History Main / ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon

* In ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr'', an important part of McCarthy's training is to learn that a flamethrower jet can easily cross a football field.

* In ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'', Nazis will frequently move in and melee your RedShirtArmy allies to death, as the latter are [[ArtificialStupidity too dumb to fight back at close range or shoot them from long range]]. The player's pistol is practically useless for anything more than a couple meters away, averting the SniperPistol trope. Ditto for the SMG's, particularly the MP40.

** The Celebration, a drop from the TrueFinalBoss, fires two fireworks that explode after a short distance, placing it squarely in AwesomeButImpractical territory.

** Tetra's pistol doesn't fire as far as one would expect.

* Averted in ''Anime/StarshipOperators''. The range of fighting in the anime is really far.

* Similarly, all manner of ranged attacks in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', be they bows, guns, or magic fireballs, have a maximum range of 30–45 yards. They also have a ''minimum'' range, however. If the enemy gets too close you're forced into melee combat, so it is averted to a degree.
** As of the Mists of Pandaria expansion, this trope is played straight, as there is no longer a minimum distance on ranged weapons.

'''Lopez:''' [Seriously. This whole thing could be over in three shots. Just pull the damn trigger.]

* Zigzagged in VideoGame/DigitalCombatSimulator. The short-range AIM-9 variants can hit targets from up to 22 miles out, while other missiles can hit from beyond-visual-range (BVR). However, owing to the non-functional proximity fuses on the missiles, in multiplayer you'll often find yourself having to close distance significantly with your opponent in order to guarantee a kill before the missile runs out of energy.

* In ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'' Morgan demonstrates his akido skills by using a staff to disarm a pistol=packing woman. If she had stepped back two feet she could easily blown a hole in him before he reached her.[[/folder]]

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* Partially explained in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', through liberal application of AppliedPhlebotinum that screws with long-range sensors and targeting. The creator realized that futuristic space combat would most likely NOT involve giant robots and sword fights, so he came up with the [[MinovskyPhysics Minovsky Particle]] - when spread out over an area, the aforementioned particles destroy unshielded circuitry (making guided missiles useless) and refract all beams and signals pointed through it (so no lasers, guidance beams, or sensors.) Thus the [[HumongousMecha Mobile Suit]], which is big enough to carry electronic shielding and tough enough to take on the enemy at close range where sensors are unnecessary, becomes the most effective weapons platform. Though they tend to be armed with all sorts of powerful gun-type weaponry (one episode of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam'' featured a long-range shootout between two Mobile Suits ten kilometers away), they are primarily designed to fight things they are close enough to see, thus invoking this trope.
** Most examples of this endemic to the RealRobotGenre come from aping Gundam's example, often without the in-universe justifications.
** The MSV portion of the original ''Gundam'' features an unusual example with Zeon ace Brenev Auggs, nicknamed the "One-Shot Killer" because he would put his gun's muzzle right against enemy machines, ensuring that one shot is all he ever needed.

* Repeatedly pointed out to her opponents by Cinderella in the ''{{ComicBook/Fables}}'' graphic novel "War and Pieces".
* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline "[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Who Is Superwoman]]" Reactron has nullified Supergirl's powers, but she's a good enough fighter to drive him back. Still, she's armed with an iron rod, and he's geared with energy blasters. So what does he do - rushes towards Supergirl to fight her at close quarters.
* ''ComicBook/RedRobin'': Tim is decidedly unimpressed by Dentonator's choice of weapon for close quarters fights;
-->''"Who uses '''grenades''' in close-quarters combat? That guy, apparently."''

* ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'': During her aerial duels against [[LoveInterest Shinji]], [[WorthyOpponent Kaworu]] and [[TheRival Mari]], [[AcePilot Asuka]] got extremely close, even though her [[CoolPlane Eva]] was equipped with long-range missiles.
* ''FanFic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K'': As he was fighting [[{{Robeast}} Samshel]], [[TakeALevelInBadass Shinji]] picked a rocket launcher and shot it point blank.

* In the ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''The Armour of Contempt'', being able to connect with a "tread fether" anti-tank missile at 300 metres is considered great. Problem is, even back in 'Nam the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-7 RPG-7]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M72_LAW LAW]] were good up to 200 meters. In contrast, 1990s technology like the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FGM-148_Javelin Javelin]] is good up to 2500 and guided to boot. Unless the Guard has regressed to 'Nam levels of technology, less than 300 metres is awful. Considering the [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} setting]], however, that explanation is entirely plausible.

** ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', where a typical assault rifle has a maximum effective range of 120 feet (and is most effective within 60 feet), and the longest-ranged conventional artillery in the game has a maximum effective range of only 1,200 feet. While that range of artillery is painfully short for real life purposes, it's tantamount to infinite as far as the tabletop is concerned. Unless you have a battlefield more than 10 feet long in any direction.\\

*** Completely averted with the the PC console-activated .44 Magnum (the very gun the Mysterious Stranger uses). It always scores a critical hit and ''WILL'' kill '''EVERYTHING''' (except your allies if you have the Broken Steel DLC) when you fire it. This means that random shots at vaguely-visible targets on the horizon can cause the game the game to notify you that you killed them with a critical hit, even if you can't even see what you hit.

* During the reconquest of Burma in 1945, the retreating Japanese fell back on a fortified city that still had massive, thick, medieval walls and made it clear they were going to defend it to the death. Faced with the not especially appealing prospect of spending a long time and losing a lot of men in a siege followed by protracted hand-to-hand fighting, the British commander, General Slim, brought up his super-heavy artillery, normally used to fight from several miles away, and emplaced them within a few hundred yards of the walls, shielded by tanks. In a throwback to a mediaeval siege, the British then shelled the walls from close range. Even then the walls took a lot of pounding before coming down. Once through the breaches, the demoralised Japanese were swiftly dealt with.

* During the reconquest of Burma in 1945, the retreating Japanese fell back on a fortified city that still had massive, thick, mediaeval walls and made it clear they were going to defend it to the death. Faced with the not especially appealing prospect of spending a long time and losing a lot of men in a siege followed by protracted hand-to-hand fighting, the British commander, General Slim, brought up his super-heavy artillery, normally used to fight from several miles away, and emplaced them within a few hundred yards of the walls, shielded by tanks. In a throwback to a mediaeval siege, the British then shelled the walls from close range. Even then the walls took a lot of pounding before coming down. Once through the breaches, the demoralised Japanese were swiftly dealt with.

-->-- EvilOverlordList #197

* On [[Series/{{Arrow}}]], Oliver Queen frequently uses his bow when in close quarters combat.

* Played horribly straight in ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'' with the Kalina Ann rocket launcher, which has projectiles that automatically detonate a short ways from him even if there are no enemies in range.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare 4]]'' and later have a form of this, where specific weapons will be unable to damage anyone past certain ranges depending on their class (a sniper rifle will reach farther than an assault rifle, which reaches farther than an SMG, and so on). This has some unfortunate side-effects, such as making actual long-range sniping with anything other than the [[{{BFG}} Barrett .50cal]] a waste of time and ammo, and shotguns [[ShortRangeShotgun worthless all the goddamn time]].
** To the other extreme is quickscoping, making perfectly-accurate sniper shots without having to truly look through the scope, which is commonly used to make easy sniper kills from less than ten feet away. This sort of thing is taken to an extreme in one campaign level of ''Modern Warfare 3'', where the player's sniper rifle has a red dot sight mounted on the side of the barrel, just because; you can likewise opt to just use ironsights on certain normally-scoped rifles in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'', with later games allowing the sniper rifles the use of the same short-range optics as any other non-explosive weapon.

** A story-based variation comes in the ''Call of Duty 2'' levels "Crusader Charge" and "88 Ridge", where the player and his fleet of tanks have to close to within spitting distance of the German Panzers while under fire because the Crusaders' guns have a lower effective range than the enemy's. The narrator providing brief history lessons for each set of levels [[LampshadeHanging notes how dangerous this strategy is]], but it works well enough for the player.

Justified, however, in that she lives in a big city, so most of her combats would be in an urban environment with shorter line-of-sight range, and many of her foes are supernatural, and much faster than humans. They are capable of better dodging, and closing the distance, much better than a vanilla human would be.

** ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' -- where powerful, futuristic weapons have effective ranges as short as 60 meters (the heavy machine gun, for example)! The latest incarnation of the ruleset explicitly acknowledges that this is for playability only. (It's a little harder to excuse the fact that ballistic weapons tend to ''lose'' range with increasing caliber, though, especially when the same is most definitely not true for energy-based ones…)

** To the other extreme is quickscoping, making perfectly-accurate sniper shots without having to truly look through the scope, which is commonly used to make easy sniper kills from less than ten feet away. This sort of thing is taken to an extreme in one campaign level of ''Modern Warfare 3'', where the player's sniper rifle has a red dot sight mounted on the side of the barrel, just because; you can likewise opt to just use ironsights on certain normally-scoped rifles in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyGhosts'', with later games allowing the sniper rifles the use of the same short-range optics as any other non-explosive weapon.

* In ''Film/StarshipTroopers'', entire ''battalions'' of assault-rifle equipped troops charge up to spitting range of the bugs. Possibly, this is intentional, to emphasize the untrained nature of the troops and the nature of the military structure that produced them.\\
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Irritatingly, in Heinlein's original book, the swathes of text describing the training of the Mobile Infantry explicitly point out that the soldiers are put through terrifyingly difficult training, and that by the time they are sent to fight bugs, each is a veritable grandmaster of war and death. In fact, that the humans bother training their soldiers is what sets them apart from the bugs: they just hatch more, and don't bother with any fancy prep.

** The WARMACHINE and HORDES games set in the TabletopGame/IronKingdoms, where a typical sniper rifle has a maximum effective range of 70 feet and a mortar has a maximum effective range of 100 feet.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline "[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Who Is Superwoman]]" Reactron has nullified Supergirl's powers but she's pretty good of a fighter to drive him back. Still she's armed with an iron rod and he's geared with energy blasters. So what do he does? Rushing towards Supergirl to fight her at close quarters.

This may be because extremely long-range fights don't look [[RuleOfCool as exciting]]. Watch a Website/YouTube video from the Iraq war or Afghanistan and notice how rarely you can even clearly see the enemy beyond the few muzzle flashes of their weapons. That being said, in many cases, [[RealityIsUnrealistic effective range is only a tiny fraction of a weapon's maximum range]] due to visibility, concealment, battle stress, and suppression fire. It's hard to be accurate at a kilometer even if your weapon can reach out that far, unless you have plenty of time to aim.