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I'm just wondering...
What do Space Marines do if their Chainsword-fuel runs out? I think a chainword without a moving chain is quite harmless. So how do tyranid-defence-battles work; do the marines go back to their base every 2h to refill their weapons? Or what?

It's called the 'rule of cool' - Marines never run out of anything.

Ever.

the marines process their own urine through the suit into fuel. it is pumped through the hand into the grip. closes automatically when its dropped.

infinite_array wrote:It's called the 'rule of cool' - Marines never run out of anything.

Magazines are bottomless, air is limitless... until the plot calls for them to run out.

I know Power Armor is powered by a fusion reactor, maybe chainswords just have extremely tiny ones, or are powered by the Space Marine's conviction and hatred.

Nerivant wrote:

infinite_array wrote:It's called the 'rule of cool' - Marines never run out of anything.

Magazines are bottomless, air is limitless... until the plot calls for them to run out.

I know Power Armor is powered by a fusion reactor, maybe chainswords just have extremely tiny ones, or are powered by the Space Marine's conviction and hatred.

well i know for sure that an orks big choppa is powered by a face-biter-squig in a hamster-wheel

maybe the power armor has some form of cordless charger in the palm of the gauntlet? Kinda like those power mats that you just throw your phone on and it charges.

Like most technology of the 41st millennium, a chainsword probably runs on a a mixture of its wielder's testosterone and the tears of its victims. And as Nerivant said, in accordance with long-standing literary tradition, weapons in fiction seldom run out or fuel or ammunition until it is dramatically necessary.

I seem to remember them having an electric motor that can be charged in a book I read.

Erm, I thought chainswords actually run on the armor's generator.

Otherwise they a space tech battery, it's never been said or shown that they operate on fossil fuels or a combustion engine.

Soladrin wrote:Erm, I thought chainswords actually run on the armor's generator.

Otherwise they a space tech battery, it's never been said or shown that they operate on fossil fuels or a combustion engine.

If they do run on the armor's generator they still need to connect to the power source *cough* conductive grip*cough* or like you said a space battery that can stay charged for days/weeks/months.

Never seen an Imperial chainsaw with an exhaust anyway

Marines are generally not fighting a war of attrition with nids. There are rare cases, but mostly they are used to strike at the big scary ones. For the chainsword though it is likely connected to the armors power supply somehow. Guardsman on the other hand would likely use a battery similar to a lasguns so it would be easily replaced.

Marine chainswords, at least up to M37, do use some sort of liquid fuel. Codex Chaos Space Marines, in the armoury section, details a chainsword with a 'M37 gas fuel motor block.'

Edit: I should say can instead of do. Maybe some run on other sources as have been mentioned but there definitely is concrete evidence of them using gas fuel in some cases.

The older SM models seem to show chainswords with an exhaust grill in the cross-guard.

I suppose the battery thingie is something that comes from various BL novels, which ties in with what Andy Hoare wrote about there simply not being any objective truth that an author would have to adhere to.

That said, it is actually not unlikely that there's simply some chainswords that use fuel, and others that use batteries or are even linked to a suit of powered armour (whether by cable or grip). I think the possible variance was already discussed in a similar thread not too long ago.

Chain weapons would need to be powered in some super-efficient manner by a portable fuel source or perhaps the wielder's armor...somehow.

Either way, it's one of the many things in 40k that makes absolutely no sense, but we love it anyway.

The idea of the users armor charging it is all well and good for Space Marines with their power armor but what about Imperial Guard Officers and Sergeants armed with chainswords?

What are unagumented humans doing with dedicated melee weapons in the first place?

OH YEAH, I WENT THERE.

...but in all seriousness, presumably it's something like an extremely effective electrical motor.

ROFL! OP's topic reminds me of an old "ctrl + alt + del" comic.

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20081110

Enjoy.

Rumor has it that Space Marines change the fuel tank of their chainswords as often as they change the magazine of their bolter.

On a more serious note, maybe chainswords can be reloaded just like flamethrowers, meaning with a little can that gets screwed into the hilt? I doubt you'd have to trickle the fuel in there drop by drop.

You'd think they'd be practical and have batteries instead of fuel so that they can give them the same battery for their guns as lasguns. Less badass I guess

Think of it this way too: in many cases the chainsword isn't used that long. Let's assume the gas fuel and say that they developed some super efficient motor, but it still doesn't last all that long.

So in the two examples we're looking at, the Space Marine is on a rapid insertion mission, if all goes to plan he sees a few minutes of quick combat and completes the objective, he doesn't need that much fuel.

The Guardsman sergeant, on the other hand... well let's just say that it is more likely that his life will run out before his fuel, if he gets into any kind of combat. Even if fighting other unaugmented humans, most of what he'd be doing is directing fire, combat only as a last resort.

Bombastic wrote:The idea of the users armor charging it is all well and good for Space Marines with their power armor but what about Imperial Guard Officers and Sergeants armed with chainswords?

Maybe they change "battery" packs like Power Swords...

Or maybe Khorn himself powers all chainswords because when they rev, heads go flying

I'm almost 100% sure that at least in one novel, they used a chainsword in a vacuum. Good luck doing that if it's using fuel.

Possibly a small battery of some sort? I mean it would sort of make sense.

Aren't there substances that will still burn in a vacuum? I could be wrong but I thought there were.

As has been said, there is probably a logical explanation, and if you held Jervis down at bayonet point he would probably give you the 'connected through the gauntlet into the armor's power core' or 'tiny fuel cell that screws into the hilt' line.

Either way, I wouldn't think about it too hard. Chainswords are one of the aspects of 40k that don't hold up under too much scrutiny. It's a chainsaw sword. I can accept that.

If i'm not mistaken Promethium does burn in a vacuum.

That's.... stupid, you need oxygen for anything to Burn. Otherwise it's not the chemical reaction we call burning.

It supposedly provides it's own oxygen in the mixture.

Fair enough. Though that would need to be a really weird method of trapping the oxygen inside.

Considering that Hydrogen is highly flammable, and water has oxygen in it.