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Perhaps those with more information into current events will be able to enlighten me on this. What pieces of 40K technology, be it weapons, starships or even buildings are actually possible to create in real-life? If we remove the obviously-impossible ones like Warp travel or the Astronomican, are such devices possible, and have any attempt to research/create them already happened?

As far as I'm aware there are currently US Navy trials into Railgun technology, as well as small-scale trials of cloaking which one day could lead to active-camoflauge, but these are the only ones I've head of.

Doesn't have to be Imperial tech, but realistically speaking, are some aspects of the technology encountered in Warhammer possible to create? Some examples would be Plasma Weaponry, Battlesuits and Orbital Strikes.

Power armour is easily possible, we have the exoskeletons already, all you need is a better battery and plating. Bolters are called gyrojet weapons in real life, they're prohibitively expensive but functional. Rhinos are M113s, nothing more. Orbital strikes are possible but prohibited by international treaties.

Plasma weaponry: at our current stage of technology, we can barely even CREATE plasma, let alone weaponize I. It is feasible, but is decades - if not centuries - ahead of our current tech level

Power Armour - we are currently building powered exoskeletons today, and they work fairly well. The only issue is finding a suitable power source

Bolters - gyrojet technology was tested back in the 70's, I believe, but proved ineffective in comparison to standard firearms. If we were to revolutionize gyrojet weaponry, then Bolters would be entirely plausible.

The Warp - it is entirely possible that an alternative dimension exists that is like the Warp, it's just that we don't currently have the tech or know-how to actually access alternative dimensions.

Meltaguns - directed microwave radiation, plain and simple. The only issue with creating this would be directing the energy and not causing the user to explode.


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Also, scientists have already successfully created cloaking technology BG refracting the light around an object. It will take more research, however, before we can use this kind of tech in or out of combat.

Honestly a lot of the guns are simply waiting on a revolutionary miniaturized power source to work.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/618648.page

 ImAGeek wrote:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/618648.page

This isn't a discussion of the technologies in general, it's about whether or not any of then are possible.

Would fit perfectly in that thread though. We had a 3 page discussion on whether chainswords would work.

None of it really is dude.

Most of 40k technology is based on backward ideas and relies on concepts outdated even when 40k was in its infancy.

Nothing in 40k was designed to work but designed to look cool and sound cool and more importantly be over the top.

For example, the bolt gun was based on a 70s gyrojet weaponry. But they then made the bolt gun into a mix between a gyrojet, a gun, an artillery shell and an assault rifle. Which are impossible to mix nor does anything remotely like it exist.

The biggest problem in 40k is the way technology is presented will not work, nor will their designs ever work and nor will they be practical even if physics could bend for them to work. What 40k has done for all its tech is put random ideas together to sound cool and then make them fit a theme. In reality designs that work are presented and are not designed around a theme unlike 40k.

For example you listed the Railgun. IGNORING THE FACT THAT NO TAU DESIGN COULD EVER WORK BASED ON FUNCTIONALITY ALONE the concept of a railgun has long been known.The Railgun in 40k is actually based on the mass driver concept which so far has been a failure. This may have changed since but mass drivers are what the guns in mass effect are based off and in many space ship games its a basic weapon. I have a very old Eldar Codex that explains how all shuriken weapons are mass drivers and also work exactly like the mass effect 1 guns. Although a lot of this has changed I heard.

So in short, designs as they are in 40 will not work. They have SOME ideas that are taken from real life but are either used or combined in a way that renders them implausible. Which, asides from lame ass demons and warp rubbish, is the reason its considered space fantasy. And the fact they fight in big lines and use melee... (that alone should be red flags as to why 40k tech cant work).

 Swastakowey wrote:
None of it really is dude. They have SOME ideas that are taken from real life but are either used or combined in a way that renders them implausible.

Plasma weapons as another one. Plasma is ionized gas, as in very hot and very volatile. The sun knows how to throw a cascade of it very far up, but anything man-portable would be a glorified flamethrower. If we ever get the tech to contain plasma into a shot to fire at someone, it will be much easier to use that tech to defend against it. Not to mention such a field would probably be a useful weapon in itself without mucking about with incredibly hot solar stuff.

A lot of tech in theory is more possible than not. Alloys, power, emnerfy fields and such hold us back a lot.

Wew have power armour as such, we lack power.
We have rail guns but there ship sized, gyro jets work but for cost regular guns where far better.

Not all the ideas are as insane as ork engineering and in theory at least could work.

 jhe90 wrote:
A lot of tech in theory is more possible than not. Alloys, power, emnerfy fields and such hold us back a lot.

Wew have power armour as such, we lack power.
We have rail guns but there ship sized, gyro jets work but for cost regular guns where far better.

Not all the ideas are as insane as ork engineering and in theory at least could work.

If you strip away the whole "It goes faster because it's painted red, keeps shooting because I think it will, and EXPLOSIONS!" part of ork tech, it'd actually be just about the easiest to replicate. Most of it's just conventional technology but gakky looking.

To prove the point, Orks have the only walker in all of 40k which could auction function. Other than the Stompa, every other walk (super heavy or no) is waaaayyyy to top heavy, and would simply fall over when struck by a stiff breeze.. And not even moving.

 Swastakowey wrote:
None of it really is dude.

Most of 40k technology is based on backward ideas and relies on concepts outdated even when 40k was in its infancy.

Nothing in 40k was designed to work but designed to look cool and sound cool and more importantly be over the top.

For example, the bolt gun was based on a 70s gyrojet weaponry. But they then made the bolt gun into a mix between a gyrojet, a gun, an artillery shell and an assault rifle. Which are impossible to mix nor does anything remotely like it exist.

The biggest problem in 40k is the way technology is presented will not work, nor will their designs ever work and nor will they be practical even if physics could bend for them to work. What 40k has done for all its tech is put random ideas together to sound cool and then make them fit a theme. In reality designs that work are presented and are not designed around a theme unlike 40k.

For example you listed the Railgun. IGNORING THE FACT THAT NO TAU DESIGN COULD EVER WORK BASED ON FUNCTIONALITY ALONE the concept of a railgun has long been known.The Railgun in 40k is actually based on the mass driver concept which so far has been a failure. This may have changed since but mass drivers are what the guns in mass effect are based off and in many space ship games its a basic weapon. I have a very old Eldar Codex that explains how all shuriken weapons are mass drivers and also work exactly like the mass effect 1 guns. Although a lot of this has changed I heard.

So in short, designs as they are in 40 will not work. They have SOME ideas that are taken from real life but are either used or combined in a way that renders them implausible. Which, asides from lame ass demons and warp rubbish, is the reason its considered space fantasy. And the fact they fight in big lines and use melee... (that alone should be red flags as to why 40k tech cant work).

Uh, mass drivers work perfectly fine. The problem is miniaturization. We can easily power railguns as ship-mounted weapons, and are even mounting them right now (along with laser turrets as well to intercept missiles, jets, and boats). However until fusion power actually works, we have nothing to power them on an infantry level.

Also for plasma weapons, just use a railgun, like the plasma weapon prototypes built over the world have been doing. Energize an object to such a point that it becomes plasma, while hurling it at hypersonic velocities.


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Spetulhu wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
None of it really is dude. They have SOME ideas that are taken from real life but are either used or combined in a way that renders them implausible.

Plasma weapons as another one. Plasma is ionized gas, as in very hot and very volatile. The sun knows how to throw a cascade of it very far up, but anything man-portable would be a glorified flamethrower. If we ever get the tech to contain plasma into a shot to fire at someone, it will be much easier to use that tech to defend against it. Not to mention such a field would probably be a useful weapon in itself without mucking about with incredibly hot solar stuff.

It's called a plasma railgun.

a lot of the tech in 40k would require a breakthrough in Power generation and or materials science to function properly. we'd need materials that are both stronger and lighter then anything we currently have

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Rhinos are M113s, nothing more.

Rhinos have a similar shape to M113s. Rhinos are very different, just in having four power plants and tracks that go to the top of the vehicle. They are capable of driving underwater. They're at least twice the size of an M113.

BrianDavion wrote:
a lot of the tech in 40k would require a breakthrough in Power generation and or materials science to function properly. we'd need materials that are both stronger and lighter then anything we currently have

We have material that is probably stronger then power armor.

Carbon in general seems to be our equivilant of magic. The crazy gak that graphene and carbon nanotubes allows for is mindbogglingly large.

 Wyzilla wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
a lot of the tech in 40k would require a breakthrough in Power generation and or materials science to function properly. we'd need materials that are both stronger and lighter then anything we currently have

We have material that is probably stronger then power armor.

Carbon in general seems to be our equivilant of magic. The crazy gak that graphene and carbon nanotubes allows for is mindbogglingly large.

Well, kinda. But do we have material that will LAST for a few thousand years of use?

1) Bolters are 100% possible with technology we have right now. The bullets would be very expensive as it would be nearly impossible to mass produce them, and we have no targets that would warrant such a powerful small arms round.

2) Power armor is also 100% possible, we just need to build better batteries. Batteries are what is holding a ton of technology back at the moment.

3) 40k plasma actually works like theorized plasma weaponry would work. It uses magnetic containment to contain and fire the projectile. It essentially creates a ball of plasma, and then shoots it down a magnetic field that is shaped like a tunnel. it essentially creates a "straw" shaped force field that forces the plasma into a target. Technology doesn't allow for it yet, but the theory is completely sound.

4) Warp Travel. Given the distances involved in traveling across the galaxy, the only feasible way of moving between solar systems is one of two choices. A Star Trek-esk space distortion field which compresses space in front of a ship(and stretches it behind) with a bubble in the middle that the ship sits in. Thus allowing for the ship to travel at slower than light speeds, but to effectively travel at far greater than light speeds. This allows for FTL without breaking the mathematical absolutes that prevent solid matter from traveling faster than light. The second option is to cross dimensions and accomplish a similar effect to the first method, but potentially covering far more distance in the time given. NASA is currently working on method number 1, number 2 is of course pure fantasy until we discover other dimensions and also the method to travel in between them. The third option is of course multi-generational/stasis pod colony ships which take thousands and thousands of years to travel between star systems.

Warp travel would work, if we assume the existence of other dimensions and that it is possible to travel back and forth between them successfully. But its probably more likely we'll have Star Trek type travel first, inferior but a little more practical and safer.

5) Power generation. Most of the advanced 40k power generation uses Nuclear Fusion, regular vehicles still use fossil/biofuels. Only things like Land Raiders and Super heavy vehicles use Fusion generators. We know that 40k has developed compact Fusion generators, like those which power Space Marine Power Armor, TDA, and Dreadnoughts. Such technology is wasted on cheap vehicles like the IG uses, but it does exist.

Most regular vehicles, like Chimeras, Rhinos, Lemun Russ, etc... run on "multi-fuel". Which appears to just be slang for any flammable liquid hydro-carbon. If its flammable and a liquid a Chimera or Russ will run on it. The Imperium reserves fossil fuels(Promethium) for more important vehicles like Rhinos and for use as Flamer ammunition. Most regular vehicles get poorer quality bio or synthetic fuels.

Everything bigger or more important has fusion generators.

Solar power also exists. Most mechanicus vessels have vast solar arrays, orbital stations have solar collectors, and isolated outposts will use solar as well. They may also use regular old gas generators too. Depends on what is local. The Imperium uses anything and everything that is available.

6) 40k ships embody a fundamental concept that any future space ships will have. Bigger is better and more efficient. Small ships are woefully inefficient. Fighter craft make zero sense in a zero gravity environment because they must devote a higher portion of their mass to their engines to maintain the same level of maneuverability. While as a ship gets larger it can have a proportionally smaller and smaller engine relative to its size. 40k does have fighter craft but thats because they fit the aesthetic and are an established sci-fi trope. The idea of massive space ships is spot on though.

In battle, it also makes more sense to have a larger ship. A small ship can get taken out by a single long range cutting laster. Just poke a few holes and let the air escape. A larger ship can have more compartmentalization and thicker armor, this will both protect against offensive weaponry as well as solar radiation.

Larger ships can also carry more cargo, mount larger weapons, etc... Its better economies of scale basically. Any future colony ships we send out into the stars will need to be huge just to carry all the stuff the new colony would need. The ship itself would be a massive asset, a ready made orbital facility to support a new colony.

You know what, I dont care... ignore.

Mass Driver is basically a generic term for anything that moves a ballistic payload.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver

More specifically, its a coilgun which magnetically accelerates a payload. Usually a vehicle for launching into orbit.

And Coilguns and Railguns are basically two different methods to achieve the same result, a weapon which uses magnetism to accelerate a projectile. They're, for practical purposes, the same thing essentially.(I know they're very different in form and how they work, but the end result is the same)

 Wyzilla wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
a lot of the tech in 40k would require a breakthrough in Power generation and or materials science to function properly. we'd need materials that are both stronger and lighter then anything we currently have

We have material that is probably stronger then power armor.

Carbon in general seems to be our equivilant of magic. The crazy gak that graphene and carbon nanotubes allows for is mindbogglingly large.

Power armor isn't what I'm talking about actually (and really we have no clue how strong power armor is, sure the odd bullet can penatrate it but that's proably a shot that hits a joint or something) rather that an aweful lot of stuff in 4k would have to be tougher and lighten then most metals we have now to be pratical.

BrianDavion wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:
a lot of the tech in 40k would require a breakthrough in Power generation and or materials science to function properly. we'd need materials that are both stronger and lighter then anything we currently have

We have material that is probably stronger then power armor.

Carbon in general seems to be our equivilant of magic. The crazy gak that graphene and carbon nanotubes allows for is mindbogglingly large.

Power armor isn't what I'm talking about actually (and really we have no clue how strong power armor is, sure the odd bullet can penatrate it but that's proably a shot that hits a joint or something) rather that an aweful lot of stuff in 4k would have to be tougher and lighten then most metals we have now to be pratical.

Considering most Imperial tech runs on fusion power, weight isn't really a problem.

 Grey Templar wrote:
1) Bolters are 100% possible with technology we have right now. The bullets would be very expensive as it would be nearly impossible to mass produce them, and we have no targets that would warrant such a powerful small arms round.

Why would it be impossible to mass produce them? It would just be too expensive, and not that usefull, because bolters are a bastard child of autocannons and rockets. Their advantage is delivering more penetration for less recoil. The tradeoff: expensive, less explosive filler compared to a same sized autocannon, propably still less accuracy and velocity then autocannons as well. There's only so much space inside the projectile. Plus they rely on penetration, not on the pure explosive effect. Making them anti-tank / anti-armor weapons, which is already covered by regular sized rocket/missile weapons (more penetration and effect). Area weapons are already covered by manportable grenadelaunchers (e.g. XM29) with fairly low velocity but high explosive filler. So it would be redundant as it wants to be a jack of all trades, therefore is outplayed by specialised weapons.

Of course the Warp Travel is real.

We've all seen Event Horizon yes?

Jaq Draco lives wrote:
Of course the Warp Travel is real.

We've all seen Event Horizon yes?

Yeah cos that ended so well for everyone

 Keep wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
1) Bolters are 100% possible with technology we have right now. The bullets would be very expensive as it would be nearly impossible to mass produce them, and we have no targets that would warrant such a powerful small arms round.

Why would it be impossible to mass produce them? It would just be too expensive, and not that usefull, because bolters are a bastard child of autocannons and rockets. Their advantage is delivering more penetration for less recoil. The tradeoff: expensive, less explosive filler compared to a same sized autocannon, propably still less accuracy and velocity then autocannons as well. There's only so much space inside the projectile. Plus they rely on penetration, not on the pure explosive effect. Making them anti-tank / anti-armor weapons, which is already covered by regular sized rocket/missile weapons (more penetration and effect). Area weapons are already covered by manportable grenadelaunchers (e.g. XM29) with fairly low velocity but high explosive filler. So it would be redundant as it wants to be a jack of all trades, therefore is outplayed by specialised weapons.

I said "nearly" impossible, not totally impossible.

The electronics needed to put in the bullet would be very fiddly and need to be at least partially assembled by hand. You would also need to have a pretty powerful, and unstable, explosive to make it a worthwhile. Meaning more hand assembly.

Most of the Technology in 40k is possible but its prevented by the lack of a powerful portable energy source or other reason.

Powered Armor/Exoskeletons are as of now connected to the floor with a thick power cord. THe closest prediction of their deployment would be used as cargo moving equipment with a power cord to a big stationary power source.

Cybernetics and genetic augmentation (i.e making space marines/super soldiers) is possible with research but current ethics forbid such experimentation.

Lasguns and laser weapons by extention are on the brink of deployment but they are mounted on vehicles with bulky heavy energy sources. But from what I recall the current "directed energy weapons" closest to deployment are to be used as explosive removal equipment. I recall a Humvee with a mounted laser device that zaps bombs and explosives on the side of the road. The weapon could easily be used on a person but "ethics" again prevent such useage. at least not "on purpose".

Railguns are in the experimental stage and there are awesome videos of test shots that fire with a sound that could only come from a sci fi movie.







We are ironically closer to Tau tech than Imperium tech.

The Imperium has railguns too.

They're just mounted on space ships, not battle tanks. Many of the weapon batteries on an imperial ship are rail or coil guns. Tau rail guns are identical as far as BFG game mechanics go as well.

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

Imperial weapon battery arrays on ships are a mixture of Plasma Projectors, Laser cannons, Missile Launchers, Rail Guns, Fusion Beamers and Graviton Pulsars.


The Nova cannon also functions almost like a railgun, except it uses artificial gravity instead of magnetism because it achieves higher velocity.

The Imperium has far more advanced technology than the Tau do, they just don't equip their basic soldiers to high tech level because it would be expensive to do so. And soldiers are cheaper than dirt in the Imperium, a Guardsmen is worth far less than his equipment. Better to have 1000 soldiers with flak armor and lasguns than 1 soldier with power armor, a plasma gun, and plasma grenades.

BrianDavion wrote:
a lot of the tech in 40k would require a breakthrough in Power generation and or materials science to function properly. we'd need materials that are both stronger and lighter then anything we currently have

This. The major bottleneck with 99% of our technology at the moment is batteries. They simply don't hold enough and aren't light enough. We're already living in an early-cybernetic society, so a lot of the tech isn't a huge leap. We're ahead of the 40k technology in a lot of ways (like not having to light incense to get our cellphones to run). As already stated, plasma guns, rail guns, possibly meltas, look into smart ammunition and you've got the beginnings of what actually makes a bolter deadly (exploding INSIDE a target), the STC already exists in the form of the internet, Most land vehicles already exist in one form or another, power armor would be a thing already if the batteries for it weren't the size of a building, I could even see drop-pods becoming a thing in the not-too-distant future.

It's all about the batteries.