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Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut






Are there any sources for this widespread belief that ork tech only works because they believe it does? The only one I know of is the 4th ed Ork codex and that one is easily explained away. A techpriest that barely know how imperial tech works isn't a good source, especially since there's multiple accounts of ork tech working fine in human hands.

Are there any other sources or is this another case of people exaggerating?

The Tick: Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception.  
   
Made in fi
Locked in the Tower of Amareo





 Gargantuan wrote:
Are there any sources for this widespread belief that ork tech only works because they believe it does? The only one I know of is the 4th ed Ork codex and that one is easily explained away. A techpriest that barely know how imperial tech works isn't a good source, especially since there's multiple accounts of ork tech working fine in human hands.

Are there any other sources or is this another case of people exaggerating?


There's one mention of it in fluff and that was Imperial adeptus mechanicus guy THEORIZING it. So not presented as fact. On contrary we have cases in fluff that would be flat out IMPOSSIBLE if he was correct as you indeed pointed out. Thus it's safe to say it's bogus.

It's internet meme gone wild. People put too much weight on it

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/09/04 06:46:07


2024 painted/bought: 109/109 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy on Kustom Deth Kopta






The claim isn't that Ork tech only works because they believe it, it's that it works better because they believe it. Their more advanced weaponry might deal more damage or work as intended rather than being an unstable mess.

It forms a pretty big part of the Beast Arises series as well as getting a reference in codexes. Its up to you what you deem canon but GW seem to be lending more and more credibility to the idea. Obviously it is designed to be vague, we aren't supposed to know the truth because it could be Imperial propaganda or it could be legit.
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






 An Actual Englishman wrote:
The claim isn't that Ork tech only works because they believe it, it's that it works better because they believe it. Their more advanced weaponry might deal more damage or work as intended rather than being an unstable mess.

It forms a pretty big part of the Beast Arises series as well as getting a reference in codexes. Its up to you what you deem canon but GW seem to be lending more and more credibility to the idea. Obviously it is designed to be vague, we aren't supposed to know the truth because it could be Imperial propaganda or it could be legit.


Ork psychic resonance definitely seems to have some basis in fact since Ork technology works best in Ork hands. Back in the old FFG Rogue Trader RPG, where you could RP as a Freeboota Ork, you had a set of Orky weapons that would only become Unreliable if used by non-Ork character or NPC. So while its definitely not to the typical meme levels of derp where people go "IF AN ORK BELIEVES IT, THE EMPEROR WOULD DIE", it still makes an impact on the basic engineering that Ork tech is based on, basically a psychic grease that allows the Ork war machine to work. Otherwise, why would the Brainboyz need to biologically ensure that there were oddboyz that intrinsically knew how to build and understand physics, math and other orky "know-wotz" to make these things if all Orks needed was the power of belief to make things *poof* into existence?
   
Made in gb
Mekboy on Kustom Deth Kopta






 Grimskul wrote:
 An Actual Englishman wrote:
The claim isn't that Ork tech only works because they believe it, it's that it works better because they believe it. Their more advanced weaponry might deal more damage or work as intended rather than being an unstable mess.

It forms a pretty big part of the Beast Arises series as well as getting a reference in codexes. Its up to you what you deem canon but GW seem to be lending more and more credibility to the idea. Obviously it is designed to be vague, we aren't supposed to know the truth because it could be Imperial propaganda or it could be legit.


Ork psychic resonance definitely seems to have some basis in fact since Ork technology works best in Ork hands. Back in the old FFG Rogue Trader RPG, where you could RP as a Freeboota Ork, you had a set of Orky weapons that would only become Unreliable if used by non-Ork character or NPC. So while its definitely not to the typical meme levels of derp where people go "IF AN ORK BELIEVES IT, THE EMPEROR WOULD DIE", it still makes an impact on the basic engineering that Ork tech is based on, basically a psychic grease that allows the Ork war machine to work. Otherwise, why would the Brainboyz need to biologically ensure that there were oddboyz that intrinsically knew how to build and understand physics, math and other orky "know-wotz" to make these things if all Orks needed was the power of belief to make things *poof* into existence?

Yep agreed. Your 'psychic grease' analogy is a great way of describing what i was attempting to write.

A metal stick won't magically turn into a gun because of Work belief. But a ramshackle plane might manage to stay airborne when by rights it shouldn't.
   
Made in us
Nasty Nob




Cary, NC

This was presented in the 3rd edition Codex and reprinted in various other sources. However, it was never originally stated as "Ork tech only works because they believe it does". That's a gross oversimplification largely promulgated by people who actively dislike the idea, and by other people who want to explain away any crazy idea they like because "it works because orks believe it".

First, it doesn't work ONLY because they believe it. GW has never claimed that, for example, an ork could believe that a stick was a lascannon and it would thus fire lasers.

It has instead, been presented in a 'in-universe' theory, by a Magos, that the presence of a low-level psychic field generated and sustained by orks, allows technology that should not otherwise function to work, allows technology that should otherwise be markedly unstable to function relatively normally, and allows technology that should not achieve a high level of performance to perform at a high level.

Note that this is a theory about technology from a group of people who stopped innovating in technology ten thousand years ago, and who regard it with religious dogma and superstitious awe--so their understanding of 'it can't possibly work' might not be entirely accurate, anyway.

It's also not about one lone ork making a pipe work as a plasma cannon, but about a ambient psychic field generated by loads of orks allowing, for example, slipshod, highly irregular guns to fire reliably.

It's also not about one lone ork coming up with a idiosyncratic personal belief that, for example, herrings can cut down trees. It's about long-held cultural superstitions common to ork culture being quantifiably, measurably correct when orks are around, such as "red wuns go fasta" being demonstrably true for ork vehicles painted red and driven by orks.

So, it's a theory from a lone magos, so, 'in universe', it's clearly something that is subject to doubt. This guy could be wrong, deluded, a pawn of the Alpha Legion, whatever. There are plenty of good reasons that you could, as a gamer, decide that it's not part of your personal canon.

But it shouldn't be dismissed (or embraced) as some dumb "Orks think it so it happens" simplification of the idea.

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka




It's like the Fallen and Space Wolves where some lore started something and then it gets memed out of hand.

tremere47-fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate, leads to triple riptide spam  
   
Made in gb
Incorporating Wet-Blending




U.k

I still consider ere we go as the bible of ORK fluff. It’s the truth. And ORK tech works because it actually works. The thing that is mystical about it is the fact that the mekboys instinctively know how to build and improve these things. So they might not be able to explain how it works but it does. They actually build very complex and advanced equipment. That’s why the imperium can’t figure it out, they are backwards monks who pray to machines to get them to turn on. Meks are intuitive engineers who understand their machines like we know how to walk or eat.

They seem to have lost a bit of their advance tech feel in recent editions, with everything looking like moving scrap but the new models seem to move back towards functional and simplistic design rather than bolt on anything and call it ORKy.
   
Made in us
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'




Alaska

 An Actual Englishman wrote:
 Grimskul wrote:
 An Actual Englishman wrote:
The claim isn't that Ork tech only works because they believe it, it's that it works better because they believe it. Their more advanced weaponry might deal more damage or work as intended rather than being an unstable mess.

It forms a pretty big part of the Beast Arises series as well as getting a reference in codexes. Its up to you what you deem canon but GW seem to be lending more and more credibility to the idea. Obviously it is designed to be vague, we aren't supposed to know the truth because it could be Imperial propaganda or it could be legit.


Ork psychic resonance definitely seems to have some basis in fact since Ork technology works best in Ork hands. Back in the old FFG Rogue Trader RPG, where you could RP as a Freeboota Ork, you had a set of Orky weapons that would only become Unreliable if used by non-Ork character or NPC. So while its definitely not to the typical meme levels of derp where people go "IF AN ORK BELIEVES IT, THE EMPEROR WOULD DIE", it still makes an impact on the basic engineering that Ork tech is based on, basically a psychic grease that allows the Ork war machine to work. Otherwise, why would the Brainboyz need to biologically ensure that there were oddboyz that intrinsically knew how to build and understand physics, math and other orky "know-wotz" to make these things if all Orks needed was the power of belief to make things *poof* into existence?

Yep agreed. Your 'psychic grease' analogy is a great way of describing what i was attempting to write.

A metal stick won't magically turn into a gun because of Work belief. But a ramshackle plane might manage to stay airborne when by rights it shouldn't.

I also prefer the psychic grease interpretation. Ork belief helping things work has shown up in the fluff in a few places, but ork tech working independently from orks has also shown up many places. From a personal preference standpoint I think that the ork's latent psychic abilities helping make what they believe to be true a reality is a fun idea, but taken too far it actually robs the orks of a lot of their character and makes them uninteresting.

Warning! Possible headcannon:
I also like the idea that it is dependent on the number of orks and their level of excitement. Most of the time it's somewhere in the realm of psychic grease. In small bands of feral orks might not benefit from the ability to any measurable degree. I like the idea of massive numbers of orks who are really amped up warping reality almost to the same degree a daemon prince might change a daemon world. I put a headcannon warning on this because while I think I read something about the orks latent psychic ability depening on numbers I can't remember where, so maybe I just daydreamed it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/09/06 03:20:29


YELL REAL LOUD AN' CARRY A BIG CHOPPA! 
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






 Dakka Flakka Flame wrote:
 An Actual Englishman wrote:
 Grimskul wrote:
 An Actual Englishman wrote:
The claim isn't that Ork tech only works because they believe it, it's that it works better because they believe it. Their more advanced weaponry might deal more damage or work as intended rather than being an unstable mess.

It forms a pretty big part of the Beast Arises series as well as getting a reference in codexes. Its up to you what you deem canon but GW seem to be lending more and more credibility to the idea. Obviously it is designed to be vague, we aren't supposed to know the truth because it could be Imperial propaganda or it could be legit.


Ork psychic resonance definitely seems to have some basis in fact since Ork technology works best in Ork hands. Back in the old FFG Rogue Trader RPG, where you could RP as a Freeboota Ork, you had a set of Orky weapons that would only become Unreliable if used by non-Ork character or NPC. So while its definitely not to the typical meme levels of derp where people go "IF AN ORK BELIEVES IT, THE EMPEROR WOULD DIE", it still makes an impact on the basic engineering that Ork tech is based on, basically a psychic grease that allows the Ork war machine to work. Otherwise, why would the Brainboyz need to biologically ensure that there were oddboyz that intrinsically knew how to build and understand physics, math and other orky "know-wotz" to make these things if all Orks needed was the power of belief to make things *poof* into existence?

Yep agreed. Your 'psychic grease' analogy is a great way of describing what i was attempting to write.

A metal stick won't magically turn into a gun because of Work belief. But a ramshackle plane might manage to stay airborne when by rights it shouldn't.

I also prefer the psychic grease interpretation. Ork belief helping things work has shown up in the fluff in a few places, but ork tech working independently from orks has also shown up many places. From a personal preference standpoint I think that the ork's latent psychic abilities helping make what they believe to be true a reality is a fun idea, but taken too far it actually robs the orks of a lot of their character and makes them uninteresting.

Warning! Possible headcannon:
I also like the idea that it is dependent on the number of orks and their level of excitement. Most of the time it's somewhere in the realm of psychic grease. In small bands of feral orks might not benefit from the ability to any measurable degree. I like the idea of massive numbers of orks who are really amped up warping reality almost to the same degree a daemon prince might change a daemon world. I put a headcannon warning on this because while I think I read something about the orks latent psychic ability depening on numbers I can't remember where, so maybe I just daydreamed it.


I don't think you're that far off on the number of orks affecting the level to which their creations work, as most of the high end tech like tellyportas and gargants are present for large-scale WAAAAGH!s and conversely are rarely seen in low-scale Ork warbands or migrations. You can look at the Beast Arises series as well for how far they can go once enough Orks are whipped up and led by a centralized leader.
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






A lot of other things are dependent on the local Ork population - the relative proportion of Ork, Gretchin and Snotlings that spawn, the requency of oddboyz, for two examples.
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





You could also explain Ork technology as bespoke, user-unfriendly garbage. Maybe an Ork gun doesn't work well in human hands because a Mek didn't customize it for their exact dimensions, strength, and resistance to injury. Orks can handled physical damage much more easily than humans, so removing all the burrs, sharp edges, and doing quality assurance isn't really a Mek priority.
   
Made in gb
Sword-Bearing Inquisitorial Crusader





Near London, UK

Da Butcha wrote:
Note that this is a theory about technology from a group of people who stopped innovating in technology ten thousand years ago, and who regard it with religious dogma and superstitious awe--so their understanding of 'it can't possibly work' might not be entirely accurate, anyway.
It should also be said that with the Adeptus Mechanicus believing in the idea of a machine spirit, a sentient mechanical willpower answerable to the Machine God, they sort of have to come up with excuses for how machinery works for xenos species that don't worship the machine god.

I think the Anzion Theorem actually says more about the Adeptus Mechanicus than it does Orks. However, with generations of gamers not reading between the lines and missing the satire of the WH40K universe, a lot of these things have become "fact" to players.

Take the machine spirit - now, while there is genuinely complicated machinery like the control systems on Land Raiders or Titans, but when it comes to an autogun, you clean and anoint its mechanism with sacred oils in order to appease it and prevent its spirit becoming angry and jamming... yeah, that's just basic field maintenance. If you don't clean and oil a gun in the real world, it jams, and I'm going to go out on a limb to say that machine spirits don't exist in our world. However, nonetheless, many gamers will insist that the machine spirit is a real thing.

The original background for the Anzion theorem is a passage talking about how Orks have instinctive knowledge. That's the main drift of it - the Anzion theorem is a very short bit on the end that says "we often can't work captured Ork tech, so the only logical explanation is magic. It's ridiculous, but I can't think of anything else".
That to me is the Genetor not being able to see past his own nose that the logical explanation for what he's just mentioned is the several paragraphs he's written before about Orks have instinctive knowledge. If an Ork Mek instinctively knows how to build a shoota, it's not much of a stretch to suppose that even a regular Ork might have an instinctive sense of just how to bash it when it jams...

Yes, psychic ability is a genuine force in the WH40K universe, but dogmatic ignorance is practically the tagline of the Imperium.

DR:80S(GT)G(FAQ)M++++B++I+Pinq01/f+D++A++/sWD236R++++T(S)DM+
Project log - Leander, 54mm scale Mars pattern Warhound titan 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




I always thought that Ork stuff worked because of the gestalt psychic field linking all orks together made it so. How else could a crude iron cleaver rip through power armor like in the lore, or how does a mek slamming peices of scrap together somehow make a teleporter? How else do Ork warp engines work?The idea that ork technology works because they think it does is one of the more interesting facets of the race. If they just made their technology like anyone else, to me that is kind of boring.

The old ones engineered the ability to psychically make technology work into the ork race, while also making them too stupid to exploit that power. This is both brilliant (from a bioweapon perspective) and unique amongst sci-fi settings. And make no mistake, orks as a species are a living bioweapon designed by the old ones to fight the necrons.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/09/06 20:51:11


 
   
Made in ca
Decrepit Dakkanaut





Considering humans believe in machine-spirits and pray to their machines, it's pretty believable that they would (a) not understand how most advanced technology works, and (b) believe that other technologies must operate according to the same principles. Science ain't an exact dogma with these guys either.
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut




Halandri

Only orks can work it properly as their gear is essentially psychically operated.

That's basically what 'works when you think it works' means.

Interestingly humans which are psychically attuned to orks (techno barbarian ork cos players, Diggas, or the Armageddon ork hunters and Yarrik) seem able to operate ork tech with fewer problems too.
   
Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut






nareik wrote:
Only orks can work it properly as their gear is essentially psychically operated.

That's basically what 'works when you think it works' means.

Interestingly humans which are psychically attuned to orks (techno barbarian ork cos players, Diggas, or the Armageddon ork hunters and Yarrik) seem able to operate ork tech with fewer problems too.


Please give me a source.

The Tick: Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception.  
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut



Right Behind You

The truth is that Ork tech being effected by belief is a thing. It will never be 100% proven or disproven by GW. Depending on who's writing it, their tech might be described as just seeming to work a bit better in Ork hands to that thing that looks like an engine should not have worked at all, depending on if the writer likes or hates the idea. Chances are, if GW was forced to pick a side, they'd probably go with the psychic grease in an attempt to satisfy the most people. Otherwise, whether the trukk runs because it works or was really a grot in a hamster wheel that kept running because the Orks believed it did, long after the grot starved, will be up to you.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




nareik wrote:
Interestingly humans which are psychically attuned to orks (techno barbarian ork cos players, Diggas, or the Armageddon ork hunters and Yarrik) seem able to operate ork tech with fewer problems too.

It is strongly implied in the Armageddon books that the only reason why Yarrick has been so successful is that a lot of Orks believe he is invincible and are afraid of "da 'umie boss". He's an old, unaugmented human that somehow fought an ork warboss in hand-to-hand combat and won (he did lose an arm), and also went toe to toe against Ghazghkull himself and held his own even if he did ultimately lose. Ghazghkull is the single most dangerous Ork since the beast, and I highly doubt an old geezer 'umie could do things like that unless there was some ork psychic stuff going on in the background.

This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2018/09/09 04:40:08


 
   
Made in us
Devestating Grey Knight Dreadknight




A friend of mine took the core concept a bit further, and it is my favorite headcannon:
1. Orks have a collective, gestalt psychic consciousness that allows things they believe or want to be, happen.
2. Orks love and enjoy war and fighting above all else.
3. Orks are the most numerous species in the galaxy.

Thus, in the grim darkness of the far future...there is only war.

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment. 
   
Made in us
Nasty Nob





United States

 MarcoSkoll wrote:
Da Butcha wrote:
Note that this is a theory about technology from a group of people who stopped innovating in technology ten thousand years ago, and who regard it with religious dogma and superstitious awe--so their understanding of 'it can't possibly work' might not be entirely accurate, anyway.
It should also be said that with the Adeptus Mechanicus believing in the idea of a machine spirit, a sentient mechanical willpower answerable to the Machine God, they sort of have to come up with excuses for how machinery works for xenos species that don't worship the machine god.

I think the Anzion Theorem actually says more about the Adeptus Mechanicus than it does Orks. However, with generations of gamers not reading between the lines and missing the satire of the WH40K universe, a lot of these things have become "fact" to players.

Take the machine spirit - now, while there is genuinely complicated machinery like the control systems on Land Raiders or Titans, but when it comes to an autogun, you clean and anoint its mechanism with sacred oils in order to appease it and prevent its spirit becoming angry and jamming... yeah, that's just basic field maintenance. If you don't clean and oil a gun in the real world, it jams, and I'm going to go out on a limb to say that machine spirits don't exist in our world. However, nonetheless, many gamers will insist that the machine spirit is a real thing.

The original background for the Anzion theorem is a passage talking about how Orks have instinctive knowledge. That's the main drift of it - the Anzion theorem is a very short bit on the end that says "we often can't work captured Ork tech, so the only logical explanation is magic. It's ridiculous, but I can't think of anything else".
That to me is the Genetor not being able to see past his own nose that the logical explanation for what he's just mentioned is the several paragraphs he's written before about Orks have instinctive knowledge. If an Ork Mek instinctively knows how to build a shoota, it's not much of a stretch to suppose that even a regular Ork might have an instinctive sense of just how to bash it when it jams...

Yes, psychic ability is a genuine force in the WH40K universe, but dogmatic ignorance is practically the tagline of the Imperium.


Thanks for this post

I am the kinda ork that takes his own washing machine apart, puts new bearings in it, then puts it back together, and it still works. 
   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

Ork Codex, by Phil Kelly, 2007 - Pg 10

"For instance, it is widely believed in Ork society that machines painted in a red colour operate faster. As disturbing as it sounds, "facts" such as this become true. Many captured Ork weapons and items of equipment do not work unless wielded by an Ork."

Further reinforced in the crunch, pg 93

"Ork vehicles with red paint jobs add +1 to their move in the movement phase, but do not incur penalties for this extra inch."


I believe there are other examples in the fluff, but that's what I have in hand.

As stated above. It's more like psychic grease that makes things work, work better, or work amazingly when normally it would not function / work / work well. It's fun.

If you wuz a proppa Ork you'd just go wiv it an believe innit.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/09/09 05:34:16


 
   
Made in fr
Veteran Inquisitorial Tyranid Xenokiller





Watch Fortress Excalibris

nareik wrote:
Only orks can work it properly as their gear is essentially psychically operated.

The interesting thing, to me, is that people accept this unquestioningly for eldar, yet balk at the idea when it's applied to orks. Despite the two species being engineered by the same creator species for the exact same purpose.

A little bit of righteous anger now and then is good, actually. Don't trust a person who never gets angry. 
   
Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut






 greatbigtree wrote:
Ork Codex, by Phil Kelly, 2007 - Pg 10

"For instance, it is widely believed in Ork society that machines painted in a red colour operate faster. As disturbing as it sounds, "facts" such as this become true. Many captured Ork weapons and items of equipment do not work unless wielded by an Ork."

Further reinforced in the crunch, pg 93

"Ork vehicles with red paint jobs add +1 to their move in the movement phase, but do not incur penalties for this extra inch."


I believe there are other examples in the fluff, but that's what I have in hand.

As stated above. It's more like psychic grease that makes things work, work better, or work amazingly when normally it would not function / work / work well. It's fun.

If you wuz a proppa Ork you'd just go wiv it an believe innit.


You forgot a HUGE part of that quote on pg 10. The one who says that is Genetor Lukas Anzion. I don't trust techpriests to know much about their own tech, let alone xeno tech, especially ones not even specialized in mechanical tech or xeno tech. This is a geneticist talking about xeno tech.

The Tick: Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception.  
   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

You asked for sources. I provided a source. YOU are ignoring in-game examples where Ork psychology influences performance.

I don’t have a source, but I recall a “diagram” of a shoota with notes that it will not operate unless an Ork pulls the trigger, with specific notes that required mechanical components don’t exist to reload the chamber.

I don’t give a flying feth about what fictional accounts by fictional persons in a fictional universe you choose to believe. You may have a bit of an issue if you believe any of it at all. In this fictional universe, Orks create a field around them that allows their technology to work better than if they weren’t there.

Waaaaaaagh!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/09/09 13:32:40


 
   
Made in us
Nasty Nob




Crescent City Fl..

w1zard wrote:
I always thought that Ork stuff worked because of the gestalt psychic field linking all orks together made it so. How else could a crude iron cleaver rip through power armor like in the lore, or how does a mek slamming peices of scrap together somehow make a teleporter? How else do Ork warp engines work?The idea that ork technology works because they think it does is one of the more interesting facets of the race. If they just made their technology like anyone else, to me that is kind of boring.

The old ones engineered the ability to psychically make technology work into the ork race, while also making them too stupid to exploit that power. This is both brilliant (from a bioweapon perspective) and unique amongst sci-fi settings. And make no mistake, orks as a species are a living bioweapon designed by the old ones to fight the necrons.


How else could a crude iron cleaver rip through power armor like in the lore? The Neck. You chop the neck. There's lots of unprotected bitz on those beakies.

The rest of this. Orks do make their own technology, just not in the way other races do. With genetic knowledge, they just get this urge to do something until they sort out what it was they were feeling the itch to do. Which is amazing. Knowledge as a chemical reaction in the brain, pre programmed to a point. They have an idea of what the end result should be but have to discover how to get there through trial and error.
The whole universe is basically a scrap yard waiting for some Mek to find that right part, the Mek knows it too. The Mek will either construct that part from several parts or find the right one some where.
Imperials on the other hand don't know how to change a light bulb let alone manufacture one, they just send a request for a new one to the vaults on Mars and PRAY that it all works out.
If they just PRAY hard enough ....
More realistically, the AK47 was made with very few working parts. to proof it against it's users. uneducated peasants. Same same.

Orks, I think, would fit well in Farscape or DR. Who. both shows use more or less the same logic for building fictional machines.


Sigh, Yet another doomed attempt by man to bridge the gap between the material and spiritual worlds 
   
Made in se
Regular Dakkanaut






 greatbigtree wrote:
You asked for sources. I provided a source. YOU are ignoring in-game examples where Ork psychology influences performance.

I don’t have a source, but I recall a “diagram” of a shoota with notes that it will not operate unless an Ork pulls the trigger, with specific notes that required mechanical components don’t exist to reload the chamber.

I don’t give a flying feth about what fictional accounts by fictional persons in a fictional universe you choose to believe. You may have a bit of an issue if you believe any of it at all. In this fictional universe, Orks create a field around them that allows their technology to work better than if they weren’t there.

Waaaaaaagh!


Red one go fasta can also be explained by meks souping up the engines in red vehicles or they just drive more recklessly.

Page 74 of ´Ere we go: "It is not known whether red ones really go faster but the Ork drivers certainly believe it, and drive with an even greater reckless determination. This may actually have the effect of pushing the capability of the engine to the extreme and squeezing a few extra miles an hour out of the machine; at the risk of even more bits falling off"

Also, why the harsh language?

The Tick: Everybody was a baby once, Arthur. Oh, sure, maybe not today, or even yesterday. But once. Babies, chum: tiny, dimpled, fleshy mirrors of our us-ness, that we parents hurl into the future, like leathery footballs of hope. And you've got to get a good spiral on that baby, or evil will make an interception.  
   
Made in ca
Gargantuan Gargant






 Duskweaver wrote:
nareik wrote:
Only orks can work it properly as their gear is essentially psychically operated.

The interesting thing, to me, is that people accept this unquestioningly for eldar, yet balk at the idea when it's applied to orks. Despite the two species being engineered by the same creator species for the exact same purpose.


Well, for one thing, its explicitly clear that Craftworld Eldar tech is largely based on wraithbone which is a material made to react to psychic manipulation, which the Eldar have in spades. Orks, however, have no centralized or unified industry for their technology and is made "on-the-go" so to speak, which is based on their immediate environment. So with this lack of standardization, its not nearly the same as Eldar whose society is entirely based around explicit use of psychic potential versus the much more latent and subconscious, rather than conscious, use of psychic ability for Orks when using technology.
   
Made in ca
Junior Officer with Laspistol





London, Ontario

@ Gargantuan:

You’re asking for fictional proof of a fictional idea, but specifically writing off the expertise of the fictional Imperium’s only fictional source of technological knowledge...

For the purpose of “proving” that people that enjoy this concept are overblowing the importance. On the internet. You’re trying to apply real world science to a fictional universe where you can travel through literal unreality.

And when GW leaves a little taste of mystery about it, you are rationalizing the effect through mundane means! It is utterly un-Orky.

So you attempt to scrutinize Orks through the wrong lens. You attempt to dissipate the mystery, rather than embrace it. Ork psychology and psychic power are linked. It is not the rational, trained, disciplined approach of the Eldar or Imperium. It is the pure effect of raw desire that the Orks produce.

Harsh words are in reaction to the absurdity of your demands for “proof.” If you can’t wrap yer noggin ‘round the idear that it woiks because I wannit ter, yous aint green enuff!
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut



Right Behind You

I hate the fact that Tau went from believing that giant robots were ridiculous and would never produce something like a knight or a titan. Plenty of Tau players would disagree with me and I don't hold it against GW for going with what would sell.

I also have a problem with Ion weapons and nova reactors since the Tau went with weaker but stable plasma weapons and raised eyebrows over the potential threat to the users of the first rail rifles. When first introduced in WD, rail rifles gained "Gets Hot" from the hardwired Target Lock only if they were used to fire at multiple units. This flaw was removed in the next Tau codex. Now the safety standards that used to be a characteristic of Tau tech has been thrown out the window.as part of the flanderization of the Tau's naivety.

If your army goes in directions that you don't want you can always do what I did with Tau and stop playing them. There's always going to be an element of their technology works because they believe it will. You will probably get writers who play it down, but you will also get writers who will run with it because there are probably just as many people who love that aspect of Orks as those who hate it. All the sources that people have brought up here show is that GW has enough sense to let each player decide which works best for them. This means that your headcannon does not trump someone else's as it'd be like two players arguing that their homebrew SM chapter was the real 2nd legion.
   
 
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