Random Questions Thread

Could you realistically handwave a Special Ops soldier knowing how to drive a tank(Abrams) and Helicopter(Apache or Cobra) proficiently as "What? You thought Special Forces training was all physical workouts?"

I'd say no. Those people have way too much to learn in their particular field to justify learning skills that would rarely benefit them.

Maybe like super special James Bond type stuff? That would be more plausible.

"I should show you my flight simulator some time."

The relevant trope is Do-Anything Soldier, and as noted on that page, everyone is trained in the rudiments of infantry combat—but that doesn't work in reverse. Learning to drive a tank, although not with proficiency, is within the realm of possibility (although heaven help him if it's one of those Russian tanks that were optimized for left-handed dwarves with enormous arm strength); a helicopter or plane is right out.

The basics of a tank or most land vehicles are fairly easy but as said before any sort of military aircraft is right out.

How come? Even the basics of just starting it up, and just flying to get the hell out of there without doing anything remotely fancy is too much?

Flying like an F-16 or an Apache is a bit different than flying some cute little Cessna.

Lots of scary switches and pre flight checks and buttons and so on. Plus you might need more than one person.

Yes. Helicopters are complicated beasts compared to fixed-wing aircraft. It's possible to learn how to drive a tank in a few hours, or at least just enough to get from point A to point B; it is emphatically not possible without a lot of aviation experience for a helicopter, which flies very differently from a Cessna.

Aircraft are highly technical machines; it's generally not as simple as starting up the engines and setting off without a care in the world. You have to follow the checklists, follow proper operating procedures, and so on. The techniques that are necessary to fly an aircraft are very different to those required for land vehicles.

Add to this the high performance and unforgiving nature of military aircraft, and you've got a recipe for tears when someone tries to naively take one up for a spin^note In this case probably literal, unfortunately.

I hear getting it back on the ground without breaking it or yourself is even trickier than getting it up in the air.

You can learn to drive a tank in about four hours. It will be several months before anyone would want you doing so in combat.

Toaster-lover detected. Please remain still; we are deploying the Kell Hounds to your location.

What are some potential combat and utility applications for superpowers that give you complete control over the four fundamental forces (i.e. electromagnetism, strong force, weak force, gravity)? Please be as creative as possible. It doesn't matter if you stretch the laws of physics just a tad.

For nuclear forces, couldn't you just do what Doctor Manhattan does and release the bonds of people's atoms? They'd just fall apart. That seems pretty overpowered though.

Overpowered is good.

At that point, you're basically god. Creativity requires constraints.

Then how about increasing gravity on a certain part of a person, basically tearing them apart?

It's a group thing. Each member only has one of the four forces, and they don't really get along. I'm working on other limitations, but right now I'm just trying to get a feel for what each of them can do on their own.

Gravity is weak in the micro-scale but it seems like it'd be one of the more overtly powerful forces in the macro.

Everyone can basically cause instant disintegration. Except for the gravity guy, I'm not sure about him.

Squish people I guess

or compress Earth into a tiny black hole.

edited 25th Apr '14 10:49:16 AM by m8e

Gravity guy could possibly pull off a Force Push of epic proportions. Like Team Rocket-style blasting off, but with realistic consequences.

Seeing as gravity is simply a consequence of the curvature of spacetime, control of gravity means you can warp space and time.

Relativistic effects on a personal scale. Have fun with that.

This is why Marvel and DC are ridiculous. Overpowered bullshit does no one any favors.

No.