I will admit that I have not seen the Only War beta, but I would like to ask two questions:

Are the vehicle rules in Only War the same as the rules in Deathwatch and Rogue Trader? And are there any major differences between the three?

Kind of. They look like the vehicles found in Rites of Battle, but the rules are a bit more in-depth and are just wonderful all around, really.

Then perhaps one more question is in order:

In all vehicle supplements for Warhammer 40K RPGs, the vehicles have gotten progressively more powerful or more armored. In the Dark Heresy Apocrypha , the Rhino APC (just for example) had an armor rating of: Hull 21, Top 18, Rear 18. The Rhino APC in Rogue Trader: Into the Storm was more armored (Front 24, Side 24, Rear 20) and the Rhino in Deathwatch: Rites of Battle was even more so (Front 31, Side 31, Rear 20).

To me this makes sense; space marines get more powerful gear, and rogue traders can buy the best quality items available to "normal" humans. However, are the vehicles in the Only War beta similar to Rogue Trader vehicles, lesser than Rogue Trader vehicles, or more powerful than Rogue Trader vehicles (and thus closer to Deathwatch)?

jabberwoky said:

Those Deathwatch stats sound right to me.

For comparison, the revised Chimera stats are: SI 35, Front 30, Side 22, Rear 16.

The vehicle rules in OW seem to be well written. Being the stickler for detail I am I would like to see a little more detail on operating tanks in battle. Operating a tank after all is not that different from crewing a voidship (although the crews are quite a bit smaller!) after all and this is not well reflected in the current rules. I can add it as an element of the game but "Official" rules are nice.