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What one Standard Template Construct would be the most invaluable to the Imperium as a whole? It can one thing and one thing only, be that a knife, an engine, anything. What one item would so upset the balance that the Imperium would be unstoppable?

My choice is the Subspace Ansible, instantaneous communication. The biggest problem facing Imperial administration is that the logistics of running such a vast organization are insurmountable. When you are relying on scribes writing everything down with ink and parchment, astropaths that send one-way communiques, and Vox operators that can barely keep up with modern Walkie Talkies, things break down if one link in the chain falters.

With an instantaneous means of communication, this could all be solved. Staying in constant contact with planets would allow the Imperium to better pick its battles. If a planet is not worth saving, they know immediately, allowing them to better organize forces to reinforce and liberate worlds that are. Entire crusades could be organized and run with incredible unit cohesion. Supply convoys and rogue traders could maximize profits by planning their trips around the estimated times planets needed restocking, and being able to watch these trends in real time by having a line directly to their customers.

I know this will probably never happen given the need for STATUS QUO, but it is fun to think about. What do you think might upset the balance?

The STC that lets them build STCs

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
The STC that lets them build STCs

This

It would let them go on and make their own items that they can use. But this is grimdark so no one has the time to learn how to make new ones.

Lasgun stc would be my choice. Without them IG cannon fodder wont be as effective since they would have supply issues if hey had to use conventional weapons.

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
The STC that lets them build STCs

I support this also.
No need to recover terminator armours, you can make new ones.
No need to recover dreadnought or to reship ancient destroyers, you can make new ones.

As the 2nd place, I would say the STC of Big E's genetic laboratory. You could produce primarchs, en masse.

 Seb wrote:


As the 2nd place, I would say the STC of Big E's genetic laboratory. You could produce primarchs, en masse.

That whole Primarch thing didn't work out so well last time...

The one that makes Fem-Bots.

< Taken by the void dragon. >

Warp Drives.

Farming STC. Not very sexy but Mans's gotta eat.

The creation of the Primarchs is not based on STC. That was the Emperor's own deal.

Any single STC contains the sum of human knowledge required to outfit a colony on an alien world indefinitely. So, if the Imperium suddenly found an intact, operational STC, it would regain a significant portion of the knowledge lost since the Dark Age of Technology.

 Psienesis wrote:


Any single STC contains the sum of human knowledge required to outfit a colony on an alien world indefinitely. So, if the Imperium suddenly found an intact, operational STC, it would regain a significant portion of the knowledge lost since the Dark Age of Technology.

Not quite correct.

A single STC is a blueprint, it's the schematics and instructions of building a Leman Russ or a knife or type of generator.

An STC system is the sophisticated program and fabrication device where you input what resources you have and what you want it to create. It then does so. A fully functional STC system would be a godsend for the Imperium and kickstart and new wave of technological progress. It would change the status quo irrevocably.

 kronk wrote:
The one that makes Fem-Bots.

DOES NOT FEMPUTE!

I think a lot of you guys have misconceptions about what new STC material does. Even if it were able to poop out the Emperor's original gene laboratory it would be like giving to a nuclear powered sub over to a 3rd grade class to try to run.

 Seb wrote:
No need to recover terminator armours, you can make new ones.
No need to recover dreadnought or to reship ancient destroyers, you can make new ones.

They can do all of that already. Space Marine equipment is just disproportionately expensive to produce compared to its combat effectiveness, so it gets put quite a ways behind useful things, like proper tanks (Baneblades, Leman Russes and Macharii), or even Titans.

The idea that the AdMech relies solely on STC designs is a common misconception. The AdMech emerged during the Age of Strife, and founded its forgeworlds by carefully sending colonist vessels through lulls in the warp storms; most of their technology was developed in-house (the noosphere, augmetics, titans, skitarii, etc), so to speak, with the STCs being highly valuable because of their extremely optimized designs.

 Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:
The STC that lets them build STCs

That's like wishing for genies!

Any STC really, except maybe the one that produces mundane things like..... sporks

An intact full STC system or something that allows FTL travel without using the warp (point to point jump drive?)

Warp drive or the Rhino.

 Ross74H wrote:
An intact full STC system or something that allows FTL travel without using the warp (point to point jump drive?)

Humanity has always had to use the warp for FTL space travel, there's never been another method.

Neutralista wrote:
Warp drive or the Rhino.

Why?

Those are both things the Imperium knows how to produce. new Rhinos and Starships are regularly built.

The Land Crawler.

a small tractor like machine that is used across the entire imperium to do every job imaginable. from farm work to hauling. the tiny humble Land Crawler moves the imperium along on its little tracks.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Land_Crawler

I think people are answering either the op ("what would be the most valuable STC the Imperium could find") or a certain interpretation of the title ("what's the most important STC they do have").

It's probably something ubiquitous which isn't really explored in the fluff. Like technology which recycles water to support the huge human population of the Imperium or some device which aids the logistics of mobilising forces galaxy wide.

Misconceptions abound...

An STC is a machine that builds things.

An STC Wafer is like a floppy disk that holds a single pattern that tells the STC what to build.

The STC wafers are the important part. The Imperium has working STCs - they just don't have the majority of the data wafers that were used to tell the STC what it was building and how to do it.

The fact is that a Forge World can far outstrip the productive capability of a single STC.

As for "what STC wafer would benefit the Imperium most"... I would have to agree with Arcsquad12 - Instantaneous intersteller communications.

Since as far as we know, the Imperium never made a working Matter Transmitter, anyway.

Since as far as we know, the Imperium never made a working Matter Transmitter, anyway.

The Teleportarium.

Gauss Teleporters are useless pieces of cark that are more likely to kill the subject than get them there on target.

Maybe it's semantics, but I don't really count that as "working". Besides, they're incredibly short ranged (only a few thousand kilometres at most).

You can teleport from space to a planet's surface. That's all a Star Trek teleporter was good for, too.

That it has a chance to kill the people using it is also part of Star Trek canon, coupled with the fact that, for the IoM, these devices are ancient and poorly understood.

When I say 'matter transmitter', I'm not talking about a short-range teleporter like the Imperium's gauss teleporters, or even the Federation's transporters. I mean something along the lines of the Matter Transmitters in Harry Harrison's One Step from Earth.

I'm not sure there is evidence within any of the fluff that the IoM has ever been capable of such a device, even in the Golden Age.