Hiya just a quick question. Has the fluff for Orks space travel fluff has sort of changed between 40k/rogue trader and battlefleet gothic/5th edition?

Before they used to have to grab a random spacehulk that came across using traktor technology, teleport aboard it, retrofit it, give it some big gunz and then use the wierdboyz to steer it through the warp as it were.

But where do Ork ships like onslaught, kroosers etc fit in all this?

Am I right in thinking that mainstream Orks and clans still use Space Hulks to conduct their waaahhhgh's, while the actual ork spacecraft belong to freebootaz who are more concearned with piracy than with sector wide inavasions. Can Ork spacecraft steer through the wap using their weirdboyz like navigators or are they just as random as space hulks in where they end up?, or do they have to latch on the trail of a hulk for example?

My understanding is that all Waaaghs are still conducted by Space Hulk, it's the only ship with enough room for a proper Waaagh as it is. While many of their jump are indeed random, there are several instances of Orks being able to control the destination of their Space Hulk, such as with the Third War for Armageddon.

Advanced orks do loot hulked ships, or even construct entirely new spacecraft from orbital stations. Although many of these end up with Freebooterz, many end up in the hands of other Warbosses and are used to launch agressive strikes, or to support Waaaaghs already in progress. It's not unlike the difference between the Imperial Navy and Rogue Traders. In both cases, these warbosses and freebooterz all seem to have some form of relyable method of navigating the warp, likely by Weardboyz or some other form of Oddboy. What ever method it is, it appears to be the same method currently used by the Kroot as well.

Captain Harlock said:

Orks will loot and 'kustom-build' anything they like the look of, given half a chance. Hulks are a convenient way to move across the stars, but the problem with it from a narrative perspective is that they're not easy to predict, and often have other occupants... Orks would be much less of a threat if they could only turn up in your star system when a Space Hulk happened to pass by the world they were on. Their use of starships - with freebooterz and other Ork pirates being the primary users of non-hulk starships - adds to their threat and their diversity on a galactic scale. Given that a WAAAGH! can happen to any group of Orks (in theory), and will swell in size as others rush to join in, many larger WAAAGH!s are accompanied by great fleets of ramshackle starships bristling with gunz, and some may even lack an "'Ulk" altogether.

Nobody is entirely certain how Orks manage to navigate through the Warp, but they do, and they have enough control over it to reach their intended destinations (when they have one).

Waaaghing orks will use pretty much anything they can get their hands on for a Waaagh. And will build large numbers of roks and spacecraft, space hulks serve as serve as nice certerpieces, or if they're in really bad shape raw materials but are not completely necessary. Waaaghs Bork, Tuska, maybe Irontoof and Snagrod were launched without the use of space hulks (Though a breakaway portion of Waaagh! Snagrod got one later on).

And Waaagh! Ghazghkull Consisted of four fleets, each of which outnumbered the defensive ships of Armageddon twenty to one.

Orks will use anything spaceworthy, Spacehulks are just an easy way of speeding the process up.

Right, thanks guys, I think ive cleared it up in my head. Its just that in the narrative I'm planning I have to figure out how some Ork survivors get off a planet i.e by latching unto a spacehulk or blasting off in a partly built ship. Seeing as they are bad moons I might as well have turn them into teef luvin' freebooterz and blast off in a ship. It makes more sense than getting on a Hulk. The group are after all survivers and there would little chance of seeing off any unusual Denizens in the Hulks.