Chaos Heavy Cruisers
Hades Class Heavy Cruiser
Size: 6KM long, 0.9 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 102,000
Max Acceleration: 2.6 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 2 cruiser class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 40 Phased Plasma-Macro cannons (20 per broadside), 2 lance turrets (dorsally mounted), 2 Heavy Lances (prow mounted)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: The Hades Class was once a prized vessel in the Imperial navy, considered the backbone of many Battle Fleets from M33-M35. The ship is effectively an up-armoured Carnage Class with Dorsal Lance turrets, prow Heavy lances and improved power plant along with an extended hull to facilitate the new weapons and crew. The purpose of these upgrades being to provide the Carnage with a more effective means to fire at targets directly forward of the ship and improve its effectiveness at long and mid ranges. The Armour being put in place to make the, already dangerous, brawling abilities of the Carnage more sustainable. Taking elements of the Murder Class Cruiser and combining them with the longer ranged batteries of the Carnage.
Although these upgrades were quite simple the effect was impressive. The Hades now had a full 360-degree arch of fire, could present a serious threat to any target at any range, a vast improvement over the limited usefulness of the Carnage which was only effective from mid-range vs soft targets for the most part. Staying in service longer than the Murder Class due to the greater concentration of more versatile lance armaments, superior protection and longer ranged batteries.
The fall of Hades to Chaos occurred due to the Overlord Class Battlecruiser. After the development of the Overload from the Acheron tests, it became clear the Battlecruiser had various advantages over the Hades: she retained the dorsal lances, have Heavy Macro Cannons with much greater killing power at mid and short range, as well as heavier armour on a chassis which was smaller and could move just as quickly, if not quicker. The final nail in the coffin being its surplus energy reserves also capable of extending the battlecruisers range and rate of fire. The Hades was dropped from service quickly following the mass adoption of the Overlord Class, disappearing completely from Imperial formations very quickly.
The Hades would once again serve as the backbone of a fleet: The Chaos fleet in M41 during the Gothic War. The Hades Class saw extensive service as the mainstay of the Chaos fleet, serving in all operational theatres from supporting planetary invasions to being the flagship for raiding parties. These ships were, unusually for Chaos vessels, able to match most of their Imperial counterpart in a battle at any range making them exceptionally deadly enemies to face during any engagement. These Hades Class had also all once served with Battlefleet Gothic, Abbadon hand-picking the most well decorated and celebrated of them during Imperial service and sending them against their ex-Battlefleet. Many of these prestigious vessels and their veteran-hero captains went from revered legends to hated enemies. As they committed hideous crimes across the Gothic sector, Battlefleet Gothic forces to either kill their one-time idols or watch them butcher civilian populations from orbit.
Styx Class Heavy Carrier
Size: 6.3 KM long, 1 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 132,000
Max Acceleration: 2.6 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 2 cruiser class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 2 lance turrets (dorsally mounted), 1 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-Macro Cannon turret (dorsal/prow mounted), 4 Hangar decks (2 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters, 200 Swift Death fighters, 288 Hell Talons/Hell Blades, 108 Doom Fire bombers, 120 Dread Class Assault pods
Lore: Prior to the Mars Class, from M32-M33, the Styx Class was the mainstay fleet carrier for the Imperial navy. It was much cheaper and more numerous than the Emperor, and faster, and had the same carrier capacity together with a self-defence dorsal lance for dealing with escorts. Unfortunately for the Styx, this less-than-impressive armament, together with poor armour protection would be her downfall with most Battle Fleets. Carriers where already niche and unpopular vessels with many battle fleets, being employed by necessity as opposed to any actual preference: The Mars Class changed this. Despite having half the Carrier capacity, the Mars was much better armed for engagements of any range. Despite accusations of being under gunned, the Mars Class was vastly superior to the Styx, the Styx rapidly dropping from active service to be sold off or mothballed.
It's unknown exactly how or when Chaos forces got their hands on the Styx, but it was most likely through the rogue traders Styx Class vessels were sold to: there where exactly 7 recording sightings prior to the Gothic War, all being far apart in terms of time, but all occurring in the Obscurus Sector. The most notable of these early encounters being when 5 ships of the class where caught in a raid on an Imperial Orbital Outpost in M35. The Heavy Cruisers had only a small escort of 3 Harbinger Light Cruisers and a small assortment of escorts, but the vast swarms of strike craft the 5 where capable of throwing up meant the Station was being overwhelmed by the sheer mass of ordnance it had to target. The Retaliation fleet, led by an Apocalypse Battleship arrived just too late save the station, the station's primary generator being crippled and its orbit destabilized just as the prow of the first Imperial escort emerged from the warp. The battle lasted only a couple of hours, most of the Chaos fleet being annihilated, but the oldest identified vessels, Heartless Destroyer, could escape with relatively minor damage. This same Styx Class would go on to serve in the Gothic War and be one of the small few Chaos vessels to survive the War.
The Gothic war was when the Styx appeared in large-scale use with Chaos fleets. They were used throughout the war as flagships for strike groups sent to invade planets across the Gothic Sector, their vast carrier capacity allowing them to carry a sizable invasion force and air support all on their own, the rest of the strike force defending them from Imperial retaliation and bombarding key positions and cities across the planet from orbit. They were also used as dedicated Fleet Carriers in large fleet engagements, just one of them being able to match the carrier capacity of an Emperor Class Battleship and pin down Imperial fleets under a constant Strike craft harassment. They were also scarily efficient at shutting down convoy operations in large areas of space. The Styx Class proved so potent that she directly influenced the mass adoption of the Dictator Class, alongside the extremely dangerous Harbinger Light Cruisers and Devastation Cruisers. One Styx, the Lord Seth, flagging the assault fleet attacking Helia IV, took part in the first major conflict where Dictator Class vessels fought with the Styx. Several Dictators lead by Flag Captain Semper in his Dictator cruiser, the Lord Solar Macharius, lead a fair-sized fleet to victory against the Chaos invaders, massed torpedoes and strike craft attacks from range crippling the Styx before they could retaliate and mopping up the other vessels with a mix of bombers and macro cannon fire. The Styx remained a potent enemy to the very end of the Gothic war however, and she remains the go-to carrier for the Chaos fleet despite there now being plenty of carrier competition among the ranks of the Imperial Battle Fleets these days.
Cardinal class Heavy Cruiser
Size: 6 KM long, 0.9 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 105,000
Max Acceleration: 2.6 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 2 cruiser class Void shield.
Standard Main Armament: 2 Lance turrets (dorsal mounted), 1 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-Macro Cannon turret (dorsal/prow mounted), 4 Plasma Lance batteries (2 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters, (in Imperial service) 1 Aquila lander
Lore: This Heavy Cruiser was originally designed in M33 to fill a similar role to the Apocalypse Class Battleship, being armed with many long-range lances capable of overwhelming enemy cruisers, as well as deal with swarms of enemy escorts and light cruisers. The concept being that the Cardinal could deploy these larger number of Lances to critical areas far faster than any Battleship could, as well as being a cheaper and easier to produce vessel. Unlike the later Gothic Class Cruiser, the Cardinal was largely successful in Imperial service in this role. While still not matching the Battleships awesome power, they were still able to present a serious threat to formations of cruisers and smaller vessels, while having an impressive speed for her Weight Class.
She also had enough armour to shrug off the armament found on most cruiser-type warships, and a greater number of Cardinals could be put in service with fleets due to their easier construction and cheaper maintenance cost when compared to the Apocalypse.
The Heavy Cruiser is also a unique vessel for being a ship that actively serves with both Imperial and Chaos fleets to this day (although in very small numbers with the Imperial Navy) and the only Heavy Cruiser class still in regular use with the Imperial navy.
The Cardinals large scale fall to Chaos came with the appearance of the Mars Class Battlecruiser.
The Cardinal had similar firepower to a battleship, but couldn't match it: while the Mars Class (with her Heavy Macro Battery and Nova Cannon, while retaining dorsal lances) could match the firepower of a battleship as well as having carrier capacity. The Cardinal, while still powerful and useful to the navy, was simply outclassed by the Mars: despite many hardliners claiming her to be 'under gunned' (which only worsened the position and reputation of the Cardinal).
This fall from grace meant that many Cardinals were found to be neglected in maintenance and, gradually, the means/knowledge required to replace and repair the ships disappeared into obscurity. Outraged, many captains of Cardinals took their ageing vessels and denounced the Imperium in favour of serving with chaos War Fleets.
The Cardinal has seen service on both sides of various conflicts across the Imperium, first being seen in large-scale Chaos use in the Gothic war as a Heavy raider and dedicated Lance boat, her high speed and moderate armour allowing her to survive most Imperial retaliations. She frequently proved to be a deadly pair for the Carnage Class cruiser, and as the Heavy Firepower of chaos fleets, providing knock-out blows for Chaos cruiser formations.
She is also still in service with Battlefleet Bakka and Battlefleet Tempestus in the Imperial Navy, mainly because of her brutal effectiveness against pirates and Tyranids but also because Bakka was one of the few Battle Fleets reluctant to take the Mars Class over the Cardinal, much of the criticism of the Mars Class coming from the Admirals of said Battlefleet.
A pair of Cardinals of Battlefleet Bakka served against Hive Fleet Behemoth in defence of Macragge. One, the Silent Flame, was lost to friendly fire in transit to her defensive position, being believed to be a heretic raider. The other, Sebastian Thor, served with distinction against the Hive fleet. She defended her small area of space, with an escort of Firestorm frigates, Dauntless and Endurance Light Cruisers and a singular Gothic Class; against swarms of thousands of Tyranid vessels. The concentrated, long range, lance firepower of the Cardinals small formation of Warships being enough to cut a fiery swath through any bio-ship foolish enough to try assault the lethal mini-fleet. The Sebastian Thor, despite losing much of her escort, would survive her intense week-long firefight and continues to serve with Battlefleet Bakka to this day.
Cardinals also notably severed in the vicious Badab war in M38 for both sides of the conflict. Many ships changing hands several times throughout the course of the war, admirals on both sides never sure to whom the next Cardinal would belong to; an unconfirmed, but presumably high, tally of friendly-fire occurring on both sides.
Acheron Class Heavy Cruiser
Size: 6 KM long, 0.9 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 105,000
Max Acceleration: 2.8 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 2 Cruiser class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 2 Lance turrets (dorsal mounted), 1 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-Macro Cannon turret (dorsal/prow mounted), 4 Lance batteries (2 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: Acheron Class was a test bed for an ancient experimental weapons system and power plant found in Sector 51 by a patrol from Battlefleet Gothic, the origin and age of said weapons and power plant are unknown, being found within a space hulk which is believed to have been xenos in origin (although whether this is true, or simply captain folklore and rumour, is unknown). The Acheron Class is effectively a Cardinal Class with standard Lances and power plant replaced with the older re-discovered lances and generator. These old lances had a more efficient power distribution in its shots, generating less heat and distributing the extra power retention equally over the entire area of the lance impact as opposed to only the centre of the area of impact, which greatly improved the performance of the lance's penetrative power/damage to be more in line with what a Heavy lance would achieve (but with a lower power requirement, due to the smaller weight class weapon). The experimental power plant also enabled these lances to fire beyond the range of most Cruisers and match the range of even the most long-range batteries on battleships, the frightening power of the generator also accelerating the (already fast) Cardinal chassis to speeds more typical of a light cruiser.
Despite the clear advantages these weapons and power plant offered, the Mechanicus refused to work with them and wouldn't produce any more Acheron Class vessels because of the shady origins of the Tech possibly being of Xenos design. This means that only one un-named (designated BF/67-A) and incomplete Acheron Class was built by the Imperium, although experiences from the trials of the Acheron inspired the Overlord Class Battle Cruiser which had a largely copied (but less efficient) power plant. The singular Acheron Class test subject was left immobile in orbit above a backwater outpost world in the gothic sector and was largely forgotten. The Acheron would become a centre of attention again during the Gothic War however.
During the Chaos offensive, one of the Chaos strike groups stumbled across the Acheron in orbit above the seemingly insignificant world. Before blowing it apart, the Chaos admiral recognised its similarity to the Cardinal Class Heavy Cruiser, and life-sign scans showed it was un-crewed. Confused, Curious and Cautious: The Chaos fleet closed in to inspect the new warship, and quickly discovered the power of the power plant and lances equipped on the vessel, immediately setting to work getting the thing repaired, rearmed and crewed. Two Weeks later, when work on the on the Acheron had nearly finished, an imperial fleet flagged by a Retribution Class Battleship arrived under strict orders to destroy the Acheron at any cost. After a pitched 8-hour battle between the Chaos and Imperial fleets the now-named Chaos Eternus Acheron Class escaped into the warp under heavy fire from Macro Cannons, leaving behind a graveyard of Chaos and Imperial vessels in her old resting place.
Hecate Class Heavy Cruiser
Size: 6.3 KM long, 1 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 122,000
Max Acceleration: 2.6 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating, 2 cruiser class Void shields.
Standard Main Armament: 2 lance turrets (dorsally mounted), 1 'Hector' Heavy Plasma-Macro Cannon turret (dorsal/prow mounted), 2 Hangar decks (1 per broadside), 2 Lance batteries (1 per broadside)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters, 100 Swift Death fighters, 188 Hell Talons/Hell Blades, 66 Doom Fire bombers, 60 Dread Class Assault pods
Lore: he Hecate Class is a far more recent Chaos-native design based off the Styx Class Heavy Cruiser, her first recorded sightings of the vessel being in M39, and first recorded deployments being during the Gothic War.
Despite the potency of Heavy-weight Carrier Styx Class, Chaos Warmasters realised the need for a carrier capable of defending itself against a modest sized fleet without a considerable escort. For a while the answer had simply been to mass Harbingers with a Styx and overwhelm them with sheer volume of strike craft, with lance and weapons batteries from the Styx and Harbingers for fending off survivors.
This proved inconvenient and unreliable however. For one, it was hard to sneak more than one vessel through Imperial defences without being detected, meaning ships had to be sent to rally locations one-by-one or risk detection; and the formation was extremely fragile as it relied on light cruisers that could be easily destroyed by any Imperial vessel given even a shadow of a chance to fire back.
The Hecate design was built to address these issues.
She had slightly heavier armour, allowing her to withstand cruiser-grade weaponry at mid-range for a limited duration, and featured an extended Dorsal lance battery and a battery of Lance weapons to replace one of the Launch bays. While this meant a lower number of strike craft on the ship when compared to the Styx: when deployed in the same Harbinger formation the difference in strike potential at long range was negligible. But the formation suddenly experienced more success when Imperial forces began to close, the large number of lances able to tear through large groups of enemy escorts, light cruisers and cruisers.
The Hecate could also be self-sufficient, not having to depend on a formation of escorts, being quite capable of fending off a variety of different enemies entirely by herself.
Hellfire Class Heavy Cruiser
Size: 6 KM long, 0.9 KM abeam at the wings
Crew: 108,000
Max Acceleration: 3 g
Defences: faramite-alloy armour plating
Standard Main Armament: 40 Heavy Laser weapon batteries (20 per broadside), 2 lance turrets (dorsally mounted)
Standard secondary Armament: Turbo lasers, missile banks and autocannons (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)
Auxiliary craft: 4 Arvus lighters
Lore: The Hellfire Class is a strange vessel design by Imperial standards.
This ship was designed and built in M33, the concept of the design was to produce a ship capable of bring massive firepower upon an enemy fleet quickly and from a longer range than most could engage, effectively a long-range lance boat. Although the ship did have dorsal lances, most of its firepower came from many experimental laser-based weapons batteries. These weapons batteries behaved a lot like light lances found on escorts and light cruisers both in terms of power consumption and damage output, but they had a far longer range, easily able to match the engagement ranges of most standard lances as well as being packed in great concentration on the Heavy Cruiser's broadsides.
These strange weapons, together with the dorsal lances and requirement for high speed meant that the Hellfire is unique among Imperial production vessels for having no void shields: the power requirements of the weapons and engine simply making it impossible for any cruiser-sized ship to support the shields. To back this up, the Hellfire had no armour worth mentioning, anything larger than an escort could shred this ship apart.
The Hellfire had mixed reception with Imperial Admirals and crews. Admirals loved the range it could engage at, its burst firepower and speed; but hated the fragility and constant need for an escort. Crews loved its firepower and speed also, allowing captains to dictate engagements and rendering the ship virtually immune to pirate raids; but cramped conditions and poor vessel survivability meant morale often plummeted during extended fleet engagements and while not on duty.
Although never officially discharged by the Imperium: most Hellfire captains despised the conditions them and their crew where being put under, most turning heretic by M35, and Imperial Admirals weren't fond of how easily they could be destroyed during fleet engagements; most battle fleets not deploying those left in active service, by M36 the Hellfire being a virtually unheard of vessel in the Imperial Navy.
The Hellfire has since been seen in Chaos use for blocking convoy operations, commerce raiding and blockading Imperial worlds, but is rarely used in large scale offensive operations.