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What powers Power Armor? Is it a nuclear/fusion reactor? If so, what is the purpose of exhausts, since they don't appear to require additional fuel despite centuries of use? Do they just vent heat generated by the reaction?

Can Space Marine backpacks be rigged to explode in a nuclear blast? Are there any risks in shooting at them causing an explosion?

I read it was nuclear fusion (or something similar) but they probably have some kind of safety system which could be stopped to rig it to blow up... though the generator would be very small and you'd not get a large explosion.

well, they produce huge amounts of energy in order to be able to do what they do. Modern nuclear reactors are vastly smaller than the size of an equivalent power generating coal engine in terms of energy produced; not energy harvested (via steam). I suppose that also means that 40k technology allows energy to be harvested directly from the reaction, unlike our present technology.

Generally, nuclear power plants don't cause nuclear explosions. In fact, they never do, the principles that make nuclear reactors work are very different from those that make a nuclear bomb work. Not to mention the differences in materials used.

Thank you for the replies. That makes sense.

I didn't want to post a new thread, so here is a different question:

I was thinking about Counts-As Daemon Princes but replaced by something entirely machanical. Did the pre-heresy Imperium have anything like a medium sized walker around the height of a daemon prince? Larger than a dreadnaught but smaller than a titan?

NumberZero wrote:Thank you for the replies. That makes sense.

I didn't want to post a new thread, so here is a different question:

I was thinking about Counts-As Daemon Princes but replaced by something entirely machanical. Did the pre-heresy Imperium have anything like a medium sized walker around the height of a daemon prince? Larger than a dreadnaught but smaller than a titan?

You're describing a Defiler?

It wouldn't be very clever to put your troops in a suit which tended to blow up in a nuclear explosion when hit.

NumberZero wrote:Thank you for the replies. That makes sense.

I didn't want to post a new thread, so here is a different question:

I was thinking about Counts-As Daemon Princes but replaced by something entirely machanical. Did the pre-heresy Imperium have anything like a medium sized walker around the height of a daemon prince? Larger than a dreadnaught but smaller than a titan?

cool pics.

There are Knight Titans, which are Bipedal, and the smallest actual class of Titan. There's never been an official interpretation of a Knight in 40K scale, but they're certainly larger than Dreadnoughts. Could that work?

Kilkrazy wrote:It wouldn't be very clever to put your troops in a suit which tended to blow up in a nuclear explosion when hit.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if they did. 40k has never let real-world logic get in the way of making something that sounds cool. "Ok, what's the coolest thing we could use to power space marine armor? Coal furnace? Gasoline engine? Electric batteries? No, it has to be a nuclear reactor!"

Commander Endova wrote:There are Knight Titans, which are Bipedal, and the smallest actual class of Titan. There's never been an official interpretation of a Knight in 40K scale, but they're certainly larger than Dreadnoughts. Could that work?

Generally armed with a Turbo Laser or Large Plasma Cannon IIRC.

Back on topic, GW would have said they would explode if they did. And rules would have been made. There must be some major safety system if it is Nuclear Fusion.

Guildsman wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:It wouldn't be very clever to put your troops in a suit which tended to blow up in a nuclear explosion when hit.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if they did. 40k has never let real-world logic get in the way of making something that sounds cool. "Ok, what's the coolest thing we could use to power space marine armor? Coal furnace? Gasoline engine? Electric batteries? No, it has to be a nuclear reactor!"

You try and power a set of powered armour with fossil fuels or electric batteries.
Fossil fuels take up vast amounts of space for the output of power they generate and there is a cap on how much power can be put into a certain size of battery at any temperature that does not invoke superconductivity due to the nature of electrons.

corpsesarefun wrote:
You try and power a set of powered armour with fossil fuels

To be fair, coal powered backpacks with little coal hoppers on top; and replace the story of how space marines use each other's backpacks to store ammo with load each other up on coal would be pretty grimdark.

edit:

changes the thread name to fit multiple discussion; also

Commander Endova wrote:There are Knight Titans, which are Bipedal, and the smallest actual class of Titan. There's never been an official interpretation of a Knight in 40K scale, but they're certainly larger than Dreadnoughts. Could that work?

yes that could work; i'm digging up what images i can fine as well as others who have endeavored to make them.

Brotherjulian: The old RT-era Robots were about Dreadnought-sized. RT-era Dreadnought sized, at that.

I thought the legio Cybernetica was completely wiped out during the HH. Which would mean that you could not really use them for 40K battle. Or are the knights titans a completely different thing?

Power Armor is somewhat of a mystery as to it's power source.


I belive that it doesn't actually have an internal power source, but rather is more of a Battery operated system.

in many books, Power Armor is often described as losing juice as it's used.

in the Killing Grounds, Uriel Ventress needs to have some techpriests use 3 Lemun Russ tanks to jump start a dead suit and the process takes a while.

many other books have marines in an extended combat zone saying their power armor's power levels are dropping to a percentage of capacity.


the Batteries last a long time, but certaintly don't have an internal power system.

Pretty soon, chainswords will come up...

*Suddenly slaps hand on mouth*

I always thought chainswords were probably the most easily explainable part of 40k...

Grey Templar wrote:Power Armor is somewhat of a mystery as to it's power source.


I belive that it doesn't actually have an internal power source, but rather is more of a Battery operated system.

in many books, Power Armor is often described as losing juice as it's used.

in the Killing Grounds, Uriel Ventress needs to have some techpriests use 3 Lemun Russ tanks to jump start a dead suit and the process takes a while.

many other books have marines in an extended combat zone saying their power armor's power levels are dropping to a percentage of capacity.


the Batteries last a long time, but certaintly don't have an internal power system.

I think this is the oddest thing about SM. Everything about their biology/physiology indicates that they are modified so that they can survive for extended periods in combat zones, without restocking food/water supplies, in an unbreathable atmosphere, etc. etc. and yet their power supplies cant keep up...

Not indefinitely but they can keep going for a while.

chaos0xomega wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:Power Armor is somewhat of a mystery as to it's power source.


I belive that it doesn't actually have an internal power source, but rather is more of a Battery operated system.

in many books, Power Armor is often described as losing juice as it's used.

in the Killing Grounds, Uriel Ventress needs to have some techpriests use 3 Lemun Russ tanks to jump start a dead suit and the process takes a while.

many other books have marines in an extended combat zone saying their power armor's power levels are dropping to a percentage of capacity.


the Batteries last a long time, but certaintly don't have an internal power system.

I think this is the oddest thing about SM. Everything about their biology/physiology indicates that they are modified so that they can survive for extended periods in combat zones, without restocking food/water supplies, in an unbreathable atmosphere, etc. etc. and yet their power supplies cant keep up...

Not a huge deal.

marines are rarely deployed for extended periods of time and as such will rarely tax the limits of their PA's battery life.

most of the time they will run out of Ammo before they lose Suit power.