A question about Imperial Grav tech

[Sea Reaper]

I'm still catching up on the new background in 40k as a returning player. I was curious if Imperial Grav technology is all based on a common source, or if it's actually separate branches. For example, jetbikes were antigrav and went out of production with information lost, while land speeders can still be made. Repulsors are around thanks to Cawl, but do they work on the same science? I originally thought they were just strapped with a bunch if anti-grav plates to hold up the bulk, but the way they deflect shots and crush things seems different. I know about grav chutes, do jump packs contain grav chute tech to help the mobility and...buoyancy of the wearer?

 

Hopefully I'm making sense. The last edition I played didn't even have grav guns so a lot of this has been bugging me lately :p

[Bryan Blaire]

I don't believe that we've ever been told that jump packs contain grav chutes, but there may be something about that in the newest lore.

 

Think of the newer anti-grav plating from Cawl like a brute force attempt at redoing a much more elegant technology - it isn't quite the same but shares a common base concept.

[N1SB]

Hi Brother Sea Reaper, just replying because I was in a similar situation...and to help you commune with the Machine God.

 

Disclaimer - these are true facts in 30k/40k, but the universe is a big place, and therefore these are not the ONLY true facts.

 

The biggest name associated with anti-grav technology, as well as many other things, is Arkhan Land, who discovered many design STCs pre-Horus Heresy.  This includes the LAND Speeder; we used to think that hover vehicle was called such because it sped over land, but the original name was in fact LAND'S Speeder (it's a bit of a retcon, but I for one am cool with it because it's such a bad pun that it's hilarious to me).  Other things he's famous for include the LAND Raider (which he originally posited as some sort of farming vehicle, I swear to the Omnissiah I'm going to convert a tractor out of a FW Land Raider one day).

 

Arkhan Land was just a techno-archaeologist, not what you would visualise as a typical Techpriest because he didn't have that many obvious bionics.  He was much more a headline-grabbing academic than, say, a weapons maintenance engineer, closer to a Michio Kaku/Neil deGrasse Tyson than a Steve Wozniak.

 

His anti-grav discoveries alone made him surprisingly popular accepted among the Adeptus Custodes, who valued his findings because they enabled their famous proprietary grav-tanks and grav-bikes.  The Emperor himself asked him for technical advice once for help with a Primarch.  Dude knew a bit of everything.

 

Thus, the anti-grav tech Arkhan Land was definitely used for the Land's Speeders and the Custodes grav-tanks.  With grav-chutes like the Elysian Drop Troopers', it's not clearly stated IIRC, but considering Land's influence their tech could probably be traced back to him (and I would not be surprised if he made a prototype of that very thing because he thought it was funny to make a flying cyber-monkey or something completely unrelated to warfare).

 

TL;DR - yes, probably.  Except for the Astartes/Soritas Jump Packs, that's a different tech I think.

[jeffersonian000]

Per original 40k lore, the Imperium can no longer create grav technology. Imperial Terra sits on a huge stock pile of salvaged grav plates, which are doled out at a very slow rate. Virtually all grav systems in the Imperium are salvaged and repurposed.

 

Per the new fluff, Cawl is able to create new grav plates, but far bulkier and with less elegance.

Because Cawl is Arkand Land.

 

Imperial Jump Packs make no sense without a grav-chute type system built in, as the thrust from those backpacks would just face plant the wearer every time. As Astarte equipment is mostly salvaged and repurposed 10,000 year old tech, it makes sense that they would be using tiny grav plates in Jump Packs.

 

SJ

[Panzer]

What the others said.

Also Cawls Repulsor technology isn't actually anti-grav. Instead of nullifying/reducing the influence of gravity on something it instead pushes the object up by brute force (it crushed a Chaos Marine who tried to jump below it to attach a Melta bomb for example). It's a very crude attempt to simulate anti-grav.

 

 

Because Cawl is Arkand Land.

Disclaimer: that's pure speculation and not even hinted in the fluff so far but would be cool if true.

 

Imperial Jump Packs make no sense without a grav-chute type system built in, as the thrust from those backpacks would just face plant the wearer every time. As Astarte equipment is mostly salvaged and repurposed 10,000 year old tech, it makes sense that they would be using tiny grav plates in Jump Packs.

Only if you go by the actual models. In fluff they can re-adjust the direction their jump packs thrust so they have actual some control over where they're jump etc.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Yeah, the Repulsor is a much cruder imitation of the Land-style anti-grav (so again, Cawl has mostly just piggy-backed on the developments of other Magi).

I wouldn't be surprised if there's some element of anti-grav in jump packs, but mostly they're just described as turbines, and it's somewhat implied that the reason that only Astartes wear them is that the downwards landing isn't particularly cushioned.

[Trokair]

I recall anti-grav turning up from time to time in the background in the civilian part of 40k so my understanding has always been that parts of the imperium can still produce anti-grave, but that it is not suitable for military grade uses.

 

So moving grates of produce from factory to orbital lander, yes, grave cars (amongst the nobility) yes, moving at fast spends and highly maneuverable under battle conditions (Land Speeder/jetbike style) no.

 

I also recall that some shuttle and landing grafts have anti-grav to assist. As these are much larger and cumbersome they would presumable be using the weaker civilian version but in larger quantity/larger generators to power it.

 

Repulsor (and whatever the giant FW primaries tank is called) as mentioned by others is a more brute force approach to anti-grav. I therefore assume that it is a reworking of the civilian version to replicate the strength and resilience needed for military use.

[Sea Reaper]

Thank you. The Repulsor really stood out since it seemed to not quite work the same way. Since the Imperium still manufactures land speeders, is it safe to say the jetbike is based on a more sophisticated form of anti-grav plate? Or is it simply a matter of some forge worlds still have assembly lines for speeder, but they just have no idea how they work beyond input raw materials?

[Panzer]

It's a matter of the AdMech not having the STC for many things anymore. Just because they have anti-grav plates they could repurpose it doesn't mean they are willing to do so. Technology is holy and to fiddle with it is heresy so many of them won't do anything without access to the right STC.

[Lord_Caerolion]

Exactly. Every bit of repurposed tech is something that can now no longer be used for its original holy purpose.