40K Terminators in a Imperial star destroyer

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Haha, dude, dude. Listen to this. A Terminator can do a backflip.

Really, that's happened.

No it can't.

OH WAIT MY LEGS CLIPPED INTO MY KNEES AND I WAS CRIPPLED.

We all know what Terminators look like.

Frankly if they jump blowing holes in the ground is just going to be even more effective.

Haven't Terminators survived crazy shit like falling out of a transport, mid-flight, only to get up and walk away?

[IvanTih]

Haha, dude, dude. Listen to this. A Terminator can do a backflip.

Really, that's happened.

No it can't.

OH WAIT MY LEGS CLIPPED INTO MY KNEES AND I WAS CRIPPLED.

We all know what Terminators look like.

Frankly if they jump blowing holes in the ground is just going to be even more effective.

Haven't Terminators survived crazy shit like falling out of a transport, mid-flight, only to get up and walk away?

Yes that's from the latest Space Wolf Codex and also a Space Wolf Terminator survived a titan which stepped on him(probably it was some small titan and probably terminator jumped into some hole).

[Interlord1]

How about what happens when we add a Terminator chaplain or librarian to the squad?

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I don't think the chaplain would make much of a difference. The Librarian, on the other hand, might be able to give the other termies some warning before the Imperials pull any tricks, depending on his skill with the warp.

By the way, wouldn't the termies be able to move about as fast as a loose Han Solo or Luke Skywalker? Are the ISD's crew so much more competent than the Death Star's that we can assume they'll be right on top of things before the termies can fight their way to the engines?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Another thought.

If the Captain of the ship has some smarts, it might be an idea for him to scramble the Stormtrooper Legions Spacetrooper Platoon. Get them up to the fight, then cut gravity in those sectors. The spacetroopers equipment should let them fight on equal grounds in terms of firepower/armor, and they are Zero-G specalists, trained for this exact work. Their suits will probably also let them move more freely and Zero-G.

Terminators have been known to teleport onto Space Hulks before, with no gravity on board. I'm not sure how they stand in there, but they have done it.

[Aaron]

They were designed with boarding actions in mind, pretty safe bet that they have some sort of gravity boot.

[Serafina]

How they can stand in there?
Simple, normal Space Marine power armor has magnetisable feet (or possible some similar, non-magnetic system). It's reasonable to assume that Terminator armor has the same.

Either way, if the Terminators teleport into the Star Destroyer the defenders would not have that much time to scramble specialised defense units. Also, heavy weaponry is likely to damage their own ship. The Terminators do not have to worry about that - but missile launchers and similary heavy weaponry are the only thing that has a chance of damaging their armor/injuring them.
Against anything but Space Troopers, the Terminators have a major advantage in the corridors of the ship. They can kill Storm Troopers easily, they can not be locked in due to their chain/powerfists, they do not need an atmosphere or gravity. And due to the fact that they fight in a corridor, the Storm Troopers can't really overwhelm them with superior numbers.

If the defenders manage to scramble a large amount of heavy weapons and/or space troopers, they might be able to bring down the Terminators before those reach a critical target. But that's by no means a given and mostly depends on the preparations done by them, as well as a good portion of luck.
This simply isn't a szenario where one side has an overwhelming advantage. The Terminators are individually superior, but the defenders have large numbers, knowledge of their own ship and potentially enough firepower.

[Connor MacLeod]

Terminators can't jump.

Haha, dude, dude. Listen to this. A Terminator can do a backflip.

Really, that's happened.

Power armor has supsensors, which have some bizarre "mass reducing" effect that somehow doesn't alter momentum (which means its probably providing some sort of supporting force) so it probably isn't THAt far fetched unless you take the artwork as literally canonical (which I don't, unless you want to tell men Leman Russ tanks store their weapons ammo in another dimension. )

On top of that its quite probably Termiantor armor has different masses the same way power armor does (different thicknesses of armor plate and possibly other systems.)

Mind you, that could have only happened in Warrior Brood because the Mantis Warriors terminator was out in the open. Doing that in a confined space is a good way to smack your head into/through the ceiling, so the whole "they can't jump on an ISD" is still perfectly valid unless they plan on using that as an alternative to elevators

Seriously it doesn't pay to put to much thought into 40K's science.

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :p

[NecronLord]

Don't the teleporters need beacons at both ends?

No, absolutely not. Multiple instances prove otherwise. In tabletop and background a teleport homer allows terminators to deploy with greater accuracy by teleport, but it's never ever been essential.

Of course, with that in mind, they'll just go straight for the bridge (canonical Space Marine boarding tactic see Battlefleet Gothic and Firewarrior novellisation), and when there, push the big threatening red button labelled self destruct, or torture some crew to do it (Galactic Empire ships actually have that, no codes required, see Truce at Bakura) Mission accomplished, land on aircraft carrier. Add terminators escaping by teleporter, to taste.

[Stark]

That's probably the lamest shit I've ever heard, especially considering how many times I've heard people say that SW bridges can't just be instantly hacked in SW vs ST. But I guess it's okay for 40k.

[Lord Relvenous]

That's probably the lamest shit I've ever heard, especially considering how many times I've heard people say that SW bridges can't just be instantly hacked in SW vs ST. But I guess it's okay for 40k.

C'mon Stark. I know you like arguing for the hell of it, but at least read the posts you're arguing with. Necronlord said nothing of hacking. The two scenarios that he proposed are the Terminators finding the unsecured self-destruct system, or them getting the information out of a crew member that can't stomach the idea of a chainblade getting between him and his pelvis after watching the more defiant of the crew meet a messy end.

I wouldn't call either one of those situations "insanely hack[ing]".

[Stark]

Yes yes, but this forum has crapped on for literally YEARS that capturing the bridge is basically worthless even if you can transport through the windows. Oh, but now its 40k we hear about the big 'blow up ship' button. Turns out the Federation could have used that THE WHOLE TIME! Now we know why the A-Wing made the Executor crash!

I guess that goes on the same shelf as a crippled ship having a manned bridge with no defence and being magically unable to clear the terminators.

[Cykeisme]

To me, I find it a little odd that Stark doesn't like 40k. If Stark was a science fiction setting, I would say he was 40k.. hates everything, argues with everything, wants to kill everything.

Power armor has supsensors, which have some bizarre "mass reducing" effect that somehow doesn't alter momentum (which means its probably providing some sort of supporting force)

I think what they meant was "weight reducing" rather than "mass reducing".. it applies a force in opposition of the object's weight, much like Star Wars repulsorlifts. That reduces the effect of gravity, but you still need to push it to get it to budge (or, if it's moving, make it stop) horizontally.
So, yeah, repulsorlifts.

Seriously it doesn't pay to put to much thought into 40K's science.

HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :p

Hahahaha couldn't help actually laughing at this. Connor's analyses of 40k material are one of the highlights of SDnet, for me.


Anyway, Empire warships having unsecured self-destruct mechanisms is ridiculous. But yeah, having a bunch of Terminators rampaging through the bridge would probably seriously impact the vessel's ability to function at full effectiveness.

[Aaron]

I put that in to see what Conner would say, he knows I'm just having fun.

Yes yes, but this forum has crapped on for literally YEARS that capturing the bridge is basically worthless even if you can transport through the windows. Oh, but now its 40k we hear about the big 'blow up ship' button. Turns out the Federation could have used that THE WHOLE TIME! Now we know why the A-Wing made the Executor crash!

I guess that goes on the same shelf as a crippled ship having a manned bridge with no defence and being magically unable to clear the terminators.

It's probably because the standard answer to "Feds beam aboard" is that the metal of the ISDs hull would interfere with the transporter. WH40K teleporters send you via the Warp, so different mechanism.

Anyway, Empire warships having unsecured self-destruct mechanisms is ridiculous. But yeah, having a bunch of Terminators rampaging through the bridge would probably seriously impact the vessel's ability to function at full effectiveness.

Don't ISDs have a secondary bridge?

[Cykeisme]

Don't ISDs have a secondary bridge?

Hmm I'm not sure one way or the other. Logically they probably do.

The counterpoint would be the Executor crashing, but then the Executor was particularly unfortunate to be in a gravity well when its bridge was lost; note that it was not in orbit, but relying on repulsors to keep it aloft.
It may also possibly have taken damage to other systems due to Rebel capital ship bombardment after its shields went down, that may have caused repulsorlift malfunction or misfiring of its ion engines.

Nevertheless, it's an important point to the OP.. what are the Terminator squad's objectives?

[NecronLord]

In fairness it's two buttons that need to be simultaneously pushed. And it is on a carrack not an ISD but I know of no evidence to assume that is non-standard.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Even for the Star Wars EU, that's stupid.

[Imperial528]

Are the buttons at least on two separate consoles? Or have a covering?

[white_rabbit]

How they can stand in there?
Simple, normal Space Marine power armor has magnetisable feet (or possible some similar, non-magnetic system). It's reasonable to assume that Terminator armor has the same.

Normal marine armour has magnetisable feet, as well as retractable spikes. They also have low-g thrusters. Termy armour has at least the mag locks, according to Fear the Alien, and they also have a tiny amount of thruster capability for zero-G when they aren't maglocked down.

I don't think the chaplain would make much of a difference. The Librarian, on the other hand, might be able to give the other termies some warning before the Imperials pull any tricks, depending on his skill with the warp.

If the Librarian can Gate or Teleport, he'll probably make life a lot easier. In Necronlords bridge assault scenario, the Firewarrior novel example particularly, the Librarian is there to psychically interrogate some poor mook.

The chaplain would help with a merry singalong.

[NecronLord]

Even for the Star Wars EU, that's stupid.

It's not you know. A manual control sure beats R2D2 detonating them remotely. (World Devastators)

Are the buttons at least on two separate consoles? Or have a covering?

Both IIRC.

[NecronLord]

The chaplain would help with a merry singalong.

If it's an unforgiven chapter he might be good at the torturing too. Blades of Reason are quite quite scary.

[NecronLord]

Ahah. Here we are.

"He [Pter Thanas, Commander, Imperial Navy] glanced at a red-barred compartment. It hid a lever labelled "self destruct." Another compartment, halfway across the bridge, held its mate. Pulled simultaneously they would blow the Dominant's main generator. The blast would incinerate everything around it.
His career was over.
He turned to his aide, a stiff-backed five-year man. "Abandon ship," he ordered, "all hands." Crew members might get far enough away to escape destruction. Bridge crew, however, must remain. Such was standard Imperial discipline. Those levers had no time delay.

[Simon_Jester]

So the levers are covered, and widely separated.

[NecronLord]

So the levers are covered, and widely separated.

Yes. They may even be locked. That doesn't help if space marines capture your bridge, defend it briefly and have a librarian mind rape a LTJG to find out how to do the most damage then chainfist the boxes open.

Of course, it's a suicide mission requiring two marines at least to remain, unless they bring over some servitors or something to pull the levers or the librarian can mind rape some crewmen into doing it after they leave.

[Crazedwraith]

Any evidence Imperial Star Destroyers actually use that system? An ISD self-destruct is seen in Wraith Squadron and is done by verbal commands to the computer by the Admiral.