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In the fluff, the Astral Knights Chapter Master destroys the Necron World Engine with a few meltabombs, in the 40k game Space Marine (though this might not be canon and something to go off) they destroy a MAC Cannon with it, at least that's what I think it is (this is one single meltabomb).. In the crunch, it's a 5pt upgrade for a tac sargent.. Logic??

Meltabombs are extremely powerful. However, the effectiveness of them is a function of how precisely they are placed. If you load it into the breech of a cannon, the cannon is wrecked. If you place and tamp them against a device, they will disable the device. If you hurl one at a rampaging carnifex or onto the deck of a passing tank, you'll get a much less consistent result.

If it is placed in the right place, it can be deadly. Most likely the world engine had them placed in such places as to cause tertiary explosions(Fuel cannisters, Warp Coils and weapons) or with the MAC it is likely hey placed them on load bearing struts or something.

I guess so, but in response to the first reply, surely it'd do the same damage due to the stuff inside it, not *exactly* where it is placed.. If you put it on the top of the carnies carapace, it'd make no difference than if you put it on the bottom :S

 BrotherOfBone wrote:
I guess so, but in response to the first reply, surely it'd do the same damage due to the stuff inside it, not *exactly* where it is placed.. If you put it on the top of the carnies carapace, it'd make no difference than if you put it on the bottom :S

Depends. If the device has a default upward-explosion, rather than a spherical explosion, then putting it on top will cause significantly less damage than putting it on the bottom, because the explosive force is moving away from the Carnifex, rather than moving towards the Carnifex.

The better question is how did the Astral Knights know which Necron technology would cause a chain reaction when destroyed by Melta Bombs.

Last I checked even the most brilliant Mechanicus Adepts do not know how Necron technology functions, and in fact common consensus was that "It shouldn't".

So basically, Melta Bombs are exactly as powerful as they need to be to further the plot.

So basically, Melta Bombs are exactly as powerful as they need to be to further the plot.

So much this.

I wrote a bunch about the physics of tamping explosives but really is does boil down to "meltabombs are as destructive as the author needs them to be".

I think it's all to do with whether the bomb is properly, placed primed and activated. A grenade that's placed in the right place and aimed to do optimal damage will do far more damage than one lobbed at someone, fragmenting all over the show.
Imagine this scaled upwards.

Ah, I see. So it's that way, is it? :( I was actually hoping for some logic behind it x) Alas, such things are rarities in Warhammer 40k..

It's a melta. It's a fairly unrestrained fission reaction. It melts things. Flesh, stone, heavy armor, planets, space. Doesn't matter.

You've heard the phrase "let's get busy"? This is an explosive that gets biz-zay. Thoroughly and consistently.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
The better question is how did the Astral Knights know which Necron technology would cause a chain reaction when destroyed by Melta Bombs.

Last I checked even the most brilliant Mechanicus Adepts do not know how Necron technology functions, and in fact common consensus was that "It shouldn't".

So basically, Melta Bombs are exactly as powerful as they need to be to further the plot.

The deal with Necron Tech is more as case of the Ad Mech not knowing how the Necrons can power their weapons/contain the energies.

the Ad Mech successfully reverse engineered a Gauss Flayer, but it required a mindbogglingly high amount of energy to function and unless it was made perfectly it would explode.

So yes, it would be very possible for them to know where to put some bombs to cause a chain reaction.

Except that the reaction is still partially doing damage via a shock wave created by the expansion of gas generated by the flash boiling of everything in contact with the reactive portion of the bomb. That means you're going to get more destruction with proper tamping and placement, just like you would with a conventional explosive.

Of course.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:
The better question is how did the Astral Knights know which Necron technology would cause a chain reaction when destroyed by Melta Bombs.

Last I checked even the most brilliant Mechanicus Adepts do not know how Necron technology functions, and in fact common consensus was that "It shouldn't".

So basically, Melta Bombs are exactly as powerful as they need to be to further the plot.

The deal with Necron Tech is more as case of the Ad Mech not knowing how the Necrons can power their weapons/contain the energies.

the Ad Mech successfully reverse engineered a Gauss Flayer, but it required a mindbogglingly high amount of energy to function and unless it was made perfectly it would explode.

So yes, it would be very possible for them to know where to put some bombs to cause a chain reaction.

So they have no idea how the Necrons power their weapons and contain their energy, but they know exactly how the Necrons contain the energy of a planet-sized super starship?

Interesting.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:
The better question is how did the Astral Knights know which Necron technology would cause a chain reaction when destroyed by Melta Bombs.

Last I checked even the most brilliant Mechanicus Adepts do not know how Necron technology functions, and in fact common consensus was that "It shouldn't".

So basically, Melta Bombs are exactly as powerful as they need to be to further the plot.

The deal with Necron Tech is more as case of the Ad Mech not knowing how the Necrons can power their weapons/contain the energies.

the Ad Mech successfully reverse engineered a Gauss Flayer, but it required a mindbogglingly high amount of energy to function and unless it was made perfectly it would explode.

So yes, it would be very possible for them to know where to put some bombs to cause a chain reaction.

So they have no idea how the Necrons power their weapons and contain their energy, but they know exactly how the Necrons contain the energy of a planet-sized super starship?

Interesting.

They don't need to know how, just where they contain it. Place bomb at important power node, bomb explodes = profit. You don't need to know how the node works, just where it is.

So tell me, where did the Astral Knights get the schematics for the World Engine before entering it?

You don't need schematics. You just need to have some information as to what power relays and such look like. And then you could still get by with guess work most likely. "This looks important, lets blow it up!"

 Void__Dragon wrote:
So tell me, where did the Astral Knights get the schematics for the World Engine before entering it?

Necron codex. Sheesh. :p

 Grey Templar wrote:
You don't need schematics. You just need to have some information as to what power relays and such look like. And then you could still get by with guess work most likely. "This looks important, lets blow it up!"

And they knew where these things were in the World Engine, a vessel never before encountered, that was the size of a planet?

Just because you don't have a map doesn't mean you can't find stuff.

And how long do you think it would take to traverse a ship the size of a planet's corridor's when wandering around it aimlessly?

They did blow it up, so obviously they managed.

Right, through nonsensical and bad writing, which is what I was getting at.

I'm sure power armour autosenses and auspexes have some kind of energy sensing systems (most sci-fi scanner systems seem to).just keep walking in the direction of the largest reading and the find something frangible or pressurized looking. Apply magical demo charges then run away. You should check out some videos of bleves and thermite reactions to get some idea of a potential melra bomb equivalent.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
You don't need schematics. You just need to have some information as to what power relays and such look like. And then you could still get by with guess work most likely. "This looks important, lets blow it up!"

And they knew where these things were in the World Engine, a vessel never before encountered, that was the size of a planet?

Suddenly I'm recalling a certain phrase about Womp-rats...

Necron technology makes use of physical principles that are at least understood by the Mechanicus, even if they are unable to replicate the technology. The Mechanicus can theorize how a Tachyon Arrow works while being unable to build one themselves.

Much the same thing with the World Engine. Point an auspex down a hallway, it beeps and bloops and shows you "Hey, Chief, there's a fethload of quantum energy flowing down this pipe, coming out of that doohickey over there."

It doesn't take a super-genius to figure out that blowing up that doohickey is going to cause significant damage.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

And they knew where these things were in the World Engine, a vessel never before encountered, that was the size of a planet?

In fairness, the Necrons had been fought sufficiently and their Tomb Worlds sometimes easy enough to enter that the identification of generators and such is understandable. Aside from this, they wandered (and maybe drove or even flew in Landspeeders) around for days until a few reached the central command area. Even then they merely seem to have brought shields and some weapons offline. Put it down to luck that they reached (or perhaps largely not, depending on what it looked like or what the power readings were. It's entirely possible they could locate the central command area somehow). Wasn't it only described as planetoid sized though? If so, that would make the distances much more managable, especially if Landspeeders, for instance, were used.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
You don't need schematics. You just need to have some information as to what power relays and such look like. And then you could still get by with guess work most likely. "This looks important, lets blow it up!"

And they knew where these things were in the World Engine, a vessel never before encountered, that was the size of a planet?

If you look at pictures of the ship, (at least the ones I've seen,) the design makes it pretty ckear that the power comes from the huge generator in the middle. Just keep heading to the center and you'll find it

 Psienesis wrote:
Necron technology makes use of physical principles that are at least understood by the Mechanicus, even if they are unable to replicate the technology. The Mechanicus can theorize how a Tachyon Arrow works while being unable to build one themselves.

Much the same thing with the World Engine. Point an auspex down a hallway, it beeps and bloops and shows you "Hey, Chief, there's a fethload of quantum energy flowing down this pipe, coming out of that doohickey over there."

It doesn't take a super-genius to figure out that blowing up that doohickey is going to cause significant damage.

An auspex is a short-range device.

The World Engine was the size of a planet.

The passage relied on contrived coincidences that were astronomically unlikely (Like somehow boarding right next to the power cores), or it relied on the Space Marines being able to run around at hypersonic speeds through the complex.

It was stupid, and people should just accept that fact.