An MIU provides a bonus when used with compatible equipment. How do I determine if a piece of equipment or a vehicle has an MIU uplink port?

Vehicles and sophisticated electronics are probably easy: it it would reasonably have a USB port on it if built today, an MIU link probably fits in a socket somehwere (given that STC probably impacts electronics as much as mechanics). This even covers Logic and Inquiry bonuses for an exceptional MIU, since those could pretty much only mean interfacing with a cogitator bank or the like.

But an exceptional or better MIU also gives bonuses to Ballistic Skill. And, of course, the Devastator description makes a mention of high-end devastators using MIUs to see from the vantage point of their barrel (like a Dark Reaper, but I digress).

So how do I know if a gun supports an MIU link to see from the barrel, guide the projectile, or otherwise finesse the shot into a +10 bonus?

Jaxal said:

Something like that will determined by your GM, and if you are the GM then I would say thats your discretion. I am pretty liberal in my games as far as that is concerned, since vehicles are a rare appearance in my games, but I guess if you are using them often then I would say just about all high-end imperial vehicals would have them.

Jaxal said:

As a GM I assume all kinds of relevant gear has a MIU interface. Indeed it would be a shock if it didn't - the tech-priests who build it would have failed to provide means to experience direct communion with the machine spirit.

Alex

Depends on the local tech level and whathaveyou. Land raider weaponry will certainly have an MIU link, whereas pintel mounts on a dune buggy won't. I don't see it as something that.

40k isn't a world of cyberpunk 'smartguns' though. It's not eh MIU's 'job' to give another sneaky +10BS bonus to bolter attacks. Keep the BS bonus to mounted (vehicle or other hard-point) weapons, to represent the banks of targeting computers and stuff.

Vehicle mounted weapons were the missing piece I needed to make sense of it. Thanks, folks!

That said, I'm surprised that "MIU Link" isn't an available upgrade for weapons.

Jaxal said:

That's because a MIU isn't a smart gunlink except for everyone who has never been to Mars perhaps. If you accept that every machine coming from the AdMech has a machine spirit, then the MIU is a way to link your spirit to him/her/it. It has the additional in-game effect of granting these bonuses but for a Techmarine that is probably not the main thing, I take it.

Every GM runs it his way, in my game the AdMech routinely provides access to points to machines it builds to allow for sacred communion. You can make the player occasionally roll some Tech-Use or Trade(Technomat) in order placate an angry machine spirit to get the bonuses too.

Alex

I was thinking more in terms of this line from the Devastator section:

Other devices include additional targeting gear built into the Devastator Marine's helmet and integrating with pick-ups on the weapon itself, allowing him to see his target from the point of view of his weapon's barrel.

I was surprised there were no rules for such (that I could find, anyway) in the rulebook.

The Astartes Targeter that's built into a helmet seems to have that sort of feature.

ak-73 said:

I've always seen the Elerctro-Graft as the means of communion with machine spirits. The MIU is something different. It's a control mechanism - more reigns and riding crop to the Electro-Grafts "machine whisperer".

MIU Item upgrade for up to 5 requisition points and a few lines of device examples of integrated MIU is something we should push for an addition to FAQ and Errata

My reading of the MIU description is that a Common MIU is control-only. It gives a bonus to Drive, Pilot, and Tech-Use because it cuts the reaction time and doesn't waste time pushing buttons.

An Exceptional or better MIU also gives bonus to logic, inquiry, and communing with machine spirits. I interpret this to mean it can also suck data directly back into your brain.

An Electro-graft is similar, but requires more training to use (both because it integrates with the Mechanicus Logis processor instead of the brain directly, and because it only requires a data port instead of technology that's specifically meant for a brain interface.)

An Electro-graft doesn't give a bonus on Drive, for example, because a Landspeeder isn't designed to take control input from a data port, but is designed to allow a pilot in artificer armor (free MIU in helmet) to boost his reaction time.

tkis said:

I'm hoping for something in Rites of Battle.