# What the imperium should do?



## warsmith7752 (Sep 12, 2009)

Hey all, this is basically a thread where we act like we get the powers of the high lords and decide what the beat course of action for the imperium, I will go first.

I would order all imperial forces to withdraw into the sectors near terra. This solves the problem with communication as they are all much closer and more troops patrolling imperial territory means it's much easier to prevent attack. It's cons are that we would have to give up alot of resources and there would be alot of overcrowding.


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## Boc (Mar 19, 2010)

They should give into the powers of Chaos and let the galaxy _BURN!!!!_

I agree, with the Emperor's pending demise in the Golden Throne, the best bet to maintain connectivity within the Imperium of Man would be to consolidate their gains for the time being. Without the beacon of the Astronomicon (which I'm assuming will go bye-bye once the ol' bastard dies) it'll be night unto impossible to maintain the current size.

That, and start research into alternate methods of navigation through the warp... possibly exploit the Eldar Webway as the Emperor had planned during the Crusade.


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## TheKingElessar (Mar 31, 2009)

I think we should invade the Eye of Terror. Why not? Can't be worse than retreating to the Segmentum Solar and abandoning the Galaxy to the Xenos!!


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## the-ad-man (Jan 22, 2010)

we should move everything into the warp, the current plane of existance isnt working out for us


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

I would make deals with the Tau to make plasma weapons safer.


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

Embracing Chaos is the Imperiums only hope.You get beacon-less warp travel, gods that occasionally give you stuff, and all the power you could ever need. They even have a Health care plan! What could possibly go wrong?


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## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

Every single astartes must be ordered to do a collective facepalm. The galaxy wide shockwave from having a million superhumans do this will reverberate across dimensions and pacify the warp, destroying the chaos gods and making the galaxy a much safer place.


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## Protoss119 (Aug 8, 2010)

Chompy Bits said:


> Every single astartes must be ordered to do a collective facepalm. The galaxy wide shockwave from having a million superhumans do this will reverberate across dimensions and pacify the warp, destroying the chaos gods and making the galaxy a much safer place.


I second this motion, as it is full of win.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Burn the Heretic! Kill the Mutant! Purge the Unclean!


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## Bane_of_Kings (Oct 28, 2009)

Ally with the Tau and try to ally with the Eldar. Try and get off the Tau instructions for their weapons and vecihles, and then try and learn the Eldar Webway.

Then you're sitting pretty. Try and get the Tau to ressurect the Emperor and try and put up a big poster saying "Free Bones," to see if you can get Leman Russ to come back from the eye of terror.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Embrace death. You`re all going to die anyway, right? Why not have a galaxy wide suicide pact, every single man woman and child just takes some arsenic or cyanide simultaneously and dies. 

Take that! :crazy:


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## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

Serpion5 said:


> Embrace death. You`re all going to die anyway, right? Why not have a galaxy wide suicide pact, every single man woman and child just takes some arsenic or cyanide simultaneously and dies.
> 
> Take that! :crazy:


There's a problem with that. All your necs would go back to sleep coz' there's nothing to harvest. Unless they only soulsnack on orks and nids.



Bane_of_Kings said:


> Then you're sitting pretty. Try and get the Tau to ressurect the Emperor and try and put up a big poster saying "Free Bones," to see if you can get Leman Russ to come back from the eye of terror.


Make sure to leave some pants out first. Last I heard Russ was running around naked.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Chompy Bits said:


> There's a problem with that. All your necs would go back to sleep coz' there's nothing to harvest. Unless they only soulsnack on orks and nids.


Pshhh! That`s the c`tan`s problem, not ours.


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## TheKingElessar (Mar 31, 2009)

Of course, we would never ally with you stinking mon-keigh. You are but tools to be expended and then discarded when you have outlived your usefulness. Eventually, we will turn the very stars themselves red with your blood.


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## Harriticus (Nov 10, 2010)

Purposefully withdraw from the Eastern and Southeast areas of the Imperium, lure Orks into the gap, and let them deal with the Tyranid main fleet when it arrives. Assuming the Tyranids invade from that direction like they have the last 3 times. If they don't then oh well we b fucked between a Tyranid and Ork sandwich.

Still worth a try!'

Oh yes and purge some mutants.


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## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

Harriticus said:


> Purposefully withdraw from the Eastern and Southeast areas of the Imperium, lure Orks into the gap, and let them deal with the Tyranid main fleet when it arrives. Assuming the Tyranids invade from that direction like they have the last 3 times. If they don't then oh well we b fucked between a Tyranid and Ork sandwich.


I'm sorry but I think that's a terrible idea. The Imperium already tried that with Octarius. It looked to be working until they realised that whoever wins the conflict would be more powerful than ever. Now that's just one sector. Imagine what either race would be like if they were allowed to thrive on a large scale.


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## Harriticus (Nov 10, 2010)

> I'm sorry but I think that's a terrible idea. The Imperium already tried that with Octarius. It looked to be working until they realised that whoever wins the conflict would be more powerful than ever. Now that's just one sector. Imagine what either race would be like if they were allowed to thrive on a large scale.
> Reply With Quote


Superpowerful Orks are better then superpowerful Tyranids in my opinion. The Orks are dangerous but not unified and they could already overrun the galaxy if they became a cohesive force so nothing would be new. The Tyranids are a coordinated force with an overall goal and this is why I consider them a galactic threat rather then a sector/sub-sector one.

The various forces of the Imperium are already overstretched and busy with Orks, Chaos, heresy, etc.. If they have to increase in size by 500% just to stand a chance the Imperium is going to crumble. The Imperium is doomed when the Tyranid main fleet hits one way or another, so such desperation measures are justified in my opinion if it can buy some time.


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## D-A-C (Sep 21, 2010)

I love some of the 'sissy' answers this thread is getting.

IMO the Imperium should do one of two things, embrace Chaos or Die. It's that simple.

They can't retreat even a fraction of their Empire. It's like a cross between Rome and Hitler. Where do you stop retreating? 

Hitler had the same problem, retreat to a better defensive position was all he was told, but he knew that would end up being Berlin itself. 

Better to hold your ground, cause maximum damage to the enemy by making them take each of your fortress worlds, so you can both, play for time (hoping your enemies will turn on each other) and if all else fails take as much of the Galaxy down with you as possible.

If the High Lords retreat it will not only lose them breathing space and resources, but they will never stop retreating.

If I was the Imperium, I would hold fast, shoot all those who retreat, burn the heretic, kill the mutant, purge the unclean and not always in that order.


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## Gree (Jun 13, 2010)

D-A-C said:


> Hitler had the same problem, retreat to a better defensive position was all he was told, but he knew that would end up being Berlin itself.
> 
> Better to hold your ground, cause maximum damage to the enemy by making them take each of your fortress worlds, so you can both, play for time (hoping your enemies will turn on each other) and if all else fails take as much of the Galaxy down with you as possible.


No, that's a horrible strategy and one of the reasons Hitler _lost_. Are you familar with the concept of encirclement at all? Hitler lost huge numbers of men and equipment in needless last stands and effectively gutted any chances of waging a mobile war. The reason why Hitler was eventually was forced to Berlin was not because he kept retreating, but because the Soviets kept on encircling and annhilating his armies when they stayed put.

You can withdraw from a position in order to counterattack later in more advantagous circumstances. Are you familar at all with warfare of maneuver at all?

Don't use Hitler as an example of good military strategy at all. Most of his early sucesses came from his Generals plans.


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

the admech has to perform research and develop tech, learn from xenos tech if possible, increase the rate at which new tech is being used,

make better use of psykers, 

allow chapters to increase their number to 2K marines,

look at ways to boost the live quality of the civilians,

make them breed like rabbits


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## Abomination (Jul 6, 2008)

Ally with the Tau and Eldar and try to gain as much knowledge and technology as possible from them. Plus it gets a couple of straws of the Imperiums back. Next get the AdMech to drop as much of the religious crap as possible so we can start moving forward again. Oh, and also give every man, woman and child a gun on every planet of every rank (governers, gangs, everyone) and tell them to fight. Maybe that might give us a chance. 

That or lot's more Space Wolves as 1 Space Wolf = 2 Emporers. So imagine what 10,000 Space Woles could do!

Personally, I think we should call it quits, head over to the Wych Cult Arena's in Commaragh and sit back and enjoy the arts of Lelith Hesperax. You'll still die either way but you'll at least get to see one of the hottest chicks in the galaxy before you go.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

I don't think you need to increase chapter size, 1000 mariens from one chapter are hardly ever fielded, so why double their overall size?

I think we should fall back to the segmentum terra is in and planets around Ultramar system. 

We need to get over our technophobia and actually get to inventing shit. Maybe ally with Tau and learn there secrets, then stab the anime fuckers in the back.


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

Falling back is probably the stupidest thing to do, if leaves enough biomass to create shitloads of tyranids, enough planets to spore gazillions of orks and so on, it is basically simple math, the amount of soldiers you can muster in a volume goes as r^3, the amount of surface you have to protect goes as r^2 (3D) this means the amount of soldiers/surface goes as r^3/r^2 = r which means expand,
I know the galaxy is sort of flat but the scaling would give the same result, the reason why entire chapters are not fielded that much is that the risk is too large of not having enough marines left to safe the chapter in case a major disaster would pop up,
entire chapters get fielded now and then,
astral knights, UM, BA, iron snakes, 
anyhow, if one sees what roughly 1000 K marines can do, imagine what 2000 K marines can do, they might actually tip the balance, or imagine that suddenly 1000 K marines are popping out of the ground, if you would remain the current 1000 K marines where they are and let the others go on a crusade, that is more than fielded during the great crusade, that is simply immense, 
I realise it is not just a matter of flicking a switch and there they are, but the question was stated rather general, 

one thing we all seem to agree upon is allowing tech development, let's start from there
I root for increasing the live quality of civilians, better hab's healthcare and so one, cleaner environments an artificial tree left and right and even larger breeding camps, 
improve the armour and weapons of IG with 50%, the tech is known, the infrastructure is lacking, give them the impression they are more than cannon fodder, in my opinion the strong point of humanity is the combo of numbers, reasonable tech and psykers, use them


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## Harriticus (Nov 10, 2010)

With regards to falling back leaving biomass and what not, if the Imperium enacted a scorched earth policy across sector after sector the Tyranid fleet could be eventually starved as it moves. By the time they hit Segmentum Solar they'd be starved and unable to muster reinforcements as the Imperium throws everything they have at them. It's drastic but this is a drastic situation, and it worked for the Soviets.


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

Falling back is the worst thing the Imperium could do.

Chaos would be free to break out of the eye and encircle the new Imperium. Plus morale would drop dramatically so you could expect a large resurgence of cultist activity.
The Orks would expand like wild-fire.
The nids would not be slowed over much as there are now Orks and others to take the place of the burned Imperial worlds.
It would make the Eldar, DE, Tau and Necrons less of a threat but those races aren't really that big a deal anyway.

Another thing to remember is that space is HUGE. Falling back to the Segmentum Solar would take a really, really long time. Not to mention the fact that you can't actually establish a defensive perimeter in space. All it would do is by a little bit of time initially, but then you would die faster at the end. 

The Imperium needs to keep on hanging on. Its worked for 2 thousand years. Why fix what ain't broke?


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## Blackhiker (Dec 28, 2007)

The best thing to try to do is to create a space marine chapter on every planet. After the initial start-up the iimperium would be able to take care of itself.


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

scorched earth that worked agains Germans will not work against nids, scorched means exterminatus, meaning that if it would be possible to reforge the empirium, one can can better start collecting rocks,
retreating does not make any sense,
more marines, more and better tech (and psykers), less corruption and a decent coherent strategy that has to do the trick

the other trick might be cloning Uriel 10 times and sent them agains any army you want destroyed


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## D-A-C (Sep 21, 2010)

With the arguments I'm reading so far does anyone want to admit I was right with my Hitler analogy hhhmmm?

1. Adopt a scorched earth policy.

2. Never surrender an inch of ground. Shoot or sack all commanders who retreat.

3. Control and rule over all Reich ... errr ... Imperial territory with an iron fist and burn the heretic, kill the mutant and purge the unclean.

4. Have SS ... I mean Astartes 'Fire Brigade' units go from crises point to crises point on all fronts of the Reich .... damn I mean Imperium.

Those four examples I came up with in 5 minutes. I bet if I took a little bit of time I could come up with alot more.

Lol


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## MEQinc (Dec 12, 2010)

D-A-C said:


> With the arguments I'm reading so far does anyone want to admit I was right with my Hitler analogy hhhmmm?
> 
> 1. Adopt a scorched earth policy.
> 
> ...


The Imperium already does all of these things. And it works. 

Why does everyone keep suggesting retreat? The Imperium aren't losing! At least not any worse than they have been. They are doing exactly what they need to in order to survive.



piemelke said:


> more marines,


They only way to make more marines would be to dilute the process. It would not be more effective.



> more and better tech


More and better tech is great, in theory. How do you set about undoing hundreds of thousands of years of ignorance and fear? The Ad Mech are not in any position to start learning new things, they would have to relearn thousands of years worth of stuff in order to even begin to understand what they currently have.



> (and psykers),


More psykers is a road to ruin. Yes lets get more people with uncontrolled superpowers who can open portals to hell itself. That sounds like a brilliant idea. 



> less corruption


Less corruption is a nice idea. I'm sure that the Imperium is actively working on that. That's what the Inquisition's for after all. To bad that power corrupts and the Imperium has a lot of power to give out.



> and a decent coherent strategy that has to do the trick


The Imperium has a decent, coherent strategy. It's outlined above but it can be summed up nicely with "Burn the heretic, kill the alien and purge the unclean."


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## piemelke (Oct 13, 2010)

MEQinc said:


> The Imperium already does all of these things. And it works.
> 
> Why does everyone keep suggesting retreat? The Imperium aren't losing! At least not any worse than they have been. They are doing exactly what they need to in order to survive.
> 
> ...


the current strategy is try to hold ground and make it through another day, 
that will only weaken you and strengthen your advirsary "Burn the heretic, kill the alien and purge the unclean" is a method, not a strategy


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Take the offensive.

The Imperium's most successful time period was the Great Crusade. Sure, there's a lot to be said about being led by superhuman geniuses, but I would posit that the brilliance of the Emperor was more lent toward the vision and inertia of his campaign rather than the day-to-day strategy behind individual system/sector conquests. Most central to the conquests themselves were the Imperium's sheer military might and numbers.

The Imperium's greatest weakness today is their inability to cohesively lead a galactic empire in real time. We have countless reminders of fleets coming to the aid of planets that fell years before help came--thanks to the vagaries of Warp travel, the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the Imperium, etc. But those weaknesses really did nothing to stop Man from carrying out the Great Crusade. Even if you allow for more reliable astropathic communications in M31 (before Chaos erupted with the Heresy), the fact remains that Mankind relied on largely self-sustaining fleets capable of global devastation and supported by grand armies.

Ultimately, what's holding the Imperium back is its own policies. They are terrified that the Heresy could happen again (and have good reasons to think it would) and thus purposefully limit themselves to reduce the odds of a sequel. The irony of it all is, though, that it happens anyways. Groups of Astartes go renegade, as do many warships, entire regiments, Inquisitors, etc.

The Imperium would thus be best served by allowing for "Expeditionary" Fleets once more (checks and balances being provided by a balanced command structure, to include Inquisitors, Tech Priests, Admirals, Generals, and Astartes Chapter Masters), and focusing instead on compartmentalizing those fleets from one another to prevent one commander from gaining control over another's fleet. Give those fleets self-sustainability (forge ships, etc.) and send them out.

Most xenos threats become so threatening because the reactive nature of the Imperium allows for them to become so. Waaaghs take time, for instance. A few hundred "Expeditionary" Fleets (each with a couple dozen warships, a few Imperial Guard Regiments, an Astartes Chapter, etc.) would radically change the paradigm. They would serve to restore the initiative to Man, and within a relatively short period of time, would allow for much more responsive reactions to problems throughout Imperium territory.


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## Gree (Jun 13, 2010)

D-A-C said:


> With the arguments I'm reading so far does anyone want to admit I was right with my Hitler analogy hhhmmm?
> 
> 1. Adopt a scorched earth policy.
> 
> ...


You do realize all those tactics where used by someone who lost and lost rather miserably in the end? The person who ended up using those tactics ended up commiting suicide while his country fell apart around him.


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## Wusword77 (Aug 11, 2008)

Phoebus said:


> Take the offensive.
> 
> The Imperium's most successful time period was the Great Crusade. Sure, there's a lot to be said about being led by superhuman geniuses, but I would posit that the brilliance of the Emperor was more lent toward the vision and inertia of his campaign rather than the day-to-day strategy behind individual system/sector conquests. Most central to the conquests themselves were the Imperium's sheer military might and numbers.
> 
> ...


Quoted for Truth. This is the best plan the Imperium could have.


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## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

D-A-C said:


> With the arguments I'm reading so far does anyone want to admit I was right with my Hitler analogy hhhmmm?
> 
> 1. Adopt a scorched earth policy.
> 
> ...


Hmmm... this could work... right until the point where you're backed into a corner and end up blowing your brains out while biting down on a cyanide capsule.


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## ytimk (Aug 2, 2010)

Set up a highly secret organisation that finds brilliant human minds from hive populations BEFORE the Admech does, recruit them, transfer to a safe place/planet, have them try and:

-develop new tech (or tweak existing tech to make it more powerful/efficient etc); or
-reverse engineer archo-tech (eg the ancient, non-replaceable tech/forgotten knowledge that still exists, for example certain prised weapons carried by higly level inquisitors).

Seriously, having religious nuts (heh, irony considering what the Imperium is full off/run by) like the AdMech have a monoply on tech and production is a huge reason for holding humanity back.

Machine spirits.....sacred lubricants...."heretical" technology....oh its depressing (and fascinating) reading about the AdMech.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

Phoebus said:


> Take the offensive.
> 
> The Imperium's most successful time period was the Great Crusade. Sure, there's a lot to be said about being led by superhuman geniuses, but I would posit that the brilliance of the Emperor was more lent toward the vision and inertia of his campaign rather than the day-to-day strategy behind individual system/sector conquests. Most central to the conquests themselves were the Imperium's sheer military might and numbers.
> 
> ...


A possible problem with taking the offensive though is that it could leave the planets already in our hold to fall. Our troops are stretched across the galaxy, already struggling to contain the xeno and heretic threat as it is, conquering more planets may be the most positive thing to do, and I think it's a great idea, but we would have to make sure the planets we currently control do not become neglected.


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## xNoPityx (Dec 23, 2010)

I say they bite the bullet and pull the plug on the emperor. He is going to die soon anyways and the quicker he dies the quicker he can reincarnate. And if he doesn't reincarnate they were screwed to begin with, just means a faster death


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## chand223 (Mar 19, 2010)

The only problem I would have with the Imperium going on the full offensive is the end goals of a 'new great crusade', so to speak. This tactic would work best if there is somewhere each of the mainthreats would have to abandon other areas to defend. For example, with the Imperium currently, the siege of Cadia. Other areas are weakened in order to bolster the defenses at Cadia. Now compare this to the enemies of the Imperium

Of the main threats:

Tyraniids: No homeworld to defend. Perhaps there is a central being that acts as the hive minds focus (such as the Emperor is to the astronomicon for the Imperium) that would be a main target, but it is unknown as of now. It seems the only way to combat this threat at current is to be reactive, instead of proactive.

Necrons: Cant locate all the tomb worlds, or how to crack them anyways. Unless im mistaken, they are pretty autonomous anyways. The most centralized command I can think of was the World Engine, and its destruction didnt seem to interrupt Necron operations all that much (Other then the World Engine itself). Unless im mistaken, the Necrons dont seem to have a centralized command/target that we know of (such as Terra and the emperor would be). again, reactive is the only choice versus proactive.

Chaos: Cant assault the Eye of Terror (or atleast not that I can tell). Perhaps trying to trap/kill Abbadon would work. Best case I can think of of being able to be proactive.

Orks: Here is where my fluff knowledge falls short. I know they have several 'main' empires, but as to what they are, im not positive. Octarius is already under siege from several sources (according to Lexicanum). Charadon is another, but im not sure as to its status. Perhaps others can help me out here?

Also, launching a full scale offensive may not be a great idea at current, because it may serve to unite more clans, which is worst case scenario at the moment. 

That leads me to what I would like to see the Imperium do:

1.) form a full scale offensive and re-secure/re-fortify Cadia. I see this as the largest threat to the Imperium currently. While the Orks just want to fight, tyraniids want to eat everything, Necrons still havent fully woken, Abbadon/Chaos want to strike at the heart of the Imperium. If they take Cadia, this becomes a possibility.

2.) Become less stringent on the rights needed to produce Dreadnaughts/Terminators etc.. It is my understanding that the Imperium maintains the ability to create these techs, it just takes a very long time due to each little part having to be "thrice blessed", and such. Perhaps I am wrong, another weak point of my fluff knowledge.

3.) Allow space marines more autonomy/restrict them less. While this theoretically makes another heresy more likely, it has major benefits. Part of this would be seeding more systems to space Marine control. Allows better fortification, with the SM not having red-tape to get through before they can react. This also frees the Imperial Navy/IG up a bit more. I would also lift the cap on Space Marine chapter numbers. For the chapters able to fill more then 1000 marines, let them. This is a bit tricky though, because what would you set as an upper limit?

Just some thoughts of mine


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## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

chand223 said:


> Orks: Here is where my fluff knowledge falls short. I know they have several 'main' empires, but as to what they are, im not positive. Octarius is already under siege from several sources (according to Lexicanum). Charadon is another, but im not sure as to its status. Perhaps others can help me out here?


There are several Ork empires spread literally across the entire galaxy (and if the techpriest probes are correct, even beyond). Charadon is simply the oldest known one and it's still going strong. In fact, the empire of Charadon has been steadily expanding recently because the Ultramarines can no longer successfully keep the Orks at bay while simultaneously dealing with the various Tyranid incursions and other menaces that keep popping up.


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## xNoPityx (Dec 23, 2010)

I think a full scale offensive war was only possible during a time like the great crusade. Chaos was a lot more docile then, and warp travel and communications much more reliable.


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