NationStates Jolt Archive

In this thread you can post ideas for FT weaponry that could work in the RL world so we could use them in FT threads ICly with less flak about g-moding. Here we will also discuss whether or not the weapon would really work, suggest improvements for the weapon and give constructive criticism.

For the weapons I have are:

Combat suits with electric currents to make troops unstoppable when it comes to hand to hand combat

A minigun that is half grenade launcher (BSG had chaingun turrets crossed with flak guns so I thought this cross would be similar)

The hellrazer rifle (shoots specail bullets into the body that dissilve well in water, once dissolved the alkali metals come ito contact with the water inside the enemy's body and start reacting by making fire inside the enemy's body then exploding, effects differ based on alkali metal used) :sniper:

Well, rail/coil guns are generally realistic, although some people in FT attribute alarmingly high muzzle velocities to them. Lasers are real, so no question about their realism, but the kind of damage they can do is open to debate and almost always exaggerated. Particle beam weapons are also viable, and I suppose that the beam could be fired in short bursts to get the kind of 'pulse' effect that sci-fi shows postulate, but a common problem with both lasers and particle weapons is their power source. Mounted on a starship this wouldn't be so much of a problem, but if you wanted to take them down into a battlefield... then it is.

I suppose that photon torpedoes/generic anti-matter weapons are also possible, if one could find a viable way of producing anti-matter that isn't so insanely costly. I don't doubt that nuclear weapons, perhaps enhanced and increased in power in some way, will also find their way into space battles and ground battles, with fuel air explosives continuing to find favour in the latter. Not to mention whatever kind of chemical explosives we are able to come up with in the future.

As for your own ideas, they're imaginative, but... I don't know.



But then, we're not really playing in FT to be 'realistic' though, are we? Trying to find a way of avoiding arguments is a noble goal, but such arguments take place just as frequently in the MT RPing world, so I don't see how you hope to end it here with more 'realistic' weapons. My thoughts have always been to take damage according to the plot. Heavy weapons cause heavy damage, light weapons cause light damage. Respect your fellow players in such a way and they'll generally respect you. The biggest problem of all is that too many people play 'to win', unfortunately, and I don't know how you can change that.

Idea Number 1) I assume your referring generally to electromuscular enhancement; plausible but 'unstoppable' is a superlative and not really a proper description. Will they be stronger, perhaps faster (depending on how the musculature is arranged and if it doesn't interfere with itself)but not really Unstoppable. Such a system can only enhance a naturally ability they cannot fully replace organic efficiency and the joints that gold the regular arms still have limits of lifting capacity.

As such you may be able to squat lift 3000 lbs but that doesn't mean you knees wont both disjoint. (I'm going to the extreme for the sake of graphic example.) The primary discreditor (if there is one) is that I have a feeling your more likely to be engaged the moment you enter LOS by means of some form of projectile weapon, and the thus likely hood youll be able to enter into fisticuffs is likely right slim. I'm of course assuming your encountering a proper ship with a proper ability to provide a security detail, or any proper military body.

Idea Number 2) No need to really cross a machine gun with a Grenade launcher most MT 'vulcan' (rotary barrel) cannons have similar area effect starting at 20mm in bore and only increasing in lethal area of effect beyond that. Assuming most Fixed system that require a Vulcan or mini-gun are large enough to handle the weight theres no reason a FT Rotary Barrel cannon could not handle being scaled up or the round itself lengthened (and the charge shortened, see neopup) to provide a higher explosive effect at the cost of velocity.

Plausible, doable, run with it.

The idea that is, point in case; THIS IS NOT A MAN PORTABLE WEAPON. Let me specify actually Unless the person is Augmented (by mass not strength) this is not man portable, not due to its weight but due to its uneven (asymmetrical) constant recoil force, it just is not controllable unless your carrying two times your own weight in armor and pneumatics. This is also not taking into account torque and the high rotational mass of the barrels, but I digress.

Idea number 3) Reactive bullets aren't really needed now or in the future, would the Geneva convention have anything to do about it? no its plainly just how bullets work. A self reacting sodium round will kill you just as dead as simple lead round regardless of what time line it is.

The primary concern here is not will it work (I have little doubt or question that Sodium will react with body liquids) More so I believe the issue is safely storing, and or transporting the rounds to prevent the rounds 'cooking' off because of the increased humidity encountered in any closed habitation. Not instant effect but more so Id be worried about entire stocks slowly degrading in both effectiveness and saftey. Were I a captain I wouldn't want such threats on my boat (especially is sitting on 65,000 m^3 of hydrogen) and really I wouldn't want to issue them to my men.

I'm specifically not going into round density and and penetration capabilities because I'd really be more worried about the potential for condensation when the seal from an airlock opens to board an enemy ship and the moisture set a whole helical mag of rounds off in my troopers face.

I apologize if I come across as stiff and grumpy, its early and I'm still regaining consciousness. ^_^

Well, as the dude above me said, running electric current through musculature and whatnot certainly won't make you unstoppable, just more difficult to take down. I use this sort of thing in my nation a good deal, and it's handy, but it's not going to make hyper-ultra-turbo troops. It will, however, make them much more useful.

As for grenade-miniguns, there's already something along those lines nowadays. I don't remember what it's called, but there's a similar system that is a rapid-fire grenade launcher, attached to APC's. Of course, it's not a minigun, but it's still useful. And again, as the guy above me said, it'd be a bit of a problem to walk around with one. Even a traditional minigun is designed for vehicular use, so this one probably should be as well. Assuming that you've got a lot of musculature as above, and weigh a great deal, you might be able to manage one. You could also put mercury (or some other dense liquid) recoil dampeners into the weapon, but that would make it weigh even more. So, it'd probably be much easier to just have it mounted on a tripod or something and set it up when needed.

I'd have to disagree with the person above me on the last one to some extent. While normal humans don't necessitate the use of strange reactive flame-bullets, I've come across some rather odd nations. For example, the region I'm in now is far PMT, and one of the nations therein is all werewolves. He claims that they have super-regenerative capabilities or some such, so a reactive flame bullet would be useful there. I myself utilize gamma radiation emitters and molecular acid to take them down, in conjunction with railguns. At any rate, for the most part such bullets would be unnecessary and probably somewhat pricey to produce. Still, having some on hand might be useful.

As for lasers and whatnot, they're generally not as powerful as made out to be. I have some lasers in my PMT nation, since they have some uses there, but they don't have the same kind of power as a railgun. They do, however, work excellently as THEL's, or decently enough as AT/AP weaponry, though again less effective than rail weapons.

I use a few other odds and ends of technology beyond those I've mentioned, but I've attempted to base all of it off of reality and physics rather than lame animes (as is the case with some of the others in my region). I think that, with a little ingenuity, you can create all manner of effective death-sticks without resorting to the above.

The issues with lasers (in vacuum) is not so much power; it is very very possible to get astoundingly powerful lasers either by means of pure output, or a high pulse rate of a lowered powered laser. They also have the advantage of very little lag out to extreme ranges (almost 300,000,000 m/s velocity helps) the issue very plainly is heat... not just a little heat I mean ALOT of heat. Lets assume you want ranges out to 1 light second with any reasonable effect.

Now one light second is nothing at all to scoff at, but in the vastness of space its nothing especially compared to ones visible horizon, the issue is beyond one light second in range even SEEing the target is lagged by well one second. As it takes that long for light (or N/M/F IR, etc) to reach you from the point of Origin, thus shooting at what you see is no longer there (assuming they can travel at a thousandth of a fraction of c, which is not much of a leap) they could be quite a distance in radians ahead of the previous position. This of course is a longer rant but bank on target...

To put out 3 beams of 19.24mW on target at that range with any reasonable beam spot (assuming a 130nm Extreme UV wavelength, from a 3.3 meter reflector, garnering a 7,2m beamspot on target) you require 3800mW of power output just for those three 0.1 second blast lasers. Assuming a very high theoretical efficiency (80%) you still produce 800mW of waster heat.

Thats almost 3 MILLION BTUs of non usable waste heat seeking to melt you and your crew... Thats heat that has to be expended, either by direct venting (ewww) or through radiators which are not conductive to combat conditions and are quite vulnerable to your enemies mechanizations. Thats also not counting engine heat, Life support generated heat or otherwise which merely compounds the issue.

Given the right counters to lasers (heatsink mass, radiators, etc) they can be highly effective but they do have natural drawbacks.

Post script: Im not saying the bullets wont have any effect or purpose, I'm saying they are more likely to have the effect when you don't want them to.