Sci-fi Weapons, Vehicles and Equipment

The Atomic Rocket sidearms page suggests that shotguns would be a popular choice for spaceship crews. To quote:
"For starship crews that might not want to lug around 5 different weapons that all fit for only one role, this might be an attractive weapon, especially if they expect to do special missions."

edited 2nd May '16 11:49:24 PM by MattII

There are also frangible shotgun pellets/buck shot now as well.

edited 3rd May '16 12:11:43 AM by TuefelHundenIV

Who watches the watchmen?

How many? Of the entire Halo weapons sandbox over the years only the Assault Rifle and SAW actually fit the definition of Sighted Guns Are Low-Tech. (At least on the UNSC side.) All the others have rudimentary sights or have actual sights or optics. (And if some of the REQ cards in Halo 5 are any indication the UNSC is bringing back optics as a backup/primary measure on everything.)

"Allah may guide their bullets, but Jesus helps those who aim down the sights."

My question is why would you even design a gun without basic iron sights?

IIRC because the USNC has every single soldier implanted with cybernetics that create an Extended Reality HUD on their eyes that shows the proper sights and as a measure to make them very hard to use by civilians and extension the separatists, this was before the whole Human-Covenant war began.

Then you have Halo 5 and because of 343 Industries added ADS and all styles of sights and weapon customizations to human weapons in Halo.

Inter arma enim silent leges

Goddess, the Halo universe seems to run on silly.

A lot of classic "Sci-Fi" gun didn't have any "sights" because the producers paid for an actor and they will see that actor's face.

Now that the Call of Modern Battlefield TM series of games dominates the FPS genre, expect to see more games and movies with sights.

All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be on The First 48

As per our Space Fighter discussion:

IMGUR.COM Comparision of Size of Fighter Jets vs. a human sized figure.

Note that most have gotten bigger. Hence the x-wing-sports car sized craft is pure fantasy. I suspect that an airliner sized "fighter" would be a logical progression.

All night at the computer, cuz people ain't that great. I keep to myself so I won't be on The First 48

They actualy seem to be shrinking agia though, honestly I expect a space fighter to be about the size of a moden one.

Because if you want the fantasy of them, its that there ever going to have a pilot...

Originally the Halo universe (at least on the human side of things) was rather well grounded, after 343i took over things got sillier and sillier. Such as tea bagging walkers and helmets with impractical visor placements. (Down the nose, on the chin and forehead, for example)

edited 3rd May '16 11:30:33 AM by Troperfrom95

Ya, I'm weird like that...

The silly part IS how grounded it is, given that it is suposed to be another thousand years on, and were already working on repalcing combustion guns.

Any way, I have a question that vastly diffres from the normal weaponry topic that we do, although I guess it is a kind of weaponry.

What would be the best way to steralize the outside of a military hardsuit, without killing the person inside?

In setting, those things are TOUGH and can survive a massive amount of abuse, meaning the problem is not how to do it without damaging the suit, but how to do it without damaging the person inside.

The operators are a bit parioniod about weird alien infections to the point that they wear the full vacuum sealed hardsuit even on surface ops, so.... the most potent way that would not kill the human is preferable.

550ish, not thousands.

Maybe you could use radiation?

Ya, I'm weird like that...

Probably sterilize the same way we do with our regular hazmat suits: A sealed chamber that sprays N 2 O, Hydrogen Peroxide, Ethylene oxide or Ozone on the suit and may bathe the suit with ultra violet radiation just to be sure.

However using radiation specters higher than UV is a decent way to kill whoever is inside the suit.

Inter arma enim silent leges

Five hundred years down the line, I can absolutely see Humans still using ballistic weapons. We'd have other stuff too, but I don't imagine they'd outright replace conventional guns so much as add to the arsenal.

yey

Do we still use Crossbows? Longbows? Swords? Plate Armour?

Thats how ridicouls it sounds that we will still be using combustion guns when gauss and railguns are already in development.

Those weapons are what we were using 500 years ago, and 500 years from now our weapons will be just as diffrent, if not more so due to exponential tech growth.

Magnetic weapons won't sumplement, they will eventualy replace, there issue of power draw is no worse then te rate of fire issue that early guns had.... both will be solved, and both will end up replacing there predecesor.... thats how tech growth works.

edited 3rd May '16 12:46:32 PM by Imca

Even in my Mecha setting set around 400 years in the future humanity is still using ballistic weapons. Just more use of caseless ammo with Gauss weapons counting as more heavy range stuff.

Even older guns are being produced for civilian use.

I like Eclipse Phase approach, caseless weapons with programmable bullets and smart munitions being the norm.

Inter arma enim silent leges

Immy: UV, low dose radiation, chemical sprays, some sort of electrical discharge across the suits surface, hard suit car wash, etc.

Who watches the watchmen?

Pulse lasers, the weapon of the future.

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."

Plate armor, yes. A soldier's body armor will usually be some type of kevlar with plate armor inserts.

But really, the crossbow and longbow are an excellent example. How many hundreds of years since the heyday of the Longbow, and we still use ballistic weapons on the battlefield?

Mostly because the general concept is simple but doesn't mean it always will be the go to weapon of choice. The bow and crossbow were supplanted by guns of a wide variety. They also used a much larger number of melee arms in that era.

Who watches the watchmen?

Following this line of thought, we should be using man portable railguns in a couple centuries and particle beams in a millenium. Assuming nobody screws up and hits the reset button

I am not arguing agianst balistic, I think they will dominate for nearly forever due to things like gravity affecting them and the fact you can make them guided.

I am arguing that were NOT going to be using gunpowder for much longer.

The principals may stay the same, but the methods change rapidly.

Pretty much.... But particle beams might not take off due to the fact you cant guide them, or use gravity to arc them.

edited 3rd May '16 5:31:32 PM by Imca

Actually, crossbows are still in use by some groups, mostly special forces, because they're near-silent.

And assuming nothing comes up in the meantime. Lasers f.e. have been around only since the 50s, although they first appeared in a form in "The War of the Worlds" with heat-beams being, in effect, very much like lasers. That's less than 120 years from first conception to where we are today, and things will develop still faster in the future.

edited 3rd May '16 8:06:57 PM by MattII

What about the Pusle Rifles from Aliens? Not gunpowder but Electric fire Caseless.

Still using propellant though, so it's not really an improvement.