Standard Template Constructs and the Mechanicus

[dmcq]

Standard Template Constructs are the backbone of all 40k technology and the Mechanicus dont allow inovation at all, in fact thats tech-heresy.
How come we then get new marks of SM plate etc????

[The AKH]

I think the Space Marines have more leeway for innovation and divergence than the general Imperium. And the Mechanicus isn't entirely static either; while there are no earth-shattering improvements unless new STCs are discovered, the Techpriests and Magi seem to do a fair bit of tinkering in their spare time - as shown by things like different patterns of Leman Russ battle tanks, idiosyncracies in the patterns produced by each Forge World (Stygies vs. Gryphonne, for instance), different marks of lasgun, and the like. I think techno-heresy is often less a case of "oh, that's innovation, we can't have that" and more a case of "the mechanicum doesn't understand this fully, therefore we must suppress it until we fully understand it". The Mechanicus has several rather shady agendas of its own, after all.

[schoon]

While the Adeptus Mechanicus certainly doesn't encourage innovation, that does not mean that it has died entirely.

The fluff is rife with new STC discoveries, small innovations or inventions made despite the ossification of the Imperium, and outright rebels who create new items.

However, at least according to the fluff, knowledge is lost at about the same rate it's gained - thus the state of dynamic equilibrium common to the 40K background.

[jeffersonian000]

Space Marine power armour was developed during the Age of Strife and was never a STC. Rhinos are an STC that dates back to the initial colonization of the stars, and is therefore probably the oldest STC still in common use. All Rhino chassis vehicle variants are innovations that have occurred either through use by Space Marines or as discoveries by the Mechanicus during their explorations. Land Raiders and Land Speeders are STC's discovered by the Mechanicus; however, every variant we see comes from Space Marine use. Tactical Dreadnought Armour is a civilian STC that is most likely as old as the Rhino STC, and was no used by Space Marines until after the Grand Crusade started, and was militarized as a replacement for early marks of Power Armour commonly in use at the time of the Heresy. Reaver and Warhound Titans are STC's from the Dark Age of Technology, while the Warlord and Emperor are more recent innovations that occurred during the Age of Strife and Grand Crusade (respectively). All Imperial space craft are STC's that date back to the beginnings of the Dark Age of Technology.

Yet, there has been fluff written that implies each STC contains the plans for every variant, as long is the technician using the STC is capable of determining a variant when it's seen. From an engineering stand point, that's pretty much BS. An engineering plan can include every known option for a given design, yet each option is technically a separate plan that is simply a part of the of the overall construction plans for that device. STC's have always been described as simple affairs that allow anyone with an intact industrial base to manufacture any item they have an STC for. The fact that STC's are as described as being so dense a form of information storage that it needs to be peeled like an onion to uncover each new variation, then we can easily see why the functionally illiterate societies of both the Imperium and the Mechanicus are locked in technological stasis.

SJ