How fast is Tau railgun?

[Connor MacLeod]

I like how Hoth somehow thinks that technology is some all-encompassing thing that you are either advancing in, or regressing in, but not both at the same time. And he supports that argument so well and so plentifully ("it's inconsistent" is a nice way to handwave burden of proof, isnt it?)

[Black Admiral]

In overall terms, the Imperium's tech base is static; regressed in some areas, advancing in others (an example of the latter; Astartes equipment. Astartes kit c. M41 is much better than that possessed by the Legions c. M31; there's a reason the Traitor Legions nick it whenever they can).

[Simon_Jester]

I like how Hoth somehow thinks that technology is some all-encompassing thing that you are either advancing in, or regressing in, but not both at the same time. And he supports that argument so well and so plentifully ("it's inconsistent" is a nice way to handwave burden of proof, isnt it?)

Well, there's two major senses in which the word is used.

In one sense, the Imperium is largely stagnant in science: minimal pure research, very little employment of devices that did not exist in clearly recognizable form ten thousand years ago.

In another sense, the Imperium does sometimes advance in technology, especially military technology, because they do have an active engineering establishment, and it does make incremental improvements every century or two.

In SF people often talk about 'technology' in terms of drastically new devices and fundamental scientific discovery. Not so much the equivalent of tinkering with your airplane engine to get another fifty horsepower out of it. And I think that's what Darth Hoth means.

[Elessar]

Well, there's two major senses in which the word is used.

In one sense, the Imperium is largely stagnant in science: minimal pure research, very little employment of devices that did not exist in clearly recognizable form ten thousand years ago.

In another sense, the Imperium does sometimes advance in technology, especially military technology, because they do have an active engineering establishment, and it does make incremental improvements every century or two.

In SF people often talk about 'technology' in terms of drastically new devices and fundamental scientific discovery. Not so much the equivalent of tinkering with your airplane engine to get another fifty horsepower out of it. And I think that's what Darth Hoth means.

While I understand the point you're making, the divide you're trying to make between 'research' and 'incremental improvements' is hard. You could probably write entire research papers explaining why you believe a certain piece of technology is merely incremental rather than using something new that you have given the term 'science'.

A quick example: the x86 CPU has been continuously incrementing in processing capability over the last few decades (For now, let's stick to the layman's definition). This is what an end user witnesses. However, the fabrication technologies required from 90nm to 65nm required serious 'new' science (Due to smaller interconnects, leakage was such a problem that I recall they replaced the silicon dioxide in gates. It's been a few years since I studied the specifics, but I'm sure wikipedia would probably provide a decent overview).

So yes, the end user of the Imperium military tech may witness an incremental increase in their technology over millennia. But it is a gross over-simplification to believe that they just shoved in more batteries and said "look, more power".