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So, I suddenly wondered this: what happens if a titan gets struck by lightning? I mean, these things are huge and made of metal, so if there's a thunderstorm while a titan is out it's quite likely that lightning will hit said titan. Warhounds might escape the brunt of this, but the moment there's a thunderstorm while the emperor titans are out they're bound to be struck sometime.

So, do they have like some form of insulation that protects them? Or am I just overestimating the effects of lightning? Or even worse, have the GW writers just never thought about it?

They have a void shield. The Lighting at worst would be what str 6 or 7? It would drop a Void shield rarely and if it did the shield comes back on a 5 or 6.

Lightning is extremely powerful. If captured, it can power a small town for several months, or a large city for a week. However, even with today's technology, we can only capture like .01% of the energy that comes from lightning because even if it hits, it dissipates really fast. If lightning strikes a titan, it might start a fire, or it might just short out all electronic systems for a few seconds to a minute if its an extreme case. Otherwise, its a titan, if it can get hit by a nuclear warhead and survive, it can survive a lightning strike.

Those things got void shields right? That should absorb any lightning strikes I think.
I think the metal hull and casings would act like a Faraday's cage protecting its internal systems and crew. Surely with warmachines that size the are protected against elecktro magnetic pulses caused by nuclear explosions.
All this is possibly coupled with grounding cables integrated in it's substructure.

What about the massive layers of armour its not all metal, ceramite is able to absorb energy very well too, its used for that effect on lighter armour why not a titan.

Layers of ceramite in armour would absord energy from passing straight through to core, no direct
Line of travel to inner most systems. On top of methods mentioned on the other poists like void sheilds

I figure that some kind of integrated "lightning rod" system would not only be a simple add in to warmachines of this size, but it might also be a defensive mechanism if the titan ever encountered a "lightning gun". I will file this one under "I hope the Mechanicus is smart enough to have thought of this". Although a titan constructed without the grounding system might be interesting in a novel or something, gets overloaded during a lightning storm and the reactor goes critical.

I know they suffer a bit of forgetfulness but forgetting a lighting rod system is a big one to forget on a machine that rare and powerful.

Seems a rather big oversight and hardly complex vs the systems of a emporor class titan.

A Void Shield can stop D-Weapons and massive volumes of fire. Not to mention the energy absorbing properties of its ceremite plating and other alloys. I severely doubt it has anything to worry about from a lightning strike.

jhe90 wrote:
I know they suffer a bit of forgetfulness but forgetting a lighting rod system is a big one to forget on a machine that rare and powerful.

Seems a rather big oversight and hardly complex vs the systems of a emporor class titan.

Well I guess "forget" isn't really the right term. More like damaged STC blueprints for that titan class lead to an incomplete reassembly of the design which lacked a grounding system.

And now you're reminding me of the time in Titanicus that two titans dueled in a zero visibility sandstorm. That was some fun writing right there.

 dementedwombat wrote:

jhe90 wrote:
I know they suffer a bit of forgetfulness but forgetting a lighting rod system is a big one to forget on a machine that rare and powerful.

Seems a rather big oversight and hardly complex vs the systems of a emporor class titan.

Well I guess "forget" isn't really the right term. More like damaged STC blueprints for that titan class lead to an incomplete reassembly of the design which lacked a grounding system.

And now you're reminding me of the time in Titanicus that two titans dueled in a zero visibility sandstorm. That was some fun writing right there.

Spoiler:

the Imperial titan shut down its void shields and went immobile, then located the Chaos titan by using their instruments to scan for the electromagnetic signature of all the sand particles ionizing the opponent's void shield. I imagine the entire titan getting charged up with static electricity like it was wearing giant carpet slippers and shuffling across a shag rug.

True forget may be wring word but as I know I thought titans where works of mars empire, not a mankind stc?

Mars empire?

pm713 wrote:
Mars empire?

Mars before the emporor signed treaty of mars and united them.

Ah. Don't they just use the exact same STC's?

That I don't,t know I'm not a fluff expert. I think they might but could not say for certain, as they histoericaky to fluff have been pretty monopolised on advanced machinery construction and design.

I know bits and chunks but not everything unlike some here

Its giant, metal feet are on the ground. Electricity follows the path of least resistance. Lightning hits the Titan, arcs down over its hull, and grounds out into the earth. Life, and the Titan, go on.

This is why the 40k background forum exists.

This whole thread just made my day.

Honestly, it's way simpler then any explanation in this thread. In the event of a lightning strike, anything made of metal is pretty safe from major damage, since the majority of the power from the strike would be channelled through the metal frame of the titan and out through its feet. Everything and every one inside would be relatively safe from damage with only a bit of insulation. This is due the titans skin acting like a Faraday cage, which is why when a car is struck by lightning, the passengers inside are perfectly safe.

About the same as what happens to a passenger aircraft hit by lightning.

(Which happens quite a bit).

The titan IS in contact with the ground, and this alone will dissipate a good amount of the charge, purely using the skin down to earth. The void shields, which can withstand the energies of the "volcano cannon" should handle the rest - as for electronic effects, it's all steampunk tech anyway. Cogs and gears.

Brother Michael wrote:
I mean, these things are huge and made of metal

Who said they're made out of metal?

My best guess is the ferro-crete or whatever it is, isn't very conductive. Plus the outer-armour shell would be very thick, the sensitive computer parts would be well insulated on the inside.

The gods of war are designed to withstand destroyer weapons, orbital barrages, gauss weapons and all others sorts of xenos tech. I don't think the writers should be too concerned they've overlooked a bolt of lightning.

If you were to compare a lightning bolt with a lascannon shot, is it going to hurt your titan all that much?

A more interesting question to ask would be how something as heavy as a titan doesn’t sink into the ground.

 Redcruisair wrote:
A more interesting question to ask would be how something as heavy as a titan doesn’t sink into the ground.

The Imperium does have antigravity devices, and they're common enough that they are used for Space Marine landspeeders. I'd imagine something as complex as a Titan would use something similar. That, and using lightweight, yet super dense materials to form the superstructure.

The answer to this and all questions is simple.

SPACE MAGIC.

 Arcsquad12 wrote:

 Redcruisair wrote:
A more interesting question to ask would be how something as heavy as a titan doesn’t sink into the ground.

The Imperium does have antigravity devices, and they're common enough that they are used for Space Marine landspeeders. I'd imagine something as complex as a Titan would use something similar. That, and using lightweight, yet super dense materials to form the superstructure.

Is this just a fan theory of yours, or is it actually explained so in the background material?

 greg0985 wrote:
Honestly, it's way simpler then any explanation in this thread. In the event of a lightning strike, anything made of metal is pretty safe from major damage, since the majority of the power from the strike would be channelled through the metal frame of the titan and out through its feet. Everything and every one inside would be relatively safe from damage with only a bit of insulation. This is due the titans skin acting like a Faraday cage, which is why when a car is struck by lightning, the passengers inside are perfectly safe.

yeah, it gets hit by lightning, perhaps a patch at the top where the strike occurs recieves some very minor arc damage.

minor as in it might scuff the paint a bit.

 Exergy wrote:

 greg0985 wrote:
Honestly, it's way simpler then any explanation in this thread. In the event of a lightning strike, anything made of metal is pretty safe from major damage, since the majority of the power from the strike would be channelled through the metal frame of the titan and out through its feet. Everything and every one inside would be relatively safe from damage with only a bit of insulation. This is due the titans skin acting like a Faraday cage, which is why when a car is struck by lightning, the passengers inside are perfectly safe.

yeah, it gets hit by lightning, perhaps a patch at the top where the strike occurs recieves some very minor arc damage.

minor as in it might scuff the paint a bit.

It damaged the Emperor's holy paint? Heresy!

 Redcruisair wrote:
A more interesting question to ask would be how something as heavy as a titan doesn’t sink into the ground.

It has very big, broad, flat feet, which disperses the weight of the Titan across a wider area. It's the very same reason why a skyscraper, or any building for that matter, does not sink into the ground its built on. The total weight of the building is not focused on a single point on the ground, but is instead spread out over a wide area.

 Psienesis wrote:

 Redcruisair wrote:
A more interesting question to ask would be how something as heavy as a titan doesn’t sink into the ground.

It has very big, broad, flat feet, which disperses the weight of the Titan across a wider area. It's the very same reason why a skyscraper, or any building for that matter, does not sink into the ground its built on. The total weight of the building is not focused on a single point on the ground, but is instead spread out over a wide area.

sky scrapers would sink into the ground, unless they had the specially built foundations that either connect to bedrock or transmit the load laterally into the soil they sit in which compacts them.

Still a titan is armored, has smaller area in contact with the ground, and could be jumping up and down or running. They would sink very easily, but in the 41st millenium, maybe they have some suspensor technology that keeps them from doing so or maybe they only fight on worlds made of tougher stuff than dirt.

...Or the GW designer team just doesn't have a team of scientists working for them

sky scrapers would sink into the ground, unless they had the specially built foundations that either connect to bedrock or transmit the load laterally into the soil they sit in which compacts them.

Excepting very tall, very heavy buildings have existed since before the 20th century, and are still standing now. While not sky-scraper tall, neither are most Titans, and the basalt-and-granite cathedrals, reaching between 5 and ten stories high with their steeples and such, have been standing for centuries.... and are often built over a network of caverns and tunnels dug out for interring the dead.

 Psienesis wrote:

sky scrapers would sink into the ground, unless they had the specially built foundations that either connect to bedrock or transmit the load laterally into the soil they sit in which compacts them.

Excepting very tall, very heavy buildings have existed since before the 20th century, and are still standing now. While not sky-scraper tall, neither are most Titans, and the basalt-and-granite cathedrals, reaching between 5 and ten stories high with their steeples and such, have been standing for centuries.... and are often built over a network of caverns and tunnels dug out for interring the dead.

Depends on which sources you go with.


http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/3/3c/TitanWarlord.jpg

See how small the gate and ladders on the front of the gun are? That thing is easily a kilometer tall if not more.

I mean, sure, it's BL, but then so is a lot of other lore we have.