Macro weapons

[Oslovan]

What are they? I feel like this might be a dumb question with an easy answer that's been staring me in the face all along but I just can't seem to figure out what makes a weapon a 'macro' weapon.

[Bababooey]

Its giant!

[Ashantai]

IC it's a label given to projectiles fired from cannons, either solid or explosive, not unlike WWII main gun ammunition.

[Panfilo]

It's a gigantic cannon. They fire shells the size of houses. They take so many voidsmen to operate you get little multi generational communities that live on a particular part of a cruiser all responsible for operating them.

[HeathenSW]

Basically macro cannon is this.
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/951849810474088963/F34B04DB7AA857A3E7B74AE073E9EF16BCC6090A/

As far as I know in-game macro class weapon is basically everything that's not a lance or torpedo. And lance is basically a laser (lorewise there are real and more common laser weapons, that are not lances, but they are absent from the game). So chaos missles are classified as macro weapons.

[Tacitus]

^That's very interesting! The contra-grav field generators sound a lot like the eponymous technology from the Mass Effect games.

For some reason, though, I always thought that macro cannons used conventional chemical propellants in most cases. It's interesting to note that they are are effectively rail or coil guns. If that is the case, then why are Tau railguns seen as so distinctive, when the Imperium is already using what is perhaps even more advanced technology? Building a railgun is relatively easy, but manipulating the mass of projectiles is far more impressive.

[sebasnx1]

Originally posted by Tacitus:

^That's very interesting! The contra-grav field generators sound a lot like the eponymous technology from the Mass Effect games.

For some reason, though, I always thought that macro cannons used conventional chemical propellants in most cases. It's interesting to note that they are are effectively rail or coil guns. If that is the case, then why are Tau railguns seen as so distinctive, when the Imperium is already using what is perhaps even more advanced technology? Building a railgun is relatively easy, but manipulating the mass of projectiles is far more impressive.

The accuracy of Tau weapons is what makes them dangerous, more than anything. Macro-cannons are far more powerful, but it is a technology that the Imperium doesn't fully understand anymore, so they don't quite know how to aim them, just how to build them. With the new Beta update, they massively increased Ad Mech's Macro-cannon accuracy, partly to reflect their better understanding of the technology but also as a buff to the Ad Mech. I have yet to test it out, but I think they are gonna out DPS Tau railguns at long range.

[Bsodislavenciaga]

Originally posted by Tacitus:

^That's very interesting! The contra-grav field generators sound a lot like the eponymous technology from the Mass Effect games.

For some reason, though, I always thought that macro cannons used conventional chemical propellants in most cases. It's interesting to note that they are are effectively rail or coil guns. If that is the case, then why are Tau railguns seen as so distinctive, when the Imperium is already using what is perhaps even more advanced technology? Building a railgun is relatively easy, but manipulating the mass of projectiles is far more impressive.

Tau railguns shoot 'cold' plasma, which damages targets with it's kinetic energy mostly, on the contrary to plasma macros, which shoot 'hot' plasma, like plasmaguns and regular macrocannons, which use conventional shells.

[Magni]

Originally posted by Dean Deax Nuphin:

Originally posted by Tacitus:

^That's very interesting! The contra-grav field generators sound a lot like the eponymous technology from the Mass Effect games.

For some reason, though, I always thought that macro cannons used conventional chemical propellants in most cases. It's interesting to note that they are are effectively rail or coil guns. If that is the case, then why are Tau railguns seen as so distinctive, when the Imperium is already using what is perhaps even more advanced technology? Building a railgun is relatively easy, but manipulating the mass of projectiles is far more impressive.

Tau railguns shoot 'cold' plasma, which damages targets with it's kinetic energy mostly, on the contrary to plasma macros, which shoot 'hot' plasma, like plasmaguns and regular macrocannons, which use conventional shells.

Imperial Plasma Macros don't neccessarily fire energy projectiles at all - note the Agripina sector intro, that shell comes from a Retributions' plasma macros. They likely use a plasmatic propellant or lighter plasma-based warhead in the shell to achieve greater muzzle velocities and thus their increased range.

[Archaist]

In gameplay terms a macro weapons is just any projectile weapon that fires by itself (not a active skill) that isn't a lance (laser based weapon).

[Oslovan]

Originally posted by Archaist:

In gameplay terms a macro weapons is just any projectile weapon that fires by itself (not a active skill) that isn't a lance (laser based weapon).

Excellent, that makes sense.