Sa-Matra

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The Sa-Matra is a part of the 1992 science fiction computer game Star Control 2, and therefore also of its recent port, The Ur-Quan Masters.

The Sa-Matra is a phenomenal relic of the long gone ultra-advanced Precursors, a massive and intact battleship. In contrast, the player's ship is the skeleton of a Precursor tug, built up with the younger races' technology, and it can blow away contemporary ships with ease. The Sa-Matra is unstoppable in battle.

The craft was discovered and named what in their language means "Great Trophy" by the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za. After they used it to defeat their sibling race, the Kohr-Ah, the Sa-Matra became the prize of their Doctrinal Conflicts, to be given to the victor to mold the galaxy to their will, until next time. Star Control 2 is won when the Sa-Matra is destroyed.

[edit] Defences

The Sa-Matra is an extremely heavily armoured battle platform, seemingly reliant upon the Ur-Quan fleets to tow it into battle. To further supplement its defences, the Ur-Quan have encased it in an impermeable shell of fused asteroids, with only one small entrance covered by a massively powerful force field. This field is itself sustained by generators fixed on the outside of the asteroid shell. As such, to destroy the Sa-matra, you must first obliterate all eight generators, then move through the rather small opening, and then the ship will dock next to the platform and self-destruct.

[edit] Weapons

The main weaponry of the Sa-Matra are its Annihilation Toroids, which are (luckily) never seen in action. They are said to be able to obliterate entire fleets from distance such that their attacker cannot even be seen. This weapon is responsible for the fall of the Chenjesu and Mmrnmhrm fleets at the end of the first war.

Additionally, the platform has rather fearsome defence weapons as well. The first are repulsor spheres, which are quick, independently guided green orbs. These units can project a powerful field that inflicts minimal damage, but provides a large kinetic push on the attacker. These units are very effective at keeping any aggressors away from the Sa-Matra.

They are backed up by the plasma fireballs, which are huge flaming balls of energy, somehow guided by the battlestation. They hunt down the foe, and simply pass straight through them, causing enormous damage as their heat and energy ravage the ship.

Both repulsors and fireballs can be destroyed by application of sufficient firepower, but the Sa-matra can replace them quickly and easily, and appears to have an infinite supply.

Fortunately, once you destroy the eight force field generators so you can move in, the repulsors and fireballs stop coming, but they tend to finish off the current ship (usually an escort, not the Flagship).

[edit] Destruction Of The Sa-Matra

The battlestation was eventually destroyed by the protagonist of Star Control 2. Firstly, he used a revived Dnyarri to befuddle and dominate the Ur-Quan (both Kohr-ah and Kzer-za) fleet protecting the station, and defeated those who managed to resist the mental compulsion. Then, the fleet engaged the Sa-Matra itself, trying to destroy the shield generators while resisting the tremendous firepower. In this battle, the Pkunk Fury proved capable of often evading the weaponry, the Utwig Jugger absorbs the damage of the station's weapons with its replenishing shield, and the Chmmr Avatar of absorbing their firepower, however briefly, allowing them to damage the Station. Other ships were largely ineffective and extremely short lived.

This accomplished, the captain was able to manouver his flagship through the shell and place it adjacent to the Sa-Matra. After launching himself and his crew in an escape pod, he detonated his craft, which was loaded with an incredibly ancient, Precursor designed, Antimatter bomb, and laden with a sophisticated crystalline matrix designed to amplify the bomb's power. This, combined with the not inconsiderable self destruct sequence of the flagship's engines and contained by the asteroid shell, was enough to destroy the Sa-Matra, the Precursor ship's fleet escaping into Hyperspace while the protagonist jettisoned away from the ship in an escape pod. Even so, the blast was of such incredible magnitude that the pod was nearly torn apart by the resulting shockwave. Also, fortunately or unfortunately, the Dnyarri was also destroyed, for, as in his last recorded words, "In case you're wondering, Captain, I'm not goin' with ya. I'm stayin' here. Why? 'Cuz I'm locked in here, ya idiot! Help! HELP!!!" Even this is unsure, though, because he returns during the credits (though the credits seem to be a joke for the most part, especially due to many cases of breaking the Fourth Wall among the species that appear in them).