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Handheld weapons in the Elite universe
- Thread starter Flash_Baggins
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[video=youtube;CXZuMCTFa7o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXZuMCTFa7o[/video]
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I agree with this. I think most of the issues which have been mentioned with projectiles can:
(a) be dealt with by the existing physics engine (it's been designed for multiple gravities and inertial frames of reference so it makes sense they should play to their existing strengths rather than invoke handwavium and ignore them);
(b) be accounted for by an in-universe Aiming Assist for the corriolis effect and differing bullet drop ranges and microthrusters on the spacesuit to prevent rotational inertia from recoil bothering you
(c) be a cool feature which will distinguish the game from other FPS games.
While I am also pretty sure its gonna be 50/50 (please not only blades!!!) i wonder how the priocing will be.
Will the prices for guns be comparable with the ship prices? Kinda wierd to pay a million credits for a pistol but if this would not be the case how would you balance it?
Its already a little akward with the SRVs
Will the prices for guns be comparable with the ship prices? Kinda wierd to pay a million credits for a pistol but if this would not be the case how would you balance it?
Its already a little akward with the SRVs
nats
Banned
In my favourite RPG game Traveller you have a mixture of blades for close combat (the cutlass being the standard shipboard weapon), slug throwers, zero g recoiless guns and the lasers and then more advanced plasma rifles. But for ship boarding you would stick with recoiless weapons and blades - for one thing attacking is a lot harder in zero-g so defending ships would often turn off the gravity (not an issue in ED where there arent any artificial gravity plates) so you cant fire any guns in zero-g. And you dont want to be risking explosive decompression by firing powerful energy weapons.
Explosive decompression isn't a concern when you are attacking a ship. You won't have been invited in, so probably haven't used the airlock to get into the ship.
Also, if I was in the bridge and someone had invaded via the airlock, while not wearing space suits. I'd wait for them to come in and then vent all the air from the ship.
Also, if I was in the bridge and someone had invaded via the airlock, while not wearing space suits. I'd wait for them to come in and then vent all the air from the ship.
Pure speculation here but trying to keep to the "hard sci-fi" that the ED universe tries to be... Incoming WoT....
Lets start by assuming that the weapons typically available to a pilot would probably mostly be suitable for use in both zero-g and in a gravitational field. There would be weapons only suitable for use other than in zero-g but for the most part why would any spacecraft or station have them in their arms locker? - Maybe if you've a gun rack in your SRV they would be an option, but for the most part they'd simply be unavailable.
Further, we can assume that chemical propellants would be rare since combustion and its residues are things you do not want in ANY closed environment like a spacecraft or station if you can avoid it. There are likely to be situations where their use cannot be avoided but in such cases the propellant would be much more efficient than today's smokeless powders and formulated to almost always "burn" completely with minimal residue and requiring no external oxidizer.
Projectile rounds would always be caseless and sabots would not be used since you don't want loose brass and the sabots from fired rounds flying around a zero-g environment where they can get lost and then turn into projectiles themselves under acceleration or get into equipment that might not be too happy with their presence.
Projectile weapons would have to be at least semi-recoilless. For heavier rounds the projectile would likely be semi-self-propelled (one of the occasions where chemical propellants would have to be used) with only enough "shove" from the weapon to clear the barrel and start it on its way before the rounds own propellant kicks in. Lighter weapons where this is not an option (limitation of projectile size) would need to use much lighter projectiles, probably flechettes since those will cut through a flight suit better and that's as dangerous to the wearer as the physical damage a penetrating flechette will cause. Non-lethal rounds will probably be somewhat taser-like.
I would be very surprised if energy weapons were sidearms, rather than long guns simply because of the amount of energy they would need to store. By far the most common would be laser based. I would not think that plasma weapons could be constructed that are suitable for use as personal weapons in zero-g
In fact, I'd suspect that plasma or rail guns would be heavy weapons rather than personal arms whether in zero-g or not. If that is the case they would have some way of anchoring themselves to the decking or the ground and recoil would not be an issue. These would fall under the "battle weapons" category.
Rocket launchers would function just fine in zero-g since recoil need not be an issue but because of the paranoia any space-dwelling folk would have over contaminating the atmosphere their use would be extremely rare. These and any kind of grenade would also be considered "battle weapons" rather than "personal weapons" however I can see being able to craft explosive devices since explosives are a thing readily available on the open market.
Since I'm speculating anyway, which of the weapons you are "allowed" access to by the game of the ones you "own" would be restricted on stations according to what it is legal to import there. You won't get dinged for owning weapons you are prohibited from importing into the jurisdiction but if you crack the seal on the personal weapons locker while docked or landed where you're only allowed to carry non-lethals you will attract the same penalty as if you'd imported a canister of the forbidden goods as soon as any cop sees you so when picking your "walkabout loadout" leave the illegal ones on the ship or in the SRV unless you're in an entirely upopulated area.
Blades, clubs, saps, knuckledusters etc will probably always be fair game - blades may be frowned on but attempting to actually ban them will effectively bar that jurisdiction from trading through imperial-owned hulls since Imperial citizens to carry swords as a status symbol and would not be seen in public without them. Therefore no jurisdiction actually bans blades.
Lets start by assuming that the weapons typically available to a pilot would probably mostly be suitable for use in both zero-g and in a gravitational field. There would be weapons only suitable for use other than in zero-g but for the most part why would any spacecraft or station have them in their arms locker? - Maybe if you've a gun rack in your SRV they would be an option, but for the most part they'd simply be unavailable.
Further, we can assume that chemical propellants would be rare since combustion and its residues are things you do not want in ANY closed environment like a spacecraft or station if you can avoid it. There are likely to be situations where their use cannot be avoided but in such cases the propellant would be much more efficient than today's smokeless powders and formulated to almost always "burn" completely with minimal residue and requiring no external oxidizer.
Projectile rounds would always be caseless and sabots would not be used since you don't want loose brass and the sabots from fired rounds flying around a zero-g environment where they can get lost and then turn into projectiles themselves under acceleration or get into equipment that might not be too happy with their presence.
Projectile weapons would have to be at least semi-recoilless. For heavier rounds the projectile would likely be semi-self-propelled (one of the occasions where chemical propellants would have to be used) with only enough "shove" from the weapon to clear the barrel and start it on its way before the rounds own propellant kicks in. Lighter weapons where this is not an option (limitation of projectile size) would need to use much lighter projectiles, probably flechettes since those will cut through a flight suit better and that's as dangerous to the wearer as the physical damage a penetrating flechette will cause. Non-lethal rounds will probably be somewhat taser-like.
I would be very surprised if energy weapons were sidearms, rather than long guns simply because of the amount of energy they would need to store. By far the most common would be laser based. I would not think that plasma weapons could be constructed that are suitable for use as personal weapons in zero-g
In fact, I'd suspect that plasma or rail guns would be heavy weapons rather than personal arms whether in zero-g or not. If that is the case they would have some way of anchoring themselves to the decking or the ground and recoil would not be an issue. These would fall under the "battle weapons" category.
Rocket launchers would function just fine in zero-g since recoil need not be an issue but because of the paranoia any space-dwelling folk would have over contaminating the atmosphere their use would be extremely rare. These and any kind of grenade would also be considered "battle weapons" rather than "personal weapons" however I can see being able to craft explosive devices since explosives are a thing readily available on the open market.
Since I'm speculating anyway, which of the weapons you are "allowed" access to by the game of the ones you "own" would be restricted on stations according to what it is legal to import there. You won't get dinged for owning weapons you are prohibited from importing into the jurisdiction but if you crack the seal on the personal weapons locker while docked or landed where you're only allowed to carry non-lethals you will attract the same penalty as if you'd imported a canister of the forbidden goods as soon as any cop sees you so when picking your "walkabout loadout" leave the illegal ones on the ship or in the SRV unless you're in an entirely upopulated area.
Blades, clubs, saps, knuckledusters etc will probably always be fair game - blades may be frowned on but attempting to actually ban them will effectively bar that jurisdiction from trading through imperial-owned hulls since Imperial citizens to carry swords as a status symbol and would not be seen in public without them. Therefore no jurisdiction actually bans blades.
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Very well thought out DaveB.
The only issue I have, is that caring about contaminating the air would only apply to civilized people defending a space station. Most attacking forces wouldn't let air quality restrict their choice of weapon.
The only issue I have, is that caring about contaminating the air would only apply to civilized people defending a space station. Most attacking forces wouldn't let air quality restrict their choice of weapon.
Starlords blasters
Fair point, but it's a little silly to have one armory for defending your station and a totally different one for attacking somebody else's. In all likelihood the attackers and defenders would be using similar weapons, if only to prevent the logistics officer having multiple fits. In addition, it's hard to overstate just how completely ingrained in everyone - civilized or not - that spends most of their time in space the "Don't contaminate the atmosphere, don't endanger the atmospheric integrity of the station/ship" precaution would be. It would come as naturally to them as ducking a thrown rock does to us because people who didn't have that as an automatic response would tend to get dead before they lived long enough to assault any stations. Even making assault breaches in a ships or stations hull would be done in such a way that they could be resealed because even in combat armor, you are going into combat and bad things can happen. Even if you didn't plan to keep whatever you were assaulting you'd rather not have the golden bb that takes out a faceplate or a suits air supply be something that puts that soldier down. You'd always prefer to be fighting your way through corridors that maintained their atmospheric integrity and that atmosphere remained fully breathable.
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I suppose I haven't thought enough about ingrained taboos that would develop over centuries of people living in space stations.
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But the same mentality that condones the use of nerve gas, biological, or nuclear weapons today will still exist in 1,200 years time.
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But the same mentality that condones the use of nerve gas, biological, or nuclear weapons today will still exist in 1,200 years time.
Nerve agents are commodities ......
I am curious about the stylistic choices as well
How will Imperial, Alliance and Federation Small arms look?
Will Imperial Nobles carry sidearms that showcase the lines of the Tatham & Egg or 1851 Navy, all be it modernised in function?
Will Federal weapons be precision tools, with all the whistles and bells?
Will the Alliance make the AK of the 3300s?
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This is a setting in which tobacco is a luxury good which can sold at a profit by shipping it from Terraformed planets to Outposts, so presumably people aboard stations are capable of filtering out some impurities in the air. I can see station environment controls either being able to cope with a little cordite residue or having bigger things to worry about if someone is shooting bullets in the station.
Also we have some pretty smokeless powders now. Dunno for certain but i can imaginte by 3302 they will have even better chemicals. or even perfectioned the coil guns to supersonic speeds in a handgun.