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57mm Anti Tank

2023-02-27T00:35:55Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: per request by User:Flutist

[[File:56mm Anti Tank.png|thumb|]]
The 57mm anti tank, more colloquially known as the ZiS-2, is a medium AT gun developed during the Second World War.

This is also another ancient piece of equipment that has been pulled from the endless russian scrap pile to try and salvage putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

==In Flames of War==
ZiS-2 has an AP of 11, a halted RoF of 2, a moving of 1, and a modest 4+ of Firepower. While not about to kick asses and take names in Late War, it's a perfectly serviceable AT Gun, and a Gun Shield adds a little bit of survivability. Generally it's better to take them in two small batteries instead of a single big one and put those on flanks: with luck, even [[Tiger]]s and [[Panther]]s can be dealt with.

===Mid War===

===Late War===
As of Bagration, they can be taken either as a regular 57mm Anti-tank Company (either 4 points for 2 guns or 8 for 4) or Fearless Veterans of a Heavy Tank Killer company (6 pts for 2 and 12 for 4, respectively). The choice is yours, but if you're not running an infantry list where mobility would be an issue, it's probably better to take 100mm Tank Killer company instead of the latter just to threaten heavy beasties.

==IRL==
The ZiS-2 originated as an upgrade over the weaker 45mm cannons in service. It was made under wrong assumption that Germans a) already had heavy tanks with armor as thick as that of KV-1 (but not shit) and b) were going to use Char B1s captured in France en masse. Some sources even say Soviet intelligence mistook the latter for a new German heavy tank, so ZiS-2s APCBC comfortably penetrated the front armor of B1 from 1,5 km away.

In any case, production of the weapon also had teething pains from the fact that the Commies had no experience manufacturing 57mm ammo and what's crucial, gunpowder good enough to propel the shell at speed required. When the actual fighting started, it was quickly discovered APHE punches right through both Pz IIIs sides without exploding. Officially that was the reason that manufacturing was dropped in December 1941, but the truth is more nuanced. Both the gun and the shells couldn't be produced in quantities fit for a catastrophe of Barbarossa, and it was deemed more "good enough" 45mm guns was better than fewer 57mm guns. In 1943, they were reintroduced in order to give anti-tank crews an actual fighting chance against the heavier Panzers like Panther and Tiger.

It was the primary armament of unholy abomination named ZIS-30, the very definition of ersatz, around 100 of which was made. We do not speak of those.<ref>If you really want to know, just imagine the [[Myphitic Blight-Hauler|Death Guard Roomba]] but Soviet.</ref> The ZiS-2 was also considered for use on the T-34 and SU chassis, though these plans were abandoned due to the better performance of 76 and 85 mm cannons. Post war, it was rather quickly retired due to its obvious obsolescence, being major export post war to friendly countries. In 2013, a number of ZiS-2s shells were found in a shipment bound for North Korea, implying that the weapon is still in service there. Jury is still out if that is hilarious, concerning, awe inspiring, or an unholy mixture of all three.

{{Soviet Forces in Flames of War}}

Armor

2023-02-27T00:35:51Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: per request by User:Flutist

'''''Armor''''' (also spelled Armour) is a protective layer of material used to protect something from damage. Some types of armor includes armor for buildings, armor for vehicles and armor for personnel (generally referred to as body armor). Putting armor on people or putting them in [[Rhino|metal boxes]] to keep them safe is important because we can be [[Rip and Tear|killed]] by sharp rocks or branches or basically anything else at all except grass and leaves. In fact not [[Wikipedia:Bamboo#Weapons|even]] [[Wikipedia:Toxicodendron_radicans|those]]. This is because because our skin is not armor and it [[FAIL|sucks]]. This article will focus mostly on body armor.

[[File:ERA man.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Here you see a highly advanced tactical soldier well equipped for battle with the latest in ERA technology]]

== Types of Body Armor ==
Numerous forms of body armor have been developed over the millennia by civilizations with various levels of technology and resources on hand. Every single one of these died out in Europe by the 18th century, not, contrary to popular belief, because they were useless - forged iron or steel plate armour was still very effective at deflecting bullets, as shown by the armour European Cuirassiers wore well into the 19th century; in fact they were proof marked by a single dimp in the plate itself, made by firing a flintlock pistol at point blank at them - but equipping the increasing numbers of soldiers of the standing armies that became the norm after the Thirty Year War and the reforms undertaken during the long reign of Louis XIV. of France was simply too costly; the levied and mercenary forces prior to and during this war bought their equipment out of their own pockets. Efforts to make personal armor for the lowly Infantryman cheap and efficient enough never really stopped, but were almost met with failure, either because the results proved to be too heavy, too unreliable or too expensive, most of the times all three. Modern body armor works different insofar as they dissipate the force of a bullet hitting them like a big pillow, (spreading the kinetic energy over a relatively large area instead of outright making the bullet bounce off, also causing the bullet to get stuck in vest instead of going -plink!-) but some of the force will still get through and, as many military and policemen (and women) can attest, the sensation of getting hit while wearing a Kevlar vest is not very pleasant, to put it mildly; the remaining force is still sufficient to break bones or cause internal damage if you're unlucky. Still, a treatable, if painful, wound is of course still preferrable over a lethal one.

*'''Leather armor''' - not just any leather would do; soft leather offers no protection against blades. You need specially treated leather to be effective. Another name for this is "cuir bouilli" or "cuirbouille". The exact method of creating is unclear, as simply boiling leather in water (as the French name implies) will result in leather that’s hard but highly brittle (like diamond) to the point it can be snapped with one's bare hands. The best guesses are that animal glue and/or oil were involved. The high biodegradability (and, to many vermin, tastiness) of leather, especially with period natural treatment, has created a near total lack of historical examples surviving though we do see some possible examples in period art. Whatever it is, what is for certain is that this was the result was not flexible like a modern leather jacket, but would have a fairly solid shape (one possible method of creating it resulted in leather sturdy enough it could actually be used to ''chop wood''). The general consensus is that it had less presence in Europe (though there are surviving inventory accounts that confirm it existed). Meanwhile, in the East (both middle and far) it did exist (with inventories and accounts confirming Chu and Zhou armories using rhino or water buffalo hide), it wasn't that much widespread either and disappeared once other materials were obtainable. These circumstances became more prevalent as metalworking became more accessible. On the Central Asian steppes or in areas with large amounts of livestock, the leather was more widespread as lamellar or scale armor. This was likely a matter of resource availability as the nomadic tribes had little access to metal outside of trading and would prioritize using it for tools, swords, speartips, and arrowheads instead. Regarding the tribes in the Americas (some examples include the Tlingit, Chukchi, and Yupik or the Plain Indian's hair-pipe breastplates) as well as the Polynesian and Austronesian islands, where metalworking was noticeably diminished or not present, leather armor was relatively common while bone, shell, and coins were used as external reinforcing elements. Some examples include the Baju/Baru tribal war garb (made from hide, turtle shell, &/or crocodile skin) in the Nusantara Archipelago in Austronesia. On the other hand, all these regions gradually phased out leather once they gained reliable supplies of crafted metal or firearms via trading or learning metalsmithing. While phased out as as a primary form of protection, Buff coats were still made of leather and retained to act as cushioning underneath metal breastplates. It also served as slashing protection for exposed joints or in cases where wearing metal armor was inconvenient.
** Real-life note: while sometimes seen on TV and in video games, there is no such thing as studded leather armor as mentioned below in Brigandine's section. Think about it. How does adding a metal studs cause a significant increase to the armor's effectiveness? You will see this mistake in many RPGs. This idea probably came from people misunderstanding some of the other kinds of armor that use cloth as a binding agent on the outside.
*'''Padded cloth armor''' - Cloth bundled in sufficient thickness was one of the first forms of armor, since bronze armors tended to be too expensive or too heavy to be widely used. Cloth continued to be used mostly as padding underneath metal armor, to help absorb blows and all through the middle ages continued to be the go to protection for men-at-arms in lieu of expensive metal plate or mail. Despite what you might think it (obviously) provided one of the best protection against percussive strikes, second only to full plate (which have padded cloth integrated into it), surprisingly high level of protection against slashes and swings, unless the blade is razor sharp (most historical blades weren't that sharp) and while it barely ever provides full protection against piercing weapon heavier than a shortbow arrow, it does lower the depth of penetration, often turning instantly lethal wounds from glancing stabs or slashes to survivable if debilitating, or even surface damage, with an added bonus of often catching enemy weapon (although given in most times where blades get stuck in padded cloth after stabbing through, they pierce deep enough to kill so it's more to the benefit of your companions than yours). Sometimes confused with Brigandine armor (which externally appeared to be made of cloth with metal studs but also contained overlapping metal pieces). Besides the Gambeson and some Austronesian Baju/Baru war jackets woven from hardy fibrous plants, some other historical examples include:
** The distinctive ancient Greek armor called "Linothorax" (literally meaning linen torso): believed to be made out of quilted linen with glue laminate and is presumed to fall under this category, though historians can't be entirely sure as no full examples survived the centuries. Lighter versions known as "Spola" were worn by the Greeks and Macedonians.
** A gambeson is unlike most “soft” armor in that we actually have a fairly good understanding of its construction due to some 15th century writing detailing how to make it (deer skin with a ~30 layers of linen).
*** Aketon is roughly equivilent to a gamebeson, being made of raw cotton (which is not the soft, smooth, fluffy stuff the clothes you're wearing are made out of) rather than linen. Generally assumed to be a corruption of the arabic word for cotton.
** A hard, quilted, and 2 inch-thick form of cotton armor was used by the Mesoamericans such as the Aztecs, Toltecs, and the Tlaxcalans. Called ”Ichcahuipilli” in the Nahuatl, it was often hardened with resin-like substances like brine salt. In combat, it was effective against obsidian-edged Macuahuitl/Macana sword-clubs and arrows. They were also effective enough that Spanish Conquistadors sometimes adopted them for use in the summer to avoid being baked alive in their steel cuirasses. Other related armor include decorated sets called "Tlahuiztli." Similar thickly padded cotton tunics were worn by Incan nobles and Muisca warriors in South America (with the former using small wooden planks to reinforce the back).
** An early bulletproof form of cotton armor worn by the 19th century Joseon Koreans called “Myeonje baegab.” It was invented when they confronting Western armies at the same time the Western powers began probing expeditions into Qing China and Tokugawa Japan (pre-Meiji Reformation). While effective against low velocity bullets from black powder firearms, it was prone to being burned from incendiary hazards like explosions or red-hot shrapnel.
** Various early forms of pistol-proof armor were documented that were made from layers of silk but were usually expensive and restricted to wealthy politicians or nobles (for example, [[The World Wars|Franz Ferdinand]] ironically was believed to have owned one but wasn't wearing it on his fateful final day, though as he was shot in the neck it wouldn't have made a difference).
*'''Paper armor''' - this one sounds crazy, but apparently it was actually a thing in 10th Century China. The Mythbusters tested it out and it might have been actually effective... at least, so long as it does not get wet, a bit of of an issue considering human beings tend to sweat when under the stress of matters of life-and-death. Indeed citizen, this is testable by you! Obtain a notebook and ensure it is tightly closed. Then, stab it with a knife as hard as possible. Apparently, it was also used by some ethnic tribes in China as late at the 19th century while interlayered with cotton and was good against smoothbore muskets and bayonets but not breech-loading rifles.
*'''Wooden armor''' - either based on wooden planks held together or overlapped with fibre in a manner similar to mirror armor, brigandine, and lamellar, or alternatively composed of woody rods interwoven like a thick basket (similar to rattan shields in Asia) into the form of cuirasses and shields called rod-and-slat armor, these types of armor were known to be used in pre-colonial natives in Austronesia (such as the Kiribati) and the Americas (such as among the Inca, Haida, Iroqouis, & Tlingit tribes). Like leather armor or cotton armor, there are very few preserved copies due to wood’s tendency to rot away when exposed to wet climates with most accounts coming from written records by colonial explorers. While effective against the wood, bone, and stone based weaponry used indigenously in the region, it inevitably disappeared once metal weapons or firearms were introduced by Western explorers.
**”Bamboo armor” - basically wooden armor, but with the advantage in that you can shape bamboo more easily. Bamboo is also notable in the sense that it has a high strength weight ratio. It also is rather weather resistant.
*'''Scale armor''' - An early form of armour, sporting overlapping metal (cuirbouille and lacquered leather were also used) plates arranged in a similar fashion to roofing tiles, which were riveted/sewn onto a backing cloth or leather and oftentimes loosely laced together in rows. One of the earliest examples of armour, used predominantly in Eastern cultures most distinctly used to deck out their early heavy cavalrymen and horses both in this. These "Cataphracts" were said to be able [[Awesome|to get showered in arrows without getting hit]]. Used by Rome as the lorica squamata, apparently simultaneously with mail. The art of ''Grandes Chroniques de France'' shows (at least) helmets with such an appearance existed in Europe as lower class armor in or before 1270.
*'''Mirror armor''' - an early form of plate, this was a small round bronze plate attached to the torso. Besides physical protection, it was also believed to ward off the supernatural. The plate itself was frequently a supplement over a suit of mail, but plenty of poor warriors throughout ancient history made due with hoping that no one would hit them around the single non-encompassing plate they strapped to their chest (beats having no armor).
*'''[[Mail]]''' - the iconic armor made of interlocking rings. One of the most common and effective type of armor from the ancient world to the middle ages. Flexible and easy (though time-consuming) to make, it was widely used by many cultures. It was also significantly easier to repair, as a break could easily be mended by replacing a few rings, whereas a hole in plate armor might require a complete replacement. While fairly effective against foot soldiers, the crossbow and the lance charge required knights to wear extra armor over mail for additional protection. In the modern era, they are used for non-combative roles, such as shark suits, butcher's gloves, animal control, and dealing with high-power electrical wiring (because electrons "slide" along the mesh rather than penetrate", admittedly the mesh must be very tightly made). Some nations still use mail armor to supplement riot gear. Note that it MUST be backed with leather or something stiff, otherwise knives will drive it into the body. Just for the love of god: don't get shot. The British tested this in WW1 and the bullets ends up dragging the links into the body with it. They did wind up using it to protect crew inside a tank from spalling that was reliably created from even non-penetrating hits against its armor (early tank armor just wasn't very thick, and the issue lessened by the time of World War II's technological advances in tanks).
*'''Plated Mail''' - Also known as Mail and Plate armor or splinted mail, this is not what some sourcebooks refer to as platemail, which is basically just plate armor worn over a mail hauberk. Plated mail integrates metal plates into the rest of the mail pattern, ranging from large rectangular plates on areas like the chest, to small plates arranged like fish scales on areas that require more dexterity, such as near the shoulders and back. A form of transitional armor in Europe alongside brigandine as knights gradually shifted from full mail to plate armor, it was popular with medieval Slavs, Eastern Europeans, Persians, Indians, and other Asian kingdoms.
*'''Laminar armor''' - armor made from overlapping bands of metal. A predecessor to full-body plate armor, most famous example is the ancient Roman [[wikipedia:Lorica_segmentata|Lorica Segmentata]], though it was less prevalent among the Romans than is usually portrayed and mail remained in use among the Romans' frontline infantry, even in the Segmentata's heyday. Other examples existed such as the Dendra armour from Mycenaean Greece, some Warring State Period samurai armor once muskets were in use, or Renaissance Polish Hussars but the latter was held together by sliding rivets rather than leather strips and laces used in Greek and Roman versions of the armor.
*'''Lamellar armor''' - <s>Essentially scale armor sewn together</s> Not exactly. It's an armour made from overlapping pieces of leather, ivory/bone, or metal, each piece being laced side-by-side to create semi-rigid rows, which then are laced together to form a complete suit of armour. This form differs from other "overlapping plates" types of armour in that it is self-contained and does not rely on backing material to keep the all the pieces together (unlike Scale or Brigandine). Again it is one of the oldest types of armour (being found in places as widespread as Mesopotamia, Europe, the Central Asian Steppes, Pre-Columbian North America, and even the Arctic Circle) and was still in use as recently as 1930s.
*'''[[Samurai]] armor''' - depending on the period, it could be lamellar, laminar, or even western plate (but not wood. That has no basis in history). The helmet (kabuto) had a distinct shape that often featured ornaments and even a removable facemask (Darth Vader's helmet is said to be a hybrid of a kabuto and a German stahlhelm). Also notable for featuring one or two large [[pauldrons]] (called ''sode'') on the heavier models that protected the entire upper arm, and were used as small shields to absorb impacts while leaving both hands free for weapon handling. ([[Power Armour|Sounds familiar, huh?]])
**'''Ashigaru armor''' - Worn by conscripts, it featured the same kinds of breastplates, a lesser helmet (which was sometimes made of wood) and some minor stuff but was overall less complete than samurai armor. Eventually became a standardized, mass-produced design used by everyone after [[firearms]] made their entrée, relegating the heavier samurai armors to symbols of status.
*'''Brigandine''' - a.k.a "Corazzina,” “Coat-of-plates,” and “Jack of Plate” armor. Brigandine is a "poor man's plate" and was quite popular in medieval Europe as part of "transitional" armor alongside plated mail (when knights began transitioning from full mail to plate armor), when worn in combination with mail and metal splints covering the limbs. While it may not provide as sturdy protection compared to full plate, it was very easy to make and repair. Also, while not as flexible as mail, it had more rigid protection against blunt force trauma. In essence, it was a compromise between the two while also being cheaper. Even after nobles and knights began using full plate armor, it was still kept as a form of armor for all rank-and-file men-at-arms; even seeing use in the New World by colonists against the natives’ arrows. It was also widespread across all of Eurasia with evidence of its existence seen as far out as as Turkey, India, Russia, China, and even Japan. Often confused with "studded leather armour" or the padded cloth gambeson. In modern day warfare, ballistic vests with trauma plate inserts made from metal or ceramic on the front, back, and sides of the body are spiritual successors to this form of armor. <s>Construction-wise, it’s essentially an inverted suit of scale armor with the backing cloth on the outside</s> Not quite. Underneath the cloth and over the padding, a "brig" is built from overlapping plates of various sizes and shapes, riveted onto a leather or cloth "jacket", but it differs from other "overlapping plates" armours in that:
** A) the plates are *usually* bigger and shaped according to where they go on the armour (scale and lamellar mostly use same-sized, same-shape plates),
** B) they are riveted (or sewn in the Jack-of-Plate’s case) inside the leather/cloth and not on the outside and
** C) the plates are '''not''' linked together in any fashion and fully rely on their fastening to the backing to keep them where they're supposed to be.
*'''[[Plate armor]]''' - armor made from single, solid pieces of metal. Bronze plate armor had been used in ancient times, but was limited to helmets and sometimes breastplates due to the weight of the armor. Full suits of plate armor were not possible until improvements in smithing allowed for large bars of steel to be hammered out into single pieces. A popular misconception about full plate is that it's very hard to move in, to a point it's exclusive to cavalry. While this is true for a '''tourney plate''' specifically designed for maximum protection in jousting tournaments, an actual battle plate was designed with maximum mobility in mind, and it was not uncommon for a knight (or later an officer) to do a somersault or dance with his lady while testing his new plate armor. During and after the Renaissance, mass produced '''munitions plate''' armor appeared; this was usually a partial suit of armor that protected the chest, shoulders, and upper leg; it was partially effective against harquebus fire and early grenades but fell out of use as muskets proliferated.
*'''Jack Chains''' - if you were too poor to afford proper plate armor, you could at least add some metal reinforcements to your gambeson called Jack Chains. These were essentially gauntlets, elbow plates, and shoulder guards linked together by chains and attached to the arms so that one could, at bare minimum, block slashes to their sides without getting cut, or use it as a improv shield against incoming sword attacks.
*'''Makeshift Armor''' - Not really a set of armor in the traditional sense, generally makeshift armor is what ever one could scrounge up to make a protective wear. In the modern day, this is a protestor (think 2014 Ukraine Revolution) go to for long term engagement. Generally, motorcycle and safety helmets alongside heavy thick jackets, protective sports gear, or motorcycle gear would be the go to, as well as whatever one can strap to themselves. Don't be wearing something that might shatter easily though if you expect to be shot at, because that might manage to injure you even worse with the flying bits.
*'''Flak Jackets''' - The first standard-issue modern body armor to be developed, Flak Jackets were developed in WWII out of high-strength nylon to protect aircrews from fragments fired from flak cannons in conjuncture with manganese steel plates. While good against shrapnel and pistol rounds, it was still ineffective against rifle bullets. Before the invention of Kevlar and ballistic vests, this was the only kind of body armor available to modern soldiers expected to walk.
*'''Early 20th century armor''' - in WW1 and 2 many nations began experimenting with various forms of body armor to deal with shrapnel. This included steel breastplates, lamellar and steel plates in canvas carriers. This was more experimental than anything else. The biggest users of body armor in WW2 were the soviets who issued "steel bibs" to their soldiers. These could stop shrapnel fire and pistol bullets (a big deal given that Sub Machine Guns were a common infantry arm for urban combat) but were on the heavy side and were restricted to urban warfare or motorized infantry.
*'''Ceramic armor''' - Originally descended from the ceramic “Chicken plate” armor worn by helicopter gunship crews, it is typically, high-strength ceramic plates (typically made from boron carbide) are used as an energy-absorbing component in some ballistic vests (otherwise the wearer would suffer blunt trauma and internal bleeding from a bullet impacting the vest). A common myth is that Ceramic trauma plates shatter after only a 1-2 hits. This somewhat of an exaggeration, although generally plates are certified to take one well aimed steel-cored 7.62x63/53 mm rifle round (in layman's terms, a armor piercing sniper bullet) straight in and anything more you get out of it is pushing your luck. These are some of the best plates for infantry.
*'''Ballistic vests''' - "bulletproof" armor vests able to stop bullets of varying sizes and speeds. For "soft" armor, the use of high-strength fibers that "catch" the projectile, thereby slowing them down enough to prevent them from penetrating, are used, typically for security guards, low-intensity combat areas jobs, and cops. For "hard" armor, ceramic/metal/ultra-high-strength plastic/combination-of-the-previous may be used in the form of solid plates. Body armor may come in as either a standalone vest (i.e. "soft" kevlar vest) or a carrier (which can further more simply be a holder for a solid plate or a combination of "soft" and "hard" armor). Options of groin, neck, and shoulder protection may be included with the vests but aren't used unless you're in a SWAT team or fighting in close quarters in a building.
**'''Ballistic Visor''' - A visor of transparent, bulletproof, plastic. Despite its weight, bulk and making it impossible to use a standard rifle properly, it's only really suitable against low powered handgun rounds and thus it sees little use outside of European SWAT counterparts.
*'''Blast suits''' - full-body armors capable of absorbing the heat and shrapnel of a bomb blast. The only part that isn't protected are the hands, since wearing thick gloves is detrimental to manual dexterity. So if a bomb goes off, you may be maimed and lose parts of your hands - but at least you're not dead or torn to ribbons by shrapnel! May also include a closed air supply in the case of biological or chemical bombs. Commonly worn by EOD technicians. Often used in TV shows, movies and video games to allow its user to shrug off gunfire. This is obviously false as the suit is designed to stop kinetic energy and shrapnel NOT bullets. Attempting to mimic media like that is a good way to end up like Swiss cheese.
*'''[[Power Armor]]''' - As of current, we already have prototype exoskeletons, but they're one of the many inventions that isn't in common use purely because of current limits on battery power (all current examples are plugged into a power source). There isn't as much a need for such strength in direct combat like in fiction, as it's designed more for load-bearing in mind, allowing for bigger, heavier guns and/or more ammo. However, that could include allowing the user to wear heavier armor as well. Generally speaking, the servos and external components are rather exposed. Think STALKER's exoskeleton for modern military exoskeleton prototypes. Frankly, you're more likely to find these systems being used by workers in a factory or maintenance depot than on the battlefield, and that will likely remain the case until the power situation is figured out. A rare case of mundane utility winning out over combat potential for first time deployment.

== Modern Body Armor ==
With modern technology and all it's amenities, a large choices of body armor exists on the market (the NIJ level approved list for body armor products consumes 212 pages on a PDF file, and that's just stuff the manufacturer has paid the considerable expense to have tested by the NIJ instead of in-house). That said it is good to know what levels of protection for both ballistic and melee threats are. The advent of modern style body armour came at the beginning of the Cold War, when military equipment became ever more complicated to handle and expensive to make. These two factors put an incentive in place for the military leaders of the world to invest more resources into the training of its Soldiers, but also to protect this training and money invested into it (as of writing this passage, the cost of the training alone is estimated by the Pentagon to range between 20-40.000 US-Dollars ''per soldier for just basic training''), as well as the outrageously expensive equipment they are carrying. Compare this to previous wars like World War 2, where 90 days were deemed sufficient enough to teach some basic tactics and the workings of an M1 Garand and whatever specialty gear the individual soldier was issued. Point being: The advancements in weapon lethality also made Soldiers much less expendable (ironically enough) than their previous incarnations.

[[image:NIJ Ballistic Protection Rating.JPG|thumb|250px|right|NIJ Ballistic Standard]]
[[image:UL 752 Bullet Resistance Chart.PNG|thumb|250px|right|UL 752 Ballistic Standard]]

*'''Ballistic threats''' Aka bullets most of the time. Soft body armor (aka Kevlar, UHMW Polyethylene, Dyneema, etc) that is rather flexible, but also vulnerable to high velocity threats. Thus most body armor of that class is relegated between II to IIIA. From there on out, it's hard body armor, which usually consists of some sort of metallic (usually steel, but titanium and high-strength aluminum are options too), ceramics, and composites. NIJ Standard III to IV stop those threats. Technically, though only rated up to 30-06 AP rounds (IV), some plates of body armor offer higher than IV. Some have even shown to stop a .50 BMG round, though the likelihood of one surviving such a shot from the sheer force of it hitting them even without going into them is still in question. Particularly when that burst of energy can still rupture organs or shatter bones. Standard helmets only go up to level III
** Since some common threats are ''just'' above certain ratings, like 55 grain 5.56 from a 20 inch barrel penetrating level III or 5.7 pistols beating most soft armor, the NIJ system is currently undergoing an overhaul. While most western countries use NIJ rating standards, at least as a secondary, Russia has its own, completely unconnected, system for rating armor.

*'''Stab threats''' Protects against low energy stabbing objects (aka knives and maybe some small swords). Stab and piercing vest should not be trusted for higher level threats such a two handed weapons such as an pickaxe, sledgehammer, axe, spear, and even affixed bayonets. Even a knife in the hands of someone who can put an unusually high amount of force into stabbing can defeat a stab vest. However it is still great for stuff people would likely to conceal where rapid quick jabbing is likely to occur. Of course there is probably protective gear such as riot gear that could be more withstanding of heavier two handed threats, but it's likely best to not take a pickaxe to the chest in the first place.

Overlap between the two categories is minimal. Metal ballistic plates will stop knifes, though said plate covers minimal body area and is typically heavy. Soft armor is one or the other, though one could be worn over the other at the cost of bulk.

[[image:NIJ Stab level.PNG|thumb|200px|right|NIJ Stab standard]]

== Modern Materials ==
For soft armor vests, the original materials used to make the dozens of layers that catch bullets and absorb their energy were either silk, cotton, or nylon. Ultimately, they were replaced with high strength synthetic polymer fibers with Kevlar being the first invented in the the 1970's and replaced ballistic nylon. It's been competing ever since with over a dozen rival polymer formulas.
The standard hard armor trifecta of UHMWPE (essentially dense polymers ratched up to 11), Steel/titanium, and Ceramic usually places Ceramic at the top with the latter being first used on helicopter crews in the 1970's as well. As ceramic is not vulnerable to steel-core or fast-moving threats, it does not fold to M855 and M193 at the NIJ III level like UHMWPE and Steel do, respectively. What makes metals and UHMWPE appealing for plate inserts over ceramic is cost reduction and (assuming the plates haven't been penetrated yet) reusability. On the other hand, metal plate inserts need to be coated with high strength resins and polymer covers to prevent metal fragments from ricochets and spalling from hitting soldiers in the face or limbs.

== Yurop and Russia ==
Outside of the US, there are standards like VPAM and GOST, HOSDB and SK. Of these, the HOSDB is the only one not designed for military and civil use, while the rest are comprehensives intended for both military and civil protection.

Apparently as a result of corruption almost all of them were stolen and sold on the black market, since almost none of putin's troops have worn armor during his illegal invasion of Ukraine

==Anatomy of armor==
[[File:HenryVIIIArmor.jpg|right|thumb|300px|You thought we were joking about the dick armor?]]
Basic terminology of the different parts of armor. Unless you were very wealthy, such as a knight, not everyone had every part of their body covered in armor.

*[[Helmet]] - protects the head, one of the most common pieces of armor.
*Gambeson - padded cloth armor suit worn underneath metal armor to absorb blunt force and protect the wearer from the armor itself (metal and boiled leather aren't nice to unprotected humans skin, especially under extreme temperatures). Later variants often reinforced with sown-in mail in places actual metal armor above it have gaps and joints.
*Cuirass - protects the torso. If its made from a single piece of metal, it is a breastplate. Most breastplate are associated with full-body steel plate armor, but ancient Greeks had a bronze version called the "heroic Cuirass", or the Roman "Lorica Musculata", often molded with fake muscles and various decorations.
:*Plackart - lower torso reinforcement that would overlap with a breastplate for extra protection, and connected to the faulds. The reason for this reinforcement is to act as a cushion for blows to the chest, as there is enough space between the plackart and curiass that it acts as additional padding to prevent soft tissue damage underneath. Also enabled wearers to bend their torso sideways due the breastplate and backplate resting on the shoulders and around the ribcage while enveloped by the plackart around the midriff like a Russian matryoshka doll. Meanwhile the plackart and faulds being fastened around the hips enabled wearers to bend forwards, sideways, and backwards.
:*Faulds - a metal skirt attached to the breastplate, allowing some leg protection while offering mobility. Alternately, if the Faulds are in two pieces (one for each leg), they're known as Tassets. If a separate piece protects the ass, it's called a culet.
:*Lance Rest - the lone offensive feature of armor (aside from the rare spikes), enables holding using a lance with less energy wasted on sliding around. Makes the energy transfer so efficent that lances can actually break when used.
*Gorget - protects the neck and nape. With certain helmets, such as the Sallet, the gorget protected the lower head where the helmet did not.
**Bevor - a related piece of neck armor. Unlike the Gorget, these did not surround the entire neck but covered the front of the neck at the throat and chin. If segmented by folding laminate plates, it was called a Falling Buffe.
**Aventail - a mail curtain that hangs from the helmet to protect the neck, could be used in place of mail coife. It was itself replaced by the gorget.
*[[Pauldrons]] - protects the shoulders. The real life versions are nowhere near as big as those on space marines.
**Spaulder - Armor used to protect the upper arm between the vambrace and the pauldron. Later replaced by the simpler Rebrace (also called an Upper Cannon).
**Besagew - A circular plate that hangs from the spaulder to protect the armpit; because there aren't many good ways to protect places like the groin or armpits without limiting mobility, it might be flimsy but its better than nothing.
*Gauntlets - protects the hands.
*Bracers (also call vambraces or braces) - protects the forearms and wrists.
**Manica - Armor that covers an arm, used primarily by the Romans. Typically used to protect the sword arm when it leaves the safety of a shield, but gladiators are known to have worn just it and the attached pauldron.
**Couter (also called Cowter or Elbow Cop) - essentially a metal elbow guard.
*Greaves - similar to modern shin guards, they protects the legs.
**Poleyn (alternatively called Genouillere) - basically a metal knee guard.
*Sabatons - protects the feet (you don't want some smartass spearman stabbing at your unarmored feet now, would you?)
*Codpiece - Yes, believe it or not, you could get dick armor too. Ordinarily this was just to armor the [[Slaanesh|groin area]] like an athletic cup, but some people like King Henry VIII made [[Kaldor Draigo|massive codpieces]] to show off how well-endowed they were.
*Tabard - Technically not armor, but was the decorative sleeveless coat that would drape over the armor of knights. Besides being used as an identifier through the knight's [[Imperial Knight|heraldry]], it also shielded armor from the desert sun so that the knight wouldn't boil in their own armor. Another related piece of clothing was the Surcoat/Jupon.
**Sashimono - Japanese equivalent. Essentially a way for armor to hold a small flag. Associated more with ashigaru armor than samurai, but samurai did wear them as well.

== Warhammer 40k ==
*[[Flak Armor]]: This is actually a ballistic vest, not Flak armor. Think an ESAPI (or the new XSAPI) plate modeled off of a cuirass. It can withstand stubber fire all across, up to rifle caliber, so consider most modern rifle ammo utterly pointless and it can take a modest beating from lasguns. The problem is, it starts getting shaky at the 12.7mm level, which... Unfortunately for the Imperial Guard, a ''lot'' of stuff can be considered "higher" than said level.
*[[Carapace Armor]]: Better flak armor (the 40K kind which is a ballistic vest) but with much more coverage and better quality materials. Basically the equivalent to full-plated armor made of ceramite and plasteel, it's generally [[Neckbeard|heavier and cumbersome]], but only issued really to those more capable of making the most use out of it.
*[[Power Armour|Powered armor]]: Space marine general issue, as well as several powerful Imperial organizations. Comes with both long term and short term necessities, with high-grade ceramite and admantium for protection, stabilizing and targeting gear to assist, and general life support if the being inside doesn't already have some. Very fancy. Honestly, it has its own article for a reason and this list section would do it no justice.

== Armor in Fiction ==

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Musclecuirass.JPG| Greek bronze Muscle Cuirass
Image:Linothorax.jpg| Greek Linothorax, a bronze-reinforced linen armor
Image:Roman Soldier mail.jpg|Roman Mail
Image:LoricaSegmentata.jpg|Roman Lorica Segmentata, a type of Laminar
Image:MirrorArmor.JPG|Mirror armor over a mail shirt
Image:ScaleArmor.JPG|Indian Scale armor
Image:Plated mail.jpg|Indian Plated Mail
Image:Bechter.jpg|Close-up of Eastern-European plated-mail pattern
Image:Koryak.jpg|Koryak warriors wearing traditional lamellar armour
Image:Lamellar.JPG|Japanese Lamellar
Image:Samurai armor.jpg|Japanese Laminar
Image:Gambeson.jpg| European Gambeson, a padded cloth armor used by both commoners and knights
Image:Brigandine.jpg|European Brigandine
Image:visby.jpg|Inside view of some DIYfag's homemade "Visby-pattern" brigandine
Image:Plate armor.jpg|European Plate
Image:FlakJacket.png| Flak Jacket
Image:BallisticVest.JPG|Ballistic Vest
Image:Bombsuit.jpg|Bombsuit
Image:IOTV_(OCP_variant).jpg|Improved Outer Tactical Vest
Image:SPS_(Soldier_Protection_System).jpg|Soldier Protection System, set to replace the IOTV in 2019. Designed with both mobility and protection in mind.
</gallery>

== See also ==

* [[Fantasy Armor]] for one of the usual flame wars involved in "armor".
* [[Armor Save]]

[[Category: History]]

[[Category: Weapons]]

[[Category: Medieval Weaponry]]

[[Category: Armour]]

{{MedievalWeaponry}}

T-72

2023-02-27T00:35:45Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: per request by User:Flutist

[[File:T-72 Tank.jpg|300px|right|thumb|For the glory of slav-kind!]]
{{topquote|[[Looted|Have you captured a Russian tank or armored personnel carrier]] [[Administratum|and are worried about how to declare it (for tax purposes)]]? [[Imperial Guard|Keep calm and continue to defend the Motherland]]! [[Wat|There is no need to declare the captured Russian tanks and other equipment]], [[Lulz|because the cost of this ... does not exceed 100 living wages.]]|[[Commissariat|Ukraine's National Agency for the Protection against Corruption (NAPC)]].}}
The T-72 is Soviet second generation MBT employed by a variety of nations. Their biggest use is as part of putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine. In classic Russian fashion, it is rugged, relatively easy to produce, and simple enough that any soviet peasant can hop in and spread the revolution with utmost efficiency. The T-72 incorporates some of the latest advances in Soviet weapons technology, mouning an auto-loading 2A46 125mm main gun, which is capable of firing fin stabilized ammunition, and is protected by BDD composite armor similar to the Chobham (Stillbrew is more comparable) armor used on western tanks.

Note that this article covers the actual T-72 only, the version produced and intended strictly for Soviet use. A downgraded export model, the T-72M, was produced for foreign sales and licensed for production by certain countries, like the Polish People's Republic. T-72s remain in the modern Russian Army's armored forces, but it has largely been replaced in Russian use by the improved T-72B3 and T-90, both of which are modernised overhauls of the original T-72.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:T-72 Stat Card.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Stat Card]]
''Updating this section for Team Yankee V2.''

The T-72A is an iconic Red Army MBT, representing the middle ground between a horde of T-55AM2s and a tiny company of T-64Bs. Being also the first tank introduced to the game alongside the M1, it has been powercreeped into obscurity. If you're still reading this, you are a true Soviet patriot.

This budget T-64 plays the role of a jack-of-all-trades tank, but compares poorly to it's earlier cousin, the T62m, due to it's points cost. Whether you need a tank for linebreaking, assault or fire support, the T-72 can do it all, just not very well.

Lets start with the boomstick. The T-72 mounts a 125mm 2A46 gun which is quite capable of punching through early model NATO Main Battle tanks and stands a decent chance of damaging later models with it's AT value of 22, and with the FP of 2+, practically anything you penetrate you are going to blow up. It's also rather good at dealing with unarmored targets like infantry and light vehicles as the ''Brutal'' rule means that they have to re-roll their successful saves. The T-72 can fire on the move with near impunity as the stabilizer negates the negative effects of moving and the laser rangefinder negates the penalties of firing on the move. The only downside is the fact that the 2A46 only has a ROF of 1, both halted and on the move, which means that you must mass tanks to mass fire, as is the case with practically all Soviet tanks. Importantly, the presence of the stabilizer means that the T-72 can really move when it needs to, and this is an aspect that many commanders forget about when calculating flank and spank distances. Although it suffers a penalty to hit, getting a flank shot when you need it means the distance between victory and defeat.

Oh, there is also a pair of machine guns; one 12.7mm AA mounted on a pintle and a 7.62mm mounted coaxially.

It's when the T-72 begins taking fire rather than dishing it out that things can get a bit dicey. The Frontal armour only has a paltry rating of 16, and the sides have a rating of 8. This value lies in the worst sweet spot for armor values, as common anti-tank weapons like the TOW, MILAN and other ATGMs will send turrets flying faster than you can say "cyka". To make things worse for our exploding hot pocket, new TOW 2 and 120mm DU rounds will simply tear through the T-72's front like it wasnt there. The T72's best defense is its mobility. Make full use of it's adequate 3+ cross to ensure you are hugging cover and make Uncle Sam work for his kills.

Things do get a little better as the T-72 is equipped with BDD armour, which bumps the side armour up to 13 against things with HEAT. Like the T64, the T-72 can assault fairly well and is suited to bullying US infantry, or other infantry when you have taken out their Carl Gustavs.

Despite these quirks, the T-72's points cost is the true deal breaker. At the onset of Team Yankee, a platoon of 3 for 12 points seemed like insane value when compared alongside the M1, but since then time has marched on and cheaper and better units, particularly the T-72's knockoff cousin, the T-72m, have all but kicked our poor stalwart to the curb like most Soviet WW2 veterans. A single tank add-on at 5pts each is simply too much to bear (ahem) for this poor workhorse. Hence, If you are somehow forced to use the T-72, fielding them in platoons of 3 in a full company of 10 is probably the best way you can flog a dead horse. There are better options out there (looking at you T62m) for fire support or for zerging. Don't say we didn't warn you!

==IRL==
[[File:T-64 IRL.jpg|300px|right|thumb|A Soviet tank defending the tree which Stalin plucked an apple from as a child.]]
Like many Soviet tanks, the T-72 is among the most massively-produced post-WWII tanks out there, seeing service in many countries outside Soviet borders. Like all things Soviet, ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRAPmAeQl0k| except their cars]), its chief features are cost-effective design and simple but efficient lethality. Even while the modern Russian Army has replaced the venerable T-72 with newer tanks (namely the T-90, which is basically just a T-72 with more current weapon systems), the T-72 is still solid enough that it has been repurposed for a wide variety of combat roles that it wasn't originally designed for, including the [[wikipedia:BMPT_Terminator|BMPT Terminator]] used for urban pacification (and simultaneously sporting one of the most menacing names for a tank ever), or the [[TOS-1 Buratino]]. If your confused by that and remember T-72's getting [[rape|Roflstomped]] during the Gulf War, the answer is that those were [[T-72M]] which are the export version of the T-72 and were not as advanced as the ones used by the Russian army and eastern bloc nations proper, along with the reported inability of Middle Eastern armies in mastering the art of Soviet Doctrine (AKA. Attack-Move). Or any doctrine, really: read some books about the Arab-Israeli wars, they are so one-sided it's not even funny. (Well, the Republican Guard of Iraq did actually have sound defensive tactics but ultimately were overwhelmed by M1 Abrams tanks rushing over their defensive positions.)

There's a bit of an old wives' tale regarding the T-72's and other Russian tank's autoloaders: namely that the autoloader would every so often accidentally eat the gunner's arm. This is a myth likely originating from Bryan Perrett's "Soviet armour since 1945" that haven't been true of the T-64's even when they were new as they simply wouldn't have been entered production otherwise. While yeah, T-64's were more complex and therefore less reliable compared to the T-72; a snapped thread, broken suspension system or failing engine is one thing. A dead or seriously injured gunner is on a complete another level, unacceptable even to the Red Army. Example: in 1941 the Red Army had a grenade named the RG-41, and it was more than a match for the more common RGD-33: weighting less while having the same amount of explosives. The only problem was its safety system: if the user fucked up the initiation sequence (and it was not as simple as "pull the pin") and it malfunctioned, that baby could blow in his hands right in the moment he was about to throw it. After less than ''a dozen'' recorded incidents (and mind it, not a word in press or anything!), Russian soldiers simply stopped using those grenades. They preferred using RGD-33's or nothing at all; which lead to the RG-41 quickly being replaced with the much safer to use RG-42. [[Chaos_Space_Marines|A tank that can bite your arm off is a very, very bad thing for morale, and no one in the right mind would sit in it, am I right?]]

Incidentally: the T-72 was not the most modern tank in the Soviet Arsenal by the time of Team Yankee 1985's start date for World War Three. That title belongs to the [[T-80]], first introduced in 1976, well in time for this 'dust up'.

The T-72B (which the incoming Warsaw Pact expansion will introduce), was just entering service in 1985. Among other upgrades it featured improved turret armor, ERA, and the ability to fire AT-11s (though that option is unlikely to be a wise use of points in the current meta). The T-72AV was also in service by 1985, and may make an appearance at some point in the future. Given that Battlefront Miniatures has already released vehicles [[Leopard 2#Leopard 2A5|that only entered service in the 1990s]], or that are entirely the product of [[M247 Sergeant York|alternate history]], it's possible other T-72 variants will appear in future expansions, if for no better reason than to part tabletop gamers from more of their hard-earned cash.

Since the end of the Cold War the number of variants has risen; as is to be expected, budgetary realities have made outright replacement with more modern AFVs impractical, so the various post-Communist and export users have continued to use their existing inventories, applying various upgrade packages as funds allow to suit their needs. Many of these vehicles have squared off against each other in the former Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, Ethiopia, and Ukraine.

The last of those has seen the appearance of nearly every variant in inventory on both sides, from the extensively upgraded (T-72AMT, T-72UA1, and more recently Czech-origin T-72M4 for the Ukrainians; T-72B2, B3, and B3M for the Russians) all the way on down to base model T-72As without any ERA, which have unsurprisingly fared poorly in the face of accurate long-range artillery, contemporary APFSDS, and top-attack ATGM spam.

Despite it's growing age and the emergence of two new generations of armor since, the T-72 is set to remain in use for decades to come; quite the achievement for a vehicle that started its development as a design only intended for emergency war-time production. Though with the Ukrainans busy demonstrating anti-tank missile spam works just as well in real life as in Team Yankee, perhaps that life span is shortening even as we speak.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Team Yankee]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]

Incendiary Weapons

2023-02-27T00:35:41Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: per request by User:Flutist

{{Stub}}

{{Topquote|Down through the glen came Sellar's men, Wi' burning brands in their blood stained hands, They blazed a path through glen and strath, The factor's Fire Raisers.|Jim McLean, ''The Fire Raisers''}}

[[File:Torch.png|thumb|right|300px|For some times, this was considered a weapon of mass destruction.]]

'''Fire'''. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_of_fire_by_early_humans Without question one of the greatest tool in the history of humanity]. Its mastery is what separates [[humans]] from animals. We mastered fire before almost every tool: before the sharp rock, before farming, before wheels, before Dogs, we had Fire. And against the wild we found in it a weapon that we would inevitable turn on each other.

In the present, they are being used extensively by rashists to massacre innocent civilians as part of putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

There is a good reason why animals have a fear of fire, and even with our mastery it takes but a few sparks in the wrong place to remind people why. People have a well established aversion to being consumed by fire, both by instinct and because being burned to death is a horrible way to go. Therefore, the mere ''threat'' of being burned alive is enough to send people running... some times over the edge [[Grimdark|leaping to death rather then be consumed by the flames]]. As such the question of how to use fire offensively has always been at the forefront of the military mind. Whether it's as simple as running your horses into a town throwing burning brands on the wooden houses or as complicated as the flame thrower. Fire has and general always will be a tool of such complete destruction that the saying ''"with fire and sword"'', has a meaning we don't even need to explain.

==Types of incendiary weapons==
===Burning brands===
Obviously, the use of fire predates history itself. [[Stone Age|It is possible early apes that were not yet humans were throwing burning sticks at prey and each other]]. That may sound outlandish but we point at fire hawks, a group of hawks that carry burning sticks from one wildfire, to start another to flush out prey. There are a few theories that cooking food may have been the evolutionary jump-start to our intelligence so we were cooking and burning for a long, long time. The earliest sign we know for sure as being from a human-controlled fire goes back almost 300 to 400 thousand years ago.

The first flaming weapons, therefore, were also simple, just burning sticks. It may sound unimpressive but to any kind of animal predator, a torch is an easy and effective way to push them back. Additionally, for much of human history, [[Not as planned|cities were made of wood]] and firefighting at best consisted of bucket chains. A relatively small band of arsonists could destroy even a reasonably sized settlement by indiscriminately throwing burning torches and moving quickly. It is such a burnt in our mental image that the idea of a "medieval raider" often has that burning torch in hand, on horseback. It is such a common tactic that there are literally too many examples in history to mention. From the Greeks to Scots to the English against the Scots and French, to the Mongols, literally burning an enemy land to deny the resources, shelter, and food it might offer, both offensively and even defensively in a "scorched earth campaign", is the most ancient military tactic: it literally predates the creation of steel!

===Fire Bombs===
Burning brands are an effective means of burning objects but people are fairly fire-resistant. Humans are roughly 60% water by mass which means just being hit with a burning stick will hurt but not set you on fire. Even a blow torch would not be enough. Oh ya, it hurt like hell but it alone will likely not be enough to set you on fire like a log. As such if you want to use incendiary weapons against infantry you have to get a bit creative. Hence the fire bomb, or rather the "Firepot", fire bomb is more a modern term.

At its most simple, you have something like a ceramic jug full of lamp oil with a burning wick. In the middle ages, these were often used against enemy buildings and camps but were relatively rarely used by hand. In medieval battles, they were less effective as they are environmentally sensitive, pricey, had limited range and were generally unreliable at the best of times.

However, as we said ''Handheld Versions are relatively rare'', Siege versions are a whole different story. Often called "''carcasses''", siege weapons hurling firepots, pitch, tar, or even woven projectiles of straw set alight would be a nightmare against a wooden city or in defending a city from a naval attack. Castles are made of stone but they have enough wooden timbers in that that if you hurl enough fire at them even they will burn since you only need to get lucky once to end them.

===Flamethrowers===
{{Topquote|I know of very few instances in which the word "'''flamethrower'''" could not be preceded by the word "'''fuckin''''".|[[Recommended Web Video Channels|Zero Punctuation]] on ''Alone in the Dark: Illumination''}}

[[File:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg|thumb|right|450px|The legendary [[LosTech|Greek fire]]]]

As soon as we started burning each other, everyone asked the next question ''"this is great, but how can we burn people to death at a distance?"'' The answer is that horrifying question is: The Flamethrower.

The basic mechanisms of a Flamethrower are pretty simple. All you need is a cistern for fuel, a pump, a nozzle, and a pilot light. It's not hard to figure out so long as you have the technology for pumps and access to some kind of Oil. As such there are various interment examples of their use throughout history. The earliest example this editor could find would be in the battle of Delium in 424 BC where the attacking Boeotians tried to some kind of flamethrower against the Athenian defenders.

The first perhaps widespread use of flame throwers though goes to the Byzantines and their "Greek Fire". Greek Fire is sometimes considered 'the first secret weapon' and alongside Roman concrete is one of the earliest trope setters for 'unknown lost technology' that 40k takes and runs with. In any case, Greek Fire was a very effective weapon and although land-based uses are recorded, as you can imagine in an era of wooden ships (with the cistern and pump being heavy) it was a dangerous weapon on water. As stated we still don't know quite what Greek fire was, though we have a few ideas. It alongside most early (and modern) flamethrowers likely used some sort of petroleum-derived compound, but if you do a quick eyeball of Byzantine territory in the time Greek Fire was supposedly introduced, not a lot of natural oil fields were left especially easy to get stuff so the jury is still out. Others have suspected some kind of quicklime-based solution as well, Roman records mention mulberry resin often serving as a substitute for the petroleum, agitated by a small amount of quicklime (explaining old records of Greek fire being ''ignited'' by water) and sulfur.

Meanwhile, in Asia, the forces of the Song Dynasty also built flamethrowers, multiple types in fact. It's generally understood (read: stolen from wiki) that the Chinese of this time period were were given tributes of petroleum from Vietnam. Called "měng huǒ yóu" in Chinese which translates to "fierce-fire oil" which gave the Chinese fire weapons their heat. There was also some evidence of [https://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilling Oil Drilling in China itself during the Northern Song Dynasty]. One such flamethrower is recorded in the "Wujing Zongyao", a military guide written around 1040-1044.

And of course, any discussion of pre-modern incendiary would be incomplete without mentioning: '''Naphtha'''. Naphtha is just a type of petroleum known since ancient times. Nowadays it's pretty broadly used as a name for crude oil or even more refined items like kerosene. But while Naphtha is a bit boring since it's ''just'' petroleum, it's still a name that shows up in both history and fantasy so it's worth going over quickly what it is: just read "crude oil" and you won't be too far wrong.

Even so, it was in the 20th century that Flamethrowers really came into their own as man-portable units. It started with the Germans who worked out that they could be used to clear out trenches and soon enough everyone was using them. In WW2 these were supplemented by [[Awesome|Flame Tanks]], like the German [[Panzer III|Flammpanzer III]] or the Churchill Crocodile.

===White Phosphorus and Other Potential Warcrime-Enabling Substances===

For when you want to burn everything in a 20-meter radius, almost nothing beats White Phosphorus, aka Willie Pete. This stuff is the most potent incendiary commonly available, to the point that its use in artillery has rendered flamethrowers militarily obsolescent.

Then there's napalm, which is just gasoline mixed with a thickening agent such that it's useful in an incendiary bomb. The thickening agent means that the gasoline sticks to whatever it hits, which has some obvious benefits for firebombing, to the point that "hit them with napalm" has become almost synonymous with "firebomb them" in modern warfare.

The most notable inflammatory substance, besides WP, napalm, and naphtha, is chlorine trifluoride, ClF3. Most notable, here, because it's so potent that it's a better oxidizer than Oxygen and more difficult to handle than Fluorine gas, which puts it in fairly rarified circles. It will burn things that you previously assumed wouldn't burn, like sand, asbestos, bricks, concrete, and even Carbon Dioxide. It will react violently anything, to the point that no delay in reaction with any substance has ever been measured; this includes the raw metals used to store it, and only a thin oxidation layer that forms on any metal exposed to it allows it to be stored even somewhat "safely" (for very dubious values of "safety" since that layer breaks down rapidly when heated). To give you some idea: It's considered too volatile for use as rocket fuel, and those people love their volitiles. Note that it's very unsafe nature means that it only gets brought up as an incendiary<ref>The stuff sees commercial use in cleaning surfaces for semiconductor manufacturing; if you wondered why semiconductor plants are so expensive, the fact that they ''actually need'' stuff like ClF3 (which, again, '''burns Carbon Dioxide''') should give you some idea of just how hard it is to make advanced chips.</ref> in hypothetical situations, such as "what's the most damage you could do with magical alchemy in the real world?". <ref> Well, that and it's meaner, uglier cousin, CFl'''5'''. But unlike CFl3, that chemical has only been studied in laboratories, as even the crazy people will see the problems with CFl3 and say "nope nope nope" to anything using CFl5, and as such is somewhat obscure.</ref>

==Modern Use of Flamethrowers==
At present, flamethrowers in a military context are... [[wat|no longer used]]. [[derp|Kinda...]] See below.

Originally they were mainly used against bunkers, pillboxes, and other fortified positions since they're throwing flaming liquid, and that liquid can pass around corners, through narrow passages, and over barriers, all things you'd find in fortifications. Additionally, the flames would also cause oxygen issues in tightly enclosed areas like caves and bunkers again, which are actually the prime purpose of use in combat against fortifications and rarely against vehicles. It's not about burning/injuring/hurting the infantry, but simply suffocating them in seconds and forcing them to move and break cover or simply faint way before they burned to death.

Of course, there are two issues with flamethrowers. One is that to use them you need to carry the source of fuel around with you meaning you have to basically strap a small bomb's worth of fuel to yourself. And two, since nobody likes burning to death or seeing their friends burn to death, [[rage|'''EVERYBODY HATES YOU!''']] Being a flame thrower operator is like painting a big "shoot me" sign on yourself and even surrendering is likely to have them kill you anyway if they catch you. (On the other hand, flamethrowers were at least not as bad as chemical weapons, the obvious alternative for bunkers and the like.)

More practically, aside from various nations agreeing that being burnt alive is terrible and banning the thing, they're not very useful anymore. Nowadays if you were to find a bunker, you don't send some guys in to clear it by hand, you call in buddies to drop some artillery or air support or even drone strikes on the position. Since the heyday of the flamethrower, these weapons have gotten much, much more accurate.

And then there were flamer [[tank]]s: modified tanks designed to be flamethrowers. Just as with man-portable ones, they were disliked, and the crews were subject to special enemy reprisals if captured. They effectively only existed during WWII, as the need was only noticed during WWII, and said need went away as artillery and air support got good enough that driving in a giant fire hazard was no longer necessary.

So why did we say "Kinda..." up there? Well, while dedicated flamethrower (tanks) are no longer fielded; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon thermobaric ammunition] are still being used. They will also set anything close-by on fire and they are still perfectly legal to use against military targets under current international law. Why is that? Well they're in a [[Rules Lawyer|sweet spot]]. A thermobaric weapon is NOT an "incendiary weapon": fire is not their primary means of damage. They create a conventional explosion from liquid fuel. When you set one off you do create a fireball but also a massive shockwave from the explosion, and the collapse of the temporary vacuum that creates is the actual destructive element. [[Grim and dark|This ruptures the lungs of anyone nearby, or burns them, or poisons them if any of the liquid fuel does not fully burn]]. And so, since they're not "Incendiary weapons" but "Bombs with Liquid Explosives", well, [[anal circumference|yeah]]...

There are also valid civilian uses, most notably for starting control fires (smaller fires intended to stop or prevent larger ones from spreading) and melting snow and ice. This is why some variants are actually sold to the general public (and only regulated as fire hazards). Such commercial flamethrowers typically do not have the range of military ones; a WW2 M2 flamethrower has an effective range of about 20 meters, well in excess of any civilian application.

==Flamethrowers in Fantasy==
[[File:Holy Flame, Goblins!.jpg|300px|right]]
For fantasy worldbuilders flamethrowers are in a sweet spot. On the one hand, they are showy mechanical weapons. On the other hand they are simple enough that you could make one with even bronze age things like wooden barrels, leather pipes and simple iron and brass mechanisms and an alchemist to make the fuel. This last point is not even mandatory if you are near an oil seep. If you want the occasional bit of more "modern" weaponry alongside swordsmen and archers, flamethrowers are pretty good for that.

In [[Discworld]] flamethrowers show up on occasion including the Klatchian Fire Engine in ''Men At Arms'' and the Deep Down Dwarfs have some in ''Thud!'' These weapons are illegal in Anhk Morpork. Swamp Dragons can also be used as impromptu flamethrowers in a pinch, though the Sunshine Sanctuary for Sick Dragons does not approve of this.

In [[Warhammer Fantasy]], the [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dwarfs]] have specialized soldiers called Irondrake armed with flamethrowers. Similarly the [[Skaven]] make use of Warpfire Throwers.

Flamethrowers have been used as Dungeon Traps.

==Flamethrowers in Science Fiction==
In sci-fi flamethrowers are fairly common. First because they are [[Flash Gitz|flashy]]. Second because better fuels means you can make them less cumbersome. Third because out there in a hostile universe there are often just what the doctor ordered. If you want a brute force way of dealing with biohazards, a flamethrower is your guy. At the same time if you are facing a [[Ripper|thousand strong swarm of 25cm long murderous craboids]] in close quarters, a sniper rifle is not optimal.

An upgrade to the Flamethrower is the Plasma Thrower.

== See Also ==
*'''[[Flamer]]''', the [[40k]] takes on incendiary weapons. Because of course [[Grimdark|burning your enemies to death]] is exactly what this universe needs.

[[Category:Weapons]]
{{MedievalWeaponry}}

Exterminatus

2023-02-27T00:35:35Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: per request by User:Flutist

{{Topquote|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Béziers#%22Kill_them_all,_God_will_know_His_own%22 Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.]|[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnaud_Amalric Arnoldus Amalricus], [[Inquisitor]] and [[Chaplain|Cistercian Abbot]], 209M.2}}
{{Topquote|The world is what it is, which is to say, nothing much.|Albert Camus, reacting to the bombing of Hiroshima}}
{{Topquote|I say we take off and [[Exterminatus#Just_Shoot_the_Shit_Out_of_It_.28Orbital_Bombardment.29|nuke the entire site from orbit]]. It's the only way to be sure.|[[Sisters of Battle|Ellen Ripley]] in ''Aliens'' (986.M2)}}
[[TTS|{{Topquote|Y'know what, they're just running around shooting each other down there, better just lay the Exterminatus upon these heretics, alright, FIRE!]]|[[Inquisitor]] [[TTS#The Inquisition|Headsmash]], ca. 990.M41}}
[[Image:Exterminatus Retribution.jpg|right|450px|"[[TTS|...FUCKING HERETICS!"]]|thumb]]
'''Exterminatus''' is the biggest middle finger the [[Imperium of Man|Imperium]] can give to [[xenos]] and [[Chaos]] infestations on their own planets. It basically involves UTTERLY DESTROYING THE PLANET SURFACE via heavy orbital bombardment if they decide that it would be impossible to retake the planet by [[Imperial Guard|drowning their enemies in corpses, like they usually do]]. Declarable only by a Inquisitor, Chapter Master, or the High Lords of Terra (and before the [[Horus Heresy]], solely the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]] and his [[Primarch|Primarchs]]), Exterminatus can range from destroying all life on a planet (down to the bacteria), to destroying a planet in its entirety (Death Star-style).

And, of course, putin's illegal invasion was intended to accomplish this in Ukraine.

Before you go into some sort of sanctimonious tirade about the morality of blowing the fuck out of an entire planet, understand the context. A world deemed worthy of Exterminatus is one considered past the point where anything can be salvaged from it - whether because it's about to be lost to [[Tyranids|countless ravening giant insects that will zerg-rush and eat fucking everything]] or [[Ork|reality-warping fungi that reproduce into millions of spores every time one '''breathes''' and will all kill you because they think it's fun]] ...[[Looted|and then steal all of your shit because it looks shiny, hurty or fast.]] Or because it will be turned into a fucking [[Chaos|daemon-and-tentacle-rape-infested shit-pit where neither sanity nor time has any meaning and your soul will be tortured for eternity]]. Or because of an ineradicable [[Heresy|heretical belief]] that threatens to bring down any of the above or a similar threat.

Bottom line: Exterminatus happens when shit is fucked and the only option is fucking glassing a planet and to deny it to the enemy, or to ensure SOMETHING can be saved. It's ''the'' last-ditch measure, and it's there purely because the other option sucks even worse. It is the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekcXHVXPIQc&app=desktop Scorched Earth] strategy on a planetary scale: if you can't have it, burn it so your foes can't use it.

...[[grimdark|Then again, there's nothing stopping an Inquisitor from ordering it just because he wants one for his birthday]]. Oversight on Exterminatus orders is fairly nonexistent and it's easy to see why. The problem is the same one real life atomic weapons have, who do you want to have to be able to launch them? You want the most powerful, highly ranked people to have that authority, but if they're so highly ranked and with so much power, who watches them? Who second guesses an Inquisitor's judgement about if a world is to be blown up or not?

Well, that's just the thing: [[Grimdark|Nobody does]]. [[Kryptman|The Imperium's only solution is to just declare the trigger-happy sod Excommunicate Traitoris afterwards if they don't agree]]. The [[Just as Planned|over the top villainy of Warhammer 40k]] means that some fuckholes within the Imperium do get trigger happy with this, ordering an Exterminatus on worlds over things like a few of its people coming into contact with alien technology, or a small hint of [[heresy]] that would probably not require killing everything, or a loose pubic hair being in the Inquisitor's cereal this morning.

On the bright side these instances are few and far between, destroying an uncorrupted planet is seen as a gross waste of Imperial Resources, and anybody caught doing so will quickly be forced to explain the [[Heresy|legitimate reasoning]] behind it by the full might of the [[Administratum]]... who will then proceed to hand out a light slap on the wrist, letting the offender get off scot-free [[Salamanders|unless they meet a giant, angry black dude in green]] (or the woefully understaffed Ordo Excorium). What, you're surprised that an Empire of "Space Nazis 2.0" can have actual legitimate excuses, common sense, reasoning and sensibility? You're in for a whole new series of surprises...

[[Deal with it]]. Bitching any further will rile the [[Commissar|Commissariat]]. You have been warned.

Joking aside, it's somewhat fluff dependent; in Seventh Retribution by [[Ben Counter]], for instance, Exterminatus is never even mentioned as a 'solution' despite the fact that the planet got halfway to being a Daemon World (although part of this was because the [[Officio Assassinorum]] couldn't be 100% sure that even Exterminatus would do the trick and they needed to be fucking certain the antagonist of the book was a confirmed kill). Also in the ''Space Wolves Omnibus'', in the Ultramarines ''Nightbringer'' books and in ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'s'' stories, we get Inquisitors saying they have been at it for well over a century without calling down the Exterminatus even once.

For a recent and probably well-known example of the kind of conditions under which the Exterminatus is called down: [[Dawn of War II|DoW II: Retribution]] has a subsector-wide Exterminatus called down only after ten solid years of warfare and three back-to-back crusades by the [[Blood Ravens]] and massed [[Imperial Guard]] forces against [[Black Legion]] [[Chaos Space Marines]], [[Tyranids]], and [[Eldar]] alike with little to no appreciable increase in stability, coupled with a high incidence of guardsmen and even Astartes falling to Chaos and turning traitor.

As of current fluff, the Inquisition turns out to actually have an entire Ordo (the aforementioned Ordo Excorium) who deal exclusively with managing this sort of affair to ensure that people aren't just committing mass genocides for shits and giggles. And for all intents and purposes, it seems they're actually doing their damn jobs: the 6th/7th Ed. Inquisition Codex indicates that about 90% of Inquisitors who called down a single Exterminatus were later stripped of their rank (and declared heretics in several cases) for deciding to go full fuck force and blow up a planet where it wasn't warranted. Impressive, for a group numbering barely 100 Inquisitors. It also makes a surprising amount of sense in the often grimderpy universe of 40k; if Armageddon of all places hasn't been Exterminatused yet, very, ''very'' few places probably outright warrant it.

==Methods of Exterminatus==
The Imperium has several means for dealing with hopeless infestations:

===Just Shoot the Shit Out of It (Orbital Bombardment)===
Saturating planets with over-sized cannons larger than apartment buildings is the stereotypical way of nuking the fuck out of something you don't like. Nuclear warheads, Space Marine Battle Barge bombardment batteries, Nova cannons, and/or banks of Lances are often used. Examples of this include the [[Dark Angels]] destroying their homeworld, Caliban, <s>after it was lost to heretics within their legion</s> {{BLAM|AFTER SOMEONE THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO HUNT FOR DINNER FOR OUR TOTALLY NON-HERETICAL AND OBVIOUSLY LOYAL BROTHERS USING THE ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT CANNONS}} and the [[Night Lords]]' purge of Nostramo.

If we take the purging of Typhon Primaris from Dawn of War II as canon, this method can also be used during the opening stages of the Exterminatus before you unleash one of the Inquisition's more thorough toys upon it.

===Virus Bombs===
Virus Bombs are warheads loaded with the Life Eater virus, a biological payload that causes all living tissue to super-quickly rot and decompose (which gives Nurgle a massive boner). The bombs are designed to release their payload mid-air, so that the aerosol form of the virus gets spread out through the atmosphere, potentially achieving [[meme|complete global saturation]] in minutes under the right conditions. This immediate rot causes a build-up of methane and other flammable gases, which in turn can be ignited by one of the lasers above (or any still smouldering Lho sticks, or any other source of flame), sweeping the area in firestorms. A relentless bombing of these fucking things is what reduced [[Tallarn]] from a verdant forest world to the desert hellhole it is now.

They were also used by [[Horus|Warmaster Horus]] to kill off loyalists in the Traitor Legions during the Istvaan Campaign of the [[Horus Heresy]] (the Life Eater virus eats through any filters and corrodes power armour till it gets to the gooey marine inside, though a Dreadnought can endure it easily if its shell isn't even slightly cracked). Though popular during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, according to [[Amberley Vail]], virus bombings are rarely used in the 41st millennium, because the Inquisition has figured out that they feed the fucking [[Nurgle|Plaguefather]] every time they're used. [[Fail|Whoops]].

(That said, they were falling out of favour even before that: since as demonstrated on [[Armageddon]] one virus bomb usually isn't enough to kill the whole planet and you might need to hit the planet several times all around. Plus, since it's airborne, this can result in hilarious [[FAIL]] when the wind patterns disperse the virus in the wrong direction, as canonically happened with [[Herman von Strab]]'s use of them on Armageddon).

===Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo===
Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedoes are [[plasma]] torpedoes that burst in low planetary orbit and super-heat the atmosphere of a planet until all combustible material ignites. So it's essentially [[Rape|a napalm airburst bomb on steroids and an additional dose of plasma, designed to directly turn the planet's surface into an endless expanse of raging hellfire.]]

This method of Exterminatus was used on Medusa IV. It is said that the aftermath of the Exterminatus, Medusa IV's surface was melted to glass and that the entire world burned like a piece of amber in space even a month after the attack had been launched. However, they're only effective on planets with relatively stable atmospheres made of flammable gas, and plasma torpedoes are both somewhat rare and expensive.

===Modalis Atmospheric Missile===
Another weapon that has similar results from the Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo but its function is completely different. Regarded as the most powerful incendiary device accessible in the Imperium. The Modalis Atmospheric Missile is one ECKS BAWKS HUEG [[Phosphor Weaponry|Phosphex weapon]] used to burn a planet into a crisp. Think White Phosphorous on steroids. A salvo of several Modalis Atmospheric Missiles from orbiting warships will blanket an entire world in deadly Phosphex. The resultant firestorm of living fire will eat away at every carbon-based element on the planet, rendering it uninhabitable. All that would be left would be dust and echoes.

===Cyclonic Torpedoes===
The primary method of Exterminatus used in the 41st millennium, these are basically skyscraper-sized nuclear missiles that've eaten their weight in steroids. These capital ship-fired warheads each generate a series of massive, self-sustaining nuclear reactions, which, when fired in bulk, fuels a much larger reaction that causes the devastation to spread and multiply, eventually glassing the entire world with a thermonuclear holocaust given a sufficient barrage. If you fire enough in the same spot it will break through the crust of a planet, causing part of the mantle to erupt out and royally buttfucking the entire planet in the process ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXj9xOUFIM see the ''Fire Warrior'' end cinematic]).

[[Krieg]] is an example of a radioactive perpetual-winter world that survived multiple cyclonic torpedo strikes, though in this case it was on a much smaller scale and in some sources are described as standard nukes. This was the method that killed Typhon, in combination with the above shoot-the-shit-out-of-it method. (Another theory holds that the bombardment is used to remove anything that might prevent the torpedo from reaching the surface or to weaken planets crust.) Only the [[Inquisition]] and the [[Space Marines]] are authorized to carry cyclonic torpedoes in their warships, the former because the Inquisition has the authority to do anything, and the latter because the Imperium figures that if the Space Marines can't beat it, nothing else will.

Cyclonic Torpedoes are pretty variable in their strength, either due to there being different classes of torpedoes or the fact that the strength of a single torpedo has never been nailed down in official materials. In one case, ol' [[Abaddon|Abby]] dropped a dozen to fry a single hive; in another a single torpedo is a qualified planet cracker. Similarly, this method is the easiest to thwart with shields, as they disrupt the stacked efficiency needed for ongoing detonation. Presumably this variability in strength is due to "Cyclonic Torpedo" being as broad a description as "atomic bomb", which can refer to both a Davy Crockett and a Tsar Bomba.

===Two-Stage Cyclonic Torpedoes===
In the two-stage torpedo, a [[melta]] charge activates first to allow the weapon to burrow into the planet's crust and down to the core. The second stage thermonuclear charge then goes off, causing the planet to break apart Death Star style.

This is really the only way to deal with Necron Tomb Worlds since, due to their tendency to make everything subterranean, they aren't overly bothered by the other methods which devastate the surface (and anything alive) but leave the planet as a whole mostly intact. Talos of the Night Lords used this in a rather unconventional manner; faced with a [[Genesis Chapter]] strike cruiser hiding behind a moon, he [[Awesome|blew a continent-sized hole through the moon]] with one of these, and watched the loyalist ship get torn apart as a new asteroid field got shotgunned into space.

===Smashing It with a Fucking Moon===
This method involves radically altering the orbit of a nearby moon or large asteroid and placing it on a collision course with the planet, and therefore requires the use of several Mechanicus voidships. This method was used to destroy Phaenon Prime when the Virus Bomb failed to wipe out the planet's corruptive influence. It was also used during the [[Horus Heresy]] by renegade Iron Hands commander Autek Mor to destroy the World Eaters recruitment world of Bodt and during the Badab War to finally smash through [[Huron Blackheart]]'s defensive Ring of Steel around Badab. Needless to say, this pretty much fucking annihilates the planet in question (or whatever else it's thrown at like Huron's defensive systems).

Despite its flair and effectiveness, [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Rocks_Are_Not_Free! the Administratum vehemently requests that Imperial commanders avoid this method whenever possible] because it's stupidly expensive -- it can take weeks or even months for the moon or asteroid in question to actually strike the planet, which costs rations and sublight fuel while the ships sit around doing fuck-all, while orbital bombardments only cost one day's worth of rations and fuel, plus ammunition. That said there is one advantage to doing this: you don't need to be near the planet to pull it off. If the planet in question has strong enough Orbital or Surface to Orbit Defences you can't get close, to do a traditional bombing, then a old fashion moon can be set up few thousand million kilometres away.

===Release the Krourk===
Krourk [[Ogryn]] are known as the most brutal, powerful, and primitive tribe of Ogryn in the Imperium (and that's saying something). They are so well-known for their frightening savagery in close combat that they're considered a solid match for Orks, and are also known for being so primitively stupid that the Imperial Guard can't even teach them to use traditional Ogryn weapons like ripper guns. Their reputation is so fearsome that it has gotten to the point where deploying thousands of these things is considered a crude method of Exterminatus amongst Imperial commanders since they can't be taught to discriminate between friend and foe.

===Send it to [[Warp|Hell]]===
Sending your problems somewhere else is a rather simple solution to most problems. Doing so with an entire planet is possible, though difficult. As a result, various factions have simply thought "Hey, if we send a planet into the Warp, it’s no longer in the Materium, and therefore it’s not our problem."

There are many problems with this, but that has not stopped some particularly idiotic individuals from doing it anyway. The reason it is listed here (and not in the non-Imperium section) is because the Imperium believes that this is actually a valid method to dispose of Tyranids... and '''only''' Tyranids. (Anything else would be either [[ork|redundant]], or [[chaos|basically what they wanted in the first place]]). The Warp is [[Hive Fleet Kronos|mostly]] foreign to the Tyranids; as a result, it's one of the few things that they cannot truly combat on a wide scale, not to mention the fact that [[Chaos]] hates them.

However, the Shadow in the Warp makes it difficult to pull this off at the best of times, so it has not been tested yet (beside one or two desperation attacks, such as [[Hive Fleet Behemoth]] being wiped by ''Dominus Astra'' during the First Tyrannic War).

==Non-Imperium Exterminatus==
Several factions outside the Imperium do things similar to the Imperial Exterminatus (adding any examples from the lore would be greatly appreciated). However, most of them don't use these methods often. Some examples:

===Craftworld Eldar===
The [[Eldar|Craftworld Eldar]] have some respect for life (and not nearly as many weapons of mass destruction as they had before the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]]) so they don't do it often. Didn't stop them from purging all life in the Octarius system to clean up [[Kryptman|Kryptman's]] mess, though (in that case the Dark Eldar provided the WMD). The most well-known Eldar engines of planetary destruction are called [[Blackstone Fortress|Blackstone Fortresses]], which are ancient weapons they designed to fight the [[C'tan]]. To put it simply, think of a floating citadel with a distort weapon (like the ones the [[Wraithguard]] have) the size of an Emperor-class battleship. During the Gothic Wars, three Blackstone Fortresses combined their power to cause a star to go supernova, destroying an entire solar system.

In Apocalypse War Zone: Valedor, the Craftworld Eldar from [[Iyanden]] procured another type of ancient WMD, the Fireheart: a complex nodal resonator capable of causing a planet's molten core to enter violent death throes and send lakes of lava to the surface (or just explode two-stage torpedo style, the tie-in novel plays the fireworks up to a big degree). The [[Dark Eldar]] originally had this, but they gave it away because they didn't have the psychic power to activate the weapon. The Fireheart was used successfully on Valedor and prevented Hive Fleets [[Hive Fleet Kraken|Kraken]] and [[Hive Fleet Behemoth|Behemoth]] from joining forces. If they had, the [[Tyranids]] would have had all of the genetic data of the Orks and the Eldar, enabling them to fashion unthinkable monstrosities.

Before the fall (and possibly still kicking around somewhere) they had devices that fired entire suns or black holes at their enemies.

===Dark Eldar===
The [[Dark Eldar]] as a whole lack a good stockpile of planet-killing weaponry and prefer to keep planets intact for slaves, although they are still capable of exterminating the populace of entire planets if they wanted to. One method is pillaging the shit out of it. It has been proven time and time again that an entire major kabal or dozens of separate, smaller kabals, is more than capable of kidnapping an entire planet of its populace, faster than that local PDF trooper can finish his scream of agony. Granted, being taken captive isn't part of a traditional Exterminatus' MO, but if you know the fate of a hapless mortal in Commorragh; [[Fist of the North Star|they are already dead]] (at best).

There has also been one instance of an entire Hive World being poisoned by the Dark Eldar, as well as an incident in which they smashed a Space Hulk at a Webway sub-realm and so the warp drives would detonate to release hordes of daemons (though that's not exactly a 'repeatable' means of planet killing). There's also counting the DE's ability to steal entire suns; allowing them to turn entire habitable planets into ice worlds if need be. Like the Craftworld Eldar, they also possess a psychic doomsday device called The Fireheart to implode a planet's core.

The Kabal of the Dying Sun actually does have a stockpile of WMDs - some of which are powerful enough to destroy stars - and [[Asdrubael Vect|Vect]] keeps black holes in his back pocket to control people. The former is kept in check by several things; they don't know how all of them work, many are psychically activated (psychic powers being forbidden in Commorragh on direct orders from Vect), the other Kabals would almost certainly go after the stockpile if it became known, and it's usually more lucrative for them to conduct raids. For Vect, portable black holes are a special occasion weapon. Like party favours, except with event horizons.

The Dark Eldar can also just have other races kill planets for them. [[Just as Planned|Through manipulation from the sides; they could convince (and managed to do so at one point) the Imperium to declare Exterminatus on a planet.]] And of course as part of an ancient race that was waging war from before the rise of man they can just assemble a nuclear weapon if they need a really big - if crude - bomb. [[Grimdark|But again, they like their victims alive.]]

===Necrons===
The [[Necrons]] have lost many WMDs, but may have several more just waiting to be awakened. ([[Not as Planned|Maybe the Necrons are more trigger-happy with Exterminatus than the Imperium, but they're better at ensuring there're no witnesses]]?).

One of their most notorious Exterminatus-tier machines was the [[The World Engine|World Engine]], which was a planet-sized vessel equipped with the largest [[Gauss|gauss weapon]] known to man. It looked like the combination of a Death Star, Unicron and a Forerunner Shield-World all rolled into one. A [[Rape|flying rape-machine of ungodly proportions]], it took a coalition of several Space Marine chapters and the entire Imperial fleet of the Vidar Subsector to destroy it. For some reason, it had shields that could withstand the [[Awesome|bombardment of an ''entire navy'',]] yet it was [[What|vulnerable]] to a ship [[Meme|impacting at sufficient velocity.]] (Then again, most space shields are designed to stop large projectiles weighing several dozen tonnes fired at high velocity, not kilometers-long Battle Barges weighing hundreds of thousands of tonnes or more [[Angry Marines|being forced up their ass]] at comparatively slow velocity).

The [[Maynarkh Dynasty]] deploys a peculiar device that causes supercharged solar flares that incinerate the daylight-facing sides of ALL planets in a system. Unfortunately for the population on the side of the planet facing away from the sun, incinerating half a planet's surface would also incinerate its atmosphere, stripping the whole planet bare of its life giving biosphere, or whatever gases it had trapped. Even more unfortunately, Maynarkh Necrons are even more interested in making a planetfall and skinning them alive.

Also, the Tomb World of Thanatos has a giant hologram map of the galaxy known as the '''Celestial Orrery''', and if [[What|you were to destroy a star on it, the real life counterpart would go supernova]]. While this makes the Necrons seem like [[Matt Ward|the most powerful faction in the entire galaxy by far]] who could [[Bullshit|instantly kill everyone else in the galaxy without any risk]], the lore also states that a star detonated this way could set off a catastrophic and unpredictable chain-reaction of dying stars which in turn could destroy the whole galaxy. It could also destroy the Necrons of Thanatos, which would destroy the Celestial Orrery and guarantee the death of the entire galaxy, something even the Necrons are not willing to risk.

(In a similar vein to the above, if the Necrons ''really'' wanted to destroy a world, they could just unleash a particularly powerful Transcendent C'tan shard on it without a Tesseract Vault. Though it would most likely escape and be nearly impossible to return to Necron control, it would achieve the same effects.)

The Necrons can also employ an [[Abattoir]] when directly terraforming a planet. They are large, [[monolith]]-like devices except that they physically carry what they're transporting, are the size of a small city, and are covered in tentacles that disintegrate organic material while harvesting its anguish. Also, given that their standard guns can disintegrate adamantium, and they don't mind waiting a few million years to achieve their goals, an enterprising (or bored) Lord could just order his legions to start shooting rocks, making for a thorough but hilariously slow Exterminatus.

In "Twice-dead King" novels one of their capital ships has a star, [[Wat|too large to be held together by its own gravity]], stashed inside a sub-dimensional pocket, which both hides its gravity and stabilizes its existense. If need arises, the pocket can be opened, releasing a blast powerful enough to ''melt a continent''. The funny thing is that said weapon was initially designed to be used against enemies' fleets, not planets.

===Tyranids===
[[Meme|No, Tyranids, you are the Exterminatus.]]

A [[Tyranids|Tyranid]] fleet's primary objective is to devour entire planets and systems for biomass. After they're done, the world they invaded is left a lifeless rock, utterly devoid of life.

The Tyranids also travel through sublight via gravity manipulations, and these can rip apart asteroids, voidships, space stations and small moons entirely and cause a massive series of earthquakes on anything bigger before the 'nids make planetfall.

In one special case however. It is proven that even Tyranids can accidentally cause an Exterminatus that doesn't involved being devoured. In the Doom of Hesp where an escalating Chemical/Biological war between the Death Guard and the Tyranids using Venomthropes and Toxicrenes led to the planet being so toxic that the biomass on the planet was inedible and the bioship got destroyed by fellow hiveships when it tried to devour the biomass to replenish itself, out of the Hive Mind's fear that the poisoned biomass would impair the fleet.

===Orks===
In theory, the [[Ork]]s could develop an Ork-sterminatus-sized weapon (as much by accident and luck as by design); they grab an asteroid, put engines and weapons and armor on it, fill it with Orks, and then ram it full speed into a planet. It wouldn't matter if it turned out to function as a giant transport or just a suicide missile; it generates tremendous amounts of [[lulz]] and serves its purpose of making a big boom, which is all the Orks are concerned with. This haphazard design and construction process would limit the amount of these contraptions the Orks could build (if any).

In general, however, Orks want to avoid wiping out everything on the planet from orbit, as it would leave them with nothing to fight on the ground. Although a Big Mek in need of roks once smashed a moon into a planet and took his pick from the best bits.

The [[War of the Beast]] proves that this wasn't the furthest extent either. The Orks under the Beast's control were weaponizing entire moons and used their gravitational fields to rip apart planets.

===Tau Empire===
While the [[Tau]] almost certainly have the technological capability to destroy entire planets (if the fucking Orks can figure it out without having to build back up to Krork, then the Tau probably at least gave it some thought), there are a number of philosophical, political, and strategic reasons that they would avoid doing this in all but the most extreme circumstances.

For one, the Tau Empire is in the process of expanding, and it isn't exactly conducive to your expansion efforts to blow up perfectly colonizable worlds; thus the Tau would likely see Imperial Exterminatus orders as an egregious waste of resources. Also, the Tau are arguably [[Grimdark|the only race in the 40k universe]] who operate by something parodying a moral compass that is beyond survive at any cost, so the idea of obliterating a planet and its inhabitants is likely appalling to their [[Noblebright|naive wittle sensibilities]].

On the other hand, the Tau have officially declared some races (Orks, Tyranids, Dark Eldar, and Necrons) "lost causes" to be destroyed wherever encountered, so one could plausibly imagine a situation hopeless enough that they would sacrifice a planet to be rid of them. Still, they would probably try to at least leave the world itself salvageable and only exterminate the infesting species. This might not be a concern on a lifeless rock that happened to be a Necron tomb world, however. There are stories of populations being sterilized or generally dispatched, which is about as mean as the Tau get; one such case was the Poctroon, who were the first sapient species they ever encountered. Their planet was ripe for colonization, and when the Tau arrived, the Poctroon all died of a 'mysterious' contagion, though the Tau obviously have admitted no diabolical fuckery.

As their expansion accelerated deeper into Imperial space, the Tau started to deploy more and more experimental technologies to both battlefields and production lines, some of which weren't properly tested. As a result, quite a few moons, planets and even stars have been accidentally destroyed by various mishaps. While such destruction sometimes happened to be advantageous to Tau forces (for example, by shattering Imperial defences with massive tidal waves and earthquakes after the destruction of a planet's moon), they have shown no attempts to weaponize it.

The Tau also have orbital high-yield nuclear warhead options, but they generally use them to generate EMP pulses to blackout a wide area. They can also use these warheads to scatter toxic radiation over an area instead, though, burning through flesh and killing those below.

The Tau are also one of the few factions in 40k who still possess functioning terraforming technology (the Eldar lost theirs during the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]], Tyranid "terraforming" is more just them going about eating everything, and Necron terraforming is an Exterminatus on its own), so they can restore exterminated planets to habitability again, provided they haven't been utterly destroyed Deathstar-style. So yes, [[Meme| in the Tau Empire, Exterminatus get purged by YOU!]]

One of the notable examples would be [[Commander Or'es'Ka]] from [[Dawn of War|Dawn of War Soulstorm]], where he had this huge ass gun called "Ar'Ka Cannon" installed on the moon of Kaurava II. The cannon can fire anywhere in the Kaurava system (including the moon where the cannon is), obliterating any enemies before the main force moves in. The said [[ork|BIGGIZT GUNZ]] is also the most Eco-friendly WMD ever built in the grimdark future, as it is capable of damaging only advanced life forms while incapable of harming plants and buildings.

===Forces of Chaos===
Being former servants of the Imperium, fleets of [[Chaos Space Marines]] often still possess the good old Imperial Exterminatus weapons, like virus bombs for the old legions, cyclonic torpedoes for more recently turned traitors, or Just Shoot The Shit Out Of It for any warband with ships in their fleet big enough to carry the guns. Occasionally they will [[Looted|pillage]] Imperial Exteminatus weapons, or else invent some of their own with technology, sorcery, daemonic shit or some combination of the three. [[Honsou|Some]] Chaos guys tend to be quite inventive in finding ways to kill planets.

During one of his Black Crusades, [[Abaddon]] managed to steal or destroy all of the Blackstone Fortresses that the Imperium had in their possession. Naturally, they work just as well for Chaos as they did for the Eldar (and far better than they ever did for the Imperium). He also commissioned [[Planet Killer|an incredibly huge destroyer of a spaceship]], the front half of which is basically a battery of miles-long energy cannons. This "Armageddon Gun" can split a planet in half with one shot.

Then there is World Eaters, who live up to their name when they are united. 50,000 of these motherfuckers slaughtered 70 Sectors in Angron's Dominion of Fire campaign. [[Derp| Then all the planets they conquered were retaken. It seems like they forgot to salt the earth.]] To be fair though, Imperium needed four Chapters, two Titan Legions and more than thirty Guard Regiments (''However, WAAAGH Skargor took on fifty Guard regiments and SIX spess mehreen chapters. Perhaps World Eaters lack the power of [[dakka]].''). Back in Great Crusade, these butchers manually killed everything on the planets they went to conquer. Most of the time, it took them one day. This gave birth to another problem: There were no subjects on these planets to rule over. So the Emprah had to sent fleets to colonize planets left over by World Eaters, which was a pain in the arse for him.

Uniquely amongst 40k factions, the armies of Chaos can make planets effectively Exterminatus-proof by turning them into [[Daemon World|Daemon Worlds]], where the laws of physics are fucked up so hard by the power of the [[Warp]] that all weapons just cease to function on and around it, or even achieve the opposite effect by nourishing the daemon patron of the world and making him even stronger (don't even think about virus bombing a [[Nurgle]] Daemon World). Though admittedly, from literally any point of view besides that of Chaos, Exterminatus is a preferable option to Daemon World transformation, as it would just kill you, rather than damning you to the eternity of torment.

Of course, there's also the act of summoning [[Aetaos'Rau'Keres]]. Keres will turn any planet he's summoned on into a lifeless husk. He doesn't care what side you are on or even if you're the cult that summoned him; he will murder ''everyone'' unlucky enough to be on the planet he's currently on. Such is his methods that he's the closest thing the Chaos Daemons have to a true (i.e.: not reliant on material tools) planetary Exterminatus.

===[[Jokaero]]===
In theory, the Jokaero would be entirely capable of inventing any number of weird means of Exterminatus on the fly, assuming they're even cognitively capable of the abstract thinking involved in deciding to destroy the planet itself instead of just the zillions of gribblies in your immediate proximity, which they probably aren't.

==Exterminatus in other settings==
===Star Trek===
In [[Star Trek]] the Federation's General Order 24 calls for the extermination of all life on a planet. It is threatened multiple times, but never seen on screen. One novel and (very weird) comic do show it, however. Just the original Enterprise on its own is supposed to be able to accomplish this task. While this would take time, the fact that it's theoretically possible without preparing the ship at a shipyard indicates Federation ships are quite a bit more powerful than the Federation's peaceful goals suggests.

More famously, ''Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan'' introduces the Genesis Device. When used properly it's a planet-seeding device that can instigate the formation of life on dead worlds. In practice the massive amount of energy released means it also functions as a planet-glassing bomb, killing everything that already lived there.

===Star Wars===
While it is known to the Clone Wars era (possibly earlier) Republic and the Galactic Empire as Base Delta Zero, the Galaxy Far Far Away has known of orbital attack causing the destruction of all life on a planet for much longer. [[Bioware|Knights of the Old Republic]] implies Tatooine is the giant ball of sand that it is because it pissed off the Rakatan Infinite Empire precursors long before the formation of the Republic, and shows the city-planet of Taris destroyed with such an attack on orders of Darth Malak.

A few years before that, Mandalore the Ultimate ordered two planets (Serroco and Jebble) nuked from orbit, killing everything that failed to escape (but for one Jedi Assassin on Jebble, who was stuck in a stasis coffin built by an ancient Sith alchemist and managed to survive). Three centuries after Taris got bombed (with only the Undercity inhabitants surviving before succumbing to rakghouls) various super weapons theoretically capable of Exterminatus were made during the Great Galactic War period. Various other super weapons were made and used earlier and later, occasionally [[Not_As_Planned|backfiring]].

The Empire regularly made use of Exterminatus as part of its campaign to rule through terror. The peaceful planet of Caamas was destroyed early into the Empire merely for the suspicion they would one day oppose the Empire and (due to the widespread respect they had for maintaining a stance of actual pacifism) encourage others to do so. BDZ is implied to have been relatively common under the Empire, as opposed to the Old Republic (who used it as a last resort before the Ruusan Reformation; they slowly began getting more and more liberal with it during the Clone Wars due to Palpatine and his cronies' manipulation.) The Empire even had propaganda broadcasts that would mention "planetary liberation utilizing the Base Delta Zero initiative". It would seem that the vast majority of the Empire's population (including one of the characters from Star Wars Rebels) was unaware as to what "liberation" by Base Delta Zero actually implied.

This was taken to the extreme with the Death Star, a weapon designed to make Exterminatus so easy nobody would oppose it out of fear. This backfired horribly when the station was destroyed after its second use at Alderaan, causing the galaxy to lash out in revolt (the first use was the slave labor planet it was being built at, where it took three mid-power shots to kill everything, crack the mantle and blow it up in that order. A minimum-power blast also one-shot the sole Rebel capital ship in a task force that tried to attack it at that slave-planet.)

Aside from these, the Empire had a fetish for impractical super weapons capable of Exterminatus, with the pre-Disney EU featuring weapons such as the Galaxy Gun (the Death Star, but smaller and with missiles), the ''Tarkin'' (The Death Star, but ship-sized), the ''Eclipse'' and ''Sovereign''-class Star Destroyers (see before), the World Devastators, and the [[Mary Sue|Sun Crusher]] ([[What|the Death Star, but the size of a ''starfighter'']]; generally regarded as a concept emblematic of the [[C.S Goto|worst elements of the original Expanded Universe]]). Amusingly enough, [https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Superweapon/Legends#Superweapons it's actually pointed out in-universe how stupid this hard-on for powerful but impractical superweapons is].

While the New Republic initially rejected Exterminatus, the war with extra-galactic invaders the Yuuzhan Vong (who had their own Tyranid-like Exterminatus methods, converting biospheres to forms inimical to non-Yuuzhan Vong life) eventually pushed them into using it. BDZ was frequently used in later years as well by the One Sith, most notably at Ossus in 137 ABY and during the Genocide of Dac (in which Mon Calamari was basically Virus Bombed to uninhabitability by the One Sith; as with the destruction of Alderaan a hundred years earlier, this backfired horribly in the long term, the One Sith getting themselves wiped out with no other Sith remaining a few years later).

===Halo===
In the [[Halo]] universe wiping out all life on a planet happens surprisingly often, and there are many interesting ways of doing so. It is the only way to be 100% certain you have dealt with a Flood outbreak.

The UNSC has the options of nuking the planet in the bog-standard nuclear holocaust situation that's very much what you'd expect. However, their most powerful weapon is the NOVA bomb. The NOVA bomb is created by strapping together nine standard fusion warheads and encasing them in a casing of lithium triteride which amplifies the warheads destructive output that is unfortunately never mentioned but has the power to crack open a planet, earning the nickname "Planet Crackers". The first real use of this weapon was when it detonated between a planet and its moon, destroying the moon and scorching half the surface of the planet, as well as destroying three-fifths of a 300-strong fleet.

The Covenant is well known for their orbital bombardment technique known as "glassing", where through sustained high-energy plasma bombardment, a planet's surface is reduced to a glass-like material resembling obsidian. This was the fate of many human planets during the Human-Covenant War, including but not limited to Harvest, Madrigal, Eridanus II, Miridien, Paris IV, and Reach.

The Forerunners, of course, have arguably the most powerful method of wiping out all life on a planet in Halo canon: the titular Halo rings, which can cleanse either a single planet of life on lower settings, to everything within 25,000 light-years at maximum. When all seven are fired in concert, they can wipe out all life in the galaxy, which they have done before. The Forerunners have also created a device known as the Composer, which takes an organic being, destroys their body, and uploads their consciousness into a digital format. The process is extremely painful and those composed aren't always sane by the end of it. Of course, there could be who knows what kind of galaxy-killing weapons in the Forerunner arsenal that haven't been revealed yet.

==IRL Exterminatus==
''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_catastrophic_risk see Global Catastrophic Risk]''

===Thermo-Nuclear Holocaust===
{{Topquote|After us - silence.|Russian Strategic Rocket Forces Motto}}
Apparently, even when we aren't in the 41st millennium we still mastered the art of royally buttfucking a planet. In this case, it's ours, and a full-scale thermonuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, who each have a few thousands of nukes, would be enough to kill off humanity (1 billion in the exchange itself, everyone else within the next 2 years). This is how Mutually Assured Destruction works, threatening each other and our own planet with Exterminatus with zero chance of survival, just so we won't begin another World War. Because [[Imperium of Man|we're bastards like that]].

The Cobalt Bombs described by Dr. Strangelove above are actually possible, though currently theoretical. Nuclear weapons designed to be deployed as bombs or missiles aren't strong enough to destroy the world with only 50 warheads, but if you don't mind moving the weapon once it's built, the only limit on how big your nuke can get is how much material you're willing to use on it. In theory, the doomsday device of Dr. Strangelove could be achieved with a single massive bomb.

This is further worth mentioning because automated retaliation systems that could activate nuclear weapons in response to a detected threat ''actually existed''. The Soviet Union had the "Dead Hand" system, based off of seismic, air pressure, and EM sensors. The system was normally kept inactive and was only supposed to be turned on during a crisis to guarantee that the Soviets would still be able to use their weapons even if their leadership was taken out by a first strike.

Some believe that elements of the Dead Hand system may have been lost or buried, and are active to this day. [[grimdark|A ticking automated Exterminatus waiting for a signal from aging Cold War-era sensors.]]

An old quote from the film ''WarGames'' summarizes the game of Global Thermonuclear War/Exterminatus: ''The only winning move is not to play..."

Side note: simply saturating the surface of a planet with nukes is actually exponentially more energy-efficient than any method of destroying the actual planet itself, so if all you want gone is the people or creatures inhabiting it, then realistically this is what you'd go with.

===An Asteroid===
Really, all it takes to kill everything on a planet is a big enough rock traveling fast enough. Normally it's the cloud of dust that is kicked up into the atmosphere and blocks out the sun that does most of the work. Dinosaurs learned this the hard way. Of course, this doesn't really work too well on a forge or hive world which is already like that. For raw destructive force, however, the damage is a function of the speed and size of the asteroid. The former has some practical limits (though a civilization looking to weaponize this sort of Exterminatus could possibly bring the rock up to relativistic speeds), but the latter can be nearly unlimited.

A collision with a near planet-sized object would be more devastating than most ''fictional'' Exterminatus weapons, obliterating the target world entirely. There could be any number of so-called 'rogue' planets floating in the empty spaces between stars, ready to slide into the solar system and crash into Earth, assuming humanity fails its collective ''Save or Die'' roll for the week. They'd have to [[fail]] incredibly hard because the overwhelming chance is that the rogue body will end up into the Sun (or Jupiter as a distant second choice), but yeah. [[Just as planned|Shit happens, yo!]]

Also, to clarify something: once the asteroid rises above a certain size threshold --many times larger than the one that killed the dinosaurs, in fact-- then a collision with Earth would actually result in completely ''sterilizing'' the planet, as in everything down to the last microbe would die. So... sweet dreams. (though once they got that big we would almost certainly see it coming.)

===Super Volcano===
Works on the same principal as the asteroid, that if you get enough shit into the atmosphere you've royally fucked all life bigger than a mouse. This may not be very likely though on Earth as one of the biggest volcanoes (see Yellowstone Park) wouldn't wipe out humanity. Maybe.

Unless, of course, seismic activity from that eruption managed to trigger the [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-25598050/ OTHER NINETEEN] super volcanoes.

===Artificial Plague===
The Black Plague killed up to 60% of Europe's population and the Spanish Flu over doubled the death toll of what was then most devastating war in history. With '''''SCIENCE!''''' you could do even better! You could even render your own people immune to the effects before hand and only kill the enemy. Sane people dismiss this as possible but a fantastically stupid idea because viruses are impossible to contain and like to mutate, rendering any vaccine you used worthless. Still, people interested in causing the end of the world have minimal overlap with sane people, so terrorists causing one is a popular plot. Another possibility is a virus in a research lab breaking containment rather than being released intentionally.

However before you start panicky a plague basically has no chance at killing humanity off. It can do a lot of damage yes, but once it kills enough people it will, like a fire, run out of fuel and burn it self out. This is why the common cold is so, well, common, It doesn't kill you so you can keep spreading it. Any sickness lethal enough to even have a shot at killing humanity off, will kill people so fast that it can't spread, even assuming humans can't treat it. Now if you think the COVID-19 pandemic showed that developing a vaccine isn't necessarily quick or easy, well your wrong. Less then a year for a vaccine is incredibly quick all things considered. In contrast the polio vaccine took over 4 years to produce. And after almost less then a year we are managing to produce over [[Noblebright|1 Million Doses Per of Vaccine per-day]]. That is a feat and a half even before you consider how we've managed to mitigate it via social behavior.

===Other Methods===
Some dude actually collected a list of ways that the Earth itself could be physically destroyed here: https://qntm.org/destroy But note that unlike with Exterminatus, the working goal there was to physically destroy ''the planet itself,'' not just the population.

It's a really clever and thorough list. One listed method, for example, is basically to just yeet rocks into space until you run out of rocks.

==The Fall of Typhon==
Good to know there's a ceremony for blowing up a planet.

''"We have arrived, and it is now that we perform our charge. ''
''In fealty to the God-Emperor, our undying Lord and by the grace of the Golden Throne, I declare Exterminatus upon the Imperial world of Typhon Primaris. ''
''I hereby sign the death warrant of an entire world and consign a million souls to oblivion. ''
''May Imperial Justice account in all balance. ''
''The Emperor Protects."''

==The Words of Gabriel Angelos==
{{Topquote|It is human nature to seek culpability in a time of tragedy. It is a sign of strength to cry out against fate, rather than to bow one's head and succumb. Inevitably many shall fault the hands upon the sword which felled Typhon, the Ordo Malleus. But the Inquisition merely performs the duty of its office. To further fear them is redundant; to hate them, heretical. Those more sensible will place responsibility with those who forced the hands of the Inquisition. With some fortune, they may foster this hatred into purpose, and further rule their own fate by coming to the Emperor's service. Yet ultimately, it was I who set these events into motion, with a single blow from my hammer, God Splitter.|Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens}}

Fuck, that's deep. The use of a properly modified version of this quote from Dawn of War Retribution has proved highly effective in sageing furfag troll threads and thus has been sanctioned by the holy /tg/ Inquisition for public use (keep it on /tg/).

==Battlefleet Gothic: Armada==
Admiral Spire has the balls to ask an inquisitor if exterminatus is the only option. Since at the beginning of the story he passed the inquisitor's test of faith (it's as painful as you imagine), the inquisitor indulges him with an actual answer:

{{Topquote|Admiral Spire, it is said that heresy is like a tree. Its roots lie in darkness while its leaves wave in the sun. You can prune away its branches, even cut the tree to the ground. But it will grow again, ever stronger. Such is the nature of heresy and why it is so difficult to destroy. Some may question my right to destroy a world of ten billion souls. But those who truly understand, realize I have no right to let them live. No sacrifice is too great. No treachery too small.|Inquisitor Horst}}''

==Exterminatus on the Tabletop==
Though not the most effective of lists, it is particularly hilarious and surprisingly fluffy to declare Exterminatus on large table games of 40k. In general Exterminatus is used when one player with a large force of 3500+ points of space marines is in danger of losing the field of battle. In which case the player grabs the closest heavy object and begins to smash the opponents models screaming “EXTERMINATUS IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR EXTERMINATUS” until the opponent’s army is destroyed and (or) he is forcibly removed from the table.

Another relatively simple way is to simply take a [[Grey Knights]] army, field a single Bro-Capt. or Grand Master with an orbital Strike Relay, [[Witch Hunters|Karamazov]] (who also has one) and two troop choices (if you're playing a regular game -- if you're playing [[Apocalypse]], you can skip the troops) Then cram in as many Techmarines as you can, give them all Orbital Strike Relays and watch the bombs drop. For the average 3000 point game, you can get Krazypantsoff and 20 bare-bones techies with the relays. That's 21 Strength 10 AP1 pie-plates smashing down on your opponents Baneblades, Warhounds and other special hard-as-balls to kill shit your opponents have! Also great for swarm-busting (the relays can fire D3 pieplates each per guy but at Strength 6). Picture Krazypantsoff standing on a hilltop, pointing at buildings and going "Bang.", then watching them all blow up.

(Of course, if the Inquisitor dies, you're fucked. So maybe just camp him in cover. But that's only if you're lame.)

For those of you with enough money to field the Horus Heresy army list from Forge World, Horus can call down an orbital strike with infinite range and S10 AP1 from anywhere on the map. Now you can reenact the Istvaan III atrocities yourself!

For an Apocalypse game you can also field an exterminatus guard force.
All you need is:
n * 6 guardsmen (one with a vox).
The list is fairly simple - Just field as many Company Command Squads with nothing but Master of Ordinance and fire away (for a 3k game its almost 38 s9 ap3 blasts a turn)
Don't forget to field some epic(troll) music to laugh at your opponents face, and after the battle proceed with knocking the table down to finish with a speech gritty nuff to make Sturnn himself proud.

Another option is to us the Exterminatus rules for your Apocalypse game (In the unnatural disasters table (by rolling a 6))

As of 7th edition, it's now possible to forego the FoC chart and take whatever models you want. This means you can take 15 Chapter Masters in a 2k list.

In 40k terms, you can get some SERIOUS Exterminatus going with the [[Necrons|'Crons]] and their Doomsday Arks. In one Primary Detachment, for example, you can take a fully viable 1500-point Necron army as so: Overlord with Warscythe, 5 Immortals, 10 Warriors and 3 Doomsday Arks. If the Doomsday Arks don't move, they can provide one 72" Strength 10 AP 1 Primary Weapon Large Blast each, allowing for some serious [[butthurt]] from your opponents (and this may make you [[That Guy]] if done well because this is a level of cheese on the table that France would be proud of). If you're trying to break into a bunker-sized fortification, use these three things on the doors. Then you can re-enact the dying moments of [[The Conquest of Uttu Prime]] sans the [[Megalith]]!

==TL;DR==
You fuckers just backed Chaos and now you have a daemon infestation? Your planet 'gon git [[FATAL|raaaaaaaaaaaaaaped]].

<gallery>
image:exterminatus.jpg
image:exterminatus2.jpg
File:Red nuke button turned into EXTERMINATUS.png|Suffer not the Tau Player to live.
File:Exterminatusthread.jpg|The E-quisition vigilantly purges the Emperor's internets of chaos taint.
File:Foxy Lady.jpg|If the inhabitants of a planet remotely resembles this creature, it's guaranteed to be exterminatused upon discovery. If pictures like this are found on a thread in /tg/, it's guaranteed to be saged and trolled upon discovery.
File:Fall_of_Reach_1.jpg|If said inhabitants started space-faring like a certain [[Chakat|Chakat]], then you could call your local Inquisition or any Xeno manly enough to [[Get shit done|get shit done, just like the Covenant shown in the image.]]
File:Hello exterminatus Warhammer 40k sister of battle rule 34.jpg|See? The Internet can even make the end of the world look sexy!
File:Rocks are not free citizen.jpg|Don't suggest bolides as a method of exterminatus.
File:Sherman.gif|War is Hell, and Hell is beautiful.
File:Ohara Incident.png|Although this is not a planet, it's just too B-E-A-[[weeaboo]]-TIFUL.
File:ExterminatusButton.gif|Not ''actually'' how the Inquisition works...mostly.
File:Larrynevindisk.jpg|The original Magic: the Gathering Exterminatus
</gallery>

Vidya:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67JpMyrOVE
* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYXj9xOUFIM
* The unofficial theme-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_tIw9Il934
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEGo41443iI The heresy scene mentioned in the quotes at the top.]
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNqUyf0op0
[[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Meme]]

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:47:29Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880233 by 2607:FB90:9B2D:2607:5029:46FF:FEEF:587 (talk) no answer huh? oh well

{{America}}
[[File:TUBX21-03.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Apache gunships in the sky, SF Rangers flying high! -Yusha Thomas]]
[[File:TUBX21-10.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Longbow]]

{{topquote|Now if there's one thing you can be sure of, it's that nothing is more powerful than a young boy's wish. Except an Apache helicopter. An Apache helicopter has a chaingun, rocket pods AND some of the most modern missiles of the time. It is an unbelievably impressive complement of weaponry, an absolute death machine.|Sir Patrick Stewart from the film Ted.}}

You know it, you love it. Whether you're a gamer, have ever seen a few modern war films, or are just a military buff, you should already know what it is. It's the fucking Apache helicopter in service of American (Boeing), British (AgustaWestland), Dutch, and Israeli armed forces - although Israel adopted them in 1990, the Dutch in 1995, and the Brits in 2004. It is currently fielded by at least seventeen nations. Obviously, no Apache for anyone except America in Team Yankee. Nor anyone else who bought them long after 1986 for that matter. Unless Battlefront Miniatures wants to go full crazy for their alternate history game or wants some extra cash.

==In Team Yankee==
[[File:TUBX21-19.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Stats]]

As helicopters go, the Apache is a frightening beast. Along with Thermal Imaging, it has a 'take-all-comers' loadout of:
* Hellfire ATGMs and their AT25 that will make short work of any tank it can get its sights on while it hovers well out of the range of AA.
* for infantry or soft vehicles (or if another helo tries to get rowdy), there's your M230 with ROF 6 AP 8 if you hover. I pity the non-armored fool that thing is pointed at...
* In case of artillery parking lot, once per game you can drop an AT4 Salvo onto their top armor of mostly zero. Not a sure kill, but it certainly will hurt a lot.

Like all NATO helos it has the Hunter Killer special rule: use terrain as concealment and unless you fire, you're concealed and only being hit on a roll of 6+.

As is mostly the case with such units, the downside is cost: two Apaches will hurt you for 12, the full platoon of four for 24. They're expensive, but just like the [[AH-1 Cobra Attack Helicopter|Cobra]], in the right conditions they'll murder the hell out of any Soviet that has the misfortune of being in front of them.

==IRL==
[[File:XTuRieTnpjFpEk9TLTDKDGdM 2IsnouZtvvRKfKL8hE.jpg|300px|right|thumb| *insert your favorite early to mid 90s metal song here*]]

The Boeing AH-64 Apache strangely enough, shares its origins with the [[A-10 Warthog]] - because USAF flyboys like to play fast and loose with the CAS mission [[Exterminatus|and believe every problem on the ground can be solved with strategic bombing.]] In the 1970s, Lockheed's compound helicopter the AH-56 Cheyenne made chair force generals shit their collective panties. The Cheyenne was to be the god of CAS incarnate, a helicopter that could push 250 mph with more weapons than the Cobra and maneuverability that would make the Red Baron sick with envy; this was a helicopter that could credibly take on conventional aircraft in low altitude air-to-air with at least a chance of coming out on top. Allowing the Army to have such a chopper would make the flyboys completely irrelevant for CAS missions, and pile on their growing track record of bad decisions (see Century Series fighters, F-111, and lack of a gun on the F-4). The Cheyenne forced Air Force brass to stop thumbing their noses at the Fighter Mafia's CAS proposal and adopt the Warthog in order to force the Army into canceling the AH-56.

In the end, the Army got what it wanted, then issued an RFP for a conventional Attack Helicopter. In 1975, Boeing's YAH-64 won the contract over Bell's YAH-63. The first combat mission was during Operation Just Cause, the invasion of Panama; the true test of the Apache's effectiveness came during the Gulf War. Out of 277, only one AH-64 was shot down during Desert Storm via close-range RPG: the only real issues the Army experienced were logistics and workload. During Operation Allied Force in 1999, other problems also cropped up, which are obviously due to the inferior tools, technology and training of the day; post-2000 variants don't have those issues. The Apache's biggest successes were during the Afghan and Iraq Wars. Many of the choppers that were shot down were eventually restored to working order.

The typical armament of the AH-64 is the M230 30mm Chaingun. A huge pain in the ass to reload. The rockets it mounts are either Hydra 70s, CRV7s or APKWS. Missile options consist of AGM-114 Hellfire, AIM-92 Stingers (the A2A version of the Stinger), Israeli Spikes, and hilariously, the AIM-9 Sidewinder (mostly for its anti-radar brother, the AGM-122 Sidearm, so it can serve as a discount low-altitude wild weasel). The AH-64D Longbow variant has 2 additional stations on the wingtips for missiles.

The most significant upgrade is the AH-64E Guardian, which allows the gunner to control RQ-7 Shadow or MQ-1C Grey Eagle drones for recon or additional firepower.

Proposed upgrades for the Apache are a laser weapon system (a likely upgrade from the M230 because again, reloading it sucks ass) and replacing the tail fan with a pusher propeller. The latter will increase its speed to 185 knots and range to 460 NMI, from 158 knots and 257 NMI, respectively. It also extends the wings, adding two hardpoints for a total number of six. Since the Cheyenne the USAF whined about was one of the earliest compound helicopters, if the AH-64E Block 2 Compound were ever to happen, it would be the ultimate irony as it would look like the Army metaphorically poking the flyboys in the eye with one hand while flipping the bird with the other.

The Apache will mostly likely serve alongside and eventually be replaced by the US Army with a derivative of the Sikorsky–Boeing SB1-Defiant in the 2030s. Another Compound Helicopter like the Cheyenne, the Defiant is the contract winner of the Future Vertical Lift program alongside the Bell V-280 Valor, a tiltrotor aircraft more advanced than the V-22 Osprey.

It is also a [[meme|gender]] for people who haven't made an original joke since 2013.

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:41:33Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880220 by Flutist (talk) and to that I repeat what's at the top of every page, Слава Україні!

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:32:41Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880210 by Flutist (talk) cool now read my post

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:10:17Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880206 by Flutist (talk) you first rashist

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:06:37Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880203 by Flutist (talk) Слава Україні!

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:04:57Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880201 by Flutist (talk) laughs at vatniks shooting down their own aircraft

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:02:44Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880198 by Flutist (talk) cope harder vatnik

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T22:00:45Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880196 by Flutist (talk) Battle of Kharkiv?

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:57:20Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880192 by Flutist (talk) or the Battle of Kherson?

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:53:24Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880190 by Flutist (talk) how'd the Battle of Kyiv work out for ya?

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:50:35Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880185 by Flutist (talk) reverts self-admitted russian sleeper agent

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:46:34Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880181 by Flutist (talk) you pronounced this nonsense

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:29:07Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880174 by Flutist (talk) what air defens doing?

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:25:37Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880171 by 2607:FB90:A1B5:CE50:4000:9DFF:FE6D:7E0D (talk) Under the sea, under the sea, comrade it's better, down where it's wetter, send VDV

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:21:31Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880169 by Flutist (talk) cope vatnik

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:15:08Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880166 by Flutist (talk) at 10 rubles per post I bet you post alot

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T21:10:50Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880160 by Flutist (talk) laughs at vatniks who cry after losing a cruiser to a country that has no navy

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T20:27:45Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 880067 by 2607:FB90:9A0D:D4E9:3479:BCFF:FE32:9F9C (talk) How many rubles does putin pay you per post?

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T17:04:38Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 879915 by 66.115.165.95 (talk) laughs in tractor while towing away T-72 a vatnik cry in the background

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T15:19:05Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 879913 by 2607:FB90:9A98:C9D5:302A:3AFF:FE79:F5D1 (talk) MonkeyPutin.png

AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter

2023-02-26T14:21:48Z

2001:67C:2628:647:6:0:0:36E: Undo revision 879893 by Flutist (talk) Putinist whataboutism, revert. Putinist Ukraine trivialization revert. Enjoy getting buttfucked by Abrams vatniks, NAFO FTW.