Ambition-class Cruiser
The Ambition-class Cruiser is an extremely rare class of cruiser produced by the Kormisoshi Dockyards of the Calixis Sector for private clients like unusually wealthy Rogue Traders rather than the Imperium itself. Despite the fact that they are intended for use by private citizens, these formidable cruisers posses firepower comparable to that of the Lunar-class and Tyrant-class Cruisers of the Navis Imperialis.
Invariably incorporating the most luxurious and opulent quarters, the Ambition-class is a briskly efficient voidcraft that lacks some of the ultra-conservative redundancies built into true naval vessels. Some commentators have observed that as such these warships are likely to be somewhat more brittle than many "true" cruisers, but most Rogue Traders are prepared to sacrifice this for the prestige of owning such a noble and exclusive voidcraft.
History[]
The Navis Imperialis is by far the most important purchaser of warships in the Imperium of Man. The economies of entire sub-sectors are devoted to supporting the manufacture and supply of these mighty voidcraft, principally in regions which serve the greater Forge Worlds such as Mars or Cypra Mundi.
It is extremely rare for private customers to have the resources to purchase a whole new cruiser-grade vessel outright. Rare, but not unknown. The Imperium, despite its complex feudal hierarchy, does occasionally produce the extremely wealthy individual, or corporate or Rogue Trader dynasties with the financial wherewithal to commission the manufacture of a bespoke cruiser.
These are not rusty and echoing mothballed, second-hand cruisers from the wrecking yards or naval reserve fleets, but shining new vessels built to the quixotic specifications of eccentric and boundlessly conniving individuals. The Ambition is representative of such a type of voidship. A handful of warships of this rare class have emerged intermittently from the orbital Kormisoshi Dockyards of the Calixis Sector over the past thousand standard years, each a phenomenally expensive purchase.
They are true Imperial cruisers, with the ability to pack as much firepower as the Lunar-class and Tyrant-class Cruisers of the Navis Imperialis, though they have never been tested in combat against them, to anyone's knowledge.
Notable Ambition-class Cruisers[]
- Ardent Bane - The construction of the Ardent Bane was completed under a pall of secrecy in the Kormisoshi Dockyards after Rogue Trader Modren seized his Warrant of Trade but before his retreat into the furthest reaches of the Koronus Expanse. Investigators from the Tricorn palace suspect Modren eliminated a chartist captain who'd already commissioned an Ambition-class vessel in a convenient accident involving a solar storm. With the original owner dead, he offered to purchase the partially completed hull and pay handsomely for the finishing. What surreptitious deals Modren offered the masters of the shipyards to enact this highly irregular transfer may never be known, but the Ardent Bane was completed five years to the day after being moved to an isolated slip on the edge of the dockyards. Many fitters and dockworkers who helped construct the interior portions of the vessel also suffered strange accidents -- those who did not die were often crippled so badly that they were recycled into servitors aboard the Ardent Bane. In the decades since its launch, the Ardent Bane has made a name for itself in the Expanse as a dangerous vessel to cross prows with. As formidably armed as any warship of the Imperial Navy, the Ardent Bane has, on at least one occasion, hulked a reaver cruiser in a single torpedo volley. The rumourmongers of Footfall tell tales of the lavish halls lauding the glories of House Modren running the length of the keel. They also whisper of secret underdeck vaults housing technologies of unknown origin and providence, maintained by tongueless servitors and shackled enginseer-slaves.
Dimensions[]
- Hull - Approximately 4.9 kilometres long, 2 kilometres abeam at fins.
- Class - Ambition-class Cruiser.
- Mass - Approximately 25 megatonnes.
- Crew - Approximately 89,000 crew.
- Acceleration - 3 gravities maximum sustainable acceleration.
Sources[]
- Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus (RPG), pg. 24
- Rogue Trader: Twilight Crusade (RPG), pg. 116