So I am thinking of finally statting up the ship for one of my RT story characters. The ship in question, the Hammerfall , is a Dictator-class Cruiser. I am thinking of it packing the fighter bays (given), and a set of Fortis-pattern Torpedo Tubes, packing an assortment of plasma and melta warheads. To round out the arsenal, for things that survive the torp salvo and fighters/bombers, either some plasma macros, or "regular" macrocannons/broadsides will be their fate.

Any ideas for stuff to make this ship more effective at these points? The Hammerfall is a military vessel, and always has been; Korvallus has other ships for his more frequent peaceful endeavors. I don't think that there are any kind of "archeotech" attack craft, or bays, but what might be some good additions to maximize the ordnance the ship is packing? I'm not set on the port and starboard armaments, so that's also a spot for options. Thanks in advance.

A part of me says make it a pure carrier. Eight squadrons of attack craft? Oh man, it'll be expensive but so, so worth it. I mean, you'll have escorts won't you?

I'd suggest the Ryza plasma batteries or the classic Sunsear batteries if you're not using MH. Small Craft Repair Deck is practically a must for a Dictator. You may also want to get some Murder Servitors as long as one of your group is okay with Hit and Run attacks and you're okay with having one attack boat squadron.

I'm assuming your PF is high enough to be able to resupply easily?

Ok, to begin with, make sure you include a Munitorium. Quite aside from anything else, you can use it to cram some extra torpedoes in.

I'll add Pilot Chambers to the recommendation Marwynn made- the bonus to pilot rating is rather useful.

Remember that you aren't limited to 1 squadron per point of bay strength- a "stock" Dictator can have a total of 12 squadrons in its bays, although it can only launch and/or recover 4 squadrons per turn. Take advantage of that capacity. I will recommend you reserve at least one slot for a Support squadron, as having some SAR birds will probably be good for morale, and make it easier to make the Upkeep checks on those attack craft squadrons. I'd personally also add a squadron of Aeronautica as well, just to cover all of your bases, and it still leaves you with 10 squadron slots to play with when it comes to fighter/bomber/assault boat mixes (a good flexible mix is a bog standard 4/4/2, but I've played around with the ratio, and had a surprising degree of success with 3/6/1. Not many people pay attention to turrets, which is useful for carrier captains). Flak Turrets are fitting thematically, and can help against ordnance counterstrikes, but aren't that useful at beefing up your offensive punch.

As for the broadside weapons- yep, the Ryza are pretty good. You might also consider Pyros melta cannon.

And yes, there is the option of foregoing broadside guns entirely in favour of more launch bays (the "Jovian class" variant). I wouldn't recommend that with torpedoes in the prow, simply because it make you so much more inflexible (it requires maneuvering to keep enemy ships in your for'ard arc, of long firing passes (almost jousting... with kilometres long starships...) and trying to keep the range open otherwise. Very heavy hitting, but not the easiest ship to command in a fight; really needs some escorts and screening elements. Swap the torps for a heavy macrocannon battery though (maybe bombardment cannon?), and it becomes much more viable.

I would suggest to use a "special" Dictator as the Hammerfall. Pls download my design for your Mighty Hammerfall It is a little retro-fitted, but I think it is completely OK. ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_V-TFfDtG06RUk4NEFSZTJJQzQ/edit?usp=sharing )

This ship is a little bit modified: it has 2 bays on the Port side, and 2 plasma macro on the Starboard side (I would avoid the use of real broadsides BC NPCs don't really have the overall BS the fully utilise its potencial.). It has heavily boosted manouverability for better utility.

So, the tactic is the following: The Mighty Hammerfall opens w/ torpedos from Silent Run (Empyrean Mantle)! You can safely launch 2 stack of torpedos before you have to start positioning. The Mighty Hammerfall should be positioned as its Starboard faces the enemy ship (your PC's ship ), and use its good manouverability to keep the macros on the enemy. Use the superior range of these macros to keep the PC's ship under fire, and reducing the distance bw the two ships. When the M.Hammerfall is in small-craft range, just send the crafts to finish the job. (If your PC group have a Teleportarium on their ship, they wanted to be within 5 VU anyway to use it, so surprise them w a good bunch of bombers.)

Torpedo tube is interchangeable w/ any Prow-compatible weapon. It can be a good trade BC of the coverable fire arcs. 3 guns are always better than 2. I would suggest the use of Stygies-Pattern Bombardment Cannons BC of its superior Crit Rating.

Other design would be the Hammerfall, the Silent Deathbringer. Use a full Disruption Macrocannons fit for Prow and 2xStarboard. Use Silent Run to blast the PCs ship w 3 Disr. Macro all at once. Release your mighty bombers and "negotiate" the hell out of your PCs. I think there is no higher motivation for a RT than revenge, if they had to surrender and were humiliated by an other RT. Seeds of hatred planted

Although I can see the gaming logic behind it, I've never liked the idea of 'unbalanced' ships with vastly different types of weapons on their port & starboard. It doesn't seem like anything anyone would ever do, doesn't seem structurally safe, and most importantly, relies on the enemy being on the 'correct' side. Which only happens for sure by GM fiat. Otherwise any players worth their tactical salt will just move to out maneuver them, it's not hard to do in starship combat, particularly for PCs who have better pilot checks.

It sounds like you want something that's mostly a "traditional' Dictator, perhaps with some Rogue Trader or Archotech flair. While I agree that he probibly doesn't have archotech attack craft (at least not in sufficient quantity to make a difference, (though i'd be cool for a Fated NPC Ace Pilot) that doesn't preclude an Archotech hangar bay, perhaps one that has space for 4 flights each, instead of 3?

An Archotech Flight Bridge, or some kind of xeno sensor system could also be given to generate that feel, even if they don't have a huge mechanical benefit.

Dictators, particularly when they're alone, want to be at range. If you keep with a traditional style Dictator, make sure you start the engagement well outside of gun range. A distant barrage of torpedos, perhaps guided or xeno "undetectable" torpedos, even DE leach torpedos would be a good way to start the combat. Then send in the bombers. Have the ship use Adjust Speed to keep its travel distance minimal, or have it go full out after it's first torpedo set and before it's second to "double up" on the torpedos that will hit range first. The Dictators guns are back up weapons, they're for use when your out of bombers, or the enemy gets to close and you want to force them to back up a bit.

Also, take armored prow (or archotech armored prow?), you're going to want to keep your nose at the enemy anyway.

TBH, I can actually see the logic in "unbalanced" ships more in the narrative than in game terms (although I agree with you that it's not something that would ever really be done), as the ship combat rules don't provide for ships performing rolls about their long axis, which is something that would easily be done in "reality", allowing them to bring either broadside to bear on a target abeam.

I suspect you're right also in that (assuming worthwhile weapons are mounted) it may be an interesting engineering challenge to ensure structural integrity. Not an insurmountable one, by any means (the base Lunar hull, for example, can easily withstand the fire of a full broadside from only one side, so the forces must be reasonable), but one that should be accounted for.

A bigger (but still soluble) problem is likely to lie in mass distribution and the tunability/gimballing of the drive systems; as an axis of thrust which doesn't pass through, or at least close to, the centre of mass is going to induce unwanted rotation (TL:DR- if one side weighs too much, the ship won't fly straight)

It really depends on the RTs PF. If price is no obstacle, and escorts are available, then I'd pile on 4 launch bays and a nova cannon. It would be the long-range engagement vessel that stayed out of the line of fire. I might also make it the dedicated planetary assault vehicle, in which case I'd consider swapping out the nova cannon for a bombardment cannon, depending on whether I'd want to be able to aim more accurately than "Target that continent!"

You'd be able to to carry 24 squadrons. I'd go with 8 Furies, 12 Starhawks, and 4 Sharks. I'm down with H&R for the Sharks, but their MO is the ability to land 1600 troops per wave on a ground assault, or when attacking a space station.

I'd drop as low as 2 squadrons of sharks - with plenty of furies to escort, its almost impossible for sharks to get shot down, so you can be almost 100% confident they will reach the target ship. Of course if they pass the Hit and Run action is another thing lol.

Lots of people load up on fighters. I don't appreciate their relative worth. As Kasatka pointed out, the assault boats (and bombers for that matter) are usually going to make it to their target. But, too many bombers and you won't have enough fighter escort for each wave of bombers. And, I like the assault boats for reasons other than H&R. If it's a choice between 8 Sharks and 16 Valkyries, I prefer the Sharks for most occasions (there are always exceptions and I'm never universally happy with my load-out). The Sharks simply carry more people and move faster.

And don't forget that your vessel (with GM agreement) can carry an additional craft per 5 points of hull integrity, plus another 4 for cargo components. I usually fill those with my Halo Barges (on-loading and off-loading cargo), Valkyries (commando missions requiring maneuverability and VTOL capability), and an Venator Air Yacht or two (for safaris). The Chiropteran Scouts are also choice options (close recon).

Some things: first, thanks much for all of the ideas. On the prow mount, I really don't think I'll be dissuaded from having the torpedo tubes; there is story fluff to go with it, and I'll not type it all here, because it's one of those "did he really just say that crap?" stories, but the Hammerfall went on a mission to the Reach, and at the time, it bore a Nova Cannon. Necrons were involved, and the prow took catastrophic damage. Upon returning to the Expanse, sort of tail between his legs, Korvallus opted to swap out the idea of a nova cannon for the torpedo tubes. I'm not saying they are a good idea, but I am rather attached to them. Second, i don't imagine Korvallus swapping out for ALL fighter bays; the ship wants some punch of its own. I prefer bombers to fighters, with enough fighters to escort them, and some other assorted craft for utility purposes. Lastly, the Silver Ravens Co./Korvallus Dynasty has an effective PF of about 85, between loaning out the occasional merc force, and his exemplar ties to several organizations, most notably the Navy. This puts many things potentially in his reach, as does his NPC status, I suppose.