Chaos Cruiser
Making up the majority of Chaos fleets, Cruisers are medium-sized warships known for their speed and maneuverability. Able to function independently for long periods, Cruisers usually function as raiders for the Traitor fleets, striking deep into Imperial territory to cause havoc. As opposed to the rest of the Chaos ships, which usually function as raiders for the Traitor fleets, striking deep into Imperial territory to cause havoc.
During fleet actions Cruisers will screen the approach of their fleet in conjunction with their Escorts. Once the battle starts in earnest however, these ships will join the battle line, and contribute their firepower to single out targets of opportunity.
Cruiser Classes
Basic
Murder
Once the Cruiser of choice before the Lunar-class went into production, the Murder-class was armed by the best Plasma cannons that the Mechanicus could provide. Formidable at range, and equipped with powerful engines, a disproportionate number of ships of this class went Traitor in the millennia leading to the Gothic War, what a coinkadink!
In battle, the Murder class is a formidable foe. The Murder is armed with powerful mid-ranged Macro plasma broadsides, while a long-ranged Lance battery is mounted on the prow. The Murder-class is even more deadly when working in groups, as the combined firepower of several ships is enough to bring down even a Battleship, such as when three craft destroyed the Relentless Persecution near the end of the Gothic War.
It is armed overall, with 1 Double-Barrel Heavy Lance Artillery and 4 Macro Battery Weapons.
- Length: 5km
- Mass: 24.2 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 51,000 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 5.5 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Emasculator
The funnily-named Emasculator is a mix-weapon Cruiser whose name wouldn't be out of place for the cuckoldry of Slaanesh.
Weapons wise, it's really not that different from the Slaughter, just instead of having the merged weapon bays, they are distinct and separate, which seems to somehow drop its overall damage output somewhat. In addition, not having the merged weapon bays, while making things easier to read stat-wise due to the way info is displayed in-game, you lose some redundancy with the Emsaculator compared to the Slaughter, since the destruction of a weapon bay here means losing all Lances or Macros on one side of the ship, as opposed to the loss being an even split with the merged bays.
On the plus side, the Emasculator is the only Chaos Cruiser with a heavily armoured prom section, granting any hits that come from the front a better damage reduction. This comes at the cost of engine speed, however, and might not be as useful of a trade-off to most people, since Chaos ships like to spend most of their time making circling broadside attacks at long ranges, and not presenting their front armour.
It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 2 Macro Battery Weapons, 2 Double-Barrel Lance Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Missile Turret.
- Length: 5km
- Mass: 24 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 49,000 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 5.5 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Carrier
Devastation
A Carrier-class, the Devastation-class carries two Launch Bays, which are supplemented by long-ranged Lance broadsides, and a prow Macro Weapons battery. A fairly versatile and self-sufficient class that is more in line with a Carrier-Battleship than a true carrier.
In the games, the Devastation takes the spot for your "lance-heavy" Cruiser while also bringing launch bays for squadrons, which if you aren't aware, Doomfire Bombers can penetrate armour with their attacks too, complimenting your lances as long as you can get another carrier to deploy interceptors or otherwise find a way of guaranteeing their safety to their target.
Without the benefit of reload orders affecting your lances, keep this ship in lock-on orders to give its macros greater range so it can engage with its full compliment at 13,500 points.
It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 2 Launch Bays, 2 Double-Barrel Heavy Lance Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Missile Turret.
- Length: 5km
- Mass: 23.6 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 45,000 crew, 15,000 pilots and support personnel; approx
- Acceleration: 5.4 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Ordnance-Boat
Carnage
A ship with a very bad rep and considered a sign of very bad luck for loyalists.
Designed as support ships, the Carnage-class' role was to provide fire support for other ships with its long-ranged guns. The Carnage class was ill-fated from the start. First, much division was caused within Battlefleet Obscurus by the myriad technical problems with its weaponry, such as the difficulty of providing power to its weapons.
What's more, the very first Carnage class cruiser, the Relentless, would earn the new name Initiate of Skalathrax after turning traitor during the Skalathrax Landing and destroying half of the convoy it was guarding. Due to this cursed reputation, the ship made it an object of contention within the Imperial Navy.
An ordinance-boat, the Carnage was armed with mid and long-ranged Macro Weapons Battery broadsides, and carried another Macro battery on the prow.
It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 2 Macro Battery Weapons, 2 Heavy Macro Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Super Heavy Missile Turret.
- Length: 5km
- Mass: 26 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 53,200 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 5.5 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Slaughter
The Lamborghini of Chaos Cruisers.
The fastest Cruiser-class available to Chaos forces, the Slaughter-class gets its speed from the Scartix Coil, an experimental drive system. When one of the ships went Traitor, the engine designs were destroyed, leaving the Imperium unable to replicate it.
The Slaughter is armed with short-ranged Lance and Macro cannon broadsides, and a Macro weapons battery mounted on the prow. Configured as a close-ranged brawler, the Slaughter takes advantage of its high speeds to close into its foes, unload its guns, then quickly escape any return fire.
It is unknown if the Dark Mechanicus could still replicate and create more of these Scartix Coils, however.
It is armed overall, with 1 Triple Barrel Light Macro Turret, 4 Merged Macro Battery Weapons and 1 Triple Barrel Missile Turret.
- Length: 5km
- Mass: 25.1 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 51,000 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 6.2 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
Lance-Boat
Inferno
The Inferno Class Cruiser is a class of Cruiser used by the Forces of Chaos.
It is a troubled ship like most Great Crusade-era ships.
Believed to be an early design and a later counterpart of the Carnage-Class, it was marred by technical difficulties including maintaining and powering its long-range weaponry. As a result, the class was quickly supplanted by more modern designs in the Imperial Navy.
A small number of these crafts turned renegade before they were removed from service in M35, and have since joined Chaos-affiliated fleets. Chaos probably got around the technical issues with Space Bullshit.
- Length: 5km
- Mass: 23.2 megatonnes; approx
- Crew: 48,600 crew; approx
- Acceleration: 5.5 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
In Battlefleet Gothic
Cruisers are the backbone of any player's fleet. Modestly-priced points-wise, there's enough variety among the ships available to Chaos to fill any fleet role. In general, Chaos Cruisers are much faster than their Imperial counterparts and, barring the Slaughter-class, have longer weapon ranges.
As with all things related to Chaos, Cruisers may be commanded by Chaos Lords, which grants access to Marks of Chaos. In turn, they can also be crewed by Chaos Space Marines for additional cost (which then allows access to Chaos Terminators).
A fleet can include up to a dozen cruisers as part of its list.
In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2
As a bit of a counter to Imperial vessels, Chaos Cruisers are much faster, and lean more toward longer-ranged attacks. Their Boarding capabilities are... decent, as far as Chaos goes, but don't write home about it.
That little detail aside, much like in the tabletop game, Cruisers are cheap and are used to mostly fill out your fleet list.
| Vessels of the Traitor Legions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spaceships | ||
| Space Station | Blackstone Fortress | |
| Super Battleships | Abyss | |
| Battleships | Battleship (Gloriana - Planet Killer) - Ark of Omen | |
| Cruisers | Light Cruiser - Cruiser Heavy Cruiser - Grand Cruiser | |
| Escorts | Escort | |
| Others | Silver Tower of Tzeentch | |
| Combat Spacecraft | Doomfire Bomber - Swiftdeath Fighter | |
| Landships | ||
| Siege Carriers | Siege Carrier | |
| War Machines | Chaos Harvester - Nurgle Plague Tower - Woe Machine | |
| Titans | Questor Scout Titan - Slaanesh Subjugator Feral Scout Titan - Ravager Battle Titan Chaos Warlord Titan - Chaos Emperor Titan Skull Reaper | |
| Troop Transports | Mastodon | |
| Superheavy Tanks | Baneblade - Fellblade - Plaguereaper Tower of Skulls | |
| Airships | ||
| Flying Fortress | Harbinger | |
| Aerospace Vessels | Stormbird | |
| Seaships | ||
| Oceanic Battleships | Oceanic Battleship | |