Here's another tack actually, manufacturing costs are gonna be mostly null anyways, most weapons are made in high tech systems with access to nano fabricator technology. On the flip side, black market weapon makers will be able to make and source basic firearms more easily due to the lack of exotic materials in the average firearm, same with mom and pop corner shop's in the slums. Firearms are gonna be easier for the average Joe to make, use and understand the functionality of.
How about the legendary - Westinghouse Variable Cartridge Blaster, compact and versatile, there's not much that it can't handle.
I'd never leave home without one. Good enough for Johnny A. Good enough for me.
I'd never leave home without one. Good enough for Johnny A. Good enough for me.
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I'm gonna keep going here, laser weapons are more difficult and costly to defend against, so system authority will crack down harder on the distribution and regulation of laser weapons, for example: permits to own and carry will be more expensive, punishment for illegal ownership or distribution will be harsher, materials that can be used to make them will be more tightly regulated. For the average firearm, a kevlar vest is sufficient from a logistical standpoint to defend against, so system authority won't mind ballistics as much, since they're far less scary to face down.
As I say, the cost will be in transportation rather than manufacture. But even with the above taken note of, Kinetic weapons Will cost even less to manufacture and to transport.
i must admit a little jealous about firing an Obrez or "pirate" pistol.
Anyway, I picture the need for colonists to have functional small arms for hunting and protection. Probably not in that order. Slug and directed energy weapons both could fill that role, but I can picture some society's putting restrictions on "modern" designs that would not be imposed on older designs. This could make slug guns a viable low tech firearm. Just look how many systems outlaw personal weapons, or how many LY you have to travel to buy some as cargo.
As a side note, I wish I could buy a ton of pistols for 3 grand!
im sure poor people will have laser weaponry I'm sure it will be of a lower quality and to be honest we haven't moved to much away from what works we improve it and do the old adage if it aint broke don't fix it. so I can see its easy in the future to knock out a regular pistol with precise machine engineering or hell even printed out. a good pistol if maintained will keep you safe and isn't that technical that any uneducated redneck can do it but I would see a laser pistol would be far more technical than most average joes to maintain
My cmdr prefers a silenced 10mm pistol as his weapon of choice, and generally will use it no matter what situations, however he has an arsenal of different weapons for different situations, including a variety of grenades and a high power laser rifle, which also has a sight magnification on it allowing it to be used long range and short range
Yeah the idea of lasers being cheaper than more or less throwing stones seems a bit backwards, but then in-game today pulse lasers are about the cheapest weapons out there. But then again multicannons not a huge amount more, and far behind more exotic things like plasma accelerators. Actually that'd do me, a personal bfg. That'd learn any boarders / resistance to my boardings. Thewp splat.
Actually I didn't consider 3D printing a gun. That makes a lot of sense. Thats brilliant. Thanks!
How complex, though, do you think laser weaponry will be? I mean, it doesn't seem too complicated to me, and we are talking thousands of years in the future.
Lol. Weaponised lasers a little more complex than conventional firearms.
if you think about expense wise its always miniaturisation that makes things expensive the first mobile phones were massive and stupidly expensive and hey they still are because smaller, smarter prob the same with man portable laser weapons
open up your lap top or smart phone and fix it if you have only ever done a basic at secondary school technology course, same level of complication I would think. it needs A. power pack and I don't think current lithium ion tech would cut it, B. the laser its self , gas laser, chemical laser , ect a little nugget of wikiknowledge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser#Types_and_operating_principles
so for argument state its a gas laser you need gas storage and how much do you need to fire off to be practical and what is the focus lense, glass ,crystal beer bottle?. C. cooling energy weapons generate heat its a principle we are all aware off so again how do you practically cool it. so yeah I think they be a strange bit of magik
I see what you're saying, and I appreciate it, but I still think it's being looked at from today's point of view, rather than 2000 year-old technology. I mean lets just look at power:
How much power do you think a personal sidearm laser would require? Quite a lot, I should imagine. But we are talking about a civilisation with the technological knowledge to harness enough power to shift a vessel tens of light years across space in seconds, that can propel a vessel to over a thousand times the speed of light. They have the power in a small ship which is capable of not only doing all of that, but also being able to fire off incredibly powerful lasers, use thrusters and power a shield generator capable of stopping aforementioned lasers. We are talking a huge amount of power in a relatively small amount of space, so it seems reasonable that in 2000 years the technology to power a laser that would fit in a sidearm would be fairly trivial.
So with that in mind, regarding level of complexity, I think it is similar. If you were to show somebody from 2000 years ago somethign electrical, they would have no concept of how it would work. Today, however, any 14 year old with a magnet and a wire can generate electricity and create a working circuit with it. The principles are easily learnt and we see them as fundamental. The same with car engines. Do you think somebody from Ancient Rome would understand an internal combustion engine? And yet there are many, many people who are poor and yet able to fix their own cars. As we progress technologically, seemingly complex stuff becomes fairly simple as the principles behind it are imbibed by the culture.
At the end of the day none of this is real, so it is all a bit arbitrary. I'm sure I'm wrong as I seem to be the only one who thinks FD have got it the wrong way round here, but that's okay.
Bullets. Assuming personal weapons stay sci fi rather than space opera it's just far easier to repeatedly generate the energy needed to punch through armour from kinetic rather than thermal energy. Kevlar might stop the kill but you still get blunt trauma and any kind of ceramic or metal is going to be a problem to lasers as well. I can even imagine some kind of doped carbon nano fibre weave that would have have really good heat dissipation rather than personal shields, you'd need a big battery to power those.
Considering we are on the cusp of having reliable 3D printed guns, and people are already making laser "guns" at home that can quickly pop balloons I don't see any reason why the poor in the future wouldn't be able to own either. Barring draconian restrictions on ownership of course.