I've been looking over the various gear after the last errata and come up with a list of questions and clarifications. I did search for some of them on the forum but with this many questions I ran out of patience (and didn't find anythign for those I did check). I should state that I'm not well read on 40K so most of the questions are based on what the rules say with a pinch of common sense. In no particular order we have:

Core rulebook exotic weapons weren't included in Errata 1.1, have they changed? (question for the creators really)

Conflagration Meltagun: Described as more damaging but has the same damage as regular melta & Infernus Pistol. Should it actually be +16 to keep it in line with the Infernus Pistol? Also description states fine workmanship, but no craftsmanship level listed. Is this just fluff?

Armour History - Bring Death From Afar: Does this mean that a Heavy weapon (as it counts as a basic weapon) never suffers any penalties when moving and firing on semi/full auto, or (as I believe it should be interpreted) it allows a heavy weapon weilder to move but take the standard penalty that a basic weapon would without this ability?
Also, along with the Suspensor, it removes penalties for moving and firing. Does this mean you still get the bonuses for semi/full auto or not (i'd vote not)? If you have Bring Death From Afar & a Suspensor should you be allowed to move and auto-fire with the regular bonus?

Astartes Plasma cannon: Description states only uses backpack ammo supply, so should it's clip size be 100 (as per Backpack Ammo Supply rules)?

Las Weapons: In case it becomes important, how long does it take to recharge a powerpack from an outlet or fire, either in total or for each shot? Can a Las weapon be rigged to fire directly from a power source (Tech-Use with penalty?), and what kind of recharge would it have(guess it depends on teh powersource)?

Astartes Cyclone Missile Launcher: Description says it uses twin racks of ammo. With a clip size of 12, does it take 2x6 missiles or 2x12?

Astartes Missile Launcher (Soundstrike): Description states "auto-loader rapidly refills...allowing the Battle-Brother to fire the missiles of his choice". If the missile rack has multiple missile types, does this mean the marine can pick a specific type when it reloads or does it have to be pre-set e.g. frag/krak alternating?

Astartes Sniper Rifle: How noisy are the "laser propelled crystallised toxin slivers" it fires? Should it be silent or at least have a reduced awareness as per other stealth weapons?

Hesh Pattern Bolter: Is this really half the range, -2 damage and only Reliable (as opposed to never jams) compared to a regular Master-Crafted Bolter just to gain the Accurate Quality?

Guardian Bolt Pistol: Does "finely made" in the description actually mean Master Craftsmanship as its stats are very similar to the Hesh Pattern Bolter? Otherwise can it be made at a higher craftsmanship?

Weapon Upgrades: Do the requisition costs for these get added before or after the Craftsmanship multiplier (i.e. are they also Exceptional/Master Crafted)?

Fire Selector: As standard ammo is free, presumably you get 2 free clips along with the Fire Selector? Is that weight part of the Fire Selectors weight or additional (assuming encumberence ever becomes a problem)?

Heavy Bolter: Is there anything stopping you taking out the backpack ammo supply and putting in a regular clip & vice versa, like some kind of complicated attachment mechanism or the fact you'd have the ammo loader tube flapping around? Should it take longer to "reload" between a backpack and normal clip?

Power Fields: Description as RAW states it only has a chance to break opponents weapon if you successfully parry with that weapon. Is it assumed that an enemy who attempts to parry is blocking the arm or guard rather than the power field or if an enemy who parries your Power Field weapon give the same chance to break? If not, whats the point of having both the Power Field and Unweildy traits?

Breaching Augur: How big is the harness mount? Would it interfer with having a backpack ammo supply or a jump pack?

Bulkhead Shears: Description states that they are "forced apart by heavy-duty hydraulic systems". This implies to me that the hydraulics are doing the work rather than the Space Marine, and as such they shouldn't be allowed to add their strength bonus. (Not that I am in any way attempting to curtail the FleshTearer Assault Marine from his ridiculous 4d10 keep the best two and add 13+14=27 for his base 60str +armour bonuses)

Storm Bolter: As you get 60 rounds per requisition spent, any squad-member using a regular bolter could give their req to the one taking the storm bolter and create 2 bolter clips of ammo for the same req (as standard ammo is freely available, i assume empty clips are too. Worst comes to worse you take the standard ammo out). Is there any particular reason within the 40K setting that would stop a Space Marine doing this (as opposed to annoying the GM by trying to get around requisition cost)?

Phew! Sorry 'bout the length, feel free to break some of these down into more easily read threads if necessary!

*phew*

Exotics: I guess not!

Con. melta. Well: It's got +2 Pen over the normal one! But yeah...good spot. Should probably be +2 damage too, as otherwise it's not worht another 15 points. The craftsmanship stuff is just fluff.

If you have death from afar and a suspensor, then you should be able to move and gain the normal firing bonuses. It's handy, but not game-breaking, and requires not only substantial Req, but your armour history to be devoted to it.

Plasma cannon: Probably. I'd allow players to use a magazine supply if they wanted, though.

Lasgun batteries on the fire: Several hours, from anecdotal evidence. Remember that jury rigging gear is NOT something that is likely to be done, because it offends machine spirits and is seen as heretical. Characters are bought up in an environment where you do NOT tinker with stuff in unapproved ways, in much the same way as we'd probably be a bit bemused at the thought of urinating on the third rail. I'd say it was technically possible of course, but not something that would be done lightly.

2x6, if I remember the minis correctly

Missiles: Ypu: The Marine can pick what to load next. There's a little loading arm that does it for him.

Sniping: Needle weapons are completely silent.

HESH: Erm... damage is +9 for both weapons and the same. But the range is indeed shorter for some reason.

Guardian: 'Finely made' is just fluff. Normal quality. Though as these are awarded to marines, I suspect that higher quality ones may not be that unusual.

Upgrades: Nope. Upgrade the weapon, then stick the bits on!

Fire selector: Depends on how tight your GM is being with ammunition, but any GM who tries to send PCs into combat with only 3-4 bolter magazines should probably be beaten with the rulebook, to my mind.

HB: Nope. That's perfectly viable. You'd unhook the feed from the backpack and slip in a magazine. It's highly probable that other team-members would carry a magazine of HB ammo each for when the Dev's backpack runs out.

Power field and unwieldy is indeed an oddity. I houseruled that such weapons have the chance of breaking weapons if they are *parried*, instead of when they are used to parry.

Shears: Most GMs don't allow a strength bonus for the reason that you outlined.

SB: Huh? You don't only get one magazine per weapon. There would be practically no point in giving soldiers weapons if that happened. "March forth and destroy the 2 enemy regiments entrenched in that city, tactical squad" "Sure, but if we've only got 28 shots each, we'll just leave the bolters here if that's ok, seeings as they'll be no use after the first 30 seconds of combat. We'll then just use our combat knives. Or y'know: You could give us enough freaking ammunition to USE, seeing as we can all carry a ton or two... sir"

One thing to note with suspensors and death from afar, is it effiectively allows for a full move and firing full auto (at the penalties for firing a basic weapon on full auto and moving). Its very useful for keeping the dev mobile and in squad mode range.

As far as the storm bolter goes, no, theres no reason a SM wouldn't do it in the fiction aside from considering himself above logistics (if the marine in question is particularly aloof). So if the GM doesn't mind, knock yourself out cheating the requisition system

Except that the rounds were probably loaded into each magazine in a sacred place with a whole bunch of chanting and ritual in order to appease the spirits. 'Stealing' the ammunition of a storm bolter and depriving it of the blood of xenos in order to give it to other weapons might displease the weapon, and the normal boltgun would not be receiving ammunition specifically blessed for it's use.

In other words, the GM would be well within his rights to increase misfire/stoppage chances for both weapons in order to stop the players being so cheeky.

If the GM does go with that, then write up house rules for the Umbra Ferrox X10 bolter, as displayed here: http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space_Marine-Infantry-Accessories/SPACE-MARINE-BOLTER---UMBRA-FERROX-X10.html

It has boxed ammunition, so it would logically have more.

If you don't care *that* much, then just get a backpack ammunition supply for your bolter (yes, a little overkill)

Unwieldy weapons with a power field can't break other weapons by parrying them but having the 'Power Field' trait means that they themselves cannot be destroyed by being parried with a 'Power Field' trait weapon.

Your question about the Cyclone Missile Launcher was confusing to me. I may have misread the question, however. At any rate the missile racks are set up to hold 6 missiles in each rack. The missile racks are traditionally located over each shoulder. For a good few of this look at pictures of Terminators with Cyclone Missile Launchers.

Here are the official replies in summary:

Core rulebook exotic weapons - "For the meantime the exotic weapon rules from the Corebook are the ones that should be used."

Conflagration Meltagun - "The damage for the Conflagration Meltagun should be 2d10+16E. The fine workmanship in the description is not indicative of the weapon's base Craftsmanship, it is just flavour text.

Armour History; Bring Death From Afar - "it allows a wielder of a Heavy Weapon to move but still take the standard penalty for moving, while a wielders of Basic and Pistol class weapons get no penalty at all."

Suspensor - "With just the Suspensor you do not get the bonus when moving and firing, however if you have both the Suspensor and Bring Death from afar you can move and get the auto-fire bonus."

Astartes Plasma cannon -"Yes, the Plasma Cannon's clip size is 100 rounds since it uses the Backpack Ammo Supply."

Recharging Las Weapons - "It is up to the GM to decide based on the situation. (same goes for hooking it up to a power source, GM's call)"

Astartes Cyclone Missile Launcher - "The clip size of 12 represents the full capacity of the Cyclone Missile Launcher (both racks), so 2x6."

Astartes Missile Launcher (Soundstrike) - "Each time you reload the Missile Launcher (every shot) you can choose what type of missile you want freely (from the missiles you have in your possession)."

Astartes Sniper Rifle - "As written the Astartes Sniper Rifle has no bonus against detection. It is up to the GM if he wants to include rules to make it more stealthy."

Hesh Pattern Bolter - "Yes, the statistics written for the weapons are accurate."

Guardian Bolt Pistol - "Yes, the Guardian Bolt Pistol is a Master Craftsmanship weapon in the same way as the Hesh-Pattern Bolter."

Weapon Upgrades - "...have their own independent Craftmanship from the weapon they are attached to."

Fire Selector - "The additional +1 weight from the fire selector is all you should really worry about with that."

Heavy Bolter - "You can take out the backpack ammo supply and use clips instead, it is up to the GM how long this takes. Your marine would likely have a way to secure the ammo belt to stop it flapping around. Also, there is no reliable strap/hook for a heavy weapon. However, a marine can hold it in one hand temporarily (but not fire it) and set it down as needed."

Storm Bolter - "Something as specific as using Bolter ammunition for a Storm Bolter is up to the discretion of individual GMs."

Cool. Some good stuff there. Would you mind adding the questions and answers to the errata thread, so that they don't fall off the page and others can reference them?

The combination of Power Field and Unwieldy is important for three reasons. One, it's fluff. Those are still power weapons, even if they can't use the Power Field rules. Two, as mentioned before, it keeps them from being destroyed by weapons with the Power Field quality. Three, the Power Field quality does one more thing besides the destruction: it enhances the weapon's profile with a bonus to damage and penetration. This is already figured into the weapon's profile, so it's not explicitly mentioned.

KommissarK said:

Actually, the armor allows you to move when doing a semi/full burst as if the weapon were a basic weapon. Therefore you may only move up to your agility bonus (in meters) while using this option, as per the semi/full auto burst combat actions. Pages: 239 and 242 last two sentances of the respective action descriptions.

I'd imagine switching a Heavy bolter from belt fed to clip fed would take at least a full reload (so 2 Full actions). Although if desconnecting the belt is anything like taking the belt out of an M-249 I'd increase the time to 3 Full Actions at least (1 Full Action to disconnect the belt feed).

Gaire said:

And four, you do more damages to Hordes with it, if I'm not mistaken.

herichimo said:

Once again, my point is how the armour history stacks with suspensors. Yes, the armour alone allows a marine to fire a heavy weapon on full auto as if it was a basic weapon, effectively allowing the half action move, at a penalty. The thing is, suspensors allow this attack to only cost a half action, allowing for a half action move. Hence, a full move action effectively.

Think of it like this, nothing about suspensors actually has anything to do with what the armour history does. They both do separate things to the FA attack action. Just the synergy between them is kind of cool.

Bleh, Edit edited out some information I added above.

Concerning Needle Rifle (sniper rifle).

Imperial Needle Rifles and their ilk use an invisible laser beam to propel the needle dart to the target. The rifles are almost always equiped with suppressors to mitigate noise from the shot, although your "average" needle rifle suppressor isn't likely as advanced as the one on the RoB sniper rifle.

Now consider the following: The shot from a needle rifle, or any high velocity weapon (bolter, autogun, etc.) will be travelling at several times the speed of sound. Meanwhile the weapons report is traveling only at the spead of sound. The target is always going to be hit by the round (unless the shooter misses) before he hears the sound of the shot. This delay gets larger and larger the farther away the target is. Although it is possible for those around the target to hear the shot after their buddy takes the round. Of course thats considering they are close enough to actually hear the report, at about 1 mile most high-powered non suppressed weapons have become light popping depending on terrain. Most muzzle-flashes from military ammunition is only visible up to 500ish yards in daylight conditions, even shorter when the weapon is equipped with a suppressor (Needle Rifles would be VERY hard to see since their beam is invisible). Technically unless the target has foreknowledge of the attack there is no way he can be aware of such a shot until he has been hit by it.