I had a couple questions about warp travel, in my mind travelling in the warp is like sailing on the ocean there are storms, currents, and 'winds' that you have to mind to get through safely. Basically travelling in the warp is like sailing on the high seas in the 19th century. So my question is could two ships 'see' each other in the warp, could the run across each and have battles and boarding actions? or should i treat warp travel as being blind inside a cocoon, once you transition over no-one else can interact with you until you transition back?

Just wanting to get a read on what some of you guys think.

Your comparison to the sea is quite correct, though it is perhaps more like under rather than on the sea - with appropriately limited perception of one's surroundings. I would say that it could be possible to make eye contact with whatever is travelling through the warp if it gets close enough (think the hyperspace in Babylon 5, just even more murky), for it is known that daemons prey on Imperial ships, waiting for a chance to enter them - and there have even been cases where a particularly large daemon physically merged with them, forming a corrupted hulk.

Something to keep in mind, though, is that staring at the warp would likely make you mad. I am under the impression that all ships travel with armoured blinds to prevent exposure. A journey through the warp is an extremely hazardous thing, and even if the player characters themselves won't notice in their thrice-shielded quarters and command decks, each jump has a high chance of driving a few of their deckhands mad ...

That's how Bilge Scum gets created.

Trust me, you don't want to know what is hiding in the lower decks of your own vessel.

Well, if you consider a Black Library book canon... There's one book, I think Execution Hour , where there is a battle between two ships in the warp. It is described as very short range due to limitations on sighting, and on the warp spontaneously mutating any ordnance that leaves the ship's Gellar field...

Cheers,

- V.

Ugh, wasn't that the one that had the SoB help an Ork Clan attack Imperial settlements for lulz, with 16 year old Celestians and a Canoness + honor guard getting killed off by a single Storm Trooper? Some authors need to be slapped with a Codex. :I

Still, doesn't necessarily mean that this writer's perception of the warp is contradicting. Personally, I'd deem physical attacks entirely possible (including the aforementioned effect on the ordnance), though I maintain that looking into the warp (which is a requirement for battle) isn't healthy for one's sanity, making battle quite difficult. I'd also bet that there are BL novels that describe it differently.

That said, I'm afraid there is not a lot of hard studio canon when it comes to detailed descriptions of the warp, so you may be left to pick what you as a GM (or the collective of your group) deem most appropriate.

[edit] Nvm, the novel I recalled was "Redemption Corps", I take back the aforementioned rant. Though I'm still sceptical about the "looking at the warp" thingie.

Isn't there something in the Battlefleet Gothic stuff about this topic?

Hrmm, id let an Inqisitor show up after battle and kill off all gunnery officers.

The first battle of Armageddon saw all participants neutered and sent into slave camps. Looking into the warp itself, when you arent supposed to (Navigators and Astropaths rejoice) simply spells doom for you soul.

I think the warp shock rules would be more than in full effect. Any round that transforms can also hit your ship as a fear causing daemon mutated metal monstrosity, which will cause even more corruption and insanity.

This is just extrapolation though. Id keep all viewports shuttered in the warp.

IN the Horus Heresy novel, Battle for the Abyss there's a running battle in the Warp while a couple of ships work to chase down and stop the Word Bearer's super-weapon, the Furious Abyss before it takes out the heart of the Ultramarine worlds. It's been over a year so I don't recall quite so much of the battle, but I do recall that taking on any damage was very bad especially when the Gellar field flickers or goes out.

Battles in the Warp should be quite possible. You could even do it with your gunnery relying on the Navigator or an Astropath alone. No risk of staring at the warp but pitifully inaccurate fire. The gunners would simply be told to aim in a certain direction by the Navigator and hope for the best.

Also, many projectiles would probably just disappear in the warp.

Overall, it would be possible but very hard. Also, there'd be a good chance that the Gellar field might be damaged by a power fluctuation from battle damage or something along those lines. Such a terrible risk would make even the most hardened captain not want to fight in the warp.

But I seem to recall reading about some battles in the Warp. That daemon ship mentioned in Creatures Anathema can also fight in the warp, but as its a daemon ship I'd call it somewhat of an exception.

I was thinking of "Execution Hour" by Gordon Rennie. It's part of the Gothic Sector war, where Abbadon takes the Planet Killer and decides to blow up an Imperial world just for lulz, and to terrify the Imperials. There aren't any SoB's in it, as I recall, though it has been some time since I read it.

Lynata, thanks for the review. I don't have the passion for the Sisters that you do, and that wretched level of fluff violation - no thanks! Was it another "gem" from Goto, perchance?

Cheers,

- V.

Ok so I'm getting battles in the warp feasible, but a horrible idea. That sounds about right. Thanks for the help guys.

from france

nop vandergraffe is right on that book execution hour deals with chaos and planet with some important people and shadow point the following book deals with ork eldar dark eldar and chaos. it s writen by gordon rennie and it s quite good.

look also about the book of the horus heresy when the word bearer send a massive ship to deals with the ultramarine in a preventive strike. they use a psychic mine in the warp to stop the task force chasing them.

For that matter, it's entirely possible to ambush ships in the Warp, although a smart move is to force the ambushee out of the Empyrean (a sufficiently strong psychic shockwave should do the trick, as shown in both Battle for the Abyss and Death or Glory ).

The latter example also demonstrates that it is possible to detect, scan and record images of other ships in the warp, as demonstrated by records shown at a post-battle inquiry: a Brute ramship was holding station just further out from the usual in-system jump-point, filled with Weirdboyz. They deliberately caused a big psychic pulse (which attracted daemonic attention, so they didn't last much longer), forcing many ships in the Imperial relief fleet to drop out of the warp early, and fight their way through the waiting ork fleet.