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MurderKing wrote:
The Dark Mechanicus is more than likely is more technologically advanced than everyone else, but 1, they are not likely to share the good stuff, and 2, as a result of this dangerous technology they themselves probably fall prone to lots of workplace accidents. The Black Crusade rpg books talk about lots of cool chaos technology. The reason this stuff isn't seen across Chaos as a whole is because traitor forces don't necessarily work as a team. They are just as likely to attack another chaos faction as they are imperials, given certain situations.

They keep the good stuff as chaos is dog eat dog and soon as you sell it, could be used against you.
So they keep thr best stuff for selves, for protection and ensuring that say a war and does not renage on payment.

Yeah I'd, expect them to develop more stuff by now. Though I thought they were the ones responsible for Daemon Engines and all that other fun stuff? So I guess that's what they've been focusing on, corrupting and enhancing original tech than creating new stuff.

Bear in mind, Chaos forces don't share well, and are perfectly happy to raid, loot and kill each other.

Chances are, when a Magos of the Dark Mechanicum die, the majority of their knowledge and research dies with them.

Another thing to consider is how much the warp twists creations. Who is to say they didn't invent a great new flier, then the warp twisted them and the pilots in to heldrakes.

 Rippy wrote:
Another thing to consider is how much the warp twists creations. Who is to say they didn't invent a great new flier, then the warp twisted them and the pilots in to heldrakes.

thats a good point, doesn't one of the novels note that chaos ternds to twist things to what IT wants you to be?

BrianDavion wrote:

 Rippy wrote:
Another thing to consider is how much the warp twists creations. Who is to say they didn't invent a great new flier, then the warp twisted them and the pilots in to heldrakes.

thats a good point, doesn't one of the novels note that chaos ternds to twist things to what IT wants you to be?

Yes that is correct

If you read about the heldrake on the wiki, you will see that having yourself and a flier mixed with a daemon who enslaves your soul, and then having your shape twisted in to a heldrake is a great gift! The vox still even works on the heldrake, meaning that as you scream in torment, it comes out as roars from the heldrake! Bless Chaos for this great gift....

The constant retconning of the Heresy hurts Chaos quite a bit. Used to be they had such rough equipment because most of the current tech was barely being developed in the Heresy. For example, in 2nd edition Chaos had plasma pistols and guns exactly like the Imperials have now.

But plasma cannons in the Heresy were restricted to large vehicles like Dreadnoughts, only becoming man-portable after the Heresy, so Chaos never had them. And to show they were more developed, Imperial plasma weapons were weaker, but with absolutely no chance of Getting Hot.

Chaos used to have more powerful, more dangerous weapons styles, or just more primitive ones like marine-carried autocannons. But then GW threw everything in modern 40k into the Heresy, and both Imperial time periods became muddled, but with no explanation as to why Chaos never kept anything like specialized Terminator heavy weapons, and the like, when it's commonly a fluff element that for the Chaos forces, substantially less time has passed due to the Warp.

At least things like the latest Thousand Sons wargear has made some lengths to give some unique wargear to Chaos forces.

SideSwipe wrote:
Bear in mind, Chaos forces don't share well, and are perfectly happy to raid, loot and kill each other.

Chances are, when a Magos of the Dark Mechanicum die, the majority of their knowledge and research dies with them.

Lol given there freaky tech die is a word that can mean not quite the end.
But yeah. Chaos is very does not play well with others.

The short answer is: They are.

They just lack resources and infrastructure. In fact, it's quite common to see smaller sized mechanical wonders developed by the dark mechanicus, and all sorts of odd but effective experiments by the warpsmiths of various warbands. They'd do more if they had more, but as it stands the freedom to progress is pretty much they only thing they have left to progress with. They have a lot of one-hit wonders, but you're not going to see anything mass produced.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And then you have things like this

Man, this thread makes me think of just how -lazy- Death Guard Techmarines must be.

"Oh....It grew Nurglings? That's normal."

"The rust actually makes it's structural sustainability higher, you know."

"We -could- get all the old Land Speeder's working. But i'd rather make newer Daemon engines..That are suspiciously vastly superior to the Defiler we've had since 05."

Part of the reason Chaos isn't as advanced technologically, at least in some fields, is lack of motivation. For example there's a market in the Imperium for anti-aging technology like rejuvenat treatment, so there's no decline in that technology at the very least and advances at best. Chaos doesn't really need anti-aging because either they aren't worried about dying of old age (because they're a near-immortal space marine, due to more pressing concerns like dying to powerswords, or because they've been made immortal by a Chaos god for some examples) or they know that if they of old age it'll be because of the warp's time dilation and no amount of anti-aging tech will help. Similarly Chaos's civilian transportation technology has probably degenerated to almost nothing, because there's almost no demand for it among the forces of Chaos.