BFG

[Viray]

... I can reload fighters and bombers to times infinite so long as my carriers survive. the ordinance gets to move twice and is thus faster than an escort. escorts only take one hit to destroy and they never come back.

Yeah, that is what really bothers me about escorts; they're way too fragile. Granted, they do have shields, but I would think a kilometer long starship would be just a little more durable.

 

Then again, considering the power of the weapons involved...

[mughi3]

Tiny being a relative term. Look up the comparison between a Cobra and a Star Destroyer.

i saw something like a comparison between an imperial battleship and a star destroyer once, i haven't seen exactly how big a SD is supposed to be according to Mr. Lucas, then again i've also never seen much fluff that gives sizes for ships in the warhammer 'verse, and what i have seen all seems contradictory.

 

Ask and you shall recieve-

cannon starship dimensions from various scifi shows/games for comparison

http://www.merzo.net/

[Piousservant]

Bigger ships are cooler.

 

The more big ships the better. Is there any more to be said? :)

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

Tiny being a relative term. Look up the comparison between a Cobra and a Star Destroyer.

i saw something like a comparison between an imperial battleship and a star destroyer once, i haven't seen exactly how big a SD is supposed to be according to Mr. Lucas, then again i've also never seen much fluff that gives sizes for ships in the warhammer 'verse, and what i have seen all seems contradictory.

 

Ask and you shall recieve-

cannon starship dimensions from various scifi shows/games for comparison

http://www.merzo.net/

i haven't seen any thing from a BFG or even a black library source to indicate 40k ships are that big. in one of Dan Abnett's books when Dalin Criid is doing his basic on board a ship, they say they run it from end to end which is 3km. last thing i had heard was that troop transports and other mass transport ships are in the upper sized ships in the 40k-verse.

 

(btw 30km could be the total size not front to back, but front to back, side to side, as well as up and down. as if you were to walk all the deck space you'd walk 30km not just walking from stern-prow)

[Eddie Orlock]

i haven't seen any thing from a BFG or even a black library source to indicate 40k ships are that big. in one of Dan Abnett's books when Dalin Criid is doing his basic on board a ship, they say they run it from end to end which is 3km. last thing i had heard was that troop transports and other mass transport ships are in the upper sized ships in the 40k-verse.

If you check the BFG rule book you'll note that most transports are escort class vessels and are dwarfed by navy capital ships. Abnett butchers the fabric of the universe once again. :P

[Grey Mage]

Well thats not always true- they do note there are transports that are as large as imperial cruisers, theres even rules for them.

[Eddie Orlock]

Well thats not always true- they do note there are transports that are as large as imperial cruisers, theres even rules for them.

To be fair, I did say most. To be unfair, I'd appreciate it if you'd cease impeading my Abnett hate. I haven't read the book, but I doubt that Dan calls the Dalin Criid out as one of the few, the rare, the ludicrisly large transports either.

[vanimal]

I use a adeptus mechanicus fleet and though the upgades for them are cool it does make the ships very expensive .I therefore have a choice of escorts or upgrades for my fleet.I tend to tread on the side of the upgrades as i love the cruiser models .

 

As for fluff its up to you and your story most typical fleets have a larger number of escorts because they are cheap and can do all them pesky little jobs like patrols and blockading without having to submit a whole cruiser. My adeptus mechanicus dont have this problem as thry rarley have space to guard etc, they are plying the stars looking for STC constructs where a bigger ship can handle the long distances away from base with only a few frigates for reconisance dutys.

 

Dont forget though not all fleets had a basis on escorts .Look at the battle of trafalgar or the nile all the ships are ships of the linw [light creuisers or bigger] and even later on in WW1 jutland was a pithced battle between dreadnaughts. The reality is the smaller ships where a waste of time in a full scale battle as they couldnt hurt the bigger ships so there was no point in bringing them. It could be said that escorts have there place but not in fleet engagements.

Vanimal

[Brother Smitty]

In my Chaos fleet I will regularly use a Sqdn of Slaughter crusiers backed up by 10-15 escorts. All run at 30cm and can be in the opponents backfiled on turn 2 if they AAF orders. This allows for 3 long range crusiers to support a really nasty bit of escorts. By screening properly my escorts alone can cripple or destroy an IMP battleship in one salvo. Add in the 3 crusiers to the mix and you can really break up any IMP, Mech or Tau fleet pretty good.

 

Just make sure you have a carrier or two (I prefer 1 styx and a Despoiler class battleship in my main line) up front to discourage your opponent from sending all their bomber support for your escorts. If they do, assault boats will unleash hell upon them from the front and escorts can break away on AAH orders and into the safety of your line if need be.

 

In my opinion, Chaos escorts, are worth their weight far better than a standard cruiser. It's just all about using them properly. Head on, their toast. Flank them or use cover to get around them and you will not be able to shake them off your tail (unless your are eldar then you can.....and easily too!)

 

IMP escorts on the other hand, are (in my opinion), are better used as firepower boosters for the main Imperial line. A few more lance shots before a big broadside can really spell a bad day for the receiver and you can protect them from ordanance with your carrier support. Alone, they will die, but they can draw a good portion of the fleet away from your own in the process.

 

2 different fleets with 2 different uses for escorts.

 

(And I do agree that there should be some kind of FOC for BFG. 1 battleship Sqdn and 9 dauntless crusiers does not a balanced fleet make.

[Grey Mage]

Well thats not always true- they do note there are transports that are as large as imperial cruisers, theres even rules for them.

To be fair, I did say most. To be unfair, I'd appreciate it if you'd cease impeading my Abnett hate. I haven't read the book, but I doubt that Dan calls the Dalin Criid out as one of the few, the rare, the ludicrisly large transports either.

Enjoy your rage, but note that abnet actually states that the transport is dwarfed by a light cruiser in the second or third book, and is carrying the entire regiment, and two or three others besides. Its escorting 4 of them IIRC.

[Eddie Orlock]

To be fair, I did say most. To be unfair, I'd appreciate it if you'd cease impeading my Abnett hate. I haven't read the book, but I doubt that Dan calls the Dalin Criid out as one of the few, the rare, the ludicrisly large transports either.

Enjoy your rage, but note that abnet actually states that the transport is dwarfed by a light cruiser in the second or third book, and is carrying the entire regiment, and two or three others besides. Its escorting 4 of them IIRC.

'S'much as I might enjoy some fine rage to start the new year, I'm not quite sure where the contradiction is here. The escort class transport is dwarfed by the caplital-ship class light cruiser. This is presented as normal, and confirms my assertion that it wasn't called out as ludicrisly large.

[Iron Lord]

3 km isn't really ludicrously large- it's a little big for a transport- but as I recall, there are transport ships in the Rogue Trader rulebooks (Rogue Trader, and Rogue Trader: Into the Storm) that are in that size range.

 

Imperial Armour 10 (Badab War book 2) also introduces a battleship sized transport (12 hit points).

 

So there are transports from escort-sized, to light cruiser-sized, to battleship-sized.