Goose4291
Banned
I've read them all and I don't think personal force fields have been mentioned ever. Which is a shame, because, I'm a massive Dune nerd.
Handheld weapons in the Elite universe
- Thread starter Flash_Baggins
- Start date
I've read them all and I don't think personal force fields have been mentioned ever. Which is a shame, because, I'm a massive Dune nerd.
Not "that" movie. The SciFi channel miniseries was far better.
I was thinking about the Dune books when I posted about shields. Dune made knives more neccesary since lasgun vs shield was usually unfortunate for everyone nearby. Worked really well in the boardgame
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edit. though the movie was dissapointing. The wierding modules were actually a cool concept. Just nothing to do with the book - though that statement applies to everything about the movie except the name.
I was thinking about the Dune books when I posted about shields. Dune made knives more neccesary since lasgun vs shield was usually unfortunate for everyone nearby. Worked really well in the boardgame
.
edit. though the movie was dissapointing. The wierding modules were actually a cool concept. Just nothing to do with the book - though that statement applies to everything about the movie except the name.
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Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range vs an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.
There was a lot that movie did right and a lot it did wrong. I thought the cast was about right, and they absolutely nailed the way the Dune setting should look and feel. I can even forgive them changing parts of the story, after all there's no such thing as a totally faithful adaptation.
It was ruined by the editing, major parts were cut out or condensed and the whole thing ended up being more like a collection of vignettes from the book, without the 'connective tissue' that strings it together into a coherent film. The SpiceDiver fan edit puts a lot of that material back in.
I could not agree more, and failing it being in standard production, I will be calling into Godwin Vision, Kamorin to get a Kamorin Historic 1911
When personal weapons become a thing in ED, I hope they allow the rare good weapons as well.
The prevalence of edged weapons in the setting baffles me a bit, most particularly swords. Knives and short blades make sense because they're serviceable tools and easily concealed. Most particularly since there is no such thing as artificial gravity (excepting centripetal force in certain stations and craft) swords would be extremely unwise in space. You need leverage to swing the blade and mobility to fight with it. Swinging a sword in zero G would cause you to twist and turn unless you were holding onto a solid object or wearing magnetic boots. If you wore such boots you would be a sitting duck for someone with a projectile weapon.
Laser weapons would make sense in space due to Newtonian effects as well as the lack of a solid projectile. Lasers cause less damage to hulls than projectiles, and you wouldn't want a weapon that sends a force forward and propels you back, nor one that fires a slug that could break canopies or put holes in bulkheads.
Planetside, projectile weapons are king. Lasers lose much of their power in thick atmosphere over range, and bullets pack the best punch against the sorts of things you want to destroy. Similarly it's the only environment in which swords would make some kind of sense, but firearms make fools of anyone with a sword. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Laser weapons would make sense in space due to Newtonian effects as well as the lack of a solid projectile. Lasers cause less damage to hulls than projectiles, and you wouldn't want a weapon that sends a force forward and propels you back, nor one that fires a slug that could break canopies or put holes in bulkheads.
Planetside, projectile weapons are king. Lasers lose much of their power in thick atmosphere over range, and bullets pack the best punch against the sorts of things you want to destroy. Similarly it's the only environment in which swords would make some kind of sense, but firearms make fools of anyone with a sword. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark.
laser pistols are dumb. they look cool, but just don't make sense. The amount of energy needed to gain "stopping power" from a laser beam is absurdly high, and we humans have already perfected the art of pelting each other with pieces of metal. A laser pistol would have to have an insane amount of energy packed into a small package, which is why I say they are unrealistic weapons.
I would much rather have a traditional gun. The mechanism can be modified to reduce recoil in space, and it would be safer and easier to wield, while also being more deadly. And since our spacesuits need some sort of propulsion anyway, we already have a way to stabilize ourselves or counteract recoil.
I would much rather have a traditional gun. The mechanism can be modified to reduce recoil in space, and it would be safer and easier to wield, while also being more deadly. And since our spacesuits need some sort of propulsion anyway, we already have a way to stabilize ourselves or counteract recoil.
[video=youtube_share;94p_pLwV-uk]https://youtu.be/94p_pLwV-uk[/video]
It will be interesting to see if the upcoming Elite RPG game has anything to say about personal weapons.
No doubt energy weapons can be hand waved into effectiveness, but I'm initially skeptical because of the damage/energy ratios involved. I can buy ships using energy weapons because they have a fusion reactor in the back keeping things charged.
I imagine for a people who have been star-faring for over 1000 years, mag boots would be pretty elegant and not the giant clunky things we picture. I would imagine they have great feedback to react to your motion and have multiple mag plate spots to help simulate human feet. It would never be just as good as working with gravity, but I can totally buy two people having a sword fight in well designed mag shoes.....but they would still get defeated easily by anyone with a pistol.
No doubt energy weapons can be hand waved into effectiveness, but I'm initially skeptical because of the damage/energy ratios involved. I can buy ships using energy weapons because they have a fusion reactor in the back keeping things charged.
I imagine for a people who have been star-faring for over 1000 years, mag boots would be pretty elegant and not the giant clunky things we picture. I would imagine they have great feedback to react to your motion and have multiple mag plate spots to help simulate human feet. It would never be just as good as working with gravity, but I can totally buy two people having a sword fight in well designed mag shoes.....but they would still get defeated easily by anyone with a pistol.
I remember seeing a cool weapon in Minority Report. How about something like this in a non-lethal department? This video has some annoying editing, but I think concept is quite clear.
https://youtu.be/2VpLRpcL9CA
https://youtu.be/2VpLRpcL9CA
Or a Taser!
That would be a hoot, to see someone take a ride in zero G, floating there all seized up like a board.
Swords are likely to be an affectation of Imperial nobility, so they will have their place.
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And laser pistols. I'm sure 1,000 years will have improved battery and/or cappacitor technology enough to make laser weaponry more efficient than chemical powered projectiles are now.
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And laser pistols. I'm sure 1,000 years will have improved battery and/or cappacitor technology enough to make laser weaponry more efficient than chemical powered projectiles are now.
In the Peter F Hamilton book Dreaming Void, there is an interesting weapon called a jelly gun, because that's what it does to its target.
I doubt it. A laser is just incredibly inefficient, as you are incapacitating a target by heating them up to the point of them passing out. The pistol's effectiveness is limited by how quickly it can transfer heat to the target without overheating the pistol/user.
Compare that to a modern firearm. each bullet will incapacitate the target, and you can fire 15 or more bullets a second. It becomes obvious very quickly that a gun is among the most efficient weapons able to be designed, which is why it makes sense that they will be the preferred personal defense weapons many thousands of years into the future.
The FE2 short story book had swords as part of the formal dress uniform of Federation military officers, though I think it was clear that they were an anachronism purely for show, rather than effective space weaponry.
The same book has a short story where a spacer's handheld laser gun is a multi-use tool: cutting torch, flashlight and (when necessary) personal sidearm.
According to the lore, lethal weaponry (of whatever kind) is more popular in the Empire, where duelling remains a significant element of the culture. In the Federation and Alliance, non-lethal weaponry is far more prevalent for all but military use.
The same book has a short story where a spacer's handheld laser gun is a multi-use tool: cutting torch, flashlight and (when necessary) personal sidearm.
According to the lore, lethal weaponry (of whatever kind) is more popular in the Empire, where duelling remains a significant element of the culture. In the Federation and Alliance, non-lethal weaponry is far more prevalent for all but military use.
What we call a laser today, true.
But I suspect that a laser weapon in ED is doing more than just firing a coherent beam.
I think you've got us confused with those gentech inbreds from Achenar. They actually train with them and use them in some of their bizarre 'cultural traditions', something to do with their perverted sense of 'honor' that is vehemently against proper weapons yet gives the thumbs up to slavery.
In the ED world, we have reactors small enough to fit in a Sidewinder that can power drives that warp the fabric of spacetime and open gateways into higher dimensions.
And in the real world, we have pistol sized laser hair removal devices that can actually burn your skin, that operate on a rechargeable battery.
So IMO, laser pistols powerful enough to cause fatal heat damage aren't out of the realm of possibility in the near future, let alone over 1000 years from now. But having a small-yet-powerful energy source is definitely the main bottleneck here.
Also, they would not function the way they are usually depicted science fiction. They would work more like heat rays rather than pew-pew blasters. Their payload would travel at the speed of light (Star Wars is cool and all but projectile lasers are silly) and they would be completely silent except for the sounds produced by the internal components of the device when it fires.
But you don't need to take my word on any of this, you can watch this guy's video of his HOMEMADE LASER SHOTGUN for proof of concept:
[video=youtube;iVrJUbeuG44]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVrJUbeuG44[/video]
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