Ship Profiles

[CALiGeR190]

I think you may have gotten these two confused a bit. The executor-class only has lance batteries while the Repulsive has weapon batteries with firepower to match/exceed the Retribution-class battleship though a bit shorter range. The Repulsive does have dorsal lances, but they only have the firepower equal to half a full broadside of the Executor. They can be upgraded to have superior range to most Imperials but they start with only average range.

That isn't what I've heard.
Admittedly Chaos Grand cruisers are a little foggy for me, but I distinctly remember hearing that the Executor has waepons batteries of some form.
Dunno about the TT though.

I could understand a focus on the Lances on the Exexutor, being extended-range heavy lances, but (at least in Imperial service) it was a heavy brawler.

Repulsive is an enigma to me.
Powerful, well armoured, but longer range than anything Imperial: so I classed it as a lance boat (more because of the implied range than any actual lance supremacy).

[CALiGeR190]

Chaos Cruisers
Core of the Fallen Fleet

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This ship was originally intended as a test bed for an experimental Phased Plasma battery, the ship designed to use these weapons to Support the Imperial fleet by pouring a large volume of fire into approaching enemies attempting to break the Main Battle Line.
the phased Plasma batteries having a massively improved rate of fire and range when compared to the standard Macro cannons, and not suffering from the same 'fading' issues of other plasma-based weaponry. The Carnage class herself designed to be fast: so that she could always keep at a range where her poor armour and exposed power supply couldnt be exploited by an enemy, and could take advantage of the ships mid-long range advantages over other weapons batteries.
This ship however had numerous issues, mainly in the form of poor crew comfort (even by Imperial navy standards) and massive technical issues with the power supply for the ship's armament and engine. This lead to the ship being maddening to operate, driving crews and captains into a continuous state of rage and discomfort which proved the perfect foundation for Heretical thought to take root.
The very first Carnage Class, the Relentless (renamed the Initiate of Skalathrax after joining the Chaos fleet), turning on the convoy it was escorting, destroying it utterly, after a particularly maddening series of breakdowns.

The Carnage is now only found in Chaos service. The Long-Range rapid-Fire batteries able to annihilate whole squadrons of escorts and light cruisers in very short order, although the lack of fire saturation and accuracy at extreme range make it so the Carnage presents little threat to larger warships while alone, although is exponentially more deadly the closer they get for other cruisers.
The Carnage Class is a true terror when combined with a ship armed with Lances. Long-range rapid-fire batteries rapidly overwhelming the shielding on any vessel, allowing for a devastating lance strike into the un-shielded hull of the now exposed capital ship. The Carnage is also a nightmare once it gets among convoys and groups of damaged capital ships, able to fire a huge volume of shots out in all directions, anything attempting to flee unable to get outside of it's range before being torn to pieces under the heavy concentration of plasma projectiles.

The Carnage Class is also the Worst nightmare of any Eldar fleet.
Able to overwhelm the Holo-Fields on the vessels with a massive volley of projectiles, from far beyond their effective range, and tear apart their flimsy hulls under a rapid succession of savage plasma impacts.

The Carnage is the Fire Support Vessel of the Chaos Fleet.

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This vessel was designed for hit-and-run attacks and anti-piracy patrols by the Imperium.
The ship had an experimental Fusion-based power plant which allowed for a number of high energy weapons to be equipped to the vessels: being equipped with an, extremely rare mixed battery, of High-yield lances and Hard hitting mid-range weapons batteries which would later be named 'Destructor Cannons' by Chaos forces.
The ship also had extraordinary speed. Able to catch and even outrun the fastest of escorts, one of the fastest (if not the fastest) cruiser ever being built by the Imperium
These vessels faced many complications in construction: complexity of its powerplant and mixed weapons batteries meant that construction of these vessels was excruciatingly slow, as was any form of repair or maintenance. This is largely believed to be the cause of the Madness that often consumed the crews assigned to these vessels, leading to almost the entire ship class to revolt to Chaos by M34, the ability to build more being lost after one Slaughter Class Cruiser (the Soulless) raided and destroyed the data banks containing the schematics for the construction and repair of the ship's power plant.

The Slaughter has a fearsome reputation on the Battlefield: Destructor cannons overwhelming shielding and escort squadrons in rapid succession, to be followed up by a strike from high yield mid-range lances able to tear through even the thickest of capital-ship armour with ease, making the ship one of the more feared among Imperial crews. The speed making it impossible to run from the vessels savage firepower.

One Slaughter Class would earn a legendary reputation in the Gothic War.
Being named Kill Frenzy for the crazy broadcast being repeated across all Frequencies which consisted purely of the words 'KILL FRENZY KILL FRENZY KILL FRENZY KILL FRENZY' voice increasingly deranged and wild as the battle progressed: the captain showing a total disinterest in anything other than destroying Imperial ships. Going as far as to ram straight through an Imperial light cruiser and attempt a second ram after having batteries knocked out and burning while under heavy fire from Macro Cannons, any Imperial vessel attempting to flee in terror only being relentless pursued by the crazed captain.

This ship is the Damage-Dealer among Chaos cruisers

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[CALiGeR190]

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Murder Class

In service with the Imperial Battlefleet Obscurus to act as the primary fleet cruiser from M33-M37, a majority of these vessels where sold off to Rogue Traders after being replaced by the largely superior Lunar Class: which had more powerful broadsides, more lance batteries, had more armour, could fit a Nova Cannon and was cheaper to mass produce. Some of these vessels would eventually find themselves in Chaos hands, being first seen in numbers in service with Slaaneshi fleets in M39, and seen in wider service in M41.

The Murder Class, despite being inferior to the Lunar when dropped from service, has had various upgrades during its service with Chaos. The Batteries and Lances (which where already longer range than on the Lunar) are now capable of hitting targets far beyond what should be possible for such weapons, her speed has also seen an increase despite already being faster than average for her weight class: now capable of maneuvering more like a light cruiser than a cruiser.
In Chaos service her armament configuration remains unchanged, but more deadly than ever: a pair of prow-mounted Heavy Lances with enough power to punch through the armour of a Battleship with ease, and a two batteries of plasma weapon batteries with a withering rate of fire and impressive range.

The Murder Class has a lethal track record.
It's batteries are a huge threat to any escort or Light Cruiser it faces, as well as being excellent weapons for tearing down the shields on larger warships to open them up for a devastating double heavy-lance strike which is capable of crippling even battleships in a single hit (Some Variants of the Murder having their weapons batteries removed entirely and replaced with lances to make it a pure lance boat, like on the Plagueclaw and Despicable Ecstasy).
This became apparent during the Gothic war: where the Retribution Class Battleship, the Relentless Persecution, and her escorts where ambushed by the Murder Class vessels Monstrous and Steel Fang. Both cruisers flanked the formation and fired a massed crossfire of plasma rounds from the cover of debris from a previous battle: the escorts and light cruisers with the lone battleship quickly disintegrated and the void shield generators on the battleship burnt out under the concentrated fire, but the batteries where only capable of doing superficial damage to the Battleships thick hide of adamantine composite armour. Before the Battleship could fire its reply from the it's far more deadly Heavy Macro Cannons Broadsides, both cruisers had maneuvered to fire their Heavy Lances into both sides of the mighty vessel: four Heavy Lance bolts and series of rippling explosions later, the Battleships magazine and generator where destroyed, causing the imposing shape to disappear in a massive fireball of death and destruction.
The Murder Class would perform similarly well in various battles across the Gothic Sector during the War, being a continuous dagger in Battlefleet Gothic's side: being equally as deadly in any role the Chaos Admirals chose to employ the Murder in.

The Murder is the Heavy Lance boat and backbone of the Chaos cruiser fleet, being a chassis for finishing off isolated or damaged components as well as carrying the exceptionally deadly Heavy Lances for large formations.

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Emasculator Class

The Emasculator was the first, failed, attempt to design a multi-role cruiser armed with Lances and Batteries: the Lunar Class quickly replacing her after only 6 or 7 centuries of service.
Like the Murder: a lot of Emasculators found their way into Chaos service through a large quantity of them being sold to rogue traders.
Despite being inferior to the Lunar Class, she had longer range lances and batteries as well as having better speed: this only being made more so after chaos was done tainting the vessel.
Like the Lunar Class that succeeded her and her original design intention she is a particularly versatile ship.
Her high speed and long ranged batteries together with lances mean she is nightmare for escorts and light cruisers, while able to apply similar tactics as the murder Class when dealing with larger targets: able to take down shields with the batteries to follow up with a powerful lance strike (although not to the same effect as the Murder).

Just like the Murder, this vessel was first seen in wide use by Slaaneshi war fleets (for reasons still not determined) before seeing the first major distribution of the Cruiser during the Gothic war in M41 (again, just like the Murder Class).
She proved especially deadly as an escort raider, able to quickly sweep aside most escorts and tear into the vulnerable transports, to then use her superior speed to out-run any Imperial response.

The Emasculator is the Multi-role Cruiser of the Chaos fleet.

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*Cut down on the posts in this topic. It's getting harder to browse through the profiles and I don't want things getting too crowded.
If you want to talk about these profiles, please take it to my 'Profile Feedback' Topic.

[CALiGeR190]

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Devastation Class

This cruiser is a rarity among Chaos War Fleets.
Having never served among Imperial fleets for one, it's a native modification to an existing vessel in service with the Chaos fleets (many believe this original ship to be the Slaughter Class), as well as being a break from the highly aggressive all-or-nothing profile of the Chaos fleets: being that the ship was built to protect and escort other Chaos vessels.

The Ships armament reflects the defensive orientation of the vessel: she has one battery of, fairly typical, mixed Lance and laser-based weapons; but she also has a launch bay. This Launch bay has an impressive capacity for a cruiser-type vessel, able to double the number of squadrons of its Imperial rival (The Dictator Class), she is also extremely fast by cruiser standards (like all Chaos Cruisers, speed being a major weapon for traitor fleets).
The exact intention of this ship was to counter the massed torpedo attacks of Imperial and Ork fleets which often crippled Chaos fleets, limiting their ability to manoeuvre while dodging torpedoes which proved deadly to the thinly armoured ships when hit, allowing the enemy to close relatively unharmed. Devastations would use fighter screens to destroy the majority of the lethal projectiles, as well as preventing enemy strike craft from getting close to the cruisers as they poured fire into the opposing fleet from afar.
The Devastation could also very quickly adapt to when the Chaos fleet made the inevitable aggressive push on the disorganised and crippled enemy: remaining useful by lancing and bombing unshielded targets as well as launching swarms of Dreadclaw drop pods filled with Chaos Space Marines to overwhelm ships from within.

The Devastation is greatly valued by both Chaos Warlords and Pirate Warbands.
Filling a capability gap in the Chaos fleet as well as having very high speed, firepower and cargo space making it an excellent raiding vessel for Pirates. The Devastation served in the Gothic War also, and is one of the ships that caused Battlefleet Gothic to make the dramatic shift from All-Big-Gun warships to Carrier Heavy formations.

The Devastation is the Escort Carrier and Heavy Raider of the Chaos fleet.

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*Done by Jectulg, since I did an oops and missed the ship on the first rendition of the Chaos cruisers...

Sorry if you wanted me to carry on with the Heavy cruisers, but the lore on them is Meaty and I'm seriously shot-out given the exams I'm doing atm...
So I'll probably do them tomorrow when I'm slightly less tired and can do these profiles some justice.

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Inferno Class

The Inferno is believed to be an early design and a later counterpart of the Carnage. However, it was marred by technical difficulties and not entirely successful in overcoming many of the shortcomings experienced by the Carnage in maintaining and powering its long-range batteries. The Inferno was quickly supplanted in front line units by more modern types. Even the Bastion fleets have not had an example of this class for many centuries, though several were known to be maintained by the Adeptus Mechanicus as experimental platforms and other such uses. A small number were known to turn renegade before the class was entirely removed from service by M35. None were known for certain to have been present during the Gothic War, though the Havoc and Cerberus are both known to have operated throughout Segmentum Obscuras and the Northern Rim. The Pillager and Rampage on the other hand have spent little time in Segmentum Obscuras since going renegade, and for many centuries their whereabouts were unknown until scattered reports concerning these two vessels surfaced in the vicinity of the Maelstrom in M37.

Several vessels of this class were reported in various engagements at Cadia, Kantrael and Agripinaa. While only the Pillager was identified with any certainty, at least two or three of these ships must have participated in the war for the vast distances between systems they were sighted in.

*The ship is effectively a Carnage class with an added lance deck to increase its firepower vs larger targets and give it a greater self-sufficiency in patrol and anti-piracy operations, turned heretic for many of the same reasons + has a similar role to the Carnage.

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[CALiGeR190]

Chaos Light Cruisers
Bringers of Swift Destruction

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Hellbringer Class

This class of Warship (sometimes also referred to as the Harbinger Class) is perhaps the most deadly warship of her weight class.
She is a native design of Chaos, heavily inspired by old Imperial designs, and the intention of the design appears to have been to stick as many dangerous weapons as possible onto a Light cruiser. The Class frequently used in raides and in lesser-planetary invasions for her incredible mix of firepower, speed and strike craft/landing craft/assault boats.

The Class is informace among Imperial fleets: the appearance of one of these vessels sending shivers down the spine of the captain of any cruiser and spelling doom for any escort, space station or light cruiser. This due to the Light Cruisers armament of weapons batteries being of the same kind found on larger cruisers of Chaos, as well as having capacity to launch a respectable number of strike craft of varying types, and not sacrificing any of the speed. Some variants of the Hellbringer replacing their hangar bays with lances, to only further its ship-to-ship lethality vs its peers among other factions. Often the only clues a Hellbringer will give that it was ever there if not spotted immediately being the gutted wrecks of its victims.
The Light Cruiser is however a glass cannon. Having pathetically thin armour that can easily be overmatched by her rival, the Dauntless, being especially vulnerable to Imperial broadsides and torpedoes even by Chaos standards.

The Light Cruiser appeared in great numbers in the Gothic War.
The Predators tearing a bloody path through the Battle Fleets reserve of Light Cruisers and Escorts: but it was the Carrier capacity that made them especially deadly. Already able to produce a fair few squadrons alone, when deployed on mass like in the Gothic War, they could swamp and overwhelm even the largest fleet formations; which pushed Battlefleet Gothic to scramble for Carrier capable vessels.

Hellbringer is the Light Carrier and Glass Cannon of the Chaos fleet.

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Pestillaan Class.

The exact origins of this ship are unknown, given the ship is so horribly bloated and warped that no identification can be given to it from any records uncovered by the Navy. The ship is an ungainly and clumsy looking thing and, for a Light Cruiser, its speed and maneuverability are appallingly bad as well as having a less than impressive armament of two short range weapon batteries. However the ship is a surprisingly hard nut to crack, able to take a savage beating. The true power of the ship however is hinted at in the fleshy sores that are open on the ship's hull and the rusted, bloated appearance: this ship found only among Nurgle fleets.
Getting close to this ship is suicide.
Many an Imperial Captain have looked upon the vessel as easy prey, only to get too close and claimed by Nurgles taint. The ship spreads diseases through its weapons batteries, boarding and some other unholy means that is yet to be determined by is, fortunately, short in range. These diseases effectively render any ship dead-in-space: being extremely fast spreading and lethal, only known 'cure' being to pledge ones allegiance to Nurgle, thus expanding the numbers of the plague fleet and repeating the cycle of corruption.

These warships are perhaps the most feared warships among experienced Imperial Captains and Admirals, captains for its ability terrible illness and inflictions upon their ship and Admirals for its ability to expand the numbers of Chaos fleet while thinning the Imperial ranks.
Although small, and relatively rare, vessels in the Gothic War: Captains where under strict orders to 'Kill on Sight; and quickly!', failure to do so meaning execution for anyone who survived the encounter.

The Pestillaan Class is the Plague vessel of the Chaos fleet: spreading the taint of chaos while acting as a Meat-Shield and Brawler of sorts.

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[CALiGeR190]

Chaos Heavy Cruisers
Yesterdays BattleCruisers

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Cardinal Class

This Heavy Cruiser was originally designed in M33 to fill a similar role to the Apocalypse Class Battleship, being armed with a large number of long range lances capable of overwhelming enemy cruisers, as well as deal with swarms of enemy escorts and light cruisers. The concept being that the Cardinal could deploy these larger number of Lances to critical areas far faster than any Battleship could, as well as being a cheaper and easier to produce vessel. Unlike the later Gothic Class Cruiser, the Cardinal was largely successful in Imperial service in this role. While still not matching the Battleships awesome power, they where still able to present a serious threat to formations of cruisers and smaller vessels, while having an impressive speed for her Weight Class.
She also had enough armour to shrug off the armament found on most cruiser-type warships, and a greater number of Cardinals could be put in service with fleets due to their easier construction and cheaper maintenance cost when compared to the Apocalypse.
The Heavy Cruiser is also a unique vessel for being a ship that actively serves with both Imperial and Chaos fleets to this day (although in very small numbers with the Imperial Navy).

The Cardinals large scale fall to Chaos came with the appearance of the Mars Class Battlecruiser.
The Cardinal had similar firepower to a battleship, but couldn't match it: while the Mars Class (with her Heavy Macro Battery and Nova Cannon, while retaining dorsal lances) could match the firepower of a battleship as well as having carrier capacity. The Cardinal, while still powerful and useful to the navy, was simply outclassed by the Mars: despite many hardliners claiming her to be 'undergunned' (which only worsened the position and reputation of the Cardinal).
This fall from grace meant that many Cardinals where found to be neglected in maintenance and, gradually, the means/knowledge required to replace and repair the ships disappeared into obscurity. Outraged, many captains of Cardinals took their ageing vessels and denounced the Imperium in favour of serving with chaos War Fleets.

The Cardinal has seen service on both sides of various conflicts across the Imperium, first being seen in large-scale Chaos use in the Gothic war as a Heavy raider and dedicated Lance boat, her high speed and moderate armour allowing her to survive most Imperial retaliations. She frequently proved to be a deadly pair for the Carnage Class cruiser, and as the Heavy Firepower of chaos fleets, providing knock-out blows for Chaos cruiser formations.
She is also still in service with Battlefleet Bakka and Battlefleet Tempestus in the Imperial Navy, mainly because of her brutal effectiveness against pirates and Tyranids but also because because Bakka was one of the few Battle Fleets reluctant to take the Mars Class over the Cardinal, much of the criticism of the Mars Class coming from the Admirals of said Battlefleet.
A pair of Cardinals of Battlefleet Bakka served against Hive fleet Behemoth in defence of Macragge. One, the Silent Flame, was lost to friendly fire in transit to her defencive position, being believed to be a heretic raider. The other, Sebastian Thor, served with distinction against the Hive fleet. She defended her small area of space, with an escort of Firestorm frigates, Dauntless and Endurance Light Cruisers and a singular Gothic Class; against swarms of thousands of tyranid vessels. The concentrated, long range, lance firepower of the Cardinals small formation of Warships being enough to cut a fireary swath through any bio-ship foolish enough to try assault the lethal mini-fleet. The Sebastian Thor, despite losing the majority of her escort, would survive her intense week-long fire-fight and continues to serve with Battlefleet Bakka to this day.

The Cardinal is a Heavy Lance boat.
A timeless and valued warrior in any fleet, demanding the respect of any she faces with her impressive armament, high speed and armour for a ship of cruiser-weight.

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Acheron Class

Acheron Class was a test bed for an ancient experimental weapons system and powerplant found in Sector 51 by a patrol from Battlefleet Gothic, the origin and age of said weapons and power plant are unknown, being found within a space hulk which is believed to have been xenos in origin (although whether or not this is true, or simply captain folklore and rumour, is unknown).
The Acheron Class is effectively a Cardinal Class with standard Lances and powerplant replaced with the older re-discovered lances and generator. These old lances had a more efficient power distribution in its shots, generating less heat and distributing the extra power retention equally over the entire area of the lance impact as opposed to only the centre of the area of impact, which greatly improved the performance of the lance's penetrative power/damage to be more in line with what a Heavy lance would achieve (but with a lower power requirement, due to the smaller weight class weapon). The experimental powerplant also enabled these lances to fire beyond the range of most Cruisers and match the range of even the most long-range batteries on battleships, the frightening power of the generator also accelerating the (already fast) Cardinal chassis to speeds more typical of a light cruiser.

Despite the clear advantages these weapons and powerplant offered, the mechanicus refused to work with them and wouldn't produce any more Acheron Class vessels because of the shady origins of the Tech possibly being of Xenos design. This means that only one un-named (designated BF/67-A) and incomplete Acheron Class was built by the Imperium, although experiences from the trials of the Acheron inspired the Overlord Class Battlecruiser which had a largely copied (but less efficient) powerplant. The singular Acheron Class test subject was left immobile in orbit above a backwater outpost world in the gothic sector and was largely forgotten.
The Acheron would become a centre of attention again during the Gothic War however.

During the Chaos offensive, one of the Chaos strike groups stumbled across the Acheron in orbit above the seemingly insignificant world. Before blowing it apart, the Chaos admiral recognised its similarity to the Cardinal Class, and life-sign scans showed it was un-crewed. Confused, Curious and Cautious: the Chaos fleet closed in to inspect the new warship, and quickly discovered the power of the powerplant and lances equipped on the vessel, immediately setting to work getting the thing repaired, rearmed and crewed.
Two Weeks later, when work on the on the Acheron had nearly finished, an imperial fleet flagged by a Retribution Battleship arrived under strict orders to destroy the Acheron at any cost.
After a pitched 8-hour battle battle between the Chaos and Imperial fleets the now-named Chaos Eternus Acheron Class escaped into the warp under heavy fire from Macro Cannons, leaving behind a graveyard of Chaos and Imperial vessels in her old resting place.

The Acheron is the Advanced Lance Boat of the Chaos fleet.

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[CALiGeR190]

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Styx Class

Prior to the Mars Class, from M32-M33, the Styx Class was the mainstay fleet carrier for the Imperial navy. It was much cheaper and more numerous than the Emperor, and faster, and had the same carrier capacity together with a self-defence dorsal lance for dealing with escorts. Unfortunately for the Styx, this less-than-impressive armament, together with poor armour protection would be her downfall with most Battle Fleets.
Carriers where already nieche and unpopular vessels with many battle fleets, being employed by necessity as opposed to any actual preference: the Mars Class changed this. Despite having half the Carrier capacity, the Mars was much better armed for engagements of any range. Despite accusations of being undergunned, the Mars Class was seen as vastly superior to the Styx, the Styx rapidly dropping from active service to be sold off or mothballed.

Its unknown exactly how or when Chaos forces got their hands on the Styx, but it was most likely through the rogue traders Styx Class vessels where sold to: there where exactly 7 recording sightings prior to the Gothic War, all being far apart in terms of time, but all occurring in the Obscurus Sector. The most notable of these early encounters being when 5 ships of the class where caught in a raid on an Imperial Orbital Outpost in M35. The Heavy Cruisers had only a small escort of 3 Harbinger Light Cruisers and a small assortment of escorts, but the vast swarms of strike craft the 5 where capable of throwing up meant the Station was being overwhelmed by the sheer mass of ordnance it had to target.
The Retaliation fleet, lead by an Apocalypse Battleship arrived just too late save the station, the station's primary generator being crippled and its orbit destabilized just as the prow of the first Imperial escort emerged from the warp. The battle lasted only a couple of hours, most of the Chaos fleet being annihilated, but the oldest identified vessels, Heartless Destroyer, was able to escape with relatively minor damage. This same Styx Class would go on to serve in the Gothic War and be one of the small few Chaos vessels to survive the War.

The Gothic war was when the Styx appeared in large-scale use with Chaos fleets.
They where used throughout the war as flagships for strike groups sent to invade planets across the Gothic Sector, their vast carrier capacity allowing them to carry a sizable invasion force and air support all on their own, the rest of the strike force defending them from Imperial retaliation and bombarding key positions and cities across the planet from orbit.
They where also used as dedicated Fleet Carriers in large fleet engagements, just one of them being able to match the carrier capacity of an Emperor Class Battleship and pin down Imperial fleets under a constant Strike craft harassment. they where also scarily efficient at shutting down convoy operations in large areas of space.
The Styx Class proved so potent that she directly influenced the mass adoption of the Dictator Class, alongside the extremely dangerous Harbinger Light Cruisers and Devastation Cruisers.
One Styx, the Lord Seth, flagging the assault fleet attacking Helia IV, took part in the first major conflict where Dictator Class vessels fought with the Styx. A number of Dictators lead by Flag Captain Semper in his Dictator cruiser, the Lord Solar Macharius, lead a fair-sized fleet to victory against the Chaos invaders, massed torpedos and strike craft attacks from range crippling the styx before they could retaliate and mopping up the other vessels with a mix of bombers and macro cannon fire.
The Styx remained a potent enemy to the very end of the Gothic war however, and she remains the go-to carrier for the Chaos fleet despite their now being plenty of carrier competition among the ranks of the Imperial Battle Fleets these days.

The Styx is the dedicated carrier of the Chaos fleet.

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Hecate Class

The Hecate Class is a far more recent Chaos-native design based off the Styx Class Heavy Cruiser, her first recorded sightings of the vessel being in M39, and first recorded deployments being during the Gothic War.
Despite the potency of Heavy-weight Carrier Styx Class, Chaos Warmasters realised the need for a carrier capable of defending itself against a modest sized fleet without a considerable escort. For a while the answer had simply been to mass Harbingers with a Styx and overwhelm them with sheer volume of strike craft, with lance and weapons batteries from the Styx and Harbingers for fending off survivors.
This proved inconvenient and unreliable however. For one, it was hard to sneak more than one vessel through Imperial defences without being detected, meaning ships had to be sent to rally locations one-by-one or risk detection; and the formation was extremely fragile as it relied on light cruisers that could be easily destroyed by any Imperial vessel given even a shadow of a chance to fire back.

The Hecate design was built to address these issues.
She had slightly heavier armour, allowing her to withstand cruiser-grade weaponry at mid-range for a limited duration, and featured an extended Dorsal lance battery and a battery of Lance weapons to replace one of the Launch bays. While this meant a lower number of strike craft on the ship when compared to the Styx: when deployed in the same Harbinger formation the difference in strike potential at long range was negligible. But the formation suddenly experienced a higher degree of success when Imperial forces began to close, the large number of lances able to tear through large groups of enemy escorts, light cruisers and cruisers.
The Hecate could also be self-sufficient, not having to depend on a formation, able to fend off a variety of different enemies entirely by herself.

The Hecate is a Lance Boat/Carrier Hybrid, able to bring a collection of long range lances and carrier capacity to fleet engagements.

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[CALiGeR190]

*Sorry I haven't posted the last two days, was in Bovington for my Birthday. :/
Anyway, I'm back now (yay)!
Posts may come out irregularly due to exams over the next week, just a head up.

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Hellfire Class

The Hellfire Class is a strange vessel design by Imperial standards.
This ship was designed and built in M33, the concept of the design was to produce a ship capable of bring massive firepower upon an enemy fleet quickly and from a longer range than most could engage, effectively a long-range lance boat. Although the ship did have dorsal lances, the majority of its firepower came from a large number of experimental laser-based weapons batteries. These weapons batteries behaved a lot like light lances found on escorts and light cruisers both in terms of power consumption and damage output, but they had a far longer range, easily able to match the engagement ranges of most standard lances.
These strange weapons, together with the dorsal lances and requirement for high speed meant that the Hellfire is unique among Imperial production vessels for having no void shields: the power requirements of the weapons and engine simply making it impossible for any cruiser-sized ship to support the shield. To back this up, the Hellfire had no armour worth mentioning, anything larger than an escort could shred this ship apart.

The Hellfire had mixed reception with Imperial Admirals and crews. Admirals loved the range it could engage at, its burst firepower and speed; but hated the fragility and constant need for an escort. Crews loved its firepower and speed also, allowing capatina to dictate engagements and rendering the ship virtually immune to pirate raids; but cramped conditions and poor vessel survivability meant morale often plummeted during extended fleet engagements and while not on duty.
Although never officially discharged by the Imperium: most Hellfire captains despised the conditions them and their crew where being put under, most turning heretic by M35, and Imperial Admirals weren't fond of how easily they could be destroyed during fleet engagements; most battle fleets not employing them in active service by M36.

The Hellfire has since been seen in Chaos use for blocking convoy operations and blockading Imperial worlds, but is rarely used in large scale offensive operations.

The Hellfire is the Glass-cannon among Heavy Cruisers.

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Hades Class

The Hades Class was once an prized vessel in the Imperial navy, considered the backbone of many Battle Fleets from M33-M35.
The ship is effectively an up-armoured Carnage Class with a Dorsal Lance battery and improved powerplant. The purpose of these upgrades being to provide the Carnage with a means to fire at targets directly forward of the ship and improve its effectiveness at long and mid ranges. The Armour being put in place to make the, already dangerous, brawling abilities of the Carnage more sustainable.

Although these upgrades where quite simple the effect was impressive.
The Hades now had a full arch of fire, could present a serious threat to any target at any range, a vast improvement over the fairly limited usefulness of the Carnage which was only really effective from mid-range vs soft targets.
The fall of Hades to Chaos occured due to the Overlord Class.
After the development of the Overload from the Acheron tests, it became clear the Battlecruiser had various advantages over the Hades: she retained the dorsal lances, have Heavy Macro cannons with much greater killing power at mid and short range, as well as heavier armour on a chassis which could move just as quickly. The final nail in the coffin being its surplus energy reserves.
The Hades was dropped from service pretty quickly following the mass adoption of the Overlord Class, disappearing completely from Imperial formations in M35.

The Hades would once again serve as the backbone of a fleet: to the Chaos fleet in M41 during the Gothic War.
The Hades Class saw extensive service as the mainstay of the Chaos fleet, serving in all operational theatres from supporting planetary invasions to being the flagship for raiding parties. These ships where, unusually for chaos vessels, able to match most of their Imperial counterpart at any range making them exceptionally deadly enemies to face during any engagement.
These Hades Class had also all once served with Battlefleet Gothic, Abbadon hand-picking the most well decorated and celebrated of them during Imperial service and sending them against their ex-Battlefleet. Many of these presiged vessels and their veteran-Hero captain going from revered legends to hated enemies, as they committed hideous crimes across the Gothic sector, Battlefleet Gothic forces to either kill their one-time idols or watch them butcher civilian populations from orbit.

The Hades is the Brawler and Backbone of the Chaos Heavy Cruiser Fleet.

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Chaos Battleships
Terror incarnate

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Despoiler Class

This ship has a long and turbulent history within the Imperium. The Despoiler Class was the ship created by the 'Young School' Admirals (inspired by the ancient Death Guard Battleship Terminus Est's design) of Battlefleet Bakka during the 'Gareox incident', following a millennia long dispute of All-Big-Gun Battleship designs vs Attack Carriers for future Imperial ship-building revolving around battleships. During this Imperial civil war, some 14 Despoilers and their fleets faced off against 15 Emperor Class vessels and their own fleets. The Despoilers Class proved to have much superior speed, and attack range with its batteries and mix of heavy and standard lances, but only just matched the carrier capacity of the Emperor and was far more fragile. Although 2 Emperor Class vessels where destroyed, and a further 3 crippled, the Despoiler proved unable to match the Emperor as a Battleship and was no better as a Carrier: only 3 Despoilers surviving the conflict as the fearsome firepower of Heavy Macro Cannons tour the large and relatively fragile targets to pieces.
All three of these Battleships and their architects would turn to chaos.
Since then the Despoiler has become yet faster, and has a far more deadly arsenal of lances and strike craft.

The Despoiler is armed with a pair of Heavy Lances, both capable of firing directly forward or over the broadsides of the ship, and a centre mounted battery of dorsal lances for fending off escorts and finishing crippled opponents. She also has two lots of Weapon Batteries on each broadside of the ship, and a number of weapon batteries flanking and protecting the large prow mounted launch bay; a further 2 launch bays being found on the broadsides of the ship directly behind the prow section.
This fearsome array of weapons make her a deadly opponent, especially at long range: where her lances, long range weapon batteries and strike craft swarms can overwhelm an opponent before they are even given a chance to close in and return fire. Her high speed making this range advantage all the more crushing, as she is difficult to catch with anything larger than cruiser, but anything smaller than a Battleship is quickly overwhelmed by the catastrophic damage the Despoiler can dish out.

The Despoiler would see action in Chaos service from M39 onwards, destroying entire cruiser flotillas and convoys before word of the attack could even reach a retaliation fleet, a Despoiler attack very rarely leaving any survivors to tell the tail of the savage assault.
But the next major engagement would be the Gothic War of M41. The remaining 3 original Battleships and their younger chaos-born sisters served as the spearhead to the Chaos offensive, being the head of the lethal dagger aimed at the heart of the Imperium. They proved deadly against any opponent, the Despoiler getting a re-match with it's nemesis class the Emperor and proving to now be a far more worthy opponent of the lordly Imperial Vessel, a number of Emperor Class Battleships being reduced to drifting hulks before the advance of Chaos.

The Despoiler is the Heavy Attack Carrier of the Chaos Fleet.

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Desolator Class

The Desolator is a vessel with mysterious and long-lost origins dating back to the very earliest days of the Imperium, using technology now long-lost to the Imperium, the design believed to have been in service with the Imperium from M31-M34 before the 5 existing vessels defected to Chaos for (mostly) unknown reasons (one of them, the Torment, being captured by Chaos forces in M33). The most informace among them being the first to defect, believed to have Defected in M33, the renamed Eternity of Pain has since destroyed seven Loyal Imperial Battleships of various classes and countless smaller vessels: continuing to ilude the Imperium to this day.
The original design of the Desolator is rumoured to have served as the basis for the Apocalypse Class, her large armament of long-range lances mirroring her loyal counterpart, and the small numbers of the ship being constructed possibly being prototypes for the technology used on the Apocalypse. However none of this is known for certain, as neither warship are understood well by the Mechanicus and records have been long-lost.

The Desolator is armed with full broadsides of long-range lances, a large number of Dorsal Weapon batteries and prow mounted torpedo launchers. This, together with her high speed, allows her to hold opponents at long range where she can tear into them with long range weapon batteries and lances; using her porw torpedoes to disperse any enemies attempting to close with her.
This lethal long range armament and speeds has made the Desolator a true menace for any Imperial fleet, being deadly to a ship of any size, kiting her Battleship rivals with her speed as her lances tear through their thick hides and tearing apart anything smaller in mere seconds under a barrage of Torpedoes, Lance bolts and Plasma projectiles.

The Desolator has been seen in service with chaos in raids and offensives across the Imperium, most notable being the prior-mentioned Eternity of Pain which continues to reap a bloody toll on the Imperial Navy's Battleships, and a number took part in the Gothic War. The Desolators proved instrumental to Chaos forces during this Black Crusade, able to cause crippling damage to the imposing and deadly Imperial Battleships as well as provide an excellent platform for orbital bombardment of key Imperial Worlds. The large number of lances capable of accurate surgical strikes to annihilate Imperial cities or destroy planets outright with a full-power broadside.
The class served as Heavy Fire support throughout the war, destroying hard targets and stitching Imperial formations with a barrage of Lance strikes to allow the cruisers chance to unleash their own lethal firepower without fear of retaliation.

The Desolator is the Super-Heavy Lance Boat of the Chaos Fleet.

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Desecrator Class

The Desecrator Class is a recent Chaos modification of the Desolator Class Battleship made at the request of Abaddon the Despoiler in preparation for the Gothic War. The Purpose of the design was to increase the, already large number, of Attack Carriers in the Chaos Armada and expand the Chaos Battleship fleet; to allow for more spearhead vessels meaning a greater number of avenues of attack. The idea being to swamp Imperial forces under an assault from multiple fronts across an area of space covering hundreds of planets each, stretching any Imperial reinforcements thin and wide, to allow for the Battlefleet to be easily overwhelmed in small chunks at a time.

The Desecrator Class bares many similarities to the Desolator she is based off of in both appearance and armament.
Retaining the frontal torpedo launchers and most of the lance batteries; however some changes have been made to the armaments of the vessel. For one the Desecrator has a dorsal lance mounted overlooking the prow of the Battleship, as well as along the spine of the ship, and a pair of launch bays bays replacing the two forward-most lance batteries.
Although her carrier capacity isn't very impressive by Battleship standards, It's sufficient for systematically taking apart enemy Cruisers and escorts as well as provide an extra defence against torpedo and strike craft assaults. The frontal lance, in combination with these strike craft and the torpedo launchers, giving her impressive frontal firepower at long range; able to cripple enemy vessels and disperse enemy formations as leads assaults into enemy battlelines. Her carrier capacity and lances also making her very well suited to the fire support role also, able to stay behind the main advance and escort them in with fighters while providing covering fire from her large number of long range lances.

The Desecrator performed well during the Gothic War.
She proved to be an excellent break-through warship, able to apply large amounts of firepower very quickly to key areas in Imperial Battle lines and create openings for the deadly Chaos Cruisers to follow and tear the tight formations open, the battleship then providing fire support in taking out harder targets among the disorganised melee.
Although these tactics where deadly, and dedicated Desecrator-lead assault was rarely unsuccessful in breaking up formations, her armour was not sufficient to allow for the survival of the Battleship following the initial push: Rival Imperial Battleships like the mighty Retribution even able to blunt such assaults with their awesome broadside firepower.
But the Desecrator is still a true menace in any offensive operation, and the bane of any cruiser unlucky enough to be faced with this aggressive terror.

The Desecrator is the Heavy fire support support and assault Battleship of the Chaos fleet.

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Chaos Escorts
The Eternal Menace

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Iconoclast-Destroyer

Iconoclast is perhaps the most numerous vessel in service with Chaos.
The ship is also a rare vessel for being a ship in service with Chaos which is of neither Imperial or Chaos origin, the Iconoclast being designed and built by pirates and private dockyards. The ship design's age is unknown, but being produced on mass by both Chaos in the Immaterium and by pirate and traitor dock yards hidden across the Imperium, the ship is the most numerous and frequently sighted Chaos service vessel. Frequently being found raiding convoys and attacking space stations across many sector within the Imperium seemingly since time began.

The Iconoclast follows a simple, pirate centric, design philosophy: Stick as many gun as possible onto as fast a ship as possible with as much cargo space possible.
This means the Iconoclast stands out among other escorts for its impressive number of short-range weapon batteries and high speed. However she has no armour, thin armour even by escort standards, a Sword Class frigate able to tear a Iconoclast in half with its Laser-based batteries.
The Iconoclast mostly gets around this weakness by being so incredible numerous. Roving swarms of the ships being found in service with Chaos and Pirate forces. With private forces it's high speed is used to get in among convoy column and blast any enemy escorts in oblivion with the large number of plasma weapon batteries , cripple the transport engines and life support systems, and then get away quick with a substantial amount of loot using the ships larger-than-average cargo bays. In Chaos service they are used as a disposable shield for larger vessels and as cannon fodder in large assaults, the ships often being crewed by Pirates and mercenaries joining the Chaos fleets through promises for riches and spoils of war.

The Iconoclast is the light Gun-boat of the Chaos fleet.
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