Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

First of all, I do not ask you to post statlines and specific attributes, as DakkaDakka is not a rulebook et cetera.

However, as I have looked a fair deal at 30K, I see that Forge World has invented a large amount of weapons (their own graviton, archeotech pistols, lightning guns, darkfire cannons, phosphex grenades...) that are very different from 40K weapons.

I am curious, what are the roles and tasks for these new weapons in the 30k game? How has Forge World implemented these new niches in their game? I really wonder how FW's weapons fill tasks and roles that the established 40K weapons do not.

Graviton: wounds on a failed strength test, AP 4 (usually), blast template remains until next turn as difficult terrain. So not very good at killing stuff (especially in 30k where most models have at least a 3+ save), but provides some movement control. These weapons were first published before the current marine codex introduced 40k grav weapons, and they have nothing in common except the name.

Volkite: STR 5-6ish AP 5ish guns that inflict an extra hit for every unsaved wound (the extra hits don't keep adding more). They'd be pretty nice anti-horde guns if 30k wasn't so focused on MEQs, but in a 30k context the only time you're likely to see them is on a few units that start with them by default. The odd exceptions are the Glaive and one of the 30k knight variants, which get much more powerful AP 2/3 guns with the same "extra hits" effect.

Archeotech: generic term for "old stuff". The pistols are STR 6 AP 3, so a safer and more expensive version of plasma pistols. Fluff-wise there's no clear definition, and it explicitly states that an archeotech pistol represents a diverse range of "old" or "exotic" weapons. So any other archeotech weapon (I'm not sure if there are any yet) won't necessarily follow the pistol precedent.

Lightning: admech weapon, and the various examples don't seem to have much in common besides STR 7 and rending/shred. I'm not really sure what the design purpose of these is, besides "admech should have something different".

Darkfire: effectively plasma that doesn't get hot. In the weapon rules they're grouped with a few similar but differently-named AP 2 weapons, including a flamer. Like lightning weapons, they're IIRC admech only.

Phosphex: AP 2 chemical weapons that are poisoned (3+), leave the blast in place permanently as dangerous terrain, and can adjust the final position by (IIRC) 2" as long as it covers more models. Nasty MEQ/TEQ killers, especially on the Lightning (which can drop up to six of them in one bombing run if you buy a full load) and Medusa (which gets a 5" blast), but very few units get them. Fluff-wise even many factions in the Imperium consider them too horrifying (lol) to use.

As an Ordo Reductor mechanicum player, i get my most lovely toys for thallax so the lightning gun, the phased plasma fusil and the photon thruster are most poigniant to me.

i came to 30k after collecting SM and stormtroopers so hot-shot lasgun, bolter, plasma gun, thunderfire cannon, and lascannon were my 'norm'
i do the WYSIWYG thing so the lightning gun was a massive change; reduction in range and increased strength from a SM perspectrive and massive upgrade in strength but a nerf of AP by 1 from a stormtrooper perspective. it put you in a conundrum of how you shold plan for them, effective against armour 4 infantry because of shred and woulnding most on a 2+ but a single shot per weapon means it cant do blobs of troops. it was best against lightly armoured vehicles with its high strength and rending. i started taking a single LR kitted for AV14 and leave the other vehicles to the lightning guns.
phased plasma fusils were a weapon i always attempted to get my opponent to agree to let me proxy on my thallax. in a marine heavy environment it is hard to beat; it ignores their armour and with only one less strength than the lightning gun its wounding on a 2+ as well. its biggest feature was its range being that of the humble bolter but with the potential to do an extra shot. the volume of fire and its strength meant it could still be useful against light vehicles like the WS - i started using its features so much i almost didnt care about the lightning guns in the squad!
photon thrusters were a creeper on me - their high points cost and the gets hot rule combined with its low strength making the lance rule seem like a p|$s take than an advantage made me ignore it at first. later on its range and the blind rule had me reconsidering it as a magos option (an MC photon thruster at BS5 sounded fun...) so he would be doing something other than stopping my opponent getting slay the warlord. the blind rule did help me once whe playing gray knights, his long range stuff was shorter range than it, and the magos (with lucky rolls) kept them at BS1 for their shooting all game and stopped a bunch of casualties as a result.

most notable weapon for my legion marine contingent is the volkite weaponry. the 'extra hits for your wounds' thing along with their good strength made me have a moment where you could kind of see where mankind was headed if it wasnt for the heresy. it was quite a sad feeling, seeing essentially, how space marines should have looked - with volkite weapons. just think how amazing SM would be in 40k if they all had volkite like was the plan?
it made me re-evaluate how i regarded the bolter; i used to think that it was what the space marines were supposed to have all along, but actually it was the weapon who's dependability and durability kept humanity from the brink of self-destruction.
personally, i think this is why it is such an iconic weapon for space marines in 40k; it is what they aspire to be.

Thank you for the answers.