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By decree of the God-Emperor, you are placed in charge of the Imperium's military and diplomatic forces. What do you do? Who/where are your priority targets, and which enemies do you try to make allies or nonaggression pacts with? Purge them all?

I thought this would be a fun thought experiment.

Cease fire with whatever Craftworlds are reasonable enough to know that we need to work on greater enemies first, i.e Tyranids/Chaos/Necrons/Orks.
I'd launch a Crusade down to T'au and halt any expansions, turn the Imperial war machine on the blue men and show them a real galactic super power, no more repeats of previous soft touches with the the Tau.
I'd also reach out to Inquisitor Kryptman, he's going to be pretty helpful on dealing with Hive Fleets.

Tell them to kill as much xenos as they can.

My first target is the Administratum, and possibly the Ad Mech, although the Ad Mech might not be feasible. The Imperium is just dying a slow death anyway, without a massive overhaul.

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:
Cease fire with whatever Craftworlds are reasonable enough to know that we need to work on greater enemies first, i.e Tyranids/Chaos/Necrons/Orks.
I'd launch a Crusade down to T'au and halt any expansions, turn the Imperial war machine on the blue men and show them a real galactic super power, no more repeats of previous soft touches with the the Tau.
I'd also reach out to Inquisitor Kryptman, he's going to be pretty helpful on dealing with Hive Fleets.

You'd be lucky to survive to the following morning in regards to the eldar thing, just because you are supreme commander, does not mean you are safe from the imperium.

Rebuild the Legion Astartes. Curb stomp the Xenos.

endlesswaltz123 wrote:

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:
Cease fire with whatever Craftworlds are reasonable enough to know that we need to work on greater enemies first, i.e Tyranids/Chaos/Necrons/Orks.
I'd launch a Crusade down to T'au and halt any expansions, turn the Imperial war machine on the blue men and show them a real galactic super power, no more repeats of previous soft touches with the the Tau.
I'd also reach out to Inquisitor Kryptman, he's going to be pretty helpful on dealing with Hive Fleets.

You'd be lucky to survive to the following morning in regards to the eldar thing, just because you are supreme commander, does not mean you are safe from the imperium.

Does Supreme Commander not normally get a seat on the HLoT? So long as I'm keeping the assassin sweet, I think I'd be safe.

Surround Earth with every military space vessel, land via cool @$$ space ship, knock on my absent father's door and be like who's the loser now!!!

Negotiate a ceasefire/military alliance with the Eldar and Tau and use the resulting breathing space/combined might to actually break the stalemate and make some headway in driving back the big bads of the galaxy (namely; Tyranids, Chaos, Orks, Necrons).

Purge the Xeno, the heretic and the Daemon! Let none of the unclean filth sully the galaxy with their tainted paws

Kill the s*** out of all the things. Especially Orks. Hate those guys.

And I don't know about allying with Eldar, they are a tricky bunch. They might backstab you big time.

Well, given how sluggish and bureacratic the Imperium is, I doubt even the Lord Commander Militant actually has much power to change anything.
Not to mention that changing stuff probably creates enemies. Powerful enemies most likely.
So I'd just sit back, hold some cool inspiring speeches and enjoy the luxury of life at the absolute top of the Imperium. The Munitorum will run itself.

Fix up the primarchs

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Well, given how sluggish and bureacratic the Imperium is, I doubt even the Lord Commander Militant actually has much power to change anything.
Not to mention that changing stuff probably creates enemies. Powerful enemies most likely.

Sad but true. You'd need to do something really impressive first (even beyond being named Commander by the Emperor himself) in order to make the other High Lords see things your way. The IoM is a most unstable construction, carefully balancing between different powerful entities that no one want to have in absolute power. The Army, Navy and Space Marines were split up precisely so no one could ever cause as much trouble as Horus the Warmaster did, and ambitious individuals have still managed quite some destruction in their quest for ultimate power.

This is a hard one.

The empire is already in decay, and is likely to have passed to point of no return.
I would need to improve communication methods and other infrastructure. In order to stand a chance. I don't want to rule blindly. I want to be in contact with everyone and be able to truly rule this empire.

Protection, the intention to change things is a dangerous business. And some of my new methods will be heretical.
So I need a good power structure and loyal personal protection.

Action plan for finding the needed knowledge all are not without risks.
-Renegotiate with mars in order to gain access to their deepest secrets
-Seeking contact with ancient AI's
-Reviving the Akashic Reader project.

Sit back, live the life of luxury and either learn to love or grow insane with the never ending bureaucracy.

You could never create any real change anyway.

Send every assassin in existence into Cadia/EOT to take out Abaddon. Then send survivors to the Maelstrom to take out Huron. Then the 50 or so left to take out Ghazghkull. That removes the 3 worst heads of enemy forces. Save one to take out all the Lords of Terra which removes the worst heads of allied forces.
Become besties with Lysander and convince him to rejoin all the IF successors into one massive chapter again.
Remove all assistance from Ultramar so the UM successors have to congregate there to take on the nids and are too busy to complain about the Codex being upended.
Rock the galaxy in yellow

The back up plan If this all fails would be to save a small portion of humanity. By making a deal with the dark eldar and hiding a human made artificial planet into the web ways.

This is far from ideal, but the web way might be the only place to hide. I would rather deal with dark eldar then the eldar. Since the motives of the dark eldar are easier to predict.

The only way that you could possibly assume control over both the Imperium of Man's Military and diplomatic forces is if you were somehow to become the head of the Inquisition, without any major factions that want you dead (because you would swiftly become dead, no amount of protection is going to be able to hold off the assassinorum). Assuming that I had acquired control of the Inquisition, via extensive blackmail, strategically planted agents, and divine decree, I would begin massive reform.
Ecclesiarchy:
XENOS:
After that, I would begin secretly sending agents to low-value worlds, such as feudal worlds, in order to renovate their cultures and technology levels. This would provide for a significant increase in production and population from Feudal and Feral Worlds, and would provide more resources for the IoM to use.
Obviously, I would seek alliances with major Xenos species that could be negotiated with, such as Eldar and Necrons.
Mechanicum
Well, that about sums it up. I would have included larger (and/or more) SM Chapters, but SM are too unsustainable long-term, so I didn't.

Like the Craftworlders and Kabalites, the Imperium is past the point of saving.


The best I can hope for is to institution some sort of "Humankind Continuation Project", where mankind would have a chance to start over on worlds scattered across the galaxy. And somehow find like minded people to assist me, and keep it secret as long as possible.

 JustALittleOrkish wrote:
Send every assassin in existence into Cadia/EOT to take out Abaddon. Then send survivors to the Maelstrom to take out Huron. Then the 50 or so left to take out Ghazghkull. That removes the 3 worst heads of enemy forces. Save one to take out all the Lords of Terra which removes the worst heads of allied forces.
Become besties with Lysander and convince him to rejoin all the IF successors into one massive chapter again.
Remove all assistance from Ultramar so the UM successors have to congregate there to take on the nids and are too busy to complain about the Codex being upended.
Rock the galaxy in yellow

Only the Master of Assassins can order the deployment of assassins, sorry. You also may want to reconsider trying to convince the very pious 2nd in command of a very codex adherent chapter to break Adeptus Astartes rule #1: Don't build a Legion. Ever.

The Imperium as it is, is doomed. Whilst it will probably take millenia to fall apart, the end is coming and there's nothing you can do to stop that without making enemies and being killed.
Therefore I would look to the future and to guaranteeing Humanity's survival.

I would order Mars to build the largest colony ships ever, we're talking larger than Battleships, capable of defending themselves and of extreme self-reliance/independence. (If the AdMech didn't want to do this, because you know Innovation is heresy, I would accept Battleships (outfitted for colonization) instead). Numbers wise, I would look at at least 10 and more if the AdMech was capable. I would then fill these Colony ships with two types of people; intelligent innovators and blanks (as many as I could get my hands on), hopefully breeding a better/safer human species in the future. I would also ensure that they take as much technological and scientific data I can give them, without pissing off the AdMech.

As soon as the colony ships were ready, I would call as many Rogue Traders as I could to discuss, 'Plans to benefit the Imperium', where in reality I would secretly converse with the more liberal/secessionist Rogue Traders and task them to join the Colony Ships to secure their own futures and the future of humanity. I would then send the Colony Ships, with any Rogue Traders who agreed to assist, out of the galaxy and heading towards the nearest neighbouring galaxies with orders/instructions to Colonize as many planets as possible.

Hopefully by the time the Imperium has fallen, these expeditions would have established a better humanity away from this doomed Galaxy.

Pacify the Tau and Eldar, and use the forces fighting them to fight Chaos/Orks/Necrons/Tyranids. Have the Mechanicum stop regarding innovation as tech-heresy, and try to fix the Ecclesiarchy. Then, install a text-to-speech device in the Golden Throne.

The Imperium can be likened to a ship stuck on autopilot. It is structured in such a way that the actions of local organizations and factions cancel out more or less in the big scheme. It a structure that reacts against and resists change, attempting to restore the old status quo. The only individuals that were capable through sheer force of charisma or power to enact change on a wide scale, such as the Emperor, the Primarchs, or Sebastian Thor (and it is debateable how much fundamental change he really accomplished), are all dead or otherwise out of action.

In a way that is more frightening and depressing. Not an Imperium that is actively malevolent or oppressive due to the actions of a few conscious individuals, but that is so as the result of the sum total of the ignorance and bigotry of all of humanity. To use the ship analogy, the ship of state isn't being steered into the iceberg by an evil or mad person. It is going to crash into the iceberg because everyone is fighting to be the one to turn the steering wheel and fighting to prevent anyone else from doing so.

In other words, you only get to be in charge of one branch of the Imperium's armed forces at best given the split between Guard and Navy, and with Space Marines being independent. Then if you try to enact radical reforms, you will be attacked by the other institutions of the Imperium as a radical or heretic and assassinated. If you do more modest reforms, it is still likely these reforms will grind so slowly and face so much passive resistance from the bureaucracy that is set up to preserve the status quo that they will never be really implemented. Between all this, you will also have to fend off challenges to your authority from your subordinates, who are either wanting your position for power's sake or because they have their own ideas of how to do things better.

To sum up: You are in charge...and there is nothing you can do.

Iracundus wrote:
The Imperium can be likened to a ship stuck on autopilot. It is structured in such a way that the actions of local organizations and factions cancel out more or less in the big scheme....

...To sum up: You are in charge...and there is nothing you can do.

There is you just have to fund the 40k equivalent of Hari Seldons secret project ; )


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Killing the emperor and destroying the Astronomican might also work.

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:

 JustALittleOrkish wrote:
Send every assassin in existence into Cadia/EOT to take out Abaddon. Then send survivors to the Maelstrom to take out Huron. Then the 50 or so left to take out Ghazghkull. That removes the 3 worst heads of enemy forces. Save one to take out all the Lords of Terra which removes the worst heads of allied forces.
Become besties with Lysander and convince him to rejoin all the IF successors into one massive chapter again.
Remove all assistance from Ultramar so the UM successors have to congregate there to take on the nids and are too busy to complain about the Codex being upended.
Rock the galaxy in yellow

Only the Master of Assassins can order the deployment of assassins, sorry. You also may want to reconsider trying to convince the very pious 2nd in command of a very codex adherent chapter to break Adeptus Astartes rule #1: Don't build a Legion. Ever.

This wrong on two levels. Firstly the master of assassins can not order assassins in theory without the backing of the high lords (war of vindication aftermath), having said that though, inquisitors are able to request and have assassins despatched without said bureaucracy due to the nature it could take hundreds of years before the high lords get round to hearing said request for the assassin.

1) massive restructuring (at minimum 5,000 marines per chapter, fix the bureaucratic nightmare that is the administratum, echlisiarchy, etc. Encourage Inquisitors to focus less on the 'kill all' approach. Inspire the tech priests to clean up mars and spread that tech far and wide
2) request a cease fire with the craft worlds untill such things as 'nids, necrons, and chaos are dealt with (i.e. indefinatley )
3) Inform tau of the threat of chaos, try and get them to feth off until chaos/nids are dealt with.
4) throw all forces NOT dedicated to PDFs or the Eye of Terror/Maelstrom at the hive fleets (namely in naval combat, where the Imperium (with possible tau and eldar help) have the major advantage
5) assuming 'nids are pushed back or dealt with well enough, turn all forces first to the malestrom, since it would act as a warmup to the shenanigans that will occur at the eye of terror
6) IF the silent king comes-a-knocking, agree to help him for now (remember his main goals, and don't get to convinced)
7) mop up operations around the eye of terror to deal with the smaller chaos warbands
8) retake and reenforce cadia & with the silent king thinking he's using us to kill of 'nids and chaos, have the necrons install more pillars on the surrounding planets
9) just shoot the gak out of the eye of terror for a while
10) presuming the Tau controlled their expansion, request assassins sent towards etherials, and once most of the bitchy ones are gone, 'incorporate' the tau into the imperium. The eldar can do whatever they would like.
11) with Tau (and possibly necron, if they haven't done anything wrong) help, upgrade/repair the Golden Throne. would have to be in secret if we used the tau, since the A.M. faux-worship 'crons.
12) Look into improved warp defenses to go hunt for russ, give salamanders the resources needed to save vulkan. Realistically, give resources to any group that could have a tie to finding primarchs
13) find planet of the sorcerors, see if Magnus wouldn't mind help in saving his legion/dicking over tzeentch
14) bomb mortarion's plague worlds with soap...... and explosives
15) hunt down non-warp tainted traitor marines. renegade chapters do have the ability to come back into the fold.

that's just off the top of my head. there's probably a few steps that got skimmed over or lost in translation.

Entreat the mechanicus. If they will provide Ships, I'll provide men to crew and fill them. Together we strike at the Tau, crush their tiny empire and plunder their xenotech.

Mass conscription/recruitment on hiveworlds in segmentum solar. A trillion humans, training in mass troopships in transit to the eastern fringe. Mechanicus chemicals make them harder better faster stronger and more loyal to the throne.
Those that don't make the grade are 'transferred' to the Skitarri armed forces and reappear as weapons servitors.

A hundred forgeworlds contribute ships and weapons to the great endeavour.
The skies above Tau worlds darken with human ships and landing craft.

Genocidal level warfare exterminates 70% of a world's populace, leaving some earth caste alive as slaves to man the manufactorums. Tech priests remain behind after each conquest to oversee the return to productivity. Rogue Traders arrive and act as ferrymen, shuttling wounded men in stasis from the front to the Mechanicus Manufactorum worlds and new ' Damocles pattern dreadnoughts' from the Manufactorums to the front.

The new dreadnoughts are bipedal, jetpacked heavily armed weapons platforms, with purity seals on every surface.

These designs start to filter back into the Imperium at large. Within a decade of the first world's conquest, Damocles Pattern Dreadnoughts(DPD's) start to appear in Explorator forces, skitarii legions and rogue trader armies.

The Astartes are resistant to adopt DPD's into their forges until an Black Templar crusade manages to cross breed the suits with centurion and Jump pack components, improving the protection offered by the suits and significantly increasing Jet pack thrust.

The initial crusader squad armed with the experimental suits scores a high profile victory against one of Abaddon's lieutenants.
Crashing though terminator squads like a locomotive, the Templar DPD suits are too resilient to stop with autocannon and small arms fire, too maneuverable to box in and simply shoulder aside any who try to bar their way.
Blasting a path with meltagun and smashing Traitors aside, they descend on the Black legion commander with thunder hammers crackling and hardpoints ablaze with weapons fire.

As the Tau fall, their watercaste start offering incredible terms to the invaders. Promises of co-operation and the secrets of Tau engineering fall on deaf ears as the invaders wrest their worlds and technology from them by force.

I leave a speedbump of tau between us and the next Tyranid Invasion and the Mechanicus to hold the very Tau homeworlds for the Imperium. They send ranger and sicarus assassins periodically to kill ranking firecaste and etherals and start churning out weapons on their new baby forgeworlds.

Other Forgeworlds start to render assistance and Damocles knight houses are founded, then Titan legios.

The grateful mechanicus co-operates more fully with the Munitorum's requests for supply.
Cadian regiments suddenly find themselves shipped grav guns and pulse cannons as replacements for their grenade launchers and heavy bolters, along with Enginseers to disseminate the secrets of their use.

Krieg armies stand around confused after having survived what they assumed would be a diversionary suicidal charge, the advanced carapace they had been equipped with turning aside every lethal blow.

Steel legion start to incorporate the Anti Grav Damocles pattern Chimera into their blitz tactics, rappelling into battle with weapons blazing.

I'd wake up the Lion, or try to research the other Primarchs still alive.. then if it doesn't work out I'd shut down the astronimican and see what happens, just for the lulz

There seems to be three different types of opponents that the IoM is engaged in battle with:

Type 1: The unreasoning kind: Tyranids

Type 2: The reasoning foes that the IoM is fighting due to irreconcilable differences in end-goal: Forces of Chaos, Necrons, Dark Eldar

Type 3: The reasoning foes that the IoM is fighting largely due to IoM's xenophobic doctrine: Eldar, Tau. IMHO, open warfare against these guys is a waste of resources when the IoM has bigger fish to fry.

I left out the Orks. I think that these guys occupy a strange zone between unreasoning and reasoning. They are predisposed for combat, having been bred as the Old One's proxy warriors. Its probably beyond the imagination of the current administration of the IoM but it begs the question if the Orks can (overtly or covertly, as the Eldar oft do) used as a brute force meatshield against the major enemies of the sector (i.e. Necrons, Chaos, Tyranids). I feel that offering them the opportunity to converge on the Tyranids/Necrons/Chaos in a huge "Great Crusade" style Waaagh would be almost irresistible to the Ork psyche, since Orks always seem to gravitate towards the biggest, loudest conflict in the area (naturally forming Waaaghs as small groups converge).