Colossus was destroyed in Capella by a Shivan juggernaut while providing a diversion for the GTD Bastion, which was tasked with collapsing the jump corridor to Epsilon Pegasi. In a final startling turn of events, the Shivan juggernauts instigated the super-nova of the Capella star as the jump corridor to Vega was destroyed.
Conclusion
The Shivan juggernaut fleet is the single, most serious threat to the survival of the Terran and Vasudan species. The GTVA barely managed to stop one Sathanas, and even then it was with a warship that took two decades and enormous amounts of resources to construct. An encounter with any more Shivan juggernauts will only be able to be stopped with extreme difficulty. All technical data concerning Sathanas-class juggernauts has been classified Level Upsilon.
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Description:
FS2 Tech Room Description
Very little is known about the SJ Sathanas class. This juggernaut seems comparable in strength to the GTVA Colossus. All intelligence concerning the Sathanas has been classified level Upsilon.
Developer Notes
None
Performance:
Statistics
| Type | Juggernaut |
| Manufacturer | Unknown |
| Maneuverability | N/A |
| Max Velocity | 25.0 mps |
| Max Afterburner Velocity | N/A |
| Armor | N/A |
| Hitpoints | 1 000 000 |
| Shields | N/A |
| Length | 5978 m |
Armaments
| Freespace 2 | |
| Turret Type | Amount |
| Shivan Turret Laser | 22 |
| Standard Flak | 11 |
| Long Range Flak | 2 |
| Piranha | 5 |
| Anti-Fighter Beam | 8 |
| Large Red Beam | 1 |
| Very Big Red Beam | 4 |
Notes
User-made campaigns
This ships also appears in Inferno, where it makes use of a subspace weapon
Veteran Comments
It is also vulnerable to fighters and bombers if they attack near enough to the weapons subsystems, making it impossible for the anti-fighter beams to reach.
This giant warship is curious, neither the Colossus nor the Sathanas have very good anti-fighter defenses. A squadron of Helios capable bombers can take out all of its main beam cannons, leaving it vulnerable to attack. If it wasn't for the "supercap" flag, the Sathanas in such a state would be vulnerable to attacks by destroyers.
The Sathanas, like most FS2 Shivan capital craft, has an attack-oriented design that makes use of the known Shivan superiority at subspace jumping (at least in capital craft) to deal devastating first-strike blows. If itself attacked, it has problems. It has a single other anti-capital beam, an LRed in a "stinger" posistion aft and below; this weapon is not sufficent to prevent the Sathanas from being flanked. The Sathanas' defenses against fightercraft assault are respectable, but as mentioned above poorly sited to defend against an attack on its main armament. (The Colossus is notably superior in this regard.) In a way the Sathanas is a microcosm of the Shivan war machine, which is dependant on continually being on the assault to keep its flaws from being exposed. On the defensive it can still deal out heavy blows, but ultimately it is not prepared for the role. It is worth noting that the only time ingame the Sathanas was actually attacked, by a Vasudan corvette in "A Monster in the Mist", it was unable to come to grips with its opponent. Even in "High Noon" the Sathanas was essentially on the offensive, in motion towards the statically positioned Colossus.
This is one bigass mother of a ship. However, its defensive capabilities against fighters and bombers are far below par, so you can easily see why I disagree with the first comment. A quick salvo of Helios missiles should take care of the four front beams. The only annoying thing one should be warned about this is the forward flak cannon constantly bombarding your ship. If you can get rid of that, the ship is easily fried into helpless cap-ship fodder. Given an endless amount of time, enough missiles, and enough patience, it's possible that a single fighter or bomber could take down this juggernaut, as the Shivans apparently weren't planning on engineering defenses into their cap-ship destroyer. Unless its forward beam turrets are intact, it's as harmless as a fly (although not easily as squashed). Just be warned not to sit in front of it as it jumps out.
This ship is sooo not to be trifled with. You have to make sure you take out its front beams before you do anything else or you and your fellow Terrans are screwed bigtime.
It is true that a Sathanas CAN be flanked by a smaller warship, but do not underestimate the strength of its rear-facing LRed. Without any fighters or bombers to disable it, even a Hatshepsut-class destroyer may not be able to survive attacking it from behind. If that single turret is destroyed, however, it will change the outcome. Don't forget that in terms of plotline a sitting Sathanas isn't a good view: the ship should turn to face the opponent and the number of spacecraft housed in the hangar, supposed to be very high, should be enough to overwhelm GTVA bombers and warships without problems. Consider these factors when designing a strike against a Sathanas.
I find that as long as you're nowhere near any flak cannons, staying low and close to the hull like you're walking on it is a method that can allow you to effectively neutralize every one of its turrets. Of course it'll take a while, since you're certainly not going to get your wingmen to follow you in your plan. The Sathanas in my opinion really only poses a threat to big ships. (A really, really big threat.)
