Sci-fi Weapons, Vehicles and Equipment

I hope you got some deep pockets to pay for that plan. Payday is next week and my wallet isn't big enough to sign on.

No, there's a regular automatic pistol(Gale), a bullpup revolver(Gust) and an SMG(Blizzard). It also uses very dense ETC-based propellant blocks; They burn extremely fast, so it went in the opposite direction to rockets and high-low pressure systems...

And about hardkill APS's; Whether based on laser, rapid fire or launchers, they could also be used offensively. So if you need a rapid fire weapon, giving it a more capable turret to allow it to function defensively could be a better use of your space and weight allowance than a separate, superior defense system.

So what about using the robotic minions for wetwork and more silent missions. How would you outfit them or alter them?

Maybe serpentine drones that can move underground? But if they can have sensors that penetrate said ground, the enemy could have bigger ones... They might need to go too deep to see for much of their time, relying on information received/collected beforehand.

edited 24th May '15 6:10:27 AM by ManInGray

Why underground? Why not do a Kill and Replace? Or just have them lay in wait with various small arms?

Wow. I just got a visual of snake-like assassin robots. Cooooooool.

I posted a character who does those types of missions....but snake robots are cool...

Will they repeat all exposition they hear?

Are you actually writing a novel Taira or Fanfiction?

I'm working on a series.

X6 To move while hidden, and to go where a human cannot.

Kill and Replace seems like it would require more advanced technology for the drone's behavior to pass close scrutiny. Appearance should be easier.

Another way to get this effect is with an artificial Puppeteer Parasite, which can to a limited extent make use of the host's brain, triggering its routine actions in response to things happening at the moment while suppressing its recognition that it's being manipulated.

edited 26th May '15 11:21:12 AM by ManInGray

Hm. Genepaste would actually help with that, since it's sort of programmable biomass. Get a endoskeleton, dip it in genepaste, grow a body.

Ala Terminator!

If this gene paste is as versatile as you say it could revolutionize biowarfare. Anything from engineered plagues to Kaiju would be as easy as programming the gene paste.

Actually there are limits. It only works with set DNA and everything still adheres to the square cube law.

So Kaiju are out and if you have to give someone a new heart it has to have a basic match to their genetic sample to work perfectly.

It's why it would work for kill and replace. Get a sample of their DNA, use it on the genepaste and voila, replacement right there.

Proper cloning is out because you can't get the brain working.

Kill and replace is more difficult than making a look alike. Without copying the personality and memory a casual conversation or password query can bust the whole thing.

"Bob, what happened to you? Your skin is pasty, and your muscle tone has improved!?"

Both are very true. It would require a lot of in depth research on the subject.

In my 'verse:

No one wants to do the Kill and Replace on the capital worlds, too many people ask questions and medicine is too good.

Nope, the border outposts are targeted. Easy to set up false i.d. chits, easy to smuggle people in. And some remote outpost, would someone really miss Private Screwup if he/she took too long on a break?

There were sevearl attempts at Puppeteer Parasites, most were not good: the parasite eats the host too fast or the host goes insane.

There was one speices of bacteria that looked promising, but the Cay Union miltiary lab that tired it couldn't contain it and terminated all research (and turned the lab into a crater). Cybernetics seems promising, but subjects either turned insane or were gibbering wrecks when the computer tried to override their thoughts.

Between the Dow shapeshifting mercenaries and Earth's bio-andriods, the market is cornered for best disguise. The Martissians prefer seduction and guile, they get results cheaper than some lab grown creation or a cash hungry mercenary...

edited 26th May '15 9:36:50 PM by TairaMai

Also, keep in mind that things like fingerprints and retina patterns aren't carried genetically.

Okay so here is a idea. Flamethrowers in space. Or something similar, is there any benefit to a weapon that shoots heat in a space environment?

while not flammable by most measures, heat control is a major issue for space ships. Vacuum is a very effective insulator so even the ISS needs extensive radiators to radiate the heat. A warship in combat would be generating heat from its weapons, it's generators, it's engines and everything else the captain deems necessary. Adding to this heat would disable or at the least interdict a ship.

I actually came up with hell spit rounds, railgun rounds filled with thermite, as an incendiary weapon. The beauty of the round was that if the ship was under acceleration the thermite would tend to run and drip into hatches and joints. Unfortunately, a high velocity impact would cause the thermite to explode and there are more powerful explosives you can use.

Speaking of heat management — could it be possible to disable a spaceship by shining a big laser or ten on it, not with enough power/focus to do damage, but just to heat it up ? Of course, since lasers produce heat too, you'd need to out-radiate it, or be ground-based.

edited 27th May '15 7:50:11 AM by Aetol

depends on how shiny the spacecraft and how long you have to heat it.

^^ So you want to hit with the equivalent of the world's most powerful microwave oven?

Uhhh...I think you'll be dead doing that long before you disable them instead of more...conventional means. Electronics and mechanical systems don't fail by heat until you hit very high temperatures. A computer system can survive being 200C for a (short) time. Mechanical components can survive depending on its composition for upwards of 600C.

If you have the technology to heat something up from say 45C in space to 450C in the span of a few seconds, you're pretty much shooting plasma at the target rather than a microwave ray gun. Energy transfer via heat is a lot slower than you think.

Aetol: So to make sure I am getting this right. You are possibly talking about a laser or other device that doesn't get hot enough to melt holes or burn anything serious but enough to make the ship really hot? In order for that to work you would need to be able to heat up a given target area quickly. The bigger an area you can heat up rapidly the better.

Tom: On mechanical stresses and materials especially metals the metals become increasingly weaker as they get closer to melting point. Mechanical and motion related stresses become increasingly able to warp, bend, or even break the material that under normal conditions is just fine under stress. Various electronics may not fry instantly but their efficiency and ability to do their jobs goes to shit in a hurry as things get hotter. Sensors being violently heated up like that tend to not function well or not even function at all. Then there is the issue of various weapon systems especially anything that uses explosives or propellants.

In terms of dealing with that kind of heat the closer to melting point you get the worse off it is for the target. It will take it longer to cool off and the chances of causing heat related damage goes up quickly. It also depends on the targets layout and hull make up. If it has armor that can resist weaponized lasers your better off trying to blind or fry sensors, exposed weapons, or maybe even cause the engines to overheat.