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I've thinking about it. With technology things get smaller. So why is power armor so bulky? It seems like man would have found something more advanced by now. Anyhow gotta go, sgt is man lol


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Mad*

it exists in the fluff but its more akin to an aricifer type used as oposed to the astartes mass produced armour (which is then heavily personlised over the centuries), but improving an already holy tech... big no no, the best way (that i see) the mechanicus works is sideways shuffles, so rather than invent a new power armour that is better, just strap some less old stuff to some even less ...older stuff.

It's kinda like asking why an aircraft carrier isn't smaller.

It's the size it needs to be to provide the functionality it does.

Bulky works better for models, not logic.

also, technology has been lost for 100's if not 1000's of years. A way to see it would be: before human civilization fell apart and before the great crusade = Rome (running water, great health care, efficient road and army, high literacy rates) and 40k time= medieval (forgotten stuff, dark, illiterate, confusion, alot of war, great reliance on religion and the inquisition).
Also advancements in tech are stored in Standard Template Constructs and these have been lost and any found are often damaged or destroyed by the Inquisition as heretic tools (see Gaunt's Ghosts first novel)


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kshaw2000 wrote:Bulky works better for models, not logic.

LOL

Brother Thomas wrote:I've thinking about it. With technology things get smaller. So why is power armor so bulky? It seems like man would have found something more advanced by now. Anyhow gotta go, sgt is man lol


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Mad*

Because the Adeptus Astartes are huge friggin' guys.

It's as bulky as it is to provide thick layers of armour to protect the user.

Brother Thomas wrote:I've thinking about it. With technology things get smaller. So why is power armor so bulky? It seems like man would have found something more advanced by now. Anyhow gotta go, sgt is man lol

It's not that power armour itself is bulky. Look at the Angel-pattern armour employed by the Sisters of Battle. Same armour protection as the Marine variant. The Codex: Angels of Death describes the thickness of Marine armour plating as "up to an inch".

Something to keep in mind is that many suits of power armour, including those of the Space Marines and some Inquisitors, also incorporate a large array of additional subsystems that are not part of the basic design but simply useful additions crammed into it. For example, the Marine armour comes with drug dispensers and an automated medi-suite with lifesign monitor, a waste recycler, gravitic dampeners, and advanced strength augmentation, or the auto-reactive motor construct in the shoulder pauldrons. All this on top of a Marine's already impressive build, which is probably to blame the most.

Exactly that^

Space Marines are big guys(7-8ft) and need big armor.


The armor itself also has lots of internal systems along with the actual Ceramite plates.

Lets assume 3 inches of Ceramite(rather conservative IMO)

Then we also have the Fibro-muscles and servos that power the armor, plus whatever padding there is.

Thats probably a good six inches of thickness.


So we basically make the Marine a good foot wider then he actually is.

Then we have the backpack which houses the power plant and various medical systems. The helmet contains all the communication systems(capable of reacing ships in orbit or accross continants)


When you think about some of whats in the fluff, 40k has alot of miniaturization. Dreadnoughts have fething Fusion generators powering their systems. A Fusion power plant that's about the same size of a Semi-truck's engine block. That's nice and compact.

The lasgun is an amazing piece of technology. It has compact batteries that can put out Terawatts of power(with each shot)

And said battery pack can absorb this power from direct sunlight or heat. Thats efficiency.

The Mechanicum is crazy, banning new and certain old ideas.

There is no way its 3 inches thick, 1 inch at best. But everything else yall are saying makes good sense

Badazz, dude. I like that comparison

Also advancements in tech are stored in Standard Template Constructs and these have been lost and any found are often damaged or destroyed by the Inquisition as heretic tools (see Gaunt's Ghosts first novel)

The information inside STC are not advancements. They are older tech that can provide improvements. The Inquisition does not veiw STCs as heresy. It's quite the opposite.

The part of the Gaunts Ghost novel you are refering to... the Iron Men story?

That's not really an STC, it's a device from the golden age that mass produces Iron Men (Or the robots from I, Robot).

STCs do not manufacture, they explain how to manufacture. At least in it's more basic def.

STC could also mean a certain make or model. A Rhino is an STC. It follows a Standard Template of Construction. It doe not however explain how to continue to manufacture itself.

It's because the people inside it are huge. I think it might actually be too small. Every time I see the cutaway semantic, I think there is no way you can fit a guy in that.

DeffDred wrote:

Also advancements in tech are stored in Standard Template Constructs and these have been lost and any found are often damaged or destroyed by the Inquisition as heretic tools (see Gaunt's Ghosts first novel)

The information inside STC are not advancements. They are older tech that can provide improvements. The Inquisition does not veiw STCs as heresy. It's quite the opposite.

The part of the Gaunts Ghost novel you are refering to... the Iron Men story?

That's not really an STC, it's a device from the golden age that mass produces Iron Men (Or the robots from I, Robot).

STCs do not manufacture, they explain how to manufacture. At least in it's more basic def.

STC could also mean a certain make or model. A Rhino is an STC. It follows a Standard Template of Construction. It doe not however explain how to continue to manufacture itself.

That was still an STC.

STCs were often hooked up to a nano-replicator machine that could make what you wanted.


STC is also used in universe to refer to hard copy blueprint outs from an STC machine.

Indeed, STC is a catch all term used for anything from single-purpose manufacturing devices, plans/blueprints for devices, instructions for manufacturing techniques, fragments of data for lost devices all the way up to the holy grail of a fully functioning STC database and omni-factory.

I would define STC as follows.

1: Noun: Database containing the entire wealth of Mankind's technological and scientific knowledge. May or may not be linked to a production facility.

2: Noun: Blueprint of a specific technology or object. "The STC for the Mk3 Plasma gun was found on planet XM-3085 and is currently being used on Forge World Terinthus"


So there are STCs and there are STCs. It can refer to the actual database of knowledge or a specific schematic for something(like a Plasma gun)

Here is a somewhat longer description quoted from a White Dwarf article.

I don't find it exaggerately bulky. Even something like the standard Astartes power armor would require insane advances in miniaturization.

Besides, compared to other mechanized armour sets in the game, it's quite small and efficient. I mean, It could be even bulkier (Tau Crisis Suit) or clumsier (Ork Mega-Armour).

Because they look badass.

Because in 40k, there is no apple, they went with PC long ago...

Also, I used to dislike these sorts of threads, but Brother Thomas, everytime you start a new one lately the responses have been great for learning new fluff!

I wish i was a space marine. Lol if the us marines ever asks for volunteers for super soldiers ill do it

I see it that the armour has to be somewhat bulky to accommodate the required amount of materials as armour plating. Terminator even more so since it's supposed to be made of what is pretty much star ship hull plating.

Look at the weapons of the imperium of man, in order from highest AP to lowest AP. Go down the list, starting with the worst AP of them all, the humble lasgun. Stop when you reach AP3.
You'll notice you've stopped at Krak missiles. Power armor requires anti-tank weaponry to destroy.

So, brother thomas- you're down for a nonstop existence of warfare, of watching your family around you age and die while you live to continue war, and would enjoy the monotony of the daily rituals to prevent the ennui and sheer boredom of a 200+ year old man from driving him mad?

Only the shoulders and boots are bulky, and that's for protection.

As that chart up there illustrates, Marines take up every bit of that space.

Jihallah wrote:Look at the weapons of the imperium of man, in order from highest AP to lowest AP. Go down the list, starting with the worst AP of them all, the humble lasgun. Stop when you reach AP3.
You'll notice you've stopped at Krak missiles. Power armor requires anti-tank weaponry to destroy.

Well, that's not entirely correct - AP only means that a weapon is guaranteed to punch through. It may still happen with lesser weapons, just that it required multiple hits to a single location or a lucky one at a particularly weak spot, etc.

In terms of fluff, I often find power armour being attributed an almost miraculous protection, probably due to certain semi-exaggerated heroic feats in various stories, most often licensed material. The Codex: Angels of Death also goes into detail on protective values, however, and provides a somewhat more sober analysis:
"Individual plates of armour can be up to an inch thick, and have a special honeycomb design which helps to dissipate energy and localise any damage suffered by the suit. Against most small arms, the armour reduces the chance of injury by between 50-85%, and it provides some form of protection against all except the most powerful weapons encountered on the battlefields of the 41st millennium."

Of course, "injury" is a rather loose term - what may kill a normal man may be but a scratch for a Marine, so this would have to be taken into consideration, in addition to any protection offered by the armour.
Also, obviously the fluff on the subject of power armour protection may vary wildly depending on which book or novel one is looking at. The absence of canonicity means that there is a lot of leeway for our own interpretations of the 'verse.

Jihallah wrote:Look at the weapons of the imperium of man, in order from highest AP to lowest AP. Go down the list, starting with the worst AP of them all, the humble lasgun. Stop when you reach AP3.
You'll notice you've stopped at Krak missiles. Power armor requires anti-tank weaponry to destroy.

So, brother thomas- you're down for a nonstop existence of warfare, of watching your family around you age and die while you live to continue war, and would enjoy the monotony of the daily rituals to prevent the ennui and sheer boredom of a 200+ year old man from driving him mad?

I know I would... Although saying that, nurgle would just have to look at me and I'd be all "oh you, course I'll join you! *throws up*"
And that is why I shall never be a space marine... :(


But as has been already stated, the armour is perfectly sized, and they have a fusion reactor IN THEIR BACKPACKS. THAT is efficient.


Von Chogg

Well, as your Sgt is mad you are in the military, so ask yourself this. If you had a nearly impenetrable suit of armor that was guaranteed to make your enemies run screaming for their mommies, and a suit of sleek, streamlined body armor that looked like HALO armor, which do you think would be more effective on the battlefield for frontal assaults?

From a tech standpoint, the armor is that big to fit the 8'+ Space Marine, the nuclear power pack, artificial muscles and servos, and enough armor to stop a main battle tank shell in its tracks. Also, to stop a main battle tank in its tracks.

Also, rule of cool. Pauldrons of Doom beat fratboy HALO armor any day.

Space Marines fulfill a different battlefield role than Spartans...
They also fight wildly different enemies.
It makes sense that their armour would differ...