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I was wondering about the kroot as they are an interesting critter I want to know as much as I can about. I was primarily wondering about vehicles and weaponry they use. As far as I know, they are stone age with rifles and their only ship is a warsphere, which are rare.

1. Do they hijack other species vehicles to use for their own good?
2. Besides evolving to the current task at hand, do the kroot utilize any vehicles that are stuck to one planet (ie can't travel through space)
3.What weapons do they like to use? (What kind of rifle is the gun they use, what sort of melee weapons if any, etc.)

Thank you for any response.

2BlackJack1 wrote:
I was wondering about the kroot as they are an interesting critter I want to know as much as I can about. I was primarily wondering about vehicles and weaponry they use. As far as I know, they are stone age with rifles and their only ship is a warsphere, which are rare.

1. Do they hijack other species vehicles to use for their own good?

Not as far as i know. The only vehicles they have ever been noted as having are the Warpspheres. They use various animals such as krootox and carnasaurs to do most of their hauling and serve as gun platforms or heavy melee units.

2. Besides evolving to the current task at hand, do the kroot utilize any vehicles that are stuck to one planet (ie can't travel through space)

Again, there is very little I have ever heard about kroot using vehicles, but i am going off editions old information. There may be more in the current dex. I imagine Tau are more than willing to give them rides on bulk transporters when they use kroot as an axillary force, but kroot mercs are likely on their own.

3.What weapons do they like to use? (What kind of rifle is the gun they use, what sort of melee weapons if any, etc.)

IIRC (and its been a while) kroot use a pulse-based rifle ammunition granted to them by the tau so it must be a scaled back pulse rifle, made more durable as kroot typically trick them out with blades to use in melee combat. They also carry large knives for melee, and in the old mercs dex for the kroot there were a few more weapons options for kroot shapers, which are their commanders. No ranged options, but they could take a better CC weapon. Krootox are just like gorillas, so they dont need weapons, they just use their fists, and hounds are like large pittbuls with razor teeth.

Krootox are also used as mobile gun platforms, mounting a larger rifle that has the profile of an autocannon but only 1 shot at half range. I just perceive this as a larger caliber kroot rifle, like a heavy bolter is to a bolter.

AFAIK Kroot have and use warp drive, although the sources (apart from FFG's Rogue Trader RPG) elude me at the moment. I actually find the concept perversely amusing, as they are a major ally of the Tau, yet have kept this means of propulsion from their supposed saviours (despite the fact the Tau in the Medusa V campaign were trying to crack the secrets of Warp Drive.)

For that matter a fair number of their auxilia may use warp or similar (I'd guess the Demiurg do as well?) but keep that from the tAu. Heck they likely have captured some Imperial warp-capable ships and should have been able to take those apart, yet seemingly cannot figure out how to replicate it. Closest they get to warp travel is using pre-existing warp gates/portals to navigate.

Im also curious about who the kroot are normally mercenaries to? Would a radical Inquisitor hire them? I don't really see anyone else in the IoM hiring xenos to fight. I don't know if they would take payment from a chaos lord, but they possibly act as soldiers in the Salamanders Omnibus, if they were mentioned in that story it was a minor part.

2BlackJack1 wrote:
Im also curious about who the kroot are normally mercenaries to? Would a radical Inquisitor hire them? I don't really see anyone else in the IoM hiring xenos to fight. I don't know if they would take payment from a chaos lord, but they possibly act as soldiers in the Salamanders Omnibus, if they were mentioned in that story it was a minor part.

Tau essentially have them as permanent mercs

Chaos is more than willing to hire xenos races, depending on the leader of the warband

Certain Inquisitors hire xenos races as mercs, In DoW II Retribution the Inq. hires orks, promising to pay them with an all-out battle against three regiments of Guard (but was oddly not willing to throw her hat into the lot. Was a nice hat though)

Rogue Traders may hire them if the need arises, or may even have them stationed permanently to do grunt work/labor if its been too long without connecting to an imperial world

Most humans wouldnt hire them unless they are rogue or extremely desperate

Loyalist marines would just execute them where they stand

Eldar would use them, not pay them

Dark Eldar may hire them on suicide missions they dont wish to undertake, but even then i doubt it. More likely theyd abduct them and mutilate them

Orks would just fight them

Tyranids would nom nom them

Crons would just kill them and all other life forms that ARENT Blood Angels


I imagine they get payment more in the form of material things than any form of "money." Supplies, tech, rare DNA to absorb, or even weapons or ships. I mean, kroot have to get to the surface of a planet somehow, yet the only known methods of spaceflight they are known to have is a Warpsphere, which cant go into an atmosphere.

2BlackJack1 wrote:
Im also curious about who the kroot are normally mercenaries to?

Probably plenty small xenos Empires, the 40k galaxy is full of things without Table Top representation.

I would ask for the names of said small empires, but they either are just mentioned as being small xenos empires, or have been turned into a full blown factions, or have been retconned.

Also, would a kroot get augments if one lost a limb?

2BlackJack1 wrote:
Also, would a kroot get augments one lost a limb?

Doubtful. Im not sure how the Tau handle bionics so their dedicated kroot force may get a replacement if its an important member like a shaper.

Merc kroot may or may not depending on if it hampers them too much and they have the right mix of need, availability of bionics, and an ally with the ability to implant the bionics. So again, odds are they wont.

So they would just live on without the limb, kinda poor deal for a kroot to fight and serve only to lose a limb and have their employer not get them an augment. Yet again, I guess it makes sense, since it comes with the risks of war. Would an employer help get a kroot an augment, if they did a job well done? Also, while on the subject of healing, what do they normally use for healing? Balms, or do employers cover that in the payment?

2BlackJack1 wrote:
So they would just live on without the limb, kinda poor deal for a kroot to fight and serve only to lose a limb and have their employer not get them an augment. Yet again, I guess it makes sense, since it comes with the risks of war. Would an employer help get a kroot an augment, if they did a job well done? Also, while on the subject of healing, what do they normally use for healing? Balms, or do employers cover that in the payment?

I doubt Kroot get insurance while on merc missions so its understandable that they dont get augmentics from those that pay them, aside from that most Guard wouldnt get bionics. These arent space marines, these are run of the mill standard line infantry that die in droves. Buying them (kroot or standard guardsman) augmentic limbs cant be cheap and odds are they wont make it off the next battlefield anyway, so theres little reason to make the investment. Now leaders (shapers, commanders) are worth it as they tend to live longer and theyre the figurehead the troops look to, so im willing to bet they would get augmentics, even if just crude ones. As for an employer doing it? I could see it from the Tau but some random chaos warmaster or Rogue Trader wouldnt give more than was needed as payment for a job before getting out of there.

As for what kroot use themselves i imagine it would be pretty close to tribal medicines, so balms and the like, but those working for the tau would likely get access to the field hospitals tau set up, mercs would likely have medicines and other medical supplies as part of their dealings. There is no standard currency so odds are they get paid in precious metals, medical supplies, weapons or services. Those things always hold value.

2BlackJack1 wrote:
So they would just live on without the limb, kinda poor deal for a kroot to fight and serve only to lose a limb and have their employer not get them an augment. Yet again, I guess it makes sense, since it comes with the risks of war. Would an employer help get a kroot an augment, if they did a job well done? Also, while on the subject of healing, what do they normally use for healing? Balms, or do employers cover that in the payment?

In Rogue Trader, it's mentioned that Kroot do sometimes use augmetics (and sometimes just basic metal limbs), at the behest of the Shapers. They also use them on Kroot who mutated, but are still sane and not too obviously tainted.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
It's also said that no-one knows why some Kroot get them and some don't (I believe the Shapers try to preserve those who've eaten particuliar tagets and developed abilities that the Shaper thinks are important).

Kroot have a very strong mentality when it comes to technology:

Use the bare minimum of what works, and use it well.

Take their rifles, for example.

The traditional Kroot weapon of war is a bladed staff.

When the Kroot invented firearms, they built a bolt-action rifle into their staves and went no futher.

When the Tau bought their loyalty with technology, they accepted an ammunition upgrade, and continued to use their bolt-action rifles.

They refuse to fight hordes in open ground, and so don't need fully automatic weapons. Therefore, they do not have automatic weapon technology. It's well within their technology level, but because they emphasise precision and skill over dakka, they simply don't build any autoguns.

I'm not sure the Kroot Rifle is bolt action, but other than that I think Furyo has it about right. Kroot seem to be traditionalists who utilize a small selection of classic technologies.

Their focus seems to be on the consumption and adaptation of genetic material. That's consistent with their preference for bio-engines - Krootox and even the 'accidental' ((in some fluff) Kroot Hounds - in place of machines.

The fact that Kroot use interstellar craft like Warpspheres that predate their alliance with the Tau suggests that they're capable of considerable tech engineering, they just don't favor it. If, for example, there are no creatures capable of bearing Kroot in flight, one might expect to see Kroot operated aircraft on Kroot dominated worlds. Aircraft are almost certainly a stepping stone on the way to space flight, so it seems almost inevitable.

However, to my knowledge official fluff simply never addresses the issue.

My random musings for your consideration.

Kroot have had Warp Drives for a long time, even longer than the Tau have been space faring. Kroot have been across much of the galaxy as mercenaries. But this is something they've kept secret from the Tau, who view them as relatively primitive. And the Tau haven't bothered to do a through search of Pech, otherwise they'd find the underground ship foundries.

But as was mentioned, the Kroot don't use advanced tech unless they need to. So they have the appearance of being primitive.

Was their a certain reason for them avoiding using technology, I've heard it mentioned they were attacked by orks who had crashed into Pech, and the kroot had eaten all survivors, miraculously not getting any spores to cause orks to be a constant threat. I've also heard after eating said orks the kroot gained a natural sense of technology because some orks (meks) are born with that knowledge.

Never heard that.

Anyway, the reason is probably because of their focus on their own physical genetic makeup, and ability to absorb other species. So they don't have a huge need for advanced technology, except where necessary. So space travel is important, but their own society remains more focused on pursuits that aren't related technologically.

Its not that they are consciously avoiding technology, its that they don't pursue technology that they don't perceive as necessary. But they have made a deliberate concealment of the technology they do have from the Tau, likely to keep a trump card in play against the Tau. They are highly intelligent.

2BlackJack1 wrote:
Was their a certain reason for them avoiding using technology, I've heard it mentioned they were attacked by orks who had crashed into Pech, and the kroot had eaten all survivors, miraculously not getting any spores to cause orks to be a constant threat. I've also heard after eating said orks the kroot gained a natural sense of technology because some orks (meks) are born with that knowledge.

The orks are how they got the majority of their technological advancement. Or at least that's how it was originally.

Note: they didn't manage to trade it with the orks.
They simply ate Mekboys and gained some of their genetic technological ability.

Yeah, wouldn't expect orks to evenom know what trading is, and it'd be a lot more beneficial for the kroot to eat the orks and get the technology ability into their genes instead of just having the tech and not entirely sure how to use and make it

Orks certainly do know what trading is. They have their own internal currency, even. It's based off picking up the teeth after you punch someone's lights out, but eh.

Besides, apart from Kroot, Orks are the most widely-used mercenaries in the galaxy.

I don't see orks that have come to a planet either by crashing or coming to conquer willing to trade with the inhabitants, instead of smashing them.

No, but if outsiders go to an established Ork settlement, the Orks could well be willing to trade with them once the usual posturing is done with - hint: when posturing with an Ork, end up looking weaker than him.

Orks aren't COMPLETELY averse to diplomacy and trade. They just really, really like fighting.

Where trading with other races is a game of finding out how to get what you want while spending as little as possible, trading with Orks is more about convincing them that simply taking what they want isn't worth the time and effort

Which is understandably difficult when they really, really like fighting...

Yeah, I was just saying the orks the kroot saw probably didn't have trading in mind when they came to town. This could be old fluff or a made up thing, but I believe one necron leader gave orks certain weapons so the orks wouldn't attack them, which makes me wonder if the crons would have mercs fight some wars for them, instead of wasting time and soldiers for it.