Ork Flawed Ships

Introduction: Orks in Battlefleet Gothic are notoriously a

poor fleet. With the revisions for all other fleets going in the flawed ships listing Orks came out to be a unique experience. One thing that was set forth in the revision article was that the simplest methods would be put in place to repair fleets lists; which means that fleets would maintain their basic ship stats, and weapon loadouts. The Orks have had a decade of playtesting as what they are, and any radical change would be problematic. Ork players do not have a unified idea of how to change the list, however accepting this fact certain measurements were put in place to assess how the fleet should be revised. The theory was that through information harvesting and mathematical calculations that the Ork fleet could be properly fixed, even with large changes in stats. Methods: Research was performed in advance to any modifications. First every escort was mathematically calculated against the opinioned strong est ork escort, the brute, as well as the sword frigate, which was determined to be the basis for changes in all other human escorts. Polls were drawn to determine what the best solution was, and the potential modifications were placed online viewable by ork players for playtest and commentary. Ships were compared to the Smotherma n formula (Smotherman), which accounts for all current ship designs basic cost for weaponry. This formula was modified to account for a more real aspect of weaponry value. The fleet was then playtested in very controlled settings. The ship designs were accounted for according to fluff. Research: The ork fleet consists of 13 official vessels, each of these was compared to the Smotherman formula, which was modified to account for real value of heavy guns.

Heavy guns which h cost 3 points per point of strength are twice as expensive as weapon batteries at 30cm. This is reasonable as heavy guns account for about 2 weapons batteries. However weapons batteries at shorter range are cheaper, as shown in the Smotherman document. Additionally heavy guns mechanics forced them to be slightly worse than two weapons batteries, by a factor of about 15%. Heavy guns were rarely taken in Ork lists when another option became available, 92% of lists replaced the prow heavy guns on kroozers with torpedoes (Orks Gib us a Brick) The results were decided that heavy guns relative cost would be halved, to 1.5 points. Launch bays at D3 were calculated as half the cost of D6 launch bays. Soopa engines were determined to be as valuable as 4 30cm weapons batteries, so about 6 points. From this the Smotherman document produced the following: Table 1

Ship Cost Calc Diff % Gorbags Revenge 310 306.5 -3.5 -1.1% Slamblasta 295 269 -26 -8.8% Deathdeala 275 289 14 5% Kroolboy 270 250 -20 -7.4% Hammer 245 262 17 6.9% Kill-Krooza 145 134 -12 -8.2% Terror Ship 185 176 -9 -4.8% Onslaught 40 29.5 -10.5 -26.2% Ravager 40 42.5 2.5 6.2% Savage 40 31 -9 -22.5% Brute Ramship 25 28 3 12% Note, this doesnt account for the brutes ram ability, turns or multiple arc capable guns. Percentages on escorts are hard to fix, as rounding to 5 comes into play.

After performing this action 126 randomly ork fleets ranging from 1000-2000 points were analyzed. Each was accounted if any particular vessel was taken, as well as options, then the vessels/options were divided by the total to determine how often the ship was taken.

Ork Flawed Ships

Table 2

Ship Percentage (percent with at least 2)

Gorbags Revenge 7% Slamblasta 5% Deathdeala 31% Kroolboy 0% Hammer 35% Kill-Krooza 64% (23%) Terror Ship 92%(78%) Onslaught 7% Ravager 62% Savage 34% Brute Ramship 54% We note out of the two cruiser variants, kill kroozers were outnumbered more than 2:1 by terror ships. According to fluff this is inaccurate.

From this each class of ship can be analyze as to how often it is taken compared to what percentage it is over/undercosted. Table three shows this comparison on a scatter plot. Each of the three classes of ships were analyzed showing a large general trend for the escorts favoring those with better calculated cost to actual cost ratio. A similar effect happened for the battleships/battlecruiser category, but it was less presented. The same occurred in the cruiser category, but not significantly. The likely reason for the huge difference in the escort category is due to the wide difference in escort percent cost range, from 26.2% to 12%, this is more than triple the range of either other category. Likely the discrepancy was more noticeable and this greatly affected the use of these vessels.

Table 3:

After this an analysis of each ork escort as compared to determinately the best escort, the brute, as well as the imperial sword. The sword was chosen as a balancing measure for all fleets, as it was deemed the best standard escort of all. As escorts are considered underpowered, it made sense to balance them all against the best escort available. The escorts were tested in three categories, their ability to engage enemies, their total damage soaking capacity, and their firepower. Everything

was adjusted to points values; meaning that you could buy 1.6 brutes for 40 points, which would give you 3.2 weapons batteries 3.2 shields/hits etc. A ships ability to engage enemies was not only a measure of turning and speed, it measured the total area that the particular ship could possibly attack an enemy craft. Given spaceships arent randomly placed, and that having an increased footprint isdesirable [but] it is not a linear scale

-26.20%-22.50%

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Escorts

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Ork Flawed Ships

(Sigoroth). The area does represent maneuverability well. Now the brute has a 25cm speed, with 90 turns. As it can turn at any point in its move, it would get the most area by turning at the beginning of its move, allowing it to target enemies in a 270 degree arc, at a minimum distance of 12.5cm away, and a maximum of 42.5cm away. Trigonometry was used to calculate this area. Both the Ravager and Onslaught have 20cm moves and 45 turns, so their area was calculated accordingly. The Savage, equipped with different guns, was calculated based on the area it could attack. Presumably although this would be significantly less, the weaponry on the savage would compensate by the amount of damage it would deal. Since there are two aspects of how weapons could be fired, we measured damage at 15cm, as well as 30. The totals of the three categories were then averaged, and the ship was given possible solutions to fulfill the average, as well as the appropriate cost for its stats. Weapons were calculated on the real number of hits they should cause on 5+ armor. Turrets was only analyzed for survival on the Ravager, this was averaged with hits before the total was averaged. Table 4 : Escorts vs. Brute

Escort AtEE Surv FP Avg Cost Onslaught 55.8% 62.5% 109..3% 75.8% 28.4 Ravager 55.8% 82.3% 171% 103% 41 Savage 33% 62.5% 187.5%/0% 70.8% 27.3

This method proved to be accurate; the cost of each vessel was fairly close to the calculated smotherman value of cost. Table 5: Escorts vs. Sword

Escort Surv FP Avg Cost Onslaught 79% 76% 77.5% 29.1 Ravager 88.4% 122% 105% 42 Savage 79% 133.5%/0% 72% 28.1

Differences in armor were taken into account, and each vessel was considered by how easily it would be damaged by enemy fire in each aspect. Area of target acquisition wasnt measured here, as the rear 90 was not relevant (sigoroth), and the sword has far more maneuverability than the

ork vessels. This skewed results and was then thrown out. In table 6 the average calculated cost was compared to the smotherman value. With percent difference. Table 6

Escort Avg. Calc. Smotherman % Difference Onslaught 28.7 29.5 2.7% Ravager 41.5 42.5 2.3% Savage 27.7 31 10.6%

Save for the savage, the calculated costs are very similar to the Smotherman costs. Even the savages cost is relatively similar. From this we can note that overcosting slightly according to Smotherman is better than undercosting when rounding to 5 point intervals. Knowing this we began comparing a multitude of aspects to do with the cruiser/battleship sized vessels. First we calculated the value of large bases in the case of boarding actions: A large base on a kroozer would cover 175% of the area of a small base. This is of course counting movement and area. Allowing for a larger area where orks can board. Ordinance weakness was calculated, and a few what if scenarios were posed. Table 7 deals specifically with bombers. The numbers are the values of damage that a cruiser would take from a wave of 6 bombers. Table 7 Ship 1 Turret 2 3 Ork kroozer 6.87 4.16 2.25 IN Cruiser 2.78 As shown in this table, Orks are more than twice as bad at taking waves of bombers as IN/Chaos cruisers. With two turrets this is closer, and with 3 it is better than. The High Admiralty recently added an upgrade to Ork cruisers giving them +2 turrets for 20 points. This would make them better than IN/Chaos cruisers at handling ordinance, and was determined to kill the Ork weakness vs ordinance if taken en masse. Then an onslaught was compared to a sword, taking in all resistances to each type of ordinance.

Ork Flawed Ships

The vessels are rated in their percent chance of dying. Table 8

Escort Vs. Abs Vs. Bomb vs.Torp 1 2 1 2 Avg

Onslaught 25% 56.2% 33.6% 58.3% 16.9% Sword 12.5% 27.5% 10% 26.8% 8.3% The sword with two turrets is nearly twice as resistant to ordinance as the Onslaught, similar to the cruisers. Then a comparison between firepower of escorts and cruisers were drawn up. Comparing how many points of escorts per weapon on a cruiser in the chaos and ork fleets. Basically all the weapons from every side of the vessel were added up, and escorts were bought until their firepower was near equal. Escorts of course were purchased from their own fleets. Table 10

Table 9 Cruiser Points % Total Kill-Kroozer 284 183% Murder 245 144% Lunar 245 136% Merchant (lances) +2H 150 125% Note that this table doesnt account for our latest adjustments for each fleet; which makes the percentage resemble closer to 125% for both the murder and lunar. If the escorts were dropped accordingly (to 30 points for onslaughts and savages) then the value for a Kill Kroozer would instead be 138% about the right value that we are looking for. A combo of one savage and one onslaught was compared to a kill kroozer in the same way as the escorts were compared. Sides were only counted once for firepower and area. \

Ship Surv AtEE Guns AtEE Heavy Guns Firepower Guns Firepower Heavy Guns Average Combo Forward 67% 85% 230% 123% 129% 126.8% Combo All Sides 67% 66% 167% 75% 77.5% 90.5%

Noting that this comparison is difficult, as the Kill-Kroozer could be able to fire at multiple targets simultaneously. Although escorts are better at using their weapons in the forward arc, they still overall are underpowered in comparison. Reducing them to 35 points would give an average of 103%, and

with the proposed changes to 30 points, and increased firepower (in the next section) would make this different. Gorbags Revenge was then compared to a terror ship similarly.

.Table 11 Ship Surv AtEE Guns AtEE HG Fp Guns Fp HG FP LB FP Torp Average

Gorbs Revenge 76% 96% 96% 98% 89% 104% 59% 88% With gorbags revenge at 88% of a terror ships standpoint, it isnt much wonder that people prefer more terror ships. Although 12% would likely account for the extra damage resistance that more shields provide, as well as the larger boarding value, and a multitude of other things. What really kills it here is the torpedo firepower.

Ship Profiles/Analysis

In this section I present the modified ship profiles that would fix each individual vessel. The solutions were voted in, primarily increasing firepower, and giving the vessels more options.

Ork Flawed Ships

First the battleships/battlecruisers:

Analysis: The Kroolboy was proven overcosted by 20 points in table 1. With the Deathdeala undercosted by 14 points and so closely costed to it, it was a no-brainer. The ships were compared to the Slamblasta, and noted that the Deathdeala sacrificed 4 wbs for soopa engines whereas the Kroolboy sacrificed 8. This was likely due to GWs idea that heavy guns=bombardment cannons. So Kroolboy had to sacrifice something extra for a 5 point reduction. Changes: The Kroolboys side guns were upped to Deathdeala standards. As well a 10 point drop was justified, as most people purchase BBs/BCs for a lance or bombardment cannon. This is the reason why this wasnt chosen, as it is essentially a giant Kill-Kroozer. What it has on a hammer is 2 hits, a turret, and 2 guns on each side and soopa engines. What the hammer has is a better prow weapon/torps. This is about correct, as the new smotherman puts the vessel at 256 points, within 4 of this cost. Outlook: Hopefully with the reduced cost the vessel will see more playtime; although there still is the idea of buying a battleship in orks and not getting something special.

Ork Flawed Ships

Analysis: The Slamblasta was the most overcosted of all ork battleships by 26 points. Outgunned by the Deathdeala, and without soopa engines for 20 points more it couldnt compete. Although overcosted, some players still use the vessel, presumably for the desperate need of orks to have lances. This vessel is supposed to be the premier gunship for orks. Changes: At 22 points smotherman buys two lances at 45cm. Rather than just make the lances strength 4, a random die roll was put in place, to represent the fluff of Orks not really understanding the weapon or how to properly power it. The ship remains 4 points overcosted, but this is adequate to represent the higher value of lances in an ork fleet.

The Deathdeala: Comments: The Deathdeala was not chosen for any changes, because the vessel is fine at its undercosted value, and there was no intention of changing it. The Hammer remains undercosted, and this ship is worth about 30 points more than the vessel. So It would be either change the hammer to cost 260, and follow suite with the Deathdeala to 290, which would probably be a fine thing to do. It was not chosen in this case.

Ork Flawed Ships

Analysis: In table eleven we noted a large discrepancy of terror ships to Gorbags Revenge. Not much to go by, but the ship was still fairly rarely taken. Other battleship class vessels have more torpedoes than 6, usually 8 or 9. Changes: The ship was given an additional 2 torpedoes to separate it from cruiser class vessels, bringing its average up to 7.5 torps per shot, similar to battleship class vessels. This was justifiable by smotherman, leaving it undercosted by 3 points. Outlook: In the long run this will probably do nothing. However it may be a slight enough bonus to put the number of people who take the vessel up to 10%.

Ork Flawed Ships

Analysis: The hammer class was a very well represented boat, and seems fine for the points that you pay for it. It is listed as undercosted by 17 points by smotherman, but this is not a huge concern as it is linked to the Deathdeala, and we didnt want to increase that either. However this ship is fairly confused in its role, much more so than other BBs, so well leave it at this. Changes: There were no changes to the profile, however two upgrades were added; an option to take soopa engines and an option to take launch bays. The soopa engines are shown on two of the battleship sized vessels, and were likely an attempt to help the ork fleet out with speed, giving some reason to do so and without revisiting previous vessels. It was odd that these werent available on smaller ships. So they were added, and it was noted that they costed firepower rather than points to buy (presumably because they take up hard points). The soopa engines have received some slight concern of being an obvious buy, but 6 p/s heavy gun fire is a lot to lose for a few extra cms when you AAF. Kind of a risky bet. The launch bays were added to help limit the need for players to max out terror ships. Additionally the orks have very fews ship classes than other BBB fleets. With only 13 ship options this is a little more than half the number of imperial options (23). There was a large outcry within the ork community to give vessels more options to make them unique. Outlook: The outlook for the hammer is probably that they will be taken more often, even though they are the most taken BB/BC in the ork list. This is not a problem as unlike the other vessels, they are not character ships. Hopefully the new launch bay option will make people not so likely to run the 6TS list, and will reduce the need for TS significantly. Making the ork list less one-sided.