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[Hanslanda]

The obvious Achilles heel in 40k is the damn warp itself.

EVERYTHING about the warp is "It will kill you. Horribly."   A tiny imbalance in the engine while traveling through it, and oops, you are all dead. A loss of hull integrity while traveling through it and whoops-- all dead.


All you really need to do is set up a sufficiently long-distance perimeter around your system, such that any ship trying to traverse the warp to get there will experience engine trouble from purposefully induced instabilities. (Instead of reverse engineering a warp drive, you instead produce a denial of service perimeter using the technology used to enter/exit the warp. You dont want to rip reality apart, you just want it to be sufficiently abnormal from what the imperium's navigators and engineers expect that they experience unpexpected irregularities in transit, and whoop, the warp has their ship.)   They would have to exit far outside the system, in order to arrive safely.  They of course, would never know that, because they would attempt to enter the system in dropship range, and the difference in distance traveled would be tiny for people still traversing the warp. (Less than human reaction time.) As such, they could never alert the imperium of the blockade devices.

Result- Imperium does not know why all the ships they send there never return. Does not know why none of them even report leaving the warp.

Still "We dont go to sol."


All you need to do is slightly alter the normal fabric of reality in the direct vicinity of your system, such that normal warp travel is impossible.  For a highly isolationist world, this would be fine; They dont use warp travel anyway.

I'm sure nothing could go wrong with deliberately trying to warp reality across an entire solar system using dodgy warp-drive technology on a scale magnitudes large than any space ship uses

Dont be silly.  You use a constellation of small devices that each individually are not a threat to an imperial vessel.  It is only the combined, but subtle influence of the entire swarm of devices that cause the effect.  That's the thing here-- each device is very low power.  Since this is spacetime mechanics we are dealing with, energy will fall off at the inverse square of the distance.  Rather than create one giant device that can reach that big of a diameter, you create a shell of small devices that produce the desired level of disturbance, at the desired distance from your star system.

Do you want to accidentally turn your solar system into an insane spaceship that careens about the galaxy in a bubble of hellspace?

Because this is how you turn your solar system into an insane spaceship that careens about the galaxy in a bubble of hellspace.

Also, any lore about why no one but Tyranids tries going extragalactic?

[wierd]

The obvious Achilles heel in 40k is the damn warp itself.

EVERYTHING about the warp is "It will kill you. Horribly."   A tiny imbalance in the engine while traveling through it, and oops, you are all dead. A loss of hull integrity while traveling through it and whoops-- all dead.


All you really need to do is set up a sufficiently long-distance perimeter around your system, such that any ship trying to traverse the warp to get there will experience engine trouble from purposefully induced instabilities. (Instead of reverse engineering a warp drive, you instead produce a denial of service perimeter using the technology used to enter/exit the warp. You dont want to rip reality apart, you just want it to be sufficiently abnormal from what the imperium's navigators and engineers expect that they experience unpexpected irregularities in transit, and whoop, the warp has their ship.)   They would have to exit far outside the system, in order to arrive safely.  They of course, would never know that, because they would attempt to enter the system in dropship range, and the difference in distance traveled would be tiny for people still traversing the warp. (Less than human reaction time.) As such, they could never alert the imperium of the blockade devices.

Result- Imperium does not know why all the ships they send there never return. Does not know why none of them even report leaving the warp.

Still "We dont go to sol."


All you need to do is slightly alter the normal fabric of reality in the direct vicinity of your system, such that normal warp travel is impossible.  For a highly isolationist world, this would be fine; They dont use warp travel anyway.

I'm sure nothing could go wrong with deliberately trying to warp reality across an entire solar system using dodgy warp-drive technology on a scale magnitudes large than any space ship uses

Dont be silly.  You use a constellation of small devices that each individually are not a threat to an imperial vessel.  It is only the combined, but subtle influence of the entire swarm of devices that cause the effect.  That's the thing here-- each device is very low power.  Since this is spacetime mechanics we are dealing with, energy will fall off at the inverse square of the distance.  Rather than create one giant device that can reach that big of a diameter, you create a shell of small devices that produce the desired level of disturbance, at the desired distance from your star system.

Do you want to accidentally turn your solar system into an insane spaceship that careens about the galaxy in a bubble of hellspace?

Because this is how you turn your solar system into an insane spaceship that careens about the galaxy in a bubble of hellspace.

Also, any lore about why no one but Tyranids tries going extragalactic?

No. You want to create a wall of hellspace around your solar system, to keep the insane jibbering imperium out.

(eg think like this--- Normal space--- thin bubble of horror-- normal space --- solar system proper.)

[nenjin]

Also, any lore about why no one but Tyranids tries going extragalactic?

Navigation, mostly. It's fuckin' dark out there, and all the fluff implies that however weird and bad shit within known Imperial Space is, whatever is outside of it is probably worse.

[wierd]

It SHOULD actually be "safer" in extra-galactic space.

The energy in the warp is produced from the sentience of the lifeforms inhabiting the galaxy.  Since psychic phenomena have a limited operative distance, that means there must be a falloff in energy potential.

That means that sufficiently far away from the galaxy, (and all that sentience), there will be significantly less energy in warp space.

[Hanslanda]

Also, any lore about why no one but Tyranids tries going extragalactic?

Navigation, mostly. It's fuckin' dark out there, and all the fluff implies that however weird and bad shit within known Imperial Space is, whatever is outside of it is probably worse.

It is pitch black here. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

[GiglameshDespair]

Dont be silly.  You use a constellation of small devices that each individually are not a threat to an imperial vessel.  It is only the combined, but subtle influence of the entire swarm of devices that cause the effect.  That's the thing here-- each device is very low power.  Since this is spacetime mechanics we are dealing with, energy will fall off at the inverse square of the distance.  Rather than create one giant device that can reach that big of a diameter, you create a shell of small devices that produce the desired level of disturbance, at the desired distance from your star system.

OK, so you can multiple overlapping fields of reality warping on all the time, using dodgy warp-drive technology on a large scale.

...Also assuming Navigators can't see and compensate for this constant effect, since seeing effects on the warp is kind of their deal, and that the gellar field doesn't protect from it with its bubble of realspace.

Also, any lore about why no one but Tyranids tries going extragalactic?

They'd get becalmed inside the warp; past the galatic rim, the warp stills and the currents which actually let warp space be quick are no longer present, since the warp is made of emotions. It does mean you're probably not going to get eaten by daemons, though no promise about other kinds of warp entities.

So you'd have to go STL. Hope you packed plenty of reading material.

[wierd]

Fun twist, since this is 40k, and full of horror already.


Each device contains a brain in a jar.  Purpose: Coordinated emotional/psychic emanations.  Goal: Create a rotating current in the warp, which diverts all incoming ships.

Added fun:  Purposefully engineered mutants are used for making the devices.  All the devices are linked technologically, and produce a virtual experience for the brains inside them. (and it is through this shared virtual experience that you control the warp currents. An orchestra of psychic voices singing in a virtual heaven, used to stem the tides from an actual hell.)

[Hanslanda]

I think if building a Dyson swarm of reality warping hellengines is your best defense, you've already lost.

[Egan_BW]

It's grimdarkland, everyone's already lost.

[Madman198237]

I think if building a Dyson swarm of reality warping hellengines is your best defense, you've already lost.

He says to the B12'ers...

[wierd]

I think if building a Dyson swarm of reality warping hellengines is your best defense, you've already lost.

Technically, EVERY LIVING PERSON is a mini-hellengine.   Hence the fun adaptation I made above about billions of brains in jars, floating serenely in space, tied together in a large virtual reality simulation.  Each is well within the normal limitations that would prevent the kinds of horror people imagine possible,  but when coordinated, the small influences over the warp would be immense.

Compare with the astronomican; which is sustained by a small sect of psykers.   This would be a constellation of cyberized psykers, who think they are angels in heaven, engaging in a celestial chorus. 

[Tack]

So, the Cawl Inferior?

[Trekkin]

What happens when the Imperial Navy just stops short of the warp bubble, proceeds slower-than-light to your generators (and bear in mind they can sustain >1 g acceleration) and pokes a hole in the network with macro-cannons?

[wierd]

I think I already lamplit that this is what the imperium would have to do.  (stop outside the denial of service area, then cruise in on standard space engines.)

However,  that makes their presence known in the system long before they can arrive at their intended destination.  That gives plenty of time to organize a coordinated repulsive bombardment operation.


More interestingly-- if purposefully cultivated psykers are the heart of the swarm, they could also be used offensively within their area of influence.  Billions of pychically adept minds working in unison would be a force to be reckoned with,

[Hanslanda]

I think if building a Dyson swarm of reality warping hellengines is your best defense, you've already lost.

He says to the B12'ers...

"Supreme Commander! The Imperium forces have breached the Cordon! The North flank is disintegrating! We've lost!" The breathless adjutant clattered to a stop, face red.

The Commander approached a computer and typed in a alphanumeric string. He began adjusting outputs and algorithms. The adjutant spoke again, shrill, "Sir! We must evacuate!"

The Commander finished typing. In extrasolar space, man-sized satellites filled with poorly-understood technology, reams of circuits, and genetically and technologically modified brains received a new order.

A gentle angel's hymn stopped, and was replaced with a murmur, a chant, then a howling shriek of rage. Space began to warp and distort around Sol...

"Sir, we have lost!" The adjutant cried, unaware his fate was sealed. The Warp was already spilling through, a sick sheen of unreality tainting everything.

The Supreme Commander nodded, and grinned grimly, "And now they learn our most cherished lesson... Losing is fun."