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What role do slaves play on Imperial Navy ships?
>>46697375
They manually load the macro-cannons using ropes.
>>46697375
I asked this on /tg/ many years ago. At the time several people seemed quite certain that no slaves were used aboard Imperial Navy ships.
I remain unconvinced that is the case, but it probably isn't a large fraction of the crew totals.
>>46697475
I mean, "slave" probably isn't quite the correct term. Most of the people on board had no choice in the matter though. As is common in feudal societies.
>>46697375
They're serfs, not slaves, and they do just about everything youd expect to be done automatically or through control interfaces.
Like, you dont press a button and the gun loads, you need thousands of people pulling ropes.
As to slave vs serf, a slave is a person whose freedom is taken from them illegitimately, a serf is a member of a slave-like class. If they farmed under a lord, they would be counted as part of the property owned by that lord but they are technically not slaves.
Its mainly a technicality though, for all practical purposes they are slaves.
>>46697442
>They manually load the macro-cannons using ropes.
>>46697553
>you need thousands of people pulling ropes.
Is this still a thing? I can't recall any modern fluff touching on the matter, certainly not any of the novels.
>>46697723
Well, in general Id say its canon until its contradicted and last I checked only the AdMech has auto-loaders.
>>46697744
These ships have crews in the 10-30,000 range, which might be too low for large gangs to pull every little piece of machinery by hand. A Nimitz-class aircraft carrier has 5,000+ crew and they're only 0.33 kilometers long. Increase that by a factor of 10 and interior volumes increases by a ton. But the crew sizes might be very large when you include servitors.
tl;dr - we don't know but they're probably busy enough with real jobs (and the occasional heave-ho'ing, but they don't exist just for that).
>>46698511
Well, the thing is the people listed as Crew might be seperate from the heavehoers. I mean, if they are Serfs and thus considered almost part of the ship, they may not be counted.
That sounds stupid and grimdark, though. Then again, this is 40k.
Still, as best Im aware its not been contradicted as yet...
>>46697723
Not anymore. That shit was from the height of 40k's grimderpness.
>>46697375
The same role as press gang served on ships during the age of sails. General maintenance, manual labour, etc. work that didn't require skill.
>>46697723
It depends on the ship. A transport with barely any guns doesn't need dozens of dudes pulling cannons. Ships with plasma and lance batteries are probably the same. In most ships the loading and unloading is likely automated, but ships can have lost those systems and no replacements have been available, so manual work it is.
In Fire Warrior, as I remember, the Imperial ships were rather shit and used grappling hooks fired at the enemy ship to draw boarding vessels to them. Even the commander noted that it's a shit system, but the Navy has refused to give them more updated boarding vessels.
>>46698595
[citation needed]
Ballast
>>46698511
These ships have crews of over 100 000 on battleships. They load torpedoes by hand with chains. They're based off napoleonic era wooden ships, not modern warships. That's not even counting servitors who aren't counted as crew because they're essentially machine parts.
>>46697553
Depends on if you consider press gangs as slavery. The imperial navy has press gangs to fill losses when ever they reach ports.
>>46697442
They also need them to man the oars that push the ship through the warp.
>>46701194
Can't - press gangs got paid. Not often, and not on time, but, paid.
>>46701415
Is there a specific term for unwilling/forced labour but you get paid for it?
>>46697375
>What role do slaves play on Imperial Navy ships?
Labor, fuel, security.
Many older battleships ended up in a position where manual loading became required because the Mechanicus does not into ball bearings, pistons, screws and springs. In fact MANY ships have crews of laborers that number well into the 100,000 range and exceeding. Most of them slaves, press gangers, convicts, the odd stupid and eager volunteer; the Astartes are notorious for using serfs and servitors instead of slaves.
>>46701550
Conscription?
>>46701415
Pay isn't what separates free workers from slaves. In some historical cultures in was common for slaves to receive a stipend. What makes you a slave is being forced to work for someone else with no ability to quit.
Man, whenever I think I know just how retarded WH40k fluff is, some bullshit like this surfaces to make it somehow worse.
>Load into small, but sturdy assault boat
>Fly towards enemy ships, dodging fire from turrets as they annihilate the assault boats all around you, killing scores of other voidsmen before they can even put up a fight
>Smash into the enemy ship
>Small squad has to fight off crews that may number in their tens of thousands, and may or may not be crazy strong xenos, let alone daemonic
>meanwhile your own ship is shooting at your own position
>after planting charges, load up back into the assault boat and try and make it back to your ship.
Can we agree that armsmen are at least as ballsy as the Imperial Guard?
>>46697723
In chronological order since the publication of Battlefleet Gothic:
>The Traitor's Hand
Features naval combat, but without much in-ship details.
>Blood Angels Omnibus
Most of the reloading is done by servitors. Admittedly, this is on a Space Marine battlebarge.
>Relentless
There are crew and there are slaves, and the slaves are usually running basic maintenance and powering human treadmills and machinery in the enginarium. The weapons, armory, and magazine are all mostly automated; the crew are just there to maintain them and fire them because there are thousands of them to a broadside.
>Sabbat Martyr
Lots of naval combat. Even Lance Batteries have gun crews, though for what purpose is unclear since the Lances seemed to be powered and aimed from the bridge.
>Salvation's Reach
Reloading is entirely automated, at least on Escorts. The weapons are close enough to the magazines that rounds feed directly into the cannon instead of needing to be reloaded like breech-loading cannons.
>>46701767
naval armsmen and chapter serfs have significantly bigger balls than guardsmen. They're also usually going to be facing off against the crack assault teams of the enemy when on the defensive, too.
>>46697502
Think British press-gangs. Not slavery, per se, but the people involved don't exactly have any say in the matter.
>>46701410
underrated post
>>46701941
They must love fighting off Chaos Space Marines with laspistols. At least they probably have meatshields of indentured workers.
>>46701767
No. Most armsmen don't launch off in assault boats; that's the whole point of Space Marines after all. Armsmen are like the mall rent-a-cops of the Imperium. They only exist to stand guard in ships.
>>46702064
Space marines aren't on most ships, man. They're rare.
By and large, the dudes boarding enemy craft are going to be the navy troops.
>>46702117
Exactly. How many Imperial warships use Assault Boats as their primary weapon?
Almost none.
>>46697375
Rowing, Mostly.
>>46702426
that's because they're lame-os
boarding is only slightly less optimal a strategy than ramming
>>46699042
Underrated post.
>>46697375
One plays a paladin, the other a rogue and of course there is also one bard.
40k ships are based on age of sail, so expect lots of bosuns crewing every machine, gun, or cargo haul.
That said, I'm not sure press-gangs can be assimilated to slavery.
>>46697553
serfdom is assimilated to slavery; the word originates from "servus", slave.
>>46701554
>security
That's a very bad idea, and besides I'm pretty sure provosts are separate from regular crew in the IN.
>>46702426
Every warship is gonna have a crew for boarding/counterboarding actions. Especially when your ennemies are orks, Chaos raiders, 'nids, and regular travel between stars involves a significant risk of demons materializing inside the ship.
>>46702448
I accually laughed out loud
>>46702426
No assault boats, sure, but plenty of teleportation or possibly close range boarding pods as per Fire Warrior
>>46697375
I suspect they mostly act as some kind of psychic anchor for the Navigator, and the manual labor is just a way to make use of all the spare people. If technological regression was the only factor, you could still put a Chimera in the loading bay and just use that to pull the chains.
>>46697375
>>46697442
There are no "slaves" there are penal troopers, press-ganged voidsmen, and servitors, but slavery isn't really a thing in the imperial army or navy.
>>46702064
>>46702426
There is absolutely no canon support for all imperial navy vessels using Space Marines for boarding actions.Space Marines are autonomous forces, they're not all portioned out to navy ships or guard regiments.
>>46697375
Loaders, boarders, menial labor force, servitor supply, emergency rations.
>>46697723
it got mentioned somewhere In architect of fate, I think.
