Space marine vs. Glitter boy

[DEWN MOU'TAIN]

So i saw this topic on an old forum that was dated back to 2005. It got me thinking, "who really would win?"

lets set up some rules first.

glitter boy would have the basic equipment at the start. so glitter boy armour, rail gun, and laser pistol.

Basic space marine: SM armor, Bolter, bolt pistol, krak grenades, frag grenades, monofiliment blade.
(for the sake of arguement, the SM would be considered to have an armament that is MDC)

Location: earth like planet. Equal gravity, equal hours in day, equal amount of water...its earth, but someplace else.

starting points: 1 mile away. unable to see the other enemy
terrain: lightly wooded central area, surrounded with prairie lands.

[Mind Forge]

I have done a full conversion of the Warhammer 40k Deathwatch RPG into Rifts because my players did not want to learn a new system and after basically going through everything in both books to find some semblance of balance I am going to just say... it depends... but here are arguments for both sides. I am a fan of both Warhammer 40k and Rifts.

First, we have to take a look at the men inside. The Astartes (Space Marine) is far beyond the peak of a mortal man. Before becoming a Space Marine, as a human, he was one of the greatest specimens of an entire planet. Literally bred for his role, the human would go through trial after trial before reaching victory and after that he would be taken away from his world to the stars. Becoming a Space Marine requires years of surgeries to become a supernatural creature with a ceramic "mega-damage" skeleton. This peak condition human would become an 7-8 foot tall powerhouse with the weakest Space Marine able to lift 1.7 tons. A full fledged space marine is usually 60 years old or older... many are centuries old and according to novels, they could be immortal if war didn't kill them.

The Glitterboy pilot, at best... is merely human and probably not the greatest human on the planet but to make them near - let's say that this particular human is olympian - nearly the peak of human perfection.

Ok. So looking at the two men as what they are without armor - the Astartes Space Marine is far superior. Did I mention his Larraman's Organ can clot non-mortal wounds in seconds?

Let's take a look at the Power Armor? The Glitterboy, of course has the Boom Gun. A monster of a cannon but he has to hit. One thing that the Astartes has is near acrobatic perfection and full reactive mobility - his armor is his body. There is an implant called a Black Carapace that links the two inseparably in mind and body. Now, the Power Armor that the Space Marine uses is about 30,000+ years from the time the Glitterboy was made, utilizing technology that is not even in existence on Rifts Earth. As a matter of fact, the Glitterboy cannon might simply knock the Space Marine down without penetration. Why? The Power Armor the Space Marine has is "completely enclosed, combat armor composed of adamantium and plasteel plates encased in a ceramite ablative layer'. In Warhammer (in the year 40,000 A.D.) adamantium is the strongest substance in the known universe and is invulnerable to attacks from most known weapons. It took Diamantine tipped ammunition to penetrate... so basically the glitterboy would have to fire diamond flechettes out of the boom gun to penetrate the armor. Trying to compare the technology of Rifts: Earth to the Space Marine is going to be difficult.

Let's take a look at one more thing. The Space Marine is firing a bolter most likely and let's just say he has normal ammo (there is a wide variety of ammo to be used). It fires four round bursts of diamond tipped explosive ammunition. This ammunition is propelled and is more like an armor piercing round that penetrates armor then explodes. The bolter is specifically designed to be used by a superhuman. If a normal human were to fire an Astartes Bolter it would tear his/her arm off, failing that the arm from the socket. Also, the targeting system links with the Space Marine's auto-senses. The standard bolter round - a 'bolt' is basically a gyro-jet round that has a hardened diamantine tip (which is better than diamond tipped), it has a depeleted uranium core (irradiated stuff doesn't bother a space marine, they are protected from radiation) and an explosive charge that is probably millenia from being discovered by humanity still.

I think the main deciding factor is the fact that the Space Marine's technology is 37,000 years from the future. In the novels they do come across planets that have achieved space travel and the human population does not want to surrender to the Emperor. A single company of space marines is able to subdue the entire planet's military force.

Okay. This does make me want to defend the Glitterboy - so I will. It is heavily armored for the 2nd millennium. With 700 m.d.c. the glitterboy is not to be ignored. I just realized... I can't defend the glitter boy in this fight. Simply based on strength, the Astartes without armor could beat the robot P.S. of the Glitterboy. The slugs of the glitterboy would flatten against the far from the future armor of the Space Marine. I mean 37,000 years is a long time even if they are using technology that is thousands of years old.

Victory would have to go to the Space Marine.
1. The Space Marine is statistically superior in all ways - well maybe not in M.A. or P.B. - he is more like a Mega-Juicer without the flaws.
2. He is using technology that has reached the pinnacle of warfare and has not needed to change. His armor and weapons are superior to anything that pre-rifts technology had. The origin of Space Marine starts on Earth.

I tried to think of something comparable to a Space Marine Astartes in Rifts and I just couldn't think of anything. Even the basic weapon of a space marine is something that Naruni would give up nearly everything they had to backwards engineer... but now think of this - almost every weapon and suit of armor in the Imperium of Man is an artifact with it's own soul. Every suit of armor has a machine spirit - so now we get into pseudo magical artifact armor that the astartes is wearing - I'm not even going to start that up.

[meatrace]

What is this I don't even

[Xenh]

It harkens me to the Rifts novels where the Juicer is carving patterns in the Glitter Boy with his vibro-blade.

Sure it's nice to have the sexiest rail gun fly swatter, but only if you can get the target to stand in front of the barrel long enough for you to yank on the trigger.

[Mind Forge]

I think for a real challenge it would have to be something more like - a Company of Space Marines against an Alien Intelligence if we wanted to go the Rifts route. A company is 10 space marines.

[Xenh]

Mind Forge wrote:

I think for a real challenge it would have to be something more like - a Company of Space Marines against an Alien Intelligence if we wanted to go the Rifts route. A company is 10 space marines.

Juicer vs. Glitterboy!

[Varin Artusk Darkthane]

They shall know no fear and feel no pain........

[DEWN MOU'TAIN]

Ah, I see what you did there...
Ill post rebuttal in morning

[Morpheuschild]

i had to sign up just to reply to this...
according to your logic, even an ork with a slugga and a choppa could obliterate a glitter boy, blowing holes and hacking it apart as if it were made of rice paper. so, basically, a good-sized warband could stumble out of a rift (they create holes in time as well as space, iirc) and totally dominate rifts earth in a matter of months, and even that would only be because they can't be everywhere at once. of course, their waaagh would create a mounting psionic link through the rift they came through, and draw more and more orks, so it mighten shorten the time needed considerably...

[Rathendar]

You are losing the general parameter of Rifts in the comparison however. An alien techology isn't automatically a superior and unbeatable technology.

Space marines don't bounce around like juicers that i have ever seen, i'd equate that more for Screaming Banshees or Harlequins from the Rldar. Space Marines even have their own Lockdown weapons... Heavy Bolter, yes?

Translating to Rifts and comparing a space marine to a glitterboy i would defeinitely give the space marine better base stats and even a higher OCC level.

However i'd end up saying the throwdown would be like 1 member of a space marine squad vs a Dreadnaught in the same 40K setting, a probable loss.

[Freehold DM]

In all probability, the glitter boy would win, assuming range attacks and action economy. Space marines are mega damage creatures, but the boom gun does too much damage from round to round, and in a mega damage universe the only serious damage a space marine can do is in hand to hand. No pilot worth their salt is EVER going to let someone close to hand to hand range(I have gamed with some serious munchkins over the years who ensured that this would NEVER EVER HAPPEN EVER), and the stacked damage would eventually do the space marine in.

That said, a contingent of space marines vs a single glitter boy would be one dead glitter boy.

[Soluzar]

Also remember that 40k tech is not THAT advanced. The people in that universe believe in rituals that mimic maintenance to appease the "spirit" in the machine.

The boom gun should be able to hurt and kill a Space Marine. The gun is powerful enough to give a adult dragon pause.

The only question that matter is how fast can that Space Marine close the distance.

[Freehold DM]

Soluzar wrote:

Also remember that 40k tech is not THAT advanced. The people in that universe believe in rituals that mimic maintenance to appease the "spirit" in the machine.

The boom gun should be able to hurt and kill a Space Marine. The gun is powerful enough to give a adult dragon pause.

The only question that matter is how fast can that Space Marine close the distance.

how fast are space marines? Cuz a boom gun is good from about two miles away and GBs can run at 60 mph. Long range circle strafe.

[Ceaser Slaad]

What's the terrain like? It seems to me that in relatively flat, open terrain the Glitterboy would have the advantage. In terrain that provided reasonable amounts of cover the Space Marine would have the advantage.