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Basically the title. I'm just curious as to whether Power Armour ever malfunctions or breaks down during or between missions?
To clarify, I'm talking about mechanical failures due to improper maintenance, general wear & tear, environmental conditions or the like - not Power Armour breaking because it was hit by a Tau railgun.
blood reaper wrote: I will respect human rights and trans people but I will never under any circumstances use the phrase 'folks' or 'ya'll'. I would rather be killed by firing squad.
the_scotsman wrote: Yeah, when i read the small novel that is the Death Guard unit options and think about resolving the attacks from a melee-oriented min size death guard squad, the thing that springs to mind is "Accessible!"
Argive wrote: GW seems to have a crystal ball and just pulls hairbrained ideas out of their backside for the most part.
You're not. If you're worried about your opponent using 'fake' rules, you're having fun the wrong way. This hobby isn't about rules. It's about buying Citadel miniatures.
Please report to your nearest GW store for attitude readjustment. Take your wallet.
mrFickle wrote: What happens to power armour if it runs out of power, can you still move or does it need servo motors to move around?
That’d be a long arsed mission, as if memory serves Power Armour backpacks are nuclear?
For OP? Yes. Power armour maintenance is a constant, constant thing. Not least each suit of at least Astartes Power Armour includes ablative upper layers, there to take the initial shots, improving the overall durability, and given the theoretical speed of an Astartes lead engagement, prevent serious damage being suffered by the main armour plates.
Further damage will also require ongoing, mission to mission maintenance, as well the servos of the underlying armature, not just form the rigours of combat, but general wear and tear/prevention thereof. That could be as simple as oiling the joints and checking none of the pressure seals have perished, right up to “this joint has served 1,000 hours and should now be replaced” type standard.
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mrFickle wrote: What happens to power armour if it runs out of power, can you still move or does it need servo motors to move around?
That’d be a long arsed mission, as if memory serves Power Armour backpacks are nuclear?
For OP? Yes. Power armour maintenance is a constant, constant thing. Not least each suit of at least Astartes Power Armour includes ablative upper layers, there to take the initial shots, improving the overall durability, and given the theoretical speed of an Astartes lead engagement, prevent serious damage being suffered by the main armour plates.
Further damage will also require ongoing, mission to mission maintenance, as well the servos of the underlying armature, not just form the rigours of combat, but general wear and tear/prevention thereof. That could be as simple as oiling the joints and checking none of the pressure seals have perished, right up to “this joint has served 1,000 hours and should now be replaced” type standard.
Well I was assuming some sort of fault caused the power to fail. I’d they are nuclear reactors why are they not causing small nuclear detonations when hit by weapons in combat
Yes, of course it breaks down. Every single mechanical object ever built will break down, it's just a question of how and how often. At best you can have a strict maintenance and replacement schedule to minimize the failure rate and redundant systems that can accommodate single failures.
mrFickle wrote: Well I was assuming some sort of fault caused the power to fail. I’d they are nuclear reactors why are they not causing small nuclear detonations when hit by weapons in combat
Because that's not how nuclear reactors work. Making a nuclear detonation is incredibly difficult and requires very precise controlled explosions to force the radioactive material into a critical mass and then hold it there as the chain reaction happens. A nuclear reactor doesn't have the highly enriched material of a bomb, doesn't have a critical mass in one place, and doesn't have the explosive pressure preventing it from tearing itself apart and immediately ending the reaction. A meltdown is not a detonation, it's literally just the reactor overheating and melting itself.
(This is why if you have a nuclear warhead in a fire the biggest danger is the conventional explosives, the nuclear material is just a lump of inert metal that will at most be a shrapnel hazard.)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/18 19:44:40
t’interner wrote: Backpack - The main power source for the suit of power armour is located in the suit's backpack. This highly-efficient sub-atomic microfusion reactor core provides the power for all internal systems. The suit does contain a reserve power supply and a back-up micro-solar panel array in case of emergencies. The reserve power source can be recharged via the solar panel, and when fully charged should provide enough power to last for a solar month (as long as all non-vital systems are disabled) without the need for major maintenance or resupply. Thermal waste dissipators form the characteristic nozzles on either side of the backpack. This thermal waste can also be used for limited maneuvering in zero-gravity. The backpack also contains the suit's supply of oxygen and an air purification system that allows the wearer to breath in toxic or vacuum environments. Combined with the Space Marine's own Multi-lung organ implant, the wearer can operate unhindered in any atmosphere, as well as underwater and in hard vacuum. Air intakes are also located on the backpack. The lower part of the backpack is the armour's temperature regulation system. In combat, with the suit functioning at maximum capacity, heat can build up quite rapidly. Settings for heat control can be adjusted depending upon the environment the suit is operating in, obviously retaining more heat in frigid conditions or the void of deep space than in tropical or desert conditions. In planetary environments, the suit's internal cogitator will always optimise conditions to match the world's mean average temperature. Within the armour, the wearer will experience only minor temperature fluctuations as the suit maintains the correct temperature to keep the Space Marine operating at peak physical efficiency in any environment.
So sub-atomic reactor with battery and solar back ups. Full charge good for a month.
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There's a short story (that I'm trying to find) about some civilians who find a marine buried under rumble - he's been there a few weeks and has no power.
That used to be my reasoning for why space marines only had one wound. Similar to how tanks can be knocked out of a fight if the right system becomes damaged. Even the greatest warrior can be rendered helpless with unfortunate mechanical failure.
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Sorry, perhaps I should have worded my question better.
It certainly makes sense that power armour would break down/malfunction. However, I wondered if it ever actually comes up in any of the myriad of SM stories? Or if it's something that presumably happens but which is never actually shown.
blood reaper wrote: I will respect human rights and trans people but I will never under any circumstances use the phrase 'folks' or 'ya'll'. I would rather be killed by firing squad.
the_scotsman wrote: Yeah, when i read the small novel that is the Death Guard unit options and think about resolving the attacks from a melee-oriented min size death guard squad, the thing that springs to mind is "Accessible!"
Argive wrote: GW seems to have a crystal ball and just pulls hairbrained ideas out of their backside for the most part.
You're not. If you're worried about your opponent using 'fake' rules, you're having fun the wrong way. This hobby isn't about rules. It's about buying Citadel miniatures.
Please report to your nearest GW store for attitude readjustment. Take your wallet.
Sorry, perhaps I should have worded my question better.
It certainly makes sense that power armour would break down/malfunction. However, I wondered if it ever actually comes up in any of the myriad of SM stories? Or if it's something that presumably happens but which is never actually shown.
Oh, ok. Yes, it's mentioned sometimes, at least for CSM. The members of 10th Company sometimes have little "glitches" and malfunctions in the Night Lords trilogy. And in the Black Crusade RPG you could only select 3 out of 9 available subsystems that remained fully functional for your character's power armour. Not sure about loyalist stories. I don't read a lot of that stuff.
There's a short story (that I'm trying to find) about some civilians who find a marine buried under rumble - he's been there a few weeks and has no power.
In one of the Crimson Fists books, not sure which it actually is in since I have the Omnibus, a squad gets their Rhino blown up and they're all knocked out. Civilians and PDF find them. The Sergeant wakes up first, and when he checks his battle brothers they managed to drag to shelter, it's stated that the blast overloaded their armors power packs so they went into emergency shutdown. He has to turn his brothers armor back on so they can move.
ETA: Found it, it's in Legacy of Dorn.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/19 05:29:41
"I get to play the side with the tank! You can have the dumb robot" - my 9yo son seeing the HH:AoD box.
It's mentioned every now and then but in the Imperium at least it is treated with such reverence and taken such good care of (to the point of having a team of serfs dedicated to maintaining it) that I don't think it would come up often, at least for Astartes.
Iirc, there's a bit in one of the GSC novels (Warmason?) where a sister's power supply gets knocked out and she's basically immobilized inside her armor. I vaguely remember various scenes with marines where similar damage makes it so that they're still able to move but basically have to fight against their armor in order to move.
ATTENTION. Psychic tests are unfluffy. Your longing for AV is understandable but misguided. Your chapter doesn't need a separate codex. Doctrines should go away. Being a "troop" means nothing. This has been a cranky service announcement. You may now resume your regularly scheduled arguing.
Hmmm... I know some of the novels have mentioned that the power pack has a hum. For some reason, because of this thread and after trying to find the passage, and then reading it, about shut off power armour, I am now convinced that the armour power pack sounds like a Ghostbusters proton pack powering up.
"I get to play the side with the tank! You can have the dumb robot" - my 9yo son seeing the HH:AoD box.
Yes everything breaks down and fails eventually. I mean its meant to be grimdark and gritty, in real life stuff just malfunctions etc so why would this not be different. Marines are big enough and chunky enough to use it like normal armour in this eventuality. Its probably half the reason why they are so enhanced and do not soley rely on the armour they are expecting to always fight in.
I'd think in chaos or renegade marine warbands armour would fail more often as they do not have access to anywhere near the level of maintenance, spare parts or specialised equipment/personnel/facilities to upkeep it(this sorta goes for everything in their arsenal though).
IMHO When you have some juice box of a chaos marine with warp enhanced muscles(or gangrenous rot) exploding from around the armour plates that's probably a sign that the powered systems broke down ages ago.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/19 10:26:55
I would suspect if this is tech perfected at Humanities height it will be as reliable as items like a bolter. Human power armour would be different, but marine armour is built the same way, with the greatest minds of the Imperium's golden age, for 10,000 years. Would be like Rhinos and the like, as reliable as cars, not todays tanks (which fight mostly against breakdowns and sometimes the enemy).
Astartes Power Armour was a post-DAoT invention. It used lots of the design cues from human and Thunder Warrior patterns of PA but it was much more advanced and included equipment such as the Black Carapace.
Bear in mind that the last advancement in PA before the Primaris, MkVIII Errant, was just sticking extra plating on a MkVII suit, that itself was a design about 9k years old at that point.
There was almost 10k years without widespread change to the design because of religious and traditional pressure as well as the lack of actual knowledge on how to advance the design. Heck, Indomitus patter TDA is specifically stated as a stopgap measure during the Heresy and wasn't near completion of its design before it was rapidly implemented to give the Legions some extra punch. It then became the standard because most Forge Worlds lost the ability to produce the Cataphractii and Tartaros patterns.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/19 10:49:02
Gert wrote: Astartes Power Armour was a post-DAoT invention. It used lots of the design cues from human and Thunder Warrior patterns of PA but it was much more advanced and included equipment such as the Black Carapace.
Bear in mind that the last advancement in PA before the Primaris, MkVIII Errant, was just sticking extra plating on a MkVII suit, that itself was a design about 9k years old at that point.
There was almost 10k years without widespread change to the design because of religious and traditional pressure as well as the lack of actual knowledge on how to advance the design. Heck, Indomitus patter TDA is specifically stated as a stopgap measure during the Heresy and wasn't near completion of its design before it was rapidly implemented to give the Legions some extra punch. It then became the standard because most Forge Worlds lost the ability to produce the Cataphractii and Tartaros patterns.
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mrFickle wrote: Well I was assuming some sort of fault caused the power to fail. I’d they are nuclear reactors why are they not causing small nuclear detonations when hit by weapons in combat
Because reactors don't do that. Malfunctioning reactors melt, they do not explode. Nuclear weapons work entirely different to nuclear bombs and require different fuel types.
A miniature reactor would also be heavily shielded to protect the wearer from the radiation, this would have the side effect of making it very resistant to damage from weapon fire. Anything capable of destroying the reactor is going to obliterate the whole suit.
If the reactor is a Thorium based reactor(which is likely would be), any type of meltdown would burn itself out before it broke containment of the suit.
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Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
mrFickle wrote: Are you saying power armour is not from an STC?
It isn't an STC. Not everything that gets made in the Imperium is made from an STC or STC Database.
How sure are you of this? There are examples of human civilisations found during HH that also had power armour and the LOV also have power armour and have adapted their hazard suits into something similar to terminator armour
mrFickle wrote: Are you saying power armour is not from an STC?
It isn't an STC. Not everything that gets made in the Imperium is made from an STC or STC Database.
How sure are you of this? There are examples of human civilisations found during HH that also had power armour and the LOV also have power armour and have adapted their hazard suits into something similar to terminator armour
Well to be specific the thunder warrior and astartes series of power armour, that line of development as not originally an STC(it maybe an amalgam of them or a clean slate design which was made into an STC for mass production ) terminator armour was a hazardous environment suit, so stands to reason that it may have been more widespread as an easily adapted STC. I susupect there would have been smaller suits of power armour developed elsewhere as few other human civilizations had 8ft tall chonky super soldiers. I think some models of inquistorial armour and specifically sisters of battle armour may be a better example of similar amours in the 41st millennia.
mrFickle wrote: How sure are you of this? There are examples of human civilisations found during HH that also had power armour and the LOV also have power armour and have adapted their hazard suits into something similar to terminator armour
Astartes Power Armour was developed by the Astartes Project. It's far superior to any other type of Power Armour and while those worn by the Thunder Warriors or the Technobarbarians of Old Earth might have come from an STC, Astartes armour does not.
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