Rogue Trader Fleet

[Sigoroth]

A-boats are really apropos against transports. Capture the supplies.

[Pembo]

True, it may all end quickly and badly.

However when you have a squadron of say 5 Armed Freighters thats a FP15 battery for 100pts. Opponents usually underestimate them too, allowing one round of shooting before they get destroyed.

I know some people are unhappy with the current points (90) and stats of the super heavy freighter, so i've designed one i'm more happy with.

SUPER HEAVY FREIGHTER
Battleship/10
5+ Armour
2 Shields
2 Turrets
15cm Speed

FP 6 Weapons Battery 30cm L/F/R
FP 1 Lance Battery 30cm L/F/R

Has enough firepower to scare off pirate escorts, but not enough to do much to a cruiser sized ship.
120pts

[Sigoroth]

I would up-gun the standard heavy transport. A ship this size would likely have port/starboard firepower, not all LFR stuff. That's the province of escorts. A small amount could be LFR.

[horizon]

Nice concept: l/r.

[lastspartacus]

Thats...different.  Why wouldnt the cannons shoot towards the front?

[horizon]

Why would a transport go prow on with the enemy?

[Kelsik]

Why would a transport go prow on with the enemy?

would this be a case to riga  aft fireing weapon?

[Sigoroth]

Thats...different.  Why wouldnt the cannons shoot towards the front?

Well a turret with a 360° traversable field of fire but no line of sight fore or aft due to ship superstructure would fire L/R. Also, Necron lightning arcs shoot L/R on the Scythe.

Still, I would imagine a super-heavy freighter being just a little more powerful than a heavy freighter and with 30cm range. So instead of 3/3/2 at 15cm maybe 5/5/3 at 30cm. So 2 heavy freighters compared to a single super-heavy freighter would cost less, provide more transport capability, have more firepower and more hits and be more manoeuvrable, but have lower range.

[AndrewChristlieb]

I don't see a problem with fp 6 weapons on the prow L/F/R and a fire power 1 lance on the dorsal L/F/R. A transport is going to have cargo holds where you would normally see weapons emplacements on a capitol ship. Therefore I dont think L/R specific weapons would really make sense on these.

[Pembo]

Well I based the weaons on the weapons given to a defence monitor. I figured since a super heavy freighter is so huge it would have decent weaponry to defend itself.

I also costed it using the smotherman formula. Normally this overcosts the ships I design but I think this seems about right.

[Sigoroth]

I don't see why a larger variant of the heavy transport would be armed like a Monitor.

[AndrewChristlieb]

It shouldnt, but if it was armed like a battlecruiser without port and starboard weapons? that makes sense to me.

[Pembo]

What are people's opinions on the light cruisers available to Rogue Trader fleets. Do people think its viable to make a competitive list without cruisers at all, or would this only be possible with the additions of the endurance and defiant classes?

I'm also contemplating whether I should construct my Kar Durniash cruiser as the standard rogue trader cruiser or as a Lunar Class. I don't really like having to use 4 weapons batteries to construct the standard cruiser when I could be using them to convert dauntless' into Endeavours.

[horizon]

?
For Dauntless -> Endeavour you do not need additional weapon batteries. You only need to change the prow, eg cut down lance if you have that variant or fill some torpedo tubes.

Dauntless have port/starboard batteries, so... easy.

[Sigoroth]

What are people's opinions on the light cruisers available to Rogue Trader fleets. Do people think its viable to make a competitive list without cruisers at all, or would this only be possible with the additions of the endurance and defiant classes?

I'm also contemplating whether I should construct my Kar Durniash cruiser as the standard rogue trader cruiser or as a Lunar Class. I don't really like having to use 4 weapons batteries to construct the standard cruiser when I could be using them to convert dauntless' into Endeavours.

Well, for 205 pts you could get the standard RT cruiser or a Tyrant with the targeting system which would increase firepower in most circumstances to greater than the Lunar while providing some ranged firepower (either 4WB or 6WB but -2 torps). The Lunar on the other hand would cost 195 pts without an upgrade. With the same upgrade the Lunar costs 10 pts more and only really equals the firepower on the Tyrant (without equalling the range) because only half its firepower benefits from the targeting system. You could go for a random upgrade and luck upon the targeting system, but even then you still cost 5 pts more for no appreciable increase in performance. Alternatively you could buy the shield upgrade and use it as a meat shield, but that would be most effective when you use the official squadron rules and 'hide' your other cruisers in the same squadron.

Typically I'd suggest that the extra 2 torps of the Tyrant is better than the extra range on 2WBs of the RT cruiser and that either is better than the Lunar. A squadron of 4 cruisers (2 RT & 1 Tyrant with targeting system, 1 meat shield Lunar with extra shield) you'd get 20 torps, 16 non-range-shifted WBs in the 30-45cm range band and in the 0-30cm range band 30EWBs + 6WBs + 2L each side. Unfortunately you'd never be able to afford to brace and the squadron would cost 830 pts. After taking the Rogue Trader captain you'd not have much left over for anything but a few escorts.