WH40K and hemp

[Mr. Oragahn]

Am I the only one getting the feeling that a mast amount of cases about firepower, toughness, speed and miscellaneous other numbers are interpreted to fit a few high end events, even if sometimes it just doesn't work?

For example, I was getting tired of being served the "petals of flame the size of continents" on and on, so I went looking for the full context on my own since no one was going to hand it to me, and boy, that was funny, really, to bring back the full quote showing how the same so called über teraton petals of flame didn't even break through the cloud layer.
Yes, so while we had to accept the vision of a planet hit repeatedly by mass-extinction projectiles, it appeared that what we really had was a large-area carpet bombing of rather low yields.

I'm actually reading some of Connor's thread at SDN --damn, there just are that many of them-- and though he put a lot of work into them, he seems incapable of restraining his enthusiasm, to say the least.
SDN being SDN, of course, there's about zero criticism coming in return.

[The Dude]

It might help if you tell us what in particular your talking about, "petals of flame the size of continents" doesn't actually mean anything to me.

I'm actually reading some of Connor's thread at SDN --damn, there just are that many of them-- and though he put a lot of work into them, he seems incapable of restraining his enthusiasm, to say the least.
SDN being SDN, of course, there's about zero criticism coming in return.

*shrug* I don't think that there are all that many WH40K fans on SDN and if there are it doesn't necessarily follow that they actually care about the numbers. I'm to busy trying to keep up with the novels and enjoying the setting to care much.

[Jedi Master Spock]

I've remarked on the maximalist nature of the WH40k figures commonly seen on SDN/SB before (Connor's figures on SDN are often cited on SB). I think the main thing is that almost nobody who isn't a big fan of WH40k is familiar with the "fluff" material.

[Mr. Oragahn]

Yet there are just so many WH40K threads at SBC, citing the figures from SDN like they were out of a Quran or so.

It might help if you tell us what in particular your talking about, "petals of flame the size of continents" doesn't actually mean anything to me.

It's from a book which features some dooming orbital bombardment, either Execution Hour or Caves of Ice I think.

*shrug* I don't think that there are all that many WH40K fans on SDN and if there are it doesn't necessarily follow that they actually care about the numbers. I'm to busy trying to keep up with the novels and enjoying the setting to care much.

But those who cite those numbers, and often cite Connor, are not a few.
Others, as you say, don't really care, but you don't see them talking in VS threads, which require a given basic knowledge of facts from WH40K's universe.

[The Dude]

Yet there are just so many WH40K threads at SBC, citing the figures from SDN like they were out of a Quran or so.

Lets be honest here, most folks don't have either the math skills or the inclination to do this sort of thing, I don't, you probably don't either. So they use what they find.

It's from a book which features some dooming orbital bombardment, either Execution Hour or Caves of Ice I think.

Definitely not Caves of Ice, just looked it up. I don't have Execution Hour.

But those who cite those numbers, and often cite Connor, are not a few.
Others, as you say, don't really care, but you don't see them talking in VS threads, which require a given basic knowledge of facts from WH40K's universe.

You can debate WH40K VS whatever without knowing how many gigazongajoules are put out by a lance battery, not everything revolves around it. That said, it really comes back to my first response.

I don't post or even visit SB so I can't speak for what goes on there.

I've remarked on the maximalist nature of the WH40k figures commonly seen on SDN/SB before (Connor's figures on SDN are often cited on SB). I think the main thing is that almost nobody who isn't a big fan of WH40k is familiar with the "fluff" material.

Even a big fan such as myself can have a hard time keeping up with the fluff, I have over 70 novels on my shelf here and that's a lot to wade through. With more coming out and looking for out of print stuff it can be a daunting task.

And WH40K is simply not consistent or it's vague. Which is fine because it's part of the setting but it doesn't seem to lend itself well to figuring things out.

[Mr. Oragahn]

Yet there are just so many WH40K threads at SBC, citing the figures from SDN like they were out of a Quran or so.

Lets be honest here, most folks don't have either the math skills or the inclination to do this sort of thing, I don't, you probably don't either. So they use what they find.

It's from a book which features some dooming orbital bombardment, either Execution Hour or Caves of Ice I think.

Definitely not Caves of Ice, just looked it up. I don't have Execution Hour.

But those who cite those numbers, and often cite Connor, are not a few.
Others, as you say, don't really care, but you don't see them talking in VS threads, which require a given basic knowledge of facts from WH40K's universe.

You can debate WH40K VS whatever without knowing how many gigazongajoules are put out by a lance battery, not everything revolves around it. That said, it really comes back to my first response.

I don't post or even visit SB so I can't speak for what goes on there.

I've remarked on the maximalist nature of the WH40k figures commonly seen on SDN/SB before (Connor's figures on SDN are often cited on SB). I think the main thing is that almost nobody who isn't a big fan of WH40k is familiar with the "fluff" material.

Even a big fan such as myself can have a hard time keeping up with the fluff, I have over 70 novels on my shelf here and that's a lot to wade through. With more coming out and looking for out of print stuff it can be a daunting task.

And WH40K is simply not consistent or it's vague. Which is fine because it's part of the setting but it doesn't seem to lend itself well to figuring things out.

Needless to say, your views would certainly not mesh well with those of the people I refer to.

[The Dude]

Needless to say, your views would certainly not mesh well with those of the people I refer to.

Yeah, well you can only waste so many years debating numbers before you realize that it's a waste of your time and find something more interesting to do.

Graham Kennedy made an interesting point on DITL a month or so ago, to paraphrase (as I can't find the exact quote) "people decide their position and work backwards to find facts that fit it."

[Mike DiCenso]

"people decide their position and work backwards to find facts that fit it."

That is true a good deal of the time, but not always. In some cases, you simply have people make stuff up, or overexaggerate the upper limits to win the debate.
-Mike

[The Dude]

I just lump that into the "find" part, like I said earlier most people don't have the math skills or don't care. So you could fudge the math and plenty of people would never be able to call you on it.

[Mr. Oragahn]

For those who want to know the thread I was talking about earlier on, here it is:

Warhammer 40k Weapon Yields.

Includes the petals of flames the size of continents reference, as well as plenty of other details and the figure derived from Caves of Ice, which there is a lot to talk about.
I'm actually going through that stuff. Caves of Ice is a book by Sandy Mitchell, part of a series about Ciaphas Cain.
For example, in Traitor's Hand (fourth novel I think), Ciaphas escapes a ship in pod. Once in space, he has the opportunity to observe the raging space battle going on. He muses on the battle ranges:

As the streaks of light beyond the armourcrys slowly settled down, reverting to the pinpoints of light I'd grown familiar with from the observation decks of most of the vessels I'd travelled on since my childhood in the underhive had been so abruptly curtailed, we began to get an idea of the scale of the conflict going on around us. Contrary to what you might see in an episode of Attack Run, starships in combat seldom approach to within point blank range of one another, exchanging fire at distances of hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres. There are exceptions, of course; you have to get close to your target to launch boarding parties or knock out a fighter screen, for instance, not to mention ramming, which is a favourite ork tactic.

In the thread linked above, there's a reference of a greater firing range figure, but what we can at least understand is that the battle range for the ships is not so consistent.