Editing Tau Merchant Cruiser

Tau Merchant Cruisers like its smaller cousins and counterparts, only have one class called the Lar'shi-class Starship. But that class has multiple configurations. 

Also known as the Hero-class Cruiser. The ship was born out of the [[Damocles Gulf Campaign|Damocles Gulf Crusade.]]

During that conflict, the Tau had been shown first-hand where the [[Kor'Vattra]] was lacking, and attempted to design a ship that could match the Imperium's [[Lunar-class Cruiser]]. Although the resulting vessel was still no match for a comparable Imperial warship, the vessel that resulted was nonetheless a credible ship of the line.

As a purebred combat ship, the Lar'shi is significantly more effective in a straight-up firefight than its [[Gal'leath-class Battleship|Gal'leath]] and [[Il'Fannor-class Light Cruiser|Il'fannor]] predecessors.

== Configuration ==

=== Ordnance-Boat ===

==== Tolku ====

[[File:14438652_f1024.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Open all broadsides and say fuck it.]]

The Tolku is what happens when a [[Weeaboo|Weeb]] says fuck it and wants to go all-in on broadsides and [[Dakka]]. That, or he has a Railgun fetish.

The Tolku loses effectiveness in its prow weaponry on the switch from lances to macros, an unusual case as typically the damage is increased, like with the batteries, to compensate for the loss of perfect accuracy and armor-piercing.

Instead, the Railgun Artillery keeps the same damage and loses half the crit chance. Because of this, if you are taking the Tolku over the Vash'Ya, make sure you are getting use out of those broadsides or you are wasting points doing less damage than you could have otherwise.

It is armed with 6 Missile Launching [[Gravitic Launcher]]s, 2 Launch Bays carrying [[Barracuda]]s and [[Manta]]s, 2 Double-Barrel [[Heavy Starship Railgun]] Artillery, 2 Double-Barrel [[Heavy Starship Railgun]] Turrets, 2 [[Starship Railgun]] Artillery and 2 [[Heavy Starship Railgun]] Battery Weapons.

*'''Length:''' 5.3km
*'''Mass:''' 23 megatonnes; approx
*'''Crew:''' 60,000 crew, including 15,000 pilots and support personnel; approx
*'''Acceleration:''' 3.0 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx
=== Lance-Boat ===

==== Vash'Ya ====

[[File:14438647_f1024.jpg|300px|right|thumb|A lance-boat/carrier hybrid. Not a common sight.]]

In its primary Vash'Ya configuration, the Lar'shi packs a great deal of firepower in the form of a forward [[Gravitic Launcher]], a forward [[Starship Railgun]] turret, two launch bays for [[Barracuda|Barracudas]] and [[Manta|Mantas,]] and a pair of [[Heavy Ion Cannon]] turrets, the latter of which are replaced by slightly weaker but longer-ranged Railgun batteries in the less-common Tolku variant. Both versions are protected by a Deflector that enhances their forward armor, allowing them to survive a head-on confrontation and bring their weapons' overlapping fields of fire to bear on an enemy.

Of the two Cruiser-class Tau Merchant ships are pretty similar in loadout beyond their macro/lance options, with the Vash'Ya being the lance-equipped Cruiser and the other, the Tolku, being the all macro variety.

One thing worth pointing out, the Vash'Ya has a significantly better on paper damage potential with its prow weapons versus the Tolku as the swap from Heavy Ion Cannon to Starship Railgun artillery doesn't come with the usual uptick in damage, thus losing out on both the switch to accuracy, armor penetration and lower critical hit chance.

It is armed with 6 Missile Launching [[Gravitic Launcher]]s, 2 Launch Bays carrying [[Barracuda]]s and [[Manta]]s, 2 Double-Barrel [[Heavy Starship Railgun]] Artillery, 2 Double-Barrel [[Heavy Starship Railgun]] Turrets, 2 [[Heavy Ion Cannon]] Artillery and 2 [[Heavy Ion Cannon]] Battery Weapons.

*'''Length:''' 5.3km
*'''Mass:''' 21.7 megatonnes; approx
*'''Crew:''' 57,300 crew, including 14,500 pilots and support personnel; approx
*'''Acceleration:''' 3.0 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx

== In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2 ==

The Tau Merchant Cruisers maintain the themes established earlier in the Light Cruiser weight class, with broadsides and limited arcs preferred over full-frontal facing load-outs, along with higher hit point totals, allowing them to absorb significantly more damage than a lot of ships their size. They oddly get a boost back to their engine speed over their lighter brethren, making them more manoeuvrable while also mixing in a few coaxial weapons and the Adaptive Deflectors from the Protector vessels.

Both of the Cruisers favour taking large racks of the Tau's special homing torpedoes and Launch Bays, the former is incredibly useful as the only other torpedoes capable of homing are Astartes boarding torpedoes. This simple addition to their weapons allows them to be used from much longer, even extreme ranges since it's easier to coordinated several different squadrons and torpedo launches to overwhelm defence turrets when they don't need to all do it from close range.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Battlefleet Gothic]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Tau]]

[[Category: Kor'Vattra]]

[[Category: Vehicles]]

[[Category: Ships]]

{{40k-Tau-Ships}}