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Made in gb
Sniping Hexa





SW UK

I have had this annoyance ever since starting 40k. The imperium is meant to inhabit one million worlds and there are supposed to be even more than this the imperium don't control. The vast majority of these planets seem to resemble (or used to) earth. It seems remarkable that there are so many earth like planets in what would appear to be an empty, inhospitable galaxy. Despite the fact there are billions upon billions of stars in our galaxy, few contain any form on planetary system and it would be even more rare to find one with even the most rudimentary form of life on it. In the AOBR book it has a map of the galaxy and gives an example system called 'Cabulis'. It contains five planets ALL of which are inhabited. The 40k universe seems to have very little thought or mention of gas giants or small rocky inhospitable planets like you find in our solar system. The only explanation I can think of is that Mechanicus must have become VERY good at terraforming. Another point I am puzzled by is that in a heavily populated galaxy such as this, you would expect allot of problems with black holes and super novas. There seem to be very few (if any at all) mentions of this in the fluff, 'warp storms' are the main problem.
So would anyone care to enlighten me?

Inquisitor_Syphonious wrote:All I can say is... thank you vodo40k...

Zweischneid wrote:No way man. A Space Marine in itself is scary. But a Marine WITHOUT helmet wears at least 3-times as much plot-armour as a Marine with helmet. And heaven forbid if the Marine would also happen to have an intimidating looking, vertical scar. Then you're surly boned. Those guys are the worst. Not a chance I'd say.

 
   
Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

I wouldn't call 40K a bastion of hard science fiction.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in gb
Raging Ravener




Sealed in a box- in a state of flux

There's also the fact that there are probably many planets out there that are small or gas, just that as noone can live there, who cares?
They'll only get a mention in BL when they are a plot device.


DS:90-S+G++M--B--I--Pw40k06+D++A++/hWD300R++T(S)DM+
DerangdFlamingo wrote:Tau 1: Is that a black eye mate?
Tau 2: Yeah, i got lucky last night...
 
   
Made in us
Tough-as-Nails Ork Boy



U.S.A.

I am pretty sure they tarraformed alot of them during the goden age (time before the dark age, I forgot the name). I know mars was but reverted back to what it is like today because of all the industry.

I play :
about 1250
Proud member of the OCLU (Ork Civil Liberties Union).  
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran




San Diego, CA

The fluff very frequently mentions the fact that there are far more uninhabited systems than there are inhabited ones, and that the Imperium is spread very thinly. A million worlds (not a million systems, incidentally) really is a small fraction of the galaxy.

As far as gas giants and what-have-you, unless someone's set up operations on or around it, there's not much point in bringing your attention to it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/12/18 17:33:42


Bernard, float over here so I can punch you. 
   
Made in il
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant




California

"Despite the fact there are billions upon billions of stars in our galaxy, few contain any form on planetary system and it would be even more rare to find one with even the most rudimentary form of life on it."

Where did you get the first part from? We're only now starting to detect extrasolar planets, and it's not like it's easy. We've just gotten Jupiter-sized things so far - with the knowledge we currently have, I don't think you can judge how common planets are.

The second part - life isn't really all too hard to support. Just have a planet at the distance from the sun to have liquid water, and you're halfway there. Just add an atmosphere.

Cabulis would almost certainly be a case of terraforming, which, again, could have happened before or during the Dark Age.
   
Made in gb
Sniping Hexa





SW UK

Ah yes all good points, no point mentioning things that aren't interesting. But what about black holes and super novas?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2009/12/18 18:40:41


Inquisitor_Syphonious wrote:All I can say is... thank you vodo40k...

Zweischneid wrote:No way man. A Space Marine in itself is scary. But a Marine WITHOUT helmet wears at least 3-times as much plot-armour as a Marine with helmet. And heaven forbid if the Marine would also happen to have an intimidating looking, vertical scar. Then you're surly boned. Those guys are the worst. Not a chance I'd say.

 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Scyzantine Empire

makr wrote:The second part - life isn't really all too hard to support. Just have a planet at the distance from the sun to have liquid water, and you're halfway there. Just add an atmosphere.



You're half right there. Just the liquid water could be enough if the life involved didn't need to be complex - remember there's an entire ecosystem that thrives around deep ocean vents without light or atmosphere, just water, chemicals, and nutrients gleaned from smokers on the ocean floor. However, I don't think the Imperium is much interested in any planet that doesn't support human life. Except to exterminate whatever non-human life happens to be there to make sure it doesn't get any ideas about human-safe planets...


Killkrazy's got a good point though. 40K's never been known to have a firm rooting in hard science fiction. When you've got to invoke prayers of supplication while appling ointments of purification to appease the spirits of the block and tackle to perform the task at hand, science gets thrown out the porthole.

What harm can it do to find out? It's a question that left bruises down the centuries, even more than "It can't hurt if I only take one" and "It's all right if you only do it standing up." Terry Pratchett, Making Money

"Can a magician kill a man by magic?" Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. "I suppose a magician might," he admitted, "but a gentleman never could." Susanna Clarke Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

DA:70+S+G+M++B++I++Pw40k94-D+++A+++/mWD160R++T(m)DM+

 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

vodo40k wrote:Ah yes all good points, no point mentioning things that aren't interesting. But what about black holes and super novas?


Stay away from them, maybe?

As for all the planets, apparently the Old ones had something or other to do with it.

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
Made in au
Sinewy Scourge






Western Australia

Stay away from black holes. They are portals to the warp! (Actually they could be, things go in and don't come out, we can't see inside them, and that way the stuff actually does go somewhere...)

Avoiding supernovas is a touch more difficult. Unless you're close to them. In which case the several thousand year process of the star dying beforehand should be a hint that you need to go away. An unexplored system a few stars over would be far more dangerous.

Kabal of Venomed Dreams
Mourning Angel
UsdiThunder wrote:This is why I am a devout Xenos Scum. We at least do not worship Toasters.

 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





Chicago, Illinois

wait the imperium has a million worlds. why not just put 100 space marines on each planet. because that would work. and then put guardsmen on them too. because one thing who cares about the rest of the gaxaly. mankind was kind of stupid when making their empire and spreading it across everywhere. and thinly.

From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war. 
   
Made in au
Lethal Lhamean






At Ash Command.

There is less the one Space Marine for every planet in the Imperium. Your plan fails, an assassin shall be seeing you shortly to rectify your mistake.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2009/12/22 07:53:43


 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





Chicago, Illinois

ugh. thank god i have 200 libarains who can see into the future : D.

From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war. 
   
Made in au
Lethal Lhamean






So Ill send a Culexus then. 200 shots should end you.
   
Made in us
Da Head Honcho Boss Grot





Minnesota

vodo40k wrote:Ah yes all good points, no point mentioning things that aren't interesting. But what about black holes and super novas?
What about them? They really wouldn't matter very much in any realistic SciFi. They're only common because they act as a plot device, but that role is largely taken by Warp rifts.

Anuvver fing - when they do sumfing, they try to make it look like somfink else to confuse everybody. When one of them wants to lord it over the uvvers, 'e says "I'm very speshul so'z you gotta worship me", or "I know summink wot you lot don't know, so yer better lissen good". Da funny fing is, arf of 'em believe it and da over arf don't, so 'e 'as to hit 'em all anyway or run fer it.
 
   
Made in au
Gore-Soaked Lunatic Witchhunter






Australia (Recently ravaged by the Hive Fleet Ginger Overlord)

Shaman wrote:At Ash Command.

There is less the one Space Marine for every planet in the Imperium. Your plan fails, an assassin shall be seeing you shortly to rectify your mistake.


Keep it up, Shaman.

We cannot abide incompetence in the Imperium any more than we can the xenos or the heretic.

Smacks wrote:
After the game, pack up all your miniatures, then slap the guy next to you on the ass and say.

"Good game guys, now lets hit the showers"
 
   
 
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