So in various 40k sourcebooks it's mentioned that shotguns and other low penetration weapons are favored by those fighting on space ships and stations as they're less likely to puncture holes in the hull.
This confuses me, as I was under the impression that even relatively small civilian stations and ships in 40k were heavily armored bulks that no small-arm short of a lascannon would stand a chance of piercing.
What am I missing?
>What am I missing?
The setting is an after thought to selling miniatures at a highly inflated price and the 20+ year old setting developed by dozens of writers is inconsistent?
You are being a dunce that thinks "hull" refers only to the outside of the ship.
The inside of the ship is lined with wires, piping, all the things that make the ship run, including ports that lead to vacuum. Destroying any of those could lead to catastrophic damage to the ship.
this is one of those things that sounds to the writers like it makes sense, but does not work all that well. It is pretty common in other sci-fi that need too build their spaceships with real-world (ish) tech and so need to keep it's mass low, but like you said, puncturing the hull of a 40k starship with a smallarm is not going to happen.
Rogue Trader gave a little more sense to the concept, by stating that they use low-velocity waepons to not pierce bulkheads (that can seal of sections of the ship that may have been depressurised, or flooded with toxic gas, or crawling with deamons) or damage all the important equipment on starships that keeps everyone alive.
This. Observe a typical ship interior from the 30s
see
The shitposting is outrageously unneeded unless you are utterly ignorant of naval terms.
The outer hull itself is a meters-thick multi-layered wall of supermetal. However, between micrometeorites, poor maintenance, and unrepaired damage, each layer will inevitably have numerous small holes, maybe the size of a pen at most, which won't compromise armor effectiveness, but will let air out. On the outer reaches of a ship, a thin layer of metal may be all that keeps air from zipping out through the hull, and that is easily pierced.
Also a problem are the pipes carting around water, sewage, and garbage to and from recycling centers. If you rupture those, you might be in for a bad time.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. I was thrown off b/c the stuff I was reading wasn't saying bulkhead.
Thanks Anons!
That's what Hull means, jackass.
Yeah, but I'm running the 40krpg and thus I need to at least be able to give passing explanations for stuff.
The hull is protected first and foremost by Void shields, not the armor, that block small debris like micrometeors. Unless you're a dumb fuck like Pertuarbo
Bulkheads are basically the separating ribs between each segment. They are numbered and that allows to reach an area and reference "Bulkhead 30, Starboard Ballast Tank" or something similar. Lots of soft systems inside a ship.