Saw This While Browsing...

[Waaaghpower]

(Don't know if this is the right section, but...)
I was reading random historical fluff for the 40k universe and came across the history of the STCs. BBasically, giant machines that have instructions for building every imperial machine invented. They sent them out with every colony ship so that they'd have universal and interchangeable machines later on. The original was completely ruined and corrupted in the Horus Heresy, and the ones sent out on colonies were mostly broken at least partially, as they only used parts they needed. (So most heavy military things were left alone since war wasn't uber frequent at the time, and on most planets machines that weren't useful to them were left to decay. For example, a planet with a clean water supply has no need for a purifier.)
So now, discovering an abandoned STC and finding new, previously unknown inventions is the equivalent of inventing new things.

Which leads me to the really badass part...
Baneblades, when discovered, were listed as 'Mid-sized battle tanks.'
I mean... daaaaaaang.

[Wargamer]

In fairness, compared the likes of a Capitol Imperialis, Baneblades are tiny!

[Waaaghpower]

Though that does bring up tge question of... what the heck is a larger tank needed for? Anything larger than a land raider already can't realistically travel through urban terrain without destroying everything around it to clear a path. A baneblade is what, eighty feet wide? Ninety? For that matter, how does it keep from sinking into mud and getting stuck the first time it rains?

[Lord Sotek]

Honestly? Rule of cool. There is no other justification, and 40k being 40k, if something (like a baneblade) is cool enough, you don't really need one. 40k also tends to run on an ironically Texan maxim of "the bigger the better," regardless of realism.

That said, if you ask me Baneblades >>> Capitol Imperialises in terms of cool factor.

[The Allfather]

Baneblades, when discovered, were listed as 'Mid-sized battle tanks.'
I mean... daaaaaaang.

Obviously humans were bigger back then...

[Narric]

Baneblades, when discovered, were listed as 'Mid-sized battle tanks.'
I mean... daaaaaaang.

Obviously humans were bigger back then...

Isn't there some old fluf which actually says that?

I think is was like:
Gold Men, were the kin of the Emperor, and died out/were killed.
The Iron Men were the ones that built the cities, but soon went rogue, and cuased a great deal of strife. Presumably Machines with full AI and roughly the size of Space Marine, who rebeled against there creators, killing many of the "Golden Men" and being the reason behind the law against Imperial Use of AI.
Finally the "Mud" men, or "Flesh" men. Workers who tended to the larger machine, and the fields. These were clones created in batchs, and served to bulk up imperial numbers, like increasing the Imperial Guard of that age. I'm guessing they were created after the rebelling of the "Iron Mem"

This is half remembered from an old thread relating to the HH book "Dark MAchenicum."

[The Allfather]

It's hard to choose which old fluff to go with, it changes all the damn time. Personally I am of the opinion that the "Golden, Iron, Stone and/or Mud Men" are all products of the mythological storytelling of the current generation in 40K, and weren't actually bigger than normal people with the exception of the Emperor who either was a completely different being (a bunch of shamans offed themselves and collected their souls into one being) or an incredibly brilliant scientist who was made out to be literally larger than life in all the stories told about him. Or both.

[Narric]

So I'm quoting Fluff within Fluff? great, I thought I actually had a grasp of 40k Lore then

[Wargamer]

Just a thought for you all here...

The Baneblade, whilst dwarfing a typical tank, is nothing when put up next to its fellow Super-Heavies. It is outweighed (and, frankly, outgunned) by even the smallest of Scout Titans, and then there are the Leviathans and Capitol Imperialii; the former at least doubles the Baneblade's tonnage, the latter is a mobile command fortress capable of carrying an entire squadron of vehicles inside it and packing Titan-grade firepower.

The STC systems were clearly built with Titans and their ilk in mind. If you consider the full vehicle spectrum, the "large" vehicles are likely the Capitol's, the Ordinatii and so on. "medium" refers to the Baneblade and its variants, plus Storm Hammers, Hellblades and so on. "Small" would cover Land Raiders and below.

Remember that modern Imperial classification places the Leman Russ as a "battle tank", with the Macharius being a "heavy battle tank" and Baneblades "super-heavy battle tank".

Put this all together, and one can definitely see that working.

[The Allfather]

I assume you meant Leman Russ as the "battle tank".

[Wargamer]

That's what I said, Leman Russ.

[Chicop76]

This is pretty big.



I wonder if it get's stuck in the mud.

This is the answer is bigger really needed??

[Lord Sotek]

While it looks like the most gloriously Titan-sized rotary saw ever, that contraption is actually an excavation machine. Each of the 'teeth' on the 'saw' is basically a backhoe scoop/shovel/bucket thing.

Also note that the entire base o the vehicle is supported by treads rather than only two tracks of treads like on a tank, and that the thing's top speed is probably a handful of kph at most.

[Wargamer]

In the ABC Warriors story "The Volgan War", one of those diggers is fitted with anti-grav motors, giving it a top speed of around 100kph.

Now just picture one of those moving that fast, with a giant robot shouting BIG JOBS!

[LinnScarlett]

It's hard to choose which old fluff to go with, it changes all the damn time. Personally I am of the opinion that the "Golden, Iron, Stone and/or Mud Men" are all products of the mythological storytelling of the current generation in 40K, and weren't actually bigger than normal people with the exception of the Emperor who either was a completely different being (a bunch of shamans offed themselves and collected their souls into one being) or an incredibly brilliant scientist who was made out to be literally larger than life in all the stories told about him. Or both.

On pain of sounding like I am constantly repeating myself, hehe, I think Emps can appear as whatever he damn well wants to appear due to his psychic powers. That, combined with the 'made larger than life in stories', is my personal opinion on the matter. As for the old fluf? Oh grief, what a chaos that is! One of these days I am going to work out my theory that Emps is from the future (call it 51M if you want...) and came back to set us all straight, and then accidentally turned out to be the reason things weren't straight with in the future, to begin with. The shamans didn't create the guy, he just had an SG-1 moment and showed up JUST when they ramped that ritual! Tee-hee. :3

As for the huge tanks? I am pretty sure it's been said before: 40k is all about Bigger Sticks as a solution to everything.



[/quote]

While it looks like the most gloriously Titan-sized rotary saw ever, that contraption is actually an excavation machine. Each of the 'teeth' on the 'saw' is basically a backhoe scoop/shovel/bucket thing.

Also note that the entire base o the vehicle is supported by treads rather than only two tracks of treads like on a tank, and that the thing's top speed is probably a handful of kph at most.

Yup, it's a bucket-wheel excavater, and not a big one at that! You should check out the monstrosities Germany used the past century to excavate it's brown coal! (I happen to know, because I've been doing archaeological research in an open-cast mine the past years, hehe ) The largest BWE is afaik TAKRAF's baby, which is 250 m long, 100 m high and  weighs over 14.000 metric tons and capable of moving nigh on 250.000 cubic metres of overburden a (work) day. And I think you can operate it with just half a dozen people, heh. If you come over here and visit Hambach, you can still see it!

It could move faster than you can run if you'd wanted to try that, but generally it creeps across the ground at a walking pace... it's... a sight to see, that's for sure! I think its sunk solid these days though, post GDR safety regulations and all that.