Grand Cruiser
Grand cruisers are vastly powerful and archaic warships, remnants of a more technologically advanced era of Imperial history. Only battleships carry heavier armour or wield more firepower. These vessels were once the core of battlefleet squadrons, tough warships designed for concerted broadside actions and punishing void-duels.
Now few in number, they are in many ways relics of a bygone age. Very few grand cruisers have been constructed in recent millennia, the entire concept having fallen out of favour in many battlefleets. Their revolutionary and highly sophisticated warp and realspace engine designs are now poorly understood, leading to many well publicised disasters and warp calamities. Indeed, the fleets of the archenemy contain the reinvigorated hulks of many formerly proud Imperial grand cruisers lost in the warp due to the gradual dilution of the sacred knowledge needed to render these imposing ships safe.
Regarded by many suspicious senior staff officers in the Imperial Navy as dangerous, temperamental, and constructed using dubious and possibly heretical technologies, the surviving grand cruisers of the 41st millennium are largely relegated to the reserve fleets. These are motley collections of outdated and mothballed antique warships, held cold and silent in orbit around munitorium depot worlds, ready for one last call to arms.
Although incredibly costly, complex, unpredictable and massively demanding in terms of maintenance and manpower, grand cruisers have much to offer Rogue Traders. They are vastly powerful ships, with continent-shattering firepower and ironclad armour that enables them to sweep aside entire squadrons of lesser vessels. As such, these vast craft are surprisingly common among the wealthier rogue trader fleets, especially given the willingness of cunning battlefleet lord admirals to divest themselves of what they regard as expensive and hazardous anachronisms.
Now few in number, they are in many ways relics of a bygone age. Very few grand cruisers have been constructed in recent millennia, the entire concept having fallen out of favour in many battlefleets. Their revolutionary and highly sophisticated warp and realspace engine designs are now poorly understood, leading to many well publicised disasters and warp calamities. Indeed, the fleets of the archenemy contain the reinvigorated hulks of many formerly proud Imperial grand cruisers lost in the warp due to the gradual dilution of the sacred knowledge needed to render these imposing ships safe.
Regarded by many suspicious senior staff officers in the Imperial Navy as dangerous, temperamental, and constructed using dubious and possibly heretical technologies, the surviving grand cruisers of the 41st millennium are largely relegated to the reserve fleets. These are motley collections of outdated and mothballed antique warships, held cold and silent in orbit around munitorium depot worlds, ready for one last call to arms.
Although incredibly costly, complex, unpredictable and massively demanding in terms of maintenance and manpower, grand cruisers have much to offer Rogue Traders. They are vastly powerful ships, with continent-shattering firepower and ironclad armour that enables them to sweep aside entire squadrons of lesser vessels. As such, these vast craft are surprisingly common among the wealthier rogue trader fleets, especially given the willingness of cunning battlefleet lord admirals to divest themselves of what they regard as expensive and hazardous anachronisms.
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