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Hey all,

So in my Rogue Trader party my ship's explorator wishes to arm a cadre of fifty or so feral worlders with various weapons, and I'm wondering what kind of weapons would automatically be available in the ship's defense armory.
While the ship doesn't have an official Munitorum, I assume it is reasonable to assume that the vessel's custodians would maintain a stock of arms and munitions in case of pirates and raiders.
So, what kind of weapons could you find in the foot lockers of a Pilgrim Cargo Hauler?

My vote goes to shotguns. Both because that's what I've read about, and because it makes sense to me.
They are cheap, they are sufficient to keep order aboard, and they won't risk a ship's security contingents (which are usually recruited out of the crew rabble) depressurising half the ship or damaging precious machinery by indiscriminately blowing holes into everything.
In addition, shock batons to keep the crew in line.

Feel free to also adopt my custom Horatio-pattern boarding pistol, though, if you fancy a gentleman's pistol for your officers!

Seeing the way Imperial ships are built, more metal i ok.
Things like Autoguns, Lasguns, heavy stubber and maybe even grenade launcers.

Then again the captain on the bridge with a depressurise button control board would also do the trick (life is cheap in 40k)

I'm admittedly not entirely sure but there are certain guns that are more common in such locations. Flame weapons are particularly popular, shotguns and auto pistols are also rather common. It seems that lasguns aren't as popular in spacecraft.
Based upon Dark Heresy, the most common are shotgun pistols and Stringray (rifle best to repel unruly indivduals as it blisters the skin)
Along with that, melee weapons are extremely popular from bulkhead cutters to shock-staffs to short swords, naval shields, boarding pike's and armouredgauntlets. I'd assume that shotguns are generally common due to the tendency for closer combat.

 Jehan-reznor wrote:

Then again the captain on the bridge with a depressurise button control board would also do the trick (life is cheap in 40k)

Quite a lot of the things that might try and board your ship are already protected against vacuum. This might not be as useful as you might think

I would also suggest shotguns as standard shipboard armsman armament again based on background reference and general utility.

Thank you very much for all of these helpful responses!

Quite a lot of the things that might try and board your ship are already protected against vacuum.

It might not kill them, but it does throw them several hundred meters away from the ship into the cold void of space. Protected or not, if my engines are still working, I can put the pedal to the proverbial metal and leave them choking in my plasma-wake.

... that said, I am the player of a Rogue Trader captain who made decisions based on the "DaP Factor"... DaP being "Dash and Panache". If the DaP Factor of a given course of action was low, it was exceedingly less-likely that would be the course taken.

Slightly off topic question, but the people on this thread have had some good ideas so far so I'm willing to take a shot -
said Explorator also has the Trade )Wright +10 Skill and the Tech-Use +30 Skill. He wants to build a Dreadnought chassis. How on earth do I represent that in rules?

You look at him and say "Are you a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus?" If he is not, then he doesn't have the requisite knowledge to construct one of these holy relics. If he says "Yes", you ask him, "What is your Medicae skill at? Do you have the Master Chiurgeon talent?". If he says "no" to either of these, he doesn't have the background to build the life-support systems of the dreadnought chassis. If he does, ask "What is your Forbidden Lore: Adeptus Astartes skill at?" If his answer is anything other than "+20" then your answer is "you have never in your life seen the pattern for a dreadnaught chassis, reserved as they are for the Space Marines... you haven't a clue where to begin".

And when he whines, you let him build that horrid robo-carrier thing out of the Inqusitor's Handbook.... the Rite of Setesh, I think it's called?

Having Tech-Use does not grant you a firm understanding of how technology actually *works*, it grants you the understanding of how a given *specific device* functions. You can, maybe, use that knowledge to maybe figure out how another device with similar properties functions, but you don't, for example, understand how a cogitator translates electrical pulses into binaric data forms which are then translated into a human-readable display in Low or High Gothic. You just know how to use a mouse and keyboard to make Windows M25 not blow up in your face.

The Wright skill allows you to build a machine or device based on a blueprint or pattern, and also permits one to design their own blueprints.... a dreadnought, however, is an ancient relic of the Imperium, the secrets of their construction all but lost, and are as much a medical device as they are a weapons platform. Obtaining this kind of information could be a very lengthy quest in and of itself.

1. He was indeed a member of the Adeptus Mechanicuss.
2. He has Medicae +30 and Master Chirurgeon.
3. Okay, he's not whining. He's gone Radical and has the tome of a Heretek known for designing debased war machines, and I don't see why chaos dreadnought blueprints of some sort wouldn't be in there, given that the heretek in question operates alongside warpsmiths and other hereteks. This information was in fact stolen from Inquistiorial vaults (and believe me, three of our players died in the attempt).
4. See above.
5. View?

Lots of shotguns, probably just as many lasguns. A few heavy stubbers and autocannons perhaps.

Definitely no Plasma, melta, or flamer weaponry. They cause too much damage to the ship itself, you don't want to blow a hole into space after all. And fire eats up oxygen.

 Crystal Geyser wrote:
1. He was indeed a member of the Adeptus Mechanicuss.
2. He has Medicae +30 and Master Chirurgeon.
3. Okay, he's not whining. He's gone Radical and has the tome of a Heretek known for designing debased war machines, and I don't see why chaos dreadnought blueprints of some sort wouldn't be in there, given that the heretek in question operates alongside warpsmiths and other hereteks. This information was in fact stolen from Inquistiorial vaults (and believe me, three of our players died in the attempt).
4. See above.
5. View?

Give it to him, then. They have rules for Dreads in Deathwatch, iirc, or perhaps it was Black Crusade. Otherwise? I'd just houserule it... probably AR 16 on the front and sides, AR12 on the rear. Cannot use any normal weapons. Probably gains 10+3d10 Insanity... if he's using a Heretek manual, probably 10+3d10 Corruption as well (or more, your call). Gets equipped with a claw on one hand (same damage as a breaching auger, which should be in either IHB or RT main book) and an assault cannon or heavy flamer on the other. Also gains the Machine Trait (probably Machine 8 or 10), and all the effects of Total Cybernetic Resurrection (does not sleep, eat, drink, breathe, suffer from toxins, poisons, cold, vacuum, etc. Cannot swim, cannot benefit from the Medicae skill, and damage must instead be repaired by competent technicians. GMs call if psychic healing can affect a machine.... in my DH games, it cannot, does not heal naturally, regardless of Wound state or time, doesn't fit in most transports, now weighs, like, 1d6 tons or something, can ignore the first 10 meters of falling damage... after that point, though, terminal velocity, specific gravity and the mass of the carapace works against it).

... and getting installed in this thing requires burning 1 Fate Point to survive the transition, so this means that it's going to be a PC or a very valued NPC retainer going into this thing, not armies of scrubs (who don't have Fate Points) and this is assuming that you allow NPCs to have FP. If not? Requires a PC pilot.

In my experience? Dreads are not that awesome. MP Lascannons are far too easy to come by, and pop these things (5d10+10 Pen 10 damage... +2 more for Mighty Shot) like it's nothing.

Oh it'll be a PC alrightt - he's building it for himself so that he can take down a nurglitch apostate before he reaches daemonhood.

Heh... well, if he rolls badly, 10+3d10 IP and CP can be a heft toll... that's a few mental traumas and mutations just waiting to happen.

Also, hopefully this guy has lived his life like a monk up to this point.... Dreads don't get any action on the side. If he's like a typical RT, though.... the loss of certain anatomical functionality might be an even bigger sanity hit.

Indeed, so far he's only accumulated a whopping 2 Corruption and 5 Insanity points - thanks to the heretekal schematics however, he's at 17 corruption and 20 Insanity.

He's also a hive mutant pariah techpriest with cybernetic resurrection. You can't begin to imagine what his Fellowship stat is. Nothing of that anatomical variety shall be missed.

Your campaign looks really interesting btw.

Oh, thanks... things are getting... pretty interesting in the campaign... the party seems incapable of making friends, even though there are 2 characters in the party dedicated to doing just that. Unfortunately, they never use these 2 to their potential.