Why aren't there melee weapons for Warhound Titans?

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**jhe90**

insaniak wrote:
TheManWithNoPlan wrote:

It really isnt very well protected compared to larger engines. It's voids are very easily overloaded by other titan weapons.

This is the key, really. Getting stuck in close negates the Warhound's primary defense, which is to keep moving.

There armour and shields are fairly light compared to heavier titans.
They can be threatened by tank grade and laser cannons etc and even a land raider can give them pause if caught out in the open and stuck without cover and fire sustained.

There not meant for heavy slugging combat but to use cover, speed, use there powerful guns to devestate lighter units and then duck back out again and move and fire constantly in battle.

**jhe90**

insaniak wrote:
Blackhair Duckshape wrote:
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Simply put?

Warhounds aren't particularly suited to Titan Hunting
It's funny, as I reached this bit I was thinking of the part of Betrayer in which a few packs of Warhounds subdue an Emperor titan.

Slightly off topic, but has there been a single story so far with an Emperor titan that actually survives a battle...?

Overall, the fiction makes them out to be pretty useless.

Well storm of iron a emperor did reep a good talley.
1-2 warlords, a reaver ot two including one that was just melted by the plasma cannons.

The warhounds lasteed the longest along with a traitor warlord pair though.

...

And while a warhound is fast, in storm of iron one was not tjr moving fortress of larger sizes. The warhound took was more vunrable to regular heavy weapons like tanks, vindocatpr shells and one in end was crippled by related power fist attack to its knee/ankle area.

I'm not sure it makes Best anti titan boxer. It would need a second pair supporting and screening the first into a attack.

**jhe90**

Deadshot wrote:
insaniak wrote:
Blackhair Duckshape wrote:
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Simply put?

Warhounds aren't particularly suited to Titan Hunting
It's funny, as I reached this bit I was thinking of the part of Betrayer in which a few packs of Warhounds subdue an Emperor titan.

Slightly off topic, but has there been a single story so far with an Emperor titan that actually survives a battle...?

Overall, the fiction makes them out to be pretty useless.

Plot convention. You can simply not introduce the game-winning piece and simply have it live up to its name by saving the day. As a Journalism and Creative Writing major, such a thing is a major no-no. THe Emperor Titan, by logic, should just show up and absolutely waste the enemy with its guns larger than they are, all 8 of them, but to do so would leave the less educated and more vocal audience asking "why didn't they do that to start with?" This of course has an answer in that there needs to be some tactics and stuff. But the fact is an Emperor-Class Titan is a plot-killer because its, realistically, an I Win button. Its the same reason C'tan were sharded in the Newcron codex, because they were ungodly stupidly powerful in a way that they removed tension because they were an I Win button, but when they were defeated, it was a huge plot hole because of their power level.

Storm of Iron did also have consequences too admitly.

There I win button was also there if lost total morale killer to see the great god machine slain.
They had to put alot of effert into fixing after its first engarment trashed a leg up and fused it so it could not walk.

It was a good book but I aslo see because the i win button was also big ass headache to the villan too.

**jhe90**

ILegion wrote:
Pilum wrote:
There's a story - which may have an element of truth, who knows? - that more senior officers in the army were once only issued pistols in the field, as a subtle hint that their role was not in the firefight but from a more detached position where they could concentrate on commanding their men.

As Warhound Princeps are generally referred to as being a fairly independent-minded, rather hot-headed bunch, NOT giving them close-range weaponry could be working on a similar principle!

But yes, they were meant to be light 'scout' titans, though I'd imagine that also translates as "it's still a titan and will ruin the day of the average small non-titan-supported detachment on a raid or flank guard"

I can easily belive this about the pistols. I know that, at least for CAV officers (pretty sure infantry to), they told us that if you're shooting your weapon you're wrong. Our job was to be on the radio fighting the platoon/company and reporting to higher, calling in IDF, etc. I was issued and M4 but rarely touched it on mission as I usually had a mic in each hand.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Elbows wrote:
Originally, fluff-wise...weren't Warhound Titans "Scout Titans" (as absurd as that notion is).

If that indeed the purpose/case, the objective is simple: shoot to break contact and run the other way. Attack (particularly in melee) would be the dead last purpose/aim/goal of a Warhound princeps.

Of course that doesn't work at all on a 40K battlefield where we've decided to scrap it out at 150 meters...so...

Pretty sure that is right. I remember reading stuff way back that said they were scouts for the bigger stuff so having CC weapons on them wouldn't make sense.

Part of there job is also acting as pest control for the bugger stuff and defending against thr lighter units, tanks, flanking infantry and such. Hence on top of yes anti titan weapons they take Vulcan mega bolters, flame storm cannons both heavily tailored for lighter targets vs the turbo laser.

Vs titan s there not as poweful. They can give tanks a real scare and make infantry seriously keep there heads down.

**jhe90**

They are the pest control. They shred the enemy support, infantry and armour backing up the titans who can concentrate on the main enemy titans.

They aslo scout ahead and locate enemy Titan formations.
There not battle titans.

**jhe90**

Malika2 wrote:
Hmm, ok...other question then: would the Traitor Feral Titans possibly use close combat weapons?

Maybe. This is chaos. The chassis is not designed for close combat completely, and lightly armoured.
May work and be part deamon but also there not a match for battle titans straight up fighting..

**jhe90**

Malika2 wrote:
But who says they would then only be used to fight bigger titans? We also have Knights with close combat weapons, and nobody seems to have an issue with that. If the whole reasoning is that these machines don't do close combat because they're too small/light, then Knights should be the last machines to have close combat weapons and such.

True. They would be good knight hunters.
But it also is one thing.
Armour per ton. To be light and faster that would have to be lower, and more vulnerable even to knight attacks.
There void shields can also be downed by regular weapons fire by tanks. Feral warhound would have to be more cautious of a supported battlegroup given it cannot do normal jink m scoot n shoot.

A knight likely has a higher armour per ton than a assult warhound. So better suited for closer battle.