Mantas are reputed to occupy an odd space in BFG between Escorts and Ordnance. Alot of the BFG crowd were keen for slightly more complex rules beyond 'special bomber'. Without going too mad about things, I had a wee brainstorm on the idea.
The thrust of my motivation is that I have a 40k RP going on within the Tau Empire. The 'acolytes' are planetside on a small, young colony world. In the space above, an Ork Raider has entered the system and the Tau've dispatched a Manta to deal with it. The Manta has a lot of plot armour on its side, but I felt like modelling a viable interpretation of things.
I always felt the 40k Manta was a little too small (especially compared to the rather awesome art in the codex [Massive Tau deployment above a huge kroot army with tons and tons of Mantas and Orcas high in the sky]), so ruling it up as a ... something in RT rules, it's rather fun, I feel.
So, here we go.
Name: Manta Missile Destroyer
Morale: 100/100
Crew: 100/100
Space: 10/10
Power: 15/15
Class: Destroyer
Turret: 1
Hull: Manta-class
Shields: 1
Speed: 18
Armour: 5
Manoeuvrability: +20
Hull Integrity: 14/14
Detection -15
Weapons: 2 prow
Crew Crack (40)
Complication: Extended deployment -D10 morale when on nonspecific duty
History: Embarked Korso Station
Essential Components
Plasma Drive T'olku Pattern CCC---- +15p 2s
Gravitic Impeller Tau'n Pattern V---- +10 Man, 0.5TC ---- 3p 2s
Gravitic Anchor T'olku Pattern C ---- Requires one full days recharge on each warp jump ---- 1p 0s
Void Shields T'olku Deflector Array Pattern CXXX ---- Counts as a lone void shield, tech-use to reactivate ---- 1p 0s
Bridge Combat Bridge ----- +10 tech-use to repair damage, ---- 1p 1s
Life Sustainers Vitae pattern life sustainers ---- 1p 0s
AC Provisions ---- Being of roughly attack craft size, suffers -10 morale for each day out of dock ---- 1p 1p
Augur Array Ordnance Opticon ---- Can access Tracking Systems of parent vessel or nearby broadcasters ---- 1p 0s
Supplemental Components
Prow Anti-starship Guided Railcannon Battery (Stats: 1, D10, 5, 4, Prow, Fore, 2p 2s) [As macro]
Prow Ion Phalanx (Stats: 1, D10, 4, 2, Prow, Fore, 3p 1s) [As lance]
Deployment Holds ---- +25APs {Military, Trade} 1p 2s
Special Rules- Warp Dive Sequencing
As per Navigator roles, though relies thoroughly on Navigation (Stellar) and Scholastic Lore (Astromancy). Travel times are increased by a factor of 10. This is reduced, on successful Routine (+10) Int test by up to the navigator's Int Bonus depending on Degrees of Success. Further, the travel time factor is reduced by the Twist Contribution of the vessel's Gravitic Impeller.
When determining emergence, both a successful Very Easy (+30) Navigation (Stellar) and a succesful Easy (+20) Scholastic Lore (Astromancy) test is required. Critical failure can represent an absolute unforseen event, plunging the vessel far into the vast reaches of reality. These are treated as being informed by Tau navigation charts and the Empire's extensive astromantic cartographies. In cases where the crew are unable to consult relevent data, they immediately become -20 modified tests, modified further by local pheonomena and situational developments.
Tau Warp Drives actually reflect several factors. Principally there is the chrondilatory effect of the drive itself, wherein a journey's distance is determined by a rating of Jump Units. Each Jump Unit is an abstraction reflecting the typical number of jumps required to move a certain distance. Twist Contribution and Jump Units scale in concordance, such that to travel one Jump Unit, for example, a Manta must make two jumps. A vessel with 4TC could travel 4JU in one 'Warp Dive Sequencing event.
Twist Contribution reflects the effective efficiency/speed of the starship's gravitic impeller setup. A Manta's is very poor at 0.5TS, a typical Merchant using the Tau'n Pattern I uses 2TS. The more modern Il'Porrui finds 4TS using the Distant Darkness Pattern VIII whilst the Defender, bracing through a D'yanoi Pattern X's complete capicitor depletion will deploy at an effective 6TS with a day-long recharge to conduct another single jump on exhaustion. (The Manta's Tau'n V is unsual in requiring a full day, but it is the Empire's most miniscule mass-produced Gravitic Impeller.)
--------------------------
As you can see, it's not fully developed and there's a few rather obvious 'unfinished' corridors for how everything would work and interact. Still, at this stage, what do folks think? Obviously I had to take a few liberties with the Tau's warp drive, but it's based on the BFG system and, in terms of interesting adventures, there's always the "Warp Terrorism" which can be used against Tau starships. They don't go into the warp, IMO, because a psyker hasn't 'hooked' the warp-drive into it during creation. So, as per BFG, they bounce off of the very limit of reality instead of 'breaking through'. But then should a capable psyker come along and actually do this, they'd start being plunged straight into the warp instead of 'bouncing off'. And IIRC, they don't have Geller Fields...
The alternative, of course, is simply ruling for warp drive and geller field and using Gav Thorpe's Killteam as the basis. But I've grown fond of the BFG idea, despite my disapproval of many parts of it!
So folks, whatcha think?