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 Crimson wrote:
Then why bring up warp?

As a fun tangent to your mention of horses going past the sound barrier. Feth man, can't you have some fun for once?

 Crimson wrote:
But I really don't think you can have that sort of 'advanced tech' without computers.

That lack of imagination is really more your problem, because I've seen plenty of fictional worlds where powerful non-standard engines brought people to the moon or other hard to reach places.

 Melissia wrote:
As a fun tangent to your mention of horses going past the sound barrier. Feth man, can't you have some fun for once?

You know that toy soldiers are a serious business, not fun allowed.

That lack of imagination is really more your problem, because I've seen plenty of fictional worlds where powerful non-standard engines brought people to the moon or other hard to reach places.

We can imagine all sorts of thing, doens't mean those things are plausible. I though that my requirements for plausability in 40K are pretty lax, yet they seem to be clearly much more strident than yours or Manchu's.

 Melissia wrote:

If I'm not mistaken, Manchu sees Sororitas power armor as more akin to power armor in the Fallout series. It's advanced tech, highly valuable and rare, but you don't need an interface for it-- you instead need to be trained in its use cause moving in it "feels" differently than normal movement.

Yes, this is the interpretation that I have about most all non-Astartes power armor.
Also, I will chime that I don’t like the aesthetic choices of the new sisters. There’s not nearly enough body horror. A liked the old picture with the various parchments sown into the skin, face coverings to cover one’s shame, etc. I don’t really care for all the uncovered faces I saw with the new ones.

eh body horror can quickly seem cheap and mysigionistic I can understand why GW's shying away from it

 Manchu wrote:
No, there hasn’t been any indication that Sisters required any kind of neural interface to use their PA. Neither is there any general “rule” that this fictional tech operates in that manner.

Instead, we have a couple of highly exceptional cases: Black Carapace for SM and a some kind of body-glove for one instance of Inquistorial artificer PA.

True. Power Armor has never been stated to require a neural interface. However, it is stated that it works better when you have one.

Given that the Church is extremely wealthy, enough to afford to give their military power armor, it also stands that they would be wealthy enough to go a step further and get neural interfaces for that power armor. Now why might they not go for a full on Black Carapace/MIU style interface? Well, they're not that rich. And/or such technology could not really be applied in the numbers the Adeptus Sororites would need them in. I mean, the church is probably supplying at minimum a few billion Sisters. Giving all of them a full MIU interface on top of power armor, bolters, and all the other stuff would probably be a little too difficult. Especially if you consider how expensive botched surgeries would be. You lose the Sister as well as the money you've invested in her training. Better to go with the safer method of direct muscle interfaces to save a lot of money and have less risk.

Why not just a body-glove then, rather than the impractical surgeries?

 Manchu wrote:
Why not just a body-glove then, rather than the impractical surgeries?

Well, the neural interface is still going to be superior to a body glove. And I wouldn't say the surgeries are impractical.

We may joke about the incompetence and backwardness of the Imperium, but they're still very technologically advanced. Even guardsmen, who are basically worthless, can expect to get 'crude' prosthetic limbs, eyes, and replacement organs when they lose them in battle. That at least says that the Imperium at least has a highly competent and widespread knowledge of complex surgeries. And if you're rich, you can get juvnat treatment that can extend your lifespan for 400-500 years and give you the same vitality and appearance of someone in their 30s-40s.

If the Imperium can fairly casually give Guardsmen bionic eyes, performing some minor surgery to interface with the nervous system of major muscle groups is trivial. We can interface with the nervous systems of muscle groups with modern technology. Doing it with technology that is 38k years more advanced is nothing.

As described above, surgical implants are impractical because if they go out of action then the warrior herself is also out of action. If it’s just a piece of wargear, then it can be replaced without tying up the most crucial, expensive component — the warrior herself.

And yes 38,000+ years into the future, technology is sufficiently advanced such that a Sororita can operate her PA effectively without any neural interface. That “advanced tech” argument cuts in every direction.

Neural interfaces make PA better? For whom? SM get extra mileage out of it because they are genetically modified beyond the capacity of unaugmented humans. This example doesn’t apply to Sisters. As for Inquisitors, they are deadly but they aren’t necessarily military, either. They do not have the luxury of endless hours of drill and so a neural interface would be an especially handy shortcut for them in getting more from their priceless artificer PA considering they don’t actually have the skill earned from constant practice. This example also doesn’t apply to Sisters.

It’s perfectly reasonable that Sisters wouldn’t use any neural interface because (1) their armor is sufficiently technologically advanced to not require it and (2) they spend nearly all of their time outside of combat on mastering its use in the event of combat.

 Manchu wrote:
Why not just a body-glove then, rather than the impractical surgeries?

I can think of a few potential answers.

The first: Cause of Space Marines. they have implants to better interact with their suits, ergo implants to interact with your suits are more holy.
The second: Control, it means the Minitorium has more control of the tech and you don't see as many examples of it falling off the back of a truck.
Thirdly: The Admech may simply have designed the suits to take plugs because for them such things are just sort of a "... well why wouldn't you?"
Forthly: it could be that plugs aren't universal and not all repenta minis will have plugs, just some. they might even be (not holding my breath mind you) optional attachments.

Sure we can make up arbitrary reasons to rationalize this retcon. For example, the surgical implantation is a test of faith. We could make up any number of these. It’s a fictional world, after all.

One thing that does occur - at what age do Sisters get the implants - would it not be a problem if they were too young?

My guess is when they're being fitted for power armor. I don't know what amount of training they get out of the Schola Progenium before they get power armor, if any, but they wouldn't get them before leaving the Schola, at least.

 Mr Morden wrote:
One thing that does occur - at what age do Sisters get the implants - would it not be a problem if they were too young?

Considering girl selected to become part of the Sisterhood are going to be around the age of 16 according the fluff we got on the scholam, that's not such a big issue. Most well fed and well trained girls will have done most of their growth before the age of 18. Girls start their growth spurts earlier then boys. That's why from age 10 to 15, girls are statistically stronger then boys on average.

epronovost wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
One thing that does occur - at what age do Sisters get the implants - would it not be a problem if they were too young?

Considering girl selected to become part of the Sisterhood are going to be around the age of 16 according the fluff we got on the scholam, that's not such a big issue. Most well fed and well trained girls will have done most of their growth before the age of 18. Girls start their growth spurts earlier then boys. That's why from age 10 to 15, girls are statistically stronger then boys on average.

and remember not all sisters are sisters of battle, so chances are there's a few years of training before they're fitted for their armor.

BrianDavion wrote:

epronovost wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
One thing that does occur - at what age do Sisters get the implants - would it not be a problem if they were too young?

Considering girl selected to become part of the Sisterhood are going to be around the age of 16 according the fluff we got on the scholam, that's not such a big issue. Most well fed and well trained girls will have done most of their growth before the age of 18. Girls start their growth spurts earlier then boys. That's why from age 10 to 15, girls are statistically stronger then boys on average.

and remember not all sisters are sisters of battle, so chances are there's a few years of training before they're fitted for their armor.

And who knows is Novice Sister of Battle are equipped with power armor or if they need to earn them at some point.

epronovost wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

epronovost wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:
One thing that does occur - at what age do Sisters get the implants - would it not be a problem if they were too young?

Considering girl selected to become part of the Sisterhood are going to be around the age of 16 according the fluff we got on the scholam, that's not such a big issue. Most well fed and well trained girls will have done most of their growth before the age of 18. Girls start their growth spurts earlier then boys. That's why from age 10 to 15, girls are statistically stronger then boys on average.

and remember not all sisters are sisters of battle, so chances are there's a few years of training before they're fitted for their armor.

And who knows is Novice Sister of Battle are equipped with power armor or if they need to earn them at some point.

honestly I hope not. or if they do they make said novies fast attack, elites or something. SM scouts where in retrospect a bit of a bad choice design wise

BrianDavion wrote:

honestly I hope not. or if they do they make said novies fast attack, elites or something. SM scouts where in retrospect a bit of a bad choice design wise

I agree with you on that. Personnaly, if they were to make Novices, I would make them in power armor and mixed in with full Sister of Battle a bit like the Black Templar do. I would also use this as an excuse to bump the stats of SIsters up a little bit, but that's just me. If there was to be Novice without power armor, I would make them cheap fodder like Chaos Cultist, except armed with bolter, bolt pistols or a bolt pistol and sword.

I wonder if those sneak peaks will ever reveal something actually completely new to the rather small Sister range. There is a lot of room to add new units to their roster.

The only reference I am aware of about novices anywhere from GW is in Shadow War Armgaeddon where as part of the kill team you can have.

Novitiate (she is equipped with power armour)

GW couldn't be bothered to put them in the new Kill Team book so nothing new.