Units of Measure

[Sinister Minister]

Hello All,

I was wondering what the general consensus is on the units of measure used by the Imperium of Mankind. I spoke with Gav and this is what he had to say...



"I am fairly sure I have read 'kilometer' a few times, especially in reference to the size of space fairing vessels. The word 'clicks' is often used as a catchweight to cover a distance/time. Like you mention, times often have a 'based against Terran standard' tag-line of some sort adhered to them in fiction. But days and weeks are often used, again when covering the length of a space journey. 'It will take 3 weeks of warp travel to arrive at Thracian Primaris.'

Tons, kilotons is often used. But the weight of a Space Marine, for example, would usually have a line that doesn't confirm the 'actual' weight, but have something like 'three times that of a normal man'."



Sounds pretty good, any differing opinions or add-ons?

I am looking for Distance, Weight, and Time.

Thanks,

John

[Inquisitor023]

Sinister,

I moved your thread to 40K Game Universe from Fiction. We reserve Fiction for actual stories - while questions like this typically reside here.

Cheers,
Dan

[VolatilSpam]

General consensus is the Imperium of Man uses the metric system... most of the time.

There are some abnormalities, such as the Boltgun (which measures its barrel in caliber - that is, fractions of an inch).

[Viciator]

I'm currently reading Graham McNeill's new book Priests of Mars and he uses metric system (e.g. when one character talks about a pistol's range he uses metres), and for space distances the characters use Astronomical Units (1AU = 149 598 000 kilometres). In Helsreach and Fall of Damnos I'm also pretty sure metric units were used :)

[LAZtheinfamous]

Most of the guard books also use miles at times. I think it all depends on the writer and the setting. Less 'sci-fi-ey' and more 'gritty war' stories use miles.

[The Dim Reaper]

At the end of the day, the catch all for the 40K Universe is that the whole thing is so vast that you could get away with pretty much anything so long as it's justifiable. This allows for authors to differ from one another in units of measurement, currency ('thrones' is thrown around but I've heard of 'credits' etc.), food and drink, clothing etc.

If I wanted to be really pedantic about it I would argue that since Games Workshop is a British company that it's the British units of measurement that count (miles for distance and speed, feet for height and stone for weight). That said, I would recommend using whatever you're most comfortable with it. Just as there exist numerous units of measurement in this planet of ours there must be an almost infinite units of measurement across the unfathomable void of space and across the billions of planets that make up the Imperium of Man.

I hope I've been helpful and if I were you I would simply roll with whatever makes you comfortable.

Cheers,

Dim

[Viciator]

At the end of the day, the catch all for the 40K Universe is that the whole thing is so vast that you could get away with pretty much anything so long as it's justifiable. This allows for authors to differ from one another in units of measurement, currency ('thrones' is thrown around but I've heard of 'credits' etc.), food and drink, clothing etc.

If I wanted to be really pedantic about it I would argue that since Games Workshop is a British company that it's the British units of measurement that count (miles for distance and speed, feet for height and stone for weight). That said, I would recommend using whatever you're most comfortable with it. Just as there exist numerous units of measurement in this planet of ours there must be an almost infinite units of measurement across the unfathomable void of space and across the billions of planets that make up the Imperium of Man.

I hope I've been helpful and if I were you I would simply roll with whatever makes you comfortable.

Cheers,

Dim

Yea that's a good point. There are millions of worlds so there ought to be many measuring systems (the Imperium won't care which is used as long as it's not based on anything blasphemous :trygon:).