This will be a bigger update than usual, since I've let this sit for awhile in order to finish the fleet analysis essay. It also finishes up the whole "Fortis Binary" parrt of the book and such.
Page 84
the bombardment has proceeded for twenty-four hours, dropping two or three hsells a second. At this rate, they've expended between ~173,000 and ~260,000 shells, sizes/yields unknown. If we infer yields from the prior examples (between a quarter ton of TNT to tens/hundreds of tons) the total amount of explosive dropped would be between 43 kilotons and 50-200 megatons over a 24 hour time period. That's alot of explosive to expend, no matter how you look at it. (and it hints at a very dangerous and unfriendly war zone, which may give us some indicator of the protective abilities of Imperial Guard gear.)
Page 89
the fixed artillery is fed by underground maglev carts. Witnessed are the passage of sixty carts, each carring hundreds of tons of ordnance. Given the insane amount of artillery implied to be expended above, this is no surprise.
Page 90
Dragoon armor is mica (glass bead) scale segments woven onto a base fabric of thermal insulation. Sort of more of a mesh/scale armour than flak, it would seem, or a very exotic form of flak. I'm also not sure of the exact melting point/specific heats of mica (or if there are even specific values) but I do know mica seems to have good thermal properties (extremely resilient to heat, like many silicates.) This would seem to suggest the armor is optimized against thermal attacks than kinetic (Its kinetic properties may very well suck.)
Page 92
Gaunt's pistol can operate off a sixty-shot capacity drum-pattern magazine. He reloads with inferno rounds, which may imply this was what he was using before (when he vaporised the head before.) That capacity is pretty frigging huge, too.
Page 94
mention of "needle pattern" lasguns - the sniper variant. "needle" implies these weapons have a narrower, more coherent beam. This would, coupled with the use of hotshot packs we know of, give them extremely good penetration (lots of energy focused on a smaller area) as well as greater range (reduced diffusion/dissiatpion of the beam's energy.)
Page 94
Trooper Bragg had an assault cannon which he had liberated from a pintle mount some weeks before. Gaunt had never seen a man fire one without the aid of power armour's recoil compensators or lift capacity before.
- Indication of just how bloody strong Bragg is, if that weapon is like the assault guns the Space Marine terminators use (and that it seems implied to be.) of course, lifting it and firing it accurately are two different things (and "try again" Bragg is anything but accurate, as we know.)
It also indicates that the recoil fo such weapons is not beyond an un-augmented (but freakishly strong) human to handle, and that it doesn't send them flying. Meaning that its probably less than 100 kg*m/s of momentum total. (assuming a ROF of around 3000 RPM, which is grossly conservative compared to Space marine assault cannon) and a velocity of ~1,000 m/s, this could lead to each bullet weighing ~2-10 gramms, roughly, depending on the recoil damping capabilities (if any) the gun has and Bragg's actual weight.
Nonetheless, this implies CONSIDERABLE firepower on the part of the assault cannon (of course this probably surprises noone)
Page 94
- lasguns make different noises depending on setting (the sound of a lower-power shot is distinctive from the full-power ones.)
Gaunt ordered up his meltas, flamers, and rocket launchers, and began to scour a path, blackening the concrete strips of the ramps and fusing Shriven bone into syrupy pools.
The sorts of heavy weaponry the Ghosts are known to use (at least at this point) - oddly they rarely use meltas in future novels. This also tends to suggest that all the weapons tend to be of a similar magnitude in terms of firepower (meaning that rocket launchers are probably using GJ range ammo, since we know flamers and meltas both are roughly in that range.)
Page 95
His ancient, ornate boltgun spat death into the Tanith ranks. Seargent Grell was vaporised by one of the first hits, two of his fire-team a moment later.
A single bolter round (implied) to vaporize an entire person. This is from a space Marine's boltgun of course, and a CSM at that, but other sources do support this. Vaporizing an entire person implies around 100-200 megajoules minimum, depending on extent of vaporization and the like. Obviously of course, whiel the ammo clearly exists, it does not mean that all Space Marines neccsearily carry it as standard.
Page 95
- A missile launcher explodes the upper chest, head, and arms of a Chaos Space Marine, leaving only a lower torso and legs.
While we don't know for sure the circumstances leading to said destructio or the kind of warhead, we can infer (safely) from other weapons known to take out Space Marines that its probably in the high MJ (triple digit) to low GJ range, at least (ie like krak grenades, plasma weapons, and meltaguns)
Page 95
- lower powered (The Half charge Tanith shots) can still kill Cultists, but the ammo lasts twice as long as on full-power (which makes sense, given "half charge.") This also implies at least two settings on Tanith guns, although there might be more. We can also infer that "half charge" shots are half the power of "full charge" shots (indicating that the earlier calcs for Tanith lasguns could be doubled on a higher setting.)
Its worth noting that we don't know for sure whether the "number of shots" a powerpack si typically noted to be good for (40-50) is on max power or half charge. If max charge, then "half charge" shots could allow for 80-100 shots, while the otehr way around implies that "max charge" would offer 20-25 shots before the pack runs dry. Triplex-pattern lasguns (as mentioned in "Inquisitior" would imply the latter, it shoudl be noted, though hotshots (which can, for long las weapons, offer 20 shots per pack, and calc wise seem more destructive than "max power" shots on the lasguns in the Ghosts novels) would tend to support the former, so it could go either way.
Page 95
- Chaos space marine armor is resistant to sustained firepower from Bragg's assault cannon (possibly factoring for his shitty aim.) Given the above estimated resistance, we can infer safely that CSM armor is resistant to double/triple digit kg*m/s momentum, and double triple digit kilojoules of KE, in broad terms.
Page 96
- sniper lasrifles also make a noticably different sound compared to regular lasguns (a high pitched whine versus the "crack" of regular lasguns)
Page 97
- A Chaos chain fist can pulp (or crush and liquiefy) an armoured Vitrian Dragoon with a "careless flick". i have no idea of how to begin calcing this, but I'm pretty damn sure its a bloody huge number.
Page 97
- Gaunt's Chainsword sliced into the armour of the CSM. Chainswords, of course, aren't guns, so this is harder to quantify. But we shouldn['t be surprised, given that Cain's tried similar in "Traitor's Hand".
Page 97
The rearing thing was struck once, twice... four or five times by carefully placed las shots which tore into it and spun it around. Gaunt somehow knew it was the sniper Larkin who had provided these marksman blasts.
On one knee, the creature rose and raged again, most of its upper armour punctured or shredded, smoke rising and black fluid spilling from the grisly wounds to its face, neck, and chest.
Hotshot blats can, if "placed carefully", penetrate and injure space marines. Hellguns can presumably do so as well. (assuming the Space Marine can stand still enough for such precision fire.)
Page 97
A final, powerful las-blast, close range and full-power, took its head off.
The blast from a Viitrian Dragoon's lasgun takes the head of a CSM "off". This probably qualifies as a "head exploding" example, though some people may argue the context of "taking the head off". Quibbling over the semantics would be rather meaningless, in any case: a single shot could not possibly "take the head off" of a person unless it were in a sustained/slicing mode. We know such modes exist, but their descriptions are quite distinct from this, and does not seem to match up with what is being said. That means that the single blast has to encompass an area wide as the entire neck (say, 15-20 cm in diameter). Such a blast (virtually an explosive effect - ie work heating) is going to also comprise a good portion of the head as well as the neck (if not the whole head, depending on where it hits) - more than half of the head, in fact. So the point of what "take the head off" means is not going to affect the calc by more than a factor of two, at best (And inefificencies and other factors, such as armoring, will eclipse the rest of the calc)
We know from the novel "Harlequin" as well as from comparison of the dimensions of a space marine vs a regular human that their head/body mass should be at least 2-3 times greater than a normal human's. This means the head ought ot weigh in at around 8-15 kg. Assuming cauterization at 300 degrees C (no mention of blood spurting from the neck) and disregarding the neck (which can add at least 1-3 more kilograms to the variable), yields a "max yield" blast of around 7.5 MJ to ~14 megajoules. (plus a few more if we include the neck) Half that if we go with the alternate interpretation to "taking the head off") Of course, its still a conservative calc due to various factors (inefficiency, the effects of armor, etc.)
Page 101
- Meltas have variable settngs: the Ghosts use a melta on the lowest settings to fuse Vitrian armor to an obelisk they are trying to destroy/defeat. This should, of course, be no surprise, since we know lasguns and plasma weapons are all variable setting as well.
Page 111
- (antigrav) suspension field in a Schola used to hold a data-slate upright. Use of grav-tech, especially in miniaturized form, isn't unusual outside the hands of Space Marines, the AM, and the Inquisition.
Page 114
- some large ctiies (or at least the upper-class sections) on planets such as Pyrites have 'low level' energy sheaths (shields or screens) designed for repelling rain (and probalby other weather phenomena.)
Page 126
The wall behind him exploded in a firestorm of light and vaporising bricks. Two fierce blue beams of las fire punched into the room and sliced the man into three distinct sections before he could move.
We learn that the "wall" was destroyed by a "directional limpet mine' (a shaped explosive of some kind) Assuming your average "red' brick being 10 cm thick, and that the hole in the wall is 2 meters wide and 2 meters tall, the energy delivered by said mine is at least ~11 gigajoules if we assume 100% (hundreds of megajoules at the bare ass minimum, thousands more likely.) That's alot of energy for a confined place, of course, but that depends entirely on the kind of explosive and how it delivered the energy. Distancee from the wall isn't known, as well as details about the interior. We do know the man was close enough to Gaunt to hand him a crystal (arm's length away) and Gaunt was close enough to dive back through the doorway once the wall exploded. The man of course dies shortly after the wall blasts in, so any injury he sustained form the blast is moot (and Gaunt is diving away anyhow.)
As for the las-weapons - the obvious detail of interes is the implied "sustained/cutting" mode, aside from teh blue color (of coruse lasfire, like lightsabers can vary in any color of the rainbow).
By itself, the weapons are not quantifiable, but with some inferences we can derive a figure.
We know from the Ghosts' short story in the omnibus that las beams are "finger thick", implying a diameter of a few centimeters. This is supported by later evidence in Ghostmaker (implying area of effect of a few cm at least, due to las fire slicing through the shoulder strap of a lasgun, and the estimated diameter of said straps from other sources, mainly visual) We also know from various sourcecs( mainly the 3rd edition codex, but others like the novel "Legacy") that lasguns will vaporize anything at the point of impact (within the beam's diameter - Legacy actually implies cremation/inceineration, which is at least as energetic as water vaporization but could actually be more.)
Assuming a waist thickness of 15-20 cm and a width (at the shoulders) between 30 and 40 centimeters and the density of flesh being somewhat close to that of water (somewhat less 800-900 kg/m^3 I estimate) and that the beam thickness is at least 2-3 cm (possibly as much as 5 cm), the mass affected is between .8 kg and 2 kg (as high as 3.5 kg if we assume a 5 cm diameter beam).
If we infer vaporization of the water content in the body (70% water) and ignore boiling and cauterization, we can estimate the energgy output of the las weapons as being between 1.26 and 3.15 MJ at least.
If we factor in boiling point (roughly another 270 kilojoules per kg), that's ~1.5 MJ to 3.7 MJ. If we factor in cauterization (and ignore that cauterizing will probably include the area of effect above and below) you can probaby add 1-3 mj to the vaporization figure.
If we go with incineration (which will factor in cauterization), the output will be between 3 and 6 megajoules. (for 5 cm diameters, multiply the low end figures by 2.5)
The quote above implies that the 'slicing' occured" before the man cut apart could react, or that it happened in a fraction of a second. Human reaction times average between .2 and .3 seconds usually - the man was a trained secret agent it seems, despite being described as elderly, so a quarter second is probably not unreasonable (that's average anyhow, especially given age retarding tech in the Imperium) - the energy figures above could therefore be three to five times as great as I estimate.
Moreover, its still conservative given that the evidently beams passed through the man without being stopped and due to inefficiencies. Setting is also unknown.
Page 127
They were big, clad in black, insignia-less combat armour, ,carrying compact, cut-down lasrifles. Adhesion clamps on their knees and forearms showed how they had scaled the outside walls to blow their way in with a directional limpet mine. They surveyed the room, sweepign their green laser tagger beams.
These (well armed) troopers are from Dravere's personal forces we learn later. They're armed with "compact" lasguns (evidently designed for close in work like in buildings) and seem equipped muchi nthe way modern special forces are (up to and including breaching charges and scaling gear.) Just what the "grreen laser tagger beams" represent (IE some sort of targeter or exotic scope like Larkin's custom magictech scope, or just some fancy laser sight) is unknown, but interesting nonetheless.
Page 127
The gun was small, but the odd design clearly marked it as an ancient and priceless specialised weapon. It had a kick like a mule and a roar like a Basilisk.
The first shot surprised Gaunt as much as the two stealth troops and it blew a hatch-sized hole in the wall. The second shot exploded one of the attackers.
Autopistol that apparently packs the recoil and power of a shotcannon/bolter round. Despite being "ancient and priceless", that's an insane amount of firepower. (easily got to be comparable to a grenade, or close to it.) The recoil was nasty (not exactly antimaterial grrade, but possibly close to it) possibly magnum round or higher (10-15 kg*m/s are possible given proper recoil compensation, but still not easy.)
The largest recoil I've heard of would be
this monster which is at the stated figures around ~30 kg/ms. Supposedly "managable", but not exactly prcatical on most cases. Consider it a probable upper limit.
In any case, the armor of the troopers does not stand up to that much firepower (it probably penetrated before blowing it apart) and the guy was probably wearing flak or some analogue (carapace would be a bit obvious) suggesting that most falk probably can't stand up to a very high powered (antimaterial rifle) round.
Page 127
the cross blast of three lasguns on rapid-burst tore the top hallway to pieces
....
After a moment or two, the firing stopped..
Assuming rapid burst means "full auto", this suggests an upper limit ROF for these lasguns of of around 900-1200 RPM, assuming "a moment or two" means a couple seconds, and a 40-60 shot pack. Of course, this also assumes the pack was fully drained.
- PeZook
