Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Primaris Space Marines: More Questions than Answers

So, GW is making new space marines. They look cool. Their profile doesn't seem super broken. I don't generally mind the release. But, I still had this gut feeling of "wrongness" about them. After giving it some thought, here is what I got
1- First of all the name "Primaris"- as in Primary. This means they are first or before Space Marines... that Space Marines are modeled after them. Shouldn't they be Secundus Space Marines, or something suitable "secondary". Unless they really did come first... which means...
2- Are they just new Thunder Warriors? I really hope so, because there needs to be some downside, some fatal flaw to them. Thunder Warriors embodied that idea of "The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long." They expired. They burnt them selves out. They were magnificent while they lasted however. This sounds perfect for a stop gap measure during the Imperium's darkest hour, and gives reason to why Chapters wouldn't just fully switch over.
3- If they did get made first and ARE NOT Thunder Warriors, but have just been "on ice"- why didn't the Emperor use them during the HH? Why didn't he let Corax rebuild his legion with them? Or why not use them in the first place? Or if they weren't ready for the HH, why not during the Age of Apostasy or The Beast Rises, when the Imperium was on the brink? So really, there is no plausible reason for them to be "Primaris". -EDIT: So they were commissioned AFTER the Heresy. BUT that still doesn't answer, why have they been on ice until now. And if it really did take 10k years to make them, why? I assume the Imperium can still make Custodes, why would it take 10 millenia to make something similar. And how awfully convenient for them to be ready just now...
So without them being really "primaris", and if they aren't just Thunder Warriors 2.0, then there are a ton of questions their existence creates

1- How did one random priest, Cawl, unlock the mysteries of the geneseed and make newer better space marines. And how did he do it virtually overnight?
2- Why were Primarchs (Corax) unable to figure this out? I know the Alpha Legion tainted his stuff to ruin the marines he was making, but he wasn't making them "better" to begin with, just faster.
3- HOW HAS FABIUS BILE BEEN UNABLE TO DO THIS IN 10,000 YEARS?!?!?! He is literally the most knowledgeable person when it comes to Marines and geneseed after the Emperor himself. 10k years later the mysteries of the geneseed still elude him AFAIK. So once, more, how did Cawl manage where he failed?
4- If Cawl is SOOOOOO great, why is he not the Fabricator General?
5- If these guys don't have some sort of fatal flaw, why ever make normal Space Marine again? Why not just from here on out make super-duper marines?
6- Lets assume it is just REALLY REALLY hard to make them in sufficient numbers and that is why there will continue to be normal marines. But now look at the Grey Knights... They are already really rare and super worth anything AND are not made on a large scale. So why ever make normal GK again. Why not just fully switch them over to Primaris from here on out?
7- Why do they need their own dreadnought. That is just a machine that literally anyone can interface with. The only reason it is ever marines is because it is rare and hard to make dreads and a marine is worth it and can live forever inside one. But ultimately, the neural architecture is like that of a Titan. So once more, why ever make normal dreads again? Why not just use what ever new super dread these guys will get? And if it is possible to make new super dreads, why aren't they making Contemptors regularly. I thought those went out of favour because the technology was just too hard to do. So will these new dreads be worse then Contemptors?
8- Where are they recruiting the candidates from? This is like the hardest thing for current Space Marines- finding genetically compatible candidates and then getting them to survive the process of becoming a marine.
9- Assuming that they keep making "normies" and then primaris, and considering bullet 8- who is getting access to this precious resource of flesh first? And if primaris take longer to make, what is the input/output trade off of both?
Their rules aren't that bad, but if all they are is a 2 wound SM then what was so hard about making them?
10- And if they are just really two wound marines... what makes them so special anyway?!?!?!?!

All this makes me feel like these are really just a marketing ploy and the fluff was just made to not anger all the players overnight that their current army was no longer to scale. I really hope I am wrong on that front and they answer some of these questions. But from what the are releasing I am worried that it will not make sense and that these will just be "Better" marines, which means with time my current ones would be pointless.