Energy Weapons VS Ballistic Weapons

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Darn you American safety laws!

We could finally put this to rest by setting up a whole bunch of high speed hidden cameras and let a guy wearing a vest walk in to get a package off a cart on the back porch and then BLAMMO! Out of nowhere you shoot him.

See when/if/how he flies backward. If it's imparted momentum or maybe an instinctual shock/flinch reaction. WHATEVER.

'Course it still wouldn't stop the arguments, but it'd probably be a better test than a guy who knew he was going to get shot, a guy who prepped himself to get shot, or a crash test dummy wearing a vest.

Besides, we could get on America's Funniest Home Videos: Videos You Could Never See Edition.

--fje

 

[Storyteller01]

A common fallacy I see in many sci-fi games is the thought that beam weapons would eventually replace ballistic weapons completely. To me, this is completely ludicrious. <<snip>>

Many oflks said the same thing about any number of advances (cellphones vs land line, computers vs people, firearms vs bow/crossbow/melee, automobile vs horses, etc) with many similar arguments (pointing out the flaws). We adapted, overcoming those flaws. Nothing saying the same won't happen in this circumstance, especially when you consider the benefits (greater lethality, improved accuracy [particles travelling at the speed of light mean point of = point of impact. No Kentucky Windage]).

Don't get me wrong, I don't think ballistic weapon will be completely phased out (energy weapons can't carry cyanide). It will come down to how badly we want/need that change, not the drawbacks of R&D.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I always like the model for energy weapons that David Drake uses in his 'hammers slammers' short stories - ammunition not powerpacks, but the ammunition discs are used to create an energy bolt.

I remember reading him saying he went with projectile-based weaponry because beam weapons required a full powerplant to work well, whereas a projectile weapon just needed a projectile to work. While that isn't necessarily true, depending on the setting's tech level, I think it makes a certain amount of sense.

When playing with GURPS Vehicles' weapon design system, I became very fond of bundling the energy cells for rail or gravguns with the projectile and including it in the stats; it raised WPS negligibly, and simplified the logistics chain, since you wouldn't have to have a separate capacitor to recharge or fix in case it broke. (I viewed the extra bit of the capacitor as a sabot-like thing that fell off after going through the barrel, to remove the need for an ejection port, since that would make it more reliable!)

Theoretically, it should even be possible to have cartridges for beam weapons; perhaps they contain the materials that react energetically and form the laser or particle beam when acted on by the weapon.

Brad

 

[Finster]

I think that delivering a hefty dose of kinetic energy will always be a good way to kill a carbon based life form. With technological advances ballistic weapons could become quite horrific (as if they weren't already). Imagine placing a force field dissipator in each round, to defeat a shield.

But I also think that energy weapons would definately have a role to play in a sci-fi setting as well. If a soldier were to open up with a rapid fire ballistic weapon aboard a space vessel the results could be catastrophic. Hull punctures and ricochettes come to mind. An energy weapon might be standard issue to marines and marshalls aboard space stations.

So, no, I don't think that one or the other will ever be discarded.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think that delivering a hefty dose of kinetic energy will always be a good way to kill a carbon based life form. With technological advances ballistic weapons could become quite horrific (as if they weren't already). Imagine placing a force field dissipator in each round, to defeat a shield.

But I also think that energy weapons would definately have a role to play in a sci-fi setting as well. If a soldier were to open up with a rapid fire ballistic weapon aboard a space vessel the results could be catastrophic. Hull punctures and ricochettes come to mind. An energy weapon might be standard issue to marines and marshalls aboard space stations.

So, no, I don't think that one or the other will ever be discarded.

Ricochets I can see, but I doubt that you can create energy weapons that are as lethal as ballistic weapons but cannot penetrate the hull like them.

Someone mentioned using micro-jump drives or inertial dampeners to improve the velocity of bullets to near light speed - I doubt that would work. The Inertial Dampeners (If they're possible, which I dout) would most likely negate the mass increasnig effect which is part of the reason why you want so high speeds, and micro-jumps would not create the impulse of a weapon of that speed (they might help to get through armor directly into vital systems, assuming you can jump through solid objects)

 

[Strutinan]

<deleted>

 

[C. Baize]

Strutinan: "Ignoring: Anyone who calls people on purposely misrepresenting something to hype their own products."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ricochets I can see, but I doubt that you can create energy weapons that are as lethal as ballistic weapons but cannot penetrate the hull like them.

Depends on what you mean by "penetrate the hull"- I assume by "penetrate" you mean "cause a hull breach".

After all, a weapon that sends a focused beam of microwaves or gamma particles or some such could be quite lethal, and could penetrate the hull (depending on design) without breaching it.

Heck...you could conceivably turn someone to jelly with enough focused sound.

 

[A Crazy Fool]

mythbusters? the show is not really scientific, i can go into this in more detail but it's off topic. In my future campaign many handheled weapons are kinetic and heavy weapons are kinetic and energy depending on the situation

 

[Roudi]

What?!? I didn't make Strutinan's ignore list? I was just as rational, blunt, and honest as Heap and C.Baize! I feel so left out.

So Ralts... was there something behind this thread? Do you have some high-tech ballistics weaponry cooking up for an upcoming campaign setting, or something? Justifying some of the gear you've done for the Future Fun thread? Any bone you wanna throw us? Your fans are eager and curious.