The rocket like design of a bolter round gives it the ability to cover more distance, perhaps striking the target at a faster speed as well the greater the distance covered, but by doing so it also trades mass (fuel reactant) for speed. Now in terms of energy, that's very good, because of E=1/2mv², but in terms of momentum where P=mv, mass is surely lost while waste doesn't ideally transform into energy, and air drag would still diminish v anyway if the projectile were inert.Lucky wrote:I've never seen a bolt portrayed in a visual medium as being better then an equally large caliber slug thrower, and I'm not sure a bolter is used at a range that the fact it is has a rocket motor matters?Mr. Oragahn wrote: Still, as I said, by being self propelled, the bolter rounds still strike with more force than projectiles solely relying on their initial muzzle velocity. The perforation mixed to that constant thrust allows them to enhance the chance of delivering the damage inside the target.
All those grenade are powerful but won't get beyond the initial layer of protection.
However, what a bolter round gains in range, it loses in charge. Namely, the propellant takes the room that more explosive would take in the case of an explosive round fired from a grenade launcher (or, to a ligher caliber, from a slug fired by a shotgun).
Besides, my point was that an explosive will lose speed and trajectory coherence over a distance, but once it hits the target, if it's designed to trigger an explosion that propels a molten spike of metal forward for example, then the damage of perforation is ought to be considerably higher since most of the equivalent of fuel, but this time stored and kept whole during the entire projectile's trip, will be strictly used as an perforating charge.
Bolters are rather poor weapons at close range and very good to gain extra meters in range, however accuracy would leave much to be desired, but would surely manage to pin down an enemy at a far distance and with the round's design, no one aside an Ork would try to openly stand out because they'd still cause lots of damage.
An omnidirectional frag grenade, although of a heavier caliber of a bolter round I guess, wouldn't focus its energy on a single point. It really depends on the kind of target you're dealing with, quantity of targets, flocking, mobility, visibility, armour and distance.
It turns out to be very hard to say which is better unless you start running down the calculations.
But for our case here, since we've seen Space Marines go down to bolter fire but survive several shots from laser pistols, a bit less from laser rifles, we can more or less safely peg the kind of firepower that would be necessary for a 10-men squad to take one SM down.
Stubbers' projectiles expand all their energy at launch. It greatly simplifies the estimation of their firepower. We know that air drag will be the main if not the single element of perturbation that would hamper the destructive ability of the weapon.Hevy Stubers are about as good as Heavy Bolters in the game stats. The idea that bolters are better then stubbers designed for the same task in any real way doesn't really hold water as they are used for the same thing at the same ranges in the fluff.
As seen above, it's not so easy when it comes to bolters.
For a similar round size, a bolter round would provide better range on the average but have a much lower muzzle velocity and turn out to be inferior on short range, only counting on a perforating head and some small quantity of explosive at the tip to provide good damage.
Assuming a heavy stubber would use explosive rounds with a AP tip, I'd pick the stubber any day considering the usual skirmish scenario you see SMs stuck in.
A boltgun is superior in that it appears most stub guns use the most basic kind of rounds. I don't find any mention of AP rounds.
Still, if heavy stubbers can harm SMs in game, I guess we can safely infer that our ten men shouldn't have many issues in taking that SM down.
You've never seen the carts of ammo they tug? :)One should wonder why the IOM has so many projectile weapons used by planet hopping forces, and given the relatively small number of bolts a SM can carry when compared to how many he will need it is insane.Mr. Oragahn wrote: Besides, considering that Space Marines tend to engage targets at rather close ranges, the use of self propelled projectiles strikes me as odd.
In a way, it would be good if the projectiles would come with self-guidance systems. But that would require a level of refinement and technological might in advanced weapon systems simply not encountered within the IoM.
Still, you're totally right, those clips are going to get expanded way too fast, and funny thing, while vanilla troops come with plenty of pockets and bags to carry ammo, this is hardly what you see a SM use.
Where do they store the numerous extra clips?
On another hand, this is funny: