How many shuttles does a frigate have? Does it need a lighter bay to have a lot? Would the large bay of the Sulacco (from Aliens) be and example of such a thing? The reason I'm wondering is that my buddy's frigate doesn't have a lighter bay, but he has a barracks and a regiment of IG troops, so how would he viably get them to and from a ship, station or planet?

A lighter is a space to surface craft used for moving cargo.

A lighter bay therefore is a landing bay full of cargo lighters. Probably somehwere in the region of 20 to 40 for a decent sized ship.

Also bare in mind that some lighters are not very light. In the CC series, some are modified to serve as drop ships. They each held a company and it's gear.

Without it, you have still enough shuttles and such to load/unload things. Like landing your compliment of warriors from the barracks. But to do such things efficiently, you want to have the lighter bay.

This question has surfaced a few times. Near enough all ships have bays with transport (they need them to get down surface side to resupply or explore),

A Lighter bays however implies that your ship, especially if its a frigate has been modified to carry more cargo and the means of carrying off the planet via shuttles ('lighters' are generic terms for small vessels or shuttles or landers with a bulk transport capacity ie... the Arvus lighter, but it could but other similar vessels) Hence thats why you get more Acievement points for carrying cargo (but suffer adverse effects for manouvrability) unless you are preapared to pay more points for a proper compartmentalised hold.

If you dont have a lighter bay I would say that a frigate would have 10-14 transports mixed between lighters guncutters and barges. Remember that theses are for the dynastys use in carrying SMALL amounts of transport or cargo. True resupplies at planets with a harbour can be done planetside by dockers with their own ships and dont require your own

If you do, then as the previous poster said 20-40 small lighter craft is about right.

As for the barracks question this is more to do with the ability of a rogue trader to keep his troops in top fighting form and organised rather than just a rabble of Imberial Guard troopers in the cargo hold or lower decks. This would imclude facilities like firing ranges, drill decks, offices, officer messes, auspex boosters to determine landing zones etc...

Remember that having barracks does not automatically give you the troops. If you want to have the troops you can either purchase them via your profit factor as a group of trained mercenaries or as with my group built it in as a secondary gift in the warrant of trade itself, like a regiment permenantly seconded to your rogue trader, which is how it was in the early days of the 40k Universe. But remember if the munitorium is going to give you a regiments worth of troops they dont want their resources squandered so if your PC's get misuse them the munitorium will propably drag their feet next time the dynasty wants some troops, and of course they may requisition the regiment back if its really needed leading to all sorts of problems.

I have included in our dynasty the possibility of the Imperial Guard regiment having their own vessels to get planet side. This is especially important because I feel you can't invade a planet when 14 guncutters/barges with space for 30/40 people at any one time. So Ive given them armoured Simple Dropships that detach from the underside of the hull and slowly down through the atmosphere.

(Yes I know theres pods rules out, but these are much less rapid reaction and not as easily deployed so we have decided they come as part of the barracks, but have limited use)

Ive made them heavily armoured and slow with special conditions that because they are at the opposite end of the ship from where the main storage would be it would be pointless to try and use them to transport cargo, from one part of the ship to the other when its just quicker to use the speedier shuttles, while on the other hand the regiment if doing a mass prefers their slow but well armoured to the lighters.

What Im getting to is that its all about balance. There is no hard and vast rule and every starship is unique,

Further thoughts:

Your barracks certainly should have the capability to move the troops. Several really big landers capable of carrying over 500 at a go. some smaller assault boats.

The Sulaco is too small to serve as a good example, It had a crew of around 20, you have a crew of around 26,000 (for a frigate).

I'd imagine a lighter bay to be pretty big, certainly enough for 20-40 lighters of various sizes. My PCs ship has a dedicated railway running from several lighter bays to the cargo areas for hauling freight from the lighters to the cargo bays. The rail-clan that run it are notable for being particularly large and violent men.

All ships will have SOME lighters, enough to ship around your party, their personal vehicles, and pick up "small" amounts of cargo.

In contrast a "lighter" bay represents the ability to efficiently transport things efficiently en-mass, or quickly deploy large amounts of people/cargo.

Think of it as the difference between the loading capabilities of a cruise liner or battleship and a cargo ship. Certainly the former has room for SOME cargo and can load/unload food and passangers, though it often takes a few days. In contrast a cargo ship can load up enough cargo to supply a city in a matter of hours.

Really a lighter bay and cargo hold is the only way to engage in most kinds of trade, save the highly illegal or rare variety.

As was mentioned, "lighters" can be massive, though they don't have to be. The flavoring is largely up to the group and the GM. What is important is the function.

I'm still wondering on the troop landing question myself though. My initial thought was that the barracks should come with transport capacity. I figured that if they purchased a barracks it should include the ability to rapidly deploy their troops just like how a cargo hold comes with a ligther bay. But I'm beginning to lean away from that. Perhaps rapid, mass deployment capabilities are something that should be purchased seperately. If they don't pay for it they can still deploy their troops, but they would first have to secure a safe landing zone.

riplikash said:

That's how I feel. And so it's know (in case of more awesome and most appreciated advice and information), there's a barracks and an assigned regiment of IG light/medium infantry. I figured the basic shuttles would suffice, but take a while and give an enemy the potential to react more efficiently as the troops are taking so long to deploy. With a lighter bay, you could have an invasion. Of course, "lighter bay" means (to me) shuttles and if you want combat landers (some of which I'd give for free, but in a small amount) and the like, you have to acquire them.

Into the Storm states that most ships carry "several" lighters, so they obviously don't have dozens of them. I'd suggest that most mass-cargo hauling is done by the lighters operated by the space station/star port/etc that you are delivering/receiving goods to/from.