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What kind of fuel 40k vehicles use?
I think that IoM use some kind of fuel like today's petrol or diesel.
But what about others?

Promethium.
Though Leman Russ tanks will run on harsh words and leather if you needed it to...

tyranids use eco-friendly bio-fuel

The imperium mainly uses promethium. But most of their fighting vehicles are equipped with "multi fuel" engines that can run on pretty much anything. I remember reading in Titanicus about some guards getting their hands on an abandonned centaur and fueling it with lubrificant oil.

Laodamia wrote:The imperium mainly uses promethium. But most of their fighting vehicles are equipped with "multi fuel" engines that can run on pretty much anything. I remember reading in Titanicus about some guards getting their hands on an abandonned centaur and fueling it with lubrificant oil.

There's a short story called Defixio where the driver (of a LemanRuss) comments that even in the desert they are pretty much okay for fuel.

Dem orks just use there oily squigs, and grots on hamster wheels.

is promethium an endless source of fuel?

It's not endless, just some super-powerful sci-fi fuel. Iirc, it's the same stuff that flamers use.

So this Promethium is like today's petrol, just much more powerful?
And what about other races (Orks probably use the Promethium to)?

Not sure what Eldar or Dark Eldar use...
Dark Eldar probably just use pain or something...
Necrons... something green (Colour-wise) most likely, maybe fusion?
Tau... some kind of green fuel? maybe fusion...
Chaos probably a mix of Imperial and chaos tainted stuff.

Brother Coa wrote:
And what about other races (Orks probably use the Promethium to)?

Orkz use concentrated crazy as their fuel.

Seriously.

IoM's vehicles use almost anything.

Landraiders and Monoliths are fueled entirely by pure, liquid spite.

Fafnir wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:
And what about other races (Orks probably use the Promethium to)?

Orkz use concentrated crazy as their fuel.

Seriously.

Orks use oil(not the black stuff) IIRC.

Orks would use Squig Oil, as represented by this model

Orks are also known to use promethium. Although they usually mix it with some illicit products and substances...

Promethium appears to be a heavy fuel oil, at least from one of the GG novels where raw promethium was bubbling to the surface. It doesnt appear to be "super" by any means.

Only certain vehicles use any type of fuel. C entaurs are noted as being able to run on "multifuel", which is basically anything that will burn....

They also then have electric or similar drive, powered by a fusion power source (mechanicus book states that the marine backpack is a fusion power supply, and other books state is it is a plasma supply. Yet another piece of evidence proving that 40k spaceships really, really cant work...)

nosferatu1001 wrote:
They also then have electric or similar drive, powered by a fusion power source (mechanicus book states that the marine backpack is a fusion power supply, and other books state is it is a plasma supply. Yet another piece of evidence proving that 40k spaceships really, really cant work...)

Why can't they work?
Imperial space ships are powered by plasma reactors (also called plasma drives), which are very similar to the plasma drives powering imperial titans. It's the 41st millenium man! Anything can work!

the Imperium uses various forms of lipid based fuels.

Prometheum is Gasoline, but, because there is a limited supply, it is mostly reserved for use as Ammo for Flamers. this is because it ignites quicker and burns hotter then the other fuels at the imperium's disposal.

most Imperial vehicles are designed to run on Multi-fuel. this is a catch all term for the hundreds of kinds of Bio-fuels and poor quality oil products(Kerosene, Diesel, natural gas)

this is mostly because maintaining a fuel standard accross a million planets would be impossable so a Lemun Russ needs to run on whatever is at hand.


various worlds might use Animal or plant products to produce Multi-fuel. others will use the by-products of Prometheium production. heck, they probably sometimes use distilation techniques to make a Liquer so strong only a Lemun Russ can drink it.

Grey Templar wrote:Prometheum is Gasoline.

I think you might need to take a look at the periodic table of elements... Promethium is a raidioactive compound

Promethium is like super petrol/Napalm, i haven't actually seen any fluff that mentions it being used specifically for vehicle fuel. I remember the rhino is capable of running on wood or coal. The dark eldar use compressed plasma from the slaved stars of Commaragh, eldar use similar techniques hence 'star engine/drive'. Orks have been covered, tau use 'Ion' based tech ( or is it Hyper-conductor magnets?). The Necrons power their devices via a hotlink into 'Infra-space' or 'Phase space' a dimension of pure energy that sepperates the Real world from the warp or indeed a parrallel universe.

Laodamia wrote:
Imperial space ships are powered by plasma reactors (also called plasma drives), which are very similar to the plasma drives powering imperial titans. It's the 41st millenium man! Anything can work!

I thought that Imperial ships use warp drive as it's main power source?

Brother Coa wrote:

Laodamia wrote:
Imperial space ships are powered by plasma reactors (also called plasma drives), which are very similar to the plasma drives powering imperial titans. It's the 41st millenium man! Anything can work!

I thought that Imperial ships use warp drive as it's main power source?

No IIRC, those drives are used to propel them when in the warp, outside of it they have to rely on Plasma reactors which would also power life support and possibly even the Geller field (I'll admit, I have no clue how that thing works) during all types of travel (warp or not).

As to Lao's comment I agree, I can honestly not see how a plasma reactor would work, surely you need a huge amount of energy to create the plasma, then a huge amount of energy to keep it in plasma state. Perhaps they work by storing plasma in very well insulated containers and using heat coming off them to create power.

Thaanos wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:Prometheum is Gasoline.

I think you might need to take a look at the periodic table of elements... Promethium is a raidioactive compound

I hope you were being sarcastic there.

i know full well(though i didn't say i did) that Promethium is an Element,

BUT, 40k Promethium =/= real Promethium.

wizard12 wrote:
As to Lao's comment I agree, I can honestly not see how a plasma reactor would work, surely you need a huge amount of energy to create the plasma, then a huge amount of energy to keep it in plasma state. Perhaps they work by storing plasma in very well insulated containers and using heat coming off them to create power.

IIRC, plasma drives are powered by "plasma cells". As I understand it, plasma cells are big containers full iof semi-liquid plasma. These containers are quite fragile and are thus stored deep within the rear section of the ship, near the plasma reactors. If a plasma cell is cracked or damaged during a battle, it spells thick, semi-liquid plasma all over the place, pretty much burning and melting everything. In some cases, the plasma catastrophicly expands, engulfing entire sections of the ship in plasma, before detonating spectacularily. All this seems to indicate that plasma-drives and plasma-cells are just as unreliable as plasma launchers.

I don't think that the ship is powered by the heat coming of the plasma. Plasma drives are described as "igniting" and "burning their fuel", and imperial ships are said to leave "a trail of blue plasma behind them" (quoted from Propero Burns) as they manoeuver. Thus, it seems that plasma drives somehow burn the plasma contained in their plasma cells, which propells the ship into space, just like any modern turbojet.

One more question:

In "Fire Warrior" we saw Imperial Cruser being destroyed. Big explosion, some survivors etc...

In battle for Macragge "Dominus Astra" detonates it's warp drives and open warp vortex that destroyed 2 Hive fleets?

Why don't every Imperial ship explosion opens Warp vortex when it is clearly that explosion of the ship destroys the warp drive to?

Like a modern nuclear bomb i would assume the proper ignition would be required to set off a warp drive i.e. a mere conventional explosion would not set it off. I would again assume that properly detonating a warp drive would require a determined action like adding some kind of catalyst to the reactor of somekind. I can also imagine this is intentionally difficult to do as if even one chaos agent was onboard a ship orbiting Macragge... You get the picture..

I reckon that ork trucks move simply because the orks want them to.

Basically, if an imperial ship is destroyed, it does not necessarily mean that its warp drives will fail and create a warp rift.

For instance, let's say that an imperial cruiser suffer terrible damage from ennemy fire and that its plasma drives suffer catastrophic failure. In this case, it is most likely that the ship will literally explode into millions of tiny pieces as his plasma reactors explode. Its warp drives will be destroyed during the explosion, without having the time to fail and creating a warp rift.

A warp drive will only create a warp rift under certain circumstances. It has never been clearly stated by GW how an imperial ship can create a warp rift, but the process seems to be difficult and rare. I guess a warp drive will suffer this kind of failure only if the crew overrides its safety systems intentionnally, or if ennemy fire somehow starts a chain reaction in the warp drive, leading to the creation of a warp rift. But even if a ship's warp drives are hit by ennemy fire, they will probably explode or simply shut down instead of creating a warp rift.

It seems that the bigger the ship (the bigger the warp drives), the bigger the warp rift.

In several occasions, an imperial ship sacrificed itself and dived straight into the ennemy fleet before detonating its warp drives. Dominus Astra and the destruction of hive fleet behemoth is only one example.

Laodamia wrote:I remember reading in Titanicus about some guards getting their hands on an abandonned centaur and fueling it with lubrificant oil.

YES!!