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As title. I thought it might be interesting

Things to consider:
Damage
Range
Ammunition
Accuracy


The races/weapons are:
Space marines of all kinds & SoB/bolter
Gaurd/lasgun
Tau/Pulse Rifle
Eldar/shuriken carapult
Necron/Gauss Flayer
Dark Eldar/Splinter Rifle
Tyranid/Fleshborer
Ork/shoota

(Please correct me if I get anything wrong)

Rank each race's standard weapon based on what?
If we have to rate them based purely on combat performance (power, accuracy etc.) Than I would say the list below:

1. Gauss Flayer
2. Bolter
3. Pulse Rifle
4. Splinter Rifle
5. Shuriken Catapult
6. Fleshborer
7. Lasgun

If other things are taken into consideration however (cost, logistics etc.) the Lasgun would surely rank a lot higher and the Fleshborer would be #1.

Add (ork/shoota) as well?

1. Gauss flayer
2. Shoota
3. Pulse Rifle
4. Shuriken Catapult
5. Bolter
6. Splinter Rifle
7. Fleshborer
8. lasgun

In terms of utility and killing power, divorced from the wielder, and going based on fluff values rather than gameplay?

Judging off a scale of Poor, Fair, Good and High, in terms of stopping power, range, versatility, ammunition capacity and reliability;

1. Gauss Flayer (Good stopping power, good range, high versatility, infinite ammunition, high reliability)
2. Pulse Rifle (High stopping power, high range, good versatility, fair ammunition, good reliability)
3. Shuriken Catapult (Good stopping power, good versatility, high ammunition, poor range, good reliability)
4. Splinter Rifle (High stopping power, good range, poor versatility, good ammunition, good reliability)
5. Bolter (Good stopping power, good range, fair versatility, poor ammunition, poor reliability)
6. Ork Shoota (Good stopping power, fair range, fair versatility, fair ammunition, poor reliability)
7. Lasgun (Fair stopping power, good range, poor versatility, good ammunition, high reliability)
8. Fleshborer (Fair stopping power, poor range, poor versatility, good ammunition, high reliability)

Wow forgot that.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
In terms of utility and killing power, divorced from the wielder, and going based on fluff values rather than gameplay?

Judging off a scale of Poor, Fair, Good and High, in terms of stopping power, range, versatility, ammunition capacity and reliability;

1. Gauss Flayer (Good stopping power, good range, high versatility, infinite ammunition, high reliability)
2. Pulse Rifle (High stopping power, high range, good versatility, fair ammunition, good reliability)
3. Shuriken Catapult (Good stopping power, good versatility, high ammunition, poor range, good reliability)
4. Splinter Rifle (High stopping power, good range, poor versatility, good ammunition, good reliability)
5. Bolter (Good stopping power, good range, fair versatility, poor ammunition, poor reliability)
6. Ork Shoota (Good stopping power, fair range, fair versatility, fair ammunition, poor reliability)
7. Lasgun (Fair stopping power, good range, poor versatility, good ammunition, high reliability)
8. Fleshborer (Fair stopping power, poor range, poor versatility, good ammunition, high reliability)

Pretty much this. Although I'm not sure I agree with Bolters being unreliable.

Bolters are explicitly stated to be unreliable, ornery pieces of kit in several places, most memorably the Necromunda rulebook.

That's one of the reasons they aren't given to Guardsmen casually. They tend to jam or misfire due to the many, many complicated moving parts and highly sensitive nature of the bolt's arming and detonation systems.

Decided to go a little more into detail with mine
Mine:
1or2. Necron/Gauss Flayer:
Another contender for top spot. Quite powerful, with a seemingly unlimited ammunition capacity AFAIK, it can even take on tanks with relative ease.

1or2. Tau/Pulse Rifle:
The Pulse Rifle has been shown in fluff to be the best basic gun available other than the Gauss Flayer (I'm to to sure about them compared to each other). It is even blatantly stated in the tau codex that it is more powerful than the basic gun of any other race. it has a long range and great accuracy. It's canon ammunition capacity is 50 shots for a single charge pack, almost as good as the lasgun's 60, but it is far more powerful.

3. Dark Eldar/Splinter Rifle:
Less powerful than some, but the poison in these things can be deadly with even a small scratch.

4. Eldar/shuriken catapult:
A good weapon with great ammunition capacity, it suffers solely from limited range.

5. Space marines of all kinds & SoB/bolter:
Good all-round weapon suffers mostly from a limited ammunition capacity (15 IIRC) and availability.

6. Tyranid/Fleshborer:
Easly produced ammunition, it suffers from short range, but it's ease of use (for tyranids) helps it greatly in close range (assault).

7. Gaurd/lasgun:
Great ammunition capacity and easly produced, it suffers from being a relatively weak weapon

8. Ork/shoota:
An erratic weapon at best, but still relatively strong.

Pretty much agree with Furyo's list

Gauss flayer. No other basic gun can take out a land raider...

In fact, If memory serves, the first fluff instance of the Gauss Flayer had it punching a hole and blowing up a land raider.

Just want to mention I agree with Miko on this one. Very good rating system.

Also just to throw in, in a ciaphas cain book involving the Tau some guardsmen killed by Tau pulse weapons had their cause of death written off as a plasma gun of some kind. So at least on unarmored guardsmen a pulse rifle has similar damage characteristics to a plasma rifle.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Bolters are explicitly stated to be unreliable, ornery pieces of kit in several places, most memorably the Necromunda rulebook.

That's one of the reasons they aren't given to Guardsmen casually. They tend to jam or misfire due to the many, many complicated moving parts and highly sensitive nature of the bolt's arming and detonation systems.

Hmm, I had never come across that myself. I figured they were just too expensive for the Imperium to produce to be handing out to the common guardsman. The more you know I guess

Fluffwise, the best gun is the Gauss Flayer. I'm not sure what the energy requirements are to completely atomize a one ton space marine, but I'm sure they're ridiculous. Plus, the Gauss Flayer never runs out of ammo, is demonstrably tough enough to be swung around in melee combat (in the Word Bearers' books a Necron Warrior can drive the axe bayonet thing through a Marine's helmet fairly easily), and it invokes sheer, unrelenting terror in the way it kills.

I'd rank it something like this, top to bottom:

Astartes Boltgun/Gauss Flayer (Flayer has more utility due to greater AV capabilities, bolter has better anti-infantry efficiency)
Shuriken and Splinter weapons (Better at piercing armour than boltgun, but loses out in stopping power)
Pulse weapons (Good power, still comparatively lacking in overall efficiency)
Sororitas Boltguns (Like IG ones but higher quality)
Fleshborers (Great power, lacking in range and penetration)
IG Boltguns (All the drawbacks of Astartes Boltguns but smaller and thus weaker)
Lasguns (Comparatively poor damage output, good reliability)

Yes, but that's because you're trying to get a rise out of me by saying Sororitas bolters are less good, when they're not.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Yes, but that's because you're trying to get a rise out of me by saying Sororitas bolters are less good, when they're not.

IIRC, the Sorirtas and Astartes have equivalent bolters, but the Arbites and Guard get the cheap ones.

I imagine SoB and IG have far less deadly Boltguns simply because they are human-sized, and thus fire smaller shells.

The quality of SoB and SM Boltguns seems equivalent though.

Saw this in a FFG book and it seemed more than reasonable to me.

After all, why give your colossal superhuman soldiers normal human guns? It'd be a waste of a heavy firing platform. They can carry and accurately fire bigger guns, after all. It'd be like giving Tyranid Warriors Fleshborers, or like giving your Leman Russ a multilaser turret.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
I imagine SoB and IG have far less deadly Boltguns simply because they are human-sized, and thus fire smaller shells.

The quality of SoB and SM Boltguns seems equivalent though.

Saw this in a FFG book and it seemed more than reasonable to me.

After all, why give your colossal superhuman soldiers normal human guns? It'd be a waste of a heavy firing platform. They can carry and accurately fire bigger guns, after all. It'd be like giving Tyranid Warriors Fleshborers, or like giving your Leman Russ a multilaser turret.

Wrong.

There are two kinds of bolters. Standard bolters that fire a .75 cal shell, and Heavy Bolters, that fire a 1.0 cal shell.

There are many kinds of "specialist" shells that can be used by bolters (Stalker, Inferno, etc.)... but these are all .75 cal rounds fired by a standard bolter, available only to the Astartes by tradition, but fully functional in any bolter that can chamber them (which is all of them).

Also, bolter being better than pulse rifles, no, just no. Pulse rifles have better power, range, ammunition, cost, and availability. In fact, pulse rifles are relatively simple being just a coil gun. The only thing that could possibly make a bolter better is that fact that it is being wielded by a space marine..

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Also, bolter being better than pulse rifles, no, just no. Pulse rifles have better power, range, ammunition, cost, and availability. In fact, pulse rifles are relatively simple being just a coil gun. The only thing that could possibly make a bolter better is that fact that it is being wielded by a space marine..

And the astonishing range of ammunition, which makes the bolter much more versatile than the pulse rifle. For that, I would rank the bolter above the pulse rifle purely based on combat performance, but the pulse rifle does have the advantage of being easier to manufacture, being the Tau's standard weapon, whereas the bolter is an elite weapon.

Pulse Rifle:23
Overall power:5
Anti infantry:4
Anti tank:4
Ammunution (supply and clip size):4
Range:5
Customization:1

Bolter:20
Overall power:3
Anti infantry:3
Anti tank:3
Ammunution (supply and clip size):2
Range:4
Customization:5


Even with Customization at the extremes pulse rilfle still wins.

 Psienesis wrote:

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
I imagine SoB and IG have far less deadly Boltguns simply because they are human-sized, and thus fire smaller shells.

The quality of SoB and SM Boltguns seems equivalent though.

Saw this in a FFG book and it seemed more than reasonable to me.

After all, why give your colossal superhuman soldiers normal human guns? It'd be a waste of a heavy firing platform. They can carry and accurately fire bigger guns, after all. It'd be like giving Tyranid Warriors Fleshborers, or like giving your Leman Russ a multilaser turret.

Wrong.

There are two kinds of bolters. Standard bolters that fire a .75 cal shell, and Heavy Bolters, that fire a 1.0 cal shell.

There are many kinds of "specialist" shells that can be used by bolters (Stalker, Inferno, etc.)... but these are all .75 cal rounds fired by a standard bolter, available only to the Astartes by tradition, but fully functional in any bolter that can chamber them (which is all of them).

I guess since a bolter is literally a rapid fire rocket propelled grenade launcher, recoil doesn't really have to be that much of an issue. The initial "bang" only has to get the bolt out of the barrel before the built in rocket engine and stabilization system directs the bolt to the target. Never really thought of it that way. You might even be able to get recoil below modern day combat firearms if you worked at it enough.

The bolter really is 40k in a nutshell...such an absurd, unreliable, and impractical way to kill stuff; but very good at what does.

 Psienesis wrote:

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
I imagine SoB and IG have far less deadly Boltguns simply because they are human-sized, and thus fire smaller shells.

The quality of SoB and SM Boltguns seems equivalent though.

Saw this in a FFG book and it seemed more than reasonable to me.

After all, why give your colossal superhuman soldiers normal human guns? It'd be a waste of a heavy firing platform. They can carry and accurately fire bigger guns, after all. It'd be like giving Tyranid Warriors Fleshborers, or like giving your Leman Russ a multilaser turret.

Wrong.

There are two kinds of bolters. Standard bolters that fire a .75 cal shell, and Heavy Bolters, that fire a 1.0 cal shell.

There are many kinds of "specialist" shells that can be used by bolters (Stalker, Inferno, etc.)... but these are all .75 cal rounds fired by a standard bolter, available only to the Astartes by tradition, but fully functional in any bolter that can chamber them (which is all of them).

Eh... I am going with FFG on this one. Seems a lot more plausible.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I knew my rating would rustle jimmies, though.

I'd agree with Miko, but I'd put the astartes bolter over the pulse rifle for damage and reliability, as when wielded by space marines, it doesn't tend to suffer any terrible malfunctions, and can be loaded with specialist ammo that almost make it as lethal as a gaus flayer. Might simply be due to Astartes and Sisters pleasing their bolters better with more care to the machine spirit. Or they're just better equipped.

(Would we really be survived if the Astartes and Sisters got the best performing bolters that are both relics and the best functioning ones off the assembly lines, and Guardsmen only get the ones that fail their standards?)

I still don't get that. It has been plainly stated in the fluff that the pulse rifle is better than the bolter. And the pulse rifle has never been seen to have a terrible malfuncions. The bolter is a middling weapon at best.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Pulse Rifle:23
Overall power:5
Anti infantry:4
Anti tank:4
Ammo (supply and clip size):4
Range:5
Customization:1

Bolter:20
Overall power:3
Anti infantry:3
Anti tank:3
Ammo (supply and clip size):2
Range:4
Customization:5
Even with Customization at the extremes pulse rilfle still wins.

I am not sure the difference in overall power is so large. The pulse rifle has a longer range, but otherwise they are of fairly equivelent power.
The thing where the pulse rifle really gets its advantage is in being so common.
I would say it is more like this:

Pulse Rifle:23
Overall power:5
Anti infantry:4
Anti tank:4
Ammunution (supply and clip size):4
Range:5
Customization:1

Bolter:22 (23 depending on magazine size)
Overall power:4
Anti infantry:4
Anti tank:4
Ammunution (supply and clip size):2-3 (depending on the size of the magazine. The largest sickle magazine hold 30 rounds)
Range:3
Customization:5

 Wyzilla wrote:
I'd agree with Miko, but I'd put the astartes bolter over the pulse rifle for damage and reliability, as when wielded by space marines, it doesn't tend to suffer any terrible malfunctions, and can be loaded with specialist ammo that almost make it as lethal as a gaus flayer. Might simply be due to Astartes and Sisters pleasing their bolters better with more care to the machine spirit. Or they're just better equipped.

(Would we really be survived if the Astartes and Sisters got the best performing bolters that are both relics and the best functioning ones off the assembly lines, and Guardsmen only get the ones that fail their standards?)

I will disagree heavily with the reliability. For this I cite the necromunda rulebook. In its armory section bolt weapons are explicitly called out as being a massive PITA to maintain and as such only the richest gangs can afford them because they're so temperamental. They are then given (I believe) the best chance to jam out of any weapon that isn't something like a plasma gun. Certainly very bad anyway.

I would argue that underhive gangs much more adequately represent the conditions most 40k forces would fight under than regular space marines. The average space marine has both the devotion and time to ritually service his weapons regularly. The average ganger will probably give it a spit and polish if the boss is going to be around (or he wants to impress the ladies with his gleaming new bolt gun). Reliability isn't just about combat performance, it's about how much time and effort has to be spent on the weapon to keep it in fighting condition.

That said, I will admit that I don't think GW has ever given an official Necromunda statline for pulse weapons, so I don't know how they rate their reliability in comparison.

Bolter is middling (thus 3). I do think that I should correct bolter overall could be 4, but the pulse rifle is better than normal at both anti-tank and anti-infantry (thus 4). Something like the gauss flayer would be anti-tank 5 and something like the splinter rifle would be anti-inantry 5.
So bolter: 21
Pulse rifle: 23

That's only a difference of 2 out of a possible 30. Th pulse rifle is better, just not exceedingly so (and it was only a difference of 3 before anyway).

Doubt that this is a topic that will ever reach a consensus...

That was kind of the point . This is the stuff I find fun, and I often learn new things (for instance, I didn't know the bolter could have a 30 bolt clip).