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Ok so i was at work today catering for an 80 year olds birthday when i got so bored that i began to wonder what dreadnaughts eat, or even how they eat, i mean could you imagine them disconnecting the sarcophagus and feeding it with a spoon. the idear and concept escapes me so i was wondering what you all thought about it.

"Open wide here comes the train..chooo chooo"

They're in stasis most of the time but when they're not... i'd like to say they eat sheer awesome but probably some sort of nutrient solution from their life support unit or something similar, hell maybe they don't actually eat anything.

The marines inside them are dead. Why would you need to eat if you're dead?

They aren't dead... just half-dead big difference especially for them.

Every part of their body which requires food no longer functions. The parts which are necessary can be kept in condition by other means.

That's what i was thinking more or less

Surely they would need to consume something with some kind of nutritional value, i mean your brain alone requires vitamins from all the food groups.

Actually if you think about the fluff it kinda makes sense
They're joined with a machine.
The machine needs energy to run.
It gets some kind of fuel.
Machine runs.
All the biological bits need is energy which they get from the machine... at least that's how i figure it i'm not a doctor so i could be wrong... could be

Well the cells would need different things as well as energy but it doesn't have to come from food.

Perhaps just the blood with all the nutrients and what not already in it as well as the fuel would suffice.

Well the only fields i know a liittle bit about is microbiology, metabolic diseases and a little bit of cardiovascular.

And from what i know and is obvious in our day and age is that for the brain to work propperly it must have food supliments or basic food groups such as vitamin B12 which is found in meat. but basically i cant see how the marine inside could stay focussed and technacally alive without these bodily needs. it could get something from the machine, but i dont think that would be enough. maybe some sort of nutrition liquid installed into the machine along witht he fuel ?

Well everything that comes from the food you mention is given to the brain in the blood stream. So again it just needs to be given the blood with what it needs in it. Oxegen, vitamins nutrients etc.

Maybe there is a seperate feed system for the brain and other bits but more-or-less i'd guess that the pilot of the dread gets most of his energy from the dread not food, then again i could be totally wrong and they live of skittles who knows that's the fun part.

whatwhat wrote:Well everything that comes from the food you mention is given to the brain in the blood stream. So again it just needs to be given the blood with what it needs in it. Oxegen, vitamins nutrients etc.

yeah pretty much all vitamins can be consumed through the blood, well. all the vital ones anyway, perhaps some kind of life support interface that gages the vitamin levels of the marine ?

Lol wouldnt it be cool if they had a vampire dread that lived by crushing its victims and absorbing its resources.

Maybe a Chaos Dread yes?

Yeah that would work best for chaos me thinks.

Well the ork dreads eat threw a straw, but they are not marines so that might not be a good comparison.

Good thinking if i ever make a dread i'll make sure to add a straw.

Heh nothing strikes fear into your enemy then the sound of someone slurping on a straw

I'd be creeped out it'd be like getting attacked by mechanical homicidal teletubbies (google it if you don't know)

whatwhat wrote:The marines inside them are dead. Why would you need to eat if you're dead?

Not completely true. Their bodies are useless to them but they are still alive just not able to fight anymore in any conventional sense, Hence the dreadnought to keep them alive and fighting. As for food they most likely have some type of nutrient solution added to the amniotic fluid they are in but most of the time they are in stasis.

I am thinking the dreadnaught is feed with whatever nutrition fluid they use in 40k< that is if the campaign is long enoiugh, otherwise..... stasis

If you read "there is only war" (i think thats the name - graphic novel which includes a cadian+ vostroyan story against Tau) they wake a dread in one of them, it definitely has nutrient feeds PLUS a stimulant to actually get the dread moving.

They are kept alive in the same way a Princeps is, with a nutrient bath that they float in, constantly replenished / cleaned from outside. A number of BL books talk about this fluid draining from a cracked sarcophagus.

Finally they are as alive as the apothecaries can manage before internment, preserving as much of the honoured battle brothers body as possible.

nosferatu1001 wrote:If you read "there is only war" (i think thats the name - graphic novel which includes a cadian+ vostroyan story against Tau) they wake a dread in one of them, it definitely has nutrient feeds PLUS a stimulant to actually get the dread moving.

They are kept alive in the same way a Princeps is, with a nutrient bath that they float in, constantly replenished / cleaned from outside. A number of BL books talk about this fluid draining from a cracked sarcophagus.

Finally they are as alive as the apothecaries can manage before internment, preserving as much of the honoured battle brothers body as possible.

I'd go with this guys answer.

Anything Flamer Grilled would be good.

I think it's an IV bag of 'ten calorie soup'!

I was always under the impression that dreadnoughts were floating in agar jelly.

oh, and for the record:

First, it's dreadnought, it's not dread of nothing...

And also, It's idea, not idear.

Idear is like an iPhone or something....


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and members:

1. it's dreadnought, not naught.

if it was naught, it would be the fear of nothing.

2. it's idea [OP] idear sounds like an expensive ipod, or an animal with Mp4 capabilities.

I dunno about the wimpier chapters, but my BT Dreadnoughts eat Orks.

Captain Solon wrote:it's dreadnought, not naught.

if it was naught, it would be the fear of nothing.

'Naught' and 'nought' are just spelling variations of the same word. The basic idea behind the name is that it "dreads nought", i.e. fears nothing.

Æscholt wrote:

Captain Solon wrote:it's dreadnought, not naught.

if it was naught, it would be the fear of nothing.

'Naught' and 'nought' are just spelling variations of the same word. The basic idea behind the name is that it "dreads nought", i.e. fears nothing.

Or maybe it means "Never fear Mr. Stompy is here!"

I thought nought was the mathmatical term myself. And naught is what you would use in literature, ie. "He ate naught but Orks"