NationStates Jolt Archive


OOC: Warhammer 40k IoM ship sizes, just how big these things are

Azaha
28-11-2005, 03:23
Crew allotment
Battleships: 90k-100k, Length: 7.5KM
Grand cruisers: 50k-60k, Length: 5.25KM
Cruisers: 30k, Length: 5.25KM
Escorts: 7k-10k, Length: 1.5KM

This is the basic length and crew alottments for the basic Imperium of Man for the 40k universe. These are only the FULL HUMAN crew members, not counting the quasi-human servitors that roam the ship doing simple tasks.

I came up with the sizes from reference sites, especially the site http://www.merzo.net/index.html

Me and my lore-master friend came up with the crew alottments based on how frickin' big these things are.

Personally, even though I am a 40k nation, I think these ships are too huge, an ISD can fit inside a Retribution's nova cannon(almost). The huge guns on the side of a retribution or an imperial cruiser(40k) can fire shells big enough to cream any ship no matter the size, too big to fire on an Star Trek genre ships. A Retribution's torpedo tube can fit an SD's bridge inside it.. these torpedos are huge.

Enjoy.
Mini Miehm
28-11-2005, 03:40
7.5km isn't all that huge, for example my Super Dreadnoughts are 6 miles long(1 mile=1.609kmIIRC), meaning that they translate to nearly 10km, 9.645km to be exact, with enough Yamato Cannon batteries to burn away the atmosphere of a planet in one volley, so, I don't really see an issue with IoM ships at all. Mine are a little overpowered, but in a world where fleets of SDs meet in space for no apparent reason, haveing fewer, but extremely powerful, ships seems the way to go.
Samtonia
28-11-2005, 03:44
Azaha, check the lengths again. 7.5 km sounds good for an SSD, though I don't remeber exact dimensions. For a Macharius-class battlecruiser? I don't think that's quite large enough. I could have sworn 40k ships were larger....
Otagia
28-11-2005, 03:50
ISDs are 1.6 kilometers long. An SSD would be about 11 or 12 kilometers. Crews are a decent guess, a combination of fluff from a great number of sources and educated guesswork. Sizes are taken using the Cobra as a base, at 1.5 kilometers long. The Cobra model is then measured against various other models, and some simple math is run. As Azaha is the one with a few BFG models, not me, I'll let him and others run the math.
Azaha
28-11-2005, 03:52
Ahem. I guess you guys didn't go to that ref site I put up.

these are NORMAL ships, not uber god-mod weapons. If an ESCORT of 40k is bigger than a NORMAL SD, which is a MULTI-ROLE BATTLESHIP, then I think there are some size issues.

And Sam, how many SSD's are there in the SW universe? Not too many. How many Retribution class battleships in the 40k universe? Several fleets of them. As I said, these are normal ships, not uber-super-duper-dreadnaughts of godmod.

Sorry if I sound agressive, not the voice I am trying to put off here.
Mini Miehm
28-11-2005, 04:00
Ahem. I guess you guys didn't go to that ref site I put up.

these are NORMAL ships, not uber god-mod weapons. If an ESCORT of 40k is bigger than a NORMAL SD, which is a MULTI-ROLE BATTLESHIP, then I think there are some size issues.

And Sam, how many SSD's are there in the SW universe? Not too many. How many Retribution class battleships in the 40k universe? Several fleets of them. As I said, these are normal ships, not uber-super-duper-dreadnaughts of godmod.

Sorry if I sound agressive, not the voice I am trying to put off here.

Calling my 6 SDns a godmod is a little excessive, especially when contrasted to the aforementioned sizes of IoM ships...(I went and looked at the Site, I stand corrected, those do seem rather large...) I mean, if a Nova Cannon can nearly hold an ISD, what's it going to do if it impacts a planet? It makes my SDns seem rather small by comparison...
Penguenia
28-11-2005, 04:05
The sizes given for Warhammer 40,000 ships given on that site are incorrect.
Exetonia
28-11-2005, 04:06
yeah i think someone may have goofed on that site. Best thing to do is go trawling through the battlefleet books (of which their are now 2 - Gothic and something else) and see if you can find a reference in size. If not, i can go down to my local GW store and see if they know for you.)
Azaha
28-11-2005, 04:09
Well if you guys can point me at any OFFICIAL sites that show the proper sizes, please do, seriously, I'd like to know.

Until then, I'll be sticking with that site. Tired of not having a medium for 40k ships, I plan to stick with this until I find something more accurate.
Exetonia
28-11-2005, 04:11
I point you to my above post sir. My brother works for GW (Games workshop) here in England. I'll find out.
Otagia
28-11-2005, 04:26
Calling my 6 SDns a godmod is a little excessive, especially when contrasted to the aforementioned sizes of IoM ships...(I went and looked at the Site, I stand corrected, those do seem rather large...) I mean, if a Nova Cannon can nearly hold an ISD, what's it going to do if it impacts a planet? It makes my SDns seem rather small by comparison...

I think Azaha meant that in a non-offensive way, to underline that in your navy, your SDNs are gargantuas, but compared to a 40K vessel, they aren't that big. Heck, the Planetkiller, the only equivalent to an SDN in BFG, easily dwarfs your vessels. Don't get me started on the Blackstones...

Peng: Actually, from the stuff I've read, it's pretty much right. Every source I've ever seen for the size of one of these things (mostly unofficial, admittedly) is in the area of 1.5 km for the Cobra. Also, if someone DID goof, I'm willing to bet the ships are too small, not too large.

EDIT: Looking through the BBB for BFG right now. I love their free PDFs. Specialist Games is much nicer than GW's main branch...