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Killer title right?

Just wondering what aspects of the background you want to see expanded?

Personally, I really want to know more about the Ghoul Stars............something spooky about them. Scooby doo spooky.

Then there's the C'tan, but they are rumored to be out the window. I think that's a real shame, as they give the universe such a massive scale of time.

I'd like to see a bigger Tau presence, they're a little small right now.

Mr Nobody wrote:I'd like to see a bigger Tau presence, they're a little small right now.

They're going to stay that way, in all likelihoods. They're restricted to one(albeit huge) expanse of space. They don't have the Warp technology to get farther away without the crews on board the ships dying, nor do they have access to the Webway or anything like that.

Toastedandy wrote:Killer title right?

Just wondering what aspects of the background you want to see expanded?

Personally, I really want to know more about the Ghoul Stars............something spooky about them. Scooby doo spooky.

Then there's the C'tan, but they are rumored to be out the window. I think that's a real shame, as they give the universe such a massive scale of time.

Aye, the Ghoul Stars are definitely one of the areas I want to learn more about. I also would like to know about Imperial controlled planets in the Halo Zone (something like vostroya?), more about frontier space, including those with little imperial authority within the reach of the Astronomican.

Kanluwen wrote:

Mr Nobody wrote:I'd like to see a bigger Tau presence, they're a little small right now.

They're going to stay that way, in all likelihoods. They're restricted to one(albeit huge) expanse of space. They don't have the Warp technology to get farther away without the crews on board the ships dying, nor do they have access to the Webway or anything like that.

Kan's right it would take some major retconning in order to change this. In my opinion GW should have started them off bigger. I do want to know what the Ethereals are about though

Flesh out more of the races that are occassionally given a mention in novels, codexes and such, usually but not always as antognists. Many of them have empires - some larger than that of the Tau.

More on the very many and diverse Imperial Guard Regiments and their homeworlds.

I would like to see more fluff on tau diplomats.

I always liked the sci-fi tech talk they did in some of the older books or WD issues. We got cross sections of power armour, bolters, even a Land Raider, combined with a detailed explanation of how that stuff works. I'd very much like to see GW pick up on this tradition again and expand it, rather than having to read the same basics over and over again.

Whilst the rulebooks and codices -have- to contain these basics for new players to get a grasp of the setting, stuff like this could actually make WD interesting again. Or find a place in some special book (like the Wargear one).

I'd like to see the ongoing conflicts between the Tau and the Imperium fleshed out more. I think that they have a ton of potential for great fluff in a conventional war kind of setting.

I think the first major scraps between them have been more accidental than anything. The DGC was an attack on an unknown race into an empire where they didn't know the difference between a major planet and minor one. Taros was just a mishandled mess that went to hell because the planning went to hell. Finally, Nimbosa was a draw because the Tau wiped out everyone in the first attack then were pushed off in the second attack. Since nobody made any real gains in the conflict it kind of is "just there" with no real impact on either side.

I would also like to see Abby do something on the Cadian front worth holding back yawns. While I understand he shattered the Cadian Gate in his last attack, they really need to do something substantial to keep the story interesting.


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Mr Morden wrote:Flesh out more of the races that are occassionally given a mention in novels, codexes and such, usually but not always as antognists. Many of them have empires - some larger than that of the Tau.

More on the very many and diverse Imperial Guard Regiments and their homeworlds.

I think we will most likely see more races in the new Tau dex that will most likely touch on this subject.

I want to see more of what it's like for your average Imperial citizen.

id like to see the orks WOMP the imperium really hard

Kanluwen wrote:

Mr Nobody wrote:I'd like to see a bigger Tau presence, they're a little small right now.

They're going to stay that way, in all likelihoods. They're restricted to one(albeit huge) expanse of space. They don't have the Warp technology to get farther away without the crews on board the ships dying, nor do they have access to the Webway or anything like that.

Tau invent Necron style warp drive, get access to Webway from friendly Craftworld. Job done.

I would like the story line to advance. I think it would be cool if the Emporer died for real, throwing the IoM into all sorts of excitement. The whole galaxy would get a good shake-up. You could do almost anything within the story line.

Well I would like to see the Primarchs return thats for sure.

It isn't that hard to expand the Tau. All it would require is the invention of a way of warpless transportation and they can go expand much further.

Personally I want the timeline to move forward but realistically that won't happen. I would like to see more about the minor species and more fluff about the gaps in imperial space. A lot of 40k fluff focuses on the edges of imperial space while there are some major wholes in imperial controled space.

Kilkrazy wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:

Mr Nobody wrote:I'd like to see a bigger Tau presence, they're a little small right now.

They're going to stay that way, in all likelihoods. They're restricted to one(albeit huge) expanse of space. They don't have the Warp technology to get farther away without the crews on board the ships dying, nor do they have access to the Webway or anything like that.

Tau invent Necron style warp drive, get access to Webway from friendly Craftworld. Job done.

I would like the story line to advance. I think it would be cool if the Emporer died for real, throwing the IoM into all sorts of excitement. The whole galaxy would get a good shake-up. You could do almost anything within the story line.

I would like to see that. The IoM could fracture. It would give us a lot of good opportunity to have some IoM on IoM smackdown.

They're not going to advance the plot much, and honestly they shouldn't in my opinion. The fluff is set up the way it is for a reason: a delicate balance that opens up infinite possibilities, more so than one where the Imperium is undergoing some catastrophic collapse.

Not to mention the fluff as it is isn't really much of a balance. The Imperium is clearly already falling. Just like Rome didn't fall in a day, but over hundreds of years, the Imperium has been in a slow but accelerating decline for millennia. And just like in Rome, the average citizen doesn't even know they are living in the last days of an empire. Business continues as usual while Imperial power slowly fades. Enemy incursions and local uprisings occur and are fought back, small attempts at expansion may or may not succeed, but over time the borders inevitably shrink.

The "current" 40k universe is a snapshot in the middle of this decline, and this makes it a perfect sandbox. The fluff is well-established but still so broad that anyone could conceivably play out any scenario they wanted somewhere in the galaxy. The Imperium triumphant can exist one subsector away from the Imperium reeling under xenos attack, and it doesn't feel out of place. Imperial forces already fight among themselves on scales large and small, for various reasons, yet still retain the coherency as a whole to put up a fight against dire external threats.

If you make significant changes to that formula, you change the whole game. How do you justify playing Rogue Trader when the Astronomican has now gone out? How do you justify your crusading Space Marine chapter doing anything but rushing to defend Terra if Abbaddon's latest Black Crusade has finally broken through? How do you mass enough forces to oppose a Hive Fleet or an Ork Waaagh when Imperial power has been shattered? There's plenty of story to explore if you shake things up some, but do it too much and you risk breaking the entire setting.

The fluff exists to support our own stories, either within it or building atop it. Games Workshop is smart enough to not advance things too far - by officially exploring one of the infinite stories waiting to be written, they risk closing off too many others.

Is it just an FTL drive that the Tau have?

OT
I want to see the Necrons perk up somewhat and start kicking over territories.

I'd like to see the Tau pull their finger out and acknowledge the existence of the warp so they can invent warp travel and start being the thorn in everyones side they could be.

IMO the Emperor dying for real would cause too many problems. Chaos would flood through Cadia gate, GW would have to do something about the Numen story arch, the tyranids wouldn't be following the beacon anymore.

I'm surprised that GW hasn't allowed the Tau to develop some sort of "Mass Effect" FTL drive.

I'm not. That's their handicap. All races need one, all races have one. Be it the Imperiums size, and how slow it is, or the Orkz inability to coordinate for long periods, each race needs that balancing factor.

The Administratum. I like stories about the Administratum for some reason.

I'd like to have more info about...

The Effects of Prolonged Chaos Exposure
Tau and Imperial Civilians
The Overall Tau Empire
The Imperial Guard
The Traitor Legions
Necron Technology
Necron Whereabouts
Number of Tyranids

iproxtaco wrote:I'm not. That's their handicap. All races need one, all races have one. Be it the Imperiums size, and how slow it is, or the Orkz inability to coordinate for long periods, each race needs that balancing factor.

Why?

This is the fluff, not the game.

Kilkrazy wrote:

iproxtaco wrote:I'm not. That's their handicap. All races need one, all races have one. Be it the Imperiums size, and how slow it is, or the Orkz inability to coordinate for long periods, each race needs that balancing factor.

Why?

This is the fluff, not the game.

Because an enemy with no weaknesses and no way to defeat it would be incredibly boring in a setting where hopeless war is the theme.

Kilkrazy wrote:

iproxtaco wrote:I'm not. That's their handicap. All races need one, all races have one. Be it the Imperiums size, and how slow it is, or the Orkz inability to coordinate for long periods, each race needs that balancing factor.

Why?

This is the fluff, not the game.

So youre advocating imbalance in the background?
No cons, just pros is a bit useless, uninteresting and most likely a breeding ground for the worst of fanbois.

What I'd like to see is:

- rise of the necrons. undead in space...
- the scale of the playground and the threat level balanced out.
- who pulls the strings behind the etherals?

Just pointing out if Emperor died for real and was unable to come back there is no Imperium at all to fight for. The warp opens and another eye of terror opens over most if not all of it's territories. Even if this doesn't happen Imperium would still survive as all it's citizens will never know he died. The only one's who might know are the High Lords and some planetary governors.

The 2 lost legions.

iproxtaco wrote:Because an enemy with no weaknesses and no way to defeat it would be incredibly boring in a setting where hopeless war is the theme.

+1 to that

Admittedly this is just a personal preference, but everyone and everything - not just characters - needs flaws to balance its advantages, else you'd end up with ... well, a non-character Mary-Sue? Not sure if there's actually a real term to describe it but you get my drift.

I would wonder if the Tau's slow rate of expansion is really that big of a handicap, considering the only reason they've survived this long (fluff-wise) is because the Imperium had better things to do than exterminate them.

Psienesis wrote:I would wonder if the Tau's slow rate of expansion is really that big of a handicap, considering the only reason they've survived this long (fluff-wise) is because the Imperium had better things to do than exterminate them.

Another pro for the slow expansion is what they secure is very secured and they don't burn themselves out. Like in the Damonacles crusade the imperial crusade couldn't get past a single sept (Dal'yth) because they're all so fortified.

Despite this I still think it would be nice if they controlled more space, maybe if they started farther east or south away from humanity, and made contact with humans later.

Being unable to expand with warp travel is hardly the Tau's main problem. Their weakeness is their size. Making them unable to expand isn't a good weakness to choose because it's stops any expansion in the future. It's better to give them a FTL travel now than wait until GW need them to have it, by which time it will be a much larger retcon.

Giving them FTL travel wouldn't make them much more powerful- they would still be a tiny empire trying to compete with the IoM.