Overpenetration and Bolters

[Kraehe]

Since all Bolters are shooting mini grenades wouldn't it be more fitting if they deal lesser damage to the first target they hit and full damage at the last target they hit when the projectile finally explodes?

[BenShinobi]

The idea behind explosive-like rounds like that is that they're meant to explode in the first target they hit without penetrating too far, for maximum effect on what you're aiming at.

However, something like a bolter round is obviously crazy. Wouldn't matter much if it passed through the target or blew them up. They dead.

[Skaldy]

bolter rounds are mini rockets or missiles.

[BaldBaBoon]

In the Lore, a standard bolter round is described as " armour penetrating mass detonation rounds " designed to go through armour/chitin/bone and into the meat/innards and then exploding a few inches in for maximum damage.....not designed to go through targets.

They appear to have an arming distance, I recall a marine, in one of the novels, shooting someone with the bolter pressed against the victims skull and the round passed right through them as it did not have time to arm.

There are special rounds. Kraken rounds for heavier armour piercing? Fragmentation, incendiary and virus ones for Tyranids and im sure a few others as well.

[Cutlass Jack]

The description sounds way more awesome than the actual bolters in game that feel more like .22 cal smgs.

[Kadaeux]

Originally posted by BaldBaBoon:

In the Lore, a standard bolter round is described as " armour penetrating mass detonation rounds " designed to go through armour/chitin/bone and into the meat/innards and then exploding a few inches in for maximum damage.....not designed to go through targets.

They appear to have an arming distance, I recall a marine, in one of the novels, shooting someone with the bolter pressed against the victims skull and the round passed right through them as it did not have time to arm.

There are special rounds. Kraken rounds for heavier armour piercing? Fragmentation, incendiary and virus ones for Tyranids and im sure a few others as well.

Not just an arming distance, they do also require a base level of resistance to arm the warhead. It's been seen a few times how an unarmoured enemy can cause bolts warheads to fail to arm causing overpenetration.

[Solomon Kane]

What you do not seem to properly understand is, that the Bolters you can use is not the same version and weapon as the Astartes Bolters Space Marines use.

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Solomon Kane:

What you do not seem to properly understand is, that the Bolters you can use is not the same version and weapon as the Astartes Bolters Space Marines use.

The operating principles and ammunition are similar, just scaled down.

Anyway, I'd guess in the case of bolters, overpenetration is represented by shrapnel of the round - and probably jagged bits of shattered bone from the original victim - spraying the guy behind him.

[O'Connell]

Over penetration?
I'm just glad this isn't another topic about NPC romance.

[Kadaeux]

Originally posted by Andrew:

Over penetration?
I'm just glad this isn't another topic about NPC romance.

Thanks to advances by the Mechanicus in certain augments you too can recreate 'through all the way'

[Daliena]

Originally posted by Andrew:

Over penetration?
I'm just glad this isn't another topic about NPC romance.

Oh I'm sure there's a few people out there who'd like Sister Argenta to overpenetrate them with her Bolter. *Waggles eyebrows*

[Iron Horse]

Artillery rounds have settings. Given someone was going to fire a 155mm round, they could set it to point detention, they could set it to air burst so that it explodes 10-20 meters above a target, they could set it on a delayed fuse where it penetrates a target and then blows up.

Grenade launchers are point detonating.

I don't know the lore behind bolters too well, but I imagine they could have settings as well.

[Iron Horse]

Given you care to see something really cool, you could look up excalibur 155 rounds. They were in the news lately regarding Ukraine. They are GPS navigated. They are shot at a high high angle, the GPS hits it from some satellites, and they can zero in a meter or two from where you instruct it to go.

Rolling through a city, given there some snipers on a roof, you could snipe the snipers with artillery. You hit the building with a delayed fuse, the round penetrates the building, then blows up in the middle.

[Khryst]

Originally posted by Andrew:

Over penetration?
I'm just glad this isn't another topic about NPC romance.

I mean with Slaneesh you will be over penetrated...repeatedly.

[Kraehe]

Originally posted by Kadaeux:

Originally posted by BaldBaBoon:

In the Lore, a standard bolter round is described as " armour penetrating mass detonation rounds " designed to go through armour/chitin/bone and into the meat/innards and then exploding a few inches in for maximum damage.....not designed to go through targets.

They appear to have an arming distance, I recall a marine, in one of the novels, shooting someone with the bolter pressed against the victims skull and the round passed right through them as it did not have time to arm.

There are special rounds. Kraken rounds for heavier armour piercing? Fragmentation, incendiary and virus ones for Tyranids and im sure a few others as well.

Not just an arming distance, they do also require a base level of resistance to arm the warhead. It's been seen a few times how an unarmoured enemy can cause bolts warheads to fail to arm causing overpenetration.

This. I mean bolters could be set that the rounds detonate when hitting flesh, i just thought it would be fitting and fun if Bolterweapons would work the otherway around when it comes to overpenetration.

Also it seems we need an Inquisitor here reading some of the posts

[BaldBaBoon]

Bolters are one of the standard weird things that sit in the 40K universe with its mixture of hi-tech/ primitive tech and the difference between games and books.

There is an entire family of weapons ranging from Pistols, rifles, sniper variants, storm bolters ( LMG i suppose) Heavy bolters ( HMG ? ) and more specialist weapons such as huge vehicle vulcan megabolters ( think of a house sized chaingun/bolter firing rounds the size of small dustbins )

There are a selection of rounds available, but its incredibly rare to have anything beyond the bog standard round given to anyone outside specialist teams. Rare as in only a handful of the most exotic rounds possibly being ready to use on an entire world.

The scale of the weapons range from Human sized to Astartes sized and up to Adeptus Titanicus size.....they all appear to work almost identically with just the scale of the weapon and the round changing. Human bolters are just a lightweight version of the Astartes standard, firing an identical, but smaller round. A rare weapon in their own right and often provided as an honoured reward or a sign of rank. The " smaller" round being something like a current day .50 calibre HE round.

Bolters are effective in all environments including void and underwater, relatively easily produced, robust and like most things in 40K...if it works, they stick with it. They can be fitted with advanced optics and other stuff, but the Imperium have been using these things for 10,000 years or more and religious attachment to these weapons is probably even more important to the users than the weapons function ( Emperors wrath etc )

One important thing, especially in the books.....bolter wounds do not appear to be survivable at all unless you are a 800lb marine or something similar like a big tyranid or a big orc......humans sized targets just lose massive chunks of their body and die instantly.