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| 5 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/Fallout3 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f3-gauss_4872.jpg]]]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:350:You do '''''NOT''''' want to be on the receiving end of that.]] |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ->''"This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight! Every five seconds, the main gun on an ''Everest''-class dreadnought accelerates one to one-point-three percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kiloton bomb. That is three times the yield of the city-buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth. That means: Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-bitch in space!"'' |
| 15 | -->-- '''[[https://youtu.be/hLpgxry542M Unnamed Gunnery Sergeant,]]''' ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' |
| 16 | |
| 17 | You ever take two magnets and try to place them together, only to find that, with their poles aligned, they fly apart from each other? You ever play with them to see how far you can launch one using just the magnetic force alone? Ever think to yourself, "Hey, someone could make a ''gun'' out of this"? Fortunately, you're not alone. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Call it a railgun, a magnetic accelerator, a mass driver, a [[Franchise/{{Halo}} MAC]], a Gauss cannon, whatever, they all refer to the same category: a weapon that uses pressure of magnetic fields instead of an explosive chemical reaction to propel a projectile. This is a fairly common weapon in {{science fiction}}. In RealLife, they are only just beginning to enter military use (as of 2015), but have long existed as experimental devices and [[MyLittlePanzer toys]]. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#Tests The Other Wiki elaborates.]] |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Note that there are 2 main types of magnetic weapons: |
| 22 | * Railgun -- projectile connects an even number of conductive rails with a strong electric current flowing through them and through the projectile, which is accelerated along the rails due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_force#Force_on_a_current-carrying_wire Lorentz force]]; essentially a linear electric motor. Not to be confused with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_gun rail-mounted artillery.]] |
| 23 | * Coilgun -- uses a series of electromagnets (coils) switched on and off to accelerate a projectile. This device is what "mass driver" meant ''originally''. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | Railguns have the advantage that they are relatively simple devices and yet are still capable of very impressive muzzle velocities, limited only by the amount of available electric current and the robustness of the gun.[[note]]And perhaps relativistic physics in settings where nearing the speed of light is a realistic concern.[[/note]] Their primary limitation after the amount of available power is the direct contact between the rails and projectile moving at great speed under current; the stress on the rails is immense, leading to extreme wear and tear. Heat adding up from friction and imperfect electric contact leaves vapors and plasma trailing after the projectile. Earlier railgun designs (proofs of concept rather than anything practical) often needed to completely replace the rails after each shot. Also, the whole circuit from the capacitor forward is under full current and thus pressure. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | Coilguns, on the other hand involve far less stress on their components, and therefore don't wear out near as quickly. Instead, they are limited by needing far more complex control systems to activate and deactivate the coils in time,[[note]]the classic demonstration is an aluminium ring jumping off a coil when it's turned on. But steady acceleration requires doing this repeatedly, as close behind the projectile as possible[[/note]] and the speed at which the coils can be turned on and off is limited by the coils' inherent inductance[[note]]electromagnetic "inertia" defining how fast energy can get to or from the field[[/note]] (with exotic proposals such as superconducting coils that are laser quenched to turn them off) and magnetic saturation point of the projectile. They are however better suited for launching more massive projectiles at low speeds. The original idea of "mass driver" was to hurl tons of ore from the Moon's surface for orbital or suborbital pick up. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | A subtrope of FantasticFirearms. See also KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter. Compare MagnetismManipulation when ''people'' themselves control magnetism to hurt you. When it's the main weapon on a ship and it's pointed forward, it's a FixedForwardFacingWeapon. It is in no way related to the trope of SticksToTheBack or MagnetHands. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | If you were looking for the anime with the name "railgun," please see ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun''. |
| 32 | ---- |
| 33 | !!Examples: |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 36 | |
| 37 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 38 | * The [[SpiderTank Spider Gun Platforms]] that defend Olympus in ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' have a massive railgun as their main weapon. In the 2004 film, we see it charging up a shot in the finale but is stopped before it fires. Another railgun appears in ''[[{{Prequel}} Appleseed Alpha]]'', [[spoiler:when the SGP prototype does fire it and takes out a skyscraper in New York which is miles away.]] |
| 39 | * ''Literature/ArifuretaFromCommonplaceToWorldsStrongest'': Hajime utilizes quite a few forms of these, in both of his dual pistols labeled "Donner" that, while looking like normal six-shot revolvers, are actually miniaturized-railguns utilizing bullets that pack a '''major''' punch. Later on, he creates an anti-materiel rifle that, while only holding a single rifle round, it acts as a '''heavy-hitting''' magnetically powered artillery round, and if the victim it's fired at isn't durable, they'll be reduced to dust. |
| 40 | * ''Manga/BlackCat'': The aptly named Railgun, which is actually just Train Heartnet's [[RevolversAreJustBetter Hades six-shooter]] electric-powered. |
| 41 | * Misaka Mikoto of ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'' is a [[ShockAndAwe master manipulator of electricity]], well-known for her signature "railgun" attack (she usually uses coins as ammunition, but can launch large pieces of metal). Eventually she got a spinoff series of her own, aptly named ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun''. Despite the lack of actual rails for her to use, this is theoretically feasible because she doesn't just ''emit'' electricity, she ''controls'' electricity. By shaping electricity into virtual rails in the surrounding air she can generate the required magnetic field without any physical conductors. |
| 42 | * Firearms in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' developed in different ways than in our history. From their [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100111133658/codegeass/images/b/bb/Fire_arm.jpg earliest iterations,]] actually, they seem to all be what amounts to a small coilgun; gunpowder as we know it either came later, or not at all.[[note]]They do have fireworks of course so the potential is there but never implemented.[[/note]] That giant silver pistol that everyone and their dog is seen totting? Look closely; it's got a revolving cylinder around the middle, and the rest of it is just coil bearings inside. If our world had [[{{Unobtanium}} naturally-mined non-cooled superconductors]] around, we'd probably have dispensed with gunpowder soon after we figured out magnetism too. Though strangely enough given [[ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon the short range of their cannons and handguns]] that don't penetrate all the way through the body cavity they may be significantly weaker than chemical fire arms. |
| 43 | * In ''Literature/CrestOfTheStars'', the Gosroth has four very large "electromagnetic guns" that appear to launch missiles. |
| 44 | * ''Literature/EightySixEightySix'' has the Morpho, which basically takes the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav Schwerer Gustav]] and substitute its 800mm cannon with a 800mm railgun. The ability to shoot a 1 ton shell at 8km/s poses a massive strategic threat to multiple nations involved in a RobotWar against the Legion, given that the cannon has the range of 400km and there's no way to shoot the shells down. |
| 45 | * Railguns were used in ''Manga/GetterRobo Armageddon'' and ''Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo''. The first example was a satellite-mounted one and used to try and destroy Europa when it's launched at Earth. It's caught and thrown back at the weapon, destroying it. The second example was used by the Dinosaur Empire to ravage Earth with projectile meteorites. Texas Mack is able to snipe it down. |
| 46 | * These pop up occasionally in the various ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' series. Older series (Universal Century) treated railguns as unique prototypes or curiosities. They were more ubiquitous in the newer series (Cosmic Era) but were pretty much a "filler" weapon added if a unit had extra space left. The newest series (Anno Domini) have these being the most advanced conventional weapons available before AppliedPhlebotinum makes energy weapons commonplace and even then the vast majority of military mecha (being of older make) still use them. |
| 47 | ** Also, the launching mechanism for HumongousMecha in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeed Gundam SEED]]'' used these: The mecha was given an initial boost of speed via an aircraft carrier-style sled and then propelled forwards by magnetic rails extending from the ship. Very large mass drivers were also the standard method of launching spacecraft from Earth to orbit. The fact that only a handful of these mass drivers are intact during the war makes them key strategic resource: two major battles are fought to secure mass drivers in order to send large numbers of troops into space. |
| 48 | ** The ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' spinoff manga ''G-Unit''/''Last Outpost'' introduces an EnergyWeapon version of this; the Gundam Geminass' accelerate rifle has a spiral particle accelerator lining the barrel, which can turbo-charge its output for "Hyper Burst Mode." |
| 49 | *** Likewise, there's a semi-official variant of ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX''[='s=] Gundam Virsago with "beam railcannons" on its hips, which function the same way.[[note]]In reality, the weapons were taken from the [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam V2 Assault Gundam]].[[/note]] |
| 50 | ** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' has several versions of this kind of weapon, most notably on the Gundam Flauros. Of particular note are the Dainsleifs, special armor-piercing rounds capable of slicing through even the thickest Nano-Laminate armor like a hot knife through butter. |
| 51 | * The titular starship of ''Anime/InfiniteRyvius'' comes equipped with two detachable railguns referred to as the "Barge Cannons." They can be used by the ship itself as offensive weapons, or picked up and used by the ship's resident HumongousMecha, the Vital Guarder as twin rifles. |
| 52 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': [[MagnetismManipulation Eustass Kid's]] Damned Punk is, to put it bluntly, a [[{{BFG}} massive railgun]] assembled from scrap metal with enough juice to put the hurt on the likes of [[NighInvulnerability Big Mom]]. |
| 53 | * ''Literature/StarshipOperators'': |
| 54 | ** A railgun is used as a turret against the ''Amaterasu'', with an onboard ammunition manufacturing plant to create more ammunition (it's near an asteroid). Also, since the anime lacks ArbitraryWeaponRange, it has been shown to fire from extreme ranges. |
| 55 | ** The main gun of the Amaterasu herself would qualify, being some sort of particle accelerator it's basically a coilgun accelerating very small projectiles (molecule-sized). In one of the latter battles of the series, the main gun is used as a sort of massive shotgun accelerating a very large number of projectiles, presumably rocks. |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 59 | * The military of Greengaft uses EM weapons aquired via STC in ''Fanfic/AgeOfStrife''. |
| 60 | * ''Fanfic/AshesOfThePast'': Pikachu uses a makeshift railgun to defeat Brandon's Registeel -- not by hitting it, but by ''launching'' it. |
| 61 | --> '''Ash''': Does that count as ring-out?\ |
| 62 | '''Brandon''': ...almost certainly, yes. |
| 63 | * ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'': in the sequel, Harry uses a few lessons in MagnetismManipulation (via FunctionalMagic) from Magneto to make like [[Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun Misaka Mikoto]], [[note]] While the fact that it's a reference is not unusual, the fact it's Anime/Manga derived is. The author generally dislikes any Anime/Manga that isn't by Creator/HayaoMiyazaki, and of all the ones he might be expected to reference, that was generally accepted to be an unlikely choice[[/note]] demonstrating his capacity for a) lateral thinking, b) mass destruction [[DestructiveSaviour (though the latter was never really in doubt)]]. |
| 64 | * [[VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram The Kerbals]] equip their prototype FTL starship with a [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon spinal-mounted]] railgun in ''Fanfic/TheNextFrontier'', causing a certain amount of in-universe controversy given that [[WeComeInPeaceShootToKill this is ostensibly a mission of peaceful exploration.]] The ship's crew end up being quite glad they have it. |
| 65 | * ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': |
| 66 | ** The railgun is the favored weapon of the main protagonist. It's BoringButPractical, since it costs very little avarice or ring charge to create one (he normally makes them in batches), and they can easily be loaded with various kinds of [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells specialist ammunition]] (such as "Crumbler" bullets that disintegrate matter and collapse force fields). Also, since he can just recreate [[HardLight construct]] railguns at any time, he doesn't have to worry about accumulating wear and tear on them like a real railgun. |
| 67 | ** He later collaborates with a local firing range to make a weapon even more practical and reliable than the AK-47, resulting in the "Cobra" coilgun. Replacing the usual rounds with magnetically accelerated plain iron slugs gives it a better rate of fire, better accuracy in full-auto mode, the ability to dial the power up or down, and lower ammunition costs (offsetting the slightly higher up-front cost), while being even more rugged than the AK-47 and having more easily interchangeable parts. |
| 68 | [[/folder]] |
| 69 | |
| 70 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 71 | * ''Film/TheAdamProject'' involved the development of an experimental magnetic generator. This would then heavily influence the future time line that future Adam came from. Magnetic-based weapons become standard as aircraft autocannons and soldiers' assault rifles all use magnetic propulsion. Adam himself carries the Mag-Cyl, which is a high-tech staff that generates magnetic DeflectorShields. |
| 72 | * The protagonist of ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' picks up a [=ChemRail=] near the end, a massive full-auto rifle whose name implies that it's a hybrid chemical-magnetic gun, probably firing a bullet with an explosive propellant and then continuing to accelerate it magnetically while it passes through the barrel. The thing is hideously powerful, capable of punching through an armory's thick walls, reducing the guy on the other side to LudicrousGibs, and then still having enough kinetic energy left to perforate the wall behind the gibbed guy. Strangely, it appears to have no recoil worth mentioning although a gun this powerful should be virtually uncontrollable even in the hands of someone welded into a [[PoweredArmor powered exoskeleton]]. |
| 73 | * The hand-carried railguns from ''Film/{{Eraser}}'', which brought the concept to popular attention and influenced the games of the time. Their actual name is "EM-1 Rifles." |
| 74 | * ''Film/{{Firebase}}''. As conventional weapons are useless against the [[RealityWarper River God]], the protagonist is provided with a SchizoTech electromagnetic coil gun, firing projectiles at 1/20th the speed of light. |
| 75 | * The Meteor Gun used to destroy the Starfighter staging base in ''Film/TheLastStarfighter'' is one of the most overlooked, forgotten, yet freaking awesome railguns in sci-fi movie history. |
| 76 | * An experimental railgun mounted on an aircraft carrier is used in ''Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'', and manages to literally rip [[CombiningMecha Devastator]] apart. |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 80 | * ''Literature/ArkRoyal'': The titular [[TheBattlestar armored carrier]] is the only human ship armed with mass drivers. It's also the only ship of its kind, by virtue of being a 70-year-old relic kept in service for political reasons. It's also the only weapon that is reliable at taking out the more advanced alien ships. The shots aren't very fast, since alien [[PointDefenseless point defenses]] are usually capable of intercepting most of them, requiring the ''Ark'' to fire the rounds like shotgun shells (fortunately, even a single successful hit can cripple an alien ship). Since modern human ships are utterly incapable of going up against the aliens, the human space navies are working on developing old-style ships with mass drivers. |
| 81 | * Creator/FyodorBerezin's ''Literature/Ash2001'': Automated orbital magnetic weapons are used by Earth forces as the first line of defense for the base against their former colony. They come in handy when the latter launch thousands of nuclear missiles. Additionally, there are [[RecursiveAmmo large variants that fire first type of magnetic weapons]]. |
| 82 | * ''Literature/TheBigU'' also uses a railgun, used to defeat [[spoiler:the giant mutated rats in the sewers]]. |
| 83 | * ''Literature/{{Bolo}}'' supertanks use magnetic weapons as part of their secondary armament from time to time. |
| 84 | * Creator/DaleBrown: The "[[PoweredArmor Tin Men]]" can use an anti-tank railgun. On the other hand, they use them on more than just tanks. The Tin Men have used those railguns on everything from tanks to bombers to ''cruise missiles.'' About the only thing they haven't used them on is a human-sized target, and that's mainly because the Tin Man suit is [[ImmuneToBullets able to ]] NoSell [[MadeOfIron anything smaller than an anti-tank weapon or a tank shell.]] And comes with a [[ShockAndAwe "auto-bugzapper feature" for dealing with uppity infantry.]] |
| 85 | * ''Literature/BookOfTheLongSun'': Needlers are small guns that shoot poisoned needles using magnetic propulsion. It's a rapid-fire weapon but it's weak and depends on its poisoned ammo. The real firepower comes from standard ballistic assault rifles and machine guns which used [[AbnormalAmmo depleted uranium bullets]]. |
| 86 | * ''Literature/DeathlessDivide'': The tinkerer Gideon Carr builds a rail gun (in the 1860s!!!) for the town of Nicodemus to deal with an incoming horde of "shamblers". It's almost AwesomeButImpractical because while it can wipe out lots of shamblers per shot, the rail gun can only be fired at most once per hour -- otherwise it'll overheat. |
| 87 | * ''Literature/DeathZone'': Rifles used by the military and some merc groups fire magnetically-accelerated needles that can easily pierce flesh. At full auto, the weapon is capable of shattering heavy concrete blocks. However, [[WasOnceAMan staltech]] armor is typically too strong, and the needles just bounce off it. |
| 88 | * ''Literature/TheDoctorAndTheKid'': Billy the Kid burglarizes Thomas Edison's hotel room and steals a LightningGun that generates an electric DeflectorShield. To deal with this, Edison gives Doc Holliday a magnetically-powered long gun that shot ten [[AbnormalAmmo negatively charged silver pellets]] [[MoreDakka a second]] from a drum clip of a hundred. The Doc turns Billy the Kid into swiss cheese. |
| 89 | * ''Literature/{{Doom}}'': In ''Endgame'', the Fred ship comes under railgun fire when crashing on Skinwalker. This frightens Fly because railguns were experimental in his time, capable of destroying their target but suffering a catastrophic meltdown. If the Newbies have functional anti-ship railguns then they have already surpassed human technology. |
| 90 | * In ''Literature/TheExpanse'' the predominant medium-range ship weapon is the railgun. It's useless at long-range because ships can just move out of the way of the shot, but it's also unable to be shot down by point-defence cannons which is a major advantage over torpedoes. [[spoiler:Persepolis Rising takes magnetic weapons literally, with the ''Magnetar''-class ships having a weapon on it that shoots a directed magnetic beam so powerful it spaghettifies everything in its path.]] |
| 91 | * ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'': The Nihtgane, low-tech partisans, use big bows powered by twin magnetic generators. They're ludicrously effective compared to lasguns, in part because the arrows are coated in an immensely lethal poison. |
| 92 | * ''Literature/HammersSlammers'': While the Slammers favor [[PlasmaCannon powerguns]], some other mercenary companies use railguns or coilguns that have better armor penetration but don't [[{{BFG}} scale up]] as well and are just as expensive since they need diamond barrels. |
| 93 | * ''Literature/TheHistoryOfTheGalaxy'': All commonly-used kinetic weapons are of this type. Handheld weapons fire magnetically-accelerated tiny steel balls. However, they're not very good against armor. In many novels, this is when the protagonist usually finds some centuries-old plain old assault rifle firing chemically-propelled bullets. While it's justified that those found on derelict hulls in space would still work (no oxygen to rust the weapon or bullets), there's no justification for those found on planets still working even after 1000 years, except an extreme case of RagnarokProofing (this may be justified by many of them being found in or near colony ships sent into the unknown during the early period of space colonization). Space-based kinetic weapons don't usually rely on kinetic energy alone and explode on impact. Same for HumongousMecha-based ones. |
| 94 | * ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Pulsers are like coilguns, but they use gravity manipulation instead of electromagnetism to propel explosive ceramic-coated darts. |
| 95 | * ''The Lazarus War'' trilogy by Jamie Sawyer features rail guns on starships. However usehas advanced to the point of WeWillUseLasersInTheFuture, those rail guns have a purpose. With their range and high rate of fire, they in tandem with some missile launches, provide an opening attack for ships until they close in enough to use their energy weapons to really hit hard. |
| 96 | * ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'': The inhabitants of Luna used their electromagnetic catapult (normally used to send grain to Earth) as a weapon to drop steel-coated rocks on Terran targets. |
| 97 | * ''Literature/RevelationSpace'': The Demarchists have the space equivalent of a musket: enormous railguns that fire huge chunks of metallic hydrogen out at high speed using thermonuclear bombs as a boost phase. One shot weapons, since they blow themselves up to fire, but really, [[NoKillLikeOverkill do you need another shot after that?]] Well, [[spoiler:yes. The Conjoiners still kick their butts. They have identical weapons that ''aren’t'' one-shot and take less time to fire.]] |
| 98 | * ''Literature/SmallMedium'': In ''Small Medium: Well Done'', the "Lightning Road" in Gnome was built as a maglev track in antiquity (it's failing in part because it ends on a hill and in part because the person building it forgot to implement a way to stop) and accidentally operates as this whenever it gets charged. [[spoiler:It's used to attack the dragon]]. |
| 99 | * ''Literature/SnowCrash'' has Reason, an arm-mounted [[GatlingGood Gatling]] railgun. |
| 100 | %%* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' has Gauss pistols in ''The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge''. |
| 101 | * ''Literature/StarCarrier'' uses both small and large versions of this. One scene in ''Center of Gravity'' has a Confederate Marine sniper using a railgun rifle, and the weapons are a staple of space combat. In a later novel, a USNA cruiser even fires what amounts to a space shotgun, [[spoiler:which gets off two fairly effective shots before the enemy {{Macross Missile Massacre}}s it]]. |
| 102 | * ''Literature/{{Starworld}}'': LaResistance develops coilguns as their secret weapon and use them to obliterate the Earth fleet. Prior to that, all space combat was fought with missiles. The ammo for the big guns that ran through the spine of the ships was regular old cannonballs, while the ammo for the smaller, turreted versions was explosive bullets. The main character even plays a crucial role in resolving the bugs with the magnet timing system thanks to his skill as a computer engineer. |
| 103 | * ''Literature/TheSunEater'': Railguns and coilguns are used in this setting for long distance attacks by infantry and starships alike. However they're not especially popular, since DeflectorShield technology is commonplace and energy weapons hit harder especially against shields. That said they're highly effective targets that have no shields such as the vast majority of the alien Cielcin forces. |
| 104 | * ''Literature/{{Voidskipper}}'': These are popular for surface combat, making use of guided exploding armor-piercing ammunition as their standard projectiles. Not so popular for space combat on account of the ships being outright faster than the bullets. |
| 105 | [[/folder]] |
| 106 | |
| 107 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 108 | * ''Series/AlteredCarbon''. Vernon Elliot owns a handheld railgun, apparently his service weapon that he legally purchased after leaving the Protectorate marines. He later takes Takeshi Kovacs to an illegal arms dealer who sells Kovacs an Ingram 40 flechette gun, a prototype CTAC pistol that can magnetically recall rounds after firing so that it effectively has BottomlessMagazines. |
| 109 | * Most projectiles in ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'' are magnetically-fired. In most cases, they tend to be of the homing and exploding kind (effectively, bullet-sized missiles). Ship-based missiles are launched magnetically before engaging their own propulsion outside the ship. The few projectiles we've seen that aren't of this type are from older, obsolete weapons (such as on the millennia-old ''Bellerophon''). |
| 110 | * ''Series/Batwoman2019'': In "Down Down Down", someone breaks into Bruce Wayne's arms safe and steals a railgun pistol which Bruce developed as a [[CrazyPrepared contingency plan]] in case someone stole his million-dollar nanofibre-enhanced batsuit. Given that the thief only stole ''that'' weapon, it's clear someone is itching to take on the Batman whom the people of Gotham mistakenly think has returned. Luke Fox demonstrates by firing a .50 Desert Eagle at the suit and the bullet just bounces off; the railgun round goes straight through it. In "Tell Me the Truth" the coilgun version is the MacGuffin, created by Hamilton Dynamics for the same purpose of penetrating the Batsuit. |
| 111 | * ''Series/CowboyBebop2021'': In "Binary Two-Step", Faye Valentine gleefully spends her money on a Blitzer Railgun, but everyone else regards such weapons as a scam which is [[AwesomeButImpractical useless for bounty hunter work]]. Of course, it turns out to be [[ChekhovsGun just what is needed]] when they need to break through a sheet of bulletproof glass, but at the end of the episode Faye gifts it to the lesbian WrenchWench who took a liking to it. |
| 112 | * Railguns are large, mid-ranged ship-based weapons in ''Series/TheExpanse''. Capital ships like the Martian flagship MCRN ''Donnager'' have railguns mounted on turrets, giving them more firepower than smaller frigates like the ''Rocinante'' which have to make do with gatling guns and torpedoes. |
| 113 | ** [[spoiler:Protogen]]'s ''Amun-Ra''-class stealth ships ships are unique in that they are frigates armed with [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon Fixed Forward-Facing]] railguns, allowing them to fight well above their weight, much to the surprise of the ''Donnager'''s captain. |
| 114 | ** In season 4, the ''Rocinante'' gets upgraded with a spine-mounted railgun as well, the technology apparently having become more widespread by that point. |
| 115 | * In ''{{Series/Firefly}}'', railguns and other futuristic weapons appear, but their use is limited compared to [[AnachronismStew good ol' revolvers and shotguns]]. |
| 116 | * In a somewhat less militaristic context, ''Series/JoanOfArcadia'' had an episode where Luke and Grace worked together to assemble a demonstration of the principles behind a railgun for the school's science fair. The results were... interesting to behold. |
| 117 | * A non-rail gun example shows up in ''Series/LostInSpace2018''. Future humans have developed the EMF projector and its variants. These weapons can generate a magnetic field powerful enough to crush even an alien robot's armoured carapace, but only when on maximum power. Maureen's room-sized EMF, at 83% of maximum power, can only slow down the enemy robots. |
| 118 | * In ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', [[spoiler:the underground facility, the Tower, still has working electricity because the nanobots that caused the blackout are (semi)controlled from there. This place was built by the government and has all sorts of super-tech, including handheld rail guns. These guns look like multishot grenade launchers and make people explode from sheer force of impact. The 1st season villain, Monroe, gets his whole team wiped out]]. |
| 119 | * In ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', railguns are used on Earth's first starship, the ''Prometheus'' and later, on ''Daedelus''-class starships. They are also mounted at ground bases to serve as anti-fighter weapons. Eventually, [[spoiler:after the Asgard commit mass suicide and give all their tech to the United States,]] Asgard plasma beam weapons become the primary armament of the ''Daedelus''-class, arguably subverting this trope, though those ships also maintain their railguns and nuclear arsenals. They stay effective as anti-fighter platforms. And, given the Wraith's ability to shoot down nukes before they even get close, railguns are occasionally used to great effect against their hive ships, though only when their projectiles caused secondary explosions inside the hive. Otherwise, the hive ships' sheer massiveness prevented the guns from doing any significant damage. |
| 120 | * Mass drivers are classed as "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in ''Series/BabylonFive'' and we see them used to pummel [[spoiler:the Narn homeworld]] [[ColonyDrop with asteroids]]. |
| 121 | ** There are also less powerful railguns used as ship-mounted weapons on two Earth Alliance warship classes (the old ''Olympus''-class corvettes and the more recent and powerful ''Warlock''-class destroyers), with the expanded universe adding a number of Earth Alliance warships using railguns (most notable being the ''Artemis''-class frigate, extremely cramped due the ammunition bunkers and the reactors to feed ''six'' railguns but devastating in combat) and the entire Orieni fleet using railguns of both smaller and larger scale on ''all'' their warships. |
| 122 | * ''Series/VoltesVLegacy'', the mighty robot Voltes V has a number of magnetic weapons and interestingly none are related to rail guns/coil gun type weaponry. It has its Electromagnetic Beam as a chest-mounted WaveMotionGun to burn foes, its belt can become a pair of Electromagnetic Whips to hit enemies extra hard and Voltes has Magnetic Throwing Stars which can attach to the front of the whips and then slung at the enemy. These stars use magnetism to track down enemies and then continously carve them like [[ChainsawGood a buzz saw]]. |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 126 | * In ''Roleplay/EmbersInTheDusk'', the excavations on Avernus dug up the blueprints for a few Impaler Weapons, a Dark Age railgun variant. While better weapons have been found later, at the time this was a priceless find, finally giving the Imperial Guard a noticeable chance of getting past Astartes Power Armour. |
| 127 | [[/folder]] |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 130 | * ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' features coilguns (termed Gauss Rifles) sized for both combat vehicles (including [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]]) and people. The first 'Mech-sized version introduced into the game is still universally respected for being one of the few weapons in the game that can take a 'Mech's head clean off (killing the pilot) with a single shot from a considerable distance. Later versions include the Hyper Assault Gauss Rifle which is basically a magnetic shotgun that inexplicably has better range than a standard Gauss Rifle, the Anti-Personnel Gauss Rifle (fires a small burst of projectiles for killing infantry but still capable of threatening heavier units, originally developed for Battle Armor), the Light Gauss Rifle (a lighter weight version of the standard Gauss Rifle that shoots slightly farther but does less adamage), the Magshot (scaled-down small enough for use on Battle Armor), the Silver Bullet Gauss Rifle (also a magnetic shotgun, though less sophisticated than the HAG), the Heavy Gauss Rifle (bigger, heavier, and so powerful, it needs to be installed in a side torso since the recoil would ''rip a 'Mech's arm off''), and an ''Improved'' version of that. The [[MachineCult Word of Blake]] later introduced mass drivers for [[CoolStarShip WarShips]], which is basically a Gauss Rifle that shoots [[{{BFG}} 30 to 90 ton metal slugs]], [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon spinally mounted]] onto a ship. |
| 131 | * ''TabletopGame/BuckRogersXXVC'', the Creator/{{TSR}} roleplaying game of ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers'', the 25th century uses gyrojet-style rocket guns as projectile weapons for infantry, but there are acceleration guns and blunderbusses (an acceleration gun specifically designed to shoot chopped up junk as ammo in a fan-like spray) for vehicle weapons. Planets and moonbases get the immense mass drivers which are capable of blowing up entire cities. |
| 132 | * ''TabletopGame/CarWars'' had these as options. Originally the Gauss Gun did about the same damage a laser or an autocannon, but less accurate ... and taking both power and ammo to use. (Power, by the way, was also your car's fuel source.) Handheld versions came later. The game also has, for tanks, a magnetic cannon doing ... a good amount of damage. |
| 133 | * ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld'' has slug throwers which are coilguns. In 3rd edition, this will also electrify the bullet when it leaves the barrel. This gives the slug thrower it's stunning effect and they come in 3 sizes - a tiny .17 to the gigantic .75 with the .38 being the most common size. Interestingly slug throwers aren't superior to standard assault rifles, gatling guns or machine guns in taking down a target. In the ''Gamma Knights'' expansion, there's the devastating Shrapneler weapon that's designed for vehicles or larger power armour suits and have the same effect as a blunderbuss from ''Buck Rogers'' game mentioned above. |
| 134 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'' places railguns as superior to coilguns in terms of damage but they're otherwise the same. The defining characteristic of both is their armor piercing ability and high rate of fire. They also have variable power, you can overcharge them to punch through thick armor or undercharge them to save energy. |
| 135 | * All of the ordinary kinetic guns in ''TabletopGame/EclipsePhase'' are available in railgun versions. They deal more damage, have better armor piercing ability, longer range, but are more limited in the types of ammunition they can use (as they need metallic rounds and the EM fries the electronics in smart rounds) and need power as well as physical projectiles. |
| 136 | * In ''TabletopGame/PlanetMercenary'' gauss and railguns are generically known as Pulsilinear Electromagnetic Array (P.E.A.) weapons. Many guns, such as the Strohl G/G 29s favored by many ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' characters, can switch between P.E.A. and caseless chemical propellant ("gunfoam") bullets. |
| 137 | * FASA's less well known (as compared to [=BattleTech=]) tabletop game ''TabletopGame/RenegadeLegion'' was replete with Gauss and Railguns, to the point of them being far more common (and, frankly, more useful) than the various energy weapons. |
| 138 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'': Common as dirt in that setting, "railgun" is essentially a shorthand for "megadamage machinegun"... to the point that none of them are ever depicted as having actual rails, or even coils for that matter (though it could be argued that the almost always round barrels could have thin coils built into their length)... and often have ejection ports... and are insanely rapid-fire. |
| 139 | ** The game's signature weapon is the Boom Gun, a massive single-shot railgun wielded by the Glitter Boy PoweredArmor. It's so powerful that the Glitter Boy has to anchor itself to the ground before firing. |
| 140 | ** ''Rifts'' also has wooden railgun ammo for use against vampires. Roll that one around in your head. They try to justify it with iron cores buried in the rounds, but while that might work for coil guns, a rail round has to be conductive edge-to-edge and fit the rails snugly. However, this can work (assuming the wood doesn't combust) provided that the core is shaped in such a way that it touches the rails -- for example, if it has a [[HolyBurnsEvil cross-shaped cross-section]]. |
| 141 | ** ''TabletopGame/PhaseWorld'', and other space-heavy Megaverse worlds with ArtificialGravity technology, have gravity-based slugthrowers as an alternative to railguns. Magnetism is of course stronger than gravity according to physics, but the gravity guns can use any material as a projectile. |
| 142 | ** Techno-wizards build railguns that use telekinesis magic to throw silent, invisible slugs of pure force. |
| 143 | * Ancient and Modern Martian Radium Rifles from ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' are radiation powered rail guns. The modern versions tend to overheat and leak radiation, as well as only being feasible as artillery pieces. |
| 144 | * Interestingly, ''TabletopGame/SLAIndustries'' has a gauss rifle but these are very ineffective compared to the standard ballistic weapons in the World of Progress. Law enforcement forces, the Shiver Units, are issued gauss rifle because they're non-lethal weapons that fire ball bearings instead of proper bullets. When the Shiver asked for more lethal weapons, Mr. Slayer told them no and they should just be issued some extra meds. |
| 145 | * ''TabletopGame/StarsWithoutNumber'': standard [=TL4=] handheld projectile weapons include the mag rifle, the mag pistol, and the spike thrower, which is basically a rail ''shotgun''; the only non-laser handheld [=TL4=] weapon that doesn't rely on this is the void carbine, a gyrojet weapon. Full-scale railguns are available as gunnery weapons, which require tripods or vehicle mounts, and when you get up to a cruiser you can pick up the mag spike array. |
| 146 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'': |
| 147 | ** Traveller Classic had the Gauss Rifle and the VRF Gauss Gun (artillery). An adventure in Supplement 6 ''76 Patrons'' had a mass driver being used as a weapon very much like ''The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress'' literature example. |
| 148 | ** [=MegaTraveller=] introduced the Gauss Pistol. |
| 149 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': |
| 150 | ** The Tau Empire make good use of railguns, be it in the form of "rail rifles" that some of their infantry carry or as the main guns for their heavy tanks and battlesuits. |
| 151 | *** In most editions, there's some GameplayAndStorySegregation regarding their effectiveness. In novels and background lore, Tau railguns are so powerful that one shot can kill a tank by going right through it with such force that its crew is sucked out the exit hole. In-game, they're powerful but not astoundingly so. This trend is broken in the 9th Edition Tau codex, which makes their railguns significantly stronger. |
| 152 | *** For once in ''40K'', the physics behind them would actually work and is accurately depicted on the models... although whether their pulse rifles, coilguns that fire tiny globs of plasma via magnetic acceleration, would work scientifically is anyone's guess. |
| 153 | ** Tyranids use [[OrganicTechnology biological variations]] on these for some weapons. For example, a Venom Cannon fires toxic crystal shards which are covered in a conductive metal-based mucus and launched by a powerful bio-electric jolt. Likewise, bio-plasma [[BreathWeapon vomited up]] by some large Tyranid organisms, using their esophagus as a living PlasmaCannon, with a bio-electric field containing the plasma as it builds without melting the creature spitting it. |
| 154 | ** Eldar shuriken/splinter weaponry are almost this trope. What excludes them is that weapons like the shuriken catapult use artificial gravity instead of powerful magnets to propel their projectiles. |
| 155 | ** According to ''TabletopGame/BattlefleetGothic'', the Imperium also uses railguns on some starships ("macrocannon" is a catch-all term for any starship weapon that isn't a lance, torpedo or a [[WaveMotionGun nova cannon]]. This includes giant conventional guns, laser batteries and railguns, among other things). |
| 156 | ** The Necrons' original codex describes their gauss weapons as creating magnetic fields that strip their targets apart and pull them into the gun, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath one molecular layer at a time]]. This is dropped soon after in favor of them being more standard {{Disintegrator Ray}}s that turn you into dust, though they've kept the "gauss" monicker. In either case, their main advantage is that they can do consistent damage even to targets that would normally not be bothered by a standard infantry rifle. In French, they are called "Fission" weapons instead. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 160 | * ''VideoGame/AceCombat'': |
| 161 | ** The Stonehenge weapon in ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' is a set of eight railguns designed to launch projectiles into space to destroy incoming asteroids. One of them is hit by debris from said asteroid and rendered inoperable, as seen in the mission where you have to destroy it. It's later used as an anti-aircraft weapon with an effective range spanning practically the entire continent it was built on. FridgeLogic kicks in when you realize that the curvature of the Earth should make that impossible. |
| 162 | ** Expanded media on Stonehenge reveals that it [[ZigZaggedTrope zig-zags]] this trope, because it actually only ''partially'' a railgun; the weapon uses an explosive charge to get the slug up to speed, then a rail system takes over and accelerates it to maximum velocity. The reason behind this unique system is that launching the projectiles using only the rails built up too much heat to be manageable. |
| 163 | ** Chandelier, a weapon of similar design is seen in ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation''. Like Stonehenge, it was built to shoot down asteroid fragments; however, Estovakia, the country that built it didn't complete it in time for when the "big one" struck the planet and the country suffered significant impact damage as opposed to all the other nations with similar operational systems. The fallout from its failure leads to the continent-wide Emmeria-Estovakia War that is the focus of the game itself. A portable railgun also exists in the form of the Electromagnetic Launcher exclusive to the CFA-44 Nosferatu, which has since reappeared in ''VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon'' and ''VideoGame/AceCombatInfinity'' alongside the CFA-44. |
| 164 | ** ''VideoGame/AceCombatJointAssault'' also features an enemy railgun, used largely as the obligatory altitude-restriction mechanism. You do get to destroy it eventually. |
| 165 | ** In ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', the Electromagnetic Launcher reappears as a special weapon for a couple aircraft. [[spoiler:Mihaly also utilizes one on his aircraft during his final fight with Trigger.]] |
| 166 | *** The game's DLC missions revolve around the ''[[CoolBoat Alicorn]]'', a gigantic submarine of incredible power that carries an entire array of [=EMLs=] in AA turrets that fire in salvos, plus an enormous [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon forward-facing]] [[{{BFG}} railgun artillery piece]] that can launch nuclear warheads at targets thousands of kilometers away. |
| 167 | * In ''VideoGame/ActOfWar'', the technologically advanced factions Task Force Talon and the Consortium would mount 105mm railguns on their main battle tanks and also their base defense turrets. In the expansion, Task Force Talon's DDX destroyer was also carrying railguns too. This is a case of ''AwesomeButImpractical'', the railguns are somewhat underpowered...they actually do less damage than U.S. Army's coventional 120mm cannon on an Abrams tank and the missiles on an ADAT defense turret. |
| 168 | * In ''[[VideoGame/Ashes2063 Ashes: Afterglow]]'', the Junker Driver (the tier 3 upgrade to the [[SniperRifle Junker Musket]]) has a [[ChargedAttack chargeable magnetic coil]] that, when fully charged, up to ''doubles'' the velocity -- and thus the damage -- of the slug. [[{{BFG}} Very few things can take a fully charged shot and remain standing]]. |
| 169 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Barotrauma}}'', submarines of the future don't use torpedoes. Instead they use coilguns and railguns as their main arsenal. And they'll need all the firepower these provide as on the moon of Europa, they'll have to deal with hostile wildlife and still active alien defense turrets. |
| 170 | * ''VideoGame/Battlezone1998'' features the MAG Cannon that [[ChargedAttack charges up]] in several stages, ranging from a machine gun burst to one big projectile. The sequel relegates this to an ISDF weapon where the combat variant, when mounted on most {{Hover Tank}}s, charge from varying levels of ShortRangeShotgun to a lethal FlechetteStorm at full charge while the assault variant, if mounted on platforms like the ''Bulldog'' assault tank, features behavior similar to the first game. |
| 171 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Bombshell}}'', an AlternateFire for the [[PhotoProtoNeutronTorpedo Ion Maiden]] is a railgun, which works by jamming a dart into the weapon's superconducting magnetic accelerator chamber that's supposed to fire ion bolts. |
| 172 | * ''VideoGame/{{Brigador}}'' has two railguns, the 25mm ''Zeus'', a powerful cannon mounted to 'Main' weapon slots, and the 12mm ''Galinha'', a slow firing autocannon mounted to 'Auxiliary' weapon slots. Both weapons can shoot through walls and enemies, and cause a small shockwave where the sabot lands, resulting in moderate amounts of AOE damage. However, the shockwave produced by the Galinha isnt all that effective, requiring the player to land direct hits to kill quickly, where as the Zeus will kill most enemies in a single hit, even with the shockwave. (information accurate as of Up Armored Edition Update) |
| 173 | * ''VideoGame/{{Children of a Dead Earth}}'' Has both main types of magnetic weapons as mountable weaponry for your ships. Railguns have better range, damage, and accuracy than regular autocannons (and are [[MoreDakka Insanely rapid-fire]]), where as Coilguns have a slower rate-of-fire but also more stopping power than both autocannons and railguns, and can be outfitted with a variety of ammo types, including [[NukeEm Nuclear warheads.]] |
| 174 | * In ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries'': the 2nd game had Yuri's faction use weapons based on MagnetismManipulation such as the Magnetron, a tank capable of yanking a capital ship out of the water and dropping it. The 3rd game had the Soviets as the main user of magnetic weapons, from their Magnetic Satellite superpower to the Apocalypse Tank's magnetic harpoon that dragged enemy vehicles into its grinders. Finally the Soviet's Hammer Tank had the "Leech Beam" which was a magnetic energy beam that would slowly shred the metal off of an enemy vehicle and would yank out then use a destroyed vehicle's main weapon. |
| 175 | ** For the 3rd game, the Empire of the Rising Sun also make some use of magnetic weaponry. Only in their case it's used in the kinetic carbines of the Imperial Warrior and kinetic cannons of the Mecha Tengu and these are essentially magnetic accelerators with a heating element inside. When fired, these guns look like they're shooting energy bolts. What's actually fired is a super-heated bullet that's been accelerated to hypersonic speeds. |
| 176 | * The Global Defense Initiative first brought railguns to the battlefield in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSun'' on their [[HumongousMecha Mammoth MkII]]. By ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars C&C 3]]'', all of their main-line tanks came equipped or could be upgraded to fire railguns, while their [[PoweredArmor Zone Troopers]] carry infantry-sized versions. The Snipers have a small caliber long range version while the Commando have a rapid fire carbine version, these modified variants are only effective vs infantry (though still powerful enough to punch through Cyborg armor effectively). |
| 177 | ** On the other hand, those infantry-sized railguns (especially the Commando variants) are mentioned to be ''horrendously'' [[AwesomeYetImpractical expensive to build and maintain,]] hence their only being issued to Commando forces. |
| 178 | * The Phase Rifle in ''VideoGame/Conduit2'' is actually a railgun. |
| 179 | * A railgun was added in the public beta update for ''VideoGame/{{Crossout}}''. Its extremely expensive to buy and mount, but capable of one-shotting most vehicles. |
| 180 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Contra Returns]]'': Besides the Railgun cannon, you can also get the Magnetic Rifle and Electromagnetic Pulse Rifle which fires an EMP blast so focused and powerful that it fries your foes. The Electro Punisher is described as generating an EMP blast so powerful that it creates a resonance, that not only breaks down armor, it also injures the target's brain. |
| 181 | * ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' also features Gauss sniper rifles near the end of the game. |
| 182 | ** In addition to an improved Gauss rifle, both ''VideoGame/Crysis2'' and ''VideoGame/Crysis3'' have an underbarrel Gauss cannon that can be mounted to assault rifles. |
| 183 | * ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'''s "Tech" class of weapons are railguns that can be charged by holding the trigger down to penetrate cover. Some particular examples are the Nekomata, a sniper rifle that fires tungsten rods, and the Satara, a conventional double-barreled shotgun that uses magnetic accelerators for more muzzle velocity. |
| 184 | * ''VideoGame/DeepRockGalactic:'' The Gunner can unlock the [=ArmsKore=] Coil Gun as one of his weapons, a giant HandCannon of a sidearm that will fire a tungsten sphere the size of a golf ball through roughly ''everything'', including thick walls of solid rock. The thing hits ''very'' hard and leaves a superheated trail that burns things for a few seconds afterwards, but it takes a while to load and charge, so it's not good for snapshots like the [[RevolversAreJustBetter Bulldog]] is. |
| 185 | * ''VideoGame/{{Descent}} II'' has the Gauss Cannon, an upgrade from the previous game's Vulcan Cannon, using the same ammo as the Vulcan (bullets, as opposed to your ship's energy). Not only were the bullets {{hitscan}}, they were also '''explosive''', doing area-of-effect damage to nearby robots. On top of that, it actually consumed ammo at a slower rate than the Vulcan, making the Gauss Cannon an undisputed GameBreaker. |
| 186 | * The Gargoyle's Plasma Lorentz attack in ''VideoGame/Disgaea4APromiseUnforgotten'' has it generate an electrical current between its arms for use as a makeshift railgun and uses coins as the primary ammunition, [[ShoutOut not unlike]] [[Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex a certain other character]]. It launches a treasure chest at the end for additional explosive goodness. |
| 187 | * In ''VideoGame/Doom2016'', the only weapon that wasn't from a previous installment is the Gauss cannon, which is powerful enough to kill most lesser enemies in a single shot. (Though the game refers to it as a Gauss cannon, its appearance is that of a rail gun.) The weapon mods available for it are Precision Bolt (which lets you fire charged sniper shots) and Siege Mode (which lets you charge a beam that can rip through enemies, at the cost of killing your speed). |
| 188 | * In ''VideoGame/DungeonsOfDredmor,'' the best crossbow available is the [[EnhancedArchaicWeapon Clockwork Rail Launcher,]] basically a magneticly-accelerated crossbow (despite the name, it uses gauss coils rather than a railgun) that hits so hard it can {{Knockback}} enemies. |
| 189 | * Magnetic weapons show up throughout the ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series. The Mass Driver weapon in the first game is suggested to be a railgun or coilgun, and in ''Nova'' railguns are one of the primary weapons of the Aurorans. The 200 mm railgun is particularly good, having the best range of any primary weapon and a lot of damage. |
| 190 | * Besides missiles, the primary direct weapons of the Caldari in ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' are railguns. |
| 191 | ** Gallente players often use them too, if only because their own Particle Blasters are terrible. |
| 192 | * In ''VideoGame/{{EVERSPACE}}'', your ship can equip a coilgun. The projectiles look like green bolts and they a metal-like sound when firing. |
| 193 | * The ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' series features a few Gauss (coil) rifles, and even a Gauss pistol. They tend to be in the top tier as far as weapons go. |
| 194 | ** ''VideoGame/FalloutTacticsBrotherhoodOfSteel'' has a Gauss [[GatlingGood minigun]]. |
| 195 | ** The Gauss rifle makes a return in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', where it was an InfinityMinusOneSword limited only by its VATS-related bugs and single-shot capacity. In New Vegas it's still a powerful gun but drains ammo much faster. It also has a unique variation called YCS-186 which has a longer barrel and higher damage output but needs repairs more often. In both games it's beaten only by the Tesla Cannon, Alien Blaster and Gatling Laser as the best energy weapon (all of which have their own issues) and is capable of knocking down a Deathclaw (if not outright killing it.) |
| 196 | ** The Gauss Rifle returns yet again in ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', looking more like a futuristic crossbow than its previous iterations. It has been retooled for ''Fallout 4'' as well, featuring a charge mechanic (where you can hold the trigger down for some extra kick) and a 7-shot magazine, however, it now uses the expensive 2mm Electromagnetic Cartridge. The Gauss rifle (like many other weapons in the game) can be modified into a good option for picking off powerful targets. |
| 197 | * The ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' FPS ''VideoGame/FireWarrior'' was the first appearance of the Tau Empire's rail-rifle. They already had the railgun as the most powerful long-range anti-tank gun in the game; this was the introduction of the man-portable version. The Rail Rifle was iconic enough for [[CanonImmigrant rules and stats to be included]] in the tabletop game itself. |
| 198 | * ''VideoGame/FuryUnleashed'' has a railgun, but functionally it's similar to the description of VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep's gauss weapons. Instead of the railgun firing a hyper-accelerated projectile, it fires a long beam of energy that's implied to be magnetically charged. |
| 199 | * ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' features a railgun as an OldSaveBonus. Players of the [[Platform/PlayStation4 enhanced]] [[Platform/XboxOne version]] who are returning from the [[Platform/PlayStation3 previous]] [[Platform/Xbox360 version]] will be able to buy it in Ammu-Nation for a whopping [[CrackIsCheaper $250,000]]. While it does have a few disadvantages, such as a low ammo capacity, it essentially functions as a rocket launcher with no travel time, effectively creating an explosion instantly wherever the player presses the fire button. Is it any surprise that it's [[GameBreaker one of the strongest weapons in the whole single-player game]]? |
| 200 | * Bit Monster's [=IOS=] game ''VideoGame/GunnerZ'' has the Tier 2 special weapon, the [=RG1Magnem=] which is a chargeable rail gun that's great as a mainstay for downing Titan Zombies and tanks, until you get your hands on the Tier 3 weapons. |
| 201 | * ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' has its [=MAC=]s (Magnetic Accelerator Cannons), which are the main armament on UNSC ships and orbital defense platforms. The ones on ships take a rather long time to charge (they can be fired quicker, at sub-full-charge, at the expensive of power), up to several minutes going by a quote from ''Literature/HaloTheFallOfReach'', but at full charge they hit with the force of tactical nuclear weapons and are capable of killing [[MileLongShip enormous shielded enemy warships]] in usually only one to three hits. Rather more down-to-earth versions include the M68 Gauss cannon mounted on some stationary defenses and Warthog jeep variants. |
| 202 | ** The supporting novel Halo: Contact Harvest speaks of the origin of the [=MAC=] as a waste disposal method. It was used to launch garbage at the parent star from the surface of a planet, meaning it had to reach well beyond escape velocity after accounting for atmospheric drag. Its use as a weapon came when the Covenant attacked Harvest. Previously, human warships mostly just used missiles (both conventional and nuclear), because their only opponents were other humans. They were all [[GlassCannon glass cannons]] as a rule, lacking DeflectorShields, and even a single well-placed Archer HE missile could mission-kill a human warship. When the Covenant came onto the scene with shielded ships capable of shrugging off literally hundreds of HE missiles each (with point-defense capable of picking off more), giant MAC guns taking up a significant area of the ship started to be deployed because they were the only weapons that could reliably kill Covenant capital ships. |
| 203 | ** The [[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale quoted powers]] of the [=MAC=]s and coilguns indicate that some details of physics were skipped over. For example: the orbital Super [=MAC=] stations can fire 3000 tonne projectiles at 120 km/s. Their relativistic kinetic energy is therefore equivalent to a ''51 gigaton explosion''. For comparison, that's equivalent to about 1,000 times the Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated. At the very least though, it would explain why just one shot from said super-[=MAC=] can punch clean through a Covenant Capital Ship with fully-powered shields and do the exact same thing to the ship or two behind it when even normal [=MAC=] guns mounted ships usually need to weaken the enemy shielding with a hit or two before hoping to punch through the armor. Later sources clarified that the Super [=MACs=] for which that figure was given were abnormally powerful, and that most have lower projectile velocities... though it does make one question why they'd go for such overkill, considering regular ship mounted [=MACs=] (which dish out shots in the kiloton range) are more than capable of killing nearly every Covenant warship with a few shots. |
| 204 | ** Proper infantry-scale railguns are available from ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' onward. They take a second to charge up, but they can kill the vast majority of enemies in a single hit. However, their dedicated anti-infantry role means that standard railguns don't do quite as much damage to vehicles as you'd expect them to; they'll one-shot a Spartan, Sangheili, or Promethean, but a Banshee or Warthog will shrug the hit off with fairly little damage. However, the "Arclight" variant in ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' has armor-piercing high-explosive rounds designed to do extra damage to vehicles. |
| 205 | ** A smaller-scale MAC, the Onager, is usable by the player in the final level of ''VideoGame/HaloReach''. It fires a 15 cm tungsten slug at hypervelocity for a yield of 1.1 gigajoules (about a quarter of ton of TNT equivalent), and its coils charge fast enough to launch one of these shots every three seconds (22 GJ/minute). At 32.6 meters, it's 5.6 times smaller than a standard frigate MAC by length and about two hundred times smaller by volume. However, when deployed in ground warfare, its power is completely overwhelming; the PlayerCharacter uses it to outright [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill shatter]] several Phantoms with single shots, before placing a single well-aimed shot to a battlecruiser's WaveMotionGun, causing a backfire that destroys the whole ship. |
| 206 | ** The M99 Stanchion is a coilgun sniper rifle capable of reducing targets to a cloud of LudicrousGibs. Originally introduced in the ExpandedUniverse, it makes its first in-game appearance in ''VideoGame/HaloWars2''. |
| 207 | ** Various guidebooks note that the point-defense turrets on UNSC ships and stations are all coilguns. |
| 208 | * Mass drivers of different size are the most basic weapon in the ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'' series, ranging from the aptly-named ''pea shooter'' (weak even for a fighter-sized weapon) to the gigantic and high-powered weapons mounted on cruiser-sized ships. |
| 209 | * ''VideoGame/JediKnightDarkForcesII'' features a weapon called the Rail Detonator. Its actual functions are unclear: [[AllThereInTheManual ancillary media]] states it's a coil gun, but actual in-game usage definitely suggests it's simply a rocket launcher. [[TakeAThirdOption Plausibly,]] it's a rocket launcher that uses a coil launch mechanism to [[MissingBackblast launch the rocket at a safe enough distance for the thruster to kick in.]] For example, when visiting the local BubblegloopSwamp planet in [[ExpansionPack Mysteries of the Sith]], all weapons besides the lightsaber fail, with the rail detonator simply flinging dud rockets into the air which then plunk into the water. |
| 210 | * ''VideoGame/{{Killzone Shadowfall}}'' has three: The M-6 Punt, a magnetic [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolver]]; The Ls-44 Spoor, a [[SwissArmyWeapon SMG/Sniper rifle Hybrid]] that can change modes at the press of a button; And the Pnv-06 Voltage, a [[{{BFG}} Shoulder-mounted, 3 round burst autocannon.]] |
| 211 | * ''VideoGame/{{Liero}}'' (version 1.33) has the Gauss Gun, which fires a projectile so fast, it gouges a deep groove in the soil when you fire and is barely affected by gravity. |
| 212 | ** Turn the reload times down to zero and you have a Gauss ''Autocannon'', perfect for chewing up the landscape and jetting around the map as an improvised jetpack. |
| 213 | * The projectile weapons in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' are essentially small-scale railguns which use the titular effect to lighten the projectiles they fire. This allows the projectile itself to be accelerated to greater speeds, increasing the damage done significantly while also decreasing the recoil (as there's no propellant ejected). The main guns of all warships use the same principle. Larger ships can mount longer rails, allowing for greater acceleration and damage. The main gun of every ship is a spinal cannon running 90% of its length, with secondary weapons including broadside railgun turrets running 40% of the width (the ''Kilimanjaro''-class dreadnought, for instance, has 156 such turrets- each side of the ship having three decks of twenty-six turrets each). Tertiary weapons include point-defense lasers and torpedo tubes. Because of the effectiveness of point-defense weaponry, missiles have largely been rendered obsolete in space warfare (at least against modern warships), leaving railguns as dominant. |
| 214 | ** In a [[Funny/MassEffect hilarious]] instance of ShownTheirWork, the writers slipped in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLpgxry542M this tidbit]] to show what the actual ramifications of space-age railguns with mass-reducing technology would be in military training. |
| 215 | *** This is referenced again later, when [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] is told about a massive crater on a planet that turned out to be from a rogue shot by a massive, experimental railgun -- located in a completely different solar system. |
| 216 | *** The implication of launching a projectile with a kinetic energy of 150 TJ every five seconds is that even assuming perfect efficiency in the launch system the ship needs to be generating ''at least'' 30 terawatts of power (30 TW * 5 seconds = 150 TJ). To put that into perspective, a typical nuclear power plant might generate about 1-2 ''giga''watts.[[note]]This is, however, sidestepped in-universe using the titular mass effect. Projectiles are reduced in mass to make acceleration to ultra-high velocity relatively energy inexpensive, at which point the field is dropped, causing the projectile to return to its normal mass for impact. According to the in-game codex, thermal dissipation rather than energy generation is the main limiting factor of weapons in the game's universe.[[/note]] |
| 217 | ** And note that the ''Everest''-class described in the above quote is a nearly forty-year-old design (it was still in use in the First Contact War). According to [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Codex/Ships_and_Vehicles#Starships:_Dreadnought the codex]], modern warships fire both their broadsides and their main guns every ''two'' seconds, making it more like 75 terawatts for an 888-meter dreadnought. And 888 meters is ''small'' for a dreadnought, being between [[https://fextralife.com/forums/t350772/ship-sizes-revealed/ 700-meter]] heavy cruisers (which are just volumetrically scaled down dreadnoughts) and the more common 1,000-meter long dreadnoughts in size. |
| 218 | ** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', on Tuchanka, there's a battery of three ground-to-space coilguns which are each easily 100m long, and presumably powered by ground-side generators. Multiple planet descriptions (e.g. Korlus) mention that ground-to-space weaponry is cheap and common in-universe, but have the obvious disadvantages of being static targets, making it easy for anyone with a warship crusier-level or up to simply pick off those positions from millions of kilometers away while easily dodging any counter fire.[[note]]The codex points out that, functionally, starship weapon range is only limited by the ability of the opponent to dodge. When that's not a factor, you get stuff like [[https://masseffect.fandom.com/wiki/Codex/The_Reaper_War#Geth_Destroyed the quarians picking off targets from the far side of the system's star]], easily tens of millions of kilometers away. As the Gunnery Sergeant reminded us, any shot fired in space will just keep going forever, and calculating mechanical accuracy for targets that are effectively stationary (planetary orbit being very easy to account for) is child's play to a society capable of building spaceships in the first place.[[/note]] |
| 219 | ** And later, there's the massive coil gun in the [[spoiler:Geth Dreadnaught]], which is so massive that every shot sends a huge blast of electromagnetic energy through the maintenance corridors next to it. And then you [[DungeonBypass use the barrel as a shortcut]] to get to the other end of the ship. |
| 220 | ** Even the Reapers use them: those {{Wave Motion Gun}}s they like to fire? Not lasers. Not particle beams. They are streams of molten metal moving at relativistic speeds. The firing mechanism involves magnetism, even though molten metal has no magnetic properties. Given the sheer technological advancement of the Reapers, though, it's not out of the question that the metal may be superheated in a tiny fraction of a second after being already launched. |
| 221 | *** The WaveMotionGun mounted on the Reapers also runs into another problem when you realize that as massive as they are, the Reapers don't have an infinite supply of molten metal in their interiors to shoot at targets. The codex handwaves this by noting that the Reapers have no apparent need to refuel or resupply, and points out that this is [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens physically impossible.]] |
| 222 | * ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion 2'' has [[KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter quite efficient]] rail guns (called mass drivers) and coil guns (called gauss cannons). |
| 223 | ** From the original game, there's the Gauss Autocannon. Each round doesn't do much damage, but it fires 4 times each turn, and unlike the sequel's Gauss cannons, they halve the effectiveness of shields, making them viable for longer than their energy-based contemporaries. FourX, meet MoreDakka. |
| 224 | ** In the second game, [[MoreDakka auto-firing]] (3x shots) Mass Driver is the best point defense weapon in early and middle game -- enveloping Fusion Beam hits 4 missiles (or fighters), but due to bad range dissipation is really good only for the last-moment shot at incoming threat. Conversely, non-dissipating Mass Driver is better against far missiles -- ones striking in the next turn or heading to other ships, so you can get 6 shots per weapon instead of 4. |
| 225 | ** Gauss cannons are also an option in the third game. |
| 226 | *** Following on from the ''Master of Orion'' series, these have become a standard part of the [[TacticalRockPaperScissors three weapon types]] frequently seen in similar games -- mass drivers, lasers and missiles. Usually, mass drivers are better at penetrating shields but are blocked by armour. They may also have shorter range but not suffer from damage falling off with distance. This can be seen in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations'', the ''Master of Orion 4'' reboot, and many others. |
| 227 | * As it's an adaptation of ''[=BattleTech=]'', the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' and ''VideoGame/MechCommander'' series have Gauss Rifles as a standard weapon for the mechs; massive range and firepower with no risk of OverHeating, but expensive with limited ammo and [[MadeOfExplodium a tendency to explode when damaged]]. The games also usually feature the other two major variants, the Light Gauss Rifle that can poke an enemy across the map but deals less damage, and the hammer-of-god Heavy Gauss Rifle that can reliably punch a hole through most mechs with careful aim but has comparatively poor range and abysmal ammo efficiency. |
| 228 | ** In one ''VideoGame/MechCommander 1'' expansion pack scenario, the MacGuffin of the battle is a cache of [[LostTechnology Star League era Railguns]] that dwarf the firepower, range and accuracy of the Gauss Rifles (but carry half as many rounds of ammunition). Fortunately, the Smoke Jaguars have only managed to excavate and mount one of these so far. Unfortunately, the [[BossBattle ace piloting the specially-modified Vulture carrying it]] is good enough to take down most of your forces before you get into targeting range. |
| 229 | ** The Behemoth II and Marauder II in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior4Mercenaries''' fan-made mektek expansion can both mount a dorsal railgun which is a {{BFG}} by even 'mech standards. |
| 230 | ** ''Mechwarrior Living Legends'' adds the Hyper-Assault Gauss Rifle, and the Improved Heavy Gauss Rifle. The HAG, available in salvo sizes of 20, 30, or 40 slugs, is a ultra-high velocity rapid fire Gauss machine gun that has extreme burst damage but mediocre sustain damage due to the capacitor having to recharge between salvos. The Improved Heavy Gauss deals slightly less damage than standard Heavy Gauss and has even worse ammo economy, but has no damage falloff at range and a higher overall maximum range. |
| 231 | ** In ''VideoGame/BattleTech'', a TurnBasedStrategy game based closely on the tabletop version, Gauss Rifles serve as an extremely rare InfinityMinusOneSword because in the pre-Clan Invasion era the game is set in, Gauss weapons of any kind are LostTechnology that nobody can build on their own. You only get a single gun in the entire campaign, mounted on an equally unique Royal-grade SLDF Highlander 'Mech, and if it is destroyed in battle (which ''will'' happen sooner or later), there's no way to replace it. On the upside, it retains all of its power, range, accuracy and headchopping capabilities from the tabletop, so with an appropriately skilled pilot at the helm, your Highlander has an 18% chance to OneHitKill any 'Mech from across the battlefield with a well-aimed Precision Shot to the cockpit. |
| 232 | * ''[=MegaTraveller=] 2'' (based on the ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' TabletopRPG) had Gauss weapons. |
| 233 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': |
| 234 | ** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Metal Gear REX uses a railgun to fire a nuclear warhead. Because its projectiles are not self-propelled, [[LoopholeAbuse they're not classified as the "missiles" restricted by existing arms treaties]], nor do they produce a detectable heat signature. ([[ArtisticLicensePhysics Realistically]], a launched projectile going fast enough to achieve REX's intercontinental range would produce a ''lot'' of heat just from air friction, but also be impossible to intercept anyway.) |
| 235 | ** ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 2|SonsOfLiberty}}'' has Fortune, a terrorist leader, use a massive handheld railgun she stole from Lockheed-Martin. |
| 236 | ** The Rail Gun returns in ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|GunsOfThePatriots}}'', initially as Crying Wolf's weapon, but later acquired by Snake. A fully charged shot from it will take a Gekko out in one hit. |
| 237 | ** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' has the railgun as the primary weapon of the AI Weapon Chrysalis, from which it can be salvaged for use on Metal Gear ZEKE. A portable version also appears, but, as it requires a separate player to charge up the power to fire, it's a [[AwesomeButImpractical multiplayer-only weapon]]. |
| 238 | * ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'' features the Volt Driver, a BB gun that operates on electromagnetic acceleration. It's easily one of the most powerful weapons in the game, and the alt-fire works as a lethal stun gun... as long as you keep it charged. It's also impossible to silence. It comes back in ''VideoGame/MetroLastLight'' with a slightly different configuration and a new name: [[NamesTorunAwayFromReallyFast Hellbreath]]. It is also available in ''VideoGame/MetroExodus'', though it is treated there as an electromagnetic modification of the air-powered Tihar. |
| 239 | * ''Modern Command'' from Blast Bit Enterprises AB (formerly Level 8 and before that Chillingo) is a TowerDefense game where you have operate a fire base for an anti-terrorist task force in TheFuture. As such you can get various rail gun towers for base. They have an advantage of doing great damage and hit almost instantly. But they significant drawbacks too, they have a notable CoolDown as the railgun needs to recharge and they can't use AbnormalAmmo either. Railgun shots are rather ineffective against DeflectorShields as well, though the top railgun tower is a [[GatlingGood multi-barrelled gun]] and this tower can even essentially OneHitKill the heavily armored and shielded Avatar tanks provided you hit it with a full burst. |
| 240 | * The game ''VideoGame/ModernWar'' by Gree has a railgun turret as its top-tier base defense. In addition, several of the upper-tier units are apparently armed with railguns as evidenced by their name. |
| 241 | * Railguns can be mounted on battleships in the ''VideoGame/NavalOps'' series, though they suffer from low rate of fire and narrow firing angles. |
| 242 | * Ships in ''VideoGame/NexusTheJupiterIncident'' use magnetically-launched projectiles to do hull damage, since [[EnergyWeapons energy shells]] only affect shields, and most {{Slow Laser}}s are horrible at hull damage (their purpose is SubsystemDamage). Later, more powerful, projectile launchers are also able to do shield damage, but dedicated energy shells are better. The only weapon that is better at doing hull damage is the [[WaveMotionGun siege laser]], but it requires your target to stay still and requires four ships to pump all their power into the weapon for long periods of time (while being immobile and defenseless). |
| 243 | * Gauss cannons are the second most powerful planetary defense in the German MMO ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGame Ogame,]]'' surpassed only by plasma turrets. In-game {{flavor text}} describes how, when fired, they create a incredibly powerful shockwave that can be heard for miles, and how crews near them must take special protective measures due to the ear-splitting concussive effects they produce. |
| 244 | * The Eden faction of ''VideoGame/Outpost2'' has a railgun as one of its weapons. |
| 245 | * The Farsight XR-20 from ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', which is essentially a OneHitKill sniper rifle. That can track and shoot enemies through walls. It doesn't track particularly quickly, and its low rate of fire makes it awkward at close range, but it's still considered a GameBreaker in multiplayer. |
| 246 | * New Jericho weapons from ''VideoGame/PhoenixPoint'' are gauss weapons that fire iron bullets at such velocities they look like [[EnergyWeapon blue lasers]] (as opposed to Synedrion's guns, which really do use lasers). If you look closely, the muzzles have [[labelnote:solenoids]]The technical term for an electromagnetic coil[[/labelnote]] running their length. They have slightly more power per-shot, but fire in lesser bursts (their basic assault rifle shoots 4 times for 40 damage/bullet) than the basic AR (6 times for 30 damage per bullet), and have bonus Shred damage (directly damages armor; 15 to the basic and laser assault rifle's 1). The upgraded Piercing version [[ArmorPiercingAttack simply ignores 20 points of armor]]. |
| 247 | * The [[LaResistance New Conglomerate]] in ''VideoGame/PlanetSide'' relies on a magnetic assault rifle, the Gauss Rifle, which fires powerful bullets with an odd firing noise - though it actually fires ''slower'' bullets than the more traditional bullet based weapons. The Conglomerate also has a giant rail gun for its [[AMechByAnyOtherName BFR]], which is almost hitscan and does huge amounts of damage. |
| 248 | ** Actually, all the [[TheGovernment Terran Republic]] weapons are Gauss-based as well, it's just less-explicitly stated. The only faction that don't use any are the Vanu (whom use plasma-weapons but ALSO use a magnetic-based propulsion agent). |
| 249 | ** In the sequel, ''[[https://www.planetside2.com/home Planetside 2,]]'' the New Conglomerate use magnetic weapons for all of their faction-specific weaponry (with the sole exception of certain rocket/missile launchers). The Terran Republic, on the other hand, have completely done away with all of the magnetic weapons they once used, and instead choose to only use [[MoreDakka High Rate-of-fire conventional Firearms]] for their faction-specific weapons. |
| 250 | * The railgun has become ''the'' ''de facto'' SniperRifle in the ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' series since the second game. |
| 251 | * Every ''VideoGame/RedFaction'' game since the first one has had the Rail Driver, a railgun which can pierce through walls and obstacles, has a scope that can see through said obstacles, and in the first and second games, was a [[GameBreaker one hit kill]]. The third game features the Gauss Rifle, which could inflict collateral damage, and the Gauss Cannon, an upgraded version only available on certain EDF vehicles and in the DLC. |
| 252 | * In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'', Jill has to use a gigantic experimental stationary railgun to kill the final boss. It's called "man-portable" instead of "handheld" for a reason, being as big as a small truck. Jill can't even aim it, she has to lure Nemesis into the firing line. |
| 253 | * In a rare EasternRPG example, one of the strongest guns you can equip in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' is a railgun. |
| 254 | * In ''VideoGame/SinsOfASolarEmpire'', the TEC use twin gauss guns on their orbital defense platforms, the Kol Battleship's signature weapon is the gauss railgun, and the Novalith Cannon superweapon is a giant railgun that shoots giant nukes at planets at near light speed. |
| 255 | ** It may be firing at FTL speeds, actually, as you can fire the Novalith Cannon at a planet in another star system. If it were traveling at near-light speeds, it would still take years to reach its target, which means the nuke has a phase drive of its own that doesn't use HyperspaceLanes. |
| 256 | * In ''Spellcross: The Last Battle'' from Cauldron [=HQ=], against the Forces of Darkness's magical armor, your first counter was equipping with your tanks with a next generation 130mm smooth bore cannon known as The Bear. This was kinda inadequate, so your scientists looked back at the Cold War-era "Star Wars" SDI program. The first succesful project is the Tyrian which is a rail gun to mount on conventional tanks like the Leopard or Abrams. This gave the tank a huge boost in damage at the cost of reduced range, as the shells broke down over distance from too much velocity. Next was the development of the Elmag I and it's successor Elmag II, these are experimental [=IFV=]s designed to exclusively carry rail gun autocannons to take on infantry and smaller vehicles. |
| 257 | * The ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series has the Gauss Rifle, which looks almost exactly like ''Fallout'' 2's Gauss Rifle, but with synthetic furniture. It is usually an endgame weapon that far outmatches all other weapons in stats, but counterbalances this for its rarity of ammunition and sometimes half-decent working condition. In ''Call of Pripyat'', however, the gun is essentially an InfinityPlusOneSword thanks to a [[spoiler:mechanic in the first map who can sell you an unlimited amount of a lesser-quality ammunition (though it's still powerful of course, even though it lacks the power that normal battery packs have) at the price of 2000 rubles for each homemade battery pack. This is available once you show him the Gauss Rifle after the Pripyat Hospital ambush and complete his little side quest concerning information of the unique Item 62 weapon.]] |
| 258 | ** It's mentioned that those Gauss Rifles are made by gunsmiths in [[EldritchLocation the Zone]] with whatever they can scrounge and rely partly on the miraculous properties of the artefacts salvaged there in order to work, thus [[{{Handwave}} handwaving]] the issues that building a man-portable Gauss rifle would have in real life. |
| 259 | * ''VideoGame/StarbaseOrion'' has Gauss turrets, which are short-ranged weapons that [[MoreDakka spam projectiles]] that bypass armor entirely, going straight for structural damage. On the other hand, they are pretty much useless against shields. |
| 260 | * According to the canon, Marines use Gauss rifles in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI''. [[RuleOfCool This doesn't stop the muzzle flares and "budda budda" sound affect of them firing, though]]. In the sequel, Reapers use [[GunsAkimbo dual Gauss pistols]] and Jim Raynor goes for a ludicrously huge railgun with double laser sights ([[RuleOfCool because one isn't cool enough]]). |
| 261 | ** The Gauss rifle is canonically actually a hybrid weapon combining both primer and propellant as well as a coilgun system. This is borne out by the in-game cutscenes, which show the weapon using cartridge ammunition with primers. There's also a sharp whining noise that underscores the report, which also indicate that it probably isn't a conventional firearm either. |
| 262 | ** A campaign-only upgrade for the Bunker in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty'' essentially installs a ''second'' coilgun-type mechanism that speeds up projectiles that pass through it, increasing effective range. [[ArtisticLicensePhysics It even increases the range of the Firebat's flamethrowers.]] This isn't even [[AllThereInTheManual justified by the background]]; while the flamethrower-equipped ATV has an upgrade that adds thermite to its attacks, the flamethrower-equipped powered armor is explicitly stated to use pressurized gas as fuel. |
| 263 | ** Another campaign only feature that uses this trope is a unit called the [[HoverTank Diamondback]]. They are armed with twin railguns, and have the ability to shoot whilst moving. These units are unlocked for use in level [[TrainJob "The Great Train Robbery"]], as you need their [[ArmorPiercingAttack anti-armor railguns]] and unique Move-and-Shoot ability to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin chase down and loot a Dominion cargo train.]] |
| 264 | * The first ''VideoGame/StarTrekEliteForce'' game has your crew board a derelict ship that appears to have been built around a giant magnetic accelerator that fires sizable kinetic projectiles at incredible speeds. You need to activate it in order to hit a hostile ship heading for the ''Voyager''. |
| 265 | * The ''Forces of Corruption'' expansion to ''VideoGame/StarWarsEmpireAtWar'' introduces the ''Vengeance''-class frigates for the Zann Consortium based on a new [[TheEmpire Imperial]] design that the Empire never got a chance to build (the plans were on the first Death Star when it was destroyed). Their main weapons are four mass driver cannons, which completely ignore DeflectorShields, making them invaluable in fights against Star Destroyers (several of these frigates could quickly take out the SD's shield generator, leaving it vulnerable to the rest of the Consortium fleet, especially if the SD is ambushed with the use of the ''Vengeance'''s [[InvisibilityCloak cloaking device]]. The downside is the frigate's lack of its own DeflectorShields and the ship's slow speed. |
| 266 | * ''VideoGame/SteelBattalion'' has two [[http://lineofcontact.net/loc_weapon.shtml#RAIL-Ga railgun]] variations. They have limited ammunition (8 or 10 rounds), the non-fixed-mount version is very heavy and will limit weapon loadout options in addition to being limited to a few [=VTs,=] it consumes a lot of battery charge when firing, and there is a delay before it fires...but it will destroy any VT with just 1 or 2 shots, has a very long range, and the projectile travels too fast to slidestep out of the way once fired. The trick to dodging it is to slidestep just BEFORE it fires so that the [[LeadTheTarget FSS]] overcompensates and misses wide, but that won't do the victim any good if he's the target of TWO railguns, one fired a half-second after the other. Needless to say, it's one of the most feared and used weapons in the game's arsenal. |
| 267 | * Various types of magnetic weapons form one of the three starship weapon families in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}''. The largest models are [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon Fixed Forward-Facing]] {{Wave Motion Gun}}s capable of one-shotting pirate cruisers from several [=AUs=] away. They excel at stripping shields but fall a few ticks short against heavily armored targets, so they perform best when paired with armor-melting {{Energy Weapon}}s. |
| 268 | * ''VideoGame/{{Superhot}}: MIND CONTROL DELETE'' introduces a handheld railgun. It's the most powerful gun in the game by a wide margin, firing a metal spike that will pierce whatever you point it at basically instantly, no leading the target required, and kill whatever was behind them until it hits a solid surface. Even the white-bodied enemies that would normally resist other weapons will be killed in a single hit. Unfortunately, enemies who spawn with it also have those advantages, and it fires nearly as fast in their hands. This comes with the drawback of having the longest reload time of any weapon, and the larger metal spike is more prone to getting caught on other objects if you don't have a clear shot. |
| 269 | * In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2'' and the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration'' series the Alteisen has two gigantic shoulder-mounted electromagnets that spew hundreds of tiny ball bearings traveling close to the speed of light. |
| 270 | ** The ''Original Generation'' games also has the Lion series of mechs, which use railguns as their main weapons, ranging from rifles to artillery. |
| 271 | ** And of course the infamous '''[[CallingYourAttacks LINEAR RAILGUN!]]''' that is to [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars La Gias]] what the beam rifle is to ''{{Franchise/Gundam}}''. About eighty percent of all [[MagiTek Masouki]] have one or two of these babies, whether built-in or wielded by hand. |
| 272 | * In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' all the ballistic weapons are of this sort, from the most basic Gauss Cannons that are rapid-fire and relatively [[ArbitraryWeaponRange short-ranged]] and weak to the massive anti-planet Siege Drivers (which fire large metallic asteroids). There are also rail cannons (frequently called impactors), which are {{Fixed Forward Facing Weapon}}s that fire sizable metal projectiles at incredible speeds. Unlike Siege Drivers, these are very effective in combat. Their impact also results in a lot of momentum transfer. |
| 273 | * ''VideoGame/ThunderForce IV'' / ''[[MarketBasedTitle Lightening Force]]'' (sic) features a "Rail Gun" as its upgraded Back Shot. However, it is less of a proper railgun and more of a basic BeamSpam weapon. |
| 274 | * ''VideoGame/{{Titanfall}}'' has the Plasma Railgun, a powerful cannon used by the eponymous [[HumongousMecha Titans]] as a massive sniper rifle. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/UFOAfterBlank'': The first game ''Aftermath'', the alien's had a much larger and varied arsenal of weapons. Among these are the Alien Microslug Accelerators, which are relatively lightweight guns that weigh similar to one of the various human assault rifles but far outclassed them in damage and rate of fire with its magnetically propelled pellets. Humans can reverse-engineer the weapon to create the far cruder and larger but more damaging, Collapsible Railgun, which is a portable, manned turret gun that requires deployment. |
| 276 | ** Later games in the series has the Accelerator firearm accessory. This is a piece of future human technology which is fixed over the muzzle of your traditional human firearm such as assault rifles and machine guns. It's a device that use electromagnetic force to increase the velocity of the bullet coming out of the gun's barrel. |
| 277 | * ''VideoGame/UFOAlienInvasion'' has a railgun with disposable rails packed with each magazine called Bolters, and the in-development version 2.3 features coilguns. |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'': The Attractor Nailgun's secondary fire can fire magnetic rods that will embed into either enemies or surfaces and are capable of attracting both nails and rockets. A maximum of three magnets can be fired at any one time, and the magnets are recharged when previously fired magnets are destroyed. |
| 279 | ** Light weight enemies covered in nails will find themselves pulled towards magnets. This can be especially useful when fighting Sentries, as they cannot fire on V1 if they're magnetized to the wall or ceiling. |
| 280 | ** The rocket attraction feature, on the other hand, is especially useful when fighting [[WalkingTank Guttertanks]], as [[HoistByHisOwnPetard their own rockets will turn against them when fired]]. |
| 281 | * ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' has these as the most efficient (damage/energy ratio) weapons -- as kinetics, they also don't weaken with range and partially bypass DeflectorShields. Micro Driver (light gun, 10,5 kg at 4 km/s), Mini Driver (medium gun, 26,8 kg at 3.5 km/s) and Grand Gauss (378 kg at 20 km/s) weapons. The first two and metal balls for them are dirt-cheap and ubiquitous in Human space (and are weapon of choice for [[EvilLuddite Luddites]]), four of the latter are used as [[FixedForwardFacingWeapon spinal mounted]] weapons on Aera battleship. There's also a lot of "warhead-assisted kinetics," i.e. cannons hurling shells enhanced with various nasty stuff, up to antimatter cells (Reaper). |
| 282 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 2}}'', Brad's most powerful ARM attack is a railgun. Because of its destructive capabilities, it can only hold one or two charges at a time. |
| 283 | * One of the guns used in ''VideoGame/WingCommander'' is the mass driver. It has the worst range and second worst damage of all the fighter-mounted guns. |
| 284 | * In the dark fantasy action rpg ''VideoGame/{{Wolcen}}'', the United Republic of Mankind make use of {{Magitek}} rail guns and if your character is using a pistol or bow - they can use the skill ''Deathgazer Railgun''. |
| 285 | * ''VideoGame/{{X}}'' has Mass Drivers, which are basically giant [[GatlingGood miniguns]]. They shoot their ammo (metal balls) at such tremendous speeds that they go [[ArmorPiercingAttack straight through shields and impact on the hull of the ship]]. Players quickly learn to hate Pirate ships equipped with these with all their heart. ''X3: Terran Conflict'' introduces the Gauss Cannon, a Teladi capital-ship weapon which deals tremendous hull damage, and instead of relying on the ship's generators to fire, uses crates of ammo. The ''Xtended Terran Conflict'' GameMod adds the Meteor Cannon, a Split-exclusive mass driver which fires refined asteroid fragments at ships. |
| 286 | * ''VideoGame/XCom'': |
| 287 | ** ''VideoGame/XCOMTerrorFromTheDeep'' has Gauss weaponry, which based on the in-game description is a railgun mated to a particle accelerator. Specifically, it's a variation on the plasma-based weapons of the first game. Since plasma doesn't do so well underwater (and the amount of power requires [[{{Unobtainium}} Elerium-115]], which goes inert in salt water), they repurposed the magnetic accelerators used to accelerate plasma to break down and accelerate a metallic slug into a particle beam instead. |
| 288 | ** ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', specifically its add-on ''Enemy Within'', has a strange deviation in its weapon progression. All of XCOM's soldier classes wield laser weapons as their tier-2 armaments... except the MEC troopers, who get a freaking enormous railgun instead. It's never explained (or even mentioned) why they don't just get a giant beam cannon like their squishy comrades, and once plasma weaponry becomes available, [=MECs=] start using it along with all the others. The Tier 3 shotgun equivalent is also one of these, launching pieces of repurposed alien hull material using a magnetic field that's pretty similar to the one the alien plasma weapons use. Presumably this was considered less silly-sounding than a "plasma shotgun", which makes even less sense than its laser equivalent. |
| 289 | ** In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', [[VichyEarth ADVENT forces]] use these, and they also serve as the second weapon tier available to XCOM[[note]]interestingly, while XCOM eventually switches to plasma beam technology for a firepower upgrade, ADVENT's EliteMooks stay with magnetic hardware that gradually gets stronger[[/note]]. The research project for them is even outright named "Magnetic Weapons." The ''Long War 2'' GameMod also features coil weapons as an equivalent to stock magnetic weaponry, but with a small aim penalty, higher damage range and [[AntiArmor the innate ability to shred one point of armor]]. |
| 290 | ** In ''VideoGame/XCOMChimeraSquad'', these are your starting weapons, and gain overall damage upgrades instead of plasma replacements. This is mostly to justify why you can use non-lethal ammo in S.W.A.T. situations constantly.[[note]]Plasma weapons that are compatible with 'rubber' rounds are rare items and must be confiscated from black market raids.[[/note]] |
| 291 | * The spiritual successor to the original X-COM, ''VideoGame/{{Xenonauts}}'', has MAG weapons as a final tier for both small arms and heavier weaponry. These weapons are designed to fire [[{{Unobtainium}} alien alloy]] slugs at far higher velocities than would be possible with normal firearms, providing both increased damage and a counter to heat-resistance advances in alien armour. Infantry weapons are coilgun-based, with the barrels repurposed from the previous tier of [[PlasmaCannon plasma weaponry]]. They come in Rifle, Carbine (actually shotgun), Precision Rifle, and Pistol varieties. Crew-served weapons, by comparison, are explicitly referred to as MAG Railguns, mounted standalone to armoured vehicles or in [[MoreDakka larger Batteries of eight]] for air defence. |
| 292 | [[/folder]] |
| 293 | |
| 294 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 295 | * In ''Webcomic/GenocideMan'' the primary sidearm of the titular characters is a handgun-sized railgun that shoots darts tipped with sarin-m, which will put anyone on the ground in under two seconds, completely paralyzed and asphyxiating to death. The darts themselves aren't that dangerous if the target is immune to the neurotoxin, though they're at least strong enough to take down armed drones. And Jacob's gun is mistuned so it produces arcs of lightning when it fires. The electricity output is also enough that, at point-blank, it can act as a fairly effective taser, [[spoiler:which proves key when fighting Joey]]. |
| 296 | * In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', as an army of [[WalkingTank war-clanks]] is being threatened by [[spoiler:Gilgamesh Wulfenbach]], the soldiers on board try [[OhCrap desperately to kill him]] before he can attack. This included one of the commanders ordering his crew to "fire the coil gun," which is presumably the clank's main heavy weapon. We never see the result, because that particular clank [[CurbStompBattle was scrapmetal]] [[OneHitKill in a matter of seconds.]] |
| 297 | ** In what is a clearly an intentional subversion, another scene features a "rail gun," which is to say, it is a device which shoots out a length of newly-forged red-hot [[StealthPun train-rails]], though they do use it against Count Wolkerstorfer's magnetic weapon equipped HumongousMecha. |
| 298 | * ''Webcomic/GrrlPower'': Dabbler (a genius alien succubus) has invented a weapon that she doesn't know the English word for, and tries calling it a "magnetic slingshot." Sydney realizes it's a railgun right when [[StuffBlowingUp the tank she shot explodes]]. |
| 299 | * ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' has "gauss-gunfoam" pistols that act as coilguns in one of their two modes. It also has railguns as a fairly common armament on warships, although these might use [[ArtificialGravity gravy]] rather than magnetism. |
| 300 | * ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'': coilguns are in fairly common use in the future arcs. One arc revolved around the restoration of an old railgun called "Long Tom" that could theoretically launch a bus into orbit. [[http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20110715.html (If they could get it to work.)]] |
| 301 | * Peregrine, the Cyborg {{Space Pirate|s}} from ''Webcomic/{{Voices}}'', has an ''arm-mounted'' railgun. He later uses a MiniMecha which has an even ''bigger'' one, though it's [[AwesomeButImpractical only good for a single shot]]. |
| 302 | * ''Webcomic/TheWhiteboard'': Roger's [[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/autowb121.html paintball railgun.]] |
| 303 | [[/folder]] |
| 304 | |
| 305 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 306 | * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Vandal Savage uses an orbital rail gun to [[ColonyDrop shoot asteroids down at Earth]], giving him "the ultimate high ground" in his latest attempt to TakeOverTheWorld. It was attached to the ISS disguised as a contribution from Kaznia. |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
| 308 | |
| 309 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 310 | * The US Navy has tested a [[http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=34718 10 MJ railgun.]] |
| 311 | ** In December 2010 they broke their own record with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBTbhSFfuNM 32 MJ shot.]] The goal is to equip a ship with a 64 MJ railgun by 2020. |
| 312 | ** Navy fired BAE systems prototype railgun in late February 2012. Unlike previous models, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uV1SbEuzFU this railgun]] is the first model that looks like something that might get mounted on a ship. |
| 313 | ** In January 2015, [[http://freebeacon.com/national-security/the-navy-shows-off-its-futuristic-railgun/ the completed weapon was finally revealed to the public,]] with sea trials to follow shortly. |
| 314 | ** On a more immediately practical, not-directly-a-weapon level, the cutting edge of aircraft carrier technology going out soon involves replacing the steam-powered aircraft launcher catapults with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_Aircraft_Launch_System what are essentially low-speed coilguns,]] By eliminating literal miles of steam and water piping running from engineering to the flight deck, electromagnetic catapults are cheaper, less maintenance-intensive, more compact, have a more gradual acceleration (which means less shock stress on the aircraft being launched), and have a wider range of aircraft weights they can effectively launch. |
| 315 | * As of April 2021, there is at least one model of handheld coilgun openly for sale within the United States. The [[https://arcflashlabs.com/product/gr-1-anvil/ ArcFlash GR-1]] produces a muzzle velocity equivalent to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Short .22 Short]] and is [[UsefulNotes/AmericanGunPolitics legally]] [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms considered as an airgun]]. As capacitor technology improves we will see the capability improve from the level of airguns to that of handguns and eventually true rifles and beyond. |
| 316 | [[/folder]] |
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