Editing Tank (section)

===Logistics===

This should be an obvious point, but the Imperium of Man has only been able to create and maintain ludicrous super-heavy tank designs, because they have the aid of the Mechanicus (even if they've been reduced to a shadow of their former glory) to assist with creation and maintenance, plus having access to thousands of planets full of resources to get materiel and fuel from. Plus the creative liberties of simply accepting that "It just works" and "THE FUTURE", because it'd be boring if we had to explain that a Forge World couldn't build a Baneblade because some mining world couldn't produce the output or the resources for it were earmarked to other projects, rather than something more exciting, like foul traitors constantly assailing their supply lines, or the techpriests need some MacGuffin stolen by the Orks. After all, 40k is a wargame, not a [[Administratum|convoluted bureaucracy simulator]]. 

Another design point for tanks is resource economy. It had (and still has) to be produced using, and maintained with, the least possible amount of resources whilst still being formidable in it's role. If an army would deploy superheavies today, just remotely near the scale of how Imperial forces do during wartime; they'd be bankrupt and end up with a lopsided army. If creation didn't eat up most of their supplies; the amount of resources they'd need to keep these war machines maintained would put the US Army to shame. Once they realize they can't keep it up, they'd start scrapping those and scramble to turn them into practical tanks (assuming they still had fuel left).

It should also be noted that Warhammer 40k (or most military fiction for that matter) tends to focus on the cutting edge of warfare. We have far more images of Leman Russ tanks and the thousand varieties of Guardsmen than the logistical trucks or field kitchens which keep the Imperium's war machine functioning on a day to day basis. In escapist fiction people want to be Luke Skywalker rather than one of the the X-Wing mechanics at Yavin Base.