Future Weapons: ?Wait a minute, this is the future. Where are all the phaser guns?? ? Simon Phoenix

[psijac]

I have been playing Destiny and one thing that I find a little disappointing is the weaponry. A lot of Science Fiction films and games have weapons that are only as dangerous as the ones we have now. As such, I felt like talking about that for a bit.

Disclaimer: I liked most of these movies, I am only interested in pointing out that we need to be a bit more creative with our science fiction weaponry. Also, these are only my opinions and they may not align with yours.

Some Bad
Star Trek, TNG, DS9, Voyager (I normally don?t count Enterprise because it was outside of the Star Trek continuity): When Star Trek TNG debuted, they had phasers that fit in the palm of your hand and could do anything from stunning a single target to blowing the top off a mountain. Now that is a futuristic weapon! Then, well, they weren?t phallic enough so they had to make them bigger for? reasons. The larger phasers did not seem to do anything better than the smaller ones, nobody ever had to reload/recharge but people could not get behind a weapon that small. Anyways phasers are awesome and the only reason you would have to shoot someone twice is if you failed to set it properly.

Men In Black: Two words: Noisy Cricket.

The a phaser set to stun from Star Trek and Memory Neutralizer would be the ultimate date rape kit. So it probably good we don't have these things

 

[Jack Action]

It's worth noting that MAG weapons are only better than plasma guns because they're used in the Earth's atmosphere. Xenonaut's devs knew their shit! The only thing I don't like is that the different kinds of weapons are just upgrades from one another, except between firearms and lasers (so, there's a legitimate reason to keep with rifles when you've got lasers, but no case to stick with plasma guns when you've got MAGs)

The Czech UFO games, particularly the second one, had some nice progression in this regard. You start with basic ballistics, move onto laser and plasma guns, which aren't great to begin with, but you can improve your battery tech later in the game to make them so much better than firearms. Then there's sonic guns, which don't do much damage, but disorient enemies and go through shields, and eventually warp weapons, which invert how effective enemy armour is. (And then there's various alien guns, different kinds of ammo, psionic gubbins and oh my god I could go on all day about this game... shame about how buggy it is =\ )

And then the Reticulans start stealing your gun designs and deploying their own. I loved that bit. It was like "hold on, why didn't WE think of firing shards of stuff at our enemies?".

 

[FURY_007]

Yeah blasters are on par with firearms. but one thing you have to remember is capacity. IIRC, a standard charge of the Clone Rifle and even the E-11 had 500 shots for one power pack. To have that much capacity for a firearm would be preposterous. Not to mention the different settings. And IIRC from the now-defunct EU, it's easy to refill their charge packs with more tibanna gas, almost as easy as recharging lasgun packs.Also. no recoil. So power wise, until you start getting into the Heavy Blasters and crew served weaponry, blasters power wise are on par with firearms, but logistics wise they are far superior.

 

[immortalfrieza]

...don't even get me started on plasma weapons.

Sorry, I kind of have to. That's because Star Wars blasters are supposed to be plasma weapons that fire concentrated plasma contained in a magnetic field as pellets called "bolts" rather than lasers. The stronger the bolt, the more devastating the bolt's impact.

In fact, as I recall in the KOTOR days blasters were weaker but one could fire them all day long without having to reload by changing the battery pack, so blasters at least have that advantage going for them.

Some of this is conceptual.

1. In Star Wars it should be noted that it's a galaxy where there is no real free will, only the illusion of it. The Force controls everything and pretty much guides the universe through cycles of good and evil, with a period of balance in between. Star Wars is the story of an era of light coming to an end, and darkness taking over, but between which there will be balance. The central conceit of the story is that the prophecy explaining this is not understood properly, the Jedi believe Anakin will "restore balance" by bringing peace and order to the galaxy in the face of the new threats, not realizing that with good controlling everything and a nearly utopian civilization where they don't have serious militaries, the only place to go is down. The Emperor thinks "balance" means that it's time for the Dark Side to return, and it's not, this is the period of balance. Hence why at the end of the story Anakin has both destroyed the Jedi order AND he kills The Emperor (everyone is dead, balance achieved). All of the story and emotional stuff is just a way of getting to the bottom line of what was meant to be.

Now, the thing to understand about Star Wars is these cycles mean that things remain stagnant, basically one apocalypse or another eradicates everything, and thus by the time new tech is being developed it's time for everything to be wiped out again. Excepting a few super weapons that get left behind in various sources (mostly non-canon but technically possible if The Force wanted them to remain for it's narrative later) and can be uncovered, everything remains more or less the same. The Force doesn't want to destroy everything so the weapons remain fairly limited in scale, and things like space fighters are on the same basic level even after thousands of years because of this.... I could get into more about it, but the bottom line is that this is a work of "space fantasy" and was based on some eastern concepts of how the universe works (loosely) from things I've read over the years. Basically it's working as intended. The technology is this way because that's how a metaphysical force has arranged things to be.

Another thing that you have to remember is that the overall society of the Star Wars galaxy has been around for more than 20,000 years. At some point they're going to uncover all the laws of physics that there are and there's only so many ways one can apply them, so they're going to reach a point where what technology they've made is the best it's every going to get, and they can only really make them a little more effective than they already are or find more applications for the same technology rather than make anything really new.

I remember someone liking to Lucas confirming that Anakin destroying the Sith at the end of RotJ was what brought balance to the Force, not him destroying both the Jedi and Sith. And, by extension, shattering the last bit of logic left in that universe.

I think most fans ignore Lucas' explanation, and that's because it makes significantly less sense that way than the typical fan theory Runmancer mentioned, isn't all that interesting or insightful, and closes off a lot of story possibilities besides.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

...don't even get me started on plasma weapons.

As for Laser-based weapons, right now they are extremely impractical, especially since salt-based smoke grenades can cut their effectiveness dramatically, and are cheap to produce. The salts are both reflective and refractive when first deployed, as they use a mixture of purities and additives, this cuts the range of laser weapons down to virtually nil. Whereas a conventional bullet wouldn't even be phased by the smoke.

Plasma is even more tricky. Having plasma exist in our atmosphere for more than a few milliseconds takes energy that makes lasers look efficient. The atoms quickly absorb electrons and transfer their energy in the form of heat to the atmosphere itself, turning the plasma back into gas. Not only is this energy inefficient, but the chaotic nature of this energy transfer means that you cannot aim the plasma beam with any real accuracy. Basically, Plasma may be feasible in space, but within atmospheres it is just not going to happen.

Really, caseless ammo using solid propellant -not unlike rocket fuel- is the most likely, but as we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, technology and firepower only account for a small portion of the outcome of the overall conflict. Really, a more advanced force never guarantees victory.

 

[Jack Action]

...don't even get me started on plasma weapons.

Sorry, I kind of have to. That's because Star Wars blasters are supposed to be plasma weapons that fire concentrated plasma contained in a magnetic field as pellets called "bolts" rather than lasers. The stronger the bolt, the more devastating the bolt's impact.

Yes. I know. Because why have a ridiculously complicated laser weapon when you could have an even more ridiculously complicated plasma generator that then has to create a steady containment field to stop the plasma from dissipating?

I think they came up with that just to explain why the bolts were so slow though. It's not as if SW's ever been big on physics, or any sort of logic, for that matter.

I think most fans ignore Lucas' explanation, and that's because it makes significantly less sense that way than the typical fan theory Runmancer mentioned, isn't all that interesting or insightful, and closes off a lot of story possibilities besides.

Dunno about most, but I sure as hell do. I'll never forgive him for what he did to the Mandalorians in the Clone Wars series.

Proudest military civilization in the galaxy reduced to a bunch of tree huggers? No thank you.

 

[Hectix777]

I kind of thought that was part of the lore in Destiny? Isn't pretty much EVERYTHING relics from the Golden Age? To be honest, I'd imagine the world would've been more concerned with expanding under the Traveler and less about war.

We essentially found the first physical god within our solar system and accomplished things science said would take decades or even millennia to do in a matter of decades. Kind of think weapons tech would sort of slow its roll in favor of advancing as a species.

 

[Jack Action]

As for Laser-based weapons, right now they are extremely impractical, especially since salt-based smoke grenades can cut their effectiveness dramatically, and are cheap to produce. The salts are both reflective and refractive when first deployed, as they use a mixture of purities and additives, this cuts the range of laser weapons down to virtually nil. Whereas a conventional bullet wouldn't even be phased by the smoke.

Plasma is even more tricky. Having plasma exist in our atmosphere for more than a few milliseconds takes energy that makes lasers look efficient. The atoms quickly absorb electrons and transfer their energy in the form of heat to the atmosphere itself, turning the plasma back into gas. Not only is this energy inefficient, but the chaotic nature of this energy transfer means that you cannot aim the plasma beam with any real accuracy. Basically, Plasma may be feasible in space, but within atmospheres it is just not going to happen.

This is new information. And very useful.

Plasma weapons would still be useless in space though, I mean for the amount of power you'd have to shove into a plasma beam you could get a whole battery of coilguns. Of course, you'd have to find a way to cool those things down, but it's probably still easier than building plasma cannons.

Edit: particularly since you'd have to cool down the plasma cannons too, and I get the feeling those would get much hotter, much faster than any kinetic weapon that doesn't have an obscene muzzle velocity.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

This is new information. And very useful.

Plasma weapons would still be useless in space though, I mean for the amount of power you'd have to shove into a plasma beam you could get a whole battery of coilguns. Of course, you'd have to find a way to cool those things down, but it's probably still easier than building plasma cannons.

Edit: particularly since you'd have to cool down the plasma cannons too, and I get the feeling those would get much hotter, much faster than any kinetic weapon that doesn't have an obscene muzzle velocity.

Yeah, it is one of the things that makes lightning fork. In a vacuum, electrical currents run straight, more or less. But aside from the composition of the soil and the ground's electrical charge, the density of the air and the chaotic nature of electron re-absorption play a huge role in causing the forking. Basically, if it could, the strike would send a straight stream of electrons, creating plasma. But, plasma reverts to gas chaotically, causing the stream to go one way or another or even branch.

Sorry, I kind of have to. That's because Star Wars blasters are supposed to be plasma weapons that fire concentrated plasma contained in a magnetic field as pellets called "bolts" rather than lasers. The stronger the bolt, the more devastating the bolt's impact.

In fact, as I recall in the KOTOR days blasters were weaker but one could fire them all day long without having to reload by changing the battery pack, so blasters at least have that advantage going for them.

Ha! that is the dumbest explanation I have ever heard. Plasma occurs when electrons are stripped off of their nuclei due to high energy/temprature. Any electro-magnetic field generated would be instantly either repulsed or absorbed by that plasma, depending on the charge. You may be able to make plasma by stripping positrons off of anti-matter, but as soon as those positrons got close to any electron, they would annihilate one another, leaving the anti-plasma exposed to the atmosphere.

 

[Jack Action]

This is new information. And very useful.

Plasma weapons would still be useless in space though, I mean for the amount of power you'd have to shove into a plasma beam you could get a whole battery of coilguns. Of course, you'd have to find a way to cool those things down, but it's probably still easier than building plasma cannons.

Edit: particularly since you'd have to cool down the plasma cannons too, and I get the feeling those would get much hotter, much faster than any kinetic weapon that doesn't have an obscene muzzle velocity.

Yeah, it is one of the things that makes lightning fork. In a vacuum, electrical currents run straight, more or less. But aside from the composition of the soil and the ground's electrical charge, the density of the air and the chaotic nature of electron re-absorption play a huge role in causing the forking. Basically, if it could, the strike would send a straight stream of electrons, creating plasma. But, plasma reverts to gas chaotically, causing the stream to go one way or another or even branch.

Sorry, I kind of have to. That's because Star Wars blasters are supposed to be plasma weapons that fire concentrated plasma contained in a magnetic field as pellets called "bolts" rather than lasers. The stronger the bolt, the more devastating the bolt's impact.

In fact, as I recall in the KOTOR days blasters were weaker but one could fire them all day long without having to reload by changing the battery pack, so blasters at least have that advantage going for them.

Ha! that is the dumbest explanation I have ever heard. Plasma occurs when electrons are stripped off of their nuclei due to high energy/temprature. Any electro-magnetic field generated would be instantly either repulsed or absorbed by that plasma, depending on the charge. You may be able to make plasma by stripping positrons off of anti-matter, but as soon as those positrons got close to any electron, they would annihilate one another, leaving the anti-plasma exposed to the atmosphere.

Okay, if you've ever got time to waste, and feel like it please let me know. I'm terrible at the math part of physics, so there's a lot of stuff I can't figure on my own.

 

[Therumancer]

...don't even get me started on plasma weapons.

Sorry, I kind of have to. That's because Star Wars blasters are supposed to be plasma weapons that fire concentrated plasma contained in a magnetic field as pellets called "bolts" rather than lasers. The stronger the bolt, the more devastating the bolt's impact.

In fact, as I recall in the KOTOR days blasters were weaker but one could fire them all day long without having to reload by changing the battery pack, so blasters at least have that advantage going for them.

Some of this is conceptual.

1. In Star Wars it should be noted that it's a galaxy where there is no real free will, only the illusion of it. The Force controls everything and pretty much guides the universe through cycles of good and evil, with a period of balance in between. Star Wars is the story of an era of light coming to an end, and darkness taking over, but between which there will be balance. The central conceit of the story is that the prophecy explaining this is not understood properly, the Jedi believe Anakin will "restore balance" by bringing peace and order to the galaxy in the face of the new threats, not realizing that with good controlling everything and a nearly utopian civilization where they don't have serious militaries, the only place to go is down. The Emperor thinks "balance" means that it's time for the Dark Side to return, and it's not, this is the period of balance. Hence why at the end of the story Anakin has both destroyed the Jedi order AND he kills The Emperor (everyone is dead, balance achieved). All of the story and emotional stuff is just a way of getting to the bottom line of what was meant to be.

Now, the thing to understand about Star Wars is these cycles mean that things remain stagnant, basically one apocalypse or another eradicates everything, and thus by the time new tech is being developed it's time for everything to be wiped out again. Excepting a few super weapons that get left behind in various sources (mostly non-canon but technically possible if The Force wanted them to remain for it's narrative later) and can be uncovered, everything remains more or less the same. The Force doesn't want to destroy everything so the weapons remain fairly limited in scale, and things like space fighters are on the same basic level even after thousands of years because of this.... I could get into more about it, but the bottom line is that this is a work of "space fantasy" and was based on some eastern concepts of how the universe works (loosely) from things I've read over the years. Basically it's working as intended. The technology is this way because that's how a metaphysical force has arranged things to be.

Another thing that you have to remember is that the overall society of the Star Wars galaxy has been around for more than 20,000 years. At some point they're going to uncover all the laws of physics that there are and there's only so many ways one can apply them, so they're going to reach a point where what technology they've made is the best it's every going to get, and they can only really make them a little more effective than they already are or find more applications for the same technology rather than make anything really new.

I remember someone liking to Lucas confirming that Anakin destroying the Sith at the end of RotJ was what brought balance to the Force, not him destroying both the Jedi and Sith. And, by extension, shattering the last bit of logic left in that universe.

I think most fans ignore Lucas' explanation, and that's because it makes significantly less sense that way than the typical fan theory Runmancer mentioned, isn't all that interesting or insightful, and closes off a lot of story possibilities besides.

Actually it's not a fan theory, that's pretty much the gospel. Indeed George Lucas was involved in the writing of "Knights Of The Old Republic 2" which turned into a mess because the development was rushed and huge parts of the game were never developed (including the HK factory and a droid planet). The central premise of KOTOR 2 is that someone, namely Kreia, figured out what The Force does, and set out to destroy it in order to give humanity free will, a point which is explicitly stated and apparently came from George. Of course with the state of the game on release, how she planned to achieve this goal is never fully explained, her first step was of course to destroy the Jedi and Sith, but then how she planned to assault and destroy a metaphysical entity was never explained. Of course the finale the game DOES have leaves her spouting prophecy and opens the question of whether or not she ever could have succeeded since pretty much everything set in motion during the KoToR games simply moved things in the direction The Force wanted while maintaining the illusion what people wanted made a difference. Basically as a result of Revan and The Exile The Sith Empire was made aware of The Republic, and as we know the end result of this clash is going to be the destruction of Sith dominance and the genocidal extermination of numerous races, and purge of planets, to the point where at the end of the era this heralds nobody will really be certain what a Sith is.

The thing your missing is that since people don't really have free will, there is no real chance of them discovering what they were not intended to. If The Force, basically god, dictates that us mere mortals will never figure out certain things, then we simply will not do it. The passage of 20,000 years is more or less meaningless, and actually stands as a sort of testament to how the Star Wars universe doesn't work according to the popular western conception of reality. Basically the things that are needed will simply never occur, and the experiments will never take place, that could lead to science going in a direction The Force does not want. Now, one could argue what the possible motives of an omnipotent metaphysical being could be for perpetuating a cycle like this and wanting people to not realize how they are under control, but that gets into some pretty deep philosophical territory that's more akin to certain kinds of eastern or middle eastern spirituality than western thought. In the west we like to think each man controls his own destiny, the future is not written in stone, and in our fantasy the concept of prophecies simply come down to variables and what's likely to happen, western heroes break or defeat prophecies or avoid unpleasant fates all the time. Star Wars is kind of the opposite, and that's sort of why guys like Anakin were such dweebs, on a certain level he REALLY wanted to be a good person, but the universe had decided something else for him, and due to the illusion of free will he fought the tide quite a bit, but in the end exactly what the universe wanted happened. Kreia was a similar case (and is actually pretty close to Canon due to George's apparent involvement) but was in a position where she knew what was happening and thought that she had cut her strings through awareness, when arguably she didn't and that was simply part of her fate to fight against it while serving it's whims.

This is pretty much the response to both you and Jack T. . I suspect Jack T. more or less heard the same things I did. Balance *WAS* finally achieved when Anakin killed The Sith but only because The Jedi were already dead, so there is some truth to that. In the end there was supposed to only be one force user left, Luke, who was partially trained and could probably go either way, following the central concept though the series ended at the right moment for an "upbeat" ending especially for Lucas' financial desires at that point, because if you followed the concept through Luke would wind up becoming evil one way or another, and then probably playing a huge role in starting an evil empire that would reign for thousands of years before the next cycle. See, had Anakin NOT killed off the Jedi like he did, there wouldn't be balance, because there would only be good left. Had he simply let The Emperor enjoy his victory, or killed him and taken the throne for himself, that would be all evil, and it wasn't time for that to occur yet, things are entering a period of balance moving in that direction.

Of course right now George Lucas is not the final arbiter of canon anymore, or so we suspect (he's lost that role before to companies like Dark Horse and then regained it apparently). I imagine Disney's take on the whole thing is likely to be a lot different, and not quite as dark or metaphysical. Given everyone's "I wanna be Jedi or Sith" fantasies I expect things will be a lot closer to the shallow first impressions a lot of casual fans had, and it seems Disney is already working to say that there were going to be more survivors than should logically be present after "Order 66". I imagine free will is also going to be something it's going to insert.

See, while they kind of fumbled it due to the general quality of the prequel movies, part of the whole schtick was to present what was going on as being pretty horrible. For example you'll notice in the second movie Anakin is getting all his ducks in a row, at which point The Force goes "oh hey, let's have you watch your mommy die after being raped and tortured by sand people..." pretty much calling him to the location, which of course causes him to go into an insane rage and start channeling some really serious dark side.

While not conveyed well, I also think part of the point of how sudden it was that Anakin went from being basically okay, to murdering Jedi children who trusted him, was that at that point he had been smacked down by becoming optimistic so many times that he sort of just went with the flow and was sort of drifting on the tides of fate. Of course we'll never know if a better actor could have expressed this without stating it explicitly (as the statement would ruin the entire point, which is supposed to be a lack of awareness).

To be honest I'm kind of on the ropes about the direction Disney seems to be going in (based on what I've heard about things like Rebels). On one hand what they are doing is probably a lot more mindless space fantasy fun, on the other hand once you go in that direction it raises all kinds of questions that don't otherwise make sense. This ranges from people missing the obvious, to how the force goes from being really accurate (I can sense some dude across the galaxy with pinpoint accuracy) to cloudy and useless (which was supposed to be it bringing pieces together). Likewise some of the more incredible feats in the movies were supposed to be because of the galactic cycle. I mean you'd get the impression The Sith were the baddest dudes in the universe, when really part of the whole problem with the Jedi was that they themselves mentioned they were losing power (the force was going cloudy and such) and guys like Papaltine were being charged up because the Jedi were supposed to die out. In a lot of the big fights the key thing was that despite what people thought, it wasn't about who was tougher, it was all about who The Force decided was going to win based on it's overall objectives. This is why Papaltine could wipe out multiple Jedi masters single handedly, and conversely why Obi-Wan was able to pull a move out of his keister in the first movie (which logically should not have worked) to take out Darth Maul who had just destroyed a master despite being an apprentice. A lot of people mention Obi-Wan's slaying of Maul was a sort of arse pull, but that's because it literally was, and that's what it would have looked like, The Force pretty much hit his "You Win" button because the way it wanted to guide things Obi Wan had a purpose (ditto for how Yoda was able to be countered by people who logically shouldn't have been able to like Dooku, and perform an unlikely escape from Papaltine in the senate chamber).

 

[Therumancer]

I have been playing Destiny and one thing that I find a little disappointing is the weaponry. A lot of Science Fiction films and games have weapons that are only as dangerous as the ones we have now. As such, I felt like talking about that for a bit.

Disclaimer: I liked most of these movies, I am only interested in pointing out that we need to be a bit more creative with our science fiction weaponry. Also, these are only my opinions and they may not align with yours.

Some Bad

Star Wars: Blasters in Star Wars turn out to be as effective as the projectile firearms we use, not even today, but at the time the film was made. They are actually less effective because every weapon fires the equivalent of tracer ammunition and tracers point both ways. Princess Leia is shown getting shot in the shoulder and it is only a minor injury. Lightsabers are pretty cool but, since Jedi seem to be awful at multi-tasking, a fully automatic weapon or area of effect is all you need. It is terribly convenient that nobody uses those in Star Wars. Don't even get me started on Stormtrooper armor, though I once had an idea of re-writing Star Wars and making the white Stormtrooper armor refractive so only a direct hit in a black area would hurt them.

Starship Troopers (the movies): Once again, it is the future and mankind has failed to come up with anything better than we have today. In fact they have lost a lot of technology we have like; mines, tanks, APCs, grenades, though they did get small nuclear weapons... which they should have used more often. I still think the book would have made an awesome movie though.

Some Good

Star Trek, TNG, DS9, Voyager (I normally don?t count Enterprise because it was outside of the Star Trek continuity): When Star Trek TNG debuted, they had phasers that fit in the palm of your hand and could do anything from stunning a single target to blowing the top off a mountain. Now that is a futuristic weapon! Then, well, they weren?t phallic enough so they had to make them bigger for? reasons. The larger phasers did not seem to do anything better than the smaller ones, nobody ever had to reload/recharge but people could not get behind a weapon that small. Anyways phasers are awesome and the only reason you would have to shoot someone twice is if you failed to set it properly.

District 9: When I think of futuristic weapons, I think of over-the-top damage. The ARC gun from District 9 is a great example of that. Only one person is ever shown getting wounded by this weapon and he loses his whole arm. It is just a flesh wound, but it is a lot of flesh. The Repeater shown in the movie is more like a standard firearm, but once again the damage seems to be much higher than most portable weapons that we have. Then there?s the magnetic/gravity weapon that can stop bullets and fire them back at people.

Men In Black: Two words: Noisy Cricket.

Aliens: The M41A Pulse Rifle is interesting because the firearms technology is basically the same as it is today, however the ammunition has advanced. The weapon uses 10mm explosive tipped caseless ammunition (unless you watch very carefully, but that is more of a prop issue). Now the M41A barely makes it in here because we have caseless ammunition technology and explosive rounds today. The smart guns used by Vasquez and Drake were pretty cool because they were set up on a steadicam rig with a smart targeting system. They never showed what any of the ammunition would do to a human, but the Xenomorphs are considerably more resilient and they exploded.

A Bit of Both

Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians fits into both categories because some of the weapons were just like weapons we have now: A taser that works at a distance, numerous bladed weapons, mounted canons that appear to do less damage than a .50 caliber bullet (the Milano?s guns seemed to be pretty awesome until they showed them taking out the Sakaaran troops with them) and lastly the Hadron Enforcer that was basically a rocket launcher. On the other hand, the sentient arrow that Yondu used was pretty interesting (it even provided plot armor! well, plot stun-lock).

Predator/Predator 2/Predators: The Predators plasma caster fits into the bad category. It looks bad ass, and the three dot laser sight is iconic, but it is about as dangerous as a 7.62 mm bullet. It takes two to kill Blaine and Dutch shakes one off. It is also slow as molasses compared to, well, arrows even. Some other notable mentions are the collapsible spear (ooh look a spear!), the wrist claws (it takes the impact away from your wrist joint). Then again, in Predator 2 they had my favorite, the Smart Disc. That little disc weapon cut through a bunch of frozen cow carcasses and Gary Busey like they were nothing. It also seemed in tune with its users mental state and reacted accordingly, which was an interesting touch.

TLDR: What are some of your favorite/least favorite science fiction weapons? Do you have any ideas for some that you would like to share?

Alright the last part of this that I didn't cover before.

Yondu actually controls his weapon with sound by whistling. It's a reference to what he is like in the comics which is far different from the movie. In the comics he's a sort of space-tribal from a primitive planet and has empathic senses and a whole "one with nature" thing going on. He uses a bow and arrows made out of a sound-sensitive metal from his home world that he can guide. In the movie this still seemed to be the case, but they dropped the whole primitive mystic aspect of the character, and replaced his bow with a smaller dart/arrow which he still seemed to be controlling through sound. If you didn't know the character you probably didn't get what he was doing, but I do believe he makes the sounds when using it.

When it comes to Marvel's space stuff it can get wonky as the bottom line is that despite earth still being at a 20th/21st level tech level for the most part, guys like Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Victor Von doom create technology that is superior to what most of the galaxy has... meaning most of the aliens are powered down tech-wise from what might seem logical so the earth technologists still seem super heroic (and also it explains why guys might literally come across space, or travel from other dimensions to confer with some of them).

That said the "Guardians" team was seriously powered down for the movies, much like a lot of characters in other movies, using the least powerful versions of the characters. For example Drax is a guy who generally speaking is as powerful as Thanos, if not more so (this being when Thanos doesn't have the infinity gauntlet charged up of course) as he was created and empowered by The Eternals specifically to kill him. While a powered down version of Drax with knives does exist (and is still pretty tough) for the most part, especially at the time this story generally cooresponds to, Drax is supposed to be a dude who can fly through space on his own power, and control massive amounts of cosmic energy like most Eternals can. He also has the ability in the comics to sense Thanos even at galactic distances (and indeed Thanos has been known to run away from him unless he's well prepared if I recall). Gamorra is supposed to have a weapon called "The Godslayer" (because that's what it does), Star Lord has been nerfed considerably but old school Star Lord has a suit of battle armor that enhances all of his abilities, an element gun that can project any kind of element and manipulate them, and similar things.... etc... while it's true that the humble technology (or what it can actually do) of aliens is noteworthy, some of the space faring heroes are pretty tough and compare well to some of their earth bound counterparts, which you just didn't see here. Of course then again it should be noted that "Nova Corps." is not a group of basically human cops with fighters, in the comics they draw power from the Xandar World Mind, which enhances their strength, let's them fly through space (they don't need ships), and control energy... Nova Corps. is pretty much Marvel's version of "The Green Lantern Corps." and sort of like how Hyperion is Marvel's direct Superman analogy, Richard Rider (and now that turd Sam Alexander) would up basically being the Centurians assigned to earth and filling
a similar role to "Green Lantern".

-

As far as my favorite science fiction weapons, that's kind of rough since my favorite ones are fairly obscure (Leap Rail Guns, Space Rotation Bombs, Phase Tech, Spin Tech, etc...). I will say that while they aren't the most powerful weapons in all of science fiction I actually like a lot of the ugly, blocky, kinds of designs they use for Warhammer 40k weapons because they look almost functional because of their sheer lack of aesthetics in most cases (making those that are supposed to be ornate stand out more). They also have a decent array of weapons, and I like the fact that slug throwers (bolters, stubbers, etc...) are still out there right alongside energy weapons, because as far as I'm concerned if the end result is to put holes in stuff (and people) or blow it to pieces, there are more efficient ways of doing it than say laser beams... which work mind you, but at the end of the day a small physical object moving at high speed is bad news for anything else that has mass to impact. In "Stargate" they even sort of made a joke about this with the Asgard praising humans for the "unusual way of thinking" due to the fact that they had evolved so much to use energy they had never considered using "chemically propelled rocks" which actually turned out to work fairly well on The Replicators for a while (no energy to absorb)

 

[small]

there is an old norman spinrad novel called the men in the jungle. nasty piece of work that book cannibalism was some of the lighter elements in it.

but it had a weapon in it that the name escapes me now. basically it was the plasma cutter from dead space except a hell of a lot wider and longer range. one of the main characters ambushes a patrol and not only cuts them entirely in half but most of he trees behind them.

crusader no remorse/no regret had interesting choices, the microwave gun basically turned anyone into a screaming melting puddle of nothing but bones

 

[immortalfrieza]

Yes. I know. Because why have a ridiculously complicated laser weapon when you could have an even more ridiculously complicated plasma generator that then has to create a steady containment field to stop the plasma from dissipating?

I think they came up with that just to explain why the bolts were so slow though. It's not as if SW's ever been big on physics, or any sort of logic, for that matter.

Well, I don't know. Most of what I know about the real world applications about Star Wars technology comes from this video I saw a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away):

I think it was made at least half a decade ago though, so who knows how much of this might have been rendered nil or void or the reverse since.

 

[Hiramas]

There is a long running series of SciFi books in Germany called Perry Rhodan, running continuously since 1962 with over 2500 pulp-books, hardcovers, games and so much more.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

In this series you have your standard SciFi weapons like Impulse-blaster (like a traditional scifi weapon, delivering kinetic energy and the standard scifi energy),
you have Thermo-Blasters (delivering thermic energy, melting through steel) and there are Desintegrators (loosening molecular bonds and turning things into dust and gas).
These are fairly standard and exist as hand-held and ship-based variants.

But then you have the really powerful weapons.
First, there is the Transform-Cannon, which dematerializes a high-caliber (up to 6000 Giga-Tons of TNT later) Fusionbombs and rematerializes them inside the enemies shield or ship.
If fired in space, the explosions can form overlapping zones of sun-like explosions and using these weapons inside of solar systems can disrupt the planets and even destroy them.

Then there are the Intervall-Cannons, which fire higher-dimensional waves which pulverize their target.
Another powerful weapon are Gravitation-Bombs which rip open the space-time continuum and pull in everything in their reach.

The most devastating weapon, though, is the Arkon Bomb. Once it explodes it forces certain elements to fuse, creating a slow but unstoppable nuclear fire that will eat whole planets, turning them into smalls suns until they disappear into dust and debris.

 

[immortalfrieza]

Snip

Well, as I recall Kreia wanted to create a "wound" or "echo" in the Force so strong and widespread that everybody in the galaxy would no longer be able to hear the Force anymore with most that already could dying from it, thus preventing it from being able to manipulate everybody in the galaxy. She hoped to use the Exile to accomplish this through her bond with them. At least that's what she said, but she's such a chronic liar and manipulator that says and does so much that's contradictory it's impossible to really tell whether she actually was trying to do that, that she really believed anything that she was saying, or that she honestly believed she could succeed at it even if she was. Note Kreia seems to actually be HAPPY if you beat her, when she should be bemoaning the entire fate of the galaxy instead. Obviously, as you've pointed out, if anything she says about the Force is true she had no chance of actually succeeding in killing it even if she actually wanted to and if it wasn't it didn't matter anyway, so Kreia's actions were pointless either way.

Regardless, I think KOTOR 2 was easily the most thought provoking and interesting entry in the franchise yet, specifically because it challenged the preconceptions that most people had about the themes of the franchise and the motives of everybody involved. Personally I think that the most important thing that it does is bring forth the idea that there's room for grey in the Star Wars universe, that Force Users don't have to be either complete unrepentant sociopaths or emotionally dead do gooders. I find it sad to see that this is a concept that most entries in the franchise before or since don't seem to try and explore all that much.

-------
About Anakin, I think his life has more far reaching effects than just those involving the "Jedi" or "Sith", even though that's pretty big by itself. Both the Jedi and Sith Orders needed to die due to their outright refusal of either to grow or change in any real manner and thus made it hopeless that they'd ever fix their rather glaring flaws, so killing them both off was the only real way for any actual improvement to happen. The Sith were a bunch of complete sociopaths obsessed with strength and their own personal gain above all else, and their teachings emphasized killing each other at the soonest available opportunity, even after the rule of two, because they believed that doing this would accomplish their goal of destroying the Jedi Order despite countless examples that showed it was clearly counterproductive to that goal.

By contrast, the Jedi were just as obsessive about keeping a blatantly obviously useless government going long after it was apparent that it was exactly that, emphasized emotional detachment to everything and denying ones' own emotions rather than learning to deal with them despite this being responsible for countless Jedi turning to the Dark Side (which is their way of saying they go insane from having to live like that) while the Order blames said people that turn for it instead of ever accepting or even conceiving that it's teachings are responsible, and the fact that the vast majority of it's members are infants indoctrinated into the Order's philosophy means that there's no fresh blood coming in to bring in new ideas and makes it near impossible for the Order to recognize their obvious failures, thus they are unable to make any actual changes.

Anakin is however more importantly the linchpin to the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, and subsequently the fall of the Empire. What this means is that he is instrumental in killing off a hopelessly corrupt, stagnant, and ineffectual government that had existed for far far too long despite this and raises the Empire in it's place, a tyrannical, oppressive, and just as ineffectual government. What this does is not only eliminate a worthless government, but the one that replaces it unifies the entire galaxy in opposing it and serves as an example specifically of what not to do with a government. So not only does Anakin kill off the Jedi and Sith, giving the chance for a new, better Order to take it's place, he also leaves room for the next government to replace the Empire with something far better than either the Republic or the Empire had ever been or could ever be.

Sadly, anything that comes after this ignore the possibilities of both of these significant changes in favor of basically returning right back to the status quo and continuing with the cycle that you mentioned without even a token attempt to alter things. Disney's acquisition of Star Wars and subsequent dropping of the sequel continuity give the IP another chance to realize this potential. However I doubt+ that the new sequel continuity that comes from Disney will be any more likely to challenge the status quo any more than the last one did.

Captcha: ball of confusion

Uh... the captcha is starting to scare me.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

The WH40k Lasguns are famously shite. They can supposedly tear off a man's arm at close range, but can't even penetrate the mass-produced, low grade flak armour that the Imperial Guard wear. "Utter twaddle speak, says I". The Bolt Guns are more interesting because they not only unfeasibley large in calibre, but also have self-propelled rounds, weaponry that, although it has been experimented with, hasn't been done right at this point in time aside from large rockets/missiles and RPGs.

What 40k has that are definitely good are the more outrageous weapons such as planet destroying cannons and weapons that can trap enemies in an infinitely large void from the Necrons. The Tau arsenal also provides a great deal of futuristic weapons in the form of various flashing blue things like pulse weapons and rail guns. To be honest, though, 40k's list of weapons is vast, so there are obviously going to be the more interesting and exciting weapons along with those that are less so.

I also really love the laser weapons from Fallout, because they were only invented a few decades in the future, so while they are exciting and dangerous, they also have the appearance of at least a bit of realism, which I like.

Halo is one which has more conventional weapons, mostly. The human arsenal isn't massively exciting, but I think that those weapons are more like what we'd actually have in the year 2557, which is a plus, and at the same time a good deal of imagination has been used in the Covenant's armoury, so you get the nice balance.

 

[Thaluikhain]

The WH40k Lasguns are famously shite. They can supposedly tear off a man's arm at close range, but can't even penetrate the mass-produced, low grade flak armour that the Imperial Guard wear. "Utter twaddle speak, says I".

Way back in the days of save modifiers, lasguns gave a -1 to saves. Flak armour gave you a 6+ save (5+ against template weapons). Autoguns didn't have a modifier.

Also of note is the needle sniper rifle. You shoot it, and it fires a laser beam, and a needle of frozen poison that hits the same point, so it goes through cracks in armour made by the laser. Cause there's no problem getting a bullet to follow a perfectly straight line, or reaching the target instantaneously.

Worse, IIRC, it was said that some snipers think that's too easy, the pros use more difficult to use laser weapons. Because it's harder to hit a target with a laser than hitting it in the exact same place with a laser and a bullet.

*siiiigh*

 

[Nimzabaat]

(I normally don?t count Enterprise because it was outside of the Star Trek continuity)

This may be a small nitpick, but no it wasn't.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/284500901435371353/

This plaque or a variant of shows up on the bridge of the Enterprise. You may notice that there is no NX class on it. So either something so terrible happens in the Enterprise series that that ship is struck from all records, or it exists in a separate continuity. Yup, i'm a nerd.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Re: Star Wars, blasters are hilariously even more useless than projectile weapons, because bullets can't be blocked by Jedi.

Canonically, they can be blocked I believe, just not deflected back. This is actually a very common argument because we never see it happening in the films.. kind of like a certain other franchise where this "plot hole" often comes up.

However, we do see lightsabers cut instantly through solid objects irrespective of the speed of the swing, which strongly suggests that any bullet passing through them would simply be destroyed.

Projectile weapons also exist in the star wars universe and.. well.. noone uses them.

Certainly in the roleplaying game, lightsabers block everything from blasters to throwing knives to force lightning.