Maybe controversial opinion, but Valrak is among the few 40k-tubers I find tolerable.
The fact that he actually makes GW angry sometimes and reports credible rumors often enough to have credibility himself mean he is more principled than most others in the sphere.
I said it before the only crime Valrak ever did was actually liking something, he just seems like a shill becasue seeing someone genuinely happy with 40k seems unnatural
I find that an orange base coat usually works better as white doesn't have the best coverage itself. I will say that I've had good luck with the fanatic line of paints for yellows, and that I can usually just do one coat of the orange and one coat of the yellow and have it look good.
Novels made it messy because in Archmagos Cawl basically say they were only shit stuff for colonies and the actual good DAOT stuff was never in the STC, likely a result of BL writers being unable to not write a DAOT super duper weapon every 10 books.
I dunno if it's a thing anymore in the lore, but I recall there was always the talk of an administrator model STC archive that would have blueprints for a lot of Dark Age stuff. Even if it was for basic stuff like colony materials, the WH40k Federation used to be overkill, so getting that one would be ensuring victory for the Imperium.
hey claim that everything that could be built by mankind was already been invented, so all you can do is rediscover stuff. The Admech makes stuff all the time, when Ryza was invaded by Orks they made spiderbots and tactical Virus Bombs. Multiple ship class were custom made at the request of the Navy or Rogue Traders.
I dunno if it's a thing anymore in the lore, but I recall there was always the talk of an administrator model STC archive that would have blueprints for a lot of Dark Age stuff. Even if it was for basic stuff like colony materials, the WH40k Federation used to be overkill, so getting that one would be ensuring victory for the Imperium.
The Imperium doesn't even have an STC. All they've managed to find are bits and pieces of broken ones plus various schematic files for them that can be copied and then adapted to the Imperium's lesser tech base. Assuming the data wasn't corrupted, either via physical damage to the storage medium, some sort of horrific virus unleashed during Old Night, or the Warp, that is. There's tons of old data buried on Mars but very few people bothered because of all the tech horrors still left over from Old Night in the way and you'll likely end up with mostly worthless garbage even if you do come back alive, and that was before the Horus Heresy and all the warp fuckery the Dark Mechanicus unleashed.
The fact Arkhan Land managed to actually pry some usable shit out of the Martian ruins is the most remarkable aspect about the guy. Its just pure dumb fucking luck his finds included a goddamn farm tractor and a mass-producible scout speeder.
The Imperium doesn't even have an STC. All they've managed to find are bits and pieces of broken ones plus various schematic files for them that can be copied and then adapted to the Imperium's lesser tech base.
Could be I just don't know the lore anymore but I thought STCs were just essentially blueprints. Some being available because they were widespread and some being found in some ancient data vault or what have you. The Imperium now being more relegated to what was previously considered low tech garbage but when you have a mass technological regression you use what you have.
Along with the Mechanicus openly resisting innovation and considering the reverse engineering of xenotech to be Ultra Haram.
Could be I just don't know the lore anymore but I thought STCs were just essentially blueprints. Some being available because they were widespread and some being found in some ancient data vault or what have you. The Imperium now being more relegated to what was previously considered low tech garbage but when you have a mass technological regression you use what you have.
Along with the Mechanicus openly resisting innovation and considering the reverse engineering of xenotech to be Ultra Haram.
Eh, the lore itself is mixed on what an STC actually is. But due to the rarity of finding actual STC components most people in the Imperium think an STC is exactly what you described since that's what's been found and what's generally looked for. Even the fucked-up STC House Van Saar on Necromunda has can only produce the same shit everyone else does, just at better quality. They struggle to create anything actually new with it, and it can't exactly shit out plasma guns like the Imperium at large (if it knew about it, naturally) really wishes it could on account of being damaged in the crash.
The best analogy for why the Mechanicus doesn’t innovate would be the fact that we know there are bugs in the code for software like Excel that have been there for decades. We don’t change it for fear it might have disastrous impacts on the rest of the software.
The tech-priests know that their robots, titans, and advanced weapons could be made more efficient but they are warned not to touch it. It is all Dark Age technology, which we all know led to the usage of Abominable Intelligence. That 0.00057% delay in a robot’s sensor detection isn’t a glitch. It’s a binaric ward to seal that machine from realizing it can think for itself.
Members of the Mechanicus, in the search to be more machine-like, will eventually want to automate processes, improve outputs beyond human limits. That’s the kind of innovation the tech-priests want to avoid.
The best analogy for why the Mechanicus doesn’t innovate would be the fact that we know there are bugs in the code for software like Excel that have been there for decades. We don’t change it for fear it might have disastrous impacts on the rest of the software.
Finally got back on the Peter train. This time we get to see his take on space marines and its pretty great. The Marines Resplendent are a blood angels successor chapter that's got it made. Their planet is a peaceful, civilized bastion of artistic wonder. They don't suffer much from the angels curse and individuality is celebrated within the chapter. But in this paradise is a naively overlooked dark secret.
They have a silent hill style warp tear on the planet, and they not only dont give a dam, they actively use it to train their recruits and somehow use it as a means of keeping their blood curse at bay.
I've said it before, but Paul really knows how to write chaos man. It's got so much of its own identity under him Id classify it as a separate entity. So violent and distinct that its worse then the standard. The more I read his works the more I start to understand the entity he depicts and the sinister nature of its aims. It's more or less a virus beyond time and space that slowly works its way in people and strikes with a shocking intensity. There are fair amount of times where it goes from 0 to 100 and It's shocking how helpless some of the marines are when chaos tries to influence them. The only people who can really go toe to toe with it and walk away are the Liberians. And even then they have limits. Peter's work is unique in that it stands well on its own, but if you read it Chronologically its a really cool showcase of a solar system slowly but surely falling apart. (And even if you dont read it in order, It kinda rewards that by referencing things in brief flashes that happen in the future. reading Fire caste and Requiem Infernal before paid off quite a bit.)
Take the space marines for instance. On the surface everything's peachy, but anybody who knows anything about the lore knows its probably not a good idea to give everyone free reign to their desires. Everybody's individualistic and has their own sense of artistic expression, being one of the few legions that actually celebrates who the marines were before they were implanted. This translates to a decent amount of strife. Leadership is divided, the legions are split apart over the galaxy, and secrets are horded to the point of being forgotten. Guess what these guys do for their serfs? They let them get high and have free rejuvenate treatments so they can make art forever. Problem is they get so many privileges and boons they get bored and inevitably decide to screw around with chaos. It's a well meaning group, but you can see the cracks from orbit and you really get the sense they are heading for disaster later on ( and they are) It's not entirely a space marine book, a large chunk follows a pilgrim who's hoping to be a preacher for the marines will, but it ends up being a large exploration of chaos and how the resplendent relate to it.
My favorite character was the libertarian. He's like the one character so far that actually knows what the hell is going on and a vague idea of how to stop chaos. The fun thing though is that there's this sense that he's just winging shit by everyone that interacts with him and doesn't fully understand what he's doing. He's like a poor man's Dr Strange and its pretty neat
