Historical, Alternate History, Modern Era or Future Tech, Weapons, Vehicles, Equipment and Tactics

Hello everybody, This is a post for the creation of, discussing and designing of weapons, vehicles, equipment and tactics from any historical period, the modern era, the future or Alternate History from any time period you please. It doesn't have to be military, civilian stuff is okay too. Want to discuss technology in your story that is still under research in real life? Want to discuss tech in your Alternate History from the medieval ages? Discussing how modern technology can be used in your story? It all goes here. Your descriptions don't have to go into great detail, just give a general outline of what you are thinking of and feel free to ask any questions that you please.

The guidelines for this forum are similar to the two sci-fi world building forums, to quote:

- When providing a critique of a design or concept, please ensure it is constructive criticism. Similarly, don't just say "That's cool/dumb/makes my head hurt" if you can help it - explain why it's cool/dumb/makes your head hurt. One of the goals of this thread is to create weapons, vehicles and equipment that makes sense (for the setting), after all.

- Be polite/respectful etc.

The Sci Fi forums can be found here [1] and here [2]

A general Alternate History thread can be found here for all things AH [3]

Want to discuss Fantasy? Try this thread for all things Fantasy [4] or this one [5] for Fantasy Weapons, Societies, Equipment and Mounts/Vehicles.

Now let's begin with the first post

edited 13th Jan '15 1:11:23 AM by matti23

Wondering what you thought of this for alternate history fic I was making: The blaster rifle is almost exactly based on the design of the Martini-Henry rifle [1] with one change, an automatic firing mechanism replacing the original mechanism. The large caliber projectile (something like a .577/450 Martini-Henry cartridge) has been hollowed out and replaced with as much explosive as can be fitted into it, with a large amount of Mercury Fulminate to act as a contact trigger. The technology level by this point in the story is slightly ahead of our level but it has been in service since this universe's equivalent of the 80s. At this point in the story (roughly equivalent to 2010) it has become outdated and is being pulled out of service.

The explosive could be high explosive from a shell like this [2]. Considering using C4 but I'm not even sure if C4 would even detonate if the Mercury is used as a detonator instead of the proper C4 detonator mechanism (Maybe sympathetic detonation would allow the trigger to set off the C4? [3] ).

It's not meant to be used against anything with a decent amount of armor. It's just used to attack infantry in light cover, showering a small area with shrapnel (from the bullet impacting wall or tree) or very lightly armed vehicles such as military Jeeps. The bullet is intended to travel further than a grenade launcher of comparable size can shoot (modern extruded powder or the WC 844 ball propellant is used in place of the original black powder to increase its range). The bullets for this weapon are larger than a M16's so the effective point shooting range should be between 600 meters (M16) and the original black powder rifle's 370 meters.

It's a pretty iffy early concept I put up here to get the thread started so I wouldn't be super surprised if it didn't work at all. Feel free to submit some of your own stuff below.

edited 17th Oct '14 7:10:30 PM by matti23

Look... you can't ask 'how plausible is this' without giving any details, and expect anyone to answer it in a way that is helpful to you. You've got to flesh out your ideas more, or at least make it clear that you're trying to crowdsource story ideas.

...that aside, in what way is it based on the Martini-Henry rifle? And what purpose would this weapon accomplish in a Next Sunday A.D. / 20 Minutes into the Future setting, that current weapons cannot? For that matter, a bullet that detonates on contact would be completely worthless against modern battlefield armor, because it has that less mass - and therefore inertia - to pierce and damage with. (Plus, the detonator would take up too much space to allow for a reasonable amount of explosive material, and would push the per-item cost up too high to make it an attractive weapon to purchase.)

The weapon seems implausible to me, for those reasons. I also don't see what a full clip of those bullets could do, that an already-existing rocket-propelled grenade couldn't do better.

I realize I didn't post to much stuff before so I've added the rest of the info. You've got good points about the weapon. The Americans and their allies will now have XM 25 CDT Es instead [1]. If anyone has any questions about their AH or has any other stuff they would like to post below feel free.

edited 17th Oct '14 12:43:44 AM by matti23

A few questions:

How would WW 2 work out different if Project Habakkuk was funded instead of the Manhattan Project. How would they be used? Would they even work? When is the earliest a steam engine could have been plausibly created by the Greeks?

What kind of applications might a microwave weapon built using current tech or tech currently in research have besides point defence or non lethal weaponry? Would it even be practical to build one?

edited 18th Oct '14 10:25:33 PM by Matm

• Fellergun - An automatic shotgun with dual overhead barrels in the style of the neostead. It may seem archaic for the period (early-mid 22nd century), but is quite fit to purpose - the ammunition being split slug/rocket projectiles with either a solid head and a limited bursting charge (for large, hard-skinned creatures), or a fairly thin head and a large bursting charge (for smaller creatures) - given that they're built for protection against wild animals rather than intelligent enemies.
• Hand Scanner - A mobile X-ray machine composed of an emitter on the end of a handle, and a screen like a very wide slap strap held open in use by a couple of struts. Has adjustable power setting so that not just bones but also organs can be seen.
• Powerdrive Unit - A nuclear reactor capable of being used either power propulsion or power generation.
• Warpgate - A device allowing instantaneous transit between points in space, with the limitation that it causes temporary psychosis in most earth animals, more violent and longer-lasting the further away the destination is.

edited 18th Oct '14 11:59:27 PM by MattII

Interesting setup Matt II, does the warpgate work over interplanetary, intercontinental or intercity distances? Can the hand scanner be modified to be a weapon? Does anyone use the power drive unit as a weapon?

Everybody, I've got two general weapons ideas. I'm wondering if the progress in-universe is plausible for a weapon built in the next 6 years or if it is too conservative or advanced. The ideas are vague so feel free to comment on how ideas on how these projects may work or look (you don't need a very detailed comment so general advice is fine).

A tank that is planned to be driven with two modes, remote control and AI driven. The remote control mode works but there is a delay in receiving orders which is especially noticeable at intercontinental distances, necessitating a mobile command center closer to the battlefield (much like a UCAV [1]). The second AI mode is not available to the army at the time of the setting (present day tech), but a prototype sits in the AU DARPA lab and can navigate with some difficulty around a model neighbourhood and shoot at a limited amount of sample targets. It can only recognize targets from certain angle with work ongoing.

The second is an aircraft nicknamed by researchers as the "Flying Brick" (not the air force designation). It was intended to be an AI flown and combat capable jet fighter based on this aircraft [2] but development is not going well. It can only fly passably when released by another plane a few kilometers up. As a researcher says in universe "it's just like the brief said... except it can't take off, can't land and can't shoot at anything." 6 years left until superiors expect to see a model that can at least take off and land on its own.

edited 20th Oct '14 5:05:37 AM by matti23

Interplanetary and interstellar, it can't be opened in atmosphere for some reason, it needs a near-vacuum, with means orbit only, although for test purposes (to find out anyone who isn't effected) a vacuum chamber works. The hand scanner could theoretically be modified to be a weapon, although practically it would be easier to just use the battery to electrocute them. As for the drive, not it's not used as a weapon, and if it was it would only be viable as a dirty bomb. In fact, the drives are built so safe that without physical access it's impossible to get one to overload due to at least two different, unconnected fail-safe mechanisms built into the units themselves.

As to those weapons, I'd say too advanced, I really can't see A.I.s developing that quickly from where they are now, although if the A.I.s are only theoretical, then it's a maybe.

edited 20th Oct '14 1:44:46 AM by MattII

Matm:

Iceships would have presented a significant naval advantage - I particularly imagine the rise of super-massive aircraft carriers - but they could not on their own have brought a swift end to the Japanese/American side of WWII. I think the Pacific front would have ended with plans for an extended seige of Japan, ending (sooner or later is highly debatable) with a surrender from Japan, but quite possibly on more favourable terms than our own history.

The aeolipile was completely described by Hero in the first century AD, but it draws on references from as far back as the 200s BC and it isn't clear how developed the earlier forms were. (They don't explicitly refer to moving parts in the sections we have, for instance.)

I believe microwave weapons may also have potential for incapacitating electronics, but that isn't something I know much about.

Possible, but I think it would be fairly easy to armour against as well.

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how this system might work, how plausible it might be with technology made in the next 6 years and how effective it may be:

Mixing specialized point defence vehicles into a tank formation to help survival. This includes vehicles carrying electric countermeasure tech [1] and Iron Fists [2] whose ability is boosted by tanks armed with extra sensor equipment.

edited 23rd Oct '14 9:35:01 PM by matm

Technically this counts as part of the forum depending on when you set your zombie story:

Mention the weirdest zombie weapon you can think of or is in use in your setting:

My story has a protagonist destroy zombies with a leg of ham and a severed human leg Mortal Kombat style.

edited 2nd Nov '14 12:51:29 AM by matti23

A giant T-shirt cannon [1]

edited 2nd Nov '14 12:11:38 AM by matm

I've got a couple of stuff I want to ask about, mostly involving mechas.

First, is it realistic for a Plasma Cannon to have a maximum range of only a few hundred meters in vacuum due to the bolts blooming and dissipating? Mind you, this is not an infantry weapon but one mounted onto a Humongous Mecha - and considering the ranges space combat usually takes place at, it's way too short-ranged to be useful. In fact, the bolt's natural expansion maxes it operate kinda like a real shotgun when fired at medium range.

Second, is it reasonable for a space navy to have started to partially phase out kinetic weapons due to potential collateral damage, enhanced by the fact that the shells' velocity is quite limited (ie. not relativistic)? Replacing them are particle beam weapons whose beams bloom and decay into mostly harmless radiation after a few thousand kilometers, ensuring that they don't accidentally hit somebody without even realizing. Kinetic cannons are still being used but not exclusively.

Actually from what I understand you're likely to get less blooming and spread in a vacuum. No atmosphere means there's "nothing" for the ionised gas to run into an make it spread out.

edited 4th Nov '14 2:48:57 PM by KnightofLsama

That's not how plasma works.

All particles (atoms and molecules) move around all the time if said matter's temperature is above absolute zero. In gases, this movement is so intense that gases do not have any kind of internal structure but expand until they evenly fill all available space, unless there's something in the way (like non-permeable solid matter) or something doesn't let them go beyond a certain point (like how gravity holds atmosphere to a planet).

Plasma is no different, with the added benefit that it is much hotter than its surroundings, resulting in it expanding even faster than ordinary gas if nothing is confining it (plus the cooler environment causes it to rapidly cool down and revert into ordinary gas). It's not atmospheric resistance that makes plasma bloom, it's the plasma's own internal pressure.

And when I said that it has a limited range in vacuum, I did not mean it has longer range in atmosphere. What I meant was that it has limited range in vacuum and doesn't work in atmosphere at all. Trying to fire it in atmosphere results in a high-tech flamethrower; trying to fire it in vacuum produces a plasma bolt that dissipates after 2-3 seconds.

edited 4th Nov '14 4:01:32 PM by amitakartok

If the plasma in that story blooms within 2-3 seconds you can work out the range from there. Take the speed of the projectile or beam, work out how far it goes in 3 seconds and call that the range. If it goes at 0.001c you should be able to get a range in the hundreds of km. The faster it goes, the longer the range. At 0.1c it should roughly get a range very roughly in the tens of thousands of km.

Your second point may depend on who you ask. Like in most sci-fi settings one could expect plasma resistant armor to be a different from kinetic resistant armor.

edited 4th Nov '14 8:45:22 PM by matti23

There's no relativistic tech in that verse.

They have FTL travel but it's wormhole-based and too complex to weaponize yet. To be specific, there's two kinds of FTL here; one uses interconnected gates to form the wormholes and has a maximum speed of 99.187856c, the other doesn't use gates and is faster but it relies on an alien warpdrive the size of a city. Neither options leave much room for weaponization.

There's also a third kind of FTL which is nearly instantaneous and is used to get the first kind's gates into position but it produces too much exotic radiation to safely transport organic matter.

Relativistic tech for a ship is different than for small particles. The LHC today can get particles above 0.9999c. Although a mech might not be able to carry something as huge as the LHC smaller devices might be able to still get a significant speed. It just depends how long you spend speeding up your ammunition, the size of the weapon and how much power you want to pump into the accelerator mechanism and containment magnets.

edited 5th Nov '14 8:35:00 PM by matti23

You know... it's funny you say that, because there's a sublight propulsion method doing just that: it scoops up the interstellar medium's particles, accelerates them to ridiculously high velocities and blows them out at the back of the engine. A ship that carries this is still nowhere near relativistic speeds but it still has way more acceleration than it should rightly have, being able to cross interplanetary distances in weeks.

Amitakartok, That sounds like the perfect kind of ship to pull a Kzinti Lesson with.

On another note, I was wondering what was the upper limit for the amount kickback an average male could consistently tolerate from a weapon.

edited 7th Nov '14 3:41:50 AM by matti23

A plasma weapon that uses coated slugs could be used couldn't it?

Plasma has mass too.

In my opinion, the best bet for tanking kickback is to wear a powered exoskeleton.

Amitakartok, That sounds like the perfect kind of ship to pull a Kzinti Lesson with.

I plan on that actually happening in one chapter. Consider the following: a cruiser using this drive goes full thrust for a close flyby with an enemy battleship, cuts its drives, pitches up 90° then fires the drive on full power, slicing the battleship clean in half from bow to aft, while coasting on momentum and blowing away a pair of destroyers that happened to be at the right angle to get their missile launch tubes broadsided by the Car Fu-ing cruiser's cannons.

I know this is quite over the top but it would be a one-time thing because the cruiser takes quite a bit of damage during its initial charge, resulting in the crew deciding not to consider that as their first option in a battle again. Of course, the Humongous Mecha the ship lugs around has a smaller version of the same drive system and liberally uses it for Foe Tossing Charges.

edited 7th Nov '14 6:21:34 AM by amitakartok

Wondering what you thought of this concept, how it may work and how effective it may be. I've currently planned for it to be able to fire with a force slightly greater than a longbow after 6 sweeps (the handle going out is one sweep, coming in is another sweep). What is the maximum amount of energy a weapon like this could output without destroying itself or ripping itself out of the operator's hands? When is the earliest a weapon like this could be constructed? It currently exists from Alternate early 1200's onwards

A crossbow with what looks externally like a lever action style handle. Pumping of the handle works a mechanism that causes the bowstring to be drawn back, with multiple pumps of the handle drawing it further back. Both moving the handle away from you and towards you causes tension to be added to the bowstring.

The lever system is connected to the firing mechanism by two separate gear sections, each of which is similar to the gear system of a bicycle in that they only transfer force further on from rotation in one direction. These two sections respond to rotation in the opposite directions allowing the handle to draw the bowstring no matter which may it moves. One of the gear systems can be disengaged from the lever system to allow for a faster firing rate (the handle can be pushed back to the original position with less resistance).

A Chu Ko Nu style magazine exists on the crossbow but is placed under the weapon rather than over it. The magazine's spring presses arrows up against a plate above the firing position with roughly the same force gravity would have pulled arrows in a Chu Ko Nu against its body. This allows aiming down iron sights on the weapon or a scope (when used for sporting in modern times).

edited 25th Nov '14 12:54:58 AM by matti23

The problem there is, the further back the string gets the more taut the bow gets, so that by the end you're struggling to move the lever at all, unless you have a reducing gear, but that's generally recommended, too much weight and complexity.