So I got my D&D real Life group hooked on Rogue Trader, and one of my players (which is our regular D&D GM) bought the core book and is ready to start a campaign. I got picked as a Rogue Trader and made a ship; sadly I'm still in between ideas, so I'm turning them over to you guys for a little input. I started with 50 SP, 40 PF. The GM is less into social stuff, and more into action; he plans on doing this "Like the Pirates of the Caribbeans".

The first ship is more designed for combat, yet the second one seems a bit more able; the keel weapon slot can fire 360 degrees, making the torpedoes more potent; pretty sure I won't be doing long naval battles with the star-clipper, but it sure pack way more things in it, I *did* had more SP since the hull was cheap (25SP instead of 41; 30 and 46 with the upped crew rating), not to mention it got a cargo hold and adds lots and lots of bonus to endeavours.

First ship is:

Class:Frigate
Hull:Firestorm
Speed: 7
Detection: +10/+30
Armour: 18
Space: 40 (Used 39)
Power: 45 (Used 37)
Maneuverability: +20
Hull Integrity: 38
Turret Rating: 1
SP: 46 (41 hull,+5 crew rating)
Gun Mounts: 1 Dorsal, 1 Prow
Crew Rating: Crack (40)
Morale: 103
Crew: 100

SP Spend/total: 50/50

Complication/Past History

Adventurous (+10Detection during endeavor/-10 Detection when not doing an Endeavor)
Reliquary of Mars (-20 tech-use to repair; Must select 1 Archeotech component)

Required Components
Jovian Class 2 Drive, Strelov 1 Warp Engine, Gellar Field, Single Void Shield, Combat Bridge, Vitae Life Sustainer, Voidsmen Quarters, M-201b Auger Array

Optional Components
Teleportarium, Temple to the God-Emperor

Weapons
1x Dorsal Sunsear Laser battery

1xProw Gryphonne pattern torpedo tube

-------------------------------------------------

Second ship is:

Class:Transport
Hull:Orion Star-Clipper
Speed: 10
Detection: +10/+30
Armour: 12
Space: 40 (Used 40)
Power: 41 (Used 41)
Maneuverability: +25
Hull Integrity: 35
Turret Rating: 1
SP: 30 (25 hull,+5 crew rating)
Gun Mounts: 1 Dorsal, 1 Keel
Crew Rating: Crack (40)
Morale: 103
Crew: 102

SP Spend/Total: 43/50

Complication/Past History

Adventurous (+10Detection during endeavor/-10 Detection when not doing an Endeavor)
Reliquary of Mars (-20 tech-use to repair; Must select 1 Archeotech component)

Required Components
Best Quality Lathe pattern Class 1 Drive, Strelov 1 Warp Engine, Warpbane Hull, Single Void Shield, Combat Bridge, Best Quality Vitae Life Sustainer, Good Quality Voidsmen Quarters, Deep Void Auger Array

Optional Components
1x Main Cargo Hold (came with the ship), Temple to the God-Emperor, Trophy Room, Arboretum, Observation Dome, Fire suppression system

Weapons
1x Dorsal Sunsear Laser battery

1xKeel Plasma accelerated Torpedo Tube (Archeotech)

Both look good, only thing is that the torpedo can only fire forward regardless of where they are mounted.

Ah; well, no matter, still is faster than the firestorm.

UPDATE: turns out the party will be consisting of me (the Rogue Trader) a Void-Master and an Arch-millitant....which will surely limit everything ...guess I'll have to fall back to my rating 40 crew to fix my ship (With combat bridge, a whooping roll of under 30..great)

Always like that; one ALWAYS plays the strong combat-monster brute, the other plays..whatever...hard to not end up being a one-trick-Dynasty

Braddoc said:

Since you have Ship Points to spare, raise the Craftsmanship of the pre-equipped Main Cargo Hold to Best. That way it consumes 1 Less Power and you get 1 additional Space for other things (For which you would still have 5 Ship Points left).

Jan Solo said:

Good idea; i wanted to raise the quality of an essential componenet, but that would work as well; I will surely take deeafensive countermeasures (need something to help for defence; Armour of 12 won't cut it fully.)

Take care with torpedoes though, they do pack a very serious punch, but in a real fight you will find yourself quickly using at least half, but more likely more of your supply. If you have a reliable way of getting resupplied this is fine, but when you find yourself deep in the Expanse it might be that after one fight you will be reduced to one battery.

Friedrich van Riebeeck, Navigator Primus, Heart of the Void

So..would the Frigate be a better choice, as it can take a few punches, and keep attacking or should I go with the Star-clipper, and use the superior speed to run away?

Guess that is a good question, do you want a ship that can handle a fight or one that can withdraw quickly. If you go with the firestorm frigate i do suggest that you take a lance weapon over torpedo. If not, go with two identical macro battery so you can salvo.

Void_onion213 said:

Yeah, but I'm a bit biased to the torpedoes because everyone seems to be going toward double battery or Battery/lance; I wanted to go a diffrent way, try something different; Torpedoes are just the ticket.

Perhaps check first what (house) rules you will use. Many groups remove the option to combine macro salvos, as it is hidiously overpowered and makes lances useless. Furthermore, there are a few actions that can increase the speed of a ship during combat. Adjust speed and flank speed can stack quite impressively if wel used (and with lucky rolls can give an awesome speed boost when it is needed), so the two VU speed difference between a frigate and an Orion are less vital then it might seem. Without any actions taken, the orion is indeed 25% faster. But if you need the speed and have, say 5 DoS on the adjust speed and flank speed actions (not very hard to achieve with characters), the difference is between 13 VU's and 15 VU's...still appreciable, but allready less marked. If you get really good rolls, the difference will even get less noticable.

FvR

van Riebeeck said:

We'll be playing 'straight' as the GM is a newbie at RT, so he'll actually use the core book and my knowledge of the game. Too early to house rule on salvos yet.

That Flanking speed action is something I did consider for the frigate yes; it's main disadvantage is that it's pretty bare; essential components, guns the badass Space Cathedral and the mandatory archeotech and that's it; I want more space/power, I'll have to buy good or best quality components, have them installed, then buy the extra component I want, compared to the Orion, which is already pimped out (almost) fully, but it got a glass jaw. So sure I start with every endeavour type with at least a 50-100 points in it 'free', it can fill many roles as well, compared to the Firestorm who is all about Combat (which frankly, it's what I'm expecting to see with my GM.) and nothing else; a Rogue Trader can't go far with a 'one-trick voidship' that lacks any cargo space too.

If you want to go torpedo, you might want something more specialized. you might want a Falchion, true the torpedo tubes it starts with are under powered. The plus side is that it has two dorsal mounts so you don't have to worry to much about the one arm tied behind your back scenario. If you are tight with space and power, you could use your starting archeotech option to get a better plasma drive.

Being the only ship in the fleet my make you feel the need to cover all aspects, but your not really going to perform exceptionally in any one area. take easy steps and try fitting something more specialized. If you want an all rounder, the sword class is a good start. Orion are good for what they are built for, but don't expect it to hold up in a fight.

If you really want a frigate and torpedoes, I would also recommend that you switch to a Falchion. If you really just want to use a weapon system other than macrobatteries and lances then I recommend this fan made ship hull . Attack craft have a lot to offer, and a void-master pilot+good commander on a ship is a devastating combo in my experience. You might also want to consider switching to a raider since that will give you more SP to work with.

For a torpedo raider i would recommend the Cobra.

I would advice a Meritech Strike class Raider with Crack Crew, Sygean pattern Macrocannon, Gryphone pattern torpedo tubes, teleporterium, and that comes out to roughly 42/46 SP based on what Void told me on vent that you had to use.

I strongly suggest either upgrading the crew to elite

or pleading one player to take over as Navigator.

Otherwise the RAW rules will have you flying blind through the warp continually.

Or simply have the GM handwave warp travel.

BTW don t pick a lance if you play without houserules, since they are utter crap against macrobattery salvoes.

If you can resupply, torpedoes are pretty nice, if you cant, i suggest a dual macrobattery on a sword class frigate. Either sunsears or if you want to have maximum damage a dual ryza pattern can be fun. (if short on power, use Meltas).

Im against the Falchoin, since youll pay more space than the Voss pattern torpedo system actually uses. Which is space you might find alacking when cramming your ship with barracks/cargoholds/other gimmicks.

I might be biased on the Navigator side, but the idea of Voronesh of taking one is not bad at all. To sail the ship with any reliability, a good Navigator is vital, especially once you get out of the regularly used warp routes. Hand waving warp travel on the other hand is to me anathema and would completely change the athmosphere of the game. The dangers of the warp are a constant and common companion on voyages in WH40K, and even the best known path might become a terrifying death trap (or worse...) if the warp is fickle. Skipping that bit makes travelling between distant stars far too safe and reliable. Warhammer is dark and brooding, with doom looking you in the face at every step you take. That is part of its appeal to me, and the warp is a vital part of it.

FvR

I have no SP left to spend 15 SP to get my crew at 50; granted I *could* do it, but my ship will be skin and bones (and a couple of guns)

Your problem is basically if you use the rules as they are.

Roll against 50 to find the astronomican. (If you roll a 80 here, youre doomed)

If failed, roll against 50-x (10 per degree of failure) for the warp navigation.

I cant find anything what happens when you fail that test, but do NOT roll a 9 (failed test, but nothing happens?). If you roll a 9, the GM can spank you with anything he wants; but basically you end up "somewhere".

Hrmm, i dunno, it doesnt seem to be too good, with a crew rating of even 40.

If you have a PC navigator aboard, many of these problems go away. Small chance of not finding the Astronomican, coupled with high warp navigation values; hence my suggestion of hand waving it away. I still roll on the hazard table, since it gives me great tools of driving the story ahead.

Voronesh said:

Forget it; one player is ALWAYS playing the grunt (fighter in D&D, arch-militant in this case, etc etc..) the other is a Void-Master, so yeah- we're pretty much limited in our own abilitites, saince the Arch-militant is not a cerebral career, and the Void-Master is good in space, but not in the wapr

Uhh well.

Depends on your GM then. To a certain degree id handwave it. No sense of playing a social campaign if everybody rolls a barbarian.

OTOH i like to hit people with, "if your party doesnt have it, it aint my problem" attittude too. Closed room, no one with Tech-Use, little chance of getting out quickly, eg the bridge in the intorductory adventure.

So it depends where your GM sits on this.

Voronesh said:

The second one; he clearly told us that 'if you don't have it on your ship, you don't have it'; the only thing he is giving us is a Navigator, and only because it's mandatory to have.

We end up locked in a room, our problem, not his.

so even though your ship is loaded with tech specialists and others of rare and unique skill and ability. If you get locked in the bathroom your GM won't let you call Maintenance? The group you have is good, but not having the support of your crew of about 15k+ makes no sense what so ever. unless you have a servitor crew, lol. all ships have an astropath cadre, several navigator and an engine seer prime. Though with a crack crew, each specialist will be equal in ability to a rank 1 player character.

Well the example was given for the PCs to be locked on a bridge and most of their guards busy fighting mooks, they have the choice between fighting a badass psionic character and getting the door open really fast. (My 2 PCs barely suvived. One at exactly 0 hitpoints, the other at 1. One more warp lightining blast and they might have had to burn a fatepoint. The VM only took a hellpistol......)

Cant call maintenance in this case, since its a mostly empty wreck you are trying to salvage. (They have lots of NPCs at their beck and call, but not everything can be solved by NPCs)

Problem is, if you use rules as written without a single hosuerule, you really NEED a PC navigator, unless you want to play 40k as written in many novels, and there they were stung by a bad warp accident AGAIN. Problem is a crack crew is actually pretty bad with the rules as written. Crack crew are rather incompetent....A PC can have a Tech-Use of 90+ at R1 (for the problem given up top).

I would have a team of tech-Priest and technomats onboard, yet no 'real' explorator, or if I lack a librarium vault, I won't have a dedicated Senechal.