How do Eldar ships travel the warp differently than ships of the Imperium? Techniques, methods? Thanks!

I think they use webway gates to get around, theres small ones and large ones.

Precisely. The webway has a few gates that are big enough for voidships. Entering the warp proper would be... impractical for the Eldar.

There is indication that they use short jumps to get to areas that are not connected to (or have been sealed off from) the webway. Rather then use navigators to 'see' dangers in the warp, the follow the strands of Fate to the most advantagous path threw the immiterium.

There's also indication that they can shift webway gates to a new location if they need to: case in point, Stalinvast IV didn't have a webway gate in orbit before Inquisitor Draco's visit. Since then, one has been sighted.

So the Eldar basically have "star gates" in the systems where they operate? I have yet to read the entire RT rulebook - is this mentioned there?

Thanks!

(signed, RT Noob)

Not to my knowledge, only Human/Chaos/Ork/Other people who use normal warp travel stuff is covered in Rogue Trader.

And it's not really a "Stargate", as such. It basically lets them access what is essentially passageways through space and time. However, if the place they are going to doesn't have a Webway Portal, they then just have to use Webway Portals to get as close as they can to their destination, and then use the Warp the rest of the way (which they really dislike doing, given how much they fear losing their souls to Slaanesh).

Are the larger webway portals for ships actual mechanical gates or rings that the Eldar ships may pass through, and if so, may a non-Eldar ship use them?

Thanks!

Thats a bit fuzzy. Generally, webway gates for vehicles and personnel look like this:

http://www.wargamer.com/files/articles/2660/20090225100147.jpg

There is nothing mechanical involved, and also no rings. I would avoid the stargate comparison.

Older novels seem to suggest that webway gates can also look like natural openings, which probably means that the actual wraithbone construct is concealed via a holofield. This adds to the mystery, maybe even local rumors within populations of other races (the fey are hiding in the mountains, etc.)

Starships would use similar exits/entrypoints, even if they are bigger and float somewhere hidden in empty space. Given the enormous space and the relatively small size of such portals (they don´t need to be as big as the ship that wants to enter, they just project the opening "field") it is very unlikely that ships other than eldar ones will ever find one. This gets even more improbable when hidden by concealing fields.

Eldar technology is not easily used by other races, most of it is operated via psychic contact. I would imagine that psychic barriers and race-constricted traps would make it impossible for a human psyker to activate it. The use of the webway is a closely guarded secret, and other races are not welcome to profit from it.

The Eldar allowed Imperial Navy ships to use Eldar webway to intercept a Chaos fleet during the Gothic war.

Portable webway portals have appeared as wargear in all Craftworld/Dark/EoT codices.

There is a great deal of contradicting fluff regarding the webway, I suspect they are something of a macguffin plot device. I do not believe that either GW or FFG have solid ideas about their exact abilities and limitations.

Tang86 said:

Webway sidebar is on page 357