1 The Taiidan Empire Fleet Rules Homeworld Systems ships follow all of the rules found in the Battlefleet Gothic core rulebook, except for where specified below: Minimal Crew Homeworld Systems ships have little in the way of crew, as the majority of their ships are automated and AI-driven. Combined with a lack of training, this makes their crew distinctly incapable of taking the fight to the enemy in-person. -Unless otherwise specified, Homeworld Ships may never perform Boarding Actions, nor Hit and Run actions. They may still defend against such actions, if applicable. Crippled Status Homeworld ships rely heavily on automation and redundant systems, causing them to continue fighting at a higher level than one would expect, even as they sustain crippling damage. Homeworld ships, when reduced to 50% of their starting Hit Points, suffer the following effects: -Speed reduced by 5cm -Mass Driver battery strength reduced by 25% -Ion Beams are not effected by crippling Otherwise, their ships are unaffected by Crippled Status. Wide-Band Sensors Ships of the Homeworld Systems mount numerous banks of extremely advanced sensor systems, a holdover from their days of wandering the galaxy, looking for a home. These sensors are extremely adept at picking out the smallest fluctuation in space, and greatly assist the ship in both maneuvering and combat. This has proven extremely useful when dealing with the profusion of astrological phenomena, and the more slippery opponents like the Eldar. These have the following benefits: -All Homeworld ships apply a -1 modifier to any roll on either the Eldar Holofield or Dark Eldar Shadowfield chart, when rolling to see if their weapons have struck the target. This includes Mass Drivers, Ion Beams and Guided Missile Systems. 2 -Homeworld Ships without shields do not suffer damage when moving through Blast Markers, and can make a leadership check to avoid damage from Gas Clouds. Escorts and Frigates may reroll that check. Mass Drivers The denizens of the Homeworld Systems use Mass Drivers as their primary kinetic weapon. Utilizing super conductive layered cylinders of heavy elements, they generate a powerful electromagnetic field to accelerate projectiles to an incredibly rapid speed. While the projectile itself is small compared to the types of weapons used by their enemies, the speed with which they impact their target is more than sufficient to cause severe damage. This speed, and the generally superior targeting systems available to the denizens of Homeworld space, makes hitting any target in range a relatively simple function. In Battlefleet Gothic, Mass Drivers require a number of special rules: -Mass Drivers never use the gunnery chart – the dice listed on the weapons profile are the dice rolled against the target, regardless of range. Determine the to-hit number based upon the target’s armor value as normal, but do not modify the number of dice used based upon range, column shifts, firing through blast markers, etc. -Mass Drivers are treated as Lances when used against Eldar Holofields and Dark Eldar Shadowfields, modified by the ‘Wide-Band Sensors” rule above. -Critical Hits: Mass Drivers require two 6’s to be rolled per one roll on the critical hit chart. For example, a Skaal-Tel rolls 6 dice and scores 4 hits. Checking for critical damage, the player rolls those 4 dice, and two of them are 6’s. Therefore, only one roll is made on the critical hit chart, instead of the usual two. This is to represent the small- caliber nature of the rounds being fired. -In short, treat Mass Drivers as a Lance that hits on armor value, and requires two 6’s to score a crit. Ion Beam Weaponry Through the use of an accelerated particle beam, Ion weapons can bore through even the toughest capital ship armor. Requiring large amounts of power and space aboard a vessel to function, these weapons are limited to only a limited selection of ships. An Ion beam can be maintained for far longer, and over a greater distance, than the average Lance weapon utilized by other races, at the cost of striking power. -In Battlefleet Gothic, Ion Beams function as lances in all respects, except for the rules for Crippling as listed above. 3 Fleet Defense Batteries Fleet Defense Batteries are a combination of Mass Driver and Fleet Defense Turret. The Fleet Defense Battery may be fired in the shooting phase as a standard Mass Driver battery OR used in the Ordnance phase to support a friendly ship within 15cm in their Defensive Fire against enemy Torpedoes or Attack Craft. If the weapon fires in the shooting phase, it MAY NOT be used in the Ordnance phase for Defensive Fire purposes. If used in the Ordnance phase, it contributes +3 to the turret count of the target friendly vessel. Otherwise Fleet Defense Batteries follow the same rules for standard Mass Driver weapons. Ordnance The Homeworld Systems fleets places an extremely high level of importance on the production and use of Strike Craft, to the point of basing fleet doctrine around their application. This belief, coupled with the fact that the majority of their carrier craft have their own manufacturing facilities, means that an enemy will often times find himself inundated with hostile fighters, bombers, and corvettes to the point of absurdity. Launch Bays and Strike Craft -Homeworld Systems ships with launch bays never needs to issue the Reload Ordnance special order – it is considered to pass automatically. -Homeworld System launch bays come equipped automatically with Light and Heavy corvettes (excluding the Somtaaw, they have their own craft). Their rules are as follows: -Light Corvettes, 30cm Speed: Light Corvettes are not as nimble as the fighter craft of other races, but their omni-directional weaponry and intrinsic toughness sustain them well over extended combat. When Light Corvettes remove another Ordnance marker by contacting it, roll a dice. On a roll of 4, 5 or 6 do not remove the Light Corvettes, they remain in play. Note: a Light Corvette can only remove one enemy marker per Ordnance phase. Against Ordnance with this same ability, it is possible that neither marker will end up being removed. If this happens, either marker is free to move away next turn, or may stay in place and attempt to remove the enemy marker again. -Heavy Corvettes, 20cm speed: Heavy Corvettes carry a pair of large Mass Drivers that would not be out of place on an Escort-Class warship, packing a serious punch against anything they target. When a Heavy Corvette squadron makes an attack against a warship, each squadron that survives defensive turret fire inflicts 3D3 attacks minus the turret count of the enemy vessel. Any Homeworld Systems ship (Somtaaw excluded) with Launch bays may purchase additional types of Corvettes to launch, at the points cost listed below. These do not replace the existing Light and Heavy Corvettes, but instead add another option to launch. 4 -Repair Corvettes, Speed 20cm, +15pts per launch bay: A squadron of Repair Corvettes provides +1d6 to the End Phase critical damage repair rolls for any ship whose base it contacts. This bonus is cumulative among multiple squadrons, but each squadron can only affect one ship per turn. The squadron is removed once their repair roll bonus is used, but may be launched again next turn as normal. -Minelayer Corvettes, Speed 25cm, +20pts per launch bay: At the beginning of your Ordnance phase, you may replace a Minelayer Corvette squadron with an Orbital Mine token. Mines move 10cm per ordnance phase directly toward the nearest enemy ship, and roll 4D6 against any enemy ship that it contacts. Minelayer Corvettes removed in this manner may be launched again next turn. Guided Missile Weapons Used only on a few vessels, Guided Missile Weapons are nonetheless a critical part of Homeworld fleet doctrines. Equally viable against capital ships and escort squadrons thanks to its cluster munitions, few fleets leave their home port without a dedicated missile ship in tow – their ability to manufacture their own munitions makes them excellent for long campaigns in dangerous territory. In Battlefleet Gothic, Guided Missile Weapons require a number of special rules: -A Homeworld ship with Guided Missile Bays never needs to issue the Reload Ordnance special order – it is considered to pass automatically. -A Homeworld ship with Guided Missile Bays can launch a spread of missiles, using torpedo tokens, equal to the strength of each Missile Bay every turn. Missile spreads move 35cm per Ordnance Phase and are allowed to make one 45 degree turn at any point in their movement, but only once per phase. However, due to the short burn time of the missile’s notably smaller engines, roll a dice after each spread of Guided Missiles has moved or attacked – on a roll of 6, the spread has exhausted its fuel and is removed from play. -Missile Spreads DO NOT ignore shields, unlike torpedoes, but are still subject to defensive fire. -Unless mentioned above, Missile Spreads follow the same rules as torpedoes in all other regards. Escorts and Frigates The ships of the Homeworld systems are, compared to their enemies, of a vastly different scale – what the Taiidan consider their most powerful vessel, the Qwaar-Jet Heavy Cruiser, is barely up to the standards of a traditional Battlecruiser to the rest of the galaxy. The reason for this is simple – until coming into contact with the other races of the galaxy, they simply had no need for 5 vast, kilometer’s long ships. Nowhere is this failing more evident than in their Frigate-class vessels. Considered a mainstay of almost every fleet in the Homeworld Systems, frigates are the most numerous class of vessel produced by the various factions in that sector of space.