Would Ad-Mech paint Titans in Camoflage patterns?

[Sai-Lauren]

Alternatively you could use reverse camo, draw big bullseyes on the mech, with "hit this to go boom!" writen on it. These parts will be heavily reinforces with no structural value. Any ork gunner would aim strait for this part leaving the more vulnerable parts intact.

Iconography would probably be placed on the least sensitive areas, for precisely this reason, but inviting the enemy to shoot at you is just asking for trouble - there's always the chance that they could miss and hit something vital.

One other thing to note, though. Camouflage is essentially a functional concept, but even when it doesn't actually provide any concealment, it could still be used for other reasons. So, while it may not actually do anything, but there are reasons to justify painting your models with it.

For instance, a particular Titan Legion could have a history of cooperating with infantry or mechanized regiments from their homeworld, and over time, they would take the habit of painting or draping (at least parts of) their war machines in the same camouflage pattern as the regiments they work with.

Titan Legions only come from Forge Worlds, there are no guard regiments raised on those worlds. At best, they'd share the colour scheme with the Skitari.

Or, the traditions of another Titan Legion could actually require the Titan crews to hunt dangerous predators together on foot. During these rituals, they would wear camouflage suitably tailored around their prey's habitat. The particular pattern of camo would then be integrated on their war machines, as a nod to their traditions

That's more possible IMO, especially if the predator's brain patterns are used for the titan's control systems, and the predator itself has camoflage markings.

[Abaraxas]

They could, but I dont really see the point.

Im thinking of Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars-they are like the death's head or symbol of fear, they want you to see them because if you see them coming at you you know you are going to die.

[BooTMGSG]

Iconography would probably be placed on the least sensitive areas, for precisely this reason, but inviting the enemy to shoot at you is just asking for trouble - there's always the chance that they could miss and hit something vital.

Hmm Orks are notoriously bad at shooting, I see your point.

[Sai-Lauren]

Hmm Orks are notoriously bad at shooting, I see your point.

As the saying goes, even a stopped clock is right twice a day

More likely though, is that someone lines up a shot, but the target moves slightly, and the shot impacts in a slightly different place.

Just had another thought though - what about more active countermeasures for Titans, such as chaff dispensers to confuse radar based systems, high-frequency lasers to confuse or disable laser ranging systems, flare launchers for IR systems, ECM projectors to mess with electronics, or even a pariah's brain in a jar to confuse psychic targetting?

And at a more strategic level, the Legion could potentially have small-ish vehicles (small compared to a Battle Titan, they're probably still at least the size of a Land Raider though) that generate the comms traffic, energy signature and seismic activity generated by an active titan, in order to confuse the enemy as to their numbers and movements.

[Lupe]

Titan Legions only come from Forge Worlds, there are no guard regiments raised on those worlds. At best, they'd share the colour scheme with the Skitari.

I seemed to recall that it was not forbidden - even if very improbable- that some forge worlds could raise IG regiments as well. Still, no matter. Just replace home world with home system. (I.e one planet is a hive, the other is the forge world, or the moon of a populated planet is a forge world, etc).

[Sai-Lauren]

I thought Forge Worlds had tithe grade Adeptus Non, as they're technically not part of the Imperium, in the same way as Marine Chapter homeworlds. Although there are the Guard regiments raised from Fortis Binary that appear in His Last COmmand after it's recovery in First and Only, which may have been a mistake by DA (surely not ), a campaign expident by Macaroth to replace losses, the AM giving up part of the population, either to say thanks for recovering the world, or to reduce the population that needs feeding whilst they rebuild all the damaged facilities, or the world merely had a heavy AM presence, rather than being a full Forge World.

Other populated worlds in the system is a possibility though, I guess it depends on whether they fall under the AM's control or the Imperium's - IMO, most of the other bodies in the system would likely be homes to satellite production facilities (as in satellites to the main manufactorums, not that they make satellites ), test ranges, dockyards and warehouses and defensive emplacements, with Mars being one of the exceptions.

I guess there's also the possibility that a Legion uses a camo pattern to honour some unit that they worked with in the past, either on a very succesful mission (especially if it recovered some STC fragment or something similar), or that held a defensive line to allow the Legion to get their equipment off world.

[Lupe]

I thought Forge Worlds had tithe grade Adeptus Non, as they're technically not part of the Imperium, in the same way as Marine Chapter homeworlds. Although there are the Guard regiments raised from Fortis Binary that appear in His Last COmmand after it's recovery in First and Only, which may have been a mistake by DA (surely not ), a campaign expident by Macaroth to replace losses, the AM giving up part of the population, either to say thanks for recovering the world, or to reduce the population that needs feeding whilst they rebuild all the damaged facilities, or the world merely had a heavy AM presence, rather than being a full Forge World.

Adeptus Non tithe grade means a world is exempt from paying their tithe. I think Macragge raises its own guard regiments (although I can't remember if they're actually subordinate to the Munitorum), even though it's exempt, by virtue of being an Adeptus Astartes homeworld. If the regiments they raise are not intended as a means to paying their tithe, there's nothing stopping them from founding them. I mean, they could be raising the regiments to deal with surplus population crowding the slums, for example.

[Chem-Dog]

It's when it doesn't move that it's useful. Same reason we camouflage modern aircraft and tanks - a titan once on the move doesn't need to hide, but it's a sitting duck when powered down. The camo is used to prevent it being took out via orbital strikes or air strikes before it's deployed.

Orbital strikes aren't going to be performed by guys with binoculars though, no matter what paint you put on a titan, the sort of scanning arrays on your orbital bombardment capable craft (scan a system from it's outer edges ect) would detect something that size easily.

Adeptus Non tithe grade means a world is exempt from paying their tithe. I think Macragge raises its own guard regiments (although I can't remember if they're actually subordinate to the Munitorum), even though it's exempt, by virtue of being an Adeptus Astartes homeworld. If the regiments they raise are not intended as a means to paying their tithe, there's nothing stopping them from founding them. I mean, they could be raising the regiments to deal with surplus population crowding the slums, for example.

I'm not sure if they've been retroactively renamed or incorporated into the Skitarii, but there was the "Tech Guard" too at one point. Basically everything the IG could muster but property of the AM.

[AndrewGPaul]

Scutari, Tech-Guard and Skitarii are three names for the same thing - infantry and armour support elements for Titan Legions.

Chimeras originally appeared in 2nd edition Epic as a derivative of the Basilisk/Manticore chassis and were exclusive to Tech-Guard units, when Imperial Guard had to walk everywhere.

[Sai-Lauren]

Orbital strikes aren't going to be performed by guys with binoculars though, no matter what paint you put on a titan, the sort of scanning arrays on your orbital bombardment capable craft (scan a system from it's outer edges ect) would detect something that size easily.

Depending on what systems in the binoculars also contain (accurate GPS to establish their position, a compass to determine direction and a range finder for distance), they might be targeted by them.

As for sensor arrays, a bombardment craft probably won't have the best, and will likely rely on other assets to identify targets and aim them - if it has to drop into low orbit or even the upper atmosphere, rendering it vulnerable to defensive fire or heating, armour is going to be a lot higher priority than relatively fragile sensor packages.

Something designed for picquet duty ahead of a fleet or scouting would have the best sensor packages - and even then, they're probably passive so that it can pick up as much information as possible without revealing itself.

Also, even a Titan is going to be a target that's a tiny fraction of a degree at orbital distances - if you can even resolve the target quickly enough. Remember, despite the common myth, you can't actually see the great wall of china from space (too thin), and whilst spy satellites can pick up very small objects, it takes intelligence operatives a long time to study the images and find anything relevant. Plus, they could potentially be obscured by smoke or the weather, or fooled.

A forward observer with a communicator talking to the bombardment vessel might actually be the best way of calling down ortillery fire.

[Hrw-Amen]

Going back to the original question, I have two chaos Warhounds. They are painted in Ultramarines colour scheme.

The justification for this is that they were made in conjunction with my main chaos marine army,which happens to be Chaos Ultramarines. They travel around and deploy together, hence they have similar colours. I guess after thousands of years they just decided to go with what ever paint they had at their base or on the transport ship, most of which was Ultramarines colour, so that is how it happened.

I have two ork stompas which are sort of titans, they are painted in sort of dirty Bad Moon yellow with a bit of red and lots of dirt, black and metal bits, because Orks don't really care.

[The_Klobb_Maniac]

I think people seriously seriously underestimate targetting technologies. Why would it be hard to hit a giant fraggin' robot, even if it moved (let's say) 200mph? (which is way way way way faster than it does I'd bet.)

Let me spell out something for you about *today's technology*
-We can with a satillite the size of what, a small house? cruising at 26,000+ mph from the ground. With a small missile. No homing IIRC; just calculations. Add 40,000 years to that.


EDIT: This isn't like.. angry birds in space or something. They aren't targetting your titan with a slingshot on an 40kIpad; they're a boatload of scientists and engineers who have a *ships* worth of targetting technology, algorithms, formulae, etc..

In all probability, while the titan could *potentially* change course in time, it's conceivable that if your course is *mildly* predictable they could land non-homing munitions on your head without any problems at all... from the moon. Low orbit? You're talking a couple seconds; the error rate at that distance for such a large target with such fast projectiles would be tiny; Again that's with today's tech or worse. With all the advances and handwavium it'd be pretty difficult to miss IMO.



RE-EDIT: I'd also add.. why not dynamic camouflage? What if they have (again, today's technology) fiber optics that could dynamically change color; camoflaging according to the backdrop/foredrop of the titan? That'd be sweet.

"Yeah this is my Predator Titan. I'll deploy him turning my first turn wherever I want. K go.."
<*blasty shooty death explosion noises...*>

[Harwammer]

...Let me spell out something for you about *today's technology*
-We can with a satillite the size of what, a small house? cruising at 26,000+ mph from the ground. With a small missile. No homing IIRC; just calculations. Add 40,000 years to that...

Some good points, but 40k technology isn't today + ~40k years. Indeed in some ways it is more backward than todays.

[Sergeant Karball]

People have probably already said what I'm about to say, I'm in a bit of a rush so I haven't been able to read all of the replies.
Titans belong in different legions, each legion coming from a different forge world. Each legion has it's own traditional colour scheme like the blue/yellow seen on the Forge World product pictures. I guess camouflage would have little effect on a giant-walking death machine, because who in rifle range of it isn't going to see a giant body above them. But, I remember reading that years ago it was common to see space marines in camouflage, so this might have been the deal when these books were produced, so they gave the titan a camouflage colour scheme.

[ManOfRust]

Going back to the original question, I have two chaos Warhounds. They are painted in Ultramarines colour scheme.

The justification for this is that they were made in conjunction with my main chaos marine army,which happens to be Chaos Ultramarines. They travel around and deploy together, hence they have similar colours. I guess after thousands of years they just decided to go with what ever paint they had at their base or on the transport ship, most of which was Ultramarines colour, so that is how it happened.

I have two ork stompas which are sort of titans, they are painted in sort of dirty Bad Moon yellow with a bit of red and lots of dirt, black and metal bits, because Orks don't really care.

Thank you! This is as good a reason for the paint scheme as has been listed in this thread and I appreciate the contribution. I am still trying to decide if I get a Warhound Titan or a new laptop so I have time to decide if/how I paint it.

I am currently veering towards a camo scheme (probably Tan Urban/Desert - as there are plenty of targets a Warhound would rather hide from and get the drop on.

[Dwarf Supreme]

I personally don't see any reason to use a camo scheme on Titans. I could kind of see for Warhounds, but battle Titans are too damn big to hide with camo! I've painted my Titans (4 Warlords, 4 Reavers and 4 Warhounds) using the color scheme of the Morning Stars legion.

[AlphariusOmegon20]

I have to admit, I'm in the "no camo for titans" camp, though I could maybe see Warhounds possibly using it, based on they being ambush predators, as opposed to Reavers and Warlords. Those two are about as subtle as a brick in a sock.

Personally, I painted this scheme for my two Warhounds and Reaver.




That's about as an unsubtle paint scheme as any out there. The sun would have to be setting and the sky a very reddish-yellow hue to be considered camo for those guys.