Bastion-class Commerce Vessel

A up and armored civilian mining vessel with guns.

The Bastion-class Commerce Vessel is a large vessel of cruiser status used by the Demiurg and the wider Squat-centric Leagues of Votann. It is often seen alone, with other Squat Prospector Fleets or fighting with Tau forces as mercenaries, although some Imperial commanders have been known to make use of their mercenary-like services too. They are most commonly seen on the eastern rim or branching out of the galactic cores, though this is still a very rare sight. The Bastion-class seems to be more outfitted for asteroid mining rather than processing, so it is likely that there is a trade of goods from one vessel to another though this has never been seen in action.

• Length: 5.3km
• Width: 4.8-5km; approx
• Mass: 30 megatonnes; approx
• Crew: 68,000 crew, including automated pilots and support personnel; approx
• Acceleration: 2.6 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx

Overview

Some Rogue Traders tell that a Bastion-class is home to a 'brotherhood' while a Stronghold is a home to two or three brotherhoods. What the relationship between groups is is unknown. Often however two or three Bastions will group together to protect a Stronghold.

They have an impressive lance and weapons batteries, especially when up close, and also have the ability to launch mining probes and attack craft at short range. It also uses a scoop to collect stellar gasses which it projects through the core of the ship for propulsion and for energy to power the cutting beam it uses to open asteroids or enemy ships.

It is armed with a Cutting Beam, 4 Torpedo Launchers, 2 Launch Bays carrying Automated Fighting Drones, Automated Barge Drones and Automated Bombing Drones, 4 Lance Artillery, 2 Macro Battery Weapons and 2 Light Macro Battery Weapons.

In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2

The Bastion is one of two Demiurg ships available to the two Tau fleets, being the Cruiser sized version of the two. As with the other Mercenary vessels, the Demiurg have their own special weapons, most of which are generic versions of Launch Bays, torpedo Launchers Lances and Macros. Of these standard weapons, the firing arcs are split more like the standard Imperial/Chaos factions. Because of this, you'll see a higher overall dps and cpm than the majority of Tau Protectors that can focus the entire armament in one direction.

The really notable weapon is the Cutting Beam, a weapon that charges when sitting next to wrecks or inside of asteroid fields. You can build up to a 7-second charge beam, which deals a total of 840 damage, before armor reductions, to all ships in its 4,500 unit long path. This is an excellent weapon against weaker armored, more numerous factions that need to stick together like Orks and Imperials are two good candidates. It might be harder to hit Aeldari vessels, but their weaker armor and hull points will make landed shots more devastating to them.

Unfortunately because of the special nature in the way it charges, you are really susceptible to the RNG of map generation as far as how useful you'll find the Demiurg Cutting Beams, so while it may be fun and useful to bring along to a fight, don't rely on the Cutting Beam to make or break the fight for you.

Vessels of the Leagues of Votann
Spaceships
	Battleships	Stronghold
	Cruisers	Bastion
Landships
	War Machines	Colossus War Machine Cyclops War Machine
	Mobile Commands	Leviathan
	Armored Trains	Land Train
Airships
	Rigid Airships	Overlord Armoured Airship

Vessels of the Tau Kor'Vattra and its Auxillaries.
Spaceships
	Space Station	Tau Space Station
	Battleships	Battleship (Tau Merchant - Or'Es El'Eleath Stronghold - Warsphere)
	Cruisers	Light Cruiser (Tau Merchant - Tau Protector) Cruiser (Tau Merchant - Tau Protector - Bastion)
	Escorts	Escort (Tau Merchant - Tau Protector - Nicassar Dhow)
	Logistics	Il'Emaar
	Dropships	Orca
Landships
	Titans	KX139 Ta'Unar Supremacy Armour
Airships
	Flying Fortress	Tiger Shark
	Aerospace Vessels	Manta