Is there any information if ... and if yes: when and where we'll get stats for Battleships ?

Really would like to have a template for these big guns, and there are only four of them

• Apocalypse
• Emperor
• Oberon
• Retribution

Do you think FFG might include them in an upcoming Ascension like Supplement for RT or maybe as part of the DH Only War Sourcebook ?

Just hoping that finally we may have all classes of imperial vessels covered ...

Battleships are almost universally the purview of the Imperial Navy, and they'll keep them going until they're destroyed, completely hulked or captured. I don't see a Rogue Trader just being able to casually get hold of one - the vast majority of fluff on RTs show them mostly using ships of cruiser-size and smaller.

Well you could have a look at the diferences between cruisers and grand cruisers then basically up the armor and integrity accordingly from there while also reducing the maneuver a bit more. Human battleships also tend to carry about 8 or 9 different weapon slots, with six of those being port and starboard launch bays or broadsides.

Before Battlefleet Koronus I was using some well made home brewed hulls found in a set of PDFs on Dark reign. While their interpretations of battlecruisers and larger didn't jive with BFK's it's a start.

Though to be honest I don't think a PC Rogue Trader group should ever get their hands on a functioning (As in moving under its own power with full weapons and armor) ship of that size. I mean, once they can afford their own private super star destroyer, where do you go from there? What's left to challenge them but huge fleets and empires that would make the game more like an imperial navy RPG than a game of grim dark exploration.

Currently in my rogue trader game I'm trying to IC and OOCly convince the rest of the group to trade away the hulk of a battleship we've found (From Lure of the Expanse in case anyone was curious). I rationalized that we could get a small fleet of 'lesser' vessels, and all manner of titles and favors by turning it over to the Adeptus Mechanicus. BUt keeping it means we'll likely not see it in use ever, but also have to finance its salvage, and transport to a port. Then you have to do all the paperwork to avoid the imperium to let you keep it, and get it refitted.

Thus the vessel is going to serve more as a plot and story placement device more than it will a useable asset.

Here's my take based on what George suggested:

Emperor Class Battleship

Dimensions: 9.7 km long
Crew: 210 000 approx.
Accel.: 1.6 Gravities max sustainable acceleration

Move: 3
Manoeuvre: +0 [Cannot perform Come To New Heading Manoeuvre Action]
Detect: +18
Hull Integrity: 110
Armour: 20
Turrets: 5
Space: 110 (24 are reserved for the Launchbays)
Weapons: Prow Godsbane Lance battery, Dorsal Godsbane Lance battery, Port Hecutor Broadside, Starboard Hecutor Broadside, 2 Port Jovian Launchbays, 2 Starboard Jovian Launchbays,

Battleship class Void Shield Array: 4 Void Shields

8 ready squadrons of attack craft, 24 squadrons total.

Note : Cannot take Armoured Prow due to extensive prow mounted sensor probes. Cannot remove launchbays.

Apocalypse Class Battleship

Move: 3
Manoeuvre: +0 [Cannot perform Come To New Heading Manoeuvre Action]
Detect: +10
Hull Integrity: 110
Armour: 20 (24 on Armoured Prow)
Turret: 4
Space: 110
Weapons: 1 Prow Nova Cannon, 1x Dorsal Mars pattern Macrocannon Broadside , 3x Port Titanforge Lance Battery, 3x Starboard Titanforge Lance Battery

Retribution Class Battleship

Move: 4
Manoeuvre: +0 [Cannot perform Come To New Heading Manoeuvre Action]
Detect: +10
Hull Integrity: 110
Armour: 20 (24 on Armoured Prow)
Turret: 4
Space: 110
Weapons: 1 Prow Torpedoes (Strength 9), 1x Dorsal Godsbane Lance Battery, 3x Port Hecutor pattern Plasma Battery Broadside, 3x Starboard Hecutor pattern Plasma Battery Broadside

>I mean, once they can afford their own private super star destroyer, where do you go from there?

You mean you've never had players attempt to build a Clone Legion of Primarchs?

That's about right where I'd be. Though any Rogue Trader owned ship would likely suffer from reduced integrity and possibly armor along with other 'characterful' flaws owing to its age and lack of proper upkeep.

Unless you have a forge world in your employ, or turn it over to some orks, it'll never obtain imperial navay quality again.

Also, no, we haven't got past rank 5 yet and interstellar conquest hasn't shown any appeal yet. Mostly we just bum around the expanse in our cruiser chasing treasure and wishing Jeremiah Blitz would die.

I don't think we'll get any official rules for Battleships. At least for players to use, as opposed to statblocks for opposition.

Like it was said, they're just too far outside the reach of almost any Rogue Trader. Look at Battlecruisers and Grand Cruisers, the SP for the bare hull is enough to put it out of reach of anyone who isn't going all out on SP's vs. Profit Factor.

If the players want to be a major Naval power they can still do that simply by amassing large numbers of ships. No point in having a Battleship without a sizeable escort force, anyway. Only problem is that eventually you're going to have to switch over to the BFG rules just to resolve fleet battles in a timely manner.

Fabian Grax said:

And that is probably the best balance change you can do to kill the players .

Concentrate fire on the flagship. Roll out the Core rulebook for new chars .

Grand Cruisers make great flagships for anyone. It should have an escort of 2+ cruisers and 2+ squadrons of frigates. I could even imagine one of those Universe class transports for even more troops (think an army or two) and you already have a whole dozen (maybe more) endeavours just to get all the ships (+ crew and troops) involved and enough of a fleet to start your own little crusade.

Who needs battleships anyway? Get a contract (read start licking some Astartes armoured backside) with the Space Marines and have them support the destruction of a Rak'Gol fortress world and then start conquering the nicer worlds behind it.

Ahh i rest my case before i start rambling even more.

My only beef with not haivng battleship rules is that they published an adventure where there's a real possiblity that the Players could take and own a battleship (Light of Terra). Admittedly, it's more or less a hulk, but the fact is that taking it is quite easy if your players employ lateral thinking (instead of fight everyone on the ship, just let the air out.)

My players just ran a false data line to the captain so he thought the ship was moving while the players brought in repair crews. Tricksy tech-priests and all.

Yes it is kinda easy to capture that battleship.

Remember though its nearly a hulk.

Repair time at a forge world: Centuries.

In Space, until it can be safely brought to said forge world....Yes we are already talking years. Once it arrives at a forge world, guess whats going to happen at exactly that moment. (Please start screaming GM Fiat now)

I have decided to let the "Light of Terra" be on the return trip to Terra. If it is repaired, it gets to fly the only journey that is ever safe. If the PCs take the bait, there will be a huge logbook entry how the dynasty XY has hastened along the return of a glorious battleship into the arms of his holy navy and the cradles of the Jovian shipyards.

Battleships are simply to big to be in player hands.

I would love upkeep rules for ships. Grand cruisers should already be a strain on their coffers. Id burn 10 profit to aquire a Repulsive straight away...hur hur hur.

Heh. I'm surprised no one has tried to acquire the Planet Killer (from Battlefleet Gothic) yet. Are there no munchkins on these fora?

Then again, Battlefleet Koronus mentions that Arch-pirate and blight on the galaxy Karrad Vall currently has a Hades heavy cruiser for a command ship... but he is having a "much larger" vessel built in orbit around Iniquity. Gee, I wonder what that could be? I'm not sure, but I know I'll have fun inflicting it on my players.

Cheers,

- V.

Nah i have my own Renegade Space Marine chapter active in the Koronus Expanse. They dont want nothing to do with Abaddon (i think his a sissy/Fluffwise hes too powerful and they dont want to end up in his grasp). So the Expanse is the perfect hiding place.

Then FFG has to invent Karrad Vall who is simply inferior to a Fleet-based Renegade marine chapter. But i have already settled for a Repulsive to be their flagship, so anything bigger than a Repulsive is simply not interesting to me. They are raiders at heart. (And have a darker motive that drives them)

After reading the CSM Codex and the capture of the Space Wolves frigate, i believe that such combat can be quite profitable. Aquire more ships from puny humans, use said ships to wreck havoc to whole planets. Nothing is more fun to crash a transport vessel onto a planet and then letting the Plasmadrive go overload. What Planetery Fortress, i can only see a crater the size of a country.

Just stumbled upon a nifty little tidbit of information. Battleships ARE NOT beyond the scope of a rogue trader. Page 6 of Epoch Koronus (a free supplement, so I will provide the text here):

397.M41
The Year of the Dreaming Depths : ..... A disproportionate number of vessels suffer incursions by warp entities during transit, and many ships--such as the ancient and justly famous battleship "Duchess Iolanthe", long a cornerstone of the Winterscale fleet--are lost to the malice of the warp.......

An extreme example, I admit, what with this particular battleship being owned by a Winterscale. But still, anything is possible.

Voronesh said:

It needs a tune up and a few coats of paint, but it's not in that bad a shape. Life support, engine, core cogitator, bridge controls, warp drive ... the components mentioned in the adventure sort of work, despite shoddy maintenance for centuries. Getting it ship shape could possibly mean years of repairs, but not centuries.

***

I found a rogue trader reference in Battlefleet Gothic (page 107): "The [retribution class battleship] Cardinal Boras is known to have led the ill-starred exploration fleet of rogue trader Ventunius into the northern rim and was one of only five ships to return."

That's just an officer of the imperial navy leading a fleet of a rogue trader dynasty's ships into battle, not a rogue trader dynasty owning said battleship.

Iku Rex said:

As far as i understoof the description of the battleship, it was kinda working, with many guns smashed etc.

Which would equate heavy battle damage for me.

And that was often mentioned as centuries of repair time. Unless i am totally off.

But i have this gut feeling that battleship somehow got a x10 multiplier to everything they do. Tentimes the buildtime, tentimes the repairtime etc.

In truth, if you can get 4 cruisers fixed, you can get a battleship fixed in twice the time to do that.

So yes if playing not so close to written stuff, ill say it takes years. If doing the hardcore fluff route, i am more inclined to go with decades if not more.

WhiteLycan said:

It doesn't say that. It's possible. The ship clearly belongs to the navy later on. But it seems unlikely to me that the navy would be loaning out a battleship to a rogue trader. Either way it shows that battleships are not beyond the scope of a rogue trader. It was in a rogue trader fleet, and would have participated in any fleet battles.

It seems unlikely? Really? How many times has a rogue trader fleet saved the Imperium's collective ass? I can only recall 2 because I'm somewhat new-ish to 40k (a few months) but rogue traders once saved Port Wander and also destroyed a malevolent space hulk that would periodically come out of the Warp and annihilate any planets along the warp storm border of the Koronus Expanse. If something needs killing, I wouldn't think for a moment that the navy wouldn't lend its support.

The navy isn't exactly flush with battleships. Sending one off with a rogue trader on an exploration mission (not to "kill something") is risky and weakens the sector defenses. The more of a big deal you make acquiring one, the less sense it makes for the navy to let one go, even temporarily. The rogue trader could pay to "rent" a battleship I suppose, or be owed a big favor, but if that's an option then fixing up a salvaged ship, or even buying one outright, is not a big leap.

Anyway, if borrowing battleships isn't unlikely, then all the more reason to give stats for one.

Oh I am in full support of having official Battleship stats, don't get me wrong. I'd love nothing more than for me as a player or one of my players owning a battleship. I'd carry on but it's bed time for me.

While we're on the subject of RT battleships, didn't that lunatic Lord Inquisitor/Rogue Trader (whose name completely escapes me for the moment) also have a battleship?

EDIT: I have no real probelm with dynasties having battleships, to be honest, but it should really be the subject of a whole campaign before players get their hands on one. Plus it should be cripplingly expensive to run, and an active drain on profit factor.

I think in "Dead Stars" it mentions that the original flagship of the Haarlock dynasty was a battleship; the acolytes can see it through a viewport just before they witness the death of Haarlock's wife and child.

DW

Lightbringer said:

Kobas Aquirrare. That's the name of the chap I was thinking of . I seem to recall he had a battleship. He was Rogue Trader. And also an Inquisitor.