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It just dawned on me what a strange name the iconic eldar weapon has. I've been playing eldar since second edition and I never really thought about it. Does anyone know where this came from, maybe an alternate british usage I am unaware of? All I can picture now is a guardian hauling around a medieval catapult with the basket full of ninja stars...

The medieval archetype may be the stereotypical 'catapult' but by definition a catapult is pretty much any weapon that can launch a projectile without the aid of an explosion. In this context it fits just fine.

There is another kind of Catapult over here, I think Americans call them slingshots,but I could be wrong my American isn't great.

Drager wrote:
There is another kind of Catapult over here, I think Americans call them slingshots,but I could be wrong my American isn't great.

Spot on.
As someone has said, a catapult just means it fires projectiles without an explosion in broad terms.

Here is the Lexicanum entry on Shuriken weapons. They work a lot like the weapons in Mass Effect.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shuriken_catapult#.Ubnov_k3ssI

Yeah, I knew how they work (with awesomeness) but the term catapult was bugging me. That makes a lot more sense to me now! I may have to kit bash an antigrav platform and a wfb catapult model now tho, just for fun :p

Also, consider that the launching mechanism used on aircraft carriers to get planes up to takeoff speed on a very short runway is called a catapult.

I remember the first time I learned that Brits use 'catapult' for slingshots. I read it in a short story or something when I was rather young, and it seemed particularly strange to me that a small child had a massive siege engine tied to his arm to fire at other people.

IIRC they are supposed to be electro-magnetic accelerators that fire the shuriken presumably silently and without any need for gunpoweder, etc.

So thaaats why..... sweet! i've always wondered this myself

Hmmm, I thought flinging stuff would be the definition of catapults...

Aircraft carriers also have Catapults, which confused me greatly as a lad as I desperately looked across my model of a nimitz class carrier for the catapult.

The original Rogue Trader era shuricats were more T shaped and looked rather a lot like a crossbow, making the slingshot/catapult link rather stronger.

Isengard wrote:
IIRC they are supposed to be electro-magnetic accelerators that fire the shuriken presumably silently and without any need for gunpoweder, etc.

Yes, SCs are basically tiny mass drivers. They 'catapult' shuriken stars forward using an electro-magnetic pulse, hence Shuriken Catapult.

They shoot stuff where you point them.

Need I say more?

tanuvein wrote:
I remember the first time I learned that Brits use 'catapult' for slingshots. I read it in a short story or something when I was rather young, and it seemed particularly strange to me that a small child had a massive siege engine tied to his arm to fire at other people.

I just learned this now in this very thread and I am quietly amused by it I sure do love our friends across the Atlantic. A catapult!

shade1313 wrote:
Also, consider that the launching mechanism used on aircraft carriers to get planes up to takeoff speed on a very short runway is called a catapult.

The old ones used to use explosives to accomplish that. Now it's all pressurised business. Not really helpful ere though.

Tacoknight wrote:
Yeah, I knew how they work (with awesomeness) but the term catapult was bugging me. That makes a lot more sense to me now! I may have to kit bash an antigrav platform and a wfb catapult model now tho, just for fun :p

Antigrav platform have shuriken cannons not catapults. Still, the catapult with a huge ass (man sized) shuriken as ammo would be funny.

It also could be a human mistranslation of an ancient Eldar term for a projectile weapon the had multiple meanings.

Human terminology is the reason why the Tau, inhabitants of a primarily arid world at the far end of the galaxy use vehicles named after Terran marine life.

Cause shuriken crossbow sounds a bit low tech?

Why not shuriken launchers or shuriken rifle or even shuriken repulser. Whatever.

WIth GW naming conventions that would quickly devolve into something like...

Thunderbladepulsemegacannon.

HerbaciousT wrote:

Drager wrote:
There is another kind of Catapult over here, I think Americans call them slingshots,but I could be wrong my American isn't great.

Spot on.
As someone has said, a catapult just means it fires projectiles without an explosion in broad terms.

Here is the Lexicanum entry on Shuriken weapons. They work a lot like the weapons in Mass Effect.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shuriken_catapult#.Ubnov_k3ssI

Pretty much just this...

Also, I love the mass effect reference, that's how I always describe shuriken weapons xD

Von Chogg

I know anti grav platforms have cannons not catapults, I'm not a moron. Thanks for the troll though, nice contribution.

MarsNZ wrote:
WIth GW naming conventions that would quickly devolve into something like...

Thunderbladepulsemegacannon.

Nah, the Eldar are more refined than that. It would be "rooty-tooty-elfy-shooty".

 Psienesis wrote:

MarsNZ wrote:
WIth GW naming conventions that would quickly devolve into something like...

Thunderbladepulsemegacannon.

Nah, the Eldar are more refined than that. It would be "rooty-tooty-elfy-shooty".

Please tell me that was meant as a Brian Regan reference and we'll be best friends forever.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about:

 Blaggard wrote:

shade1313 wrote:
Also, consider that the launching mechanism used on aircraft carriers to get planes up to takeoff speed on a very short runway is called a catapult.

The old ones used to use explosives to accomplish that. Now it's all pressurised business. Not really helpful ere though.

I don't know if they've ever fielded one, or have even gotten them to the point that they're ready to field, but I know they've been experimenting with electromagnetic catapults to replace the current steam catapults.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Isengard wrote:
IIRC they are supposed to be electro-magnetic accelerators that fire the shuriken presumably silently and without any need for gunpoweder, etc.

They're described in at least some of the fiction as being very quiet, just a hissing sound.

Of course, leave it to Gav Thorpe and the fluff writers of the studio to overlook the sonic crack of shuriken ammo breaking the sound barrier. Not to mention the aerodynamic effects of such ammo flying through the air.

Although, those flaws would go a long way towards explaining the crappy range of shuriken weapons.

I remember Shuricats being described as "whickering" when they shoot (fire is an inappropriate term as there's no firing cap or other explosive source).

When I first read about the guns in Mass Effect, my response was basically.. "Cool, they're Shuriken Catapults." >< Then they actually DID add a shuriken catapult to Mass Effect and it sucked, just like all the other DLC weapons...

Yea, in the Path of the Eldar and Dark Eldar series, they are described as firing in a hissing or whistling fashion. I don't think they go fast enough to break the sound barrier - there's no need to with their relatively short range.

Because it sounds cool.

 tanuvein wrote:
Yea, in the Path of the Eldar and Dark Eldar series, they are described as firing in a hissing or whistling fashion. I don't think they go fast enough to break the sound barrier - there's no need to with their relatively short range.

Somebody using a whip does not go that fast, but the tip breaks the sound barrier.
So, if the shuriken spin, and spin fast, the spikes on one side may be moving forward enough to break through.

 Skinnereal wrote:

 tanuvein wrote:
Yea, in the Path of the Eldar and Dark Eldar series, they are described as firing in a hissing or whistling fashion. I don't think they go fast enough to break the sound barrier - there's no need to with their relatively short range.

Somebody using a whip does not go that fast, but the tip breaks the sound barrier.
So, if the shuriken spin, and spin fast, the spikes on one side may be moving forward enough to break through.

Not to mention the difficulties in maintaining anything like symmetrical lift across the span of the shuriken, the role Mach tuck could play, etc. Even more reasons to justify why it's got crap range.

Best just to go and chalk it up to Handwavium and "But, they're super advanced!"