Chaos Shipyard | Shipyard Battlefleet Gothic: Armada Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Here, you'll find an exact list of upgrades, skills, favours, and crew members of the Chaos forces.
Upgrades
Here the similarities to the Empire are vivid - many upgrades are the same.
Engine
Important for steering and controls. Can help to even the odds a bit against faster and more agile enemies.
Icon | Description | Notes |
 | Manoeuvring Thrusters The rotation speed during an exchange of fire is increased by 5° a second. | Incredibly important for heavy units. If a ship has a small default maneuverability, it's good to reinforce this aspect. It will help the ships to change position for initiation, as well as help while ramming the enemy. |
 | Efficient Plasma Thrusters Decreases depletion of boosters during special maneuvers by 25%. | Another upgrade for Imperial Ships, which are usually slower than corresponding ships of other factions. It will allow a ship to use boosters for longer, which will help to chase the enemy or run away from them. |
 | Auxiliary Power Relays When a ship takes critical damage of the engines, the penalty for speed is divided by two. | An interesting skill that doesn't grant any higher basic speed, but in case of suffering critical damage of the engines, it can ensure as much as 75% of the basic speed, which can be useful in missions where you need to change position quickly. |
 | Emissions Dissipator Special maneuvers will no longer reveal your ship. | This is the best engine modification available for the Empire. Allows to use boosters from the very beginning without the risk of being exposed. You can assume a good position, deploy mines, and hide in a gas cloud until the booster regenerates. |
Generator
Upgrades important for defense and attack. Especially interesting is the ability to increase shield reserves by 100 for heavy units. These upgrades can prove important, since the ships of the chaos don't have strong armors, so you can invest some points here early-on in the game.
Icon | Description | Notes |
Navigational Shields Asteroids can't damage the ship. | This has its use during initial stages of the game, when you're not sure where such objects are on the map. Also useful when an enemy hides behind a force field, and you'd have to go around him. There are not many uses for this skill, so better pick up something else. | |
 | Auxiliary Shield Capacitors Shield reload time is decreased by half. | A mod useful both for defense and offensive. Allows longer exchange of fire, and shortens the time that a ship has to spend off-battle in order to recharge the shields. Units with this perk can come back to fight quicker. |
 | Additional Void Shield Generator Liner ships' shields are increased by 100 pts. Support ships' shields are increased by 50 pts. | Pretty useful for all ships. It's good to compare shield statistics of your ship, and corresponding enemy ships. You can even the odds this way. |
 | Generator Security Team The ship gains 10 points in defending it against boarding when warp-jump is being charged. | It can save your ship more than once. Increasing defensive capabilities here is advisable, especially when playing against Orks. |
Deck
Some of these upgrades are crucial for functioning of Chaos ships. Very useful upgrades in terms of evading critical damage on steering systems and the ability to issue special orders despite losing the deck.
Icon | Description | Notes |
 | Improved Augur Array Sonar range (hostile discovery) increased by 2500 units. | An interesting upgrade. Useful for setting up ambushes. Best to use in ships that already have good range. |
 | Belt Armour First critical damage that reaches steering system is ignored. | Good for ships equipped with Mezoa Patter Drive, but useful for all ships. Remember that loosing a part of the ship also means losing the ability to issue orders assigned to that part of the ship. |
 | Advanced Cogitator Linkages Time of duration of special orders (Lock On, Brace for Impact, Reload) is increased by 50%. | Useful for all units, especially frontline ships. |
 | Enhanced Battle Bridge - the ship can use special orders even after losing the deck. | Useful for those ships that heavily rely on special orders. Also useful during long and exhausting battles. |
Hull
Investing in ship's defenses is always a good idea. Additional integrity, shorter fires, and additional turrets may not guarantee domination on the battlefield, but will surely give you more confidence in fights.
Icon | Description | Notes |
 | Hull Reinforcement Hull integrity for liners is increased by 100 pts. Hull integrity for support ships is increased by 50 pts. | Useful for all ships. Especially for beginners, or people who depend mostly on brute force. |
 | Extra Turrets Three additional turrets. | Very useful against ships with long range of attack and torpedo launchers. A modification particularly useful for ships with poor defense. It's good to compare ship's stats with corresponding enemy units. |
 | Camo The "Running Silent" order last twice as long on the ship. | Silent runs have their use in assuming vantage points on the battlefield and in traveling safely between fire zones without being exposed. |
 | Fire Protection System Fires on deck are extinguished 50% faster. | Very important if fighting Orks; since they often board other ships, fires on deck are going to be the rule of the day. A fire that lasts too long can severely damage ship's integrity or even destroy the ship. |
Weapons
This section contains all necessary modifications of the onboard weapons. It's a good idea to develop weapons to keep damage increasing at the same rate that a ships defense are improving - this will end battles quicker and decrease the possibility of suffering critical damage.
Icon | Description | Notes |
 | Automated Refueling Systems Special Forces cooldown is 20% shorter. | Use only on ships that can use special forces. It's good to upgrade launch bays to keep an edge over enemies that are malleable to boarding actions. |
 | Overload Generator - when using the "Lock On" order chances for critical damage for Lances are increased by 300% | Note that Chaos ships have rather poor chances of dealing critical damage with Lances. It's good to boost those rates for ships that use those cannons. |
 | Disruption Overcharge Lance cannons at the ship's bow deal 50% more damage against shields. | Useful for ships with frontal initiation. Especially good for ships that use Heavy Lance cannon. |
 | Refined Lences The range for all Lances in increased by 3000 units. | It's good to combine this upgrade with the previous one in order to gain the best frontal initiation stats, even more so, since Imperial Ships have the strongest armor at their bow. |
 | Targeting Matrix If further than 6000 units, Macro Weapons are 50% more efficient. | Useful for ships that use Macro Weapons as their only weapon. It provides more accuracy over long distances, which is one of downsides of the Imperial Fleet. |
 | Armour-Piercing Ammunition If 3000 units or closer, Macro Weapons scale damage to 25% of enemy's armor. | Imperial armors are thick, but Orks also have strong fronts of their ships. Orks are also prone to undertake boarding and ramming maneuvers, so close combat is pretty certain. This upgrade will help on small distances. |
 | Additional Teleportarium The Lightning Strike order results in one additional boarding action. It concerns every skill relating to this order. | Useful in data extraction missions. Additional boarding action can tip the scale in your favor. It also concerns breaking the enemy's attempt to do a Warp Jump. |
 | Turbo Weaponry All Macro weapons' range is increased by 3000 units. | Improving cannons' range has a positive impact on all kinds of initiation and can help dealing big damage to the enemy before the battle even properly starts. Particularly good vs. Chaos forces, which usually fight on medium distance. |
Abilities
Defense
Those abilities are meant to relocate damage from the hull onto the shields. From two possibilities, the second one seems more useful, so spend your points there.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Supercharged Void Shield - for 10 seconds the shields are impossible to penetrate. | Range: Self Duration: 10 seconds Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Generator |
Notes: Useful in any situation, works well combined with Taunt. Best used in close situations, when both your ship and the enemy's are on the verge of destruction, and these couple of seconds can save the situation.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Emergency Capacitor - Shield regeneration is improved by 2.5% | Range: Self Duration: 10 seconds Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Generator |
Notes: Works well when carrying out repairs in a remote area, far from enemy's focus. Useful during data extraction missions, when additional shields can save you from losing extracted data.
Damage
You'll find long range bombs here. The first one is versatile, and will be useful in any mission. The second one is more tactical - it won't deal superficial damage, but it can easily neutralize enemy's bombs.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Disruption Bomb - long range bomb. Neutralizes shields of all affected units. | Range: 10 000 Delay: 10 seconds Radius: 1500 Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Hull |
Notes: Useful at the beginning of a battle, during initiation. Well placed bomb can tear down enemy's shields, making it possible to deal massive damage in short time. Especially useful for ships that have no other means of ignoring enemies' shields.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Plasma Bomb - long range bomb. Upon detonation, it deals 100 pts of damage within its range, ignoring enemy's armor. Destroys enemy's bombs within radius | Range: 10 000 Delay: 10 seconds Radius: 1500 Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Hull |
Notes: Another long range weapon available for the Empire. Most useful for cleaning area from hostile bombs. If used skillfully, it can weaken enemies' integrity.
Control
These modifications allow to influence enemy's ships movement. The second ability is worth paying attention to.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Augur Disruptor - every ship at medium distance from ours will have it's field of view decreased to 1000 units for a short time. | Range: 7500 Duration: 25 seconds Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Deck |
Notes: Extremely useful when setting ambushes. It's enough to send just one ship with this skill, and you can blind the enemy for almost half a minute. You can then easily surround the enemy, or ram them.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Stasis Bomb - long range weapon. After the detonation, all units within its range will be slowed down. | Range: 10,000 Delay: 15 seconds Radius: 2,500 Duration: 15 seconds Cooldown: 180 seconds Location: Hull |
Notes: One of the most important skills in the game. Holding the enemy for 15 seconds is a perfect occasion to regroup, repair and fire torpedoes. Having bigger ships at your disposal, you can ravage the enemy with Nova Cannon.
Support
Support skills have a number of applications on the battlefield. You can maintain your numbers with these skills and minimize severe damage at low cost.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Taunt - the target ship can't maneuver and is forced to attack the ship which used this skill for 15 seconds. | Range: 7,500 Duration: 10 seconds Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Deck |
Notes: Having your forces regrouped, you can easily draw enemy's fire onto your ship, while damage units will have time to retreat and repair. Cooldown is only two minutes, which isn't much as for a skill that forces the enemy to fire at a defined ship, with no possibility to disobey. Statistics of different factions can either prolong or shorten this effect.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Void Shield Transfer - Defined ship will be given 100 shield pts. | Range: 5,000 Cooldown: 90 seconds Location: Generator |
Notes: Additional shields are always useful during lengthy fights. It's easier to regenerate your ship's integrity, and you can provide more security for a ship with extracted data.
Reconnaissance.
Two skills that don't really influence the battles. Stationary devices will have a hard time aiming as precisely as to make use of it during first minutes, and a probe is likely to miss hostile ships if you fire it too early.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Recon Beacon - fires a stationary device with a range of detection of 10 000 units. | Range: 10,000 Duration: 180 seconds Cooldown: 240 seconds Location: Deck |
Notes: Try to foresee enemy's movements and fire this device close to where you want to set an ambush.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Augur Probe - launches a probe that travels in the given direction with a velocity of 600 units. The probe identifies detected units. | Range: unlimited Cooldown: 120 seconds Location: Deck |
Notes: This skill is best used when you are moving directly towards the enemy. Identifying them early enough will allow you to assume appropriate strategy.
Maneuvers
Two very useful and versatile abilities. They will prove useful in every fight, and give more control on the battlefield. The second one is especially useful during escapes or chases.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Micro Warp Jump - teleports the ship into a different location on the map. The ship cannot perform special maneuvers, use other abilities, or even move when the Warp Jump is being charged. | Range: equal to detection range Cooldown: 180 seconds Location: Generator |
Notes: Using this accordingly will let you change you position in a short time. It's best to use it while hidden, for example in order to get behind the enemy. Note that you can't basically do anything with the ship while charging, so don't use it if a situation isn't serious, or your integrity is near depleted.
Icon | Description | Notes |
| Enchanted Induction Cells - using this skill allows immediate use of the booster. | Range: self Cooldown: 150 seconds Location: Engine |
Notes: Additional booster deposits are useful for ships that are slower than enemy ships. Using this skillfully can determine the outcome of the battle if you manage to run away, or chase the enemy down before he makes a Warp Jump.
Favours
Mark of Khorne
Khorne is one of Chaos gods. His dominium is anger, violence and hate. He's the most powerful, and the second Chaos god who revealed himself. Each act of violence strengthens him, regardless who committed it - friend or foe.
Unique abilities
Icon | Description |
| Daemonic Lightning Strike - This substitutes the basic version of the same skill. Cannot be used on a ship with shields up. Adds one boarding action for this skill. Range: 5,000 Cooldown: 90 seconds Location: Generator |
| Frenzy - ship value is raised by 10. Increases number of boarding actions by 1. |
Notes: Increased number of actions that assault forces can perform will definitely make them more efficient and generate more damage on hostile ships. It works best when combined with a ship that is equipped with additional weapons allowing bigger-scale assault actions.
Mark of Nurgle
Nurgle is the oldest god of Chaos, since he's the god of destruction and deterioration - things that are present in the universe since the very beginning.
Unique abilities:
Icon | Description |
| Den of Pestilence - Ship's value increased by 20. |
| Void-Locust Cloudswarm - Every hostile ship within the range of 2500 units receives 3 damage per second. This damage doesn't cumulate. |
Notes: The second skill deserves special attention - passive damage is most welcome, especially since it effects all the enemy ships within range. But let's take a closer look: it's hard to keep the enemy within this, rather small, range - it can provide a small bonus during ramming, and will be useful against Orks who initiate close combat themselves.
Mark of Slaanesh
God of greed and sybarites. Came to the world when the Eldar civilization has fallen. The youngest among the most important Chaos gods.
Unique abilities:
Icon | Description |
| Slaanesh's Promise - The chosen ship loses the active special order and cannot use its abilities for 30 seconds. |
| Siren of Slaanesh - Each hostile ship within the range of 7500 units gets:
Different skills in this area can cumulate. |
Notes: Neutralizing special orders can provide a big advantage, especially canceling the "Brace for Impact" order, before ramming. Blocking orders for 30 seconds can also be of utmost importance, if it's used in the right moment. Note that the insubordination multiplier can cumulate.
Mark of Tzeentch
?
Third of Chaos gods. Deals with magic, witchcraft and mutations.
Unique abilities:
Icon | Description |
| Wind of Change - Allows to surround the ship with a haze of the same properties as gas clouds. |
| Warp Signature Echo - Allows to launch a decoy of questionable origins, in any direction around the ship. The decoy travels in a straight line with the same speed that the ship was going upon launch. |
Notes: The main advantages of Tzeentch's help are camouflage and distraction, particularly useful in convoy missions, where you have to keep the enemy away from your transporters. Advisable to semi-advanced players, since using this properly may be more challenging.
Crew
Demonic Influence
His task is maintaining the faith of the crew in Chaos gods.
- Reduces chance of mutiny down to 10% if a ship's integrity is below 30%
- Decreases chance of mutiny caused by losing a line ship by -2%
- Reduces by -1% chances for mutiny caused by losing a support ship.
The crew's morale is among the most important factors in the game. It's totally worth investing one point in having more control over your men and the ships. No point developing this member more than two levels, since Chaos crews are rather loyal anyway.
Dark Navigator
He is responsible for leading Imperial ships through warp-jumps. He comes from a mysterious organization - Navis Nobilite.
- A ship fleeing the battlefield has 45% chances of being lost.
- Decreases by -15% every level chances of losing a ship after making a Jump.
- Shortens charging time of the Jump by 2.5 seconds every level.
The Navigator deserves at least one skill point. Lowering the risk of a ship becoming lost to 30% is a big benefit, and shortening the time of charging the Jump may be very useful in Data Recovery and Breakthrough missions.
Heretek
Member of the Adeptus Mechanicus organization, who followed Horus instead the Imperator.
- Increases efficiency of Emergency Repairs order by 0.3 points per second every level.
It's good to give this guy at least one point. Temporary repairs can save you some money at the Shipyard after the battle. Investing 2 points here results in regenerating 127 integrity points in 45 seconds, so it's worth it.
Master Gunner
Responsible for the weapons.
- Each level increases chances for critical damage of Lances and Makro Cannons by 25%
You should develop this member to the maximum. High critical chance for basic ship weapons can shatter every fleet in a few minutes. Especially worth paying attention to on ships equipped with many weapons of the same kind.
Cultists
Responsible for personal ship defense in case of boarding.
- Increases ship value by 3, every level. .
Good defense against boarding actions may be crucial is some missions. It's good to invest a couple of points here, in order to rise the ship value.
Slaves
Absolutely faithful to the commander, until the end.
- Shortens cooldown of every skill on the ship by 4% a level.
The second most useful crew member. Decreasing cooldowns by as much as 12% in case of long battles can mean that you'll be able to use your skills even a couple more times than the enemy.
Squadron Sergeant
Sergeants exert more skillful commanding than other crew members. He's mostly responsible for motivating the team and unleashing their full potential.
- Weapons have 10% more chances each level for avoiding damage.
This adds to other bonuses for damage avoiding.
A good chance of avoiding damage is always a good bet. Don't over-invest this skill though.