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Normal humans can use power armour, if they are rich and powerful and influential with the Mechanicus enough to get their own suit.
However, they won't ever be able to use the Astartes pattern power armours, as not only are those not designed for humans, they are also sacred, holy relics. It would be heretical for a non-Astartes to wear them.

At the end of the day, legalities aside, a Space Marine looking to sell his PA for "Fair market value" had better be talking to someone like a well-off Rogue Trader or a Planetary Governor, high-ranking member of the Ecclesiarchy, or someone of similar social standing, to have a chance of them having the cash on hand to pay for it... or, if not cash, equal value in trade goods and the like.

But no marine is going to sell his armor. Whats he going to do without it?

Retire to that Paradise World he and the rest of his squad (he is the last survivor) just liberated from the Slaaneshi cult.

If I were a Marine going AWOL I would ditch my power armor. Preferably in a nearby ocean. The less things linking me to the Adeptus Astartes the better.

 Smacks wrote:
tldr version: How much is Space Marine armour / power armour worth in the 40k setting, relative to other things?

Very little, to a normal human being.

Now, power armor NOT designed for hideous, heavily modified mutant abominations would be quite valuable, more wealth than the totality of what a hundred average citizens would produce in their lifetime. Because of usability issues, it'd probably be worth MORE than Astartes armor unless the person buying it was a collector.

 Melissia wrote:
Now, power armor NOT designed for hideous, heavily modified mutant abominations would be quite valuable .

Too bad for collectors that SoB PA is even more recognizable than the average marine suit. ;-)

It's a treasure any way, and anyone capable of using it isn't your average citizen. The sports car analogy is flawed - this isn't just a luxury item, it's a priceless relic with some pretty specific stats a user needs to fill. Only the richest Rogue Traders can afford customizing a suit. But ofc, if they can afford it they're also far above any average Chapter's complaints or oversight. And they've probably earned it as battle rights or in services rendered to the Chapter.

A Rogue Trader wouldn't "customize" a suit of Astartes PA. He/She wouldn't fit into it and, more, doesn't have the Black Carapace to interface with it.

The other kinds of PA that are normally worn by high-ranking IG officers, Inquisitors, Arbites and similar luminaries? RTs can get that stuff all day long. It's not particularly impressive to them.

If a RT ever aquired a suit of Astartes power armor he'd likely give it back to the original owners. having a space Marine Chapter owe you a debt of honor isn't exactly a bad thing to have

BrianDavion wrote:
If a RT ever aquired a suit of Astartes power armor he'd likely give it back to the original owners. having a space Marine Chapter owe you a debt of honor isn't exactly a bad thing to have

+1 to this.

It's far more useful as a political bargaining chip to obtain future favors than it is on its own.

 Psienesis wrote:

Gwaihirsbrother wrote:
In a society as big, spread out, and poorly managed/supervised as the imperium, I find it entirely plausible that there would be cities or worlds where someone has a contraband suit of power armor that they are willing to part with four the right price.

Yes... but there's only 1 million Space Marines.

The odds of even the scuzziest of wealthy Rogue Traders coming by a suit of Space Marine PA are pretty slim... and then trying to sell it?

The Inquisition would be on him like white on rice.

Not to mention the chapter it belonged to. I'd almost pity the fool that attempted to sell a suit of Dark Angel or Minotaur armor on the black market.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:

Gwaihirsbrother wrote:
In a society as big, spread out, and poorly managed/supervised as the imperium, I find it entirely plausible that there would be cities or worlds where someone has a contraband suit of power armor that they are willing to part with four the right price.

Yes... but there's only 1 million Space Marines.

The odds of even the scuzziest of wealthy Rogue Traders coming by a suit of Space Marine PA are pretty slim... and then trying to sell it?

The Inquisition would be on him like white on rice.

Not to mention the chapter it belonged to. I'd almost pity the fool that attempted to sell a suit of Dark Angel or Minotaur armor on the black market.

the Inqusition likely wouldn't deal with it on their own no, but they'd certinly pass it along to the chapter in question. at the least the chapter'd proably give some brownie points to the Inq who passed it along

Space marines are pretty much walking gods to your average dude. I believe the only bribe they would need is a boot to the skull.

Veteran Sergeant wrote:The cost is simply listed in raw materials.

But while Bill Gates could afford an F-22, the government isn't going to let him buy one, lol. And I doubt there is a market for second hand power armor.

So you might as well refer to power armor as "priceless", because it has no value. That and a normal human being wouldn't be able to use Space Marine armor anyway, simply by virtue of the sheer size of it.

Even the highly industrialized planets of the Imperium are often politically feudal. It is probable that Bill Gates is required to own an F-22, as well as maintain a stable of F-22s for his sons and stewards and squires, corps of armsmen to secure facilities, technicians, and hangar-hands. The Imperial USAF is Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, and the Koch Brothers. Between them, they have the armory space and the military procurement offices to stick a suit of power(ed) armor in a corner somewhere

PhillyT wrote:Normal humans can't even wear Astartes power armor. It is way too big and requires the black carapace.

So the likely market for space marine power armor is probably space marines. Maybe there are many chapters that do not produce power armor at all, and some chapters that produce all of their own power armor but will acquire one-off suits from other sources for access to technology like suit systems or performance standards that their own versions do not have. In these cases there are probably agencies that seek out power armor, because they often provision chapters with other equipment.

Smacks wrote:Some marines might also want to get rid of their armour, such as renegades. I know a lot of them do keep it, but it isn't exactly inconspicuous if you're trying to avoid the inquisition... Though I guess neither is being 7 foot tall.

Renegades may also like to buy power armor.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Smacks wrote:
Some marines might also want to get rid of their armour, such as renegades. I know a lot of them do keep it, but it isn't exactly inconspicuous if you're trying to avoid the inquisition... Though I guess neither is being 7 foot tall.

Even without armor they'd stick out like a sore thumb. Might as well keep the armor.

Renegades basically have only a few options.

1) Join the Deathwatch as a Black Shield.

2) Go to the Eye of Terror.

3) Join an Imperial Crusade as penance.

4) Hunker down somewhere on the fringe of Imperial space and make your way as best you can with your special abilities as a mercenary.

tell that to the alpha legion


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Smacks wrote:
Some marines might also want to get rid of their armour, such as renegades. I know a lot of them do keep it, but it isn't exactly inconspicuous if you're trying to avoid the inquisition... Though I guess neither is being 7 foot tall.

Alpharius managed to hide among normal men. Aparently being 7-8 ft tall isnt that strange when there are things like Ogryns running about


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Psienesis wrote:
At the end of the day, legalities aside, a Space Marine looking to sell his PA for "Fair market value" had better be talking to someone like a well-off Rogue Trader or a Planetary Governor, high-ranking member of the Ecclesiarchy, or someone of similar social standing, to have a chance of them having the cash on hand to pay for it... or, if not cash, equal value in trade goods and the like.

something like PA is in most places going to be so rare that there is no "fair market value"

it might sell for 1/10 the cost of its materials and manufacture or it might sell for 100 times that value. Supply is low, what about demand? The Imperium is a big place and it probably varies all over.

Demand for Astartes power armor is incredibly low. There might, in the entirety of space, be a hundred thousand people who want to own it.

 Exergy wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
At the end of the day, legalities aside, a Space Marine looking to sell his PA for "Fair market value" had better be talking to someone like a well-off Rogue Trader or a Planetary Governor, high-ranking member of the Ecclesiarchy, or someone of similar social standing, to have a chance of them having the cash on hand to pay for it... or, if not cash, equal value in trade goods and the like.

something like PA is in most places going to be so rare that there is no "fair market value"

it might sell for 1/10 the cost of its materials and manufacture or it might sell for 100 times that value. Supply is low, what about demand? The Imperium is a big place and it probably varies all over.

Also note that a set of PA is not a commodity but a revered holy object. Putting a price on it would be like pricing the Holy Shroud of Turin: As a linen blanket of ancient but unknown origin, it's probably almost worthless. But when you consider the religious strings attached, its price skyrockets beyond humanly affordable levels.

In all, I don't think there's a "fair price" for something like Power Armor. In the Imperium, money is a thing for the common man. Its elites have regressed past the point where such petty inconveniences matter.

Holy Shroud of Turin: As a linen blanket of ancient but unknown origin, it's probably almost worthless. But when you consider the religious strings attached, its price skyrockets beyond humanly affordable levels.

The Holy Shroud of Turin is basically valueless, since it's a forgery. This is pretty well understood at this point. There's a few medieval painting techniques (from the 13th century) that enable painting on fabric and granting a degree of "transparency" in images, though it is more likely that the image was created through a "light scorching" method. Also, of the image, the proportions of the body don't line up to a real person, but they do line up to several styles common during the Gothic period, which is the era of the first recorded appearance of the Shroud.



However, in 40K, there's no doubting the fact that Space Marines, the grandsons of the God-Emperor, exist. Their armor is depicted in religious art throughout the Imperium. Massive statues of them stand on hundreds of worlds. A suit of Marine PA would be fairly recognizable to just about anyone in the Imperium and while it is extremely valuable, it is not invaluable. As a work of art, it is incredibly valuable. To the right collector or antiquarian, it is incredibly valuable. However, being that these suits are not entirely irreplaceable, and also that there's at least a million more in the galaxy, does not make them one-of-a-kind items.

Smacks wrote:I ended up at this corporate research lab, it was all very promising. But the elevator had two sets of doors, and I missed my floor because the doors opened behind me. Then I had to go to loads of floors I didn't want, and it was so annoying it woke me up.

Wow, I thought I was the only person who had elevator dreams.

Anyways, a marine's power armor is sacred. You might as well ask what the value of a piece of the true cross, or the shroud of turin, or a chiseled off piece of the kabah, or a mummified remnant of one of the Buddha's fingernails is worth.

Or, you know, Publius. If you agreed to sell me your power armor for $20, then the value of your power armor is $20.

 Exergy wrote:

jhe90 wrote:
Probbly a massive fortune vs the average wage.
The materials cost huge amounts, high end ceramite, metals, fibre muscle strands, technology, micro reactor for power.

None of this is a average lasgun type stuff.

I remember reading some primary source material about the cost of a medieval knight, which was all costed in cows. From Memory:
The knight required a cow/year
The war horse another cow/year
The sword was 2 cows
Other weapons were 1 cow
And the armor was 10 cows

I would imagine that power armor would be similarly expensive, probably more something like 50x more expensive than a Bolter and a Bolter is more complex and expensive than any commoner could afford.

One thing that would be cool would be cool would power-armoured imperial guard regiments composed of nobility.

Dude, really? This thread is a year old...