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Jon Hedge wrote:
> Rather than what you think they *should* be in the current rules,
does
> anyone recall how they *were* treated back in their day?
Hey,
This file on 40k Imperial Robots was among my OCD archives.
It makes oblique reference to transported maniples of bots.
I do remember that, back in the Dark Ages,
five classes of Imperial robot were availible:
Crusader, Colossus, Cataphract, Castellan, and Conqueror.
Imperial Robots
-M Brunton, WD 104
THE LEGIO CYBERNETICA
The Legio is responsible for the care and construction of all Robots
throughout the Imperium. Robots may be used by all kinds of Army and
Marine forces, but they are always under the Legio's final control.
Indeed, many of the Adepts of the Legio have been killed while taking
part in military operations. The Legio continues to serve, aware of its
value as a fighting force, even in the face of 90% plus casualties.
The Legio is organised into several thousand cohorts, although only a
percentage of these is ever active at any one time. Each cohort is in
turn organised into maniples of three, four or five Robots plus a
Legion tech-adept. The number of maniples in a cohort varies, but is
rarely more than 100. However, a cohort is usually spread across an
entire Marine force of several Chapters or a single Army. Battles
involving more than 4 or 5 maniples are rare. This is not to say that
they have never occurred - during the Horus Heresy in particular large
numbers of Robots were committed by both sides in an effort to minimise
human casualties until a decisive final battle could be fought.
Each maniple is virtually a self-contained unit. The (typically) four
units are managed on the battlefield by a single tech-adept. He has
little more to do than give the Robot's their final programs and then
monitor their progress. He is, however, also charged with making sure
that a damaged Robot (which could be dangerous to its own side) is
destroyed as quickly as possible. Each Robot carries a self-destruct
system which can be detonated by remote control should its programming
fail in some way. Although rarely present on the battlefield (if they
can help it) there are also a number of other, lesser tech-adepts who
perform all maintenance and repair functions for the maniple. Their
services are also highly sought after for other purposes. It is said
that a tech-adept of the Legio is worth his weight in spares and can
repair virtually any item of Imperial equipment.
Legio cohorts are occasionally attached to campaigning Marine Chapters,
such as during Operation Carthage (the Second Pacification of Isstvan
V). When the Desert Lions Chapter took the planet's defence forts they
were preceded by a complete Legio Cohort of Robots. The Robots had been
programmed to advance in an apparently mindless fashion, and proved
easy targets for the defenders. However, the Desert Lions used the
opportunity to map out the defenders' fire-plans and blind spots. In
the Lions' ensuing assault only seven Marines were lost. All the
surviving Robots were inducted into the Chapter as honorary members as
a mark of respect.
The Inquisition has also put Cohorts of the Legio to good use. Robots
are, by their very natures, utterly incorruptible. Their preprogrammed,
non-biological natures make them the perfect troops to use against
mutants and other contaminated populations. The terror value of Robots
when used against unprepared and underarmed troops has not gone
unnoticed by the Inquisition. This, combined with their unflagging
loyalty, has made them valued additions to the Inquisition's armoury.
Cohorts attached to the Inquisition are usually staffed by
technician-Inquisitors rather than Legio Adepts. Robots may be pure and
incorruptible; men are not.
This was proven during the Horus Heresy, when many Legio Cohorts
rebelled under the leadership of Warmaster Horus. The Cohorts had been
placed under the Warmaster's command in preparation for a new crusade.
When Horus commanded his forces to move against the Emperor, the Legio
Cohorts at his disposal were among those to obey. In the subsequent
fighting many more of the Adeptus Mechanicus joined Horus and his
rebels, but this did not alter the fact that parts of the Legio had
been the first to declare for the Warmaster. Following the defeat of
the Heresy and the banishment of the Traitor Legions, the dishonoured
Legio Cohorts also fled into the Eye of Terror, where they remain to
this day.
Since the defeat of Horus the Legio Cybernetica has pledged itself anew
to the Imperium. Its members now take binding oaths of loyalty more
terrible than any Marine Chapter oaths. Over the millennia they have
regained the respect and admiration of the rest of the Adeptus
Mechanicus, the Imperial Guard, and the Adeptus Astartes.
Legio maniples require less transport space than standard military
units (Robots can be carried in open space without harm), less life
support and food (Robots neither eat nor drink) and less battlefield
support (Robots usually carry their own heavy weapons). Many Robots use
standard armaments, reducing the need for specialised supplies, and can
interchange parts with Dreadnoughts. All this makes them extremely
popular with practical military commanders.
Some of the older Cybernetica cohorts claim that their Robotic troops
date, in part at least, back to the First Crusade of the Imperium and
earlier. These claims may have some validity, as Robots are often
cannibalised to provide parts for their damaged brethren. Given the
lifespans of Imperial technologies when maintained, such claims become
reasonable. It is indeed possible that one Robot's leg, or Power Field
or cortex has been in almost constant use for more than ten thousand
years.
Like a Dreadnought, a Robot is the product of the many advanced
technologies which have produced its armoured shell, its artificial
muscle and nerve bundles, its cortex, power plant, weapons control
systems, equipment interfaces and cortex. The Mechanicus Weapon-shops
turn out many Robots to the age-old designs held in the memory banks.
Castellan and Crusader pattern Robots, for example, are known to have
fought on both sides during the Horns Heresy. The designs have remained
virtually unchanged since that time, with perhaps only minor cosmetic
variations.
Many Robot components are identical (or nearly so) to Dreadnought
parts. This compatibility simplifies many supply and repair problems.
Legio cohorts have, for example, been cannibalised out of existence to
provide spares for Dreadnought suits! In return Legio Cybernetica
adepts have not been averse to dismantling Dreadnought suits -
sometimes even killing the pilot in the process - when making
battlefield repairs.
What makes a Robot different from an unoccupied Dreadnought suit is its
cortex. This is an artificial brain of sorts, which is constructed from
artificial proteins and enzymes. This cortex is imprinted with simple
maintenance and movement routines - a rudimentary 'mind'. These enable
the Robot to obey simple instructions ("Open the Weapon Bay Door,
Please... Move Ahead to the Holding Area" etc) when away from the
battlefield. These 'firmware' routines (so called because they are
'wired in' software) are often patterned after living creatures, and a
Robot may develop a dog-like devotion to its technician-master.
Before a battle the firmware routines are overlaid and replaced by the
Robot's combat wetware (ie the software of a protein computer). This
new cortex program, which can be changed for every battle, defines, for
example, how and when the Robot is to fire its weapons or detonate its
self-destruct charges.
Each piece of wetware is held in a small slice of bioplastic, about the
same size as a credit card. Many warriors take these from 'dead'
robots, believing that them to hold the soul and courage of the robot.
When kept in a medicine pouch some of the robot's bravery passes into
the warrior; even some Marine Chapters have been known to follow this
tradition.
Without its cortex a Robot is as helpless as a bolter without a Marine.
It can do nothing other than take whatever punishment is meted out to
it. With its cortex fully programmed, however, a Robot can prove itself
the equal of many other creatures on the battlefield.
Playa
--
HTH
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