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When mankind first went out from Terra they brought with them blueprints for building everything out of anything - the original STC system. Now most of the knowledge is either lost or used by the Imperium to power it's war machine.
But what were they?

I drew in about 3 minutes a very rough diagram of a basic armoured tractor design. It does little, could carry 6 people or an equivalent weight in cargo. It's basically a box on tracks. Really practical, but very ugly and very much lacking in aesthetic.

But what do you reckon there is? What STC system would you make? Add a quick diagram if you have the time. Please make the effort.

Pretty much anything...
pre-fab houses to starship drives.
Anything remotely difficult to make would have probably had an STC for it.

STC's weren't just for complicated machines.



they would also have made complicated parts like Circit boards and Nano chips for use in everything.





there are also 2 different things that are called STCs.


there is the original STC, which was a large Nano Replicator machine which had the blueprints for every bit of Technology Mankind had made up to that point. you want a tractor, punch the button and in a couple of days you have a nice new tractor. think Star Trek and you got the idea.


these STCs were brought to every Human colony as mankind spread from Terra and aided the Colonies in existing without support.


the STC's also could make Blueprints for machines so humans could take them with them and make those machines without needing the STC to make them for them. they could set up factories to make the thing on the Blueprint.


these Blueprints are the STCs commonly referred to as STCs. the Original machines have all since been destroyed or damaged to where they can only make one thing(the last thing qued up)


the true Holy Grail for the Ad Mech would be to find a STC machine that is undamaged. it would have all of Mankinds knowledge stored away inside it.

IMO, a working STC is pretty much humanity's only hope of survival, short of the Emperor deciding to stop taking a dump on his gilded toilet.

lol STC blenders

Future holo tv advert - *emporer sits on titans shoulder* "My new exclusive Emporer class titan Its the only lean mean chaos reducing killing machine! im so proud of it.I put my name on it! *cheesy grin* "
chouldnt help myself sorry haha


Dan

how gutted would you be if you found an STC machine and the last thing it was qued up to make was Hello Kitty Island of Adventure. It would probably cause some screwed up theological schism within the mechanicum.

on a slightly more serious note sometimes STCs also make base materials, in First and Only an STC is referred to that makes a much stronger sharper type of steel that can be used to make combat blades.

The STC for sliced bread

Poo-scrubbers.

Think how vital water-cleaning is to a hive world - a device which removes the bad from sewage, and turns it into fertilizer for protein-fungus to provide the billions of kilos of food produced every day.

Or maybe just straight into food...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
also @ OP - you just described the Rhino. A tractor covered in armoured plates...

Yes, literally everything. Humanity was a post-labour civilization. That's what's the problem nowadays everything was so automated that when things went to hell no one knew how they actually worked anymore.

I think even the first mark of Power Armour was an STC - though I wouldn't quote me on this. After that, I think Power Armour became a combination of multiple STC systems, rather than just one specific one.

Thunder Armor is a STC construct.


PA, which is different from Thunder Armor, is a bunch of improvements upon the basic design.

yes, PA is more advanced today then it was before the Heresy.


TDA was invented shortly before/during the Heresy.


PA continues to improve. the newest mark has miniature Power Fists incorperated into a new type of gauntlet.

And Grey Templar makes the save.
Sorry, should have used Thunder Armour when referring to the first "Power Armour." My bad.

just another example of Imperial Technological Advancement.


the Imperium is constantly making improvements upon their Tech, but, with a society that has lasted for 10,000 years, they have already found the "Winning" Designs.



the Imperium COULD, and does, make more powerful lasguns, but the same design has served well for 10,000 years. why change it?

Those advancements were pre-heresy. They ain't done much since then.

you couldn't be more wrong.

Mk8 was developed since the Heresy towards the end of the 41st millenium.

Ya but what where they using at the end of the Heresy Mk 6?

Mark IV and Mark V were in use at the time of the Heresy.

Literally everything was or could be made by STC`S before the templates were lost.You want a flak jacket? push the flak jacket button,want a tank?push the tank button,want a storm bolter?,you get the point.

FUUUUDGE! wrote:Literally everything was or could be made by STC`S before the templates were lost.You want a flak jacket? push the flak jacket button,want a tank?push the tank button,want a storm bolter?,you get the point.

Except that last one. The Storm bolter is supposed to be a recent invention. However they appear with the Luna Wolves in Horus Rising. Now that's either a fluff error or the Luna Wolves had some super-new prototype technology.

Twinlinked Bolters were used prior to Stormbolters.


the Stormbolter was a refinement of the Twinlinked bolter design. hence why Chaos Terminators have Twinlinked bolters and Loyalists have Stormbolters(Fluff explaination)

the Stormbolter was developed AFTER the Heresy. which is why Chaos doesn't have stormbolters, or infantry portable Multi-meltas and Plasma cannons. and no Assault Cannons or Landraider Crusaders or Redeemers.

Grey Templar wrote:the Stormbolter was developed AFTER the Heresy. which is why Chaos doesn't have stormbolters, or infantry portable Multi-meltas and Plasma cannons. and no Assault Cannons or Landraider Crusaders or Redeemers.

How did Horus blow someones head into mush with a storm bolter at the start of Horus Rising then? It very specifically states he uses a storm bolter.

-Loki- wrote:

Grey Templar wrote:the Stormbolter was developed AFTER the Heresy. which is why Chaos doesn't have stormbolters, or infantry portable Multi-meltas and Plasma cannons. and no Assault Cannons or Landraider Crusaders or Redeemers.

How did Horus blow someones head into mush with a storm bolter at the start of Horus Rising then? It very specifically states he uses a storm bolter.

Grey is correct one this one, at least it used to be the explanation as to why Chaos only has twin linked Bolters. But you're right too Loki, it does say this in Horus Rising.

They, sort of, covered this in interviews at the time : What *we* call combi bolters were referred to as Stormbolters by some at that time. the design becoming improved and refined over time, and the current names being really for game/player benefit.

..so..yeah.. it was a slip up, but one easily enough explained.

IIRC the discovery of an STC for a type of combat knife was important enough for the discoverer to be awarded rulership of a planet.

reds8n, pretty sure that was a bunch of Imperial Guardsmen who got lucky, yeah. Can't remember where I read it either though.

As for this nano-tech versions of STC machines though - where does that come from?

In old fluff, and everything i have read of recent fluff, STC machines produce blueprints, they don't actually build anything. Now I am sure you would often find highly sophisticated manufacturing technology in the same place as the actualy STC machine, but it is an extra piece of equipment next to the STC machine, maybe even integrated with the STC machine, not an actual core part of an STC machine itself.

Grey Templar wrote:STC's weren't just for complicated machines.

They were for simply machines... Standard Template Construct... electronic blueprint...

Ugly Green Trog wrote:how gutted would you be if you found an STC machine and the last thing it was qued up to make was Hello Kitty Island of Adventure. It would probably cause some screwed up theological schism within the mechanicum.

on a slightly more serious note sometimes STCs also make base materials, in First and Only an STC is referred to that makes a much stronger sharper type of steel that can be used to make combat blades.

Exactly... not about the Hello Kitty... but hot damn, Hello Kitty could rival the Imperial Church.

Gorskar.da.Lost wrote:I think even the first mark of Power Armour was an STC - though I wouldn't quote me on this. After that, I think Power Armour became a combination of multiple STC systems, rather than just one specific one.

STCs to make the components... then another to assemble the components into another item of value...

The knives were mentioned in, I believe, Menazoid Epsilon - a GG novel.

reds8n wrote: They, sort of, covered this in interviews at the time : What *we* call combi bolters were referred to as Stormbolters by some at that time. the design becoming improved and refined over time, and the current names being really for game/player benefit.

..so..yeah.. it was a slip up, but one easily enough explained.

Works for me. That was my other theory.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for the knives, what basically happened (iirc) was 6 guardsmen found it by accident by like falling through a floor egyptian pyramid style. It made slightly lighter and sharper knives which is such a monumental discovery that all 6 of them had planets named after them!

KamikazeCanuck wrote:

reds8n wrote: They, sort of, covered this in interviews at the time : What *we* call combi bolters were referred to as Stormbolters by some at that time. the design becoming improved and refined over time, and the current names being really for game/player benefit.

..so..yeah.. it was a slip up, but one easily enough explained.

Works for me. That was my other theory.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for the knives, what basically happened (iirc) was 6 guardsmen found it by accident by like falling through a floor egyptian pyramid style. It made slightly lighter and sharper knives which is such a monumental discovery that all 6 of them had planets named after them!

They were actually put in charge of the planets... massive promotion considering they were probably only guardsmen which shows just how much the IoM values STC findings.

Fifty wrote:As for this nano-tech versions of STC machines though - where does that come from?

In old fluff, and everything i have read of recent fluff, STC machines produce blueprints, they don't actually build anything. Now I am sure you would often find highly sophisticated manufacturing technology in the same place as the actualy STC machine, but it is an extra piece of equipment next to the STC machine, maybe even integrated with the STC machine, not an actual core part of an STC machine itself.

This. From everything I've seen, barring the bizarre interpretation in First and Only (a factory for making Iron Men) and Dark Adeptus (a humanoid silver thing that was supposed to be "the STC for titans"), STC's were databases with a printer attached, that produced instructions for building something (something like a cross between blueprints and Ikea's assembly guides).