Pappystein said:

Actually, the ammunition mass appears quite close to modern full magazine mass for all basic weapons (although some don't make sense as far as scaling is concerned, particularly the storm bolter, whose ammo weights almost half of the standard bolter one on a per round basis). The mass of the heavy weapons is ok if you consider the fact that they are usually deployed on wheeled carriages or with suspensors. However, some are simply too heavy, like the grenade launcher, which is more than twice the weight of the same thing in the real world, and the plasma and melta guns that weight around 40 lb.

Pappystein said:

I agree that the carrying capacity should be bumped, as an adolescent I routinely trained with around 25-30 kg on me without issues, and practiced unarmed fighting with around 15kg without an immense reduction in capabilities. Both of these cases include adequate distribution of weight, but so should you standard gear carrying equipment. I also agree that the weigh of armor should not fully count when worn (but I'd just place it at 1/2, chain and plate mail worn correctly have better weight distribution than most modern body armor), and that most primitive types should have their weights also reduced (gothic and maximilian plate had a mass of around 20 kg). Flak and Carapace appear to have a resonnable mass.

The way I handle it is, I don't track encumbrance at all. I have a gentlemen's agreement to keep it that way as long as they don't try to carry unreasonable amounts of stuff.

I know 40k is supposed to be grim and gritty, but tracking carried gear weight is such an outdated concept that we can't bring ourselves to do it.

Morangias said:

I do the same, but I still think that the rules need to be logical should they be needed. 

Furthermore, it's not like the 40k universe is exactly known for meticulous tracking of things like ammunition and carry weight, which seems to be rather proportionate to the badassery of the character in question rather than any physical characteristic.

Stormtroopers never drop via Grav-chutes. They are deployed via Valkyre in aircav style… even in Drop Regiments…

Well, bumping the values in the lifting table by one notch (i.e. assigning the lifting capacities of current TB1 to TB0 and so forth) should do the trick. 45 kg carry capacity for an average guy doesn't strike me as inappropriate.

You know what's really going to flip your wig about ammo backpacks? Dark Heresy Ascension has a different "standard" ammo backpack, which doubles as an actual backpack and carries things. It also weighs only 15kg, and carries 300 shots for Las weapons, with the disclaimer that Hellguns use two charges per shot.

@Ravenstormchaser

Ok two points here. First the Grav-chute…yes you actually are expected to lug that around. As it is an EXECUTABLE offence to abandon working Imperial Equipment in the field to be stolen by Xenos. Add in the fact its tech and both the munitorium and the Tech-Priests are going to look damn hard at you if every time you drop you simply toss away a working example of imperial technology.

And I'm sure you're supposed to pick up the fragments of your grenade after throwing it as well.

Considering gravchutes will routinely be used to drop behind enemy lines where you should be as mobile as possible, not leaving them would be suicidal. I'd imagine droptroopers will hide them as well as they can and make a note of their location. Once the front has moved beyond the chute's region, a broadcast signal activates homing beacons built into the chutes so they can be picked up and returned to the regiment.

Regarding the general issue, I think a slight increase in carrying capacity might be in order. However, the problem is not quite as large as assumed - the 14kg of the provisions (which indeed should IMO last a day each) will dwindle after the first days. Taking Well-Provisioned and not having some kind of transport for your provisions is asking for trouble, though.

A very slight increase in carrying capacity is required, else someone with a fairly spectacular TB+SB 7 is about only as strong as a modern human soldier needs to be to get out of basic.

At the same time, there's some weight issues with weapons. Hellgun capacitors can be 10kg, but if they are, they need to hold FAR more than 40 shots. Otherwise, you get yourself a variant that allows regular charge packs, and get easily a hundred shots for that weight. Even though there's far more connectors and shells involved; you'd think a single hellgun capacitor would have marginally more efficiency for its massive weight.

Old M-16s were around 3.8kg when loaded, which is a good deal lighter than an Autogun. A Heavy Stubber is somehow 66 pounds? The missile launcher?

I know tech took a few steps back in 40 000 years, but even vietnam-era machinegunners were only lugging around 40 pounds of weapon and that's with all the ammo

Kiton said:

Except that a heavy stubber is somewhere between an M1919 MMG and an M2 HMG, so i think the weights in OW are acceptable for it. All heavy weapons should be part of a 2 man team, or at least be properly set up and deployed before use.

We very much need rules for how comrades are able to aid in the carrying of gear.

Seconded.

(Forum says my post is too short, so I'll write some stuff that makes it less short gorammit!)

A pretty simple solution (from another rpg, I think Shadowrun 2nd Ed.) would be:

Everything carried in a rucksack gets its weight halfed (round down)

Worn Armor gets its weight cut in half as well.

silesian said:

Las weapons are problematic in this regard.

The way I'd have done it is, instead of listing the clip size, list the number of charges the weapon uses per shot, with standard lasgun/laspistol shot using one charge, and stat various power packs listing the number of charges they hold.

This way we wouldn't have a problem with a backback allowing the same number of shots when attached to a laspistol as it does when attached to a lascannon. Might be a bit too much hassle to track for some people though.

This way we wouldn't have a problem with a backback allowing the same number of shots when attached to a laspistol as it does when attached to a lascannon. Might be a bit too much hassle to track for some people though.

It works as long as you're clever enough to calculate and write down the number of shots for the weapon you use. After all, very few people will use the same backpack for both a laspistol and a lascannon.

Otherwise, I like the idea.