>>5248709Well I don't consider that too problematic given the circumstances. We like destroying things. We're a more open version of the Dark Angels, exterminators of a sort but without the secrecy. "We're here to flatten this planet over and rebuild."
The main issue will be if there's any valuable technology or people and we don't just want to destroy everything to rebuild it later. But such things may require a finer technological touch than the hand of astartes anyway.
More importantly, rage and emotions can be controlled technologically, so if it becomes too big a problem we can just try to install emotional limiters. No Black Rage for us!
>>5248891I mean, if we wanted to, we could also just install some aggression heighteners like hormone dispensers and implants that activate the angry parts of the brain, a bit like a more human version of nails.
But eh. . .let's look at this from the bigger picture.
Okay, so the space marines are better at melee. And maybe they're stronger. But all of this can be solved techwise and doctrinally.
For strength, both acillians and astartes can just be given better bionics or we could tweak the genetics of the acillians a bit further. Sure this might be more expensive, but on a macro scale we're going for the rich legion who produces a lot of shit. I consider the tech option better cause of course, tweaking genetics more may pose a bit more of a risk even for the brilliant genetor mind of talos and it scales up higher. You can always build bigger machinery easier than you can grow muscle.
Mentally we canour astartes teach our boys and the plethora of skitarii military training modules we can install for VR hypnomat education and actual physical education.
More to the point we have simply have made it our battle doctrine to prefer ranged combat over melee whenever possible. Which is a good thing, and ideal thing, something we should pursue even with our astartes. "If you can kill them at range, do that first." Melee as a primary weapon could be more of a cyberneticae/servitor thing, since it puts them closer to the meat grinder and higher casualties. We can scavenge broken robot parts rebuild them easier than bringing the dead back to life. BUT we should give them the capability to function in melee in those situations we need it.
That requires a bit more of a doctrinal shift, which is something we haven't had the proper time to do anyway (arms development, military arrangement, doctrinal introspection, etc.).
Something to start with is just giving our boys some bayonets for their guns rather than relying on a sword or knife alone, so they can be as effective in melee and keep shooting. Later when we make them all more techmarine like since pistols can be used in melee and our boys enjoy shooting, we can try and install some shoulder/mechadentride mounted close arms weapons.
"Remember its faster to switch to your melta pistols than it is to reload a large weapon in melee"
