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The Sarcos X-5 replicates the wearers movement and enhances their strength but it can't walk on its own any more than your trousers can.
Also, while your sources are not explicit, the second edition Codex Imperialis is and has never been contradicted to my knowledge: power armour is not self-supporting.

As for the wireless thing; you have no idea. First, baseline humans don't have a black carapace, and can't get one. But that's sort of irrelevant.
The problem is establishing a full duplex feedback loop between the armour sensors and the pilot with sufficiently low latency that the pilot can react to the input from the sensors in time that the control signals he returns to the unit actually achieve the desired goal, like hitting the target instead of two feet to the left, or opening the door instead of crushing the control panel.
Ideally this requires high bandwidth so you can send the dat realtime, plus overhead for the communication protocol itself, and a bunch of encryption unless you're stupid. The thing is, the higher the bandwidth of a signal, the more it is subject to interference. Now, you can mitigate this with more bandwidth and redundant signalling but that subjects you to even more interference.
And that's just natural interference; the instant the enemy realises what you're up to, they will be jamming you like fresh-buttered toast. Now you can start throwing frequency-hopping into the mix but that complicates total battlefield communications because you then have to avoid all the ordinary unit radios or you'll start jamming your own side, and they will probably be doing exactly the same thing so you've got to coordinate all of this.

… I could go on, but, basically, a literal horde of geniuses have been working this problem since Hedy Lamarr in the forties and they still haven't cracked it completely, or your wifi signal wouldn't crap out if you move the laptop three inches to the left…

And none of that addresses the fictional background of the 41st millennium where you'd need a pet magos just to open the internal seals on a suit of power armour, much less do experimental, innovative work on it, especially since that's tech-Heresy. And magos' are rarer than hens teeth, with ones able to think past the end of their own mechadendrites rarer still. So where does your group of mercenaries find one of those? Betcha its more expensive than just buying fitting suits of civilian armour…

Anfauglir wrote:
Flinty, it's armour, not a mech suit or a drone. It's built and designed to be worn and interfaced with, physically. Leave the remote/AI sort of stuff for the Tau and Necron factions, where it belongs.

It's armour fitted with powered musculature. It might be intended to be worn, but it's a big galaxy out there so why not riff on the possibilities a bit, and the possibility that a suit of power armour could be remote operated isnt that left field.

@Mr rose - it's 40,000 years in the future where tiny boxes can grow monofilament wires and take over your brain and instant interstellar communication is possible by thinking and the problems of gravity have been solved. Having a reliable high bandwidth comms system would seem to be small potatoes. The black carapace isn't the only way to do that level of interface as demonstrated by titan mind impuse units.

The reference to powered and augmented suits comes from the 2nd ed Angels of Death codex which copied and expanded the preamble from the Rogue Trader Compendium info on suits, so is at least as viable as the Codex Imperialis stuff.

The OP wanted some way of crowbarring some shinies into a specific force and I merely suggested a method.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also I checked the Codex and couldnt see a reference to power armour in there. The Wargear book has an entry but it is similar to the other rulebook references with the armour being powered to ease movement and enhance wearer strength.

 Exergy wrote:

MrPyro wrote:
Hey, so my Imperial Guard have a mercenary company theme to them, I really like the Primaris marines and would like to be able to field them along side my boys at some point, but obviously I think it's rather unlikely for actual space marines to be fighting with them.

So I'm wondering what exactly does it take to utilize power armor? If certain people were to "acquire" Astartes suits through legally questionable methods, would there be anything preventing them from wearing the armor (aside from experience of course).

No normal human is 8ft tall. Nor do any normal humans weigh 650lbs without being grotesquely fat. No normal human is going to be able to wear an astartes suit any more than a 5 year old can wear a diving welder's pressure suit.

There is human sized power armor. It is fantastically expensive(so is C:SM armor). In an older IG codex, I believe there were commanders who could wear it, but it wasnt a very popular choice.

andre the giant was 7' 4" 520 lb though obviously the gigantism was to blame. but there are humans who get close to 9 feet tall. (8' 11" is the world record) it might be possible on some alien world with less gravity or due to some mutation that the population is larger than normal. the real issue if I recall correctly if the black carapace interaction to power armor, normal humans could use power armor that was made for them and/or modified but the power armor a space marine uses would be of little use to them beyond the armor value. IE no augmented strength or speed just ceremite ballistic protection

 G00fySmiley wrote:
the real issue if I recall correctly if the black carapace interaction to power armor, normal humans could use power armor that was made for them and/or modified but the power armor a space marine uses would be of little use to them beyond the armor value. IE no augmented strength or speed just ceremite ballistic protection

I'm sure getting the Power Armor to work isn't a problem if you have access to the tech needed to keep it running anyways. Space Marines use the Black Carapace to wring the most out of their PA suits, something that is specifically mentioned as a reason the Sisters of Battle aren't quite as nimble and also unable to use some more advanced PA subsystems. I'd guess the SoB use something like an electrode-studded bodysuit under their armor, something that registers muscle activity and passes this on as orders to the PA suit. It's a bit slower than being directly hooked up like a marine, but should certainly be possible to utilize for a marine PA at the loss of some functionality.

That is ofc provided you have access to someone capable of repairing and maintaining such technology in the first place. And that the prospective wearer is at least somewhat close enough in physical size - "normal" marines are about 7' on average, in armor.

 Mr_Rose wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
Who says the guys need to fit into them? Its power armour. Its not like you need an actual person inside to move it about. In fact dropping several hundred kilos of posthuman meatbag might actually speed them up a bit

Retrofit some "liberated" suits of Primaris armour with a remote interface and then have your guys pilot them from a shed round the back (or some kind of proper command vehicle if you like). You could gussy up the models with additional comms kit or robotlike heads or something if you fancy a modelling challenge as well.

Power armour is not capable of moving on its own. For that you want terminator suits.
So, yeah, the dude inside is important and an ill-fitting hardsuit is a death trap more than it is protection; first slight knock and you'll bash your own brains out on the inside of the helmet. Not to mention the pain of a suit of hard plates trying to make a stride longer than you've got room for.
Never mind the problems of using high fidelity low latency remote links in ground combat situations….

Power armor is completely capable of moving on its own, or else Sisters would unable to move in their suits. However you need a black carapace to make the suit move with you. Otherwise the armor is reactionary, and not proactive in its movements, slowing you down.

 Anfauglir wrote:

 Flinty wrote:

 Mr_Rose wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
Who says the guys need to fit into them? Its power armour. Its not like you need an actual person inside to move it about. In fact dropping several hundred kilos of posthuman meatbag might actually speed them up a bit

Retrofit some "liberated" suits of Primaris armour with a remote interface and then have your guys pilot them from a shed round the back (or some kind of proper command vehicle if you like). You could gussy up the models with additional comms kit or robotlike heads or something if you fancy a modelling challenge as well.

Power armour is not capable of moving on its own. For that you want terminator suits.
...
Never mind the problems of using high fidelity low latency remote links in ground combat situations….

Power armour is described in the various editions as replicating the wearers movements and enhancing their strength. The 2nd Ed Angels of Death codex even goes as far as saying the things have "gravity energy dampers" reducing weight and inertia. Nothing there would seem to dictate that you couldn't remote pilot an empty suit. Regarding combat links, if they can process nervous system signal's for black carapaces and titan neural links, sending the signals wireless rather than through a cable would seem to be a trivial problem to solve.

Flinty, it's armour, not a mech suit or a drone. It's built and designed to be worn and interfaced with, physically. Leave the remote/AI sort of stuff for the Tau and Necron factions, where it belongs.

It's not armor. Power Armor has its own power source and synthetic musculature to provide movement. It is accurately described as a body-conforming mini-mechsuit. Power armor is not just a suit of plates you wear which move under your own power.

 Wyzilla wrote:
It's not armor.

Yes. Yes it is. Armour is precisely and exactly what it is.

Power Armor has its own power source and synthetic musculature to provide movement.

Which is worn by, and interfaced with, a physical wearer. It's powered because without the power it would be too heavy to move and fight in. That doesn't turn it into an independently operating mech. It's still armour being worn by a soldier/warrior. An F-16 still needs a human pilot despite being "powered", yet it's still distinctly different from a UAV.

It is accurately described as a body-conforming mini-mechsuit.

Yes, the key part being the body-conforming bit. Because it's built and designed to be worn and interfaced with. Because it's armour, and not a remote/AI controlled mech/drone.

Power armor is not just a suit of plates you wear which move under your own power.

No, that would be regular, unpowered armour. Powered armour, as the name suggests, is armour that is powered. That doesn't stop it from being armour. It simply means it needs to be switched on before you can move in it, the key part being that you are still inside it wearing a suit of armour and it isn't independently controlled, powered or functional without the wearer.

MrPyro wrote:
Hey, so my Imperial Guard have a mercenary company theme to them, I really like the Primaris marines and would like to be able to field them along side my boys at some point, but obviously I think it's rather unlikely for actual space marines to be fighting with them.

So I'm wondering what exactly does it take to utilize power armor? If certain people were to "acquire" Astartes suits through legally questionable methods, would there be anything preventing them from wearing the armor (aside from experience of course).

Artificer Armour (normally Astartes exclusive) is used by some Inquisitors in modified form, but is very, very rare (even among Space Marines). Or if you want heavy PA, stick with Terminators, since there are versions (albeit extremely rare) that can be used by ordinary, non-enhanced Humans. Just fluff it as your unit stumbling upon an ancient cache of proto-Terminators from the early days of the Great Crusade. If you are a WYSIWYG player, you might have to do some converting on the Terminators.

Another option is the old Rogue Trader Dreadnoughts, which are still canon (treated as early/proto-Dreadnoughts in the current fluff), and can be operated by normal pilots. You can still find the models on Ebay from time to time.

 oldravenman3025 wrote:


Artificer Armour (normally Astartes exclusive) is used by some Inquisitors

Not anymore...

 Fafnir wrote:

 oldravenman3025 wrote:


Artificer Armour (normally Astartes exclusive) is used by some Inquisitors

Not anymore...

Currently only named Inquisitors get access to them in the game - well Coteaz....

 Fafnir wrote:

 oldravenman3025 wrote:


Artificer Armour (normally Astartes exclusive) is used by some Inquisitors

Not anymore...

What do you mean? All bets are off when it comes to Inquisitors. If there's anyone in the IoM that can get access to Astartes tier gear (other than Sisters) without being Astartes, it's Inquisitors. It's very, very easy to write fluff for your Inquisitor character having Artificer-grade/equivalent armour.

Not in the 8th edition ruleset. Inquisitors can't get power armour anymore (I mean, it's available to named inquisitors, but that's not why we play Inquisition).

 Fafnir wrote:
Not in the 8th edition ruleset. Inquisitors can't get power armour anymore (I mean, it's available to named inquisitors, but that's not why we play Inquisition).

So... is it available or isn't it? What's stopping me having a homebrew Inquisitor who uses the model/statline of a named one with power armour?

 Anfauglir wrote:

 Fafnir wrote:
Not in the 8th edition ruleset. Inquisitors can't get power armour anymore (I mean, it's available to named inquisitors, but that's not why we play Inquisition).

So... is it available or isn't it? What's stopping me having a homebrew Inquisitor who uses the model/statline of a named one with power armour?

It is unavailable to the base Inquisitor.
If you want to be locked into the rules and wargear of the named ones, you can absolutely do that - the only thing you're doing is just renaming them.

But making a fully custom Inquisitor, you cannot have power armour.

For the self-motive problems, there are probably skeletal robotic frames you could drape the armor in, akin to putting it on a mobile mannequin. We know there are cyborgs (and servo-skulls), so it wouldn't be an impossible feat to have a human brain controlling the mannequin. Yeesh, thinking about it, it'd be like suiting a necron up in marine power power armor...

Also, the various robots - and the dreadnought - show it's possible to get a self-animated battlesuit up and running. The problem comes with remote access - as Mr_Rose pointed out, wireless control on the battlefield would be quite difficult - though the Tau have proved it can be done (sniper drones & drone controller) - to a degree.

Astartes Power Armor can only be used by Astartes. One of their implants is made to interface with it.

There is human power armor, and it can require no augmentation(though there are neutral interfaces for it as well). But Imperial Guard regiments don't typically have it. It's something that only extremely wealthy individuals can even acquire. And we're talking "I can own my own planet, so I have a unit of power armor soldiers at my command" levels of wealth.

amusingly you can't have regular power armor on an inqusitor but an ordos malleus inqusitor can wear terminator armor

It's not like all the power armor in the world got taken away from the Inquisition save for a few terminator suits. It's just bad game design where GW, so focused on Space Marines, practically forgot about everything else.