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I always wondered how people envision the 40k energy weapons look like when firing.

I think we all have a common picture of how Lazguns, plasma guns, flamers and bolters look like.

Of all the various wonderful energy weapons in 40k, the meltagun seems to be the one least understood, visually. Is it just an invisible beam, like common science would indicate? Seems kinda boring, and does not really account for the effects Microwave radiation of that magnitute would cause on the atmosphere, especially on allien worlds. I expect it's visuals would actually vary wildly depending on atmosphere, from ball lightning to setting the air itself on fire. Hell, it looks different in every depiction GW has of it firing.

Personally, I see them as a continius beams of bluesh colour alternating light that vaporizes everthing, which I found best shown in that terrible War of the Worlds remake, though more melty, like here :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doO-8KtoQYM

Tho I occationally find myself imagining them as the particle cannon weapon from wolvenstein, even though that should really be the necron Gauss guns:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idzu0Za2H1M

And how about those Gauss guns? I generally envision a green lightning that kinda messigly vaporizes people, like the District 9 Tesla Rifle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NF32ynKZOY

How about you fellow geeks? How do you see those meltas in your head? How about other exotic weapons of the 4 universe? The Tau Pulse rifles are also interesting. For ages I thought they were really rapid firing, but apparently not.

I see them as a white beam that makes the air around the beam ripple with heat

Did you see the way they did the heat vision in Superman returns? Imagine that, but not red tinted.

I always imagined the gauss gun working like a sand blaster, slowly withering away the person inside the line of fire.

I imagine that Tyranid weapons are a bit... gooey, seeing as they fire blobs of poison, or clouds of worms and suchlike.


(c)2010 Josue Pereira

Most Tyranid weapons fire bugs, not... that.

The bio plasma is kind of a weird proposition, tho I rather like the DoW2 effect.

Also, is it weird I find this picture disturbing, yet kinda hot?

Yeah the Gauss is also kinda interesting, as it's ment to flay a target layer by layer, but obviously it would need to do this pretty fast, hence the particle cannon simularity.. though slow disintegration is pretty girmdark, I doubt Necrons make concessions for style, thats a dark eldar thing....

Now dark eldar weapons... not sure I wanna go there.

Understanding all the others are pretty straightforward besides meltagun, which I've always imagined as a blurry "heat" blast.

Bolters also may be a bit inconsistent. In DoW at least their rate of fire were similar to machine guns. I always imagine they fired much slower, similar to a real-life bushmaster chain gun.

For plasma gun fire, I always imagined it being like an arc welder. Too bright to look at directly, but has bit of a blue hue to it.

Kilkrazy wrote:I imagine that Tyranid weapons are a bit... gooey, seeing as they fire blobs of poison, or clouds of worms and suchlike.

(c)2010 Josue Pereira

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You just had to bust out the ASCII Picard facepalm, didn't you?

I imagine meltaguns as causing a shimmering heat-haze as the stream travels through the air.

Tyranids always eat the hot soldier girls first, it's a fact. (Though the inquisition is still trying to figure out if it's a form of bio-acid or a mating ritual which immediately preceeds the devouring...)

But back to topic, the Hunt for Voldorius has a White Scars marine busting a bunker with a melta gun and describes it as a stream of lava coming from the gun, super-heating the metal of the bunker door. It's held on the door for a few seconds, they take cover from incoming fire, dispatch the enemies, and then go back to the door again, implying that this process is far from "insta-melting." I know this could vary from book to book, or as you suggest, from planet to planet, but this is how I've always envisioned them. Oddly, I never thought it could be anything else, until I read some threads on dakka.

KillKrazy, you have broken forum posting rules.

Take that down immediately!

I've honestly always imagined a meltagun shooting a super heated stream of..magma, I guess?
I know the actual description says it, basically, super heats the air in a tight stream and that's what gives it's armor piercing capabilities but I find that pretty vague. Considering the gun itself has a canister attached to the side one can assume it shoots something, not just heats the air.

As for Gauss weapons every fiction I've read always explains in detail WHAT happens when a target is hit by a gauss stream/beam but they never say, exactly, what it looks like so I can only be lead to believe that because it's a Rapid Fire weapon it must shoot either a beam that flays it's target rather quickly or shoots some sort of energy that hit's it's target and continues to flay the target after being shot. Maybe residual energy or something.

My imagining of the gauss weapon is similar to the sandblasting effect, but where the particles move towards the firing gun, not blasting outward from the stream like an actual sandblaster. So, sandblasting in reverse. The gauss beam itself is of course pictured in the Necron codex as a flashing green beam. I believe the codex indicates the gauss weapons break down the molecular structure and "pull" it towards the gauss weapon.

Railguns I imagine to be cool, one minute your tank's fine, then the back end blows out as a bullet the size of a fridge hits it.

Here's an interesting one, what about fusion weapons? I believe both eldar and Tau has those.

Personally I always imagined fusion weapons as a green bolt of energy, that melts instead of exploding, unlike plasma.

I never thought I'd see the day when mods started posting nid porn.

That picture is truly revolting


Automatically Appended Next Post:
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Yeah, that picture was uncalled for...

Still, Meltas do have a 'beam' of sorts.

If you 'watch' a meltagun very, very carefully you'll see the gun fire a spotty, black cloak clad teenager across the battlefield at super-duper sonic speeds where the 'beam' then breaks apart the atomic structure of the target with the intense heat of its whining and moaning.

*Blam**BZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz* I am the laaast of a dyyyying raaaaace... *thud**burn*.

Also the reason the weapon has been called the 'Angst' gun by observers.

Certain SM Chapters use this 'ominous' weapon at every opportunity.

As a frequenter of 1d4chan, I have seen worse than that. However, I never dreamed I'd see the day when dakka mods were posting 'Nid Rule 34.

That being said, I view melta guns as a kinda of invisible beam...you see the distortitions in the air where its firing, but you don't see a physical beam. Maybe you'll see a shower of sparks where it hits a target, but that's it. Plasma guns shoot stereotypical teardrop balls of blue plasma.

Fusion guns fire a beam of impossibly bright energy, obliterating the molecules of those it touches. Plasma weapons fire a beam of blue energy. I imagine Gauss weapons firing green whips of lightning, searing the meat right off the bones of their targets.

I always imagined the beam from meltaguns being invisible, but possibly heating the air in a way that "blurs it" similar to the mirage effect that you get off of a hot object in the sun.

I think meltas shoot white beams of heat energy. Though, as with most of the weapons, I imagine them pretty much like they are in the DoW games.

Not a single 'pewpew' yet?

Oh, and by the way, that picture was uncalled for. This is a "family" website.

ok, meltaguns are fairly complex so here goes.

Melta guns are a combination of flamer and microwave emitter (sp?). they project a stream of highly volatile 'pyrum-petrol' towards the target and then hyper excite the particles so they explode in a fusion reaction at the target, focused by the microwave field or some such. so basicaly it works similar to a hollow charge in that it uses a focused explosion. thus it would brobably look like a beam of white/orange light.

sources from 4th ed guard codex and the rulebook.

oh and as for the pic ..... illustration of why I do not go on 4chan anymore, also heresy ..... much heresy.

where is comisar fuklaw when you need him...

here he is:

I could imagine the the visuals easily, it's the sound that bugs me. I guess they would have significant snapping sounds from such rapid temperature increase. Snap, crackle, and pop.
...
Lasguns are now known as Krispy Treats.
@Killkrazy Energy stuff, not "Mayonnaise",

Most tyranid ranged weapons do work through some kind of muscle spasm. So while the picture is questionable it is heading in the right(WRONG!) direction on at least one level.

On the subject of Tyranid weapons, the codex is great at listing how they work and the sounds that they make.