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Therion posted:Does Shira Calpurnia get faster or more detective-y? I like the premise (and the beginning of the second book about a rogue trader) but the first book dragged on a lot with its religious wankery bullshit. Also the "plot twist" at the end was telegraphed so hard that I rolled my eyes after reading the scooby doo style reveal thing. The Rogue trader story was probably the least interesting book out of the three for me. I really enjoyed the third book since the author obviously got better with experience, and it has an actual murder mystery as well as showing you the inner working of the Adeptus Astropathica which was something really new. I would tell you to skip the second book, but one of the main plot elements of the third book is a direct consequence of the second book's ending. Let me know if you want me to just spoil that for you so you can move on to the third book and skip the second.
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Jul 11, 2012 06:16
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berzerkmonkey posted:I'm selling off a bunch of my BL books in SA Mart if anyone is interested: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3495517 How are the Necromunda books? I've read Survival of the Fittest and liked that one, how are the rest in comparison?
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Jul 13, 2012 07:34
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berzerkmonkey posted:Because humans don't know where the "doors" are. On top of that, the Webway is like a labyrinth, and if you don't know the structure, you will get lost. Finally, much of the Webway is in disrepair, and many of the doors and tunnels have collapsed. Doesnt Ravener and crew use something like a webway (in the shape of a magic door) to time travel at some point?
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Jul 21, 2012 18:58
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Nephilm posted:They use AIs; advanced machine spirits are just that (more basic ones are expert systems, and lower is just general programming or not even a thing). However, they're not fashioned to think like humans, but instead be like sort of an animal sapience related to its task. You could say, for instance, that the AI that drives a Land Raider is like an attack dog in scope and personality. And that fulfills the edict: you may not fashion an artificial construct in the likeness of man. I've always understood those to be advanced programs tailored to a particular task, not true AI's since they are not sentient or capable of learning new behaviors.
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Jul 25, 2012 09:54
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Arquinsiel posted:Damp? Soggy? Moist? Wet pussy moan. brb gotta film a parody 40k porno.
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Sep 23, 2012 00:24
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Arquinsiel posted:The Genevive books are pretty awesome oldschool Fantasy, as are all the Gotrek and Felix books until Giantslayer (which is... weird. And has the Webway....). Wait a minute..... Wouldnt that mean that Warhammer Fantasy and 40k exist in the same universe? 
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Nov 19, 2012 12:24
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Safety Factor posted:Yeah, they used to. That was a long time ago though and they've gone to an effort to make sure they don't really crossover anymore. Huh, for some reason I was always under the impression they were supposed to be completely different universes. Although to be honest I've never been into Warhammer Fantasy so I'm only familiar with 40k.
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Nov 19, 2012 13:48
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Are the two Sisters of Battle books worth reading?
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Nov 20, 2012 05:03
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Didnt really get an answer on the previous page, are the Sisters of Battle books any good?
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Nov 27, 2012 01:14
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So I'm reading through the Night Lords books and I find that I like all the characters except Talos, who just keeps whining like a little bitch while murdering people. My Primarch  Better skin some people.
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Dec 4, 2012 07:07
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Ugh, still trying to slog through Night Lords, and Talos is getting more annoying with every passing page. Also, his guys keep winning fights for no logical reason. They inflict about the same amount of damage on their opponents as they suffer themselves, and yet every time they just get up, dust off their armor and move along while their opponents die. I think I might just have to stay away from chaos marine fluff, because if this is the best of it, I'm unimpressed.
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Dec 7, 2012 00:53
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Nephilm posted:If you mean the fight against the other claw, they almost died, as should become more apparent quickly enough; also they win fights because they're the best of the warband aside from the terminator honor guard. Thats what bothers me, they always "almost" die. One of them stabs an enemy space marine with his gladius and that space marine dies. But if one of them is stabbed, they just grit their teeth and keep going. Its illogical and annoying. Combined with how irritating Talos is as a leader, I dont even want them to win anymore, and yet they still do for no reason, time and time again.
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Dec 7, 2012 01:52
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Shroud posted:Keep going. I just got past Xarl's death and that was bullshit too. He stunned a guy in full terminator armor (wearing his helm) by head-butting him with his bare head. The fact that he was the one left standing and not the other guy runs contrary to all logic, even though he died afterwards.
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Dec 7, 2012 03:13
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Fried Chicken posted:None of that means they aren't traumatized. A highly relevant quote I once saw was "the conceit of the West is the idea that there is post traumatic trauma. That is is something that only happens when you send people to fight int he third world, and not something their poor at home live in every day" You could argue that by the year 40,000 people on death worlds would adapt to dealing with such mental stress far better than people today would by simple Darwinian selection. After all, modern humans have existed for only about 250,000 years total, so 10,000-20,000 years is plenty of time for aggressive selection to produce psychological adaptation in humans.
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Dec 19, 2012 06:38
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Jacobobb posted:Darwinian evolution doesn't work that quickly, and adapting to stress seems more Lamarckian than Darwinian anyways. Humans are almost exactly the same today as we were 4,000 years ago. Probably even before that but there aren't any records, so who knows? Sure it can. We arent talking about qualitatively new adaptations, just quantitative changes in protein and hormone expression levels. 10,000 years is about 500 human generations. We have experiments showing evolutionary adaptations after about that many generations in micro-organisms like E. coli. Edit: Also Lemarckian evolution isnt a real thing, you should know that. Mr.48 fucked around with this message at 07:23 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 07:17
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Jacobobb posted:Self selecting organisms that can withstand high concentrations of penecillin and self selecting with peoples' brain biochemistry are totally not even close to being the same thing practically. If it was that easy, why wouldn't we have weeded it out already? After all, it only takes 500 generations, right? Its in the same ballpark, and its the only real evidence we have at the moment. You on the other hand have NO evidence to back up your position. Also, you should know that I have a degree in biochemistry and am currently finishing another degree in neurobiology. I know this poo poo. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Dec 19, 2012 07:25
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Jacobobb posted:Fine, then pushing that aside. You're saying Games Workshop put that much thought into it 25 years ago, but even now they can't get the timelines/ consistencies in line between books and codicies? If you're just trolling, I admit you got me. People in the grimdark future are supposed to be pretty much 20th century man. This is starting to get into Star Trek levels of gooniness. Not at all, its just not totally implausible for humans who have been surviving under the extreme selective pressures of a death-world to have evolved slightly different psychological responses to stress than what we have today. Again, I'm not saying GW have actually thought about any of this, just that what berzerkmonkey and Demiurge4 posted isnt necessarily wrong.
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Dec 19, 2012 07:41
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Fried Chicken posted:Actually, it is. Lamarck was right to a degree. It just applies to epigenetics and possibly some of the proteome, rather than the genome. For epigenetics the mechanism is believed to be DNA methylation. Epigenetics only really applies to evolution within the confines of the germ-line, so what Lemarck said really doesn't apply here. I had the misfortune of taking an entire course by a professor who was pushing the whole Lemarckian revival, but he hadn't done any actual research for over 30 years, and was about 40 years out of date on modern genetics. It gets press because its a pretty radical notion, but those pieces usually stretch the implications for evolution pretty far outside the actual science. Edit: ^^^^ Those studies rely on traits being introduced in a whole-organism manner which can impact the germ line. Superficially, it may resemble what Lemarck was talking about, but what he actually wrote is provably wrong. What I'm objecting to is giving him any credit he doesnt deserve by evoking his name. Really, the only reason people do it is because controversy increases readership and citations. Mr.48 fucked around with this message at 08:38 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 08:20
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Fried Chicken posted:Knowledge of the germ-line and Gregor Mendel's work didn't happen until 37 years after Lamarck's death, so that is a rather unfair criticism. All scientific theories are limited by the other knowledge available at the time Still doesnt make him right though, which is what bothers me when people start smugly throwing around his name, as if it proves something to the mean old Darwinists. poo poo, I've already seen creationists mentioning the so-called "Lemarckian revival" in their arguments against evolution by natural selection. It sounds ridiculous but I've actually seen them saying things like "all those geneticists were wrong about inheritance of acquired traits, what else are they wrong about?" 
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Dec 19, 2012 08:44
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The Black Library: Do the Evolution (mandatory soundtrack) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI I never knew Pearl Jam was into 40K, but some of the imagery in that video is dead on. Mr.48 fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Dec 19, 2012 |
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Dec 19, 2012 10:24
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berzerkmonkey posted:I don't really see any 40K relation, but this is a pretty cool video (though I have to admit I do not like Pearl Jam one bit.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDaOgu2CQtI&t=189s I dont think its intentional but the imagery is pretty grimdark.
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Dec 19, 2012 22:36
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bunnyofdoom posted:Jenkins vastly misunderstood what a corporate raider was. It took the janitorial staff 3 days to get the blood off the cubicle walls. I immediately thought of the Crimson Permanent Assurance. http://vimeo.com/32014997
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Dec 25, 2012 09:47
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I think it might be something to do with finally revealing WTF is going on with the Alpha legion, and possibly setting them up as an independent faction thats neither on the side of Chaos or the Emperium. The Space Marine fan-base is loving obsessed with them and Abnett has already teased bringing them into his series of fluff with Pariah. My real wish though is for them to advance the setting already. Possibly by having the Emperium losing a lot of ground and having the other factions move into the core human worlds. Mr.48 fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Dec 27, 2012 |
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Dec 27, 2012 23:32
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Affi posted:Yeah having Eisenhorn go to Terra to try and resurrect the Emperor of Mankind with Alpha Legion by his side and Ravenor following him with the might of the Imperium. It'll be interesting. Lets face it, if GW/BL are going to let any author write something that huge, it would be Abnett.
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Dec 30, 2012 00:46
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Cooked Auto posted:I'm more amazed they haven't apparently even considered just readding all of their back-archive as digital content. I mean they've published a whole bunch of stuff through the years so why not make that available digitally now? Because unless they're selling plastic figures GW hates money. This is well known. Hell, they turned down licensing their IP for the game that would later become loving Warcraft. Mr.48 fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Jan 23, 2013 |
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Jan 23, 2013 01:22
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Arquinsiel posted:Dawn of War also has the infamous "SPESS MAHREENS!" though.... Better than the "SPICE MOREENS!" oh the actual Space Marine game.
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Feb 3, 2013 22:23
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EyeRChris posted:As much as i love the grim dark of the WH40k lore I can't help but love Cain a bit more than the rest. Something about a commissar of the imperium being a coward who has lucked out into being its greatest hero simply because he treats his troops nice (so they won't 'accidently' frag his rear end) amuses me to no end. Just started the Greater Good. I got the first two omnibus' so what are the other stories I'm missing Emporeres finest and ??? The thing about Cain is that he is only a coward by the standards of the Commissariat which are absolutely ludicrous. The underlying joke is that by 21th century standards he is an exemplary soldier.
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Mar 16, 2013 19:03
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DirtyRobot posted:I've always thought of primarchs becoming daemon princes kind of like going after low-hanging fruit. I mean, if an extraordinary regular human could, theoretically, eventually become a daemon prince, I feel like the evil primarchs should--already being "demi-gods" and all--be setting their sights higher: becoming a full-blown chaos god or something. Well Ahriman certainly has his sights set on godhood.
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Nov 3, 2013 07:00
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So I was reading some more standard bolter-porn and thought to myself for the nth time: gently caress, even I could write better than this. So why the hell not try it? I'm unemployed right now, so I figure I'll give writing horrible 40k fiction a shot. Its been a while since I wrote any kind of fiction, but after numerous papers and lately my masters thesis my writing skills shouldn't be too bad. I figure I could submit it to BL, and if they dont want it I'll just release it for free and chalk it up as an "experience".
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Nov 12, 2013 08:22
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Everyone write good 40k fanfiction. GO
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Nov 13, 2013 06:25
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Honestly, given that GW refuses to advance the 40k setting, I could easily see a fan-association that could curate (in terms of quality not content) fanfiction aimed specifically towards advancing the overall 40k storyline. And by fanfiction I dont mean fiction about existing characters, I mean brand new material.
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Nov 13, 2013 07:21
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Lincoln`s Wax posted:Yeah, the sounds pretty horrible. As much as we may want the storyline to advance, it won't be 40k if it does. There is grim darkness, there is only war. Who knows, one day GW may decide to push forward a bit but as it is, there are 10,000 years of war that span the entire galaxy- there are acres of room for new characters and stories. Of course people want to read about primarchs returning and kicking rear end, Abaddon actually winning a crusade, the emperor dying, or the greatest waaagh ever that involves giant orks riding heirophants into battle. All that stuff you mentioned would be pretty cheesy. Instead, what I have in mind is to push for changes to how the factions work and look individually rather than making one of them "win" or "lose". Something that I would personally like to write about is a worsening of the schism in the Imperium between the church and the adeptus mechanicus, leading to a low-grade civil war.
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Nov 13, 2013 21:52
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Cream_Filling posted:Why would this be a good thing and what is stopping you from just setting up the same situation in some as yet unseen backwater of the galaxy. Nothing is topping me, but I'm saying that in order to be endorsed by GW it seems that any story must always return to the status-quo, and can never impact the Imperium as a whole. Maybe its just me, but I personally find the inner workings of the Imperium far more interesting than the shooty-bang lasers of the wars against chaos and various xenos.
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Nov 13, 2013 22:46
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Cream_Filling posted:Except how does being unable to make huge sweeping changes for change's sake in the continuity somehow preclude you from exploring the inner workings of the Imperium? It doesn't, but my point is that for me, exploring a significant socio-poliotical event should be open-ended in terms of how it affects the greater setting. GW restricts such exploration in order to preserve their existing game rules and canon, which is why I suspect that the only foreseeable evolution of the setting will come from "fanfiction" if at all. The only problem would be maintaining the consistency of the "flavor" with everyone writing whatever they want. Thats why I mentioned the idea of forming an association to produce fan-created expansion of the setting while maintaining some degree of consistency. It would probably end in tears but hey its just an idea.
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Nov 14, 2013 07:01
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Arquinsiel posted:What is it about 40k that compels the inflicting of avatars on one-another? It seems to be the number one cause of avatars bought for people that isn't brony invasions. Honestly, I would consider one of those a badge of honor. It takes some skill to make someone so angry that they're willing to spend money in the hopes of causing you a tiny amount of embarrassment. I used to have a really funny one someone bought because he/she thought I was racist.
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Nov 19, 2013 08:16
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Mr Teatime posted:Was Kor Phaeron totally like that towards Lorgar though? I may be misremembering the first heretic but I seem to recall that despite all the manipulation, when Lorgar went to fight Corax Phaeron's reaction was terror that his son was going to die. Maybe I interpreted it wrong but perhaps since Phaeron was a priest of the old religion and truly believes in the chaos stuff he actually does think of Lorgar as his son at the same time as he conspires to manipulate him onto the 'true' path. Thats how I remember it too.
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Nov 28, 2013 16:00
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Noctis Horrendae posted:A PvP 40k MMO is coming out, and contrary to what people said in other posts, it isn't canceled or even close to being canceled. GW is pretty has been farming out the license almost exclusively to terrible studios that have no business making games (with the exception of the now-defunct Relic). The only possible explanation is that GW is greedy as gently caress and demands ridiculous royalties in exchange for the license, resulting in proper developers laughing in their faces, while terrible studios with "movie game" money see it as an opportunity to make some easy cash from fanatics that will buy anything with 40k on the box.
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Jan 21, 2014 22:04
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Noctis Horrendae posted:
Word of warning about the Night Lords though: The books are well written but the characters themselves might not be all that much fun to read about, depending on your tolerance for self-delusion(which I know was sort of the point). Eisenhorn is pretty loving awesome though, despite being more adventury with far less bolter-porn.
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Feb 6, 2014 07:14
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On it.
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The second Sisters of Battle book by James Swallow had some interesting Necron characterization. Hammer and Anvil I think?
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Feb 6, 2014 23:16
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The Rat posted:Hammer and Anvil was readable. It wasn't great, but it wasn't completely terrible. It did suffer a bit from the "hey look at the shiny new toys in the Necron codex" thing. Lots of overly wordy description of the new Necron units. Yeah, as someone who was never all that interested in Necrons I didnt really give a crap about their whiz-bang shooty-bots, but the characterization and interplay between the Necron scientist and general were interesting.
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Feb 7, 2014 03:58
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