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TL;DR: Are coilguns part of the Imperial Arsenal? If not, would it be reasonable to say that there are some Imperial coilguns out there?

After trawling through google for longer than I care to admit, I have come up with practically zero factual information on the existence of any kind of magnetic linear accelerator weapons that are used within the IoM, which is surprising, considering they'd be a much more effective alternative to most powder-based weapons that they employ. The technology exists, as Plasma Guns are explicitly stated somewhere to used magnetic linear accelerators to propel the plasma bolt out of the barrel. So why don't they have STCs or the like which use the same technology on a larger scale? It seems like a much more sensible option to stick a coilgun on a Russ and have it able to duel with Hammerheads, thereby levelling the playing field.

Any opinions/thoughts? Gauss rifles would be an immensely better alternative to autoguns, coilguns would outclass battle cannons by a huge margin, and macrocannons? Hell, just use the same projectile, but accelerate it to a significant fraction of the speed of light instead. Victory by having more kinetic energy than thou.

Seeing as you mentioned Hammerheads I feel I should point at that Hammerheads are (relatively) rarely fought by the Imperial Guard. The Tau occupy a very small part of the galaxy and a very minor threat to the Imperium. If I recall correctly Leman Russ Vanquishers were stated as capable of fighting Hammerheads effectively as were Basilisks on direct fire mode.

As to why they don't have coil guns in general perhaps they were never invented, it was invented but never had an STC or the STC was simply lost (which is very likely). Or perhaps they are around in the Imperium but are rarely used and only produced on a few worlds.

The short answer - yes, the Imperium - or at least the mechanicus - will be aware of the scientific principle.

No, it isn't used - at least, outside of warships (there are references in passing to "accelerator cannons" used on some HH era warships).

The problem is how fractured the imperiums tech level is. On a one-off basis, an archmagos could whip you up a coilgun based weapon easily -but mass-produced for an army? They have to rely on existing STC patterns, and clearly noone ever found a coilgun tank cannon stc designed for bulk production. So you can have two coilguns handmade by archmagi, or a thousand battlecannons bulk-built in servitor-manned forges.

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 DevoutGuardsman wrote:
Gauss rifles would be an immensely better alternative to autoguns, coilguns would outclass battle cannons by a huge margin, and macrocannons? Hell, just use the same projectile, but accelerate it to a significant fraction of the speed of light instead. Victory by having more kinetic energy than thou.

The IoM produces and uses such a ludicrous amount of weaponry that it would be absolute chaos trying to introduce a new main weapon technology. Gauss rifles would be better but require more specialized maintenance than a lasgun. Coil guns are nice, but cannons have some good sides too like the ability to use different ammunition types - the heat, friction and acceleration of a coil gun probably makes it impossible to shoot anything but a solid projectile. Cannons also don't need electricity to fire (though they might need it for ammo feed and targeting) which means you can get away with less sophisticated power systems in your vehicles, and you're not totally incapacitated if the power is cut.

And ofc, seeing as magnetic accelerators need power any Imperial vehicle/ship with enough power can just use Lascannons and Lance Batteries instead. Why settle for a fraction of C when your velocity could BE C?

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:As to why they don't have coil guns in general perhaps they were never invented, it was invented but never had an STC or the STC was simply lost (which is very likely). Or perhaps they are around in the Imperium but are rarely used and only produced on a few worlds.

I would assume at least some planets out there produce magnetic accelerator tech. Maybe not on a very large scale, but the vastness of the IoM makes the probability that no-one produces them seem... very small.

locarno24 wrote:The problem is how fractured the imperiums tech level is. On a one-off basis, an archmagos could whip you up a coilgun based weapon easily -but mass-produced for an army? They have to rely on existing STC patterns, and clearly noone ever found a coilgun tank cannon stc designed for bulk production. So you can have two coilguns handmade by archmagi, or a thousand battlecannons bulk-built in servitor-manned forges.

You make a good point. So, if a planet doesn't have an STC for it, then it's extremely unlikely that they'll produce any sort of magnetic accelerator? I think Nova Cannons work similarly, though, but they use 'gravitic impellers' or the like. Essentially a huge Mass Driver from the ME games.

Spetulhu wrote:

 DevoutGuardsman wrote:
Gauss rifles would be an immensely better alternative to autoguns, coilguns would outclass battle cannons by a huge margin, and macrocannons? Hell, just use the same projectile, but accelerate it to a significant fraction of the speed of light instead. Victory by having more kinetic energy than thou.

The IoM produces and uses such a ludicrous amount of weaponry that it would be absolute chaos trying to introduce a new main weapon technology. Gauss rifles would be better but require more specialized maintenance than a lasgun. Coil guns are nice, but cannons have some good sides too like the ability to use different ammunition types - the heat, friction and acceleration of a coil gun probably makes it impossible to shoot anything but a solid projectile. Cannons also don't need electricity to fire (though they might need it for ammo feed and targeting) which means you can get away with less sophisticated power systems in your vehicles, and you're not totally incapacitated if the power is cut.

And ofc, seeing as magnetic accelerators need power any Imperial vehicle/ship with enough power can just use Lascannons and Lance Batteries instead. Why settle for a fraction of C when your velocity could BE C?

C is much better than 0.3C, I will agree there. But if your projectile hits with the force of several Tsar Bombas, is it worth the tradeoff?

You're right on the main weapon tech account. I don't think the IoM could mass produce them at all, it'd just be too complex, but I was imagining it on a much smaller scale. A Sector, or even a Subsector, perhaps. After all, it's a huge galaxy, and who's to say someone hasn't found a good coilgun design yet?

 DevoutGuardsman wrote:
C is much better than 0.3C, I will agree there. But if your projectile hits with the force of several Tsar Bombas, is it worth the tradeoff?

A coilgun doesn't hit like several Tsar Bombas if you want it to be any kind of portable. The 50 megaton Tsar Bomba blew out windows hundreds of klicks from the test site and registered on earthquake detectors. If you built something large enough to cause such destruction it would not fit on a ship, it would be a planetary defense weapon. Tau Hammerheads are good vs armor but not weapons of mass destruction.

 DevoutGuardsman wrote:
I was imagining it on a much smaller scale. A Sector, or even a Subsector, perhaps. After all, it's a huge galaxy, and who's to say someone hasn't found a good coilgun design yet?

But this is certainly within the realm of possibility. A sector centered around a Forge World specialized in magnetic accelerators would probably have a large amount of such weapons, though I imagine it would mainly be the larger sorts - vehicle and ship weaponry.

Didn't some guys in Gaunt's Ghosts use a railgun to defeat a Chaos Marine?

OK, there's a lot of ignorance here, and I am here to clear it up! Heh.

Anyway, yes: The Imperium does use Magnetic Induction weaponry, although only on the micro (edit: and super-macro) scale for some reason.

There's the Reynbows used by the Nihtgane in Gaunt's Ghosts, but there's also a far more ubiquitous example.

Needlers and Needle Rifles, in the Imperium, are two-stage weapons. They use a high-powered laser pulse to break the target's armour, then a sliver of crystallised poison magnetically accelerated along the same path to kill the target.

Are they coilguns? Probably. It makes more sense than them being railguns, at least, given that they're relatively short-barrelled for magnetic induction weapons (one being a pistol, the other the standard issue sniper rifle).

Warships use magnetic acceleration weaponry in their conventional arsenal. Weather they are Coilguns or Railguns is unknown, and really an unnecessary distinction. They just fling Land Raider sized shells at the enemy.

Nova Cannons are known to be Railguns. They accelerate a Nova warhead to something approaching the speed of light, fortunate as you don't want to be anywhere near that thing when it detonates.

I believe Bombardment Cannons are also Railguns, similar to the Nova cannon they accelerate an explosive warhead at the target.

Hang on, doesn't the Fellblade have a giant railgun type thing for its main gun too?

I think all the main weapons for Bane Blades are conventional shell guns, except for the plasma and flame cannon variants.

Fellblade's called an Accellerator Cannon... and I think the Volcano Cannon is laser rather than plasma based, although don't quote me on that.

Nah, the Volcano cannon is definitely a shell. I think its basically a small version of a Macrocannon.

Edit: I was wrong, it is a laser weapon. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Volcano_cannon

Imperial tech includes meson beams, macro cannons, gauss tech and a myriad amount of what we consider advanced technology, although meson beams are restricted to starship now, during the Heresy it was used on mbts.

The main problem is that the word 'gauss' has been applied to a completely different technology in 40k. >>

As someone who started with 40k then moved on to other games, I was very disappointed to discover that Battletech's gauss rifle was not, in fact, a disintegration beam.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
The main problem is that the word 'gauss' has been applied to a completely different technology in 40k. >>

As someone who started with 40k then moved on to other games, I was very disappointed to discover that Battletech's gauss rifle was not, in fact, a disintegration beam.

The target is disintegrated anyway by kinetic energy transfer.

The thing about imperium tech is that because it isn't fancy, its by nature more durable, easier to produce, and much easier to repair, so while the admech has all these fancy things they keep them to themselves for several reasons. Hell, one archmagos was able to use a destroyed necron to triangulate and home in on its tomb world signal, these guys are insanely smart