Are Martial arts skills useless in a soft Science fiction setting?

Still par for the course. However beating a zombie to death with bare hands and making it Crazy Awesome is if the character actually handcuffs himself before the fight, ties his shoelaces together, wraps his belt around his eyes, and all the while whistles "Dixie".

Wait, your setting has spaceships and space stations right? Allright here is a good use for martial arts skills; on space stations and spaceships people are worried that gun or blaster fire might tear a hole in the hull and kill everybody. In those situations being able to take on people with just your fists becaomes practical.

^^ Nice thinking. Thanks! Or since such character would be acrobatic, He could also be useful to explore areas where carrying bigger equipment is unpractical. And he coul always pose a distraction wouldnt he?

While it's true that, the more outmatched he is, the more awesome it will be if he wins a fight  ^*

, remember that intentionally going into a fight outmatched is an Idiot Ball. It's just common sense to either get a decent weapon or not fight.

In other words, if a mecha pops up unexpectedly and he beats it with his bare hands, that's awesome (if it's possible), but if he specifically goes off to fight a mecha with nothing but his bare hands, he's going to look like an idiot for not bringing an AT gun or something.

And for example. how could him beating a mecha unarmde be believable and awesome. Enough Rule of Cool?

Edit: Does using the envirment at your advantage help ?

edited 30th Sep '10 12:45:06 PM by heartlessmushroom

Does practicing Le Parkour aid this kind of hero in this setting?

I don't see why it wouldn't. Agility brought on by a Parkour regimen can be quite useful in say an urban environment.

He could use the environment by, for instance, dropping something on the mecha (or getting the mecha to dislodge something that then falls on it) or getting the mecha stuck in a narrow place/mud/snow/etc. And yes, Le Parkour always helps.

But again, it only works if there's a good reason he didn't just shoot it with an RPG.

RP Gs take a little time to set up, and maybe the mecha's tracking system would ensure he didn't have the ability to stop to use it without getting the pluck shot out from him.

alternately, when all you have is mad parkor skillz.....