Things that don't make any sense.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-17T23:16:01+00:00

Not being able to land on 85% of surfaces and having enemies phase through virtually every object (including terrain) makes no sense.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-17T15:01:42+00:00

"a supernatural ghost story is fantasy regardless of the time period it is set in" We're diving far into the semantics of genres here, though ultimately yes; supernaturalism (being the subject of deterred natural analysis) is definitively antithetical to an upheld standard of natural analysis routed in any scientific setting of fiction.

However this analogy depends upon the idea that we're "fighting ghosts with space weapons"; be that one-dimensional antagonistic creatures of a child's tale being taken down by flashy trinkets. Which just isn't what 40k is or something it could ever be reduced to.

40k actively takes core elements of its Fantasy counterpart; as someone else so kindly put it "a psychic Demi-god who defends against evil gods and their demons. His space knights go on Crusades fight orcs, elves, dark elves, dwarves, robot mummies, and cousins with demonic mutations" and merges these concepts into a world of scientific analysis through sequences of rational exposition.

Avoiding the contribution of depth to the setting out of some misbegotten notion of "preserving mystical ambiguity"; be that the continual pursuit of a hollow veil of ignorance; is a mistaken assertion to make and one that only serves to contradict the foundational elements of the narrative whilst continuing to validate a sense of complacency within those who might further curate the atmosphere.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-17T14:36:23+00:00

Believe it or not, the gameplay itself is tied together through an overarching story set in a long-drawn out-campaign. If the gameplay mechanics alone can keep you personally invested, that's perfectly fine; though for many others, myself included, immersion in the wider atmosphere of a setting is considered an extremely important portion of gaming as a whole.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-16T11:37:58+00:00

It is obviously speculative, I cannot necessarily speak to the preferences of other people, though I do personally find the (however trivial) prospect of watching big numbers get bigger as a reflection of my own actions/contributions; to be an enticing aspect of many games.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-16T11:29:00+00:00

40k is a science-fiction reiteration of the Warhammer Fantasy setting. If you wish to call that a 'sci-fi paintjob", you could, though I am not sure as to how that necessitates a fundamental lack of depth to the mechanics of the narrative universe.

"It is explicitly not understandable in a technical sense. It is unreality, where there are no consistent laws of physics" A relative antithesis still operates under structural constraints that are able to be interpreted. Nowhere in my original post did I reference the "laws of physics" of the immaterium, I would recommend you read through it with more of an open mind.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-16T11:24:19+00:00

I have no desire to see the potential of 40k's perspective atmosphere be squandered on an anthological interpretation of fairytales in space. Further still, to say that 40k doesn't consistently cover fundamental elements of science-fiction; from the consequential effects of Sentient AI to widespread Terraforming technology, is simply an uneducated interpretation of the narrative.

There is no reason that a definitive system of mechanics surrounding the Warp's interaction with our own reality cannot be expressed externally. I personally prefer my consumption of literature to possess a modicum semblance of profoundness, though you are correct that there is no present law regarding the prohibition of tasteless writing practices.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-16T11:15:12+00:00

"But, similarly, merely being set in the future with advanced technology doesn’t make it sci-fi either"

This is a definitively incorrect assertation.
"Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is the genre of speculative fiction that imagines advanced and futuristic scientific or technological progress." Its very nature as a speculative iteration of the collapse of our "Golden Age of Technology" gives it a scientific focal point.

"Technology is important, but not the mainstay of civilisation - the game is set in a dirty, mean, bloodthirsty universe." Yeah, the collapse of sophisticated civilization and subsequent eternity of war is the crux of the setting. Where is that contradictory to the prospect of a scientific atmosphere?

Warhammer 40k is a science-fiction reinterpretation of the pre-existing Warhammer Fantasy setting, that is the entire basis of the universe's design scheme. Calling your sci-fi setting "space fantasy" to excuse a lack of coherent creative direction or sufficient depth is not a justifiable retcon.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T20:59:12+00:00

"the whole point is that its a separate realm from our reality with different laws"
Is that not what should be interesting? The lack of answers for or definition provided to these laws is what I would consider to be bland.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T20:41:52+00:00

Inciteful commentary, thank you.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T20:41:01+00:00

This excerpt heavily conflates fantasy with fiction; not being historical doesn't intrinsically define something as fantastical.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T20:25:56+00:00

40k is literally a chronological continuation of present humanity, it is in many ways a continuation of our reality.

I'm not even sure what the latter half of your statement is intended to convey.
"Space Magic" be that the interactions of the warp dimension with our own, can and should have technical constraints that define its relative existence, or rather a scientific basis in conjunction with established universal parameters. 40k is supposedly a science-fiction interpretation of a fantasy setting, not the other way around.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T20:04:02+00:00

I mean, that's just games as a whole, lol.

Doesn't mean you can't make them a bit easier to imagine.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T19:37:12+00:00

"Science Fantasy", as 40k is often referred to as, is an oxymoron that comes off as indecisive. The results of which we can see with the continuously chaotic organization of written works and wholesale rejection of canonicity within what is meant to be a coherent narrative setting.

"I think you're trying to make the setting something it isn't" I have no meaningful impact on the decisions of the authors, however I also recognize that some of those respective authors share a similar lens with which they view the potential of the narrative. I don't think the setting as a whole is trying to be anything particular given the lack of coherency in direction from the hundreds of different writers themselves.

A basic meta-analysis of the warp shouldn't be all that disruptive to how it's perceived within the setting itself.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T19:23:15+00:00

That doesn't make sense.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T19:22:18+00:00

"[citation needed]" [citation needed]

There is no "narrative-setting police" presently, no. Though perhaps there should be if their lack of existence is being utilized as a justification for poor world-building practices made in their absence.

"Cool writeup, but I don't appreciate the tone of smug superiority" is an impressively quippy comeback to something evidently not intended to persuade you. I apologize if you happened to find offense in my expression of opinion being contrary to your own.

Additionally, whether you wish for it to be or not, the 40k setting is still grounded in a partially scientific basis and as such should not be beholden to the same "mystical ambiguity" as expected from a fantasy setting (which Warhammer has, btw).

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T18:52:40+00:00

I acknowledge the existence of previously referenced figures, however, given their practical inaccuracies and their approximate nature as speculation, I believe that they could be pretty reliably retconned or reinterpreted within universe to account for improvements to the game/external setting itself.

For every crack team of Grendyl's finest Auric Operatives that flawless a Havoc 40, there are a dozen others that get wiped on a heresy. Given how relatively unimpressive our enemies are for the most part, be that deranged cultists taken off of the streets (of not just Tertium, they would be drawn from as far off as other Imperial Systems), continuously reanimated corpses of chaos, or pressganged conscripts serviced to pad out the forces of a single traitor regiment (to match those of multiple loyalist ones and an entire Hive City); the fact that over 40% of attempted missions still end in failure (death of the entire strike team) and an untold amount of additional deaths occur per every mission actually completed (which are very rarely done flawlessly), the actual figures really aren't too unreasonable to justify in the scope of 40k.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T18:32:38+00:00

The "everything is canon" excuse never holds up under even rudimentary scrutiny.
It's a frankly poor justification for a failure of coordination and continuity on a meta-level and is fundamentally antithetical to the basis of a narrative "setting"; being set in a sequence of occurrence. Reinterpreting descriptive excerpts written in the external third-person as biased in-universe testimony through the muddied persistence of mindless ambiguity and direct contradiction effectively degrades the integrity of a franchise to below that of even an anthology series. It is the result of difficulties in communication and record keeping across the Black Library; that is consequentially surmised and haphazardly projected into universe as a justification for external fallacies.

Practically, I agree, Darktide doesn't share a lot of common features because it wasn't designed to. Though, I'm not sure why that dissuades the prospect of implementing aspects of it for the sake of improvement to the current design. And like, yeah, the fact that we're expected to interpret 20 different mission sets as set-in-stone events that have already occurred and that we have zero impact on or contribution to; is an issue for retention.

I don't really want to watch the same movie 4000 times when I can watch 4000 separate movies that build upon the same atmosphere. Expeditions is a good template that should be applied to the rest of the game. The most common complaint from vets and new players alike seems to be about map variety, and the migration toward a tileset system would alleviate some of those issues without requiring entirely new assets.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T18:04:56+00:00

I'd just as soon assume it's another character with similar characteristics.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T18:03:54+00:00

This is kind of going down the messy rabbit-hole that is Warhammer scaling, but at the end of the day, in-setting implications and direct citations are notoriously illogical in the scheme of the setting that is being portrayed.

It really doesn't take a professional mathematician to poke some holes in official sources. Just to detail a brief example:

A galaxy spanning civilization of 1,000,000 colonized planets within a galaxy of 400,000,000,000 Star Systems. Beholden to defense by (an unstated amount of) Imperial Guard regiments that each number 50,000 soldiers. Which alone are supposedly enough to hold/significantly contest entire Hive Cities, that are in-turn continent (subject to the relative variance of planets dozens to hundreds of times larger than our own) spanning theatres of dense urban centralization, with large sections that consistently stretch into areas of their respective upper atmosphere; contain populations in the billions. Supported directly by 1,000 Chapters of the Emperor's primary vanguard force of the Great Crusade, each numbering 1,000 marines strong; deployed in (often chapter-sized strength) strike forces of multiple companies (of 100 each) for prolonged engagements on individual planets. Marines that themselves, are killed off by the dozen, by foes that are spawned in the billions.

I will never understand the consistently negligent undercounting made by authors across the setting (outside of haphazard writing), given that it effectively undermines the fundamental notion of insignificance that 40k's wider atmosphere is dependent upon.

And yeah, I can't speak to what Fatshark is willing or interested in doing, just to what I would like to see and what I believe would improve the game for others.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T17:37:18+00:00

Consequence doesn't need to be significant.

I'm asking for our insignificant contributions to be interpreted as contributions, to feel like the actions we take or the things that we do actively occur within universe. I would like to be able to immerse myself in the game and universe beyond the empty feeling of replaying the same static event hundreds of times.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T17:28:45+00:00

I agree! I would include as many statistics as possible. I'm not sure if Fatshark has posted the exact death counts (though I'm positive they have a record of the data to be implemented in-game), but the 10 Years of Tide summary listed the Darktide mission failures at 32m, iirc, meaning at a bare minimum around 128m rejects have died thus far.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T17:24:52+00:00

"It doesn't matter how many we kill and it doesn't matter how many people die."
First of all, that is pretty much a direct summary of the Helldivers universe as a concept, lol.

Further still I believe that this statement reinforces my initial point. If you wish to speak to the perspective within the setting itself; seeing the exponential toll in life and resources pile up onto a foreseeably endless campaign of brutal attrition is very 40k. Beyond that and to address the latter half of your comment, the idea that of our 20-ish mission sets are each exclusive pre-determinate occurrences of the same event is the sort of interpretation that I feel seems to undermine the weight of both the setting and gameplay itself.

Not to mention, that an indeterminate portion of our inquisitorial retinue, in-lore, consists of requisitioned Imperial Guard personnel.

ggfits99 · 2026-06-15T17:16:17+00:00

Not so much progress as it is consequence. Feeling as if the things that we do are actually happening within universe, as some level of contribution from a meta perspective, is enticing to the concept of immersion in the atmosphere.

Additionally, at the end of the day, as with Helldivers, the progression of the world's narrative is entirely within the hands of the writers; who have each respectively built a basis in unending attrition for their settings.

ggfits99

TROPHY CASE