Greetings and salutations, forumers. I will soon take up the mantle of Rogue Trader and head of the Amarettian Dynasty - an ancient house of has-beens and old debts. In other words, the SP/PF division is 70/20! Being the most experienced player, I have been put in charge of making our ship and I have come up with three distinct molds. I'd like to have some positive feedback on their utility and what can be done to get the most bang out of my buck. The players and I are in the need for something grandiose, stylish and versatile. Hence the focus on smallcraft in these designs - those lil' buggers are so darn useful planetside! I should also note that the group does not make use of the Endevour system at all. Now, to the actual ships.. Increasing our SP further, two characters are Children of Dynasty and, with the GM's permission, ship components have been made valid for free acquisitioning. With that in mind, all three ships presented here have been made with players either taking two or three components to bring to the table. Please enjoy.

SHIP NAME: The Manifest Destiny
- MY personal favorite. Huge, bloated and way beyond its glory days - just like the Dynasty itself! The idea is to eventually restore it to glory and make it a worthy flagship of the Armada, serving as capital carrier and impressive centerpiece.

SHIP HULL: Avenger-class Grand Cruiser
Speed: 5 Manoeuvrability: 8
Detection: 10 Hull Integrity: 93
Armour: 22 Turret Rating: 3
Space: 90 SP: 70
Weapon Capacity: 3 Port, 3 Starboard

SHIP HISTORY
Wrested from a Space Hulk: +1 Armour, +1 Speed, +3 Manoeuvrability.
Resolute: –1 Speed +3 Hull Points +10 Repair Tests
Vessel of the Fleet: Steadfast Ally

PLASMA DRIVE Power Space SP
Saturine 5 95GEN 18 -

WARP ENGINE Power Space SP
Strelov 2 12 12 -
Emergency Field 2 - -

VOID SHIELD Power Space SP
Triple Void Shield 9 3 -

SHIP's BRIDGE Power Space SP
Fleet Flag Bridge 4 4 1

LLIFE SUSTAINERS Power Space SP
Vitae-Pattern 5 3 -

CREW QUARTERS Power Space SP
Voidsmen Quarters 2 4 -

AUGUR ARRAYS Power Space SP
M-201.b Augur Array 5 - -

ARMAMENTS Power Space SP
PQ Lathe Landing Bay 2 6 1
PQ Lathe Landing Bay 2 6 1
PQ Lathe Landing Bay 2 6 1
PQ Lathe Landing Bay 2 6 1

SUPPLEMENTS Power Space SP
Auto Temple 1 1 -
Flight Repair Deck 2 2 1
Comp. Cargo Hold 2 5 1

Space used: 76/90
Power used: 52/95
SP used: 76/76

SHIP NAME: The Unconquered Sun

Another good one, though not my personal favorite. This was inspired by a ship a friend of mine made and tweaked to suit the group's tastes. It's made to be a bit of a multitasking powerhouse, hopefully forming the base of an eventual fleet.

SHIP HULL: DICTATOR-CLASS CRUISER
Speed: 5 Manoeuvrability: 16
Detection: 23 Hull Integrity: 71
Armour: 21 Turret Rating: 3
Space: 65 SP: 63
Weapon Capacity: 1 Prow, 2 Port, 2 Starboard
Carrier Vessel: 2 free Jovian Launch bays, 1P each

Space used: 52/65
Power used: 64/74
SP used: 76/76

MORALE: 102
POPULATION: 100

SHIP HISTORY
Wrested from a Space Hulk: 1 Armour, +1 Speed, +3 Manoeuvrability.
Resolute: –1 Speed +3 Hull Points +10 Repair Tests
Planet-Bound For Millenia: +10 Manoeuvrability/5 VUs of a planet.

PLASMA DRIVE Power Space SP
Jovian Drive(Modified) 75GEN 10 -

WARP ENGINE Power Space SP
Strelov 2 12 12 -
Emergency Field 2 - -

VOID SHIELD Power Space SP
Repulsor Array 8 1 -

SHIP's BRIDGE Power Space SP
Bridge of Antiquity 2 1 2

LIFE SUSTAINERS Power Space SP
Vitae-Pattern 5 3 -

CREW QUARTERS Power Space SP
Clan-kin Quarters 2 5 1

AUGUR ARRAYS Power Space SP
M-201.b Augur Array 5 - -

ARMAMENTS Power Space SP
Bombardment Cannon 5 5 3
Hecutor Plasma Battery 8 3 2
Hecutor Plasma Battery 8 3 2
Jovian Launch Bay 1 - -
Jovian Launch Bay 1 - -

SUPPLEMENTS Power Space SP
Auto Temple 1 1 -
Comp. Cargo Hold 2 5 1
Flight Repair Deck 2 2 1

ATTACK CRAFT CR SPD SS
Fury Interceptors x2 10 10 20
Shark Assault Boats x2 5 10 8

SHIP NAME: The Millionth Miracle

I love the Conquest-class so bad. It's big, it's stylin' and it's cool. Yet how could I possibly make such a monstrosity worth a **** in anything?

SHIP HULL: Conquest-class Star Galleon
Speed: 4 Manoeuvrability: 8
Detection: 10 Hull Integrity: 63
Armour: 17 Turret Rating: 1
Space: 56 SP: 52
Weapon Capacity: 2 Port, 2 Starboard
Galleon: 2 free MCHs, 4P each

SHIP HISTORY
Wrested from a Space Hulk: +1 Armour, +1 Speed, +3 Manoeuvrability.
Resolute: –1 Speed +3 Hull Points +10 Repair Tests
Planet-Bound For Millenia: +10 Manoeuvrability/5 VUs of a planet.

PLASMA DRIVE Power Space SP
Jovian Drive(Modified) 75GEN 10 -

WARP ENGINE Power Space SP
Strelov 2 12 12 -
Emergency Field 2 - -

VOID SHIELD Power Space SP
Repulsor Array 8 1 -

SHIP's BRIDGE Power Space SP
GQ Bridge of Antiquity 1 1 2

LLIFE SUSTAINERS Power Space SP
Vitae-Pattern 5 3 -

CREW QUARTERS Power Space SP
Clan-kin Quarters 2 5 1

AUGUR ARRAYS Power Space SP
Deep Void Array 7 - 1

ARMAMENTS Power Space SP
BQ Sunsear Broadside 8 5 3
BQ Sunsear Broadside 8 5 3
BQ Hecutor Battery 7 2 3
BQ Hecutor Battery 7 2 3
Hold Landing Bay 1 - 2

SUPPLEMENTS Power Space SP
Hymm-casters 3 0 1

ADDITIONAL Power Space SP
Auto Temple 1 1 -
Sensorium 1 1 2
Barracks 2 4 2

Space used: 52/56
Power used: 75/75
SP used: 76/76

I like the Manifest Destiny the best for your purpose. But I would trade some of the bays out for weapon systems. This would make the ship more versatile. All the ships look cool so however you guys decide I think you will be well served by your vessel.

Versatile, yes, but I fear far less fit for purpose. I find that a full-on broadside or a full-on hangar bay would be far more effective.

I am just nit picking here but in the conquest ship you have planet bound and also other traits like wrested from a space hulk and resolute. Unless an errat has changed this I thought you could have either planet bout as a ship background or the machine spirit quirk and history rolls. This of course can be over ruled by your game master and if so then thats very nice. My personal use of a Conquest is a pocket Carrier since it can house 4 Landing Bays + 1 Cargo Hold Landing Bay that could house yoru support ships that you would use outside of combat.

Chacha said:

Very true. And once you get other ships in the fleet it won't need to be so versatile. But how soon do you expect to aquire more spacecraft? If your going to be relying on a single vessel than perhaps versatility is the way to go and you can retrofit the flagship later. But if you can aquire more craft fairly soon it would not be worth having a jack of all trades type craft.

So far my groups have always relied on one craft and so versatility was always a big factor.

The main concern I would have about using smallcraft heavy designs is that with a 20PF you will not be able to replace them. You are going to lose fighters and bombers, and be unable to reasonably replace them. A single Fury Fighter is a -10 Aquisition (ER vehicle). You would have only a 10% chance of buying one, never mind replacing a dozen or so. For low PF groups I would recomend staying away from carriers at first.

Also, as noted by Asajev, you cannot combine the background packages (Vessel of the fleet) with the backgrounds from the main book.

As a matter of fact, I can combine background packages and the complications. Why does everyone assume that I haven't consulted the GM on this? As for the smallcraft replacements - that is the big bummer isn't it? A squadron requires a PF of 31 just to make the attempt, after all. Which is why we ended up going for the Sun.

Chacha said:

The Sun does sound like a good all arounder. It's the one I would assume my old group would have chose. It also sounds like your DM runs the game like me and house rules some minor changes. Right on. I allow folks to roll and or buy ship background. It's either roll and buy or just by. But if ya roll ya gotta keep the result. And I buy for lots of enemy ships just so it's fair and the pcs r guessing.