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We know for a fact that they did, because the areas inhabited after the Age of Strife were settled much earlier.

Very slowly, with "generational ships" and cryo-stasis and similar technologies.

So they always burned Psykers since they had the warp drive? Wasn't the Emperor needed for the projection of the Astronomican even before his entombment in the Golden Throne?

No. They didn't use the Warp for space-travel, they remained in real-space and "slow boated" their way to distant stars, journies that could take centuries.

Once the Warp Drive was invented, then they needed Navigators, so they built those, too, and then it was on like Donkey Kong for Humanity to spread throughout the galaxy.

 Psienesis wrote:
Very slowly, with "generational ships" and cryo-stasis and similar technologies.

This. IIRC, some ships would have a generation of people born on the ship, have children and die on the ship before every reaching the intended settlement.

 Psienesis wrote:
Once the Warp Drive was invented, then they needed Navigators, so they built those, too, and then it was on like Donkey Kong for Humanity to spread throughout the galaxy.

Navigators were created during the DAoT, but how could they have been of any effective use without the Astronomican?

Because, prior to the birth of Slaanesh, the Warp was a pretty calm place.

Right now, in 40K, flying through the Warp is like trying to sail through a hurricane. In M25, it was like trying to sail on some windy seas, on a clear day, with light chop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a Lexi article that kinda covers Man's spread throughout the galaxy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.U-52xKMkXQg

The Emperor only directs the Astronomicon, it is human psykers that power it and it is possible for psykers to project a beacon into the Warp other than the Astronomicon but naturally these beacons are feeble and short ranged. However all warp-drives incorporate navigational mechanisms which monitor the Warp and can predict a route through it allowing a ship to make a 'calculated' jump. This allows a ship to hop through the Warp, roughly four or five light years at a time and whilst it is possible to make a longer jump it is much more dangerous. A 'piloted' jump, using a Navigator, allows for movement of up to five thousand light years ordinarily although longer jumps have been made.

During the Dark Age of Technology, the Warp was a very calm and undisturbed place and it's entities were pretty much unaware of humanity and the few that were could do little to escape into realspace. As explained already, humanity traveled at sub-light speeds, taking entire generations to reach their destination. Later, humankind produced navigators, warp drives and gellar fields and got away with navigating the warp for thousands of years, however psykers had began appearing on hundreds of Imperial worlds and their inability at controling their powers had solidified humanities presence within the warp and alarmed the forces of Chaos. By M24, the uncontroled human psykers were possessed by daemons and entire sectors were ripped wide with warp rifts, spitting forth countless warp entities. Those worlds who weren't ridden of human life were forced to live in isolation during the coming Age of Strife.

Slowly.

In the Priests of Mars novel the Arch Magos discovers hidden technology within his Ark Mechanicus that would harness background radiation from the galaxy and use it to propel the ship at FTL speeds. This ship was older than the IOM and had all sorts of advanced technology from the DAoT so it may have been a unique example but there could have been more ships at one point that possessed similar capabilities.

 Psienesis wrote:
Because, prior to the birth of Slaanesh, the Warp was a pretty calm place.

Right now, in 40K, flying through the Warp is like trying to sail through a hurricane. In M25, it was like trying to sail on some windy seas, on a clear day, with light chop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a Lexi article that kinda covers Man's spread throughout the galaxy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.U-52xKMkXQg

Didn't the birth of Slaanesh and Fall of the Eldar cause the warp storms to cease, ending the Age of Strife and allowing the Great Crusade to begin?

Maximus Bitch wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Because, prior to the birth of Slaanesh, the Warp was a pretty calm place.

Right now, in 40K, flying through the Warp is like trying to sail through a hurricane. In M25, it was like trying to sail on some windy seas, on a clear day, with light chop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a Lexi article that kinda covers Man's spread throughout the galaxy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.U-52xKMkXQg

Didn't the birth of Slaanesh and Fall of the Eldar cause the warp storms to cease, ending the Age of Strife and allowing the Great Crusade to begin?

IIRC, the period from the supposed "Start" when Slaanesh was still an embryo (sort of) to the eventual "birth" of his/her/its/whatevers saw an rapid increase in warp activity, which made warp travel increasingly difficult till nigh impossible. I've heard some sources claiming that the chaos gods has always been there, even before the War of Heavens, (i.e. the war of the Old Ones and the Necronytes), because as a reflection of emotions, they merely changes their forms and names, but were never truly born nor dead.

Anyways that's besides the point; the fact is, the Incubation time of Slaanesh was a long time, which evidently is long enough to cripple the then Human Empire; the Eldar empire fared better because of webways. The Age of Strife/Long Night started long before the Fall of the Eldar Empire. According to the timeline on Lexicanum. the Fall of Eldar occured sometime during M30, whereas the AoS took place around M23 to M25.

The navigator genes and the warp drive was discovered or invented during the later part of the Age of Technology, where humanity lived in relative ease due to the prosperous intergalactic trading and hi-tech stuffs. Before that, humanity were to travel in sub-light space ships and live off the colonies they found, isolated from the rest of the galaxy. It's... kinda like the long night, minus hordes of daemons.

Maximus Bitch wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Because, prior to the birth of Slaanesh, the Warp was a pretty calm place.

Right now, in 40K, flying through the Warp is like trying to sail through a hurricane. In M25, it was like trying to sail on some windy seas, on a clear day, with light chop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a Lexi article that kinda covers Man's spread throughout the galaxy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.U-52xKMkXQg

Didn't the birth of Slaanesh and Fall of the Eldar cause the warp storms to cease, ending the Age of Strife and allowing the Great Crusade to begin?

Yes, but by the time of the Great Crusade, Mankind had already had an established star-spanning Empire. The Emperor's plan was to reunite all of those worlds, and forge a new Empire.

Maximus Bitch wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Because, prior to the birth of Slaanesh, the Warp was a pretty calm place.

Right now, in 40K, flying through the Warp is like trying to sail through a hurricane. In M25, it was like trying to sail on some windy seas, on a clear day, with light chop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a Lexi article that kinda covers Man's spread throughout the galaxy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.U-52xKMkXQg

Didn't the birth of Slaanesh and Fall of the Eldar cause the warp storms to cease, ending the Age of Strife and allowing the Great Crusade to begin?

All those warp storms were caused by the same energies that were swirling together to form Slaanesh. Think of the Age of Strife, with all the Warp Storms, as the time when the Warp was "pregnant" with Slaanesh. And like a pregnant belly, it swelled up. Then all that energy was released with the birth of Slaanesh and a huge hole (the Eye of Terror) getting torn in reality. During the Great Crusades, the Warp was pretty calm too, but it all the warfare, strife, etc. started to build up the turmoil again. That's why the Emperor decided to develope the Astronomican and the Golden Throne. But he didn't do it till towards the end of the Great Crusade.

I think this will really happen in the future, just like that. And humans will all be 28mm tall. But we will look heroic.

Because at one time you didn't need the Astronomicon.

You still don't technically NEED it, it just makes things easier and safer.

Before Slannesh, and Chaos in general, the warp was less turbulent. Making blind jumps is still a thing.

The astronomicon makes long and accurate jumps possible. Without it, or even a navigator, you can "skim the sufface" of the warp for FTL travel. It's what the Tau do. Various computers and propulsion drives got us started. After the navigator gene became useful we could chart longer courses in the warp.

However, if the astromicon were to fail now, its perhaps not hyperbole to say the imperium would collapse. Sure, could ships plot a course, especially with a navigator, its easy. Without the astronomicon to guide them it would be comparably crushingly short in terms of jump distance. Entire sectioNs of the galaxy would be inaccessable as the amount of time for such short jumps would make travel impractical at best. It would be like removing all vehicles and expecting everyone to walk from now on. You could still get places, but only slowly, and everything like commerce and communication would collapse.

The Imperium would definitely fall apart into isolated pockets which could be held by local forces that were already at that location.

Ultramar might remain intact, but travel would become slower within that area and you'd pretty much be stuck there.

Communication I believe would still exist, Astropathic comms don't require the Astronomicon IIRC.

 Grey Templar wrote:
The Imperium would definitely fall apart into isolated pockets which could be held by local forces that were already at that location.

Ultramar might remain intact, but travel would become slower within that area and you'd pretty much be stuck there.

Communication I believe would still exist, Astropathic comms don't require the Astronomicon IIRC.

No but once the Astropaths start dying communication over long range stops.

The warp was calmer And easier to navigate before, less storms, dangers and such.

Still not safe and such but far easier the navigate and travel through

 Psienesis wrote:

Maximus Bitch wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
Because, prior to the birth of Slaanesh, the Warp was a pretty calm place.

Right now, in 40K, flying through the Warp is like trying to sail through a hurricane. In M25, it was like trying to sail on some windy seas, on a clear day, with light chop.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a Lexi article that kinda covers Man's spread throughout the galaxy:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology#.U-52xKMkXQg

Didn't the birth of Slaanesh and Fall of the Eldar cause the warp storms to cease, ending the Age of Strife and allowing the Great Crusade to begin?

Yes, but by the time of the Great Crusade, Mankind had already had an established star-spanning Empire. The Emperor's plan was to reunite all of those worlds, and forge a new Empire.

When you say "prior to the birth of slaanesh", how much prior?

Mankind had settled planets throughout the Local Cluster by M18, and by M20 had pretty much been across most of the galaxy, and had set up civilizations on many worlds. This persisted until M23 to M25, depending on the source.

This would predate the Emperor's appearance by several thousand years.

Warp jumps are possible through calculated jumps as per Battlefleet Gothic rulebook and Rogue Trader RPG sources. This is how all those renegades and pirates (who often do not have Navigators) manage to get around. The downside is these jumps are short distance of only a few light years after which the ship has to come out back into normal space, get its bearings, and then calculate another jump. The analogy is to ancient sea travel on ships before the capability of long distance navigation and long ocean voyages. Ships would have to make frequent landfall or hug coastlines to keep their bearings.

Navigators allow for much longer jumps and the ability to steer and navigate within warp space. The Astronomicon is the most well known beacon but lesser beacons (as per BFG rulebook again) are also maintained by choirs of psykers and these are also used as an aid to navigation.

Not all ships in the Imperium have Navigators yet it is also clear that the economy of the Imperium requires vast amounts of shipping to keep the constant supply of goods and raw materials flowing between planets. This is where the the Chartist captains mentioned in Rogue Trader RPG sources come in. They use charts or maps and only travel the same set of stable routes over and over again. These charts have the necessary calculations already done, or at least partially done, saving the time and effort of having to manually calculate a jump from scratch every single time.

The existence of stable interstellar commerce and so many planets in the Imperium being essentially non-self sustaining and reliant on exports or imports for survival means regular warp travel at least on certain routes cannot possibly be as super dangerous as hyped up to be, as otherwise the Imperium would not have survived in its current form and size with so many worlds utterly dependent on regular shipping for their very survival.