[SoL Berzerker]

Is much known about what is defending Terra? I know the Imperial palace has the Adeptus Custodes, but what about the rest of the planet? Is it just legions of Imperial Guard, or is there another Space Marine chapter devoted purely to the defense of Terra?

 

[redmapa]

iirc there are a couple of titan legions garrisoned on terra along with its own PDF and the whole Imperium ; )

 

[Arlex]

Imperial Fists, I believe, still dedicate a lot of resources to Terra. And that "just" Imperial Guard garrison is likely as large as the forces of the Sabbat World's Crusades so...

 

[joebauerek]

I believe that the Imperial fists and a very small detatchment of space wolves are the only space marine forces allowed on terra.

As for the PDF id imagine that it is larger than any other pdf in the imperium and as stated above is more than likley larger than many crusading imperial armies. So thereforce probobly 1 billion plus actual soldier and then the quite real possibility of everyone on the planet being conscripted in times of need.

Then Battlefleet Solar is descibed as the mightiest battlefleet available to imerial forces so would probobly number into the thousands if not tens of thousands of ships of all sizes. And then all the defense instillations in space, on luna and then on terra itself.

Then theres the mechanicus of mars so there will be a number of titan legions along with all the tags alongs that come with them (skitarii and techpriests etc) numbering into the millions.

Theres also the inquisition and their available forces. I suppose you could include grey knights that would be available to defend terra.

Im sure theyll be some sisters of battle around on terra not too sure how many though.

Each navigator house has a small private army so they would probobly be used to defend terra.

Not forgeting the custodes but they only guard the palace so yeah... probobly numbering a couple of thousand.

So in conclusion theres a hell of a lot lol!

 

[bitsandkits]

i imagine the entire solar system is devoted to the defence of Terra too and likely other near by systems will be on constant alert to come to the aid of terra if it was needed, but the chances of any full scale assault making it anywhere near the system is highly unlikely, just a build up of an army large enough to penetrate that deeply into imperial space would be noticed before it had chance to make the journey.



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[MidnightSun]

Bits is right, the only people ever to get near Terra are the Necrons, which was a stealth insertion anyhow. Even then, they had just one ship out of five land on Mars for maybe a minute or two before it was destroyed.

Midnight

 

[SoL Berzerker]

Okay, so with all of that in place, how likely would it be for Terra to fall to the super Tyranid fleet or super Ork fleet that these forums have been flooded with recently? Seems to me that anything short of another heresy would fall short by a lot in an attempt at invading Terra.

 

[Apostle]

IMO super Ork Fleet would take too long, and by the time Terra was 'falling' so many space marine chapters and guard regiments would have been called back to the fray it would no longer matter. Ork's are not particularly known for their tact and speed. They will just want to kill everything they see. You put a couple Hive Fleets together...I can see death coming to Mars and Terra yes.

 

[SonofMalice]

As far as I can tell the only way to truly capture terra is attrition pure and simple. Horus was winning that battle due to isolating potential reinforcements until he decided he wanted a mono a mono duel with big E. I really only see Nids having the capacity for the scale of assault necessary to grind down the defenders. Chaos MIGHT have a similar chance but as mentioned the many regiments and chapters around the Imperium would be recalled. The Nid warp shadow right on top of the astronomican would make getting reinforcements very hard. Maybe chaos could stir up a storm or something but other than that I can't see another power really managing it. Or the Necrons could just make the sun explode, problem solved.

 

[Tim/Steve]

Re-reading the Word Bearers omnibus recently they thought that if they could take and hold the system in the book (completely forget its name) that Chaos would be able to put enough of an Armada together to reach and destroy Terra before sufficient fleets could be mustered to stop them... I think there is a huge difference between taking and destroying Terra: can't say I've read much on it but the various Exterminatus don't seem that easy to stop unless you have fleet superiority. Can ground defences stop virus bombs/cyclonic torpedoes (or others)...

 

[Arlex]

Not normally. But it's Terra. I'd assume they have everything to stop everything.

 

[redmapa]

I wouldnt be surprised if Terra itself was surrounded by void shields or an artificial atmosphere/shield of some kind

 

[Lord Commander Solus]

Or the Necrons could just make the sun explode, problem solved.

Can ground defences stop virus bombs/cyclonic torpedoes (or others)...

Things like these create inconsistencies in the fluff, I feel. They're the "ultimate last ever resort" yet if Horus *really* wanted Terra to fall, why the heck not throw a few Virus Bombs at them to warm things up a little? A cyclonic torpedo or two onto the Palace would've been an absolutely gravy way to tell Big E you're coming. Instead he does, what? Drops his troops and advances. Like any other general. Not like a Warmaster.

Same can be said for the Necrons. They don't need light or warmth so if they actually wanted to cut the heart out of an empire they could just turn off all the suns...! For a race with the ability to singularly destroy every other living thing they don't go about it very efficiently. Heck, the Silent King wants to kill all the Tyranids, but the only way he can think to do it is by killing everybody else so they don't feed the Tyranids and make them too strong for the Necrons. Ok, fair enough. How does he go about doing this?

Batters his army silly trying to kill EVERYBODY so even if he manages it he's still too weak to fight the Tyranids. Because of course, it'd be far too easy to just turn the suns off...

 

[hailene]

Things like these create inconsistencies in the fluff, I feel. They're the "ultimate last ever resort" yet if Horus *really* wanted Terra to fall, why the heck not throw a few Virus Bombs at them to warm things up a little? A cyclonic torpedo or two onto the Palace would've been an absolutely gravy way to tell Big E you're coming. Instead he does, what? Drops his troops and advances. Like any other general. Not like a Warmaster.

Same can be said for the Necrons. They don't need light or warmth so if they actually wanted to cut the heart out of an empire they could just turn off all the suns...! For a race with the ability to singularly destroy every other living thing they don't go about it very efficiently. Heck, the Silent King wants to kill all the Tyranids, but the only way he can think to do it is by killing everybody else so they don't feed the Tyranids and make them too strong for the Necrons. Ok, fair enough. How does he go about doing this?

Batters his army silly trying to kill EVERYBODY so even if he manages it he's still too weak to fight the Tyranids. Because of course, it'd be far too easy to just turn the suns off...

Horus wanted to rule the Imperium. Destroying its heart (like the beacon for the astronomican) would have been a very bad move.

Also he had a bone to pick with the Emperor. He wanted to show him he could best him.

Necrons want to harvest the sentient life. Destroying all the suns would not be entirely conducive to it. Not to mention that many of the Necron lords are bound by rules of honor (now). It may be unsporting. Other lords are smug in their superiority. Why would they need to destroy a sun to defeat an inferior race? They can best them in battle.

Some of the Necron commanders also enjoy battle.

 

[seermaster]

the nids will get tera eventualy
dark eldar and or eldar could if they could open the webway portal
other than that civil war on heresy level on tera

 

[spanner94ezekiel]

The eldar/dark eldar don't have the resources or manpower to launch a successful assault on Terra, even if the Webway portal was working. I think it would have to be a morbidly obese Hive Fleet with all sorts of new, super-adapted organisms to take Terra. If Horus couldn't with the Legions, then there's little chance Abby can with his significantly small forces. The orks are just too divided, and the Tau are too busy figuring out whether love is better than good.
The only other race that come close to threatening Terra is the Necrons - but not in their current position, as they haven't fully reawakened yet.

 

[Chompy Bits]

Just an observation.

It seems the majority of people are assuming that the shadow in the warp will just bugger over the Astronomican the moment the nids get close. But no one seems to have considered the alternative, that getting right up close to a psychic beacon powerful enough to cover most of the galaxy could actually fuck with the nids and the hivemind instead.

 

[redmapa]

If the tyranids ever make it to terra then the necrons will probably go batshit crazy and nuke all the suns or something drastic like that, I mean if the nids managed to get to terra then there is nothing to stop them from consuming the rest, its either the necrons unleash their power or the chaos gods decide to unite and give the hive mind a bitch slapping it wont forget..

 

[Child-of-the-Emperor]

If Horus couldn't with the Legions, then there's little chance Abby can with his significantly small forces.

According to the Night Lords series Abaddon commands forces much larger than Horus ever did.

 

[Rems]

According to the Night Lords series Abaddon commands forces much larger than Horus ever did.

I would assume that's a number inflated from all the human renegades and traitors; the traitor garudsmen, mutants, cultists and such. I can't imagine that there are more Chaos Space Marines now than there were in 30k. They just don't have the resources or infrastructure or organisation to have rebuilt to such a size. There have been traitor chapters since it's true, but that's described as an extremely rare occasion.