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I have always been under the assumption that a Dreadnought in a chapter always has the same weapons and load outs. The thing that has always bothered me about this idea is that if Dreadnoughts are so valuable and such prized warriors, why do Diedero, mortis and other "Support' dreads exist. It would mean that a devastator or heavy weapons operator was wounded and interred in specially made dreadnought armors. and those individuals don't seem to be as important as champions, captains, and chapter masters that tare typically interred in dreadnoughts. so i pose the following question:

Are dreadnought sarcophagus removable? As in if Captain Matthias was in an ironclad dreadnought for a siege operation, and the next engagement required a diedro and the latest battle saw the inhabitant of the one on hand killed, could his sarcophagus be removed and placed in the fixed up Diedero and he pilot that? Or are dreadnoughts and weapon load outs on them static?

In most cases, the weapon loadouts are attached to the arms or external sockets of the sarcophagus (like a Cyclone Missile Launcher on the back). So if you wanted to change a given dread's load out, you'd swap the arms out or replace the missile pods with, you know, whatever else they wanted to put there. Banners or Iron Halos or a bag containing a Devastator Marine with a heavy bolter to pop out for the element of surprise or whatever.

So, you could have "Loadout A" which is designed for anti-armor work, with a Dread's power-fist on one arm and lascannon or multi-melta on the other and then, in the next deployment, he's got "Loadout B" for anti-infantry deployment, packing an assault cannon on one arm and a flamer/powerfist combo on the other.

Easier to swap the arms out than remove the life-support system (which is the sarcophagus) and try to install it in another body, since the whole dreadnought chassis is rather rare and very hard to come by.

The marines interred in Dreadnoughts are fallen heroes so you'd expect they can choose weapons to suit their tastes. They're ofc also exemplary warriors who can be trusted to pick the right weapons for their task.

 Psienesis wrote:
a bag containing a Devastator Marine with a heavy bolter to pop out for the element of surprise or whatever.

Please don't give GW any ideas...

Take Bjorn as an example: he comes with assault cannon standard, but can change it for other weapons if you want. Obviously, the individual Dreadnoughts are modular.

To the second question: sarcophagi are totally removable. It seems reasonable that they could be fitted into multiple types of dreads. Just from looks, it appears that the silly Morris dreads (and other FW variants) might have a different sarcophagus shape, so they may not be UNIVERSALLY compatible.

Still, there are probably some options.

In the Horus Heresy novel entitled Prosper Burns, there are several scenes where Dreadnought Sarcophagi are being kept in "cold storage". The Marines inside are basically being kept in an artificial state of sleep, but occasionally wake up and can talk to each other.

When the need arises, the sarcophagi are pulled out of storage and are fitted into a chassis. In this sense, the sarcophagi are totally removable.

Compare this with the Soul Drinkers series of novels. Without listing any spoilers, there is a Dreadnought who has been in "sleep mode" for a LONG TIME. His sarcophagus is hooked up to the Dread chassis the entire time.

Ultimately, it sounds like an ancient's sarcophagus can be swapped between compatible Dread chassis mounts and that the weapon arms can be changed on the chassis. Some Chapters remove the sarcophagus between battles, but this is not necessary.

I don't know. I've never thought on it actually. I guess they could swap arms like what has been mentioned. But would they need to? Would they risk angering the ancient interred within by swapping their armament or would they risk upsetting the machine spirit. I guess if they didn't change the weapons for specific engagements they wouldn't stir the dreadnougt from their slumber and only awaken them when they were needed.

I can imagine Ancient brother Macarius going to fire his plasma cannon and nothing happens as he now has two power fists

The Sarcophagus can be removed. The Word Bearers and Red Corsairs use them as forms of torture. Keeping the imprisoned marine awake until they are needed for war.

Drop pod with multi melta, still great value for points. Take something big out on turn 1 and if survive can also do some damage on the charge.

Or have one assaulting off the back of a hovering Storm raven to be a wrecking ball against any enemy camped on an objective late in the game. If going the storm raven, charging enemy infantry route then I would be sure to load up on dakka like an assault cannon, template weapons etc to clear some of them first before mopping up the rest with my charge.

I wouldn't think the Contemptor and Diedro patterns are compatible with the traditional dreadnought given the totally different designs. Contemptors and Diedros have the sarcophagus completely hidden inside the chassis whereas the Mk IV (FW models) and Mk V (GW plastics) have the sarcophagus on the front in a slot. I'd think the older, larger models are permanent, or at least only compatible with each other.

It is also possible that the great fallen hero wants some big guns to rain on the enemy, so a support dread isn't automatically a devastator marine.

All chaos dreads, now called helbrutes, have removable sarcophagi that remain awake. That's why they have the crazed rule that doesn't work as clearly as it should.

 GKTiberius wrote:
It would mean that a devastator or heavy weapons operator was wounded and interred in specially made dreadnought armors. and those individuals don't seem to be as important as champions, captains, and chapter masters that tare typically interred in dreadnoughts. so i pose the following question:

Marines are all trained to perform a variety of duties. Once one is mortally injured and end up in a dread they have to relearn to control the dread. A marine who once excelled and enjoyed close combat might prefer long range fire support as a dread. It certainly is a different experience.