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That is to say, if the Emperor of Man, rather then deciding to go down the Primarch/Astartes route at all, choose to pour resources into just making more Custodes grade warriors, which didn't necessitate any nasty secretive pacts with Chaos Gods (as implied in at least one of the books of the Horus heresy series), and were superior to the Astartes anyway.

Could a much expanded force of custodes (though still probably less then half the total number of Astartes running around) + the Imperial army of the Great crusade era have achieved the same results of conquest? Could it protect the Imperium? Is there any evidence that seeds of heresy would have been present within such a force?

The astartes are hard pressed as it is. Though if the HH hadn't happened they would be fine i suppose...
I'm not sure other people will need to present a few more points but i'm on the fence

They would do the same,probably,but basically no matter who you are the Chaos will corrupt you over the time.

well thats the thing: with no primarc running around to drag legions into chaos and damnation with them... it seems like chaotic taint would at best be an individual thing (and since for the Custodes at least, unlike the Astartes, their individuality is a stressed point... might make the whole chaos thing much more interesting, in terms of how able Chaos would be to make inroads)

Better results.

No civil war.

Even "now" the marines are effectively loose cannons with little control, effectively semi independent warlords within the imperium.

Custodes are rare and different to 'breed', so it would never be half as many as astartes available.
Guard alone won't conquer the Galaxy.

Space Marines were needed to take the offensive approach.
Lets assume Custodes cannot be corrupted ( still unsure of Valdors role at nikaea tough ), chaos could aim at Imperial army ( Guard ) then.

The Imperium wouldn't exist without the great crusade. The great crusade used combined forces to achieve its goals ( fleet, Astartes, army, mechanicum ).
I doubt you can take one of the parts of it off and still get a Imperium.
The Astartes had a role, like any other part of it, so if you to create a Imperium without Astartes you have to replace them. Who shall fill their role?

-They are rare mostly because there is only one formation of them - though the Grey Knights in many ways mirror the Custodes.

-The process of creating custodes is pretty much unknown- could be that they are enhanced natural born humans, or could be they are totally manufactured: I've seen evidence veering for both. Regardless though, you are right- its different, and its more difficult, but the raw product is better, and the better equipment is only an even greater force multiplier. The Emperor would rather have a personal guard of 10,000 Custodes then 100,000 Astartes. That says something.

-The question of roles within the Imperium is fluid: at the beginning of the Great Crusade there were no Imperial Army regiments doing any conquest at all, only astartes. By the end of it, you have fully Imperial Army fleets with mechanicum sometimes being supported by Astartes at all (As depicted in legion) doing conquest all on thier own.

I think the Astartes were an expedient way to get a relatively large force of super soldier out onto the battlefield relatively cheaply, resource wise: but replacement with smaller numbers of superior warriors such as the custodes could offer a logical replacement. Because its essentially the same dynamic offered by the Astartes, but with different proportions (Somewhere i think there is a reference to a huge battle with Orks in which millions of Orks met thier doom, and even the Emperor himself was threatened: yet only two Custodians died, and even this was viewed as a tragic event - because Custodes dont seem to die very often, because they arnt very easy to kill...)

Marines/custodes, meh who cares.

All you need are ships in space and tanks on the ground. Remember Imperial armies had landraiders and titan battle groups with speeder detachments. They'd kick the crap out of a specialized marine force.

Marine, sure - Custodes? It's a question like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie-pop: nobody knows.

IvanTih wrote:They would do the same,probably,but basically no matter who you are the Chaos will corrupt you over the time.

Not if your a GK

an Emperor without astartes/proto-astartes would have a had rough go of even creating the Imperium in the first place,