Warhammer: After 18 years, finally an end

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lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Therion posted:

It's actually a Dune ripoff but the Starcraft thing is great to infuriate hardcore 'hams with.

How is 40K a Dune rip off?

# ¿ Jul 24, 2012 13:36

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:38

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Baron Bifford posted:

Makes you wonder who the hecked programmed "Crush Kill Destroy Swag" into their OS in the first place.

Open source most likely.

And what exactly is the machine spirit? I always thought it was the dumbed down mechanicum not fully understanding their own technology anymore, so they devolved back into believing in something like god of machines.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2012 09:01

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

I read Malacath and liked it, and I don't care for fantasy warhammer at all.

# ¿ Jul 27, 2012 18:40

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Is anyone else getting mad reading Vulkan Lives?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 08:14

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

VanSandman posted:

Don't Read Vulkan Lives.

I already spent 16 bucks on it, so I'm committed

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 09:05

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Kylaer posted:

Yes, it's exactly this. Fenris was settled during the Dark Age of Technology, and the genetic engineers of that time created the Canis Helix to give the settlers the ability to survive in that very harsh environment. For a portion of the recipients, the Helix caused them to turn into wolves, or possibly give birth to wolves, that isn't specified (for good reason ). But regardless, the wolves are descended from human settlers who overexpressed the Canis Helix, not from failed Marine recruits - those are the Wulfen.

That must be what is meant when it's said 'there are no wolves on fenris.'

What the poo poo is this? Is it some alternate universe where Horus wins? I see it's not of the Horus Heresy series, but of an Imperium Secundus, so the second founding?

Also, BlackLibrary must be having some problems, because I can't find an ebook of Eisenhorn to save my life. Instead I get a ton of French and Spanish language short stories about Raevenor.

lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 12, 2014

# ¿ Jan 12, 2014 14:20

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Just started Descent of Angels. It reads like a rookie dungeon master's first D&D campaign. Knights this, supplicants that, ~~~honour~~~ of The Order. Ugh. There's so much oooh-rah in the first three chapters I almost choked and died. Does the rest of the book read like this?

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 17:35

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

handbanana125 posted:

Yup, though they add heaping additions of more melodrama, betrayals, brethern-erns, and ~Mystery~ for the hell of it. Keep reading. Take a shot anytime there's a random encounter.

There's two kinds of Dark Angels: those who turned against The Big E and the Lion openly, and those who lie about it and wish they had. The whole legion is filled with closet traitors. You can tell from the prologue that the entire planet will feel the same way any ~~subjugated~~ liberated planet feels when the Imperium comes knocking. Our sons are ~~taken~~ recruited, our long established society and cultural ways of life will be stamped out in favor of the Imperial Truth, our natural resources are plundered at an unsustainable rate, and our planet is whored out for what it's worth and left for dead with crippling over-population and pollution.

What are the inquisition stories like? I'm so accustomed to bolter porn that is Space Marines that I don't know how I'd like such a big change in pace. Less super-human feats of heroics, more cloak and dagger sneaky with hunts with the inquisition, and some truly grimdark last stands with the IG. Do those make for better, more interesting stories than demi-gods?

lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Jan 17, 2014

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 19:37

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

UberJumper posted:

Honestly isn't it pretty much just the ones from Caliban that turned on the Lion/Big E?

I know the lion decided to hang out with almost exclusively the ones from Terra.

It was the ones who were out with him during his foray into responding to Horus' treason. I don't believe they were all 100% Terran, but they had no real choice since they couldn't really land on Caliban.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2014 19:46

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Does anyone know if some halfway decent Tau stories?

# ¿ Jan 19, 2014 21:07

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Noctis Horrendae posted:

Fire Warrior is literally the only Tau-focused story, and it can be summed up with A Fire Warrior goes around killing things and slowly becomes a Khornate Berzerker. It's a bad video game tie-in that doesn't stick to canon at all.

That is sort of neat considering how anathema the Tau find hand to hand fighting.

Angry Lobster posted:

Yep Nick Kyme's 40k books are really bad, on the other hand, I found Honourkeeper to be pretty decent (especially being a warhammer fantasy book). Maybe the grim darknaess of the 41st millenium is not his thing.

I already bought Vulkan Lives

At least the book looks nice.

Anonymous Zebra posted:

The 'wet leopard growl' is from Prospero Burns, and it's apparently what the Space Wolves all do.

I actually don't mind Abnett's weird phrases since, like someone else mentioned, they are a book by book thing and tend to fit the aesthetic of the story.

Wolves growling like big cats fits no aesthetic I know of :colbert:

lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Jan 20, 2014

# ¿ Jan 20, 2014 18:47

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Waroduce posted:

I wish so hard for a proper 40k mass pvp mmo, or a better xcom ripoff, an rpg trader game, or a cool inquisitor rpg. The setting is so rich. You could make anything. The story is already written for you. Armored Core with Titans

How was Space Marine? Worth :tenbux: to mess around with?

~~Mythic was supposed to be working on a 40k MMO, but I haven't heard about it in a few years.~~

Looks like it was Relic and Vigil that was making it, but now it's no longer an MMO, but a massively immersive single player game with online elements. Maybe Skyrim in the grim dark with some co op? This article is two years old now.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/warhammer-40k-mmo-no-longer-an-mmo/1100-6368810/

FURTHER reading indicates that since THQ is gone, the Dark Millennium game they and Relic and Vigil were making is totally dead. A Canadian company, Behaviour, is making an MMO called Eternal Crusade and they shoot for 2015. Looks like it all comes around. The Big E wills an MMO for space marines.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/06/25/warhammer-40k-eternal-crusade-mmo-announced

Space Marine is as fun as stomping around as a space marine can be. THQ went tits up and as such there is no support, content, and the multiplayer is dead. A real shame too.

But don't fret, the director of the project indicated the plot had Titus going renegade to clean house. The guy has a new studio and just closed a kick starter deal for 250k, so let's hope The Long Dark is Space Marine 2.

lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Jan 20, 2014

# ¿ Jan 20, 2014 23:11

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Haha, Chaos Gate.

"The Emperor orders you to die!"

" I die for Chaos "

# ¿ Jan 22, 2014 21:28

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Why is Eisenhorn so expensive?

# ¿ Jan 23, 2014 10:10

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

hopterque posted:

This is like a 4chan level post under the spoilers, jesus christ.

SA is known for its scholarly critiques of literature about books marketed to 13 year old boys.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2014 13:13

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

hopterque posted:

I was talking more about the ~random caps~ and other 'wackiness'.

It read fine. It gave some flair to writing up how unhappy he was with the story.

I wonder how hard it must be to write about Primarchs, especially in BL thanks to the way BL whores them all out to so many different writers. I'm sure Abnett had to read Vulkan Lives just to see what Kyne wrote about Vulkan last time. He probably hated reading it as much as we did.

lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 19:19 on Jan 26, 2014

# ¿ Jan 26, 2014 18:46

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Sephyr posted:

I really hope we get some Sons of Horus Heresy books soon; they are curiously excluded from the rebellion they are the headliners for! Also, I'm curious about what will happen to Horus Aximand to make Ezekyle Abaddon the sole top honcho.

I think it was in Primarchs, or some book with a lot of short stories in it involving them, that little Horus is mentioned at length as a good captain. He renames his big power sword to Mourn-it-all, and is pretty morose about the whole treachery thing. Abaddon remarks frequently throughout the story that he'll have to 'keep an eye on him' to make sure he doesn't lose his nerve.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2014 18:04

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Uroboros posted:

Honestly, my sperg issue was that the Space Marines seemed undersized. Basically they just looked like normal dudes in power armor. You can tell they pretty much went off the table top models size ratios, but the drat Inquisitor is near standing head height with Titus. Basically, I imagine a Space Marines hand when gloved in power armor would easily envelope a human head.

The game itself...it was meh, gets really repetitive. I will say they nailed down the music and the overall action style, but it has the feel of a game to rushed. You can tell that not a lot of effort was put into the environments, and honestly using the bolter seemed pointless 99% of the time. When I unload a bolter into a pack of Orks I expect them to be reduced to little giblets, not requiring half a magazines to kill a single boy.

3/5...being generous, don't polish a turd people.

Also, gently caress Marines that don't wear helmets. You think the Codex Astartes might have something in there about how helmets are good at stopping bullets and such.

Eh, if you walked by that LT Mira or any random IG jack off running around, you were easily head and shoulders taller than them. Much wider too.

I can remember a lot of marines preferring to go helm-less because they like to take in all the sensory inputs of a battlefield sans filters. I dunno, the lore supports it.

Shadowhand00 posted:

This guy went a little crazy over his spacemans hobby:

http://blog.naver.com/shreneo/100204308978

I guess painting a full legion would drive you crazy but this is only about 1/10th of what you'd need.

I saw this on Reddit today too. I wonder how the gently caress he afforded this many models. The guy didn't look to be out of his 20s, so it's not like it's the lifes work of some 45 year old basement dwelling 40K autist.

lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 19:24 on Jan 31, 2014

# ¿ Jan 31, 2014 19:21

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

PantsOptional posted:

If memory serves, there were only two other Marines that didn't wear helmets in that game. Sidonus never had his helmet in the first place and Leandros is a loving twit anyway. Besides which they had to remove it specifically because he was a prominent character - it's very difficult to relate to a metal faceplate.

Leandros' helmet was hosed up in the initial fight.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2014 21:28

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

One Legged Cat posted:

There does seem to be a lot of connection between the two, and I've always assumed they are connected to each other directly, if not just share the same power source. I want to say the two might've been more separate at some point before the Heresy, but they were firmly joined at some point by all the emergency jury-rigging the Golden Throneroom underwent.

I think they'd need to be close enough to the Throne (and the throneroom's like a handful of kilometers wide), and really, the physical form of the Emperor isn't all that impressive these days.

It'd probably just bum them out if they got a look.

This is pretty cool! Though I didn't think Horus hosed up the Big E this bad.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2014 02:28

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

How much if the emperor is still alive? Does he know he's a crippled invalid? Is he trapped in his own mind or something?

# ¿ Feb 9, 2014 02:43

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

FrozenDorf posted:

The Emperor did want religion, but he hid the fact. He tore down all the old gods and denied his own divinity because, when people gazed upon his majesty and realized he was a god of their own volition, they were all the more devoted for it.

Huh I remember the emperor saying that until the last stone of the last church falls on the last priest there can be no progress.

Emprah didn't want a hint of a religion.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2014 22:23

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

JerryLee posted:

I think the most important question is this: just how euphoric was the Emperor when he set out on the grand crusade?

His Facebook status had to be no less that DETERMINED. or LIKED.

possibly even blessed

# ¿ Feb 10, 2014 23:16

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

It was explained In one of the prospero books that the custodes are supposed to be hardier and better warriors than astartes, but they don't share a brotherly bond. They fight for individual glory rather than for all custodes.

It has to do with astartes being mass production and custodes being individual made.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2014 16:01

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Nephilm posted:

http://aarondembskibowden.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/questions-answered/

"It affected my work �a lot�, in that I had to trash a lot of it. That hurt, but it comes with the territory. I wasn�t even annoyed, just pretty demoralised for a while. It also meant that instead of writing a duology, I decided to do just the one novel, and move on to another project."

Basically Matt Ward re-wrote the book and ADB said well gently caress you, you write the next one.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2014 18:37

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

MariusLecter posted:

Is he holding a raven's feather?

Probably Corax's. They didn't like each other because they both used the same lightning claw and jump pack gimmick.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2014 22:44

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

There is no such thing as machine spirits. Mankind has simply forgotten how so much of its ancient, advanced technology works that in our primitive devolution we ascribe the unknown to the supernatural. Just like we did before the coming of the Emprah. Lightning crashes and starts a forest fire? We probably didn't sacrifice enough big breasted red headed virgins to the sky god. Lasgun misfires and blows up in your face? The machine spirit was mad you didn't lube it up in enough sacred unguents. Never mind that lightning is a perfectly normal act of nature, and lasguns are mass produced by the billions. For something as advanced as a titan or suit of relic terminator armor that hasn't been made for millenia, a certain amount of mystery is sure to surround such items because humanity has just forgotten how they function.

I found it really amusing in Helsreach when they tried to reawaken some titan killer suit. It turns out that their rituals and solvents were just pre-operation maintenance.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 09:41

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Nephilm posted:

For simpler devices it's a myth, but for advanced hardware packing expert systems or rudimentary AI (Titans, Land Raiders, spaceships, SM power armour), when the term is used that's what they're referring to, as it is a tangible thing.

So it's the rudimentary AI used in machines to help humans control them. I can't imagine a single dude controlling something as colossal as a titan by himself, so some AI was needed to augment the finite capability of a human brain.

In the Night Lords trilogy, Octavia talks to ships that have been in the warp and used by renegade marines and filled with traitors for eons, so anything she talks to in a ship is probably a real living warp creature and not just some sort of AI.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 10:14

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Outside of alien tech or warp touched, I don't think anyone has suggested AI or machine spirits are self aware.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 12:14

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Dog_Meat posted:

This is WH40k. It's INSANE. Do not apply logic. That said, I agree with you.

Your 20th century F-16 has an onboard system that helps the pilot with as much as possible. It tracks targets, filters them by threat, handles the engine management, breaks things down and displays them in a way that the pilot can react to. There's even a voice that says "PULL UP!" and systems in place that can sense the pilot has let go of the controls and will then level out safely.

Now imagine the 40k version of that. We no longer know anything about the "Bitching Betty" voice. We just know that when we fly the machine speaks to us and protects us. "I passed out, but the blessed spirit of my plane spoke and saved me". We also know that if we follow the rituals and press the right buttons, she'll look after us. This is a batshit crazy society who are living in the most superstitious, ridiculous mash up of religious fervour and planet breaking war machines. Your titan knows how to ruin the enemy's poo poo. It WANTS to ruin the enemy's poo poo. It just needs a human to say "go forth and ruin mine enemy's poo poo".

Also - this is WH40k. Everything wants to kill you.

EVERYTHING.

Remember that whole Horus Heresy thing? Mechanicum? Where the bad guys literally infect the entire martian network with a sentient, warp infused virus? That poo poo is STILL in there 10,000 years later. Sure, you might get a tank off the production line that runs exactly as the manual says it should, or it could suddenly spark up some piece of scrap code that kicks in and switches from "who would you like to kill today?" to "Ima gon rape you with tentacles".

Remember - even 10,000 years ago they didn't know how things work. It was all broken, and all we know is that when machines have sentience they kind of see us for what we are and go all skynet on us. The Big E has told us not to mess with that poo poo because AIs are dangerous. Not because he's a dick (he is) - but because this actually happened. Machines that can think want to kill us. All of us. Yes, even you.

Now the Big E was rediscovering all the old tech, but BOOM - galactic civil war and suddenly everything is sprouting tentacles, horns and trying to kill you. Not to mention all the good work being done by the more progressive mechanicum to de-mistify science is lost. And you're left with the broken toys of 30,000 years of lost progress, no instructions and the very real possibility that switching something on will result in the death of you, your planet and possibly the entire sector.

The Imperium can't afford to say "guys, here's the definition for an AI" or "You don't need to sing to your rifle you loving retard". There are too many people, too many minds and too much tainted or misunderstood crazy poo poo to risk it. So you tell Sgt. Expendable to recite the goddam prayer, oil his gun, lovingly rack the first round into the chamber and go kill poo poo. At worst, you're making him maintain a simple piece of kit and ensuring it's in good working order. By the time you get up to the bigger stuff, you're probably saving lives.

Do we need to join hands and sing hymns before switchin on a generator on some rediscovered backwater world? Probably not. But this is 40k. The one time you DON'T do that you find yourself being buggered by some tentacle demon that you thought was a toaster, your eyes are forever tainted by the sight of the food blender sprouting horns and a tongue, what you thought was a forklift truck is now tearing round your warehouse screaming "blood for the blood god" and the tannoy keeps killing people with enuncia. Don't worry - the inquisition are on their way.

In 40k you don't debate with Baron Bifford. You exterminatus him. And anyone who spoke to him. And anyone that spoke to them.

Sorry guys...

I used to be a crew chief on 16s. You a viper wiper?

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 20:42

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Is there a series about the Word Bearers fighting the ultra marines?

# ¿ Feb 18, 2014 21:02

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Dog_Meat posted:

Sadly, no. Just a flight sim nut and Falcon fan.

There's always "Battle for the Abyss"

Yea I just read that and felt they had set up well for a big punch up between the two legions.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2014 10:27

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

One Legged Cat posted:

That being said, Know No Fear is technically part 2 of a great 3-part arc, and it's predecessor, The First Heretic, is about the Word Bearer's fall (and why they have so much beef with the Ultramarines), and not only lends extra fun to the following two books, but is also by ADB and is one of the best Heresy books. If you're interested in Word Bearers vs. Ultramarines, the First Heretic > No Know Fear > Betrayer arc is a must-read.

Where does mark of calth fit into this?

# ¿ Feb 20, 2014 09:14

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Ok, I'll check those out after I re-read the NL trilogy.

Speaking of, why did Konrad let himself be executed by Mshen? Was it because the emprah rebuked them for their brutality in bringing worlds into compliance? What was it that Curze was vindicated in with his death?

# ¿ Feb 20, 2014 17:18

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

I hope the dialogue from Empy is red letter text like when Jesus talks in New Testament.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2014 19:27

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Arquinsiel posted:

I wasn't aware that this was a thing

Look at this heathen :smug:

Get saved son, read a bible or two.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2014 06:13

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Cardiac posted:

I'm just reading through Unremembered Empire and I'm starting to get really tired of the whole series.
I've read all the official books in the HH (no audios though) and so far, the Primarchs are behaving like loving teenagers all the time.
The series is becoming quite tedious as well and I'm getting definite flashbacks to Dragonlance.

For instance, Betrayer, which is a good book and elaborates on the World Eaters, does it actually advance the story line at all, well except making Angron a Demon Prince? Same thing with Fear to thread and Angels Exterminatus.
There have been 5 major events ie the turning of Horus, the 2 different Istvans, Prospero and Calth, besids that very little has actually happened in the series.
I want my epic scenes, not reading about Space Marines whining like loving children.

Oh, and gently caress the Cabal and the Perpetuals. They only make the series worse than it has to be.

To be honest these books are written and marketed to teenage boys, so it's unfair to expect complicated plots like you'd find in Dumas or something.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 11:49

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Cardiac posted:

I guess that says it all....
To be clear, I'm not expecting complicated plots but an elaboration on the whole HH.
At the moment in the series it is a little bit too much subplots and not enough epic battles.
I guess we can blame the authors as well, except Abnet, ADB and Wraight.
Who ever thought it was a good idea to have Gav Thorpe as an author should be taken out and shot. My memory of him from WD is him losing every single battle report he participated in.

Both, I guess. If it weren't for bolter porn, I think few of us would read it.
That are not really major plot points, it is more tidying up the some side stories that are largely irrelevant to the main storyline.

The HH story should, in my mind at least, be relatively straightforward and go something like:
Fall of Horus
How different traitor legions fall to Chaos
Istvaan 1
Istvann 2
Prospero
Calth
Some background into loyalist legions
Assault on Terra and the fighting there
Final battle
Aftermath.

Now it seems we'll get 10 more books before they start besieging Terra, another 10 books covering that and then 10 books covering what happen to various legions after the fall of Horus.
This is fast approaching the same levels of ridiculous as DragonLance.

The plot is really pretty simple:

Horus is seduced by Chaos
Persuades nine of his brothers to his side
Starts to attack Imperium
Imperium is spread too thin to retaliate and shores up Terra
Horus attacks Terra, fails, is killed

Everything else is just fleshing out. To go into detail about every legion both loyal and traitor would take volumes of books and a level of consistency not yet seen in any of the HH fluff. If anyone is familiar with the Game of Thrones books, it'd be like going into every little faction in Kings Landing alone, which would be a huge task. A lot of the 40K universe is left intentionally vague for good reason.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2014 16:55

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

Arquinsiel posted:

That's always been that way. Daemonifuge is the story that takes the old "no Adeptus Sororitas has ever fallen to Chaos" line and instead has the protagonist get possessed by a daemon. Twice.

Some Sororitas did to the way of Slaanesh.

# ¿ Mar 4, 2014 08:52

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 08:38

lite_sleepr: Jun 3, 2003; by Radio Games Forum

poo poo these are cool.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/The_Horus_Heresy/HORUS_HERESY_CHARACTER_SERIES

Does anyone else want to buy them all?

# ¿ Mar 12, 2014 20:06

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Warhammer: After 18 years, finally an end

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