No reason for it not to be inconsistent in universe as well. It can easily vary by chapter, with some being more unreliable or less productive than others. The skill of the Genators handling the gene-seed likely has some effects as well.
I just finished revising the Fellblades, and they are absolute beasts. I'd give the the shorter ranged versions equal odds against a (old Imperium) Mars pattern Warhound. The longer range models would eat it alive, and give one of ours a fight for it's life.
Heavy Plasma Foil- A Far larger version of the Plasma Foil designed to act as a melee weapon attachment for Knight-Titans, this is added to a Knight-Titan arm that is equipped with a ranged weapon.
Distinctly NOT tech heresy. It's using the technology exactly for what it was designed to do.
Dark Age Datacore Contents Part Four: Naval Weapons and Armour
Aegis Void Shield- This is a collection of Void Shields that require half again as much power as normal Void shields but provide three times as much protection. There are version of these shields scaled for anything from Frigates to Hyper Battleships. They are most often found on the slower, more heavily armoured warships. Ancile Void Shield- This is a collection of Void Shields that require half as much power as normal Void shields but provide as much protection. There are version of these shields scaled for anything from Frigates to Hyper Battleships. They are most often found on the faster warships where less energy can be speared from the engines. Advanced Void Shield- This is a collection of Void Shields that provide half again as much protection as normal void shields. There are version of these shields scaled for anything from Frigates to Hyper Battleships. They are most often found on the cheaper warships and are not that much more expensive to make than current Void Shields.
Shield Capacitors +10% HP
A salvaged Dark Age device, these capacitors function as an emergency supply of power to a ship's void shields in the event that they are somehow cut off from main power. On its own these are not unusual; similar devices are present in many of the Dark Age ships from the graveyard. What differs is the unusual efficiency of these capacitors, able to store enough energy to keep most void shields operational for a 12-hour period and come online the instant power to the generators is cut off. This transition is so seamless that the shields do not even fall completely. This allows ships to more rapidly bring their shield to full capacity when ambushed or conducting an ambush, keep their shields up after suffering damage to the power grid and survive longer after suffering a reactor failure, possibly long enough to bring the reactor back online.
Stealth Armour Plating-This armour plating is around half as tough as modern Imperial starship armour and significantly lighter. Its main benefit is that it is very good at absorbing and containing emissions, making it very useful for stealth ships. Light Armour Plating-This armour plating is a bit tougher than modern Imperial starship armour but significantly lighter. It can be easily added to any warship and is most commonly found on the faster classes which benefit from the reduced mass. Medium Armour Plating-This armour plating is twenty percent tougher as modern Imperial starship armour and wigs slightly less. It can be easily added to any warship and is most commonly found on the cheaper or more general classes. Heavy Armour Plating-This armour plating is around half again as tough as modern Imperial starship armour and noticeably heavier. It can be easily added to any warship bigger than an escort and is most commonly found on the armoured classes. Very Heavy Armour Plating-This armour plating is around twice as tough as modern Imperial starship armour and far heavier. It can be easily added to any warship of at least heavy cruiser size and is most commonly found on the armoured classes. Super Heavy Armour Plating-This armour plating is around two and a half times as tough as modern Imperial starship armour and twice as heavy. It can be easily added to any Command Battleship and is found on all but the fast classes.
Lances- Lance are massive, incredibly powerful weapons that are capable of piecing heavy armour with ease.
Melta Lance- This is a very short ranged lance that causes a lot of damage, bypassing even more armour than an ordinary lance and often setting the target on fire. On the other hand it has a high power requirement and so can only be mounted on ships of at least cruiser scale. This is only found on the heavier brute ships, with the Brute Command ship having it as its primary weapon. Short Ranged Lance- This lance sacrifices range and rate of fire for sheer firepower. It can inflict serious damage on ships significantly larger then a lance its size would normally be able to threaten but has around half the range and rate of fire of a medium lance. This is usually found on brute ships and the more heavily armour hunter calls vessels. Medium Lance- This is an improved version of the modern Imperial lance, getting about 20% more range, rate of fire and accuracy for the same power demand. This is the most common form of lance and can be found on nearly any type of ship. Long Range Lance-This lance sacrifices fire-power for range and accuracy, being able to hit targets at double the range of a medium lance with around two thirds of the the power. This is the second most common form of lance and is found on fast warships and carriers. Superlance- This massive weapon is a several kilometre long lance that only the largest warships can use due to size and power requirements. It has a massive range and enough firepower that a single hit can cripple most cruisers or destroy a light cruiser.
Laser Batteries-Laser Batteries are one of the most common forms of weapons batteries. They are the longest ranged and most accurate weapons battery type but cause less damage than the other types. Due to this they are most often used against escorts and other light targets. Like all weapons batteries laser batteries can all be scaled to fit anything from the smallest destroyer to the largest dreadnought.
Short Ranged Laser Battery- These laser batteries sacrifice the range that is the trademark of most laser batteries for increased firepower and accuracy. While not as damaging as the other short ranged weapons they make up for this by being able to accurately target a chosen segment of a ship, achieving though precision what other weapons use brute strength to do. These are occasionally found on the short ranged brute type warships. Medium Laser Battery- This is an improved version of the modern laser batteries, getting about 20% more damage, range, rate of fire and accuracy for the same power demand. This is the most common form of laser battery and can be found on nearly any type of ship. Long Range Laser Battery-These laser batteries are the longest ranged weapons batteries that you know of, being able to accurately hit enemies from point three of a light second away. On the other hand they are the least dangerous weapons of their size and have trouble damaging any target with good armour.
Plasma Batteries-Plasma Batteries are another common form of weapon battery. They combine a high damage output with good range but require more power then any other type. They are most often found on the more heavily armoured warships who devote the majority of their reactor output to weapons and shields rather then engines. Like all weapons batteries plasma batteries can all be scaled to fit anything from the smallest destroyer to the largest dreadnought.
Short Ranged Plasma Battery- These plasma batteries sacrifice range for firepower and are one of the most powerful weapons batteries that you know of. On the other hand they require massive amounts of power to fire and occasionally have overheating problems after sustained use. Medium Plasma Battery- This is an improved version of the modern plasma batteries, getting about 20% more damage, range, rate of fire and accuracy for the same power demand. This is the most common form of plasma battery and is found on most forms of warship. Long Range Plasma Battery-These plasma batteries sacrifice a portion of their damage output in order to increase their engagement range. Despite being shorter ranged then the longer ranged laser batteries they make up for it by being far more powerful then the laser batteries.
Macrocannon Batteries- Macrocannon Batteries are the most common form of weapon battery. They require the least amount of power, have a decent damage output, good armour penetration, and the ability to fire different ammunition types. On the downside they require more space due to ammunition storage, are the shortest ranged type of weapons battery and are the only type of weapon battery that is able to run out of ammunition. Like all weapons batteries macrocannon batteries can all be scaled to fit anything from the smallest destroyer to the largest dreadnought.
Short Ranged Macrocannon Battery- These macrocannon batteries fire massive shells at slower velocities than the longer ranged macrocannons. This limits their effective range significantly but allows them to be the most powerful weapons of their class, particularly when using the rarer ammunition types. Medium Macrocannon Battery- This is an improved version of the modern macrocannon batteries, getting about 20% more damage, range, rate of fire and accuracy for the same power demand. This is the most common form of macrocannon battery and is found on most forms of warship. Long Range Macrocannon Battery-These macroncannon batteries fire smaller shells at higher velocities. Despite this they are the shortest ranged of the long range weapons batteries, a failing they make up for with the armour penetration that melta shells can provide. This form of macrocannon is most often found on the stealth designs which make full use of the fact that it is harder to locate incoming macrocannon fire than energy attacks. Plasma Shells- Plasma shells are the standard ammunition of macrocannons. They are moderately effective at penetrating armour and cause a moderate amount of damage. Plasma shells from a macrocannon will generally be effective against anything of the same size class as the macrocannon and all but the most heavily armoured ships one size larger. Melta Shells- Melta shells are the second form of Macrocannon ammunition and are very good at penetrating armour. However they do not cause as much damage as plasma shells do unless they get lucky and start a fire in the target. Melta Shells are usually used against heavily armoured target and are the best way for weapons batteries to damage ships otherwise too well armoured. Haywire Shells- Haywire shells are the third form of Macrocannon ammunition and generally cause more disruption then damage. Each shell is likely to significantly disrupt the ship systems near where it hits, with an enough hits often paralysing an entire broadside of the target along with swathes of its point defence. Vortex Shells (+10 AP, volatile)- These shells the most destructive ammunition that Archmagos Tranth knows of and piece all but the toughest armour with ease making them a valuable weapon. On the downside they are both rather expensive to produce and highly volatile. As such rather then using them as a ships primary weapon it would be better to supply each ship with enough shells for a single volley, allowing them a powerful first strike without being to expensive or creating to much of a vulnerability on the ship.
Haywire Batteries – These short ranged weapons batteries use massive haywire weapons to disrupt the target. While they cause far less damage than any other form of weapons battery they are unrivalled in disruption, and can often paralyse enemy warships. The more automated the target warship is the more effective haywire attacks are, leading to them being useless against Tyranids and not particularly useful against Orks. These weapons are only found on the Snare Class Defence Cruiser and the Bolas Class Cruiser, which were designed to test them in a battlefield condition.
Grav-Accelerator Weapons- These weapons use gravatic impulses to accelerate a shard of metal to c-fractional speeds. This shots focus massive kinetic energy in a small area and are even better then melta shells at armour penetration but occasionally have issues with overpenetration against the lighter targets. Grav-Accelerators are expensive weapons with similar energy demands to plasma weapons and ammunition needs to macrocannons, but are probably the most powerful weapons of their scale in the datacores.
Grav-Accelerator Battery- This is the weapons battery version of the grav-accelerator and are a powerful medium ranged weapon with great amour penetration. Due to their energy demand and cost they are usually found on the larger warships and even then not as the primary weapon. Spinal Grav-Accelerator- This is a massive grav-accelerator that runs though the entire warship. It requires an enormous amount of energy to fire but are capable of shooting large metal spikes at nearly the speed of light. These spike can cause massive amounts of damage to armoured targets, even more than a direct hit from a Nova Cannon. These weapons are found on battlecruisers and larger warships and act as a long range single target weapons with the largest being able to destroy a battleship in a single shot. Grav-Accelerator Nova Cannon- This is a Nova Cannon version of the Grav-Accelerator, it launches a single massive shell at a massive speed. These shells are either massive plasma bombs or vortex bombs and explode violently enough to hit multiple targets at a time. These weapons are found on battlecruisers and larger ships and fulfil the same role as modern Nova Cannons. Nova Cannon Plasma Bomb- This is a massive Plasma Bomb designed to be fired from Nova Cannons. It is the most common form of Nova Cannon munition and causes a massive explosion capable of hitting multiple targets at the same time. Nova Cannon Melta Bomb- This is a massive Melta Bomb designed to be fired from Nova Cannons. It inflicts massive damage on the target warship or station but is notoriously inaccurate against anything but a stationary target. This is usually used against Space Hulks and orbital defences. Nova Cannon Vortex Bomb- The most powerful and least common form of Nova Cannon ammunition is the devastating Vortex Bomb. These weapons open large warp rifts that are able to rip apart or draw into the warp everything in a large radius. While their size allows them to be more simple then smaller vortex weaponry they are still marvels of engineering that are very expensive to build.
Examine: Kinetic Weapons: Part Two: Thanks to some assistance from High Grandmaster Ridcully Archmagos Tranth was able to figure out how to reproduce the Kinetic Weapons of The Well of Urd. This allows to build more Command Battleships grade Grav-Accelerator Batteries, which cause around fifty percent more damage then current designs and have around twenty percent better range. Archmagos Tranth believes that with what he has discovered he will now be able to figure out how to apply these improvements to other scales of Grav-Accelerator Batteries, and eventually even to the Spinal Grav-Accelerator. Upgrade Kinetic Weapons: Spinal Accelerator: For the last four years Archmagos Tranth has been working on applying the improvements to Kinetic Weapons that he figured out based on The Well of Urd's weapons to Spinal Accelerators. He was highly successful in this task, and not only figured out a way to increase the Spinal Accelerators already high range by a fifth and damage by a half he was able to make the modifications minor enough that they could be applied to exiting ships with needing to rebuild them. Upgrade Kinetic Weapons: Grav-Accelerator Nova Cannon: Three years ago Archmagos Tranth finished applying the improvements to Kinetic Weapons that he figured out based on The Well of Urd's weapons to Grav-Accelerator Nova Cannon. He was highly successful in this task, and not only figured out a way to increase the Grav-Accelerator Nova Cannon high range by a fifth and damage on direct hit by a tenth he was able to make the modifications minor enough that they could be applied to existing ships without a total rebuild. Upgrade Kinetic Weapons: Grav-Accelerator Battery: For the last two years Archmagos Tranth has been working on applying the improvements to Kinetic Weapons that he figured out based on The Well of Urd's weapons to your Grav-Accelerator Batteries . He was highly successful in this task, and not only figured out a way to increase the Grav-Accelerator Battery already high range by a fifth and damage by a half he was able to make the modifications minor enough that they could be applied to existing ships without a total rebuild. Given that Grav-Accelerators are often used in your orbital defences and defence ships this will provide a significant boost to your planetary defences once implemented.
Ragnarok Cannon- The Ragnarok cannon is a Nova Cannon equivalent that fires a massive shell containing large amount of anti-matter. This increases the amount of damage caused fourfold but lowers range to 80% of a normal Nova Cannon. Given the sheer risk of storing large amounts of anti-matter the Ragnorak Cannon has a system that can produce anti-matter, being able to make enough for a shot in an hour. It can only safely store enough anti-matter for a pair of shots which is spread out over a large area until just before the shot is fired. This weapon can be mounted on Grand Cruisers and above.
The Psychic Cannon
The Eldar have provided the design for the Psychic Cannon, a Nova Cannon sized weapon designed for use against Warp Entities that is capable of massed banishment of deamons and significantly disrupting most targets. This weapon is impossibly complex and uses unknown and exotic interactions to work but the Eldar have provided enough schematics to replicate it.
Torpedo Launchers- The torpedoes launchers in the datacore are more efficient then modern version and have a higher firing velocity. However the real advantage that they have is complex, redundant automate ed reloading systems that allow the torpedoes to be reloaded over twice as fast as a modern Imperial design would allow.
Every torpedo design in the datacores has advanced seeking technologies similar to those found on the incredibly rare seeking torpedo that certain forge worlds could produce, except faster. There are three main warheads in the datacores, plasma, melta and haywire. Plasma Torpedoes- These are a more powerful version of the basic Imperial Plasma Torpedo, having almost double the destructive capability. Melta Torpedoes- These are very similar to the rare and dangerous melta torpedoes that the Imperial Navy had occasional access to. They work best against heavily armored targets and are notably more expansive then normal torpedoes. Haywire Torpedoes- These torpedoes have a large haywire bomb as the warhead, which causes major disruption to the targets subsystems but little damage. Vortex Torpedoes- These devastating torpedoes send entire sections of the target into the warp tough an unstable rift causing massive amounts of damage that ignores almost all defences. On the downside they are more volatile then normal torpedoes and far to expensive to make heavy use of.
External torpedo launchers- These allow ships to add a number of one shot torpedoes to their normal armament at the cost of being rendered more vulnerable to attack until shortly after they are fired. According to Tranth these devices are intended to be used en mass at the start of the battle, unleashing a massive wave of torpedoes to ravage the enemy or force them to break formation. In general Destroyers can attach a pair of escort torpedoes and Frigates can attach three. Light Cruisers can attach half a dozen cruiser torpedoes, Cruisers can attach eight, Battlecruisers sixteen and Heavy Cruisers thirty two. Grand Cruisers can attach a formidable sixty-four battleship can torpedoes while Battleships can have a hundred and twenty-eight. Command Battleships can be equipped with two hundred and fifty dreadnought torpedoes, Dreadnoughts five hundred, and a Deus can be equipped with two thousand. Your ships will need some major refits to be equipped with external torpedoes but the ability to launch a single massive wave of torpedoes is quite valuable.
Graviton Weapons- This weapons create a gravatic anomaly that pulls nearby matter towards it. They are short ranged and can not create the anomaly within a shielded area but can cause significant damge to unshielded ships and massive damage to ships crews. They are incredibly useful against lightly shield foes or in capturing ships mostly intact but are less effective against the more hardy races, for examples these weapons have half the kill radius when targeting Orks compared to humans.
Well of Urd Graviton Weapon- This large design requires a massive amount of power and can currently be only mounted on battleships. It is capable of causing a moderate amount of structural damge to its target and killing average humans in a seven hundred meter radius of the target piont, enough to wipe out the crew of many escorts or cripple a cruiser in a single shot.
The Psychic Cannon
This Nova Cannon sized weapon designed for use against Warp Entities that is capable of massed banishment of deamons and significantly disrupting most targets. This weapon is impossibly complex and uses unknown and exotic interactions to work.
0: Attack craft
1: Torpedos
2: Superlances
3: Spinal Grav-Accelerator
4: Nova Cannon
5: Long Range Laser Batteries (0.3 light seconds - that's a third of the distance to the Moon)
6: Long Range Lances
7: Long Range Plasma Batteries
8: Long Range Macro Cannons
9: Normal Weapons (Ragnarok Cannon, Laser Battery, Normal Lance, Plasma Battery, Macrocannon Battery)
10. Short Ranged Weapons (Laser Battery, Lance, Macrocannon Battery, Blasma Battery, Melta Lance)
@durin, how practical would it be to store the smaller Escorts and similarly sized fragments on the surface of Deiphobe or Amaltheia? They're both small enough that the gravity field would be negligible, and it would keep them close to our shipyards while not clogging up the near space. This way, if we move the graveyard, we would only have an additional 4063 contacts to protect and keep track of.
@durin, how practical would it be to store the smaller Escorts and similarly sized fragments on the surface of Deiphobe or Amaltheia? They're both small enough that the gravity field would be negligible, and it would keep them close to our shipyards while not clogging up the near space. This way, if we move the graveyard, we would only have an additional 4063 contacts to protect and keep track of.
@durin - two possible oversights in this latest tech update:
1. The Ragnarok Cannon - I know we know about it already, but it would seem to be something that would be called out since the design hasn't actually been explained in an official update.
2. Torpedoes and Launchers - There are a number of torpedo boats in the wrecks, and the Well of Urd has significantly more advanced ones that the Imperial standard. I would think that there would at least be somewhat better launchers and a couple of ordinance types in there, probably DAoT Seeking Torpedoes and DAoT Melta Torpedoes at the very least. Boarding Torpedoes as well, maybe, but the DAoT people probably weren't as keen on the insanity of that idea.
@durin - two possible oversights in this latest tech update:
1. The Ragnarok Cannon - I know we know about it already, but it would seem to be something that would be called out since the design hasn't actually been explained in an official update.
2. Torpedoes and Launchers - There are a number of torpedo boats in the wrecks, and the Well of Urd has significantly more advanced ones that the Imperial standard. I would think that there would at least be somewhat better launchers and a couple of ordinance types in there, probably DAoT Seeking Torpedoes and DAoT Melta Torpedoes at the very least. Boarding Torpedoes as well, maybe, but the DAoT people probably weren't as keen on the insanity of that idea.
Oh, I'm not complaining, they just seem like obvious oversights. The first I know we would have gotten since they'd be included with the designs for many of the ships.
@durin - two possible oversights in this latest tech update:
1. The Ragnarok Cannon - I know we know about it already, but it would seem to be something that would be called out since the design hasn't actually been explained in an official update.
2. Torpedoes and Launchers - There are a number of torpedo boats in the wrecks, and the Well of Urd has significantly more advanced ones that the Imperial standard. I would think that there would at least be somewhat better launchers and a couple of ordinance types in there, probably DAoT Seeking Torpedoes and DAoT Melta Torpedoes at the very least. Boarding Torpedoes as well, maybe, but the DAoT people probably weren't as keen on the insanity of that idea.
Very disappointing results. The Dark Age equivalents of macrocannons and laser batteries are a mere 20% better than Imperial versions? I mean really? That's pretty damn weak. Even Ark Mechanici can do better than that.
Grav-Accelerator Nova Cannon- This is a Nova Cannon version of the Grav-Accelerator, it launches a single massive shell at several thousand kilometres per second. These shells are either massive plasma bombs or vortex bombs and explode violently enough to hit multiple targets at a time. These weapons are found on battlecruisers and larger ships and fulfil the same role as modern Nova Cannons.
Very disappointing results. The Dark Age equivalents of macrocannons and laser batteries are a mere 20% better than Imperial versions? I mean really? That's pretty damn weak. Even Ark Mechanici can do better than that.
20% better over multiple categories, which means overall it's significantly better.
20% more damage means just that - if it hits, it hits harder. 20% more accurate means it will be more likely to hit, so you do damage more often. 20% greater range means that you can start shooting sooner, doing damage you couldn't do before. 20% greater rate of fire means you can shoot more rounds, again doing damage more often. This means the overall effectiveness of the weapon is actually much greater than a 20% increase.
20% better over multiple categories, which means overall it's significantly better.
20% more damage means just that - if it hits, it hits harder. 20% more accurate means it will be more likely to hit, so you do damage more often. 20% greater range means that you can start shooting sooner, doing damage you couldn't do before. 20% greater rate of fire means you can shoot more rounds, again doing damage more often. This means the overall effectiveness of the weapon is actually much greater than a 20% increase.
I was simplifying. A 20% increase in all stats isn't much when a Dark Age vessel is supposed to be completely and utterly unmatched compared to Imperial vessels.
Let's not forget DAoT vessels not only likely have superior armour as well, both material and design-wise, but also better power generation and space-saving. So not only are their guns and void shields superior, Dark Age designs can carry more batteries and more shield generators than Imperial designs of the same class.
I was simplifying. A 20% increase in all stats isn't much when a Dark Age vessel is supposed to be completely and utterly unmatched compared to Imperial vessels.
If you're looking at only a single system then it's not that great of an advantage, but almost every piece of technology is significantly superior to the Imperial standard.
When you get a ship that is significantly harder to kill due to better armor and Void Shields, more maneuverable due to better engines, and has every single weapon type being 20% better across all major categories you have a ship that will hands down win in a one on one conflict against a ship of the same type that lacks those advantages. Taking every improvement into account as a whole, these ships outclass the Imperial versions by a wide margin.
20% better over multiple categories, which means overall it's significantly better.
20% more damage means just that - if it hits, it hits harder. 20% more accurate means it will be more likely to hit, so you do damage more often. 20% greater range means that you can start shooting sooner, doing damage you couldn't do before. 20% greater rate of fire means you can shoot more rounds, again doing damage more often. This means the overall effectiveness of the weapon is actually much greater than a 20% increase.
Where H(1.2*R-r) is a heaviside function, r is the radial distance from the weapon, R is the maximum range, nd100 denotes a roll of 'n' dice, A is accuracy, F is fire rate, D is weapon damage. All of the 'letter' variables are based on the 'original' variants we used to use, and the 1d100 roll checks against enemy to-hit difficulty to verify whether the shot was actually effective or not.
Of course, it's probably less of a heaviside function and more of an inverse expontential modified by some maximum range, so maybe something more like...
So... thinking about what we can do with these to make some useful ships beyond those that currently exist. Going back to our fight against the Necros to review our... rather innovative tactics.
Basically it consisted of two parts. First we had a harassment group. Mainly built of torpedo boats and the Velvet Glove (long range lance). This isn't really that innovative and it appears that we have the ship classes to do this already.
The first task group will conduct hit and run attacks on the Necrons by conducting a warp jump into their vicinity, consing to extreme engagement range, opening fire with their long range weapons and torpedoes and then warping way before the Necrons get within range. They will conduct these raids until the Necrons are around two hours out from Avernus at which point they will return to Avernus, reload their torpedoes and join the opening attack on the Necrons fleet. This force will retreat into the warp before the Necron forces attack them and continue to harass the Necrons until their warp drives start overheating, at which point they will retreat to the edge of the system to let their drives cool down before returning.
The Necrons shot down half of the torpedoes and boarding torpedoes before impact but still suffered heavy damage from the torpedoes. The Cadians on the boarding torpedoes quickly destroyed the engines and command nodes of the Scythe that they boarded and activated their telaport beacons for extraction as the ship began to phase out, with slightly under half of them returning to the Velvet Glove.
Detailed Survey (Hunter Frigate)- The Hunter Frigate is a variant of the Heavy Gunship that replaces the weapons batteries with a powerful lance. A group of this form of escort would be able to quickly bring down many capital ships and they most likely acted as hunter-killer teams in the larger battle, targeting heavy cruisers and battleships.
Detailed Survey (Escort Destroyer)- The Escort Destroyer is an all rounder design, with a mix of fire-power, speed and defences. This class is generally armed with long range weapon batteries and was most likely the cheap, expendable escort that was tasked with engaging enemy escorts
Detailed Survey (Raider)- The Raiders combine incredibly powerful engines and light builds in order to maximise their speed and maneuverability. They are equipped with torpedoes and are most likely designed for harassment and skirmishing rather then head to head battle.
Detailed Survey (Shadow Destroyer)- The Shadow Destroyer is a small stealth based escort. It is equipped with small engines that minimise emissions and is covered in some sort of coating that absorbs radiation. On the other hand this ship has by far the weakest defensive and offensive capabilities of the escort types, though Archmagos Tranth would not be surprised to find that they often had exotic torpedoes in their single torpedo tube.
Detailed Survey (Light Cruiser)- The Light Cruiser is a sleek, massively engined warship obviously designed for speed rather then toughness. This ship seems to be designed for the classic Light Cruiser roles of commerce raiding, scouting and skirmishing. There are three intact ships of this class: thirty mostly intact, fifty half destroyed and two hundred and ten mostly destroyed. From what Tranth can determine these ships are equipped with powerful engines, advanced sensors, torpedoes and long range weaponry but have at best average defences.
Detailed Survey (Light Carrier)- The Light Carrier is a carrier variant of the Light Cruiser, replacing most of the weaponry and all of the torpedoes with several Attack Craft bays. This design was most likely built to provide support for the raiding and skirmishing task groups as well as scouting.
Detailed Survey (Fast Cruiser)- The Fast Cruiser is a fast, well armed ship four point three kilometres long. These ships are very fast and manoeuvrable with good firepower but lack the armour and shielding of the previous class. The first ship of this type is armed with a collection of long range weapons batteries and a single long range lance. There are no intact ships of this class, twenty mostly intact, thirty-one half destroyed and thirty-eight mostly destroyed. These ships are raider and work best in harassing enemy light and medium forces, commerce raiding and scouting as well as engaging enemy raiders. They lack the armour or shields to engaging in sustained combat and should avoid any, as well as avoiding long ranged ships of the line which can counter their speed with fire-power.
Detailed Survey (Fast Hunter Cruiser)- The Fast Hunter Cruiser replaces the weapon batteries of a Fast Cruiser with an additional five long range lances but is otherwise identical. There are no intact ships of this class, fourteen mostly intact, twenty-nine half destroyed and forty-four mostly destroyed. This ship was most likely designed to harass enemy capital ships, fight Battlecruisers and form Hunter Killer Squadrons which keep to the edges of major engagements and snipe capital ships, they are vulnerable to enemy escorts and should always be accompanied by escorts of their own or normal fast cruisers.
Martyr Class Fast Carrier Battleship- A fast battleship carrier with a array of long ranged lances. Mongol Class Fast Battleship - A fast battleship equipped with a massive collection of long raged powerful lances, including two superlances. Hun Class Fast Battleship -A fast battleship equipped with a massive collection of long ranged weapons batteries and a Ragnarok Cannon.
Darkness Class Stealth Battleship – A fast battleship equipped with advanced stealth devices, long ranged weapons batteries, attack craft bays and torpedo tubes.
And probably the special Gravatic Array Command Battleship.
Not much in the way of new ship designs here, except possibly for the inclusion of Long Range Macro Cannons firing Haywire Shells. Possible on a Light Cruiser? Maybe a Stealth Light Cruiser?
Or if we can develop torpedo based Haywire weapons. That would be very very useful in a harassment group.
And maybe an escort class that is devoted more to fighting off assault craft and bombers? Maybe escorts with a focus on Short Range Laser Batteries and Haywire Batteries?
Only really notable thing was that the Velvet Glove had Boarding Torpedoes with a teleport return. We probably won't have the teleport return, so not really a viable tactic for a harassment force, but of possible application in the boarding area.
Because that was our true innovation (born of desperation), in that we decided to turn our Luna cruisers into glorified assault shuttles, grapple with the enemy, and board them.
The second task group would remain beside the orbital defenses and when the Necrons approach will add their fire to that of the defenses before attempting to board the Necrons ships and cause what damage they can, leaving if they manage to destroy the engines and command center. The Defense Monitors will not board but instead continue to fire on the Necrons with the orbital defenses. The boarders Tech-Priests have orders to detonate the plasma reactors if it looks like the boarding attempt has failed and their ship is going to be captured or destroyed.
As the Necrons closed with your forces the boarding force rushed to meet them while the harassment force entered the warp after a final volley. Most of the Imperial firepower was concentrated on the Scythes and managed to cause more damage, crippling two and destroying one. The torpedoes were yet again the most effective weapons and were responsible for almost half of the damage inflicted. The escorts and the Luna-Class Cruisers broadsides focused on the Jackal Raiders, killing six. The bombers attempts to damage the Jackals were far less effective as most of them were destroyed without causing any noticeable damage.
The Jackals attempts to damage the Luna-Class Cruisers are unusually inaccurate and barely damage the shields but the Dirges prove more dangerous causing moderate damage to the Avenger and light damage to the Iron Will and His Might. The Jackals attempt to telaport troops His Might proved so ineffective that courageous Stormtrooper teams managed to sneak through the portals and destroy four of the Jackals. The Scythes telaported troops onto the Avenger which were quickly cleared by the embarked regiments but were at least skilled enough to prevent counter boarding.
5 Solar Pulses vs Luna-Class Cruisers roll d100=89 1 shield damage
5 Solar Pulses vs Firestorms roll d100=29 No damage
5 Solar Pulses vs Swords roll d100=75 2 kills
5 Solar Pulses vs Defence Monitors roll d100=78 1 kill
5 Particle Whips vs Orbital Torpedo Launcher roll d100=28 7 kills
5 Lightning Arcs vs Orbital Torpedo Launcher roll d100=29 4 kills
Orbital Torpedo Launchers Wiped Out
6 Particle Whips vs Defence Monitors roll d100=28 2 kills
6 Lightning Arcs vs Swords roll d100=56 3 kills
6 Lightning Arcs vs Firestorms roll d100=56 5 kills
15 Jackals vs Luna-Class d100=9 2 shield damage
14 Dirges vs Luna-Class d100=48 shields down 4 damage
Jackals Portal vs His Might d100=1
His Might vs Jackals d100=97
d6=4 4 Jackals destroyed
Scythes vs Avenger d100=22
Avenger vs Scythes d100=44
As the forces intermixed each Luna-Class Cruiser closed with and began to board a Necron Scythe, though the Iron Will had to change targets. The surviving Imperial escorts each began their own boarding operations against the Necron Jackal Raiders.
Boarding Force
4 Luna-Class Cruisers, Avenger (6/8), Fearless (7/8), Iron Will (8/8) and His Might (7/8) each boarding a Necron Scythe (7/8), (5/8), (4/8) and (6/8)
4 Sword-Class Frigates each boarding a Necron Jackal Raider
1 Firestorm-Class Frigate boarding a Necron Jackal Raider
The Avenger boarded a little damaged Necron Scythe-class and initially made great success, despite the constant stream of Necrons exiting the portal. Stormtrooper teams managed to sabotage the engines, slowing its potential speed.
The Fearless did not preform as well as despite driving the Necrons back and managing to destroy the Inertialess Drive a team of Necron Scarabs managed to destroy the Fearless' Void Shield Generators.
The Iron Will's attempt to board was quickly driven back by teams of Immortals who immediately counter boarded to great effect.
Despite heavy resistance the boarding teams from His Might managed to slip past the Necron forces and trigger a massive power surge which nearly destroyed the Scythe.
The boarding actions of the escorts generally resulted in mutual kills where the loser rammed the victor while self-destructing. The one exception was one Sword which managed to cripple the engines of its opponent before destroying it allow the Sword to escape the self-destruct.
The Scythes being boarded by the Luna-Class Cruisers attacked them with their Particle Whips and Lightning Arcs crippling the Avenger and almost destroying Fearless and Iron Will, while totally failing to hurt His Might, Which seems to lead a charmed life.
Scythe vs Avenger Roll d100=97 2 damage (4/8) remaining Scythe vs Fearless Roll d100=98 5 damage (2/8) remaining
Scythe vs Iron Will Roll d100=93 5 damage (1/8) remaining
Scythe vs His Might Roll d100=19 No damage (6/8) remaining
The forces of the Avenger were driven back and almost annihilated by the Scythe's Necron Warriors to the point that the Tech-Priests blew up the plasma reactor in a failed attempt to take the enemy with them.
The Fearless was far more successful as it boarders managed to sabotage the Scythe's power core causing a power surge that killed the crew of the Scythe allowing the Imperial boarders to set explosive to destroy the rest of the ship.
The Immortals boarding the Iron Will continued to drive back the defenders and caused a reactor overload which destroyed the Iron Will and severely damaged the Necron Scythe.
The Stormtroopers of His Might quickly wiped out the few remaining Necrons and were telaported to safety as His Might left,leaving a ruined Hulk behind.
His Might and Fearless used the cover of the explosions to hide themselves until their warp drive came online enough the leave, along with the surviving Sword.
Avenger roll d100=44
Scythe roll d100=69
3 damage to Avenger (1/8) remaining lost shield generators
Plasma explosion to Scythe 1 damage (3/8) remaining
Fearless roll d100=94
Scythe roll d100=79
4 damage to Scythe (0/8) remaining Scythe by power surge
Iron Will roll d100=31
Scythe roll d100=95
2 damage to Iron Will (0/8 )remaining
warp implosion causes 2 damage to Scythe (2/8) remaining
His Might roll d100=86
Scythe roll d100=35 1 damage to Scythe (0/8 )remaining overwhelming victory
That was a surprisingly effective tactic. Remember this was against Necrons, with no chance of capturing the ship so we had to pull a smash and run, and with Cruisers not designed for this so we couldn't fit that many soldiers on them.
The Escorts could barely carry enough men to even be viable, and were fragile enough that they were destroyed.
While not particularly useful against Tyranids, and only mildly useful against Orks, such a tactic might be incredibly useful when fighting other human forces.
Because then we could capture their ships instead of blowing them up.
So thinking about what we would want for this kind of tactic, I was thinking that what we want are ships that are:
1: Fast (so as to close distance quickly)
2: Survivable (arrive with ready to fight)
3: Stealthy (get close without being detected)
4: Extra room for a very large number of troops
Thinking about this the obvious place to save room and energy is on the weapons.
Probably the only weapons we'd want would be Short Range Laser Batteries (to make targeted attacks at close range) and Haywire Batteries. Haywire Batteries may continue to be useful even after grappling, as two of the problems we had was escaping after a successful boarding, and the enemy ships continuing to fight by attacking us while grappled. Both of which would have been easier with Haywire weapons.
Other nice things to support us would be Haywire torpedoes and Boarding Torpedoes. Send in a wave of Haywire Torpedoes first. Followed by a wave of Boarding Torpedoes and Assault Shuttles. Followed by the ships actually grappling and launching a larger boarding party to support the advance parties. (While blasting away with their Haywire Weapons, and taking crippling shots with their Laser Batteries).
So that means we'd probably want some stand off Carriers with primarily Assault Shuttles and torpedo tubes and lots of room for the soldiers. Supported by... a lot of Escort class grapplers and some Cruiser grapplers? (Grappler will probably become the type name.)
Escorts would be more stealth based maybe? Try and attach multiple escorts to one ship? With the Cruisers more heavily armored?
@durin Are any of these ideas possible? How many regiments could we fit on Escort, Light Cruiser, and Cruiser sized vessels - I assume it differs based on the mixture of engine speed, void shield types, and weapons?
Can we develop Haywire torpedoes based on Tranth's critical on Haywire weaponry?
