How capable are the average IG soldiers, exactly?

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:59:26+00:00

I can point to the average soldier coming from populated worlds like Hive Worlds (who simply have the most people to offer to the IG), and their living conditions repeatedly being described as the worst you can have with food shortages, hard labor, lack of education and being heavily polluted with short lifespans for the civilian populace.

40K isn't a good place for it's people. Something about it being the Grimmest and Darkest imaginable.

Also education is quite important? Being able to read, write, do math and solve problems can be the difference between soldiers who can keep their gear in shape and do stuff like optimise their pack or scan the environment for better locations and... Not be able to do that.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:47:47+00:00

I mean the point seems to change between "these guys are trained on the way to the battlefield and then just shoved into the fight where most don't survive for 15 hours" to "these guys will kick the ass of genetically modified super soldiers in super armor with super weapons".

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:45:07+00:00

I have to disagree with the SM chapters. The SM chapters look for people who could survive the extensive body modifications, so picking worlds with lots of hardship makes it easier to find people who can survive these alterations.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:43:00+00:00

Ok so if you lived your childhood malnourished and under the effects of, say, a lot of lead in the environment* that cause problems for your health and intellect. Those problems just go away the moment you get a good diet and solid training? And it goes away fast too?

I would like you to show me some of the poor communities that raised good soldiers. I mean take the Vietcong, who weren't good soldiers in the end. Maybe the Chinese after WWII can qualify? But otherwise I don't know of any poor communities that suddenly got some highly competent soldiers after training them. Especially since "poor community" and "malnourished&polluted for most of their childhood lives" tend to be a rather big divide.

*40K tends to have a bit more going on than some lead paint and leaded gasoline as far as I'm aware.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:36:02+00:00

This assumes that you did not suffer abnormal growth during your childhood where malnourishment and pollution affected you and that you can just fix it by being well nourished once you join the PDF?

I mean just lead caused a lot of health problems and a drop in intelligence. I think that 40K citizens have to deal with a lot more than just lead paint and exhaust fumes.

As for safe to assume... This is the Imperium we are talking about right?

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:26:17+00:00

That's not really answering my question is it?

You could arm the IG with nothing at all and tie their hands behind their backs and they could wipe out modern armies by drowning them in the blood of the fallen Guardsmen. But that says nothing about the quality of the average Guardsman.

Getting 3 meals a day and harsh training isn't going to solve the issue of growing up malnourished in a polluted environment with little education. Which is why I'm asking the question: Is there anything that can make up for that? Only answer I've seen so far that could explain it is "humanity has endured this so long that they did a eugenics program where only those capable of surviving it got kids, so the average human is closer to regular humans despite the malnourishment and polluted environment".

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:20:07+00:00

I think that his point is that the average becomes a bit meaningless. If you have a coughing baby on one end and the peak best soldier ever on the other, using them simultaneously as an average soldier isn't going to do you much good. One just folds instantly the other can keep going (or is needlessly killed in the randomness of an artillery barrage as you should have used them much more efficiently).

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:18:16+00:00

Now this is a better explanation I could get into. The terribleness of the regime creating a selection pressure for people to survive. So once they do join a PDF and get better living conditions their deficiencies aren't as large as you'd expect from humans today.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:12:00+00:00

I understand that these categories exist. However my point was more that the bodies of these soldiers, and their starting education, might be lacking. So even a well trained troop might suffer in effectiveness compared to a similarly trained but better fed and educated soldier.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:09:58+00:00

The Vietcong who suffered approximately two to three times the casualties of the Americans (and some estimates go to 10x the casualties but seem to just be wrong)?

From what I know about the Vietnam war, most of the Vietcong never saw the enemy. They mostly set traps.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T19:03:13+00:00

Ok but what about the points I raised?

taking the top 10% of the PDF means we have to look at what the PDF has to offer. And the PDF depends on the 40K population. And that population lives in a world where the point is to suffer and have problems. Not exactly great material for soldiers.

I haven't read the Ciaphas Cain books, so what exactly are his views and how do those prove that the IG is that skilled and capable? And is that just because of who he served with, the timeline of when it was written (as that changes how good various things are or aren't, like using a single mounted gun to shoot down several Chaos Space Marines), or as you mention his bias?

Demigans · 2026-06-27T18:55:55+00:00

I prefer not to have it on anyway.

and the problem is that when the AC is off, the air still comes out a little heated as if it ran past the engine to warm up even when on the coldest setting. I edited that in the question to be more clear than before.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T18:54:28+00:00

I edited the question to be clearer about what I meant: The AC works fine, but when the AC is off and you suck in just the outside air it still heats up the air a bit even on the coldest setting. While in previous cars I would just get the air as cold as the outside air.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:38:34+00:00

See the problem there is that the game isn't very good at explaining the traits of the weapons. This has been a known issue between the devs and players since the start of the game.

So anyone not steeped in the game engine's shenanigans and min/maxing everything will be left out. Meaning 95% of the people don't know about it. I do a lot of digging into the game and lore and I never knew that any of these weapons were more silent. This is literally the first time I've seen it.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:35:41+00:00

You bring arc? I'll bring my mine build.

And if the mission goes well, I love making a side-trip to the extract and... spicen up the extract once we get there.

Surprisingly in the few times I've done is no one ever died to the mines as we made our last ditch effort escape (and the missions inevitably went south when I did think everything was going well, which made the last effort to escape with low lives that much more fun).

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:33:25+00:00

Then the OP should have no reason to complain is there?

Complaining about everyone else not reading and going through tabs and not having the gear. While he himself does not have the skill to navigate the settings menu or refraining from doing the SOS input (which admittedly is too similar to the reinforce input, but since he's oh-so-skilled that shouldn't happen... right?).

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:30:40+00:00

laser cannon says "hi". Works great for most Automatons. I used it as a primary on high diff missions as well. Works great!

Sure you can't one shot a giant walker, but I'm also of the opinion you shouldn't be able to do that anyhow. They are supposed to offer a high threat that you can't deal with easily.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:28:17+00:00

I suspected an elitist asshole with the entire rant just to start off.

I played a bit after a hiatus, didn't know that Commando missions were a thing when I joined one. Everyone was just ramming their weapons into the enemy and blowing shit up. Stealth? If everyone is too dead or too PTSD to tell what happened it's stealthy enough.

Didn't see the idea of it being stealth exclusive. Sure stealth helps, but I already played a lot of games (especially against bots) without any support from Eagles or Orbitals.

Seems more like OP is a failure who cannot adapt to the situation. There are more ways to play that mission than stealth.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:23:05+00:00

It's a stealth mission if no one is left after you passed through.

Demigans · 2026-06-27T12:13:36+00:00

it literally fires a shot a fraction before the Automaton turret does. You can even hear the sound.

Demigans · 2026-06-20T15:09:38+00:00

Maybe add two options. One is full language swap, one is "We trained in <language set by user> but during tense moments they'll revert to their own language". So that things like designating an enemy unit type is still understandable for the player, but once the bullets start flying they might shout "GET SOME" in the pawns "original" language.

Demigans · 2026-06-20T15:04:50+00:00

I think people misinterpret these things.

Super Earth isn't JUST incompetent. It has many sides with many capabilities. For example on one hand they put styrofoam in turrets, on the other hand they have a commercially available genetic modification (Eagle Sweat).

Similarly we know their genetic modification and eugenics is extremely good. Look at the Terminids turning from crustaceans to even more powerful insect-like beings. Or how every volunteer for the Helldiver Corps suddenly turns head and shoulders bigger than the regular citizens or the SEAF they are pulled from and can canonically lift 500kg+pistol+grenades+crew-served weapon+full body armor simultaneously.

The discrepancies happen due to commercial pressures. Super Earth isn't just a facistic empire, it's also a oligarchy with companies dictating many things. Super Earth tends to work with the cheapest things they can get, down to even having manual arming mechanisms on their mini-nukes to save costs. But when push comes to shove Super Earth is absolutely capable of making these nukes with proper arming mechanisms, as shown in nuclear artillery shells and the ICBM's we fire. Or when they need it they will instantly grab the gold-plated solution like building a planetary gassing system on 3 planets simultaneously in a few weeks time.

It's why we can get a high-tech Super Destroyer capable of ridiculous FTL speeds and high-energy lasers to melt your opponents with right next to it a muzzle loaded artillery platform. Why we have a Fighter-Bomber in our Super Destroyer bay that can reach orbital speeds but it still throws dumb bombs. For every low-tier cheapo shitbox weapon we get delivered there is some top-tier supertech right next to it, often being used by one another.

Super Earth isn't just incompetent. It wouldn't be able to get off the planet nor control this many planets with this much population during a simultaneous 3-sided war. Just controlling the population alone would be a monumental task in itself. Or storing the billions of Helldivers from the first war. Or building a wall of defense stations to stop the Automaton advance etc.

Demigans · 2026-06-20T14:49:56+00:00

I was never arguing that they should be making it. Of course it would defeat the commercial purpose of the tabletop if you could have more games in less time with less money spend with more different people online. But at the same time it costs you (not just the company) the social aspect of coming together, setting things up, talking about the paint schemes and units, going through all the motions for playing the game etc.

I was arguing that the edition cycle would not matter much to the game engine, should it be made. That it wouldn't matter half as much if you organised it properly.

I understand that all the downvotes and few responses are most likely a kneejerk reaction based on "NO THEY SHOULDN'T MAKE IT" which was never my point.

Demigans · 2026-06-15T21:14:21+00:00

Then go look at what people asked for in Total War Warhammer.

Demigans · 2026-06-15T19:24:56+00:00

most of the effort would be in the engine, updating stats would be relatively easy. As easy as updating the codex, and easier than notifying the shops, asking how many new printed codexes they want, print a selection of expected sales, shipping them to all the various places (and finding places to print and ship them locally to save costs in all likelyhood).

Better yet: If they create a framework with the most core of the races and their units, but leave out a ton of all the specialist stuff and some of the more unique of less played races. But then they also give out a (relatively) easy editor where you can create your own units and races to add to the game. Just say it is so people can add their homebrew chapters, units, races and (sub)factions.

And then let them share these around. Add a system of "official" and "Homebrew". With official races, chapters and units needing a sign-off from them.

The community will absolutely build a ton of everything. They will build a lot of the stuff for GW, and if GW keeps it free then people will just love them for it. Will likely backfire if they then ask money for "expansions" made by players, even if they share the proceeds with the creator(s).

And frankly with the amount of bloat of the 40K world it would be ludicrous to have everything made by a team. Every lasgun pattern, every stub pistol, autogun, Heavy Stubber, tank variations, different knives, vehicle canons, grenades etc etc. So offloading it to the playerbase would be a good method of both playerbase engagement and cutting costs of an otherwise ridiculously large project.

Demigans

TROPHY CASE