If their first impression of the Eldar is Biel-tan we can show them the trophy room.
Probably won't help much, given they usually operate one the maxim: "the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy" but we can try.
As for involvement, I think we should restrict ourselves to the Heresy. Run into a space battle between the imperials and chaos? Just discharge whatever superweapons we're carrying into them and bugger off.
To our seers, the Traitor warships might as well be colour coded, even if they aren't yet all spiky.
The first meeting for most of the imperial forces with eldar to my understanding are the proto dark eldar.
And they don't give a shit about the different between exodite, craftworld or the webway ones.
If their first impression of the Eldar is Biel-tan we can show them the trophy room.
Probably won't help much, given they usually operate one the maxim: "the enemy of my enemy is also my enemy" but we can try.
As for involvement, I think we should restrict ourselves to the Heresy. Run into a space battle between the imperials and chaos? Just discharge whatever superweapons we're carrying into them and bugger off.
To our seers, the Traitor warships might as well be colour coded, even if they aren't yet all spiky.
Probably, but it would be nice to at least be nominally allied with the imps so we don't have to be worried about space marines being sent out after our passes. But there are also the leagues of votann so we could maybe do something with them.
975.M29
Northwest Galactic Rim
Deep Space, rogue planet Esk-Tervau
Craftworld Meros
Like an ill omen, the fabric of Materium and Immaterium tears—first small rips, then greater, so many so close that they run into each-other and tear great bleeding wounds in the fabric of reality, wounds from which pour the disorganized rabble of an Orkish void-fleet: hundreds of crude Roks and scores of ramshackle war-vessels charging from the Immaterium's grasp surrounded by the crackling green nimbus of their protective fields. One even has to admire the brute artistry of the Ork's entrance, for the veil-wounds are torn in the image of a leering Orkish face, of which ten thousand variants adorn sigils and banners across the galaxy.
It does not impress Geal-Vad, first son of Aresh-Vul, for more than an instant.
"Ember and Ash squadrons to the van," the proud son of Vau-Vulkesh orders, calmy in spite of the enemy's vastly greater numbers, "Target the larger of the rock-craft first—we must not allow the Ork to deploy any heavy armor to the surface. Augury, find me the leaders of this rabble, that Slayer of Kings and our sister-vessels might strike them down. Hold our squadrons for now, but make them ready for strike-missions against the enemy ships—we shall send them only once we have thinned the horde. Weapons-master, steady tempo, fire as we bear. Helm, begin the sweep."
Elegant and deadly, the ships of Vau-Vulkesh plunge upon the Ork from 'behind' the ragged rift in reality their fleet has swarmed into reality from. And if the defenses of those elegant Aeldari ships are diminished, their weapons are not—searing blue-white lines draw themselves between Brig, Ketch and Carrack and the largest of the Orkish Roks, whilst the blazing red of Las-Lances large and small stab out to slice and sear at lesser foes, whole flotillas of Cutters and Sloops focusing fire on Orkish Kroozas and middling-sized Roks alike. Great black spears of Wraithbone, cruelly barbed and bladed and visible only when they ever-so-briefly occlude some distant star, twist in impossible corkscrews and serpentines, impaling escorts or lesser Roks that vanish in tremendous fireballs seconds after impact, the Fatetwister Cannons finding their marks in ammunition-bunkers or volatile power-generators.
Chaos is instant—in spite of it being a known weakness, Orks never do seem to expect being shot in the back.
What had been a cohesive—if disorderly—fleet abruptly becomes a hundred individual flotillas, each engaged in a different maneuver; some pour on the speed, trying to reach the dubious safety of the Craftworld before them. Others heel around, fighting their own momentum to come to grips with the fleet. Dozens more scatter into wild evasion in every direction, yet this very thing was the desired result.
Here and there, knots of coordination emerge, as Orkish war-leaders shout and threaten portions of the horde to order—and methodically, the auguries of Geal-Vad's fleet reach into those knots, seeking the largest and most impressive vessels…
…before spears of raging starlight blot them from the void.
Those that sought to engage are the next to the slaughter—sails shift, catching immaterial winds, and the battle-line melts away moments before the Orks can reach effective weapons-range—only for a hail of fire from the second line behind them to sweep away the heaviest of the Orkish craft—sails shift minutely, and the first line heels around like vipers, lances stabbing and slashing to leave ruin behind.
Outnumbered and hideously vulnerable should he engage the Ork in the close battle it favors, these are the tactics of Geal-Vad: Break the horde, harry its shards, and visit instant, surgical annihilation on its leaders.
The greatest vessels—Roks and Killkroozas by the dozen—perish, and escorts vanish as the horde breaks apart, yet they are not broken. Not yet.
There it emerges, the beating heart of the green tide: a massive Battlekrooza, exotic weapons studding its flanks and a halo of crackling lightning around it. A lance of star-flame spears out, and the impossible occurs: the field drinks it down, visibly growing brighter, and the ship within is unharmed.
There is a moment of shock, before sense sets in—this time, it is not a single column of blue-white that seeks to impale the Ork vessel, but dozens, as all three of the Aeldari battleships and no few of their lesser kindred vent their full wrath against it. The field flares to near-white instantly, before the rear third of the vessel is engulfed in fire as something within gives way, and it sputters out. This time there is no shield of lightning to save it, and the vessel dies to a contemptuous spatter of lesser weapons that saw it nearly in half.
Those that thought the Craftworld would offer any kind of safety fare no better—no fools they, the Merosi have roused and repaired the colossal vessel's more intact emplacement-fortresses, and weapons far too great for any lesser voidcraft erase whole flotillas in fans of white-crimson las-beams or gouts of sunfire the size of modest cities. Roks crumble against vast kine-shields of stupendous power, spilling their cargos into the unforgiving void.
Yet that is not all, for hundreds upon hundreds of fighters swarm from the Craftworld—each might be little more than a single Las-Weapon of great power—what the Imperium to come would call a "turbo-laser"—with a cockpit and engines, but the ships are deadly all the same, swarming the Orkish ships with weapons that can inflict telling damage. They are fragile things, save the cockpit assembly, built in ruinous haste, and the weapons of the Ork wreak a terrible toll, for even light-caliber weapons can shred the effectively unarmored laser-mounts or engine-pods—yet clever Meros has accounted for this, for the cockpits, it quickly becomes apparent, are little more than slightly modified and up-armored escape-capsules—and whenever their weapons or engines are shredded by Orkish fire, the central cockpit-pod simply sheds them in puffs of detachment-charges, rocketing back to the Craftworld far faster than the Orkish guns can track. And for all that these attack-ships are fragile, Meros has built scores upon scores of them, and the Orks, for once, find themselves facing their own favored tactics: a horde that swarms an enemy under through sheer numbers.
Caught between two fires, the Orkish ships break, and swiftly as they came, vanish once more into the Warp.
Meros is once again protected, and the Ork prevented from landing, but one doubts this will last—the next attack will surely bring greater strength, and Geal-Vad's fleet is now somewhat damaged. Some will have to be towed back to the Craftworld for repair, and it is likely that reinforcement should be sent. Still, this is very much a victory.
Flarewasp Gunship
Designed and constructed by the Craftworld of Meros in nearly indecent haste, the Flarewasp is effectively an armored escape-pod to which a massive Turbo-Laser and powerful engines have been bolted, with detachment-charges to drop the effectively unarmored systems should they be damaged—allowing the central cockpit-pod to rocket away to safety with its own powerful engines. While these craft are hilariously fragile save for the cockpit-module, they are sufficiently inexpensive that Meros has been able to construct them in great numbers, allowing lesser Voidcraft to be swarmed under. It is likely, however, that these craft will be retired once the immediate crisis has passed for Meros, though elements of their design may appear in future Merosi craft.
Turbo-Lasers
Effectively the opposite of a Volcano Cannon, a Turbo-Laser is an enlarged and empowered Lascannon of sufficient size and power to qualify as a superheavy weapon. While not as powerful as a Volcano Cannon, Turbo-Lasers are significantly less expensive due to the differences in their fundamental components and design.
Depending on the size of the vehicle and the price its designer is willing to pay, some vehicles may carry several Turbo-Lasers in a single linked array of two, three, or even four individual weapons—these are generally referred to as "Turbo-Laser Destructors" due to their increased firepower, and offer the ability to either fire single simultaneous blasts or a steady stream of fire by alternating the individual weapons. This capacity is particularly valuable for machines which expect to engage both Super-heavy vehicles and more conventional armor, as it allows them to avoid "overkilling" units with slow-firing blasts when even a single Turbo-Laser would be sufficient.
Frigate Design
The next stage in rationalizing your Voidship fleet, designing a new Frigate with the technology you possess is a near necessity, as your current Ketch design was built in a time when certain resources were more abundant and its defensive wardings have failed with the death of the gods that empowered them. A new design, then, is needed for this new, harsher age.
Slots come in four types: System Slots, which are used for the majority of equipment, and Weapons Slots, divided between standard Weapons Batteries, Heavy Weapons Batteries, and Special Weapons. Standard batteries mount a pair of standard naval-grade weapons, Heavy batteries mount either a single Heavy Naval weapon or three standard naval weapons. Special Weapons Slots, similarly, may mount either a single Special Weapon—at present only the Starcaster Mega-Lance is available in this category—or a pair of Heavy Naval weapons.
All ships will by default possess a set number of each type of slot, depending on their size and hull type—using these slots 'as is' is recommended as they do not incur any penalty for use. You may, if desired, add an additional standard weapons battery at the expense of two Systems slots, an additional Heavy weapons battery at the expense of four systems slots or two standard weapons batteries, and a Special Weapon slot at the expense of two Heavy Weapons Batteries or eight system slots. This does, however, incur an additional manufacturing cost above that of the slots as designed. Additionally, you may remove entirely a Weapons Battery of either type or a Special Weapon slot in order to increase your available System slots; this, however, is less efficient that a design with fewer slots to begin with—a standard Weapon Battery returns only half as many system slots (one and two, respectively,) while a Special Weapon slot refunds only three System slots.
Frigate Hull Types Table
Type
System Slots
Weapons Batteries
Heavy Weapons Batteries
Special Weapons Slots
Ketch
7
2
1
0
Schooner
5
3
1
0
Voidship Weapons Batteries Table
Type
Slots Cost*
System Slots Refunded
Alternate Use
Weapon Battery
2 System
1
None
Heavy Weapon Battery
4 System | OR | 2 Weapon Battery
2
3x Naval Weapons
Special Weapon
8 System | OR | 2 Heavy Weapon Battery
3
2x Heavy Naval Weapons
*For additional mounts only.
Voidship Propulsion Systems Table
Type
System Slot Cost
Æthersail
1
Plasma-Thruster
2
Standard Voidship Weapons Table
Name
Type
Starlance
Starlance
Fatetwister Cannon
Fatecaster
Las-Lance
Las
Spike Macrocannon
Needler
Voidship Heavy Weapons Table
Name
Type
Heavy Starlance
Starlance
Heavy Las-Lance
Las
Voidship Equipment Table
Name
System Slot Cost
Reinforced Hull
1
Hanger (2 Squadrons)
1
Transport Bay (Small)
1
Transport Bay (Large)
2
Webway Gate
5
Close-In Weapons Battery
2
Point Defense Battery
1
Holo-Field
1
Grav-Shield
2
[ ] Destroyer Design
6 HOUR MORATORIUM
AN: y'all managed to bushwhack the Orks with superior positioning again (though at least they actually managed to shoot back some this time), and Meros rolled three straight critical successes for their own part in the defense. I'm gonna have to give them "Favored Enemy: Orks" at this rate!
AN: y'all managed to bushwhack the Orks with superior positioning again (though at least they actually managed to shoot back some this time), and Meros rolled three straight critical successes for their own part in the defense. I'm gonna have to give them "Favored Enemy: Orks" at this rate!
We need a ketch refit so that we can cheap and fast make our super powerful frigates to something that's not a glass cannon. I think just a holo field or a grav shield is good enough.
AN: y'all managed to bushwhack the Orks with superior positioning again (though at least they actually managed to shoot back some this time), and Meros rolled three straight critical successes for their own part in the defense. I'm gonna have to give them "Favored Enemy: Orks" at this rate!
Not sure what to do for the Frigate. Maybe our standard Assault Ketch, but we swap both Plasma Engines for a second Aethersail and Holo Field/Grav Shield, then swap the Starlance CIWB for some other Superheavy mount to save on Starcrystals?
EDIT: Only option that doesn't use Exotic resources is Spike cannons.
EDIT2: So this. Might be a bit slower, but a lot tougher to make up for the lack of redundant Plasma Thrusters and a lot cheaper for the CIWB.
[ ] Assault Ketch refit
-[ ] 1x Heavy Starlance
-[ ] 1x Fatetwister Weapons Battery
-[ ] 2x Aethersail
-[ ] 1x Spike Cannon Close In Weapons Battery
-[ ] 1x Holo-field
-[ ] 1x Grav-shield
EDIT3: Wait it has a spare Standard Weapon Battery slot. I guess either take a proper Spike Cannon Battery as well or trade it for Reinforced Hull or something.
We need a ketch refit so that we can cheap and fast make our super powerful frigates to something that's not a glass cannon. I think just a holo field or a grav shield is good enough.
I personally think that it isn't. (Well, I guess holo field and reinforced hull could work) Escorts like frigates need to stand between more vulnerable capital ships (like "airships") and the enemy. They need to be able to take a hit.
1 Weapon slot unused.
I would leave the Plasma Thrusters and Æthersail alone.
Switch the free 1 weapon for a Holo-Field.
Then Switch the Fatetwister Cannon out for a non-exotic variant and turn the Starlance Close-In Weapons Battery into a Fate one.
Just not sure yet which weapon system to slot into the current Fatetwister Weapon Battery.
Edit: not likely we have many options there, either the las-lances or the Spike Macrocannon.
Or we could just leave them like this and just Add Holo-Fields.
Couldn't really build more but we have a ton that are waiting for repairs ...
I personally think that it isn't. (Well, I guess holo field and reinforced hull could work) Escorts like frigates need to stand between more vulnerable capital ships (like "airships") and the enemy. They need to be able to take a hit.
AN: y'all managed to bushwhack the Orks with superior positioning again (though at least they actually managed to shoot back some this time), and Meros rolled three straight critical successes for their own part in the defense. I'm gonna have to give them "Favored Enemy: Orks" at this rate!
At this rate, we might as well design an entire army's worth of gear specialised for killing Orks to give over to Meros. Madmen have more than deserved it.
As for the frigate design? We have an excess weapon slot available, so we can probably just get rid of one of the plasma thrusters and the weapon slot to be able to slot in a holo-grav defense, right?
I personally think that it isn't. (Well, I guess holo field and reinforced hull could work) Escorts like frigates need to stand between more vulnerable capital ships (like "airships") and the enemy. They need to be able to take a hit.
The escorts are never going to stand between Capital ships, because they get swatted out of the way as the capitals throw way more firepower around.
Escorts pretty work as wolf packs / screening elements for Torps and Fighters.
The escorts are never going to stand between Capital ships, because they get swatted out of the way as the capitals throw way more firepower around.
Escorts pretty work as wolf packs / screening elements for Torps and Fighters.
The escorts are never going to stand between Capital ships, because they get swatted out of the way as the capitals throw way more firepower around.
Escorts pretty work as wolf packs / screening elements for Torps and Fighters.
Yeah escorts aren't supposed to be tanks, they're supposed to be a cloud of angry bees that harass the heavyweights, intercept torpedoes and generally be nuisances, but tanking isn't one of their jobs.
Though, to be fair, our particular cloud of angry bees have weapons 3 times as strong as a regular las-lance and weapons that are very good at stinging the heavyweights (the fatetwisters literally detonating ammunition depots and reactors in some of the Ork ships) so we can definitely hit above our weight class all things considered.
[] Holo Assault Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 1x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 2x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Starlance Close-In Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
--[] Holo-Field
This is the cheapest refit, only change is adding the Holo-Field we are not going to build more of these, but we have a great number of them that can be refit and/or repaired. And as we aren't going to actually build more ships over repairing them for quite some time i think this would work pretty well for a good amount of time.
[] Starlight Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Las-Lance Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 1x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 2x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Close-In Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
--[] Holo-Field
Some downgrading here, but giving them an utterly brutal Close range weapon with the Fatetwister ones.
But kind of lose that power in the mid range due to loss of the Fatetwister Cannon battery.
Then there are variants that do something like this:
[] Grav-Sail Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 2x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 1x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Starlance Close-In Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
-[] Grav-Shield - 2 system slots.
-> Trade in the Plasma thruster for the grav shield and the 1 system slot for another sail.
Not sure if that is a smart thing to do, considering that Holo-Field synergize a lot with speed, and all of our escort's baseline should be very fast.
Edit: But can at least see the reason if one goes for
[] Grav-Lensing Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Las-Lance Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 2x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 1x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
-[] Grav-Shield - 2 system slots.
Does something like this, where the System mostly takes care of fighters or troops that would be a large danger to the Sails, also helps it when it acts as a screen for the capital ships.
[] Holo Assault Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 1x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 2x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Starlance Close-In Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
--[] Holo-Field
This is the cheapest refit, only change is adding the Holo-Field we are not going to build more of these, but we have a great number of them that can be refit and/or repaired. And as we aren't going to actually build more ships over repairing them for quite some time i think this would work pretty well for a good amount of time.
[] Starlight Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Las-Lance Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 1x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 2x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Close-In Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
--[] Holo-Field
Some downgrading here, but giving them an utterly brutal Close range weapon with the Fatetwister ones.
Then there are variants that do something like this:
[] Grav-Sail Ketch
-[] 1x Heavy Starlance -1 Heyv slot
-[] 1x Fatetwister Cannon Weapons Battery - 1 Weapon slot
-[] 2x Æthersail - 1 System slot
-[] 1x Plasma Thrusters - 4 System slots
-[] 1x Starlance Close-In Weapons Battery -2 System slots
-[] Trade in one weapon slot for 1 System Slot
-[] Grav-Shield - 2 system slots.
-> Trade in the Plasma thruster for the grav shield and the 1 system slot for another sail.
I dropped grav shields for more defense batteries and reinforced hull, because we do not have an afterlife to afford losses. I refuse to left everything to dodge chance.