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Taking the assumption that Ork/Eldar/other Xenos' technologies have remained pretty high tech since the early days of the Imperium how do you guys think early Mankind coped technologically or militarily with early contact with such races?
For example even during the Crusade there were Xenos forces - both human and other that gave even Space Marines a run for their money.

How did Mankind cope pre Space Marines with Xenos threats and incursions?

With technology that surpasses anything the Imperium has now. You're talking about the Dark Age of Technology, when Mankind rivaled the Eldar in technological superiority (and the Necrons had not yet awoken).

But prior to that too, like early expansion. Was the DAOT covering that too? (I cant recall).

The early days of the DAoT saw Mankind beginning to spread out amongst the stars. It is generally considered to have lasted from M15 to M22 or 23. Put into perspective, that span of time is the entirety of known human civilization from the most-ancient empires to 2014.

The pre-DAoT era was mankind settling the Sol system, by M18 they had Warp Drives, and so then spread out amongst the stars.

 Ratius wrote:
But prior to that too, like early expansion. Was the DAOT covering that too? (I cant recall).

Yes and no, one of the perks of the Great Crusade was accumulating all the technological wonders the scattered human civilizations had developed. The religious dogma of the current Imperium wasn't in effect, so new technology was constantly being assimilated and/or created.

Easy, they researched and developed new technologies to best the Xeno looking for trouble in battle, and opened trade relations with those who were peaceful.

For example the boltgun; I did read somewhere (don't ask me where it's been a while) that it was designed after meeting the Orks for the first time, since the old weapons were not as effective.

Also, who's to say the the old humans didn't dabble in genetics as well? There might have been legions of genetically altered humans back then; Weren't they a few Regiments during the Pacification of Terra that were genetically altered soldiers? I mean other than the Emperor's army I mean...Really, you underestimate the Human Spirit my friend; takes more than a few aliens to scare us off.

The Dark Age of Technology was supposedly 15M-25M, and according to the fluff (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Age_of_Technology) that was sort of the pinnacle of humanity. So you figure that humans were expanding, using technologies that to the imperium of the 41M might as well be magic.

I imagine humans highly synthesized with machines through bionics, neural interfaces, etc. If you figure that they have the technology in labs today that allow people to control machines using their eyes, imagine in 13,000 years what we'll have. You can imagine the Eldar with their advanced skimmer tanks and all, but imagine a single bionic human controlling an armada of remote drones linked with advanced learning AIs.

Basically it sounds like humanity was unstoppable, until of course people got greedy, turned to Civil War, and all that technology was turned on mankind itself. Isolated worlds sever connections to try and escape the war, and without the trade of information and goods, over the millennia people regressed. Imagine if your country were suddenly shut off from the world, no contact and no trade of resources.

Part of the civil war that destroyed humanity was their own technology. There was some BSG/Terminator/Dune "Rise of the Machines" stuff going on when the Men of Iron nearly exterminated the human race.

I didn't think that humanity got greedy I though the Iron Men rose up against humans and tried to overthrow them- and destroyed virtually all technology and industry in the process, while killing trillions.

 Silverthorne wrote:
I didn't think that humanity got greedy I though the Iron Men rose up against humans and tried to overthrow them- and destroyed virtually all technology and industry in the process, while killing trillions.

No, the uprising of the Men of Iron simply set the human colonies into a war that would severely cripple the long held stability and peace in the human-settled galaxy. The loss of technology and industry was mostly attributed to the massive influx of Warp Storms that happened almost immediately after the Men of Iron were defeated. Without the ability to communicate or receive supplies from other worlds, the human empires that were once reliant on interstellar communication and trade fell apart and regressed to more primitive times over the course of thousands of years. The few that didn't were wiped out by hostile xenos, other humans, or lost during the Great Crusade/Horus Heresy/between the 30th and 41st millennia.