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Hey all,
Was wondering what kind of industry took place on Hive Worlds? Now, I know the real function of hive worlds is to provide warm bodies for the Guard, but presumably the rest of the population does something too. I always assumed this was just the general industry that kept the world itself going, but the creators of the upcoming Necromunda videogame have talked about battles taking place amidst manufactories producing military materiel, such as the truly vast shells fired by Imperial Navy starships (which, don't get me wrong, sounds really cool). But I would have thought such things would be restricted to Forge Worlds, under the strict auspices of the Mechanicum. So what's going on there? Does some military production take place on hive worlds, and I was just wrong? Is it only 'secondary' production, ie whatever's required to refit/replenish ships so they don't need to wait on shipments from a forge world mid-campaign? Or is this a slight blip in canon in the game?
Thanks in advance! This is my first post (long time listener etc) so be kind

A hive world is capable of outfitting an entire planetary military including armored and airborne units, plus the ones it sends off world as Guard. Hive worlds are such ordinary locations for ship construction that the remarkable event is when a feral world does it, building a lunar class cruiser. Any military system that relied on shipping basic equipment like ship macrocannon shells or tanks all across the hundreds of worlds served by a single forge world could be very very shaky.

pelicaniforce wrote:
A hive world is capable of outfitting an entire planetary military including armored and airborne units, plus the ones it sends off world as Guard. Hive worlds are such ordinary locations for ship construction that the remarkable event is when a feral world does it, building a lunar class cruiser. Any military system that relied on shipping basic equipment like ship macrocannon shells or tanks all across the hundreds of worlds served by a single forge world could be very very shaky.

This absolutely makes sense, thanks very much! It also adds credence to my general idea that when it comes to ideology vs survival, the Imperium chooses survival

I've always seen Hive Worlds as containing their own bits of industry.
Be this manufacturies, mines, fuel production or a combination.
They make basic things.

forgeworlds do all the advanced stuff, they make the titans, they build the starships and such forth.

In really crude terms think of it like modern 1st world industry (forge worlds) vs 3rd world industry (hive worlds).

Depends on what is on the hive planet per sae

Some manufacture arms, Spaceship parts some are just pure administration or arts

I see some of it as an accident of history. The fundamental reason why some planets such as Necromunda or Armageddon are "secular" Hive Worlds and others like Ryza or Forge Worlds might simply boil down to who colonised it or who reconquered it during the Crusade. Forge Worlds will have a monopoly on more advanced or esoteric technology like Titans and suchlike, but both Forge and Hive Worlds also churn out billions of lasguns, boltguns, Leman Russ tanks, Rhinos (and spoons, metric screwdrivers, Imperial screws, 3/8th Gripleys, interocitors and whatever else)

From what I remember Necromunda specialised in manufacturing plasma weapons, hence even the scummy underhive gangs could get their hands on such priceless bits of kit quite easily.

Using Necromunda and Gaunt's Ghost Necropolis as guides, hive worlds are planets with massive populations. BTW, they don't have massive populations just to supply the Imperial Guard. There is a danger of having too many IG/AM regiments come from one source. Like modern massive cities (real, or SciFy) these planets produce enough resources and manufacturing to support massive populations. The Imperium is nothing, if not excessive. Hive Worlds make everything from bowls to Baneblades. Both for indigenous use, and to supply other worlds. In the case of Necromunda and Necropolis, the manufacturing is controlled by corporate style syndicates.

Forge Worlds are much rarer. And, more specialized. They are to the Ommisiah what Shrine Worlds are to the Emperor. Their workers are techpriests and servitors. Not gangers and hive scum. They are controlled by the Mechanicus, not civil governors. They have access to lost and arcane technologies. And, build the most specialized weapons. They can combine the sacred and the machine. In contrast, Hive Worlds are much more secular.

All the most advanced technologies in the Imperium ultimately belong to the Mechanicus, but that doesn't mean they keep everything to themselves - it just means you have to give them something in return. Your average Hive World likely doesn't have the STC for things like Baneblades, but there will be worlds out there that have them via contracts the Mechanicus, ie: (hypotetically) 500 years ago the Fabricator-General ordered the Forge World of Spaxhetti Prime to provide the local Departmento Munitorum Depot with a certain number of Baneblades per year, 300 years ago the Spaxhetti ruling council wished to repurpose their Baneblade production facilities so they offered the STC to the Hive World of Raxioli in exchange for them filling the annual order to the Munitorum for them (Raxioli then made a deal with the Munitorum for additional Baneblades in exchange for a few choice promotions for the governors kin and estates on some recently conquered worlds in an adjacent sector). The Imperium is a tangled web of such contracts, after thousands of years of politicking I imagine it would be quite rare to have a Hive World that doesn't have at least one such contract for something that technically belongs to the AdMech.