So we finished up House of Dust and Ash, and during the game, Captain Rubio Got killed as a result of a failed ambush on the players. In a bizarre twist of fate, one of the guards actually survived by passing out due to fatigue in critical damage (this rarely happens in our group).

The players have decided to comendeer his private Yacht launch, but the question remains... Is this ship warp capable?

does anyone have an idea as to what a 'Yacht launch' looks like from this book, what are its characteristics, in terms of size and capabilities?

We are totally lost here.

thanks!

Hmmm... good question!

Since "Captain" Rubio is described as a pretender, I assume that said "Yacht" is more akin to a shuttle or gun cutter..although one build for luxury and pomp! Look in the internet for some material on what some filthy rich people turn their private jets into and then adapt this to a 40K space faring shuttle.

But I do not think that this will be warp cabable. I imagine that he has arrived dock to a freigther or other warp vessel that was steering to Solomon.

I tend to agree with Gregorius here. But I was thinking of something more along the lines of a Aquila Lander ... though one probably not in the best repair.

My only objection to this, is that it is mentioned as a "Yacht"

Yachts arent small boats, even the small ones are still large. The very largest ones can crew over 100+ people. In both cases, they arent speed boats that just make small trips. Yachts are more or less designed to be lived in, and can be used to travel great distances.

and acquilla lander is more of a 'speed boat', that is you certainly wouldnt fly from planet to planet in a solar system with this. However a 'Space Yacht' most certainly could.

Sister Cat said:

Sister Cat said:

Perhaps not in the best condition, but I assume the surface is stainless bristling with insignia, as well as the interior. You kno, Rubio seems to me like the kind of guy whose seats say "I go for miles and miles and miles" while is engines actually die done shortly after the holding clamps are locked & everything is in position.

linearblade said:

Nope, not really good sir. I used to work for "Sunseeker Europe", which is into luxury yachts. Not in the "ship building department", but I go my share of boats during a german fair (Boot 2004 in Düsseldorf)

While it is true that some yachts are large, an equal lot of them are small boats (have a look on the Sunseeker "Predator" or "Manhatten" in the intern). The term "Yacht" in itself isn´t saying anything.

A guy like Rupio does not seem like he would be commandering anything as important as a warp cabable vessel. Heriditary or not.

I just always assumed that the "yacht" reference was an exagerration. Though I suppose it's possible he could have a real yacht, since he is part of a RT family, even if he's not directly involved in the family business. But even then, I would think such a yacht would be, though large and luxurious, a in-system ship only, meaning no warp capability. JMHO.

Yea, I'm thinking it might not have a warp drive. I still think its bigger than an acquilla lander. If it was a lander, they would have just said 'modified lander'.

but what makes me curious however, is after reading Eisenhorn and Ravenor, Both books have Rogue traders with Yachts, and a lot of them... and I even think that might have been the term.

Ravenors first Ride was a 50 man ship... his second captain had an even smaller ship... which is miniscule compared to even the smallest ships in the Rogue trader book. So clearly smaller vessels ARE capable of having said warp drive.

Gregorius21778 said:

I checked out the sunseeker predator... so at a minimum its a 8 man ship with 4 cabins. PLUS 4 crew? So substancially larger than an Acquilla lander. The pictures make it seem spacious to boot. Its definately not a small ship

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Actually now I'm not so sure... Even this small yacht has a 450 mile range. If you wanted to cruise around the world with it you could. you'd have to stay relatively close to land. but It could do it. It wouldnt be able to make any kind of deep space warp jump, but if it was following warp routes like the Chartist captains do, AND if it actually had a warp drive, it might pull it off.

I guess the question is moot if the =][= just sticks a warp drive on it for them. Not sure how much that costs really either tho.

Hi Linearblade,

their was a misunderstanding. I do assume (as you do!) that his "Yacht" will be larger then an aquila landere. Those are kinda "small craft" and do not have the space for luxory.

Never the less, going along the lines of "taking a modern VIP-Lear-Jet and turning it space craft" should do the trick. Larger then a guncutter, perhaps. But hardly anything that could compare with an RT space craft. Rather something you could conveniently "dock" along a "real" voidship.

If you are generally looking for ideas for smaller void craft, I advise pdf-products from "Future Armada". They are very inspirational in this field. Plus, the PDF copies are a purchase that do not hurt the purse (that much..)

@The ships in "Eisenhorn"
While Dan Abnett has defined a lot of things that have been copied by the FFG development team for both RT and DH, the ship/crew size rations of his "dani-versum" are surely not among them. Especially after the first data for RT ships were available, I decided to throw out this part of the novell background out of the window altogether.

I can't remember what book it was that I read it in, but a warp capable ship is large enough that it should be able to have the yacht docked to it/inside it and carry it along on the trip. Sorry for the lack of reference, just can't dredge it up right now.

The void section of the IH mentions limpet ships. Also remember most ships are several KM in length. Think star wars capital ship sized. A docking bay for them could easily take something x2-4 the size of a jumbo jet.

Well, in my opinion Rubios yacht-launch could be something up to a Vagabond-class merchant trader from the Rogue Trader game. It most probably is warp capable as he could not leave the system otherwise (or reach any other system to be more precisely). He is the son of a Chartist Captain after all. He certainly does not have a Navigator though. Just my humble opinion though...

From a background in Battlefleet Gothic my understanding of warp-capable ships is that nothing smaller than a ship like the Cobra Destroyer is warp capable. Anything smaller is considered a system ship by imperial standards. I'm not sure why warp capable ships are so huge, but it's possible that warp drives are enormous and not capable of being mounted in lesser craft, I suppose.

I'm sure some exceptions exist, but I'm not sure if there is a concrete explanation out there as to why nothing warp capable is small.

It's pretty funny too, because if you look at the scales, a Cobra Destroyer is dwarfed by the larger capital ships of the Imperial Fleets, but in reality, the Destroyers are huge ships in their own right.

Could a yacht be warp capable? Probably not, but with alien technologies and Imperial Archeotech as alternatives, I'd say anything is possible to explain.