Some Backround questions

By boooh, in Rogue Trader Gamemasters

Are there any info´s about the aquisition of enemy ships ?

On our last game we were attacked by 3 Pirate Havock Raiders tried to attack our Frigate.

After some lucky shots one raider was completly destroyed and the other two were crippled and overtaken by our Crew. ;)

Then was the question when we pull both back to Port Wander can we official claim the ships now to be ours without any Problems

or are they taken by the Administratum bacause the belonged another Person over a decade ago or because it was used for Piracy ?

What´s about the Crew of tose Pirate ships ?

Can´t believe that all of the 24k men are Pirates.

I would guess only the bridge Crew, the overseers and the ones in the barrack´s are one´s with the rest as slaves.

Same when you find an abbadoned ship on orbit around an undiscoverd star system.

(In Forsaken Bounty you had first to do all the paperwork before you are allowed to enter the ship)

or can you just send a prize crew on board make all the nessesary repairs, bring it back to Port Wander for full repair and make it part of your fleet.

It depends, i think. If its a former ship of the Imperial Navy, just recently turned rogue, the Navy might want it back. If it`s an old ship, lost for centuries in the Expanse, you might take it as your own prize, maybe paying the Administratum their share to be allowed to keep this ship. In the end, it`s a question how you and your GM like to handle it.

Typically if my players are able to cripple and take over a pirate ship this is the procedure:

-Rogue Trader makes a command or charm test to convert the usable crew to his cause. The rest are either spaced or delivered to a penal colony.

-Ship is taken to Port Wander for reregistration (I usually do a Profit Factor check at -20 with bonuses for successful peer(administratum) test). If the ship is heavily damaged they need to take it to the Lathes for a full refit and purification. If it is a stolen naval ship I give them a Profit Factor bonus for turning it in for the bounty.

-If the ship belonged to chaos reavers I always say it's unsalvagably tainted. If it's a xeno ship they'll have to fix it themselves or take it to the breaking yards at SR-651, assuming the control scheme and systems are usable/decipherable.

-If the ship is an ancient wreck a trip to the Lathes is mandatory. A total refit takes from 6 months to a couple of years depending on how extensive it will be. This usually amounts to a couple of gaming sessions for us, with the time dilation and all.

Of course, a Rogue Trader is entitled to do what he likes. Including ignoring anyone claiming that the ships should be rightfully theirs.As long as he is outside the borders of the Imperium he is immune to normal laws. Not saying that anything they do will not have dire consequences. Rivals might try to wreck revenge. The ministorum might try to hunt him down, The Ecclesairchy or the Adaptus Mechanicus can withdraw their support and finally, the next batch of recruits might contain a couple of assassins.

Wise RT, will make sure that their claims do not give them to much powerful enemies.

sketchesofpayne said:

Typically if my players are able to cripple and take over a pirate ship this is the procedure:

-Rogue Trader makes a command or charm test to convert the usable crew to his cause. The rest are either spaced or delivered to a penal colony.

-Ship is taken to Port Wander for reregistration (I usually do a Profit Factor check at -20 with bonuses for successful peer(administratum) test). If the ship is heavily damaged they need to take it to the Lathes for a full refit and purification. If it is a stolen naval ship I give them a Profit Factor bonus for turning it in for the bounty.

-If the ship belonged to chaos reavers I always say it's unsalvagably tainted. If it's a xeno ship they'll have to fix it themselves or take it to the breaking yards at SR-651, assuming the control scheme and systems are usable/decipherable.

-If the ship is an ancient wreck a trip to the Lathes is mandatory. A total refit takes from 6 months to a couple of years depending on how extensive it will be. This usually amounts to a couple of gaming sessions for us, with the time dilation and all.

This is gold. You've hit the proverbial nail on the head =)

sketchesofpayne said:

Typically if my players are able to cripple and take over a pirate ship this is the procedure:

-Rogue Trader makes a command or charm test to convert the usable crew to his cause. The rest are either spaced or delivered to a penal colony.

-Ship is taken to Port Wander for reregistration (I usually do a Profit Factor check at -20 with bonuses for successful peer(administratum) test). If the ship is heavily damaged they need to take it to the Lathes for a full refit and purification. If it is a stolen naval ship I give them a Profit Factor bonus for turning it in for the bounty.

-If the ship belonged to chaos reavers I always say it's unsalvagably tainted. If it's a xeno ship they'll have to fix it themselves or take it to the breaking yards at SR-651, assuming the control scheme and systems are usable/decipherable.

-If the ship is an ancient wreck a trip to the Lathes is mandatory. A total refit takes from 6 months to a couple of years depending on how extensive it will be. This usually amounts to a couple of gaming sessions for us, with the time dilation and all.

There are a lot of shipyards and drydocks in and around Port Wander(the ports repair yards, S/ 914 R IX, or B/017 CIII) , wouldn't it be possible to get a ship repaired there? or is a trip to the Lathes required? What do you guys think?

It depends how much damage she'd taken before being salvaged/captured, I suppose. There's almost certainly fully capable yards in the Expanse though, and if she's so badly gone you think she needs the attention of a full forgeworld's drydocks, then I would say she's too far gone to risk the passage through the Maw. That being the case, I think your best bet is the Breaking Yards at SR-651. If they can't repair her as-is, they can almost certainly provide you with replacement components part-exchanged for the more damaged ones, as well as the facilities and possibly even the labour to refit/rebuild her there.

And, of course, provide a perfect opportunity to convert that (possibly illegal) prize into cold hard cash before getting anywhere near sniffing distance of the authorities...

Lucin's Breath also has a no-questions asked shipyard in orbit.