Stronghold-class Commerce Vessel

The Bastion's big papa.

The big father of the Bastion-class Commerce Vessel. Stronghold-class Commerce Vessels belong to the Demiurg and the wider Squat-centric Leagues of Votann, and are extremely well-powered, large, and technologically advanced.

It is armed with a Cutting Beam, 6 Torpedo Launchers, 3 Launch Bays carrying Automated Fighting Drones, Automated Barge Drones and Automated Bombing Drones, 6 Lance Artillery, 2 Macro Battery Weapons and 4 Macro Battery Weapons.

• Length: 10.6km
• Width: 12-13km; approx
• Mass: 89 megatonnes; approx
• Crew: 145,000 crew, including automated pilots and support personnel; approx
• Acceleration: 2.1 gravities max sustainable acceleration; approx

Overview

They are factories or ore-processing vessels and are often bases that are moved between systems and asteroid belts. They are also bases for a fleet of inter-system asteroid mining pods, haulage flyers and prospector probes (it is theorized that many of these are automated). Strongholds are often seen in uninhabited systems with fleets of small ships moving resources to and from the vessel and a planet or asteroid, with the prow facing the star. Most of the time the vessel will disengage if challenged but some will attack with a dangerous ferocity.

It is worthy of note that every known encounter between Squat and Ork vessels has resulted in combat, and that renegade elements have often hired Squat vessels to fight as mercenaries in interplanetary and intersystem power struggles.

They are slow but well-defended, especially at close quarters, and have a good capacity for launching retrofitted mining vessels as attack craft. The ship also uses an array of complex electromagnetic fields around its prow to scoop up interstellar hydrogen. This is accelerated to the rear of the ship in order to give some form of ram-effect and given numerous other benefits. This process is not understood by the Adeptus Mechanicus and they are eager to get their hands on an intact vessel in order to analyse it.

Despite their size, the Leagues consider them to be 'small vessels'. Make of that of what you will.

In Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 1 & 2

The Larger Demiurg Stronghold-class Battleship vessel keeps the same Cutting Beam special weapon and a similar loadout beyond that, just overall more potent. The damage numbers of the Stronghold are far higher than the Tau Protector fleet ships, but keep in mind this has a lot to do with the Tau's vessels being able to focus their entire armament on a single target, something the split arcs of the Stronghold and Bastion, prevents them from doing.

Unfortunately, the Cutting Beam special weapon works in mysterious ways (Read: Bullshit), as it requires you to sit near asteroids or wrecks to charge up to its 7-second max, to get the full damage potential each time it is used. This makes the layout of the map have a large effect on the usefulness of this ship, granted the rest of the weapons the two Demirurg ships come with is potent enough to be worth having.

Keep in mind, the major downside to Mercenary ships are their weakness to morale loss, which can cause them to run off the field of battle if hit too hard too quickly. The Water Caste Diplomat fleet upgrade is usually a good option if you plan on heavily relying on numerous Mercenary ships, to help negate this.

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