So, I was wondering if someone might be willing to give me some aide? I have a character I am fleshing out (Captain Isabella Artymus), and she needs a ship (the Artemis Resplendent ). The thing is, she needs a different one to what I usually make. Despite the fact that maybe it shouldn't be, and maybe it isn't always, I find combat is a very important aspect of many games, and ship combat in RT follows that theory. Regardless of what ruin you poke through, or what envoy you need to bribe, it will eventually break down to a fight, be it on land, or aboard ship. To that end, I usually build cruisers. I might not always optimize them, or even choose all the most sensible options, but if my ship can be a durable bruiser, and the crew can also be good at various things, they'll make plenty of money, and live to spend it. Here, though, I want something a little different.

In Andromeda, my favorite ship is the Balance of Judgment , a Siege Perilous-class destroyer very accurately referred to as a "ship-killer." The Andromeda Ascendant , the main vessel in the series, is a very Enterprise-D analogous vessel, having decent weapons, staying power, and such, but manned by scientists, possessing comfortable quarters, able to receive ambassadors; a very "first contact consul" ship, as good at escorts, boarder patrols, and dispute mediation as anything else. The Andromeda has marines aboard it, decent weapons, and all the bells and whistles that make it a High Guard Ship of the Line, but the Balance is a warship. She's much smaller, more heavily armored, maneuverable, and such, with more firepower, limited crew, no marines or small craft, and able to crack a capital ship on its own. Her AI is also a much more militarized, tactical person, where Rommie is quite combat-capable, but a thinker, first. I want a good smaller ship that could allow a Rogue Trader to go hunting for pirates, or even some rogue military assets, but not get blown out of the water by a single hit from a cruiser's "I'm a warship" considerable firepower. Captain Artymus is sees herself as a huntress of her namesake's caliber, even if she is also very young, and a decent bit silly, at times (it's a thing of the story, and I often add seeming anime themes to my Rogue Trader, despite the "grimdark" that it is supposed to have; she'll be another of the "Young Bloods", as she and Aedan are seen by the older, longer-standing Traders.)

I'm thinking a frigate, but not sure if they are small enough, maneuverable enough, and able to absorb a hit enough. Also thinking of mounting a prow lance, as they pierce armor. It seems to work for the Eldar, so I'm hoping it will here, too. She should show up, possibly by surprise, and hit hard. If it doesn't go well, she can run a bit, and try to pull surprise #2, and finish them off. She's a Rogue Trader, so the Artemis Resplendent can do other stuff, certainly, but she makes a name by hunting other ships, and taking them out, sort of like a Manhunter, but on a larger scale. The thing is, starship building isn't always my forte, so if anyone wants to give me some ideas, I would greatly appreciate it.

Wouldn't this be a tooled up destroyer with Melta-torpedoes?

• Evasive Maneuvers -20% to both yours and their BS but you aren't using yours.
• Stick a good Void-Master on 'guns' and watch the ships explode.
• You want it militaristic, Cobra-Class Destroyer with a background package: Vessel of the Fleet: Steadfast Ally
• Want to be a nice ambusher: Empyrean Mantle for the subtle approach
• Stick some big engines on it: Escort Drive
• armour plates/reinforced prow
• Good quality plasma batterys (increase damage) to power through the shields and potentially cause some damage

Youll have a cramped ship with space issues and excess power good at ambushing bigger ships with outrageously effective ship-killing ordnance and laughing away from impossible fights, it's outrageously expensive regarding upkeep but the only truly rare item you'll need is a modified drive for space, turret rating on ships become an issue however.

Don't mind a tad heretical choice, make the ship hull Meritech, fast and armoured with accurate weaponry.

Wouldn't this be a tooled up destroyer with Melta-torpedoes?

• Evasive Maneuvers -20% to both yours and their BS but you aren't using yours.
• Stick a good Void-Master on 'guns' and watch the ships explode.
• You want it militaristic, Cobra-Class Destroyer with a background package: Vessel of the Fleet: Steadfast Ally
• Want to be a nice ambusher: Empyrean Mantle for the subtle approach
• Stick some big engines on it: Escort Drive
• armour plates/reinforced prow
• Good quality plasma batterys (increase damage) to power through the shields and potentially cause some damage

Youll have a cramped ship with space issues and excess power good at ambushing bigger ships with outrageously effective ship-killing ordnance and laughing away from impossible fights, it's outrageously expensive regarding upkeep but the only truly rare item you'll need is a modified drive for space, turret rating on ships become an issue however.

Humorously, this is basically the Wyvern , my Exalted Wyrm's dedicated escort vessel, except it has regular engines, and melta cannons. It also fires regular torps, because the Wyrm fires melta torps. Good to know I already had the right idea, I just used it in a different place

Falchion-class Frigate: it comes with Voss Torpedoes (STR 2). Use short-burn meltas, since you're going for close-range killing power. Put 2 batteries of Ryza-pattern Plasma batteries (Dorsal) for best damage effects (STR 4 each, Dmg 1d10+4). If xenos-tech is available you can use a Shadowfield, if archeotech is available use a Cypra drive, but Empyrean Mantle regardless. All 3 combined give you +35 Silent Running, -15 to be detected, and 2 degrees more difficult to be detected on Silent Running. Sneak in on Silent Running and let loose from close range (range 5 or less is preferable). A Graviton Flare (archeotech) is a good backup just in case. Depending on left over space, consider a reinforced prow, armor plating, etc. Bilge-rat quarters are always good for combat, especially since it's a small ship and will get blown apart before morale becomes a problem.

Well i found that ships made from the Turbulent class heavy frigate are rock solid but you only have the 2 dorsal guns so I tended to find that best quality lances were best on the weapon front and the class reeks real warship

Falchion-class Frigate: it comes with Voss Torpedoes (STR 2). Use short-burn meltas, since you're going for close-range killing power. Put 2 batteries of Ryza-pattern Plasma batteries (Dorsal) for best damage effects (STR 4 each, Dmg 1d10+4). If xenos-tech is available you can use a Shadowfield, if archeotech is available use a Cypra drive, but Empyrean Mantle regardless. All 3 combined give you +35 Silent Running, -15 to be detected, and 2 degrees more difficult to be detected on Silent Running. Sneak in on Silent Running and let loose from close range (range 5 or less is preferable). A Graviton Flare (archeotech) is a good backup just in case. Depending on left over space, consider a reinforced prow, armor plating, etc. Bilge-rat quarters are always good for combat, especially since it's a small ship and will get blown apart before morale becomes a problem.

Some very nice ideas, and thank you. I'm trying to decide if I want to make yet another ship with torpedoes, which I like, but which almost seems like a given with my ships. She is something of a hunter motif, and the smaller ship, the stealth, and all are great, but the hunter image seems more like a bow, while the torpedoes, while I like them, give me more of a catapult/trebuchet feel, at the least a ballista. I thought lances might be a bit more like an archer's arrows; I know it's a goofy, little quibble, but I like to feel that, if anyone would, a Rogue Trader would be like "THIS is who I am! THIS is how I stand out from the countless other 'mes'", and maybe the torps DO feel like arrows to some, where macro cannons are, quite literally, more the artillery piece of the ship weapons. I'll have to give it some thought. Archeotech is almost a must, as I do see the teleportarium as a gimme for my ships, barring a very good reason, or a fiat thrown at me, just because".

Greystroke: Much of what you're saying also sounds interesting. Depending on my end choice between "rip off/emulate the Eldar" and "torpedoes are fine", I'll look at the ship, and see what it gives me.

Well all the advice given is good so enjoy and tell us how you find it

well if you don't mind to much xeno-tech. getting a shadow field and some shard cannons cam be a nasty combo. IF you are the type to play with there food take some some disruption cannons and just circle around large prey stripping them of systems till you feel like offing them.

Then there is the satisfying feeling of equipping two pyro cannons, if you shoot them seperatly and get crits with both you can turn most ships into a burnt out husk in short order.

I see where you're going with the feels-comparison to the Siege-Perilous class, but to be honest, they're conceptually closer to modern USN arsenal ships (a good example might be those Ohio-class subs converted from SSBN to SSGN; low detection profile, hard to board, great mid-to-long range offensive punch, lacking in defenses and close-range weapons systems). The IN Falchion hull honestly sounds like a pretty good fit to me (I have a soft spot for the Voss-pattern ship hulls which they arguably don't deserve, given the relative fragility their long axial compartments would give them). Possibly use Turbo- weapon components for the dorsal batteries?

For a bit more survivability, I might even suggest going up to a light cruiser (have a look at the Endeavour hull, and possibly have a monkey around with my own take on it, the Aspis ). That, or go down to destroyer size and make it even sneakier (heavy Cobra FTW).

That said, I have to sort-of disagree with your take on the Glorious Heritage-class heavy cruisers (like the Andromeda Ascendant ). Mostly in your characterisation of their crew- sure they have scientists aboard, but most (the vast majority, in fact) of their crews were pure military. At least, while the High Guard Argosy was an actual thing. And yes, they had fancy quarters, conference rooms and gardens etc, because they were intended for use as flag vessels for battle groups. Admirals and senior High Guard captains rate the fancy.

But if you ever think that Rommy wasn't a warship, just look at her specs: 200 missile tubes, 76 slipfighters and plenty of anti-proton and laser turrets for close in combat and point defence (plus her Nova bomb allotment), not to mention they're supposed to carry an entire regiment of Lancers for ground actions.

The reason I only sort-of disagree with you is that given their relative sizes, the Enterprise NCC 1701-D is arguably heavier armed (ok, objectively and in total, the Glorious Heritage-class has waaay more firepower than a Galaxy-class, even without Nova bombs. They're also about 8x the size of a Galaxy-class). In fact, if Starfleet wasn't massively militarily incompetent, they'd be absolutely terrifying warships to face. Thankfully, the new Abrams-Trek has started to fix that, with observable weapons doctrine starting to take advantage of the design features inherent in the ships already. But the Star trek incompetence rant is a whole other massive discussion. In this context- I only sort-of disagree with you because the general role the two ships are designed for is fairly similar (command and flag duties, heavyweight all-round combatant, plus capability for long range solo missions). Andromeda just does it better.

Oh no, I get that the Rommie was a warship, I just saw her as a more "friendly?" warship, and one that could have uses beyond gunboat. With that number of anti-proton cannons, missiles aplenty, and Nova bombs in the dozens, I'll give that she was made to fight, be it against the Nietzchiens, the Magog, or whatever flavor of the day foe stepped up. I was just saying that, while she could, civilians wouldn't feel uncomfortable aboard the ship. It was a ship built with a feeling that those who built it weren't just going to solve all their problems by blowing you up. There were large spaces, crew amenities, etc., where flag officers and ambassadors might feel pleasant, while the Siege-Perilous was only for one task; blowing up other ships. A more claustrophobic feel, with few crew, all military, little to nothing devoted to science, research, or anything but cracking another ship; feels more Klingon-like, if you might.

Yeah, Starfleet of the good, old days does sort of paint themselves into a corner, militarily speaking, what with certain practices in their ship construction, certain treaties that, while they might've saved the day on the day they were signed (the Treaty of Algeron), they didn't really net the Federation a gain after that, and with the Romulans being the other signer, and with their better cloaks, genetics skill to make Romulans that can pass as other things, and often using intermediaries as cat's paws, of sorts, only the Federation seemed to lose something (cloaking technology everyone but the Cardassians also had), and other things, but they were trying to show that Mankind can move beyond "bludgeon the enemy. A dead enemy is no enemy."

I'm thinking to stick below light cruiser size, but I will have to pour over some of my stuff. Some things I want I know will be a balancing act, like stacking on armor can counter the benefits of improved mobility, and all. Hopefully, it will turn out to be a good ship, if I can figure out what Artymus wants on it, for the role I envision. Sometimes, I almost more appreciate the in-game build. when you have more limited resources, or limited availability, you don't have to pick and sort through everything, cherry-picking. Oh well, I still think it'll be nice. Thanks again, all, for your help.