So, i finally found people to play Rogue Trader and as a Battlefleet Gothic Enthusiast, i delved into the ship building rule and whipped out an Overlord Battlecruiser, with Sunhammer Lance Batteries on Deck and Stygies Macrocannons in the Prow.

Barracks, a Munitorium and Copartmentalized Cargo Holds rounded it up.

A lucky roll of 10 on the profit factor brought me 70 ship points for this whole operation.

So, after reading through a few threads here, i felt the notion, that this may not be a good setup as a starting ship. The background of my RT will be that he's a regimental commander gifted a Warrant as a reward with the requirement, that he colonizes a planet after a while.

I have no idea what the requirements could be for a ship, except for combat purposes and hauling cargo. This mostly comes from my inexperience with the game.

From a character perspective, a focus on boarding actions, invasions, hauling big amounts of people + supplies (soldiers mostly) is expected from my RT, but everything under Cruiser size seems very... pathetically small or doesn't offer the speed i expect from a starship. (A good example would be the Universe in the speed department)

I dunno how much speed and amor in the end factor into survivability in space combat, but could imagine that with 70SP you could create a Universe, thats functioning pretty nifty as a Mass Army transport + Cargo + Carrier.

Essential Components include the following:

Jovian Pattern Class 4 Drive , Strelov 4 Warp Engine © , Gellar Field, Ship Master's Bridge (C, CB, CG) , Vitae Pattern Life Sustainer , BG-15 Assault Scanners , Voidsmans Quarters

Also, can somebody explain to me how cargo space works? I simply can't figure out if i have to buy a main hold or one compartmentalized hold suffices.

If you're playing rules as written, macrobatteries are a better choice than lances. This is particularly true with the munitorium, which doesn't boost lance damage. Your build is pretty much a straight warship. You can optimise a ship for one of several tasks; war, trade, exploration, creed, or crime. Mostly, this determines what supplemental components you have, as they will give bonuses to one or another. A transport hull is generally going to be quite poor in space combat; it's not appropriate at all for a martially oriented character unless that's all he can afford. With 70 ship points, you're pretty well locked into a cruiser. Frigate builds can be very effective in the 40 - 50 SP range, but I really don't see you spending 70 SP on a frigate hull. With that many ship points, you'll want something bigger.

As for cargo space, the amount of cargo you can carry isn't specified exactly. If you have any component that gives you a bonus to trade then you have room to carry a significant amount cargo and can run trading missions. The more cargo holds you have, the bigger your bonus and the more likely you should be running trade missions. Also, please note that most supplemental components got errata'd to be one per ship. And, also note that main cargo holds are generally transport only and pre-installed. (i.e. you can't add or remove one.) So, short answer, yes, one compartmentalized cargo hold will do quite nicely as long as you don't plan on doing a lot of heavy trading.

Cheers,

- V.

With a cruiser-class warship with a barracks, shooting things up and boarding actions are your primary goals.

The main problem you're going to have is that if you've got 70SP, you've got bugger all Profit, so acquiring anything else is going to be difficult. Therefore your primary requirement is operations which help you build up your profit without requiring other ships, troops or massive investments. Establishing new colonies is out, as are invasions of major worlds (you'll be able to get hold of enough troops to fill that barracks - a regiment or so - but may have to cut corners on the quality of their wargear). Cargo running is fine (you're always assumed to have enough cargo space to run trade missions unless specified otherwise - cargo bays just make doing so more profitable as you're not using space the ship needs for its own supplies/crew training/whatever), but a bit of a waste of a cruiser.

Bounty hunting might be not a bad plan - hunting down pirate raiders for fun and profit is a good way to make friends (admittedly not with the pirates) and few of them have a ship which can seriously threaten a cruiser. Getting to pick through their loot, and potentially take some of their ships as prizes, can really, really help your dynasty's bottom line.

Cruisers are the primary workhorse of the Imperial Navy. Some carry Cargo, Some Troops, Some even carry Imperial dignitaries and their entourage. While a Cruiser is always a Warship first it will also have a secondary role. Decide what it is and Optimize it for that. My personal recommendation is for the Dauntless class light cruiser. It has almost as much firepower as a full cruiser (Actually it can potentially match a Lunar on one broadside) but has the speed of a frigate! The "standard" Dauntless is typically optimized as a long range Recon vessel which is ideal for a Rogue trader. Use spare ship points to buy Crack or better crew and you're off to a good start! BTW: A standard Dauntless armament would be something like a Mars pattern Macrobattery (Not broadside!) on each side and a Lance Battery forward. This would leave you plenty of space for other interesting accessories!

For putting your hands on some new gear while low on PF - disruption cannons can be a neat choice.

Disclaimer: I'm absolutely aware that following may be in some instances 100% wrong advice.

But let me suggest a bit diffrent aproach. Debattlefleetgothic yourself and consider with your mates wich components would provide max fun from a rpg point of view . I.e. even if your ships isn't a carrier you can have pilot chambers and/orsmall craft repair bay just for fun (and your guncutter).

The smallest voidship is still a kilometre long spar of adamantium and ceramite. It may not be able to deliver divisions of Imperial Guards, but cramming in a regiment or two is not out of the question.

Two hulls to consider: the Dauntless Light Cruiser and the Ambition Cruiser. They're within 2 SP of each other, though you'll end up going to 70 SP quite easily.

I'd recommend the Dauntless, actually. Very easy to put in both a Barracks and a Cargo Bay of some kind in there and still have room for other things. If you're using the rules as written then you won't have too much trouble with just putting macrobatteries on all the slots.

If your Rogue Trader, or another player, takes the Child of Dynasty background from Into the Storm then you get 3 free SP. And if you get that... well, here's an Ambition Class Cruiser to think about.

I wouldn't recommend a Universe. Sure, you can haul a lot of people and stuff with it, but you're also one massive target.

Thanks for all the answers.

Clearing out pirates sounds actually fun and interesting. Maybe we could even tow their ships to a drydock and sell it off?

I can pretty much rule out everything above a cruiser. I just seem to lack weaponry, or at least i have the feeling to not getting a "finished" ship.

Regarding weapony, going from RAW, Macrobatteries are to go, alright. No broadsides? Why?

And what about attack craft (especially Assault Boats)

Should attack craft be viable, how about a Dictator as a hull since it already has launch bays? Having a turret rating of 3 sounds useful too.

I think we can rule out Child of a Dynasty at the moment. We probably get an Ex Guardcommander as a RT and his Major + their whole regiment will be housed in the barracks (hence why the Barrakcs are an autoinclude). Another player wants to do an Ork Mekboy and then there's an Explorator (the fun those two will have in the engine room) and we're very roleplaying focused. The general consens is, that since me and the Major will be the first to actually operate the ship, we decide how it should look like (also, sifting through all the different books is a major turn off for them, though i will try to coerce the Explorator player to use his free Aquisition to get something for the ship).

I've always seen a Rogue Trader's ship as equal parts war, science and exploration vessel that also acts as the Lord Captain flying castle/mansion. From a mechanics standpoint, it's VERY tempting to simply make a warship loaded with as many guns and military assets as possible. From a fluff/flavor standpoint - especially if your group is as RP-centric as you claim it is - then something like a manufactorum, luxury quarters, pharmacia, arboretum, etc... - will go a lot further and make for much more fun RP.

With 70 SP, you've got some room to wiggle. You can certainly go for the Cruiser and load it for bear with low/no-SP stuff. That's always an option. You could also downgrade the ship itself, but load it to the brim with "flavor" components - which is FAR more likely to be effective in the long term than spending what little xp you have on a couple more guns.

Just my 2 cents.

For RAW, macrobatteries rule because of two things:

1) Salvo Rules - Combine two or more macrobatteries' damage together. That means you only count the armour against an entire attack once.

2) Broadsides - You require a lot of Degrees of Success to gain an extra 1-2 hits that are unnecessary. Odds are you'll end up destroying an enemy ship before the extra hits are factored in as you'll need pretty good rolls for it.

Consider paired Sunsear Las Batteries RAW: Strength 4, 1d10+2.

Say with 3 DoS for each and average rolls for damage, you remove 1 hit for the void shield, then apply 5 x 7 damage to a target. That's 35 damage, and against Frigates and Raiders you've taken away half their hull in one shot. An extra DoS or slightly better damage rolls will hulk your target quite easily.

The Sunsear Las-Broadsides are Strength 6 and for the most part will require 2 more DoS to do an extra two hits for a large increase in power and space. Not worth it.

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Our group went with a Dictator as well. Assault Boats are something we bypassed as they actually require a character to conduct the Hit-and-Runs. We went for fighters and bombers, and the bombers deal pretty decent damage.

RAW means that a single bomber squadron can deal 3 hits with 3 DoS. It's 1d10+4 damage per hit, combined, then reducing the armour. 27-30 points of damage for a decent hit, minus armour. Additional squadrons add to the maximum hits so it can quickly pile on.

That's from one bomber squadron. You'll need a character for each bombing run to perform a Command test.

There's a MathHammer thread here that outlines why RAW isn't so great. We've applied it ourselves and I find the combat a bit more meaningful.

As for the Dictator, I personally love it. It takes some getting used to, but RAW it's going to kick serious butt. Even with MathHammer it's kicked serious ork butt.

Yeah, we still have to get our feet wet. No sense in housruling major parts of the system before even understanding the rules.

Still, the tools we have, our enemies can have.

I steered clear from the Ambition at first, because the fluff describes it not as something a new guard commander would get with his Trade Warrant. I played around with the numbers and i can stuff more into it, after all.

How important is a Dual Void Shield array?

What parts would you consider important for Bounty Hunting?

The Ambition could have been recovered or taken as collateral from a previous owner.

Dual void shields are a necessity on Cruisers if you want to do some combat. They're a minimum fit.

When you say 'bounty hunting' do you mean chasing criminals or fighting pirates?

Both.

I came up with the following, but don't know how to copypaste this well here.

Ex Umbra

Ambition Class Cruiser

SPEED 5

MANOEUVRABILITY 9

DETECTION 15

Achievement Bonuses: Trade + 85 Crime + 50 Military + 175

Skill Test Modifiers

CMD/Hit&Run 20, CMD/Boarding Action 20, CMD/Hit&Run (Def) 20, CMD/Boarding Action (Def) 20, Extended Repairs 10, Restore HI Acq Test 10, Command (Attack Craft ) 5Ballistic Tests (Planetary Bombardment ) 5,

Essential Components

Jovian Pattern, Class 8.1 Drive (Cruiser) (Ignore Damaged, Depressurized & Critical Results 4+ on d10 roll) , Miloslav H-616.b Warp Engine (CL,C) , Gellar Field, Flight Command Bridge (CL,C,CB,CG; Tests to ready new squadrons automatically pass) , Clemency Pattern Life Sustainer (Reduce Crew/Morale Loss by 4 for Depressurization, Min. 0) , BG-15 Assault Scanners , Voidsmans Quarters

Supplemental Components

Cargo Hold & Lighter Bay, Barracks, Munitorium (Explodes if Damaged, 2d5 HI loss and 1 Component on Fire), Manufactorum, Small Craft Repair Deck,

Skittish

Temperamental Warp Engine

Weapons

Mars Pattern Macrocannon Broadside [strength: 6, Damage:1d10+3, Crit Rating: 5, Range: 6] Location:PORT

Mars Pattern Macrocannon Broadside [strength: 6, Damage:1d10+3, Crit Rating: 5, Range: 6] Location:STARBOARD

Lathe Pattern Landing bay [strength: 2, Damage:x+x, Crit Rating: --, Range: ] Location:PORT

Lathe Pattern Landing bay [strength: 2, Damage:x+x, Crit Rating: --, Range: ] Location:STARBOARD

That name kinda scared me for a bit, that's a ship that we're dealing with at the moment in our game.

Honestly, I think the Dictator's going to be better for you if you want landing bays. You get the same amount of free space and you don't have to worry about losing some crew and craft because your bays got unpowered. You'll get 3 more armour which is useful, and Turret Rating at 3 is pretty okay.

I would only suggest an Ambition for a true "gunship". And Broadsides will require 6 Degrees of Success to make the most of their Strength. They're not horrible or anything, but you may do better with putting a macrobattery on the Prow to plink off some void shields. Or perhaps a Bombardment Cannon if you have SP/Space.

The Munitorium may not be a good investment either. You're spending a lot to increase damage by 1.

Your GM will probably not direct critical hits to the Munitorium either... right?

EDIT: Also, there's a "Brig" component as well which might be useful.

Thanks for all the answers.

Clearing out pirates sounds actually fun and interesting. Maybe we could even tow their ships to a drydock and sell it off?

I can pretty much rule out everything above a cruiser. I just seem to lack weaponry, or at least i have the feeling to not getting a "finished" ship.

Regarding weapony, going from RAW, Macrobatteries are to go, alright. No broadsides? Why?

And what about attack craft (especially Assault Boats)

If You're going with the Dauntless the no broadside reduces power consumption and space to minimal effect on your overall firepower. I'm going to go against the conventional wisdom here and say don't sell lances short. Once an opponent's Void shields are down a Lance Ignores armor and has a MUCH lower critical value. This means a Good Battery master can fairly easily start slicing important pieces off an enemy ship. As I said earlier, It is possible for a Dauntless to match the damage output of a Lunar class cruiser in a broadside battle. I (respectfully) disagree with Wincent. This is a game drawn directly from BFG. While your personal needs definitely affect the flavor of your ship it's probably a good idea to understand why a ship was designed the way it was in the first place. Anyway, Here's a basic design I came up with:

Heh, glad it scares somebody, Marwinn. I simply don't know if a carrier is actually a viable build. In my minds eye, i just see the brought along regiment in landing craft going down from the ship, until we can afford Drop Pods.

You mean the Broadsides are wasting too much space and in a prow i can direct them forward and to the sides anyway, right?

As long as we only focus on one ship with the batteries anyway, there shouldn't be an issue and Attack Craft can occupy another ship long enough.

The idea behind the Munitorium was, that i can store Weapons and related stuff there for Boarding actions. But i see now that it doesn't effect boarding and the +1 damage and Achievment points isn't worth it.

I definitly will consider in aquiring some lances on the sides with the general tactical idea being, that the macrocannons bring down shields and then we slive and dice the enemy to pieces, while attack craft focuses on either Hit and Run or Bombing.

If you're running with RAW then you won't need lances at all. We play slightly differently where each hit is calculated against the armour of the target (after applying a further +12 to the damage). So the fights are a lot longer. The lances ignore armour still so they carve up ships good.

Before your group commits, I suggest playing the space combat aspect of it a few times. If it feels good to you guys RAW then by all means, have at it and have fun.

I'm a former BFGer as well, and using macrobatteries to bring down shields then lancing things to death is how it's supposed to be, dagnabbit! but you know, that's just the Imperial Navy man in me. The Broadsides are hard to justify because you'll need really good rolls to get those hits. By RAW, another macrobattery can just salvo with it instead. You won't consistently need good rolls either.

The Barracks and Cargo Bay should be a good enough place for your troopers. Don't let me discourage you from experimenting and making it your own, I'm naturally cautious because my GM's... familiar with me.

Our own Dictator class cruiser's working out fine. It's a warmongering tramp of a warship, but it has successfully lead the defense of two worlds already.

I would recommend looking at the Dauntless as well. Really good hull.

I looked at the Dauntless hull and found it wanting for what i have in mind.

I'd have to occupy the sides with landing bays, and then the prow can only shoot forward, because Light Cruiser. I'd rather have a dorsal hardpoint for the macrocannons instead of a prow on a light cruiser but afaik there is no hull featuring this.

We'll probably have a few combats and then just look how it works out. And if we want to houserule it, our GM probably grants us a free refit anyway.

Since the guy is an engineer and knows the fluff pretty good, we'll want to work it in, but have to see it for ourselves how it works out.

If You want a true Carrier on the cheap the Dictator is definitely the best choice. The Problem is, To do it right you will use up most of your space in small craft support facilities! If you are just looking to be able to land your regiment, Any ship with a cargo bay may carry up to one massive shuttle per 5 hull points. This means my hypothetical Dauntless could carry up to twelve Shark assault boats or Guncutters plus four Arvus shuttles (for utility and exploration). An assault boat squadron is 8 craft so you would have plenty of room for one of those! A single squadron of assault boats can land a company of troops per trip. So If we escort our squadron of eight assault boats with 4 Guncutters I'd say you've got a pretty significant assault force! If I understand your original post that's exactly what you wanted isn't it? Remember, Carrier warfare is expensive from an upkeep standpoint!

Well, i have the Small Craft Repair Deck. But reading the boarding rules, i don't necessarily need the Hangars for proper boarding.

So just for theorycraftings sake, i switched to the Lunar hull, removed the SCRD, installed two Mars Macros on Port and Starboard, and added Storm Droppods.

I loose one turret rating, but 75 space means i could go with 2 Aquilas, 3 Arvus and 10 Dropships (a devourer , maybe?)

This should be enough to haul out a regiment in short order, combined with the Droppods.

I looked at the Dauntless hull and found it wanting for what i have in mind.

I'd have to occupy the sides with landing bays, and then the prow can only shoot forward, because Light Cruiser. I'd rather have a dorsal hardpoint for the macrocannons instead of a prow on a light cruiser but afaik there is no hull featuring this.

We'll probably have a few combats and then just look how it works out. And if we want to houserule it, our GM probably grants us a free refit anyway.

Since the guy is an engineer and knows the fluff pretty good, we'll want to work it in, but have to see it for ourselves how it works out.

Actually, unless you go for certain specific weapons, none of which are macrocannons, the Light Cruiser is capable of firing a prow mount in her broadside arcs. It's the smallest ship size capable of doing so (see p219, 2nd column, para 4 of the core book)

For reference, I cooked up this standard lunar cruiser as a template of where to start. This Particular cruiser has a Cargo bay so that it may support various missions. As always, A Cruiser's primary role is to smash enemy vessels in combat. The Lunar is probably the closest thing to a standard cruiser in the Imperial Navy and this version is meant to represent a generic ship of the line. As before, Don't forget your lances! A str 6 Macro Barrage will drop almost any Void shield array (With a decent gunnery officer.) and then your lances will simply carve up an enemy vessel with Impunity! The big addition with the Lunar are the Torpedo tubes. Used properly, These ship killers are far more dangerous than either the lance or the Macrocannons!

Bear in mind that you can squeeze hangar bays onto transport ships too. Nothing scarier than that lumbering giant of a ship you thought was easy prey suddenly spewing forth upwards of a dozen squadrons of strike craft that it has specially fitted systems to help direct and repair!

I actually thought about using a universe as a supercarrier. But its just too cumbersome and slow.

Yeah, if you were planetary defense, or something, a hyper-kitted Universe might do the job of super-carrier, but if it has to go anywhere...sorry, it's taking to long to lumber to the end of my point. Still, I think it COULD be a pretty nice secondary carrier vessel/stationary ship repair facility, if you pimped it for things it wasn't really for. It would be plenty big, and have booku room for storing parts and equipment, as well as food and stuff for the crew. Not much different than acquiring a Space Station, and it can move, if you call that movement. My thoughts, anyway.

Or a salvage vessel Depending on how our game goes, this may become a solution to an issue we haven't encountered yet ingame.