Wh40k info please

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 05:36am

I want info about the IoM, what kind of ships and weapons and how many planets it has and population and size of it's army and firepower calcs and ranges, please.

Dead on Arrival · Post by **Dead on Arrival** » 2002-09-26 05:44am

Think SW GE and then go bigger, much bigger...

Neko_Oni · Post by **Neko_Oni** » 2002-09-26 05:58am

The scaling of ships I got when using the White Dwarf quote that sated fighters are the size of 747s, then using Battlefleet Gothic models (are these in scale with each other?) Imperium Cruisers come out at around 3km with Battleships coming in at around 5km.

The weapons mounted on the ships are split into 3 main groups, Lances, Batteries and Torpedoes. Lances are massive energy beams, Batteries seem to be mostly plasma style weapons and torpedoes are massive (need to be winched into place by hundreds of men). Apart from various quotes which talk about weapons capable of blasting worlds down to glass I don't know much about concrete numbers (I don't think there is much in the way of real numbers for these weapons).

I think (correct me if I'm wrong) but the Imperium only controls are portion of the galaxy. The rest is divided up amongst the numerous enemies (Tyranids, Orks, Chaos are the main) with many more undiscovered worlds.

Maybe someone who has more material on hand can provide more info (or correct mistakes).

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 06:10am

Dead on Arrival wrote:Think SW GE and then go bigger, much bigger...

I went here to escape that kind of talk, only serious posts need apply.

And that is what I am going to find out with some hard numbers.
Sofar I've heard stuff like the IoM's main army is a couple of billion men.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 06:12am

I've heard stuff like fleets shattering small moons or something and nova-bombs that annihialate everything within 2-3000km

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 01:52pm

A nova bomb blast is about 2,000 KM diameter
The BFG models aren't to scale, it says this in the rulebook
THe Imperial Guard,(main army) has a normal number of 'uncounted billions' they can send hundreds of billions of men to a warzone and not even notice the population drain. There are just over a million inhabited systems. A large city will contain about six billion people. A hive world will have a population of hundreds of billions.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 02:15pm

NecronLord wrote:THe Imperial Guard,(main army) has a normal number of 'uncounted billions' they can send hundreds of billions of men to a warzone and not even notice the population drain.

the "uncounted billions" and "hundreds of billions of men" to a single warzone doesn't jive I think, I gathered from the first it would be somewhere below 1 trillion, but even a hundred billion men of that would be a huge drain.

There are just over a million inhabited systems. A large city will contain about six billion people. A hive world will have a population of hundreds of billions.

Well that would be a minimum 6e15 people, or 6000 Trillion people in total, it is probably a few trillion higher I suspect.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 02:20pm

Are you sure you didn't mean hundreds of millions of men?

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 02:55pm

Also, was there not a mention of a fleet of shattering a planet, or atleast cracking it in two or something?

How big was the planet or moon and the fleet? And how was it destroyed? Was it even shattered?

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 03:17pm

The Imperiums population is so large that they can piss away hundreds of billions of men and barely notice, they do se every year.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 03:24pm

"For 10,000 years, the galaxy - spanning Imperium of Mankind has been the bastion of the human race. With over a million worlds, and a population running into countless thousands of billions.."

Page 98 Warhammer 40,000 rulebook (third edition)

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 03:26pm

Thousands of billions would imply several trillion but less than 1000 trillion.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 03:27pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:Also, was there not a mention of a fleet of shattering a planet, or atleast cracking it in two or something?

How big was the planet or moon and the fleet? And how was it destroyed? Was it even shattered?

You need to be more specific. Any cap ship can be refitted to exterminate a planet in one shot. You could probably destroy a planet with some of the more specialised nova cannon ammo. (eg the mini black hole.)

You may be referring to Abaddons planet killer there...

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 03:30pm

NecronLord wrote:You need to be more specific.

There was a fleet that fired on some moon, and they accidentially destroyed it or something.

Any cap ship can be refitted to exterminate a planet in one shot.

In what way? As in shatter it DS style or through biological chemical means or a big enough blast that'll destroy the surface?

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 03:33pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:Thousands of billions would imply several trillion but less than 1000 trillion.

You missed the countless, The imperium has never taken a complete census. The numbers are completely open to interpretation. Please remember this is an english publication. One english billion (officially) = 1,000,000,000,000

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 03:36pm

Yeah well I think 1000 trillion will suffice for a couple of eternities

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 03:37pm

NecronLord wrote:Please remember this is an english publication. One english billion (officially) = 1,000,000,000,000

I believe those old figures have not been used in a very long time, I think it's safe to go with the americanized version.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 03:38pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:
NecronLord wrote:You need to be more specific.
There was a fleet that fired on some moon, and they accidentially destroyed it or something.

Any cap ship can be refitted to exterminate a planet in one shot.
In what way? As in shatter it DS style or through biological chemical means or a big enough blast that'll destroy the surface?

DS style is no known to have been preformed by the IoM, in the DaoT though they could move stars as they wished. THe IoM can't some of the more advanced species can. (eldar, necrons)

Imperial extermination weapons

Virus bombs - easy one
Cyclotronic torpedoes - chain reaction, in one story a space marine has one implanted (warhead) into his chest and it destroys all life on the planet.
A Nova bomb detonationg on the suface would take out a large peice, and a mini-black hole version would consume an earth size planet (in theory)

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2002-09-26 03:39pm

There are several references to Imperium fleets destroying worlds. (Lord Solar Macharius destroyed 7 in his crusade, and the pacification of a sub-sector in the Gaunt trilogy IIRC had a reference to them destroying a planet).

The numbers of the Imperial guard are.. quite high, namely because if the Imperium needs more troops they'll just press-gang what they need and be done with it.

According to Execution Hour your average Imperium torpedo is 100 meters long and designed to penetrate into a ship then explode.

The moon he's referring to IIRC was taken out by one ship using it's Lance batteries to take out subsurface installations, but I haven't seen the source it's in so I'd have to ask.

The Fortress Monastery of the Dark Angels did manage to survive the planet it was on going Kablooie though.

The Space Hulk Manual puts capital ship missiles (which seems interchangeable with torpedoes) at 600+ gigatons but again that's second-hand.

Cannons in Imperium anti-ordanance defenses fire shells big enough to cover tens of kilometers in shrapnel.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2002-09-26 03:40pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:
NecronLord wrote:Please remember this is an english publication. One english billion (officially) = 1,000,000,000,000
I believe those old figures have not been used in a very long time, I think it's safe to go with the americanized version.

Nope that is still official over here. though it is not in use, prove conculsively they mean 1,000,000,000. (cheap american "I'm a billionare" trick!

)

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2002-09-26 04:29pm

I don't see why, I don't believe the makers of Wh40k intended it to be a UK game only and are therefore more likely to use the more internationally accepted american version.

Besides as I said, a 1000 trillion is way way beyond what they could possibly ever used up, they can burn hundreds of billions of soldier with such numbers.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2002-09-26 05:55pm

It still uses English Spelling: Colours, Amrour, Tonnes etc. I don't see why they don't use the English Billion as well?

Tatterdemalion · Post by **Tatterdemalion** » 2002-09-26 06:24pm

It still uses English Spelling: Colours, Amrour, Tonnes etc. I don't see why they don't use the English Billion as well?

Depends, when was Rogue Trader.40k first released again? The term may be out of use, certainly no one I know uses that spelling to my knowledge, but that could just be a product of this generation.

BTW wasn't the Word Bearers homeplanet completely obliterated by (a lot of) regular orbital bombardment? Anyone else who read that White Dwarf article who has a clearer memory/an intact copy, to verify that?

starfury · Post by **starfury** » 2002-09-26 10:10pm

The weapons mounted on the ships are split into 3 main groups, Lances, Batteries and Torpedoes. Lances are massive energy beams, Batteries seem to be mostly plasma style weapons and torpedoes are massive (need to be winched into place by hundreds of men). Apart from various quotes which talk about weapons capable of blasting worlds down to glass I don't know much about concrete numbers (I don't think there is much in the way of real numbers for these weapons).

that info on the lances was what I was looking for before on my older post.

DocHorror · Post by **DocHorror** » 2002-09-30 06:39am

don't see why, I don't believe the makers of Wh40k intended it to be a UK game only and are therefore more likely to use the more internationally accepted american version.

It started off as a small English game & grew in popularity. I would think then that the figures would be based on the UK numeric system.

Besides as I said, a 1000 trillion is way way beyond what they could possibly ever used up, they can burn hundreds of billions of soldier with such numbers.

Whats so unbeliveable about it? The Imperium is in a state of constant war with numerous races & new ones which it proceeds to exterminate (at the cost of a good few troops id say).

It has generally been accepted that the Imperial Guard measures well into the 'untold billions' easily...and thats without including planetaary defense forces, Adeptus Mechanicus, Titans, etc...

As regarding their planet busting skills, there have been numerous occasions where the the Navy has basically pounded a planet so hard that it breaks up... (ref: The Dark Angels obliterated Caladan, The Night Lords destroyed their home planet during the Heresy & those where just using the fleets attached to the Space Marines...the proper navy will no doubt be easliy able to destroy a planet)

Virus bombs, etc are just more convenient for removing any pesky lifeforms from the planet...