[Turkeyspit]

When I first saw the title, all I could think of was "How much wood would a Space Marine chuck if....", well you get the point.

Here are a few I've been wondering about:

- Since bolters and bolt pistols use the same 'caliber' of bolt as ammunition, is it fair to assume then that the magazines are interchangeable?

- How much ammunition does a heavy bolter's backpack contain? Given the firing rate, how quickly would a Devastator Marine deplete his load? Where is the power supply for the SM's armor: underneath the backpack?

- I seem to recall from Rogue Trader that a Space Marine's power supply also housed stabilizing jets. How effective are they? Can they be used to jump to higher, or survive a fall from a greater height?

- What is the real deal with teleporters? The rulebook states that only Terminators can use teleporters, but many of the BL books (Fallen Angels and Warriors of Ultramar to name a few) describe regular Tactical Marines getting teleported. /confuzled

 

[NiceGuyEddy]

I'll give some of these a stab

- Since bolters and bolt pistols use the same 'caliber' of bolt as ammunition, is it fair to assume then that the magazines are interchangeable?

There are different "marks" of bolters and bolt pistols. I would imagine that the magazine from an astartes bolter would not fit into the handle of Gaunt's compact bolt pistol.

In general bolters are only carried by astartes because of weight and recoil. Although I'm not certain I'd say that apart from maybe the ammunition a "human" bolt pistol is nearly completely different to an astartes bolter and maybe even an astartes bolt pistol.

So to sum up Astartes gear probably not interchangeable with human but probably interchangeable with other astartes gear. And the same goes for guard issue gear.

- How much ammunition does a heavy bolter's backpack contain? Given the firing rate, how quickly would a Devastator Marine deplete his load?

No idea, the size of bolt rounds and space marine dimensions vary from source to source so I couldn't even hazard a guess by "mathing" out the volume of the ammo bandolier on a devastators back. I would say it would be completely unrealistic though. :laugh:

-Where is the power supply for the SM's armor: underneath the backpack?

The power supply IS the back pack its called a "power plant" or something....

- I seem to recall from Rogue Trader that a Space Marine's power supply also housed stabilizing jets. How effective are they? Can they be used to jump to higher, or survive a fall from a greater height?

I remember that one too, vaguely. I think it was a throwaway comment. Space marine back packs are not jump packs, it wouldn't be the first time a writer got excited.

- What is the real deal with teleporters? The rulebook states that only Terminators can use teleporters, but many of the BL books (Fallen Angels and Warriors of Ultramar to name a few) describe regular Tactical Marines getting teleported. /confuzled

In game terms I think that rule is there to prevent mass teleportion and make SM's overpowered. In fluff terms any SM can do it and I have a nagging feeling that humans can too but can't remember whether I read that or dreamt it up.

Hope this helps.

 

[Turkeyspit]

The power supply IS the back pack its called a "power plant" or something.....

Just to make sure I was clear, I meant where is the power plant for an Astartes who is wearing the ammo-backpack of a heavy bolter? Is it built into the ammo-backpack?

 

[Baron Spikey]

Just to make sure I was clear, I meant where is the power plant for an Astartes who is wearing the ammo-backpack of a heavy bolter? Is it built into the ammo-backpack?

I believe so, that's why it's so large to include the ammo hoppers as well as the power plant.

 

[NiceGuyEddy]

Just to make sure I was clear, I meant where is the power plant for an Astartes who is wearing the ammo-backpack of a heavy bolter? Is it built into the ammo-backpack?

Ahh I see.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/c...ndex=1&aId=2600025&start=2&_requestid=2601892

The pictures here show that the ammo backpack seems to be slightly different from a regular back pack, but yeah it does seem to be built in to the power plant.

EDIT Insert cheesy fast and the furious quote. "Damn that guys fast!!" I agree with the Baron.

 

[DonFer]

I have a new one: What ever happened to the Knight, a one-man version of a Titan? Sounds like a lot of fun to have an "exo-skeleton" capable of carrying one Titan weapon.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I'm sorry for posting this before but I didn't get an answer (the over 9000 didn't count :biggrin

How long does it take for a man to become a space marine? This means from selection all the way until fully-fledged and ready for battle!

How long do techmarines have to train on mars?

Thanks.

 

[Baron Spikey]

I have a new one: What ever happened to the Knight, a one-man version of a Titan? Sounds like a lot of fun to have an "exo-skeleton" capable of carrying one Titan weapon.

Well they might not feature heavily in 40k fiction, just as with the rest of the Mechanicus' forces, I imagine they're still around on certain Forge Worlds as defensive forces. With the mighty Titan Legions and the other diverse Imperial Organisations they don't really fulfil a role that can't be covered by something else to risk sending them to fight in off world campaigns.

I'm sorry for posting this before but I didn't get an answer (the over 9000 didn't count :biggrin

How long does it take for a man to become a space marine? This means from selection all the way until fully-fledged and ready for battle!

How long do techmarines have to train on mars?

Thanks.

It really depends on the Chapter, some like the Ultramarines start their aspirants off at training camps at around age 6-7 but the successful ones won't start to receive their implants until about age 12-13.

They of course won't be full Scouts until about age 18-19 at which time they'll usually stay in the Scout Auxillia for at least 4 years but it could be as much as 20-25 years depending again on the Chapter.

So if I give you a min/max style thing would that help?

The minimum time from aspirant to battle brother would be about 8 years (if we have a 14 year old aspirant, and he's only a Scout from 18-22).

The maximum, again in general, could be about 37 years (if we go with a 6 year old aspirant, and he's a Scout for 25 years).

8-37 years is a nice range, but it's extremely difficult to narrow down further as it varies so wildly because of an individual's suitability or a Chapter's predilection etc.

Note: And of course some Scouts never become Battle Brothers, but that very rare.


Phew- it's hard work being a fluff 'go to guy'.

 

[chand223]

In the DOW2 game, there is a quote of something to the effect of 'souls in the warp are currency' (during one of the parts with Eliphas if i remember correctly). This got me to thinking, What happened to the souls of the slain Primarchs? Is the soul of Ferrus Manus floating around in the warp somewhere, for instance?

 

[Belthazor Aurellius]

Power armor is exactly that. It's a powered suit of armor. Medeival knights were the tanks of their day, but you could take them down with a good lance to their neck. Un-horse them, then hit them heavily enough with hammers to dent the armor, and, well, they're out of the battle, if not dead.

Space Marine power armor is composed of ceramite and plasteel. Games Workshop's own made up variants of ceramic alloy and plastic alloy. An alloy is any combination of a metal and a non-metal. The theory behind ceramite and plasteel being, I think, that ceramic armor plates are known to be some of the toughest s*** around today, and some secret steel alloys are even tougher. Add to that, plastics are so ubiquitous, the STCs produced in the 20-30k era probably included a dozen different ways to accquire plastic's ingredients, make plastic, recycle plastic and re-enforce steel with plastic.

Erego, you have ceramite and plasteel. To give this some perspective. Look up dragonscale armor. It's a relatively new armor invention (don't confuse with dragon skin, this is spider-web protein spun into a silk-like fabric, which, in thicker layers, makes for excellent bullet-stoppage). Dragon scale is half-inch thick ceramic disks, overlaid in a scale-mail fashion of armored vest, with kevlar backing. (edit: Supposedly,) the dragonscale has been tested against abrams (edit: tank) cannons, and the cannonshell (edit: is alleged to have) stopped without penetrating the kevlar. I think it would still pulverize your innards, but, I don't know what happened to their ballistics-gel dummy, when they did this test, aside from I think it flew backwards several dozen yards.

Now, in 40k, space marines wear an armor suit of plate mail composed of inch-thick layers of ceramite, so imagine dragon scale, but harder, or perhaps as an alloy, it has some bend to it, so it doesn't shatter. I don't know. Underneath this outer layer of inch thick ceramite is usually a thin layer of plasteel, to re-enforce (though in some variants, I've read the plasteel is between half-inch layers of ceramite) the ceramite.

Beneath the outer layer of armor plating, a space marine has an entire suit of fiber bundles and flak-resistant fabric, along with several black-carapace interface points, which allow the space marine to feel what the armor feels (heat, cold, bullets and lasgun impacts), he can assess where the damage is hitting hardest, and turn his body so less damaged armor takes the brunt of the force. Space marine shoulder pads are also huge. They spread like a shield on either side of the marine, and I remember reading they are twice as thick as the rest of his armor, so... two or two and a half inches of armor plating over fiber bundles over kevlar over black carapace. The black carapace, while being a nerve-system relay for the armor, also functions as an inner armor suit, as even without the power armor, the black carapace protects him from simple knife and small arms fire, to some extent.

Space marine power armor can shrug off all but the heaviest weaponsfire, but does not make them invincible. It just makes them damn hard to kill. Don't get me started on terminator armor.

Edit: Replied before realizing how long ago that post was. Hope it was a helpful explanation though.

Edit2: Souls of slain primarchs are probably just like those of the ascendant primarchs. Living the life of a daemon prince in their respective pantheon (except that, well, each chaos god looks poorly on the concept of worshipping all four, and tends to try to rip a portion of your soul for themselves, but I'm sure for primarchs, the four would make exception and grant them... boons).

 

[Davidicus 40k]

Let's talk about cities!

How many citizens could an average hive tower (spire?) hold? If a city has one, is it automatically a hive city, or does it need the layers underground as well?

I'm curious because I figured only hive cities had hive towers, until I read Sabbat Martyr. It'd make sense to build them in a city with limited space but overflowing population, I guess.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I also understand that you need to be at a young age in order to become a SM. What is the max age limit do you think?

 

[Baron Spikey]

Let's talk about cities!

How many citizens could an average hive tower (spire?) hold? If a city has one, is it automatically a hive city, or does it need the layers underground as well?

I'm curious because I figured only hive cities had hive towers, until I read Sabbat Martyr. It'd make sense to build them in a city with limited space but overflowing population, I guess.

Hive Cities aren't initially built where there is a large population, they're built and then the population is shipped in to fill them.
Hive Cities are just many layered, sprawling metropolis' that don't have to have a large underground section- a large Hive City could hold about 1 Billion people so I'd imagine a sizeable Hive Tower could hold at least a couple of million.

I also understand that you need to be at a young age in order to become a SM. What is the max age limit do you think?

Well your body still needs to be developing so I imagine the latest the Astartes could reasonably leave it would be about the age of 16-17, there are precedents for adults becoming Space Marines but the success rate is like 0.1%.

 

[Smokes]

When an Inquisitor is raised to rank within the Ordo Malleus, they receive a daemonhammer, which is the symbol of the Ordo. It's pretty much an epic version of a hammer and I can imagine how heavy that thing is. The question is what if you can't pick it up? If you are an Ahmazzi-esque Inquisitor and you don't walk around with power-armor. Or if frankly you don't have the arm strength to haul that thing around? Just stick it in the closet?

 

[Baron Spikey]

When an Inquisitor is raised to rank within the Ordo Malleus, they receive a daemonhammer, which is the symbol of the Ordo. It's pretty much an epic version of a hammer and I can imagine how heavy that thing is. The question is what if you can't pick it up? If you are an Ahmazzi-esque Inquisitor and you don't walk around with power-armor. Or if frankly you don't have the arm strength to haul that thing around? Just stick it in the closet?

You've pretty much answered your own question :laugh:

If the Inquisitor can't use it effectively, or it's just doesn't fit with the way he works then he (or she) won't use it and will just put it in storage.

 

[Smokes]

I would kind of feel bad. You've got this weapon of pure awesomeness and you kind of feel....weak because you can't haul it around. But when you see the other Malleus Inquisitors panting and carrying the massive thing you just laugh and do a little dance.

 

[Belthazor Aurellius]

Well, the Adepta Sororitas fit antigrav suspensors to their heavy bolters to make them less unweildy (50lb heavy bolter instead of its actual 150lb weight)... I would imagine the Inquisition has access to such suspensors, so it would be more up to the Inquisitor in question of whether he/she wants to hang it over the fireplace as decoration, or carry it into battle, based on their preferred method of combat. And I think given how the Inquisition works, nobody's going to hold a gun to the back of your head and tell you to use the hammer (except, well, maybe a more powerful Inquisitor who insists it's your duty to carry your badge of office, like all Chaplains have Crozius Arcanums... and now C:SM says your chappy is armed with one and can't swap it for nothing.)

 

[BearsofLeon]

In the DOW2 game, there is a quote of something to the effect of 'souls in the warp are currency' (during one of the parts with Eliphas if i remember correctly). This got me to thinking, What happened to the souls of the slain Primarchs? Is the soul of Ferrus Manus floating around in the warp somewhere, for instance?

Well, as you remember, the soul of Horus was completely and utterly obliterated by the Emperor of Mankind. However, when the Emperor "died" He was still concious in spirit, not body. Think of the Warp of a separate Universe with two (or more) sides. One side (the smaller one, by alot) being protected by the Emperor of Mankind. So in here there would be the Souls of Vulkan, Corax, Ferrus Manus and such. Sanguinius would not be in there because of "family" issues.

In the chaos side, there are the four planes of the Primordial Annihilator (title taken from Legion) basically, the chaos gods. Each god has their own domain, so basically their own planet.

In between these "areas" is (i believe, im not sure) the location of the Eldar Webway.

 

[Turkeyspit]

Is the discharge of a Melta-gun/Multi-Melta visible to the naked eye?

From the descriptions I've read, the weapon heats its target through the use of microwave energy, which I believe, is invisible. But I believe I read in the BL book Fallen Angels that when their Melta-gunner fired on the rebel APC's, it emitted a 'beam' of some sort. (I lent the book to a friend so can't verify).

 

[Burias]

There was some talk about the Aquila but how do you do the Mechanicus sign? The Cog?