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AFAIK, Power Armour does not have any forcefields. Does that mean, that if say an Ork kills a Marine and scavenges his armour, he could then use it? I mean, as long as he's strong enough, it should work, right?

Well, the Ork probably wouldn't fit in the Armour whole, but given the way Ork tech works (or doesn't ) I can see them using various plates as parts of 'Eavy Armour.

For the armour to work effectively as a whole suit, you'd need a) a power pack, b) the suit to be intact and c) the SM enhancements that allow them to interface with the armour (Black Carapace)

Yeah without the power pack and the enhancements it's just massive heavy plates of ceramite. An Ork would probably be strong enough to wear it but probably wouldn't fit, while anything that would fit probably wouldn't be strong enough to wear it.

A moderately-successful Ork (like, mid-range Boss) would be the same general size and shape of a Space Marine. The only thing the Ork lacks is a way to make the armor move, since he doesn't have a Black Carapace or the plug-suit that other, non-Astartes humans wear when donning Power Armor.

Something has to tell the suit "lift the left arm" when you lift your left arm. There has to be an interface between your nervous system and the electro-fibre bundles that form the musculature of the suit.

Do they explain how the.Sisters power armor works? Never understood that.

Yeah, apparently the Black Carapace is unnecessary, in the strictest sense of the word. The armour responds to motions, meaning that when your arm moves the armour realises 'oh, that appendage is going.... there' and reacts to the movement. The Black Carapace allows neural interface, and thus move in sync with the nerve pulses, essentially acting as another layer of muscle.

There's no reason Orks couldn't use marine armour. Their technology shouldn't prove an issue, probably more an aesthetic boundary.

My $0.02.

 Psienesis wrote:
A moderately-successful Ork (like, mid-range Boss) would be the same general size and shape of a Space Marine. The only thing the Ork lacks is a way to make the armor move, since he doesn't have a Black Carapace or the plug-suit that other, non-Astartes humans wear when donning Power Armor.

Something has to tell the suit "lift the left arm" when you lift your left arm. There has to be an interface between your nervous system and the electro-fibre bundles that form the musculature of the suit.

But if I put a PA arm on an Ork, the Ork could lift the arm without that Carapace.

 Eldarain wrote:
Do they explain how the.Sisters power armor works? Never understood that.

Pretty much like the current in-development/prototyped Exo-Skeletons, ie. they are full of sensors that determine the movement. That makes them extremely more expensive than Astartes-pattern, since it doesn't require all that fancy tech to use it.

As for the OP, no. No one but another Astartes can use the Astartes-pattern Power Armour, because of the Black Carapace.

 Matthew wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
A moderately-successful Ork (like, mid-range Boss) would be the same general size and shape of a Space Marine. The only thing the Ork lacks is a way to make the armor move, since he doesn't have a Black Carapace or the plug-suit that other, non-Astartes humans wear when donning Power Armor.

Something has to tell the suit "lift the left arm" when you lift your left arm. There has to be an interface between your nervous system and the electro-fibre bundles that form the musculature of the suit.

But if I put a PA arm on an Ork, the Ork could lift the arm without that Carapace.

Yes, by virtue of his strength (not that it would be easy to get an Ork arm in PA without first blendering it to liquid, it's just too big and bulky). The thing is at that point though that without the motion-aiding power of the suit, it is simply very thick plate armour. None of the things that make Power Armour special (vacuum-sealed, strength-enhancing, motion-responsive) would work anymore, it would just be the simple protective properties of an inch or so of Ceramite.

Nothing to be sniffed at, but an order of magnitude less effective than on a Marine making full use of it.

 Paradigm wrote:

 Matthew wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
A moderately-successful Ork (like, mid-range Boss) would be the same general size and shape of a Space Marine. The only thing the Ork lacks is a way to make the armor move, since he doesn't have a Black Carapace or the plug-suit that other, non-Astartes humans wear when donning Power Armor.

Something has to tell the suit "lift the left arm" when you lift your left arm. There has to be an interface between your nervous system and the electro-fibre bundles that form the musculature of the suit.

But if I put a PA arm on an Ork, the Ork could lift the arm without that Carapace.

Yes, by virtue of his strength (not that it would be easy to get an Ork arm in PA without first blendering it to liquid, it's just too big and bulky). The thing is at that point though that without the motion-aiding power of the suit, it is simply very thick plate armour. None of the things that make Power Armour special (vacuum-sealed, strength-enhancing, motion-responsive) would work anymore, it would just be the simple protective properties of an inch or so of Ceramite.

Nothing to be sniffed at, but an order of magnitude less effective than on a Marine making full use of it.

Yeah, that's what I was trying to say, just said a lot better haha.

 Eldarain wrote:
Do they explain how the.Sisters power armor works? Never understood that.

They wear a plug-suit under the armor. That's the black spandex-looking thing that you can see in some Sisters art. It's also mentioned in one of the Cain novels, iirc. The plug-suit plugs into the armor, and translates your movements into commands for the armor.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Matthew wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
A moderately-successful Ork (like, mid-range Boss) would be the same general size and shape of a Space Marine. The only thing the Ork lacks is a way to make the armor move, since he doesn't have a Black Carapace or the plug-suit that other, non-Astartes humans wear when donning Power Armor.

Something has to tell the suit "lift the left arm" when you lift your left arm. There has to be an interface between your nervous system and the electro-fibre bundles that form the musculature of the suit.

But if I put a PA arm on an Ork, the Ork could lift the arm without that Carapace.

Yes, but without the interface, that one arm isn't suddenly significantly stronger than his other arm. Without the links between armor and body, the muscle fibers in the armor aren't actually doing anything, so the Ork isn't getting any tougher or stronger... that one arm is just slightly more bullet-proof.

From what I understand of Power Armour, the Black Carapace is essential to Space Marines because it allows them to connect fully with their armour allowing them to have greater strength enhancement and better senses. A Space Marine can feel when things are touching his armour. It allows them to manipulate with great dexterity and care objects and people without crushing them or damaging them. A Space Marine could make a puzzle, take care of a baby and sew for exemple in his armour if he wanted.

The Black Carapace also allows the motion sensor to operate fully, because Space Marines skin is like rhino or elephant skin. It's very thick to provide a little bit of protection to small arm fire like light pistols or knives, but at the same time it would be very hard for the motion sensors of suit to detect their intention and following their mouvement without impeding them a lot. The Black Carapace comes with special neural connection that bybass the potential problems caused by Space Marines thick skin.

Sisters of Battle use a different kind of armor with less options and kinks. They don't feel when their armor is touching something which makes fine manipulation difficult Don't give a flute of champagne to a Sister in armor, she will brake it. They don't have significant strength enhancement. The only servo-muscle they have support the weigth of the plate itself and help compansate for the recoil of their weapons. The fact that they have less servo-muscle, less auxilary systems and a much thinner skin than marines allow the motion sensor of the armour to work really well on them and gives them their full mobility without the need for a Black Carapace.

An ork would not be able to wear any power armour because ork skin is tough has bark or thick leather. Perhaps even more than Space Marines skin and they don't have Black Carapace. Thus the sensor of the armour would not work well on them at all and would slow them down significantly. If you add to that the fact that ork are plants and thus may not even possess muscles like animal do. Their physionomie is also very different. Their heads aren't at the same place, their spine is very different, they have short and thick legs and very long arms, etc. They would need to start from scratch. Of course, nothing prevents an ork to just stitch or hammer power armour plates to their body and it would provide good protection.

 Finlandiaperkele wrote:

 Eldarain wrote:
Do they explain how the.Sisters power armor works? Never understood that.

Pretty much like the current in-development/prototyped Exo-Skeletons, ie. they are full of sensors that determine the movement. That makes them extremely more expensive than Astartes-pattern, since it doesn't require all that fancy tech to use it.

As for the OP, no. No one but another Astartes can use the Astartes-pattern Power Armour, because of the Black Carapace.

So then you have to ask: is it more expensive to equip SOBs with advanced power armor, or to fully grow a Space Marine and provide him integrated armor via Black Carapace? I'd say that the SOBS still come out with a net profit due to not needing the implants.

 Arcsquad12 wrote:
So then you have to ask: is it more expensive to equip SOBs with advanced power armor, or to fully grow a Space Marine and provide him integrated armor via Black Carapace? I'd say that the SOBS still come out with a net profit due to not needing the implants.

That depends on what you're paying for. A single marine is much more expensive than a SoB in pure money, and he can be destroyed by less than his money's worth in SoB... But when you want a warrior who can (maybe) spend years behind enemy lines in hostile environments and make it back out, that's a marine. They have different uses. The SoB are basically a power-armored horde army. Marines aren't.

Just as special forces vs normal "elite" troops. The Special guy is trained for many many things, the Elite can do a few things really well. Maybe even outperform the Special guys in some specific scenarios - which is why you are even more careful than normal in where you deploy the Special guy. You don't sacrifice him in an assault that the Elite guys are enough for.

Spetulhu wrote:

 Arcsquad12 wrote:
So then you have to ask: is it more expensive to equip SOBs with advanced power armor, or to fully grow a Space Marine and provide him integrated armor via Black Carapace? I'd say that the SOBS still come out with a net profit due to not needing the implants.

That depends on what you're paying for. A single marine is much more expensive than a SoB in pure money, and he can be destroyed by less than his money's worth in SoB... But when you want a warrior who can (maybe) spend years behind enemy lines in hostile environments and make it back out, that's a marine. They have different uses. The SoB are basically a power-armored horde army. Marines aren't.

Just as special forces vs normal "elite" troops. The Special guy is trained for many many things, the Elite can do a few things really well. Maybe even outperform the Special guys in some specific scenarios - which is why you are even more careful than normal in where you deploy the Special guy. You don't sacrifice him in an assault that the Elite guys are enough for.

IG needs to get their hands on some of the SOB stuff.
Would make storm troopers scarier lol.

 Eldarain wrote:
Do they explain how the.Sisters power armor works? Never understood that.

I just assumed the sisters (and other human power armor users like Inquisitors) also have some sort of interface installed. Maybe not as good as a marines but something.

Art and models always have ordinary humans with wires and sockets in their heads.

Personally I have this image that sisters all wear wigs and under them have bald heads covered in wires and electrodes.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:

 Eldarain wrote:
Do they explain how the.Sisters power armor works? Never understood that.

I just assumed the sisters (and other human power armor users like Inquisitors) also have some sort of interface installed. Maybe not as good as a marines but something.

IIRC normal humans like Sisters use an electrode-covered body suit that transfers your movements to the PA. It's not quite as fast or efficient as the Black Carapace but still something we would pay big money for today. Some AdMech adepts or rare cases of tech-enhanced people might have better interfaces than that, maybe even better than marines - but those would be custom jobs and much more expensive than a marine, maybe more expensive than a Chapter. Compared to that dozen or so people marines are mass-produced.

Tech-Priests of sufficient rank within the AdMech are more machine than man, and so can directly interface with any power armor systems they might be equipped with... though, in such cases, they are probably little more than a bio-pod containing a few essential organs wired into a permanent suit of PA.