Design, construct, and lead the forces of Humanity in a bid to retake the lost Lativa Subsector.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears (WH40k Design Bureau)
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A New Age Dawns
(Many thanks to Trent01 for his gracious allowance of the use of some of the basic mechanics of Interstellar Arms Race on SB for this campaign)
The Lativa Subsector was never known for anything outside of it's immediate area. It was simply one more region of space contributing to the survival and position of Humanity among a sea of similar sets of habitation. It was a quiet place that last saw serious conflict during the War of the Beast with only internal dissent and minor rebellions occurring during the time of living memory.
It was this lack of activity that left the Subsector unprepared for a sudden onset of foes routed by foreign campaigns that trickled in during the middle of the Fortieth Millennium.
The Lativa Subsector is covered in darkness following a four hundred year decline. Orks revel in the ruined worlds seized from Humanity and plot new campaigns against anything in reach. Minor Xenos creep out from the cracks between what was once Humanity's domain, for space is vast and holds much. Fallen worlds stir with inimicable intelligence as miserable wretches pledge their souls to the Ruinous Powers in the hope of even one more day of some sort of existence.
But it is in the darkest night that the smallest of lights can be seen clearest. The Civilized World of Calavar still stands at the edge of the Subsector in defiance of the myriad of foes that have consumed her sisters and the reigns of state have been taken by a charismatic individual who can see the truth:
To stay static is to invite defeat. Defense would eventually become untenable. If any respite is to be bought it will be through the toil and blood of Calavar's children.
The shipyard that hangs above the gas giant on the edge of the Calavar system has been expanded in recent years in light of this upcoming campaign, in the form of cancerous growths budding off of the original merchant maintenance and drydock. The official Mechanicus members had been grudging in their acceptance of the necessity in copying the existing machinery and tooling but acknowledged that it was necessary, something the local operators were eager to accept in light of the potential rewards... And the looming prospect of defeat.
On this ragged platform of new and old, as gas skimmers collected fuel for the station's overworked plasma forges and barges brought minerals from the asteroid belt, the new Admiralty was formed to lead what would, hopefully, become a true navy in time. A half dozen commanders, captaining the existing warships Calavar had to it's name, and the newly christened Lord Admiral. A rank a single world should not be capable of granting, but then the Imperial Navy was not present to provide a list of grievances.
To the surprise of many it was not the Hegemon who would take up the task of leading the newborn, militant Navy. Even more surprising was that it was not one of his siblings or cousins, but rather an ex-Navy merchant captain who had lost his ship in an evacuation deep inside the Subsector.
It was a powerful statement to those of power on Calavar's surface: survival before all. The Hegemon and the Lord Admiral had a personal dislike for the other, but none could say that they were inept in their fields of expertise. The aftermath caused some strain with the branch of the Martian Brotherhood that served the nobility of Calavar, for such a breach in tradition was threatening to them. Their subsequent inclusion in the burgeoning military-industrial complex as the leaders of the development of better arms and armor eased tensions, as their knowledge was useful and the ability to find and prevent true tech-heresy invaluable despite their pedestrian knowledge compared to true leaders of their order.
The Lativan Subsector is overrun with darkness and aliens. But a single system under the right leadership has beaten similar odds before...
=====
Welcome to the Admiralty, pursers. The newly crowned Hegemon is putting a lot of faith in you and by the Emperor's Light I am going to make sure that you deliver. Seeing as your job is mainly going to be manning desks I hope that even such as you can't bodge that sort of work.
So, the important things. First, the Subsector is in a bad state. Yeah, yeah, we tell the commoners "the Subsector is infested with Traitors and Xenos" but that doesn't get across the sheer scope of what we will be facing. Nearby we have Orks and expect them to attack us soon now that we are building and scouting. Simpleminded Xenos they might be but never underestimate their cunning. Then there are mixed patches of Chaotically aligned worlds that will need to be cleansed for eventual recolonisation and immediate surveys for salvageable machinery and technology. Plus the local Xenos problems, Minor races that are making a play now that the Subsector is in flux.
Worst part of it is, even the Orks can be said to have a better navy than us at the moment, and that's just embarrassing. Your jobs will be to pick what to prioritize for our engineering teams. Right now? Everything needs to get better. A single Sword class of any Pattern could likely swat away our navy. Purely merchant grade gear simply won't cut it. Briefing packets are on your desk.
Discharge your duty to Humanity with pride.
The Lativa Subsector was never known for anything outside of it's immediate area. It was simply one more region of space contributing to the survival and position of Humanity among a sea of similar sets of habitation. It was a quiet place that last saw serious conflict during the War of the Beast with only internal dissent and minor rebellions occurring during the time of living memory.
It was this lack of activity that left the Subsector unprepared for a sudden onset of foes routed by foreign campaigns that trickled in during the middle of the Fortieth Millennium.
The Lativa Subsector is covered in darkness following a four hundred year decline. Orks revel in the ruined worlds seized from Humanity and plot new campaigns against anything in reach. Minor Xenos creep out from the cracks between what was once Humanity's domain, for space is vast and holds much. Fallen worlds stir with inimicable intelligence as miserable wretches pledge their souls to the Ruinous Powers in the hope of even one more day of some sort of existence.
But it is in the darkest night that the smallest of lights can be seen clearest. The Civilized World of Calavar still stands at the edge of the Subsector in defiance of the myriad of foes that have consumed her sisters and the reigns of state have been taken by a charismatic individual who can see the truth:
To stay static is to invite defeat. Defense would eventually become untenable. If any respite is to be bought it will be through the toil and blood of Calavar's children.
The shipyard that hangs above the gas giant on the edge of the Calavar system has been expanded in recent years in light of this upcoming campaign, in the form of cancerous growths budding off of the original merchant maintenance and drydock. The official Mechanicus members had been grudging in their acceptance of the necessity in copying the existing machinery and tooling but acknowledged that it was necessary, something the local operators were eager to accept in light of the potential rewards... And the looming prospect of defeat.
On this ragged platform of new and old, as gas skimmers collected fuel for the station's overworked plasma forges and barges brought minerals from the asteroid belt, the new Admiralty was formed to lead what would, hopefully, become a true navy in time. A half dozen commanders, captaining the existing warships Calavar had to it's name, and the newly christened Lord Admiral. A rank a single world should not be capable of granting, but then the Imperial Navy was not present to provide a list of grievances.
To the surprise of many it was not the Hegemon who would take up the task of leading the newborn, militant Navy. Even more surprising was that it was not one of his siblings or cousins, but rather an ex-Navy merchant captain who had lost his ship in an evacuation deep inside the Subsector.
It was a powerful statement to those of power on Calavar's surface: survival before all. The Hegemon and the Lord Admiral had a personal dislike for the other, but none could say that they were inept in their fields of expertise. The aftermath caused some strain with the branch of the Martian Brotherhood that served the nobility of Calavar, for such a breach in tradition was threatening to them. Their subsequent inclusion in the burgeoning military-industrial complex as the leaders of the development of better arms and armor eased tensions, as their knowledge was useful and the ability to find and prevent true tech-heresy invaluable despite their pedestrian knowledge compared to true leaders of their order.
The Lativan Subsector is overrun with darkness and aliens. But a single system under the right leadership has beaten similar odds before...
=====
Welcome to the Admiralty, pursers. The newly crowned Hegemon is putting a lot of faith in you and by the Emperor's Light I am going to make sure that you deliver. Seeing as your job is mainly going to be manning desks I hope that even such as you can't bodge that sort of work.
So, the important things. First, the Subsector is in a bad state. Yeah, yeah, we tell the commoners "the Subsector is infested with Traitors and Xenos" but that doesn't get across the sheer scope of what we will be facing. Nearby we have Orks and expect them to attack us soon now that we are building and scouting. Simpleminded Xenos they might be but never underestimate their cunning. Then there are mixed patches of Chaotically aligned worlds that will need to be cleansed for eventual recolonisation and immediate surveys for salvageable machinery and technology. Plus the local Xenos problems, Minor races that are making a play now that the Subsector is in flux.
Worst part of it is, even the Orks can be said to have a better navy than us at the moment, and that's just embarrassing. Your jobs will be to pick what to prioritize for our engineering teams. Right now? Everything needs to get better. A single Sword class of any Pattern could likely swat away our navy. Purely merchant grade gear simply won't cut it. Briefing packets are on your desk.
Discharge your duty to Humanity with pride.
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Mechanics
Welcome to the game, folks, where the wages of victory are blood, sweat, and tears. Hopefully of people other than yourselves naturally.
As the Admiralty board your job is to prioritize research projects and allocate funding to prepare a military that can, eventually, retake the Lativa Subsector for Humanity. It will be no easy task for your enemies are varied and vile but with Faith and Steel your disorganized enemies can be repelled and ultimately destroyed.
This will be a Quest rather than a "true" Arms Race, where there is only your team against the horrors of the far future, with turns going like so:
Design: This is the phase where you do your changes to your equipment, be it introducing/modifying starship components or new army compositions.
Construction: Here you spend your build points to get new starships and armies.
Strategy: And then you divvy up your troops between any operations you have planned.
In the Design phase you will have a number of Actions that may vary between turns but will probably level out at three or four, with which to perform projects such as building new types of guns to mount on your ships or putting in the effort to put substantial garrisons on your warships.
I will be using a 2d6 system to account for the random nature of inspiration and the sometimes critical lack of progress some projects face. Said roll will then be modified by a difficulty rating, as small changes shouldn't have the same chance to fail outright as developing a new Warp Drive or Gellar Field.
In the Construction phase you will take existing hulls, modules, and systems and pay the total cost to purchase them as a completed and functional hull, or simply buying Armies.
-Retrofitting existing ships is possible, although it does cost half of the old module(s), rounded up, plus the entirety of the new one (possibly with some restrictions about what can be put in in place of what). And lays up the ship for the campaign season. Extremely minor changes, such as adding an Add On or changing Hangar complements, do not trigger this time out period. Changing strike craft do not cost the extra to remove the old complement.
--Reconstructing Crippled vessels is being added onto retrofitting, where it will be out of the fight for a turn.
The two resources here are Manufacturing and Artisan, differentiating between things that can be mass produced and that which needs the knowledge of trained personnel to safely construct.
-Due to limitations in facilities, a ship can only be built up to a certain limit per turn. The current Build Limit is 70.
In the Strategy phase you will send your forces out to accomplish objectives. How tactical this becomes remains to be seen but you will at least get to establish rules of engagement for each task force.
=====
As this is a Populist game there is the chance to gain some mild to moderate bonuses by writing, be they character pieces or action sequences. Said bonuses will be in line with what the omake was about, rather than being able to be banked and tagged to any action.
=====
Clarifications of stats:
Acceleration: Straight line "speed" for chases and moving about the system.
Maneuver: The ability to perform beneficial combat maneuvers, such as rotating to present fresh armor/shield or evade a Torpedo.
Damage: The ability of a weapon system to cause harm. Subdivided into categories when not a Battery.
Lance: A weapon that fires few but powerful projectiles. Typically longer ranged than a Battery, though obviously lacks internal guidance.
Torpedo: A large self contained missile. Bypasses Shields and vulnerable to Point Defense.
Fighter: Strike craft optimized against other strike craft. Can protect friendly ordnance from enemy Fighters or Point Defense.
Bomber: Strike craft optimized for dealing damage to ship. Of lesser power than most weapons but uniquely suited to dealing precision damage.
Armor: Reduces incoming damage by an amount by hardening the hull. As such it is most effective against Battery weapons because of their large number of shots but also resists anything that attacks the Hull, such as Torpedoes, boarding craft, etc, to some degree.
Shields: Provides a small amount of regenerating health. Enemy ships generally fire in volleys, a timeframe that most shields do not recharge in, and can "combine" their fire by forming into squadrons. Protects against esoteric effects such as teleportation and high strength single hits like Lances, and is less useful against the amount of damage weapon Batteries put out.
Point Defense: Small caliber, rapid fire weapons meant to engage strike craft and Torpedoes.
Active Sensors: Describes the ability of the ship to target foes.
Passive Sensors: Describes the ability of a ship to detect foes, especially those trying to hide.
As the Admiralty board your job is to prioritize research projects and allocate funding to prepare a military that can, eventually, retake the Lativa Subsector for Humanity. It will be no easy task for your enemies are varied and vile but with Faith and Steel your disorganized enemies can be repelled and ultimately destroyed.
This will be a Quest rather than a "true" Arms Race, where there is only your team against the horrors of the far future, with turns going like so:
Design: This is the phase where you do your changes to your equipment, be it introducing/modifying starship components or new army compositions.
Construction: Here you spend your build points to get new starships and armies.
Strategy: And then you divvy up your troops between any operations you have planned.
In the Design phase you will have a number of Actions that may vary between turns but will probably level out at three or four, with which to perform projects such as building new types of guns to mount on your ships or putting in the effort to put substantial garrisons on your warships.
I will be using a 2d6 system to account for the random nature of inspiration and the sometimes critical lack of progress some projects face. Said roll will then be modified by a difficulty rating, as small changes shouldn't have the same chance to fail outright as developing a new Warp Drive or Gellar Field.
In the Construction phase you will take existing hulls, modules, and systems and pay the total cost to purchase them as a completed and functional hull, or simply buying Armies.
-Retrofitting existing ships is possible, although it does cost half of the old module(s), rounded up, plus the entirety of the new one (possibly with some restrictions about what can be put in in place of what). And lays up the ship for the campaign season. Extremely minor changes, such as adding an Add On or changing Hangar complements, do not trigger this time out period. Changing strike craft do not cost the extra to remove the old complement.
--Reconstructing Crippled vessels is being added onto retrofitting, where it will be out of the fight for a turn.
The two resources here are Manufacturing and Artisan, differentiating between things that can be mass produced and that which needs the knowledge of trained personnel to safely construct.
-Due to limitations in facilities, a ship can only be built up to a certain limit per turn. The current Build Limit is 70.
In the Strategy phase you will send your forces out to accomplish objectives. How tactical this becomes remains to be seen but you will at least get to establish rules of engagement for each task force.
=====
As this is a Populist game there is the chance to gain some mild to moderate bonuses by writing, be they character pieces or action sequences. Said bonuses will be in line with what the omake was about, rather than being able to be banked and tagged to any action.
=====
Clarifications of stats:
Acceleration: Straight line "speed" for chases and moving about the system.
Maneuver: The ability to perform beneficial combat maneuvers, such as rotating to present fresh armor/shield or evade a Torpedo.
Damage: The ability of a weapon system to cause harm. Subdivided into categories when not a Battery.
Lance: A weapon that fires few but powerful projectiles. Typically longer ranged than a Battery, though obviously lacks internal guidance.
Torpedo: A large self contained missile. Bypasses Shields and vulnerable to Point Defense.
Fighter: Strike craft optimized against other strike craft. Can protect friendly ordnance from enemy Fighters or Point Defense.
Bomber: Strike craft optimized for dealing damage to ship. Of lesser power than most weapons but uniquely suited to dealing precision damage.
Armor: Reduces incoming damage by an amount by hardening the hull. As such it is most effective against Battery weapons because of their large number of shots but also resists anything that attacks the Hull, such as Torpedoes, boarding craft, etc, to some degree.
Shields: Provides a small amount of regenerating health. Enemy ships generally fire in volleys, a timeframe that most shields do not recharge in, and can "combine" their fire by forming into squadrons. Protects against esoteric effects such as teleportation and high strength single hits like Lances, and is less useful against the amount of damage weapon Batteries put out.
Point Defense: Small caliber, rapid fire weapons meant to engage strike craft and Torpedoes.
Active Sensors: Describes the ability of the ship to target foes.
Passive Sensors: Describes the ability of a ship to detect foes, especially those trying to hide.
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Turn One Design Phase
The Calavar system has sprung to life after the Segmentum Battlefleet withdrew and left what was left of the Subsector to live or die as they did. In the absence of the Tithe there is a surplus of personnel and material assets that are ready and eager to be used to reap a terrible toll on the foes of Humanity. Such is the outpouring of support that even the Mechanicus Adepts present are willing to aid this most righteous endeavor.
Our first objective is necessarily to improve our technical capabilities to something that is not simply repurposed merchant equipment.
We have six (6) Design actions this turn as we build up for our inaugural campaign of what will be remembered as a Crusade. As of now everything is equally direly needed so High Command has no requests for you to look into.
=====
Voting will be by Plan.
Our first objective is necessarily to improve our technical capabilities to something that is not simply repurposed merchant equipment.
Hulls
A hull is the container that everything else is poured into. It determines how many of each type of module can be mounted and can give bonuses or maluses to them depending on rolls and player goals set forth when Designed.
Converted Freighter (1E, 3O) (3M): The typical hull of a pre-Fall merchantman. The copious amounts of open space are a boon to designing new ships but the hull is not built with the rigors of combat in mind.
Weapons
Put simply, these are the things that make enemies die. Here they come in three flavors: Energy, Kinetic, and Ordnance. Energy weapons do not require ammunition but are more expensive to build and maintain, Kinetic weapons require ammunition but can be built to fire multiple kinds, and Ordnance are strike craft and torpedoes and thus heavily reliant on supply to continue operating.
Self Defense Battery (Short Range, Damage 1) (1M): A thick battery of merchant grade cannon firing solid shot.
Atomic Warheads (Very Short Range, Damage 1.5) (2M): Broadside mounted tubes launching volleys of fusion warheads on short burn missile bodies.
Defenses
Stuff to stave off your ship being turned into a half molten hulk. 'Nuff said. Armor provides damage reduction while Shields absorb punishment until they break. Point Defense target Ordnance and can technically do damage to a hostile ship in a pinch.
Navigational Shields (Shield 1) (1M): A single layer of weak Void Shielding meant to protect against mundane hazards and light weapon fire.
Hull Armor (Armor .5) (1M): Structural material forged into plates and welded onto the sides of your ships in useful locations.
Engines
The ship's Engines are an integral part of how they perform their duties as warfare is motion. They provide Acceleration (straight line speed) and Maneuverability (how fast they can change course).
Merchant Thrusters (1A, 1M, Fuel Efficient) (1M): Standard thrusters for small civilian shipping, built for economy over all other concerns.
Tuned Merchant Thrusters (2A, 1M, Fragile) (1M): Standard engines overhauled for additional speed, based off of "field refits" by criminal and civilian shipping.
Utility
Anything that is not directly military falls under this category, be it high gain sensor mounts, cargo holds beyond what is necessary for a ship that size, or an onboard manufactorum for minor repairs in the field.
Cargo Hold (0M): An open compartment with the necessary equipment for moving loads.
Repair Deck (2M): A minor production line for repairing common damage and restoring basic functionality to engines.
Troop Deck (2M): The necessary housing and life support systems for an Army Group worth of extra bodies, as well as some landers to unload them under noncombat conditions.
Essential Components
Critical infrastructure every ship needs one of: Bridge, Sensors, Life Support, Housing, and Warp Drive.
Bridge
The seat of power of a starship, where orders are given and the command crew dwells. Includes cogitator support for bridge personnel among other leadership type buffs or modifiers.
Merchant (1M): Basic command and control elements with limited redundancy.
Sensors
Every ship needs a way to see what happens beyond, or even inside, it's hull. Also can be made to include Electronic Warfare duties.
Merchant (1M): Simple and rugged systems meant to last in the face of the harshness of the void, with a dual stage passive and active sensor package with limited resolution.
Warp Drive
While not every ship will be given the means to leave the system of it's birth, it is a vital asset for any warship.
Merchant (4M): A truly massive piece of arcane engineering that allows for the carrying ship to be carried through the Warp at minimal passive risk to itself and it's crew, at a slow pace.
None (0M): Termed either monitors or SDF ships, ships that do not possess Warp capability are locked into the same system they were built in. Doing so provides an extra Omni slot to the ship class.
Life Support
Equipment meant to preserve the atmosphere of the ship goes under this category, such as automated fire fighting equipment, secondary shutters to prevent bleeding pressure into the void, and so on.
Essential (2M): Unlike the venerable ships that develop entire cities in their bellies, this provides for exactly the range of life forms that make up the average crew.
Housing
Crews need somewhere to live for the possibly decades they spend away from friendly ports. As well, this category accepts to the living space such as the addition of minor onboard garrisons.
Barracks (1M): Minimal amounts of space and mass go into maintaining the morale of the ratings and deckhands, with high density housing made the norm.
A hull is the container that everything else is poured into. It determines how many of each type of module can be mounted and can give bonuses or maluses to them depending on rolls and player goals set forth when Designed.
Converted Freighter (1E, 3O) (3M): The typical hull of a pre-Fall merchantman. The copious amounts of open space are a boon to designing new ships but the hull is not built with the rigors of combat in mind.
Weapons
Put simply, these are the things that make enemies die. Here they come in three flavors: Energy, Kinetic, and Ordnance. Energy weapons do not require ammunition but are more expensive to build and maintain, Kinetic weapons require ammunition but can be built to fire multiple kinds, and Ordnance are strike craft and torpedoes and thus heavily reliant on supply to continue operating.
Self Defense Battery (Short Range, Damage 1) (1M): A thick battery of merchant grade cannon firing solid shot.
Atomic Warheads (Very Short Range, Damage 1.5) (2M): Broadside mounted tubes launching volleys of fusion warheads on short burn missile bodies.
Defenses
Stuff to stave off your ship being turned into a half molten hulk. 'Nuff said. Armor provides damage reduction while Shields absorb punishment until they break. Point Defense target Ordnance and can technically do damage to a hostile ship in a pinch.
Navigational Shields (Shield 1) (1M): A single layer of weak Void Shielding meant to protect against mundane hazards and light weapon fire.
Hull Armor (Armor .5) (1M): Structural material forged into plates and welded onto the sides of your ships in useful locations.
Engines
The ship's Engines are an integral part of how they perform their duties as warfare is motion. They provide Acceleration (straight line speed) and Maneuverability (how fast they can change course).
Merchant Thrusters (1A, 1M, Fuel Efficient) (1M): Standard thrusters for small civilian shipping, built for economy over all other concerns.
Tuned Merchant Thrusters (2A, 1M, Fragile) (1M): Standard engines overhauled for additional speed, based off of "field refits" by criminal and civilian shipping.
Utility
Anything that is not directly military falls under this category, be it high gain sensor mounts, cargo holds beyond what is necessary for a ship that size, or an onboard manufactorum for minor repairs in the field.
Cargo Hold (0M): An open compartment with the necessary equipment for moving loads.
Repair Deck (2M): A minor production line for repairing common damage and restoring basic functionality to engines.
Troop Deck (2M): The necessary housing and life support systems for an Army Group worth of extra bodies, as well as some landers to unload them under noncombat conditions.
Essential Components
Critical infrastructure every ship needs one of: Bridge, Sensors, Life Support, Housing, and Warp Drive.
Bridge
The seat of power of a starship, where orders are given and the command crew dwells. Includes cogitator support for bridge personnel among other leadership type buffs or modifiers.
Merchant (1M): Basic command and control elements with limited redundancy.
Sensors
Every ship needs a way to see what happens beyond, or even inside, it's hull. Also can be made to include Electronic Warfare duties.
Merchant (1M): Simple and rugged systems meant to last in the face of the harshness of the void, with a dual stage passive and active sensor package with limited resolution.
Warp Drive
While not every ship will be given the means to leave the system of it's birth, it is a vital asset for any warship.
Merchant (4M): A truly massive piece of arcane engineering that allows for the carrying ship to be carried through the Warp at minimal passive risk to itself and it's crew, at a slow pace.
None (0M): Termed either monitors or SDF ships, ships that do not possess Warp capability are locked into the same system they were built in. Doing so provides an extra Omni slot to the ship class.
Life Support
Equipment meant to preserve the atmosphere of the ship goes under this category, such as automated fire fighting equipment, secondary shutters to prevent bleeding pressure into the void, and so on.
Essential (2M): Unlike the venerable ships that develop entire cities in their bellies, this provides for exactly the range of life forms that make up the average crew.
Housing
Crews need somewhere to live for the possibly decades they spend away from friendly ports. As well, this category accepts to the living space such as the addition of minor onboard garrisons.
Barracks (1M): Minimal amounts of space and mass go into maintaining the morale of the ratings and deckhands, with high density housing made the norm.
Armed Merchant Marine
-Converted Freighter (1E, 3O) (3M)
-Engine: Merchant (1A 1M, Fuel Efficient) (1M,1F)
-Omni: Self Defense Battery (Short Range, Damage 1) (1M), Navigational Shields (Shield 1) (1M), Hull Armor (Armor .5) (1M)
-Bridge: Merchant (1M)
-LS: Essential (2M)
-Sensors: Merchant(1M)
-Warp: Budget (4M)
-Housing: Barracks (1M)
Total: 16M
-Converted Freighter (1E, 3O) (3M)
-Engine: Merchant (1A 1M, Fuel Efficient) (1M,1F)
-Omni: Self Defense Battery (Short Range, Damage 1) (1M), Navigational Shields (Shield 1) (1M), Hull Armor (Armor .5) (1M)
-Bridge: Merchant (1M)
-LS: Essential (2M)
-Sensors: Merchant(1M)
-Warp: Budget (4M)
-Housing: Barracks (1M)
Total: 16M
Infantry Army (2M)
-Infantry: Autoguns, T2 Heavy Weapons (rocket launchers, autocannon, heavy stubbers)
-Elite Infantry: Lasguns, T2/3 Heavy Weapons
-Artillery: Light and Medium towed guns
-Armor: Default
Armor Army (6M)
-Armor: Default
-Mechanized Infantry: Autoguns, T2 Heavy Weapons (rocket launchers, autocannon, heavy stubbers)
-Artillery: Light and Medium towed guns
-Infantry: Autoguns, T2 Heavy Weapons (rocket launchers, autocannon, heavy stubbers)
-Elite Infantry: Lasguns, T2/3 Heavy Weapons
-Artillery: Light and Medium towed guns
-Armor: Default
Armor Army (6M)
-Armor: Default
-Mechanized Infantry: Autoguns, T2 Heavy Weapons (rocket launchers, autocannon, heavy stubbers)
-Artillery: Light and Medium towed guns
We have six (6) Design actions this turn as we build up for our inaugural campaign of what will be remembered as a Crusade. As of now everything is equally direly needed so High Command has no requests for you to look into.
=====
Voting will be by Plan.
Last edited:
Trent01
A Fountain of Quest Ideas
Bloody hell. I've seen chartist transports with better equipment and components than we have for our merchant marine. We got a lot of ground to make up just to match a Imperial Navy subsector maintenance yard. Fortunately, we have a template to follow: The Claymore Corvette. A inferior imitation of a proper Sword-class frigate, but far more within our grasp.
Top priorities are to make a new starship hull, a weapon system, targeting sensors, and a bridge for us to make warships out of.
So, design proposals to get things started.
(Hull) Saber-class Corvette: A imitation of a imitation of a proper warship, the Saber is intended to be a homegrown version of the Claymore Corvette as a budget frigate meant to be mass-produced to fulfill needs for escorts. Unlike a converted freighter, it will be built for war with the requisite redundancies, hull reinforcement, and extra crew reserves that can be fit within the hull we devise. It will have two slots dedicated to weaponry, a defense slot, a engine slot, and two utility slots. There will be no omni slots to reduce complexity of development.
(Weapon) Mars-Pattern Macrocannon Battery: Utilizing some of the remaining chartist merchant ships as examples, we will reverse-engineer the templates needed to make a standard macrobattery for void warfare. Spaceborne warfare at it's most basic, consisting of firing kilotonne shells en masse at the enemy to achieve hits and damage. Loading systems and maintenance will be performed by large gun crews instead of automated systems to keep costs low and reliability high.
(Sensors) T-100 Auspex: A attempt at a military-grade sensor array utilizing a combination of active and passive sensors normally not used by budget-pinching freighter captains. Strive to improve lock-on resolution to allow for medium-range void comba with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
(Bridge) Combat Bridge: The ship's bridge is outfitted with extra armor plating and a dedicated damage control center to improve the survivability of the senior officers and the ship.
As for the rest of our options, I'm open to input. But we must see to our foundations first, don't forget that.
Top priorities are to make a new starship hull, a weapon system, targeting sensors, and a bridge for us to make warships out of.
So, design proposals to get things started.
(Hull) Saber-class Corvette: A imitation of a imitation of a proper warship, the Saber is intended to be a homegrown version of the Claymore Corvette as a budget frigate meant to be mass-produced to fulfill needs for escorts. Unlike a converted freighter, it will be built for war with the requisite redundancies, hull reinforcement, and extra crew reserves that can be fit within the hull we devise. It will have two slots dedicated to weaponry, a defense slot, a engine slot, and two utility slots. There will be no omni slots to reduce complexity of development.
(Weapon) Mars-Pattern Macrocannon Battery: Utilizing some of the remaining chartist merchant ships as examples, we will reverse-engineer the templates needed to make a standard macrobattery for void warfare. Spaceborne warfare at it's most basic, consisting of firing kilotonne shells en masse at the enemy to achieve hits and damage. Loading systems and maintenance will be performed by large gun crews instead of automated systems to keep costs low and reliability high.
(Sensors) T-100 Auspex: A attempt at a military-grade sensor array utilizing a combination of active and passive sensors normally not used by budget-pinching freighter captains. Strive to improve lock-on resolution to allow for medium-range void comba with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
(Bridge) Combat Bridge: The ship's bridge is outfitted with extra armor plating and a dedicated damage control center to improve the survivability of the senior officers and the ship.
As for the rest of our options, I'm open to input. But we must see to our foundations first, don't forget that.
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Lord Admiral: Keep a civil tongue in your head, officer. Though your words have a ring of truth to them, for even chartists have more opportunities than a maintenance and repair drydock on the back end of a no name Subsector.
Doable. A dedicated offensive warship certainly wouldn't hurt at this stage.
Doable, although it wouldn't be the Mars-Pattern regardless as that is a very specific blueprint rather than a type of weapon. Expected outcome is a Damage 2 rating, with an exceptional roll adding either a half point of Damage or extra range.
Doable.
And doable.
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If it helps people I will accept "do this but better"/stat designing and do the fluff myself.
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
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Do we have dedicated troop transport vessels or will we have to design them?
You have civilian shipping (refugees from the rest of the Subsector, mostly) to transport troops, but if you want military ships that can do more than haul troops into a secure zone, or drop a lot of troops at once into a hotly contested landing zone, you'll need to develop that capability.
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
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So something along the lines of a blockade runner then. Even without the need to transport troops we'll need a few.
I've been bamboozled. Which side of the argument are you supporting here? As Human soldiers do not typically make use of small unit tactics like Astartes do and so don't predeploy soldiery ahead of the main force.
Although I suppose you could work towards such a thing.
NeonLights
Formerly Reliable_2IC
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There is the possibility that we may become besieged or encounter potential allies in distress. To relieve a hypothetical world under siege, we can send minimally armed and vessels designed with speed and operational duration in mind. Evade the blockade, empty the holds of supplies, get out. We can also recycle the design for other specialist functions such as troop transport and recon vessels by taking advantage of the Omni slot. More complicated, but if you only need two or three it'll do.
Ah. Yeah, that's a useful thing to have. High defense and high speed vessels to get through the orbital battle and unload material to a world be it on attack or defense.
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
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Oh, good. I can see that I'm not too late. Yes, a blockade runner is something to consider for sure, but at this stage it would be more keenly felt and appreciated to have purpose-built warships I think.
Trent01
A Fountain of Quest Ideas
Another field we could really make use of as a force multiplier and versatile tool are strikecraft assets. The Imperium at large didn't like them because of how entrenched the big gun navy was and had the weight of firepower to brute force problems. We need some flexibility, as well as something to cover for our likely lackluster point defense.
(Ordinance) Cargo Bay Hangar: Taking the dimensions of some of our standard freighter and station main cargo holds, we can outfit the cargo bay with large amounts of smallcraft maintenance systems and fill it with strikecraft as a basic hangar for void fighters and bombers that can be launched through a enviro-screened open bay. The hangar is liable to be a weak point in the hull when open, but will provide us a cheap springboard for strikecraft operations. (Intended for freighter hull installations only)
(Ordinance) Pocket Hangar Tubes: Cramming strikecraft aboard escorts will be easier if escorts aren't expected to conduct major repairs. A small hangar extension of the existing shuttle bay of a escort ship can accommodate a wing of strikecraft that are pre-loaded into a set of short launch tubes for secure deployment. Recovery is conducted through the shuttle bay whereupon reloading can begin, albeit likely slowly in combat. The objective is to install one or two strikecraft squadrons aboard a escort hull as short-endurance ready alert craft, which can be loaned from proper carriers or installations that conduct proper maintenance or major repairs between battles.
I'm not eager to push it further given proper carriers are cruiser-tonnage in WH40k, but I think we can't neglect smallcraft given Orks like to use boarding torpedoes and fighta-bombas a lot. This would be a useful short-term solution.
(Ordinance) Cargo Bay Hangar: Taking the dimensions of some of our standard freighter and station main cargo holds, we can outfit the cargo bay with large amounts of smallcraft maintenance systems and fill it with strikecraft as a basic hangar for void fighters and bombers that can be launched through a enviro-screened open bay. The hangar is liable to be a weak point in the hull when open, but will provide us a cheap springboard for strikecraft operations. (Intended for freighter hull installations only)
(Ordinance) Pocket Hangar Tubes: Cramming strikecraft aboard escorts will be easier if escorts aren't expected to conduct major repairs. A small hangar extension of the existing shuttle bay of a escort ship can accommodate a wing of strikecraft that are pre-loaded into a set of short launch tubes for secure deployment. Recovery is conducted through the shuttle bay whereupon reloading can begin, albeit likely slowly in combat. The objective is to install one or two strikecraft squadrons aboard a escort hull as short-endurance ready alert craft, which can be loaned from proper carriers or installations that conduct proper maintenance or major repairs between battles.
I'm not eager to push it further given proper carriers are cruiser-tonnage in WH40k, but I think we can't neglect smallcraft given Orks like to use boarding torpedoes and fighta-bombas a lot. This would be a useful short-term solution.
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Sir_Travelsalot
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Not a bad idea at all, not at all! With some effort, and the aid of the techpriests, I can see us being able to recreate the Enforcer, or perhaps a Defiant-class Light Cruiser. Perhaps we could also see to building something akin to the proper ship's bombardment cannon.
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Something Strike Craft are very good at is precision damage, now that someone has brought it up...
As for a lack of escort carriers, I think there were some Light Cruiser weight carriers, but yeah, the Imperium was focused on long term ability in it's ships. Coupled with how big void strike craft are (inside the 747 and other commercial airliner range) their carriers needed to be large. Although most everyone does the same thing, so it is probably more to do with size and facilities...
Eh, for a pocket carrier? I'll allow it. Especially since you aren't going to be using standard Imperial patterns for a good while, for good or ill.
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Although. What kind of strike craft do you plan of fielding in these hangars?
Sir_Travelsalot
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Shouldn't be too difficult to build some Fury Interceptors, the whole Navy the galaxy over manages to keep them running in any kind of void theatre... But if we don't have the means to produce them ourselves, I suppose we could see about retrofitting some Arvus Lighters with stronger engines and actual weaponry, or up gunning Aquila Landers.
Yeah, you don't have the know how to build full on Furies. Hence me asking what was wanted.
Sir_Travelsalot
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Right, well the Arvus Lighter is literally the most commonplace shuttlecraft in the Imperium, capable of void and atmospheric flight while boasting quite a sturdy superstructure and a powerful sensor package for a civilian craft. Field modifications are things that already can be done to them without affecting their flight characteristics all too much, and being a cargo shuttle means they have the tonnage to spare for weapons, munitions and additional armour plating.
So if we can't make Furies or Thunderbolts, my choice would be to work with the Arvus Lighter. Aquila Landers might be usable as well, but those are far less numerous even outside of active warzones.
Trent01
A Fountain of Quest Ideas
Yeah, if we don't have strikecraft designs then we either need to R&D a Fury knockoff ASAP or go with armed shuttles.
In that case my proposal would be more to the tune of expanded shuttle bays loaded with armed Lighters alongside regular cargo lifters. Even those would be good to supplement our point-defense.
In that case my proposal would be more to the tune of expanded shuttle bays loaded with armed Lighters alongside regular cargo lifters. Even those would be good to supplement our point-defense.
My apologies, I was a bit rushed last night and so my reply came out more brusque than I wanted.
Well, an Arvus with a couple of locally made lascannon would be effective enough against most enemy strike craft, at least at this stage. Definitely local CAP rather than the basis of a strike package though.
Sir_Travelsalot
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What can we make in terms of missiles? Those would be another good choice of armament, and torpedoes are a Navy mainstay for a reason.
EDIT: There's a thought. Just a big breaching bomb with a thruster pack, that's guided to its course by a strikecraft. Like a torpedo bomber.
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Depends on what you want from them. My view on the prevalence of direct fire weaponry in universe is mostly related to logistics (plus psykers and technical expertise like with the Mechanicus leaders who can sometimes VASTLY outmatch your onboard EW suite) as manufacturing and transporting single use seeker heads for your primary damage dealer is much more of a headache and vulnerable to being cut off than using laser weapons (which are also lightspeed weapons and aim dodging is difficult in a fighter brawl in the void) or lots of dumb fire explosive warheads like a heavy bolter or autocannon as the latter can be manufactured, even at lesser qualities, pretty much anywhere.
So you can make missiles for that first strike capability, but it is a bit risky to make them central to your doctrine. Ship scale torpedoes work by being HUEG (armor, electronic warfare packages, etc) and often are meant to control the enemy rather than do damage by limiting where the enemy can travel safely.
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Sir_Travelsalot
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Was just asking since most cases of arming Arvus Lighters are done as field jury rigs, whereas our retrofits would be done at the production line, so I was wondering just how much more ordnance we could pack into the things in the form of rocket pods alongside lascannons.