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According to Lexicanum and 40kWiki a Space Marine sniper rifle fires a projectile.
I wonder, what are the power cables for? The are visible in both artwork and the miniatures and connect directly into the magazine feed. One sniper rifle in the Scout box has a normal magazine, that looks like a lasgun magazine. One pair of legs has a visible "battery" on the backside where the cables from the rifle connect.

So, my question is, what are the cables powering if the sniper rifle fires solid projectiles?

Optics?

I’m not sure if they changed the fluff along the way somewhere, but it used to be sniper rifles were combination laser/projectile guns. Laser punched a hole and projected a dart of crystalized poison into the target. Hence the need for both power and ammo.

 Nevelon wrote:
I’m not sure if they changed the fluff along the way somewhere, but it used to be sniper rifles were combination laser/projectile guns. Laser punched a hole and projected a dart of crystalized poison into the target. Hence the need for both power and ammo.

Makes sense. Hotshots have notably good penetration but comparatively very poor stopping power.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
I’m not sure if they changed the fluff along the way somewhere, but it used to be sniper rifles were combination laser/projectile guns. Laser punched a hole and projected a dart of crystalized poison into the target. Hence the need for both power and ammo.

Makes sense. Hotshots have notably good penetration but comparatively very poor stopping power.

tanking a turbo-shot to the face.... hehe.

 Nevelon wrote:
I’m not sure if they changed the fluff along the way somewhere, but it used to be sniper rifles were combination laser/projectile guns. Laser punched a hole and projected a dart of crystalized poison into the target. Hence the need for both power and ammo.

Any info about a source where this is stated?

Hanskrampf wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
I’m not sure if they changed the fluff along the way somewhere, but it used to be sniper rifles were combination laser/projectile guns. Laser punched a hole and projected a dart of crystalized poison into the target. Hence the need for both power and ammo.

Any info about a source where this is stated?

Needlers from RT and Needle Sniper Rifles from 2nd (info from the wargear book). I’m not sure if/when they differentiated what kind of rifle was in use by different factions, but the needler was the go-to rifle of early edition snipers, including SM scouts.

 Nevelon wrote:

Hanskrampf wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
I’m not sure if they changed the fluff along the way somewhere, but it used to be sniper rifles were combination laser/projectile guns. Laser punched a hole and projected a dart of crystalized poison into the target. Hence the need for both power and ammo.

Any info about a source where this is stated?

Needlers from RT and Needle Sniper Rifles from 2nd (info from the wargear book). I’m not sure if/when they differentiated what kind of rifle was in use by different factions, but the needler was the go-to rifle of early edition snipers, including SM scouts.

Yep. Before the Great Genericizing in 3rd Edition, Space Marine Scouts were armed specifically with Needle Sniper Rifles.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Needler

Thanks Nevelon and Veteran Sergeant.

But what kind of sniper are they supposed to use now?

Hanskrampf wrote:
Thanks Nevelon and Veteran Sergeant.

But what kind of sniper are they supposed to use now?

according to deathwatch still the needler. However where space Marine equipment goes there are always going to be chapters that are exceptions to the rules

BrianDavion wrote:

according to deathwatch still the needler[...]

Core Rulebook?

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Sniper_Rifle

Mark IX Ultra Pattern sniper rifle is a needler rifle used exclusively by the deathwatch

Needlers seem like a good shout, as does powering the optics. The firing mechanism might be closer to that of a railgun and actually propel the round using energy from the power pack, but still firing a solid round. That's just a theory though.

Needlers are magnetic induction weapons as far as the solid round is concerned, so yeah, railgun-like. The reasoning is that the crystallised venom is fragile, so a regular explosive type firing action would destroy the round instead of launching it - where as its simple enough to include some magnetically charged compounds when you have the technology to turn body-temperature-liquid substances into battlefield-temperature solids.

It doesn't have to be a temperature thing where the venom is frozen. It could just have an inert compound added to it that crystallizes it, but is ionically broken down by common elements inside the target. Salt, for example, dissolves in water.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Needlers are magnetic induction weapons as far as the solid round is concerned, so yeah, railgun-like. The reasoning is that the crystallised venom is fragile, so a regular explosive type firing action would destroy the round instead of launching it - where as its simple enough to include some magnetically charged compounds when you have the technology to turn body-temperature-liquid substances into battlefield-temperature solids.

I imagine launching it at hypersonic speeds will probably be a lot more dangerous to the integrity of the round compared to a normal gunpowder charge.

Hanskrampf wrote:
According to Lexicanum and 40kWiki a Space Marine sniper rifle fires a projectile.
I wonder, what are the power cables for? The are visible in both artwork and the miniatures and connect directly into the magazine feed. One sniper rifle in the Scout box has a normal magazine, that looks like a lasgun magazine. One pair of legs has a visible "battery" on the backside where the cables from the rifle connect.

So, my question is, what are the cables powering if the sniper rifle fires solid projectiles?

The Stalker-pattern bolter is definitely a solid-projectile weapon.

The power-leads are for its onboard targeting systems and fire-by-thought interface with the Marine himself, as well as for integration with the Scout's PA (should he be wearing it and not carapace) for targeting and other secondary functions.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Needlers are magnetic induction weapons as far as the solid round is concerned, so yeah, railgun-like. The reasoning is that the crystallised venom is fragile, so a regular explosive type firing action would destroy the round instead of launching it - where as its simple enough to include some magnetically charged compounds when you have the technology to turn body-temperature-liquid substances into battlefield-temperature solids.

I imagine launching it at hypersonic speeds will probably be a lot more dangerous to the integrity of the round compared to a normal gunpowder charge.

Well, the heat shielding on the bottom of space shuttles used to be so fragile that you could push your thumb through it like Styrofoam, so not necessarily.

 Psienesis wrote:

The Stalker-pattern bolter is definitely a solid-projectile weapon.

The power-leads are for its onboard targeting systems and fire-by-thought interface with the Marine himself, as well as for integration with the Scout's PA (should he be wearing it and not carapace) for targeting and other secondary functions.

There is a difference between Stalker pattern bolters and sniper riles. Although they do basically the same job. Sgt. Telion has a stalker, but normal sniper scouts do not.

No one person carries an entire pattern of weapon by him or herself. Otherwise, it would just be the name of the weapon, "Stalker", rather than the classification "Boltgun, Stalker-pattern"..

However, given that there seems to be some confusion within GW over this point (why not give all SM snipers the same class of weapon), they have the "SM Scout Sniper Rifle"... which has power-feeds to operate its underbarrel targeting laser.



Magazine well is located forward of the power-ports, to the rear of the targeting laser, the scope on top of the weapon (which appears to have some sort of connector device under its rails) probably also has its own power needs (IR, Low-light, anti-dazzel, integration with the targeting laser for range-finding, elevation, windage, etc.).

... and batteries are just too hard, so they tie it into an external power-pack probably fueled by a nuclear reaction of some kind.

 Psienesis wrote:
No one person carries an entire pattern of weapon by him or herself.

Then please, tell me where you have seen others than Torias Telion wield a Stalker-pattern Bolter.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
No one person carries an entire pattern of weapon by him or herself.

Then please, tell me where you have seen others than Torias Telion wield a Stalker-pattern Bolter.

Or maybe he's stating that because Stalker Pattern Bolters were used extensively in the Horus Heresy, specifically by the Raven Guard, and there's even models of them?



The Stalker Pattern Bolter is a very old design.

 Ashiraya wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
No one person carries an entire pattern of weapon by him or herself.

Then please, tell me where you have seen others than Torias Telion wield a Stalker-pattern Bolter.

HH models. The Space Marine game. The Deathwatch RPG. Dawn of War II.

Telion is literally the only Scout Special Character currently in the game. Kind of a small sample size to draw conclusions from, don't you think?

Then please, tell me where you have seen others than Torias Telion wield a Stalker-pattern Bolter.

Easy. Back in third and fourth editions, White Dwarf Chapter Approved had a unit entry for using squads of Deathwatch Kill-Teams alongside normal Space marines or Imperial Guard. One of their special weapon options was a Stalker-Pattern bolt gun, firing silenced shells. It worked similar to a Sniper weapon. I have one in my squad of ten Deathwatch.

I believe there was also stats for Stalkers for the Inquisitor game.

Telion came years later.

They are variants, like a Armageddon, Mars, or Triplex pattern Lasgun. Just more rare.

As an old grognard I support the Needle Sniper Rifle statement, of early 40K and Necromunda.

Technically, 'Stalker' was a pattern of ammunition rather than weapon.

Inquisitor was the first time most variant bolt ammunition (except Hellfire, which has been around since 2nd edition), including Stalker bolts.

The option for the Deathwatch Kill Team HQ choice was "Stalker Rounds and M.40 Targeter", which turned the gun into a Heavy 2 sniper rifle.


Tellion was the first time a Stalker-Pattern Bolter rather than ammo appeared in the background. The other Inquisitor ammo variants (such as hellfire and kraken bolts) were folded into the Sternguard.

The Deathwatch RPG used both sources of canon:

Stalker Ammo is used for suppressed bolt rounds - useful for sneaky covert ops

a Stalker-Pattern Bolter was a bolter that traded its automatic fire capabilities for the Accurate trait (which increases the users BS when aiming and makes exceptional rolls to hit do bonus damage), making it a sort of astartes-calibre Barratt .50


The newest Space Marine Codex has more-or-less accepted this, because Tellion's weapon is now a specfiic, named bolter which happens to be described as a 'Stalker-Pattern', implying the existence of others of this pattern.

My point in bringing up Telion is that he is singled out for having a stalker, rather then a normal sniper rifle. At least in the last codex, the current one gives his gun a name and marks it out as being a modified Stalker. The fact that his gun has different stats then the rest of the sniper scouts implies that it’s different.

Stalkers work like normal bolters, just modified for stealth and shooting silent shells. Hence the fact that they don’t have power cables. The only one (to my knowledge) with a model in 40k using one is telion, but it looks like they are in use in 30k more widely.

(Needle) Sniper rifles work by projecting a sliver of poison along a laser shot. Hence the need for the power cables. They have more in common with a lasgun then a bolter. The external powerpacks reminds me of the hotshot lasers of the guard stormtroopers. These are the ones issued to the rank and file SM sniper scouts.