The introduction of the Fury Interceptor is a cool addition to the game, however there were virtually no rules given for how to handle a Starship to Fighter style combat. I'm presently using a ruleset made by one of the playtesters to handle Bombers/Fighters, but I'd like to get more detailed as I have a squadron commander (Void Master) on one of my ships and his squadron of Starhawks, thus far I've been able to fudge a ruleset together but I'd like to get some more official rulings on how to handle this...

You could include mechanics on attacking turrets, the bridge, the retro thrusters or perhaps even macro batteries, but no deathstar race for the plasma core, thats just silly

I'd assume that fighters/bombers would be covered by the "attack craft" part of the description for the "Battlefleet Koronus" book, so official rules should be out in a few months.

I think it's pretty heinous that it's taken them 18 months (or likely 2 years given FFG's reliability with posted release dates) to get a book out on something so core to the Rogue Trader game. </rant>

At least in BFG, fighters were unable to attack ships as their weapons were too puny. You needed bombers to cause structural damage, or assault craft to land hit-and-runs.

Hedonismbot said:

There's a lot of things that're "core to the Rogue Trader game" - character options are no less important, and similarly no Rogue Trader would be worthy of the name without worlds to plunder and enemies to overcome. Starships are one part of the game, and while they're a part that many people focus on quite heavily (to a disproportionate degree, in my opinion - a starship is a tool with which to accomplish endeavours, no different from a scholar's archives, a warrior's blade or the promise of a merchant... the actual endeavours themselves are the important part), they're far from the only core element.

Beyond that, it's not a quick process to make these books, y'know. Long hours, over many months are spent creating these things.

While Space Combat on this scale is something that we all love, there are several good reasons for FFG not to include the full scope of Battlefleet Gothic's options in Rogue Trader. Firstly, there is the problem of scale: your average Rogue Trader vessel counts as a single hitpoint escort in most BFG games, and that'll kill off player characters real fast - you just don't want to go toe-to-toe with the Divine Right or Terminus Est . Secondly, Space Combat is fun, but not what Rogue Trader is about. I love Battlefleet Gothic, and I am really happy that FFG has included the rich background of ships from that game and its various supplements (way to go, guys!) but it is not the heart of the game itself, unless you want to make it the heart. Sure, perfectly acceptable, but then you'll have to do with the various home-made rules for assault craft and torps.

I am running my prequel campaign in the Gothic Sector, where my players are building their dynasty, so it does feature a lot of background from that 12th Black Crusade but I do try to keep the "For the Emperor... and profit!" idea central. Believe me, I am chomping at the bit for the Battlefleet supplement and all of its goodness, but I do agree that ships are in general an area where people focus too much attention, sometimes to the detriment of other and no-less-vital parts of the game.