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Hi all, was just thinking about Dreadnoughts and how they are piloted by a Marine who is too injured to fight on.

My question is. If a Chapter has access to more dreadnoughts than they do injured marines, would it be practical or possible for a able-bodied marine to pilot a dreadnought?

fluff wise thats a no no. they HAVE TO BE NEAR DEAD!!!! IT SAYS SO!!! SOMEWHERE!!!!
but personally i think.... i guess so. i think they dont have to be near dead, thats kindda dumb IMO. blown apart and more deserving then just a few starwarsy limbs. i always saw them as 1st company badasses that stepped a little to close to a cannon shell and lost a few bits. hell my missle launcher dred i made has the torso showing like it was hard wired into the dred.

anywho to answer you, sure they could hard wire a marine into one that isnt dead. why would they HAVE to be dead to get a dred? is there something that near dead has that a living marine doesnt have? go for what ever idea your working on. then kick anyone in the nutz that rains on your parade

hellsguardian316 wrote:Hi all, was just thinking about Dreadnoughts and how they are piloted by a Marine who is too injured to fight on.

My question is. If a Chapter has access to more dreadnoughts than they do injured marines, would it be practical or possible for a able-bodied marine to pilot a dreadnought?

The surgeon would chop him in half so he could pilot two dreads!

Kilkrazy wrote:

hellsguardian316 wrote:Hi all, was just thinking about Dreadnoughts and how they are piloted by a Marine who is too injured to fight on.

My question is. If a Chapter has access to more dreadnoughts than they do injured marines, would it be practical or possible for a able-bodied marine to pilot a dreadnought?

The surgeon would chop him in half so he could pilot two dreads!

Its a TL-Dread


@ Hellsguardian:

I think the only reason to use only half-dead marines are the life-support-systems in a dread.
But if there were more dreads and less half-dead marines -----
most chapters would start an assault on a ork-world.The winner-of-the-day gets a dread to pilot.
Now run this challenge a month.

PS. Dread-squad in Dow (vs orks).

I read about one Dreadnaught piloted by a toenail, because that was all they could find of the dead Marine, and they weren't even sure it was his.

wow, thats some toenail

hellsguardian316 wrote:
My question is. If a Chapter has access to more dreadnoughts than they do injured marines, would it be practical or possible for a able-bodied marine to pilot a dreadnought?

That would be a very strange occurance. Wounded marines are likely very plentiful. In all cases spare dreadsnoughts are set aside in case a suitable person becomes available.

Not every marine gets to pilot a dreadnought it is a rare honour, most are given the Emperor's peace (shot) when critically wounded. Dread pilots are probably at the least sergeants, and most likely officers.

As you cannot predict when a SM hero is going to buy it, and never purposefully hasten such events it makes sense that unoccupied dreadsare held back even if there are wounded marines available for the next time half a captain comes back from battle.

As thre Astartes has te levity to play fast and loose with some rulesw it is possible that some chapters dont have dreadnoughts per se, but replace the sarcophagi with a cockpit. If IG can have Sentinels, an Ironclad war walker should not be difficult.

Kilkrazy wrote:I read about one Dreadnaught piloted by a toenail, because that was all they could find of the dead Marine, and they weren't even sure it was his.

Sounds like the senseless Pete Haines fluff addition.

You need the brain and cerebral cortex minimum, and preferably part of the torso, everything else is just excess.

Orlanth wrote: As thre Astartes has te levity to play fast and loose with some rulesw it is possible that some chapters dont have dreadnoughts per se, but replace the sarcophagi with a cockpit. If IG can have Sentinels, an Ironclad war walker should not be difficult.

yeah,
that sounds pretty cool to me! it would be cool to see a marine controlling a dread like a (eldar) warwalker...

PAnic...

Sounds interesting with the chance for a decent conversion as well. Maybe not a fully exposed cockpit but something more akin to a aircraft cockpit like maybe a larger view slit so you can just see a head or part of the upper torso and head.

Lol, will have to think of some "proposed rules" for Chapter Master piloting a dreadnought.

Why didn't they give dreadnoughts a Hellfire Round option "sobs" But on the brighter side, they did give them dual Autocannons &gt

YEA! dual auto cannons are deffinetly badass. hmmmm im seeing like the cockpit from one of those eagles, as the center of the drednaught. that makes my brain swirl with excitment

No they don't.

In one of the old short story collections there is a story about a White Scars marine trying t infiltrate the Red Corsairs with the aid of a partially repented ex loyalist. At the end of the story Huron has the double traitor entombed in a dread sarcophagus and then locks it away forever.

"If a Chapter has access to more dreadnoughts than they do injured marines."

I don't think that's going to append anytime soon

well in sm they'd probably nearly kill them selves to get to be a dreadnought,but a csm would probably run away screaming at the thought of being a dreadnought

"Brother Antes. Place the dead..."
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Very well, place the Mortally wounded..."
"Actually I am getting better. Should I go with you sir?"
"Aw - put him in there anyways!!!!"

Ehhh, first post.

I think the idea behind a Space Marine being entombed in a Dreadnought is that he is Incapable of Fighting. Crippled or something. If they are on the Battlefield and missing half their body, they get the bolter shot to the head for mercy.

If you wanna stay strict to the lore that GW has set forth, I do not believe you can put a perfectly good SM in a Dread. It would be looked down upon to waste a Warrior of the Imperium for a Dreadnought when a crippled brother can continue fighting for the cause in there. I mean, you can, but why waste a perfectly good SM? People get injured all the time and they are better candidates. Plus, when a Dread is not in combat, it is Hibernating. That would be hell for a perfectly fine Space Marine.

Just my opinions though.....

More wierd and wonderful from the minds of game players.....

Ok, so it seems like a cool idea to pilot a Dreadnought? However, to the pilot inside the Dread, its effectively a life-support system, that just happens to be installed in a combat robot.....so, in actual fact, not the coolest thing at all.

So, in answer to the OPs first question.....would you put a perfectly good warrior on a life support machine? As to the ober coolness of piloting a dreadnought into battle with the protection it offers.....why not just stay put inside your Land Raider? or don a suit of Terminator Armour?....or go ride a Titan....

maybe they would just shoot his arms,legs and lower body off and say there hand slipped.

Xav wrote:maybe they would just shoot his arms,legs and lower body off and say there hand slipped.

Nooo, thats what Orks or Chaos would do

"ay goregutz, lookz at dem thingies there" BANG!!! "ma thinger slipped boss, but mad dok can elp ya"

If I remember right, the original fluff for Dreadnoughts said they were controlled via a neural interface, similar to that inside Power Armour.

If this is the case, a Space Marine who is all but brain dead can generally be interred in one.

Again, if the interface is similar to the one in Power Armour, it would be theoretically possible for a marine to assume a foetal position within the sarcophagus and pilot the Dreadnought via the link.

The general fluff today indicates that the Dreadnoughts are so ancient and few in number, in most chapters, that only the most honoured and experienced are chosen, to preserve their accumulated knowledge.

Gen. Lee Losing wrote:"Brother Antes. Place the dead..."
"I'm not dead yet!"
"Very well, place the Mortally wounded..."
"Actually I am getting better. Should I go with you sir?"
"Aw - put him in there anyways!!!!"

In the grimdark future of the 41st millenium there is only monty python

(The Famous, "This Marine is Dead Stetch")
This Marine is dead
He's not dead, he's .. errr .. just resting his eyes
He's Stiff!!!
Nah mate,

im an inquisitor and im ok,
i sleep all night
and i burn all day
he's an inquisitor and he's ok
he sleeps all night and he burns all day

ok, now I'm picturing "Search for the Holy Grail" and that sing song at Camalot with "Knights of the Round Table"

I wonder if thats what Marines get up to when not on duty. Have sing songs with a Dread clapping his claws in time with the music

Brother Tamus "No, lets not go to the Battlebarge, it is a silly place"

Life of the Emperor
"he's not the emperor of mankind, he's a very naughty boy"

and what is more fitting to the grimdark future than always look on the bright side of life

Thanks ! Now I've got an image of a guy being crucified on the front of an SOB Rhino, singing "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life " whilst under heavy fire.

"Always look on the bright cider of life!"

that could just use the brains of a dead space marine and not have a body at all thats way no body has to see them

just wondering, if they can use the toenail of a marines, can they use the downstairs part of a marine, if only that was left?

arnt marines unics?
as in have no genitalia?