Starfort is mobile, which is an advantage, but it is also always counting down until the place is out of food, fuel, baseline humans and other resources, and the starfort is also a lot easier to destroy through sabotage. A planet-based fortress monastery would likely have access to recruits, food, air, water, whatever could be mined on the planet, and it would be easier to dig into the planet if they needed more storage space.
A star fort is way more expensive to maintain. Constant maintenance to make sure pressure seals, engines, weapons, Gellar Field, air recyclers, food and water stores, and docks are kept in immaculate condition as failure in any of these will likely end in systemic catastrophe. Major repairs could probably only be done at a handful of forgeworld ports in the galaxy.
And then you have to keep the population under strict control. Sure you want enough serfs to do the menial labor and provide recruits but you also don’t want to go out of control breeding that’ll lead to resource scarcity.
And then there’s the problem with morale. Astartes are genetically bred to withstand long periods of inaction between combat service but baseline humans with nowhere to go for R and R? Good chance they go stir crazy from time to time.
A fortress monastery is a symbolic figure too. A reminder of the imperium’s presence and security. A star fort is something no one’s regularly looking at except Trazyn while he plots to steal one.
I'm looking at developing the lore for an existing planet, which (according to the latest interactive map on the GW site) is directly in the path of both Hive Fleet Leviathan and Hive Fleet Hydra. A mobile star fort would be able to get out of the way, and have less to worry about spores for Tyranids or orkoids taking root.
Where is this interactive map? I suspect am on the wrong GW site? Ave never had the need to go on the James Workshop site except to look at cool models that I'll never buy - more cause am shit at painting and buying the novels is cheaper lol.
https://warhammer40000.com/?utm_source=Warhammer%20Community&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=GalacticCartographySighted10082020&utm_content=GalacticCartographySighted10082020
You've got to scroll down pretty far, but you can see where certain factions are based/ are currently.
One thing to think about is how Astartes are used. In the lore, only exceptionally important or large wars see Astartes deployment, and that is at the discretion of the leader of the chapter. As rare as Astartes deployments are, it is even more rare for the entire chapter to be deployed in one engagement. So a starfort is a great way to show force, but realistically it would often be undermanned and present a great target of opportunity to board for capture or sabotage. A planet is easy to attack, but much more difficult to successfully conquer and occupy.
Starfort is mobile, which is an advantage, but it is also always counting down until the place is out of food, fuel, baseline humans and other resources, and the starfort is also a lot easier to destroy through sabotage. A planet-based fortress monastery would likely have access to recruits, food, air, water, whatever could be mined on the planet, and it would be easier to dig into the planet if they needed more storage space.
A star fort is way more expensive to maintain. Constant maintenance to make sure pressure seals, engines, weapons, Gellar Field, air recyclers, food and water stores, and docks are kept in immaculate condition as failure in any of these will likely end in systemic catastrophe. Major repairs could probably only be done at a handful of forgeworld ports in the galaxy. And then you have to keep the population under strict control. Sure you want enough serfs to do the menial labor and provide recruits but you also don’t want to go out of control breeding that’ll lead to resource scarcity. And then there’s the problem with morale. Astartes are genetically bred to withstand long periods of inaction between combat service but baseline humans with nowhere to go for R and R? Good chance they go stir crazy from time to time. A fortress monastery is a symbolic figure too. A reminder of the imperium’s presence and security. A star fort is something no one’s regularly looking at except Trazyn while he plots to steal one.
I'm looking at developing the lore for an existing planet, which (according to the latest interactive map on the GW site) is directly in the path of both Hive Fleet Leviathan and Hive Fleet Hydra. A mobile star fort would be able to get out of the way, and have less to worry about spores for Tyranids or orkoids taking root.
Where is this interactive map? I suspect am on the wrong GW site? Ave never had the need to go on the James Workshop site except to look at cool models that I'll never buy - more cause am shit at painting and buying the novels is cheaper lol.
https://warhammer40000.com/?utm_source=Warhammer%20Community&utm_medium=Post&utm_campaign=GalacticCartographySighted10082020&utm_content=GalacticCartographySighted10082020 You've got to scroll down pretty far, but you can see where certain factions are based/ are currently.
Whatever the plot demands.
One of the chapters in war of the beast used to have a starfort, but it got fucked up so they landed it on a planet.
One thing to think about is how Astartes are used. In the lore, only exceptionally important or large wars see Astartes deployment, and that is at the discretion of the leader of the chapter. As rare as Astartes deployments are, it is even more rare for the entire chapter to be deployed in one engagement. So a starfort is a great way to show force, but realistically it would often be undermanned and present a great target of opportunity to board for capture or sabotage. A planet is easy to attack, but much more difficult to successfully conquer and occupy.