Questions tagged [combat]
For questions involving the specifics of combat.
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How to Defeat a Precognitive Warrior? [closed]
My hapless wanderer (let's call her Alice) escaped the Wold forest only to stumble upon a large, featureless and dusty plane, at the center of which lies Castle Morrow, a fort populated by mechanical ...
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How would a dragon be used in a modern military?
The military of (insert nation here) has finished training its latest asset: an adult dragon. Let's call him Private Firestorm. He's got everything the top brass wants from a soldier: he's ...
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How to defend when attacked by an avian species?
Bird people are humanoid creatures with a wingspan of 4 meters, they are as tall as humans and the fittest of them weight 72 kilograms or slightly less, so they are quite lighter than the average ...
user56803
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Magic as Luck Control
Note: A fair bit of setting-lore is laid out in the more subtle magic question, so it might be worth paying that a visit, if you haven't already.
The sky is dark and gloomy in the swamplands, the ...
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Are gunswords feasible?
A common trope weapon in science fantasy (such as RWBY or the appropriately named Gun Sword) is the gunsword. As the name implies, a gunsword is a sword that's also a gun, or vice versa. This has ...
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What effects would propellant that expands at near light speed have on firearm technology?
Think of firearm technology similar to that of today with better materials, machining, etc. A colony of humans has discovered a way to make propellant that expands at near light speed. What advantages ...
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Probable criteria for Ramming to become popularized for Space Combat
The society that I am developing is reminiscent on Early Medieval Society, and I want a version of the cavalry charge (and the cavalry cycle) to exist in my universe as well.
Essentially I want ...
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Swords more effective than guns [closed]
In our beautiful little world there are guns like pistols and rifles and for simplicity sake let's say they are of the Old West variety. In this world there also exist many beasts different and ...
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How long could a late WW2-era battleship last under sustained ship of the line cannon fire?
In an alternate world of magic, a battleship similar in design to the Bismarck is stopped in the middle of the ocean. It was built by a society of Earth humans who moved to this world. All other ...
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Personal Teleportation as a Weapon
I've always considered teleportation to be one of the most under-rated super powers in all ways, but at the moment I'm thinking through the ramifications of personal teleportation as a superpower in ...
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How can I protect witches in combat who wear limited clothing?
On TV, witches often wear skimpy, impractical outfits when going into a fight. This is done for fanservice reasons, so I wanted a way to make this sensible. Witches perform magic by drawing in energy ...
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Modern era with magic that will stop gunpowder from igniting, what weapons are used instead?
One of the annoying problems with most urban fantasy series I've read is that they seem to mostly try to avoid discussing the fact that most of their fearsome magical foes could be felled with a ...
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What (modern) weapons could be used to destroy skeletal enemies as completely as possible?
As per the cliché, after getting hit by a truck, our protagonist finds herself in a 'swords and sorcery' fantasy world. Also as per the cliché, she is granted an overpowered ability to make her new ...
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What would be the best way to fight a duel with lightsabers?
Lightsabers are really, really different from modern swords. They have weightless blades, will cut through their targets independent of velocity, and can be turned on and off fairly quickly.
In light ...
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How do I stop annoyed wizards from killing people all the time?
How do I stop annoyed wizards from killing people all the time?
In my fantasy world, wizards are quite powerful, and they can kill anyone they know the location of with just a thought. The usual ...
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Wearing a cape during combat?
In a book I'm writing, a king has a bodyguard of a dozen elite swordsmen, trained their whole lives to protect their sovereign. Their capes are long and trail behind them. What are the disadvantages ...
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Boarding weapons in space
I'm writing a story that's relatively hard Science Fiction. Therefore (Although fancy and high tech) the personal weapons are, at their core, regular firearms.
Now, in boarding scenarios you want to ...
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If one of the spatial directions wrapped around, how would combat be different?
This is a test drive of the alien-geometry. I hope it will be a fun tag.
Okay, for the purposes of this question, the world is flat (like, you still have plants and hills and stuff, just no long term ...
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How would humanoid creatures with powerful jaws, claws, and a tail efficiently use their anatomy in barehanded combat?
In the story I am writing, there are several fight scenes between clearly non-human combatants. These combatants have several natural weapons at their disposal that humans do not have, including jaws, ...
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How could a group of 6 people destroy an army?
One of my wow moments when playing Baldur's Gate 2: Throne of Bhaal happened when the three most powerful Bhaalspawn siblings (Imoen, Sarevok and the Player Character), together with just three more ...
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In modern day combat, what would warrant singing during battle?
Cicad the singer is having a downtime in his career.
Over the millennia, Cicad sang anywhere from royal courts to farmers' cottages and have been rewarded with many, many hand-claps.
But to keep ...
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How can I explain a one-shot, slow-to-reload laser sidearm?
I'm writing a semi-realistic science fiction story set, let's say, 500 years in the future, where humanity has colonized some of the solar system. For combat purposes, I've been playing with the idea ...
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What would a battle between supercomputers be like with the battleground being the internet?
Assuming these supercomputers can think/reason in "internet battle terms", aka. having the capability to predict their opponents' movements and recognize patterns and prepare for different types of ...
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How advantageous is an invisible sword?
An adventurer has come into possession of an invisible sword. How advantageous in a duel or skirmish would this be? Good for a one-time trick, a significant advantage throughout a fight, or even a ...
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Time-traveling Combat
Introduction
This question is based on the time travel mechanic discussed in my previous question The Tricky Trouble with Two Time Travelers. I'll lay out the rules that I've decided on so far:
...
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What would be the most effective melee weapon against heavily armored opponent?
In my world front line assaults are done with Mechanized Assault Vehicles, or MAVs. They are kind of like the vehicles in the Mecha universe, but more armor than weapon, more humanoid, than purpose ...
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Why do my monster minions all have obvious weak points that instantly kill them?
A malevolent force is lurking the shadows creating monsters to be its army and take over the world. WHY in the world does it put a highlighted weak point on all of them? It makes sense from a writers' ...
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Could Finger-Fencing be Fatal?
At the King's court, duels are sometimes used as a way of settling disputes. However to avoid too many injuries the king has decreed that combatants must use only one finger as a weapon. Any finger ...
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War eagles, feasible?
Let's assume that there's a species of eagles that's about the size of an Andean Condor (about 3m wingspan, 1.5m length, 10kg) and that there's a culture that has managed to tame this creature (or ...
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How would I make guns uncreatable in a post-apocalyptic world?
I am building a world in which technology has taken an enormous step back due to an apocalyptic event. For one reason or another guns no longer exist in the world and I would like to have a reason why ...
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What would be the physical effects of a fistpunch with greatly magnified strength? [duplicate]
Assume a humanoid with greatly increased strength. He (or she) throws a massive direct punch at the middle of the breast of a human, who is standing in range.
Assume a punching force of about 1000 KN....
user6415
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Is there a military benefit to humanoid combat robots?
There have been questions of the validity of combat mechs and the shape of police robots before, but the general consensus is that the main reason for a mech to be humanoid is to appear less ...
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How to defeat exact copy of yourself?
Suppose you are fighting exact copy of yourself in perfectly balanced arena. Replica is doing same moves as you do. How would you defeat it ?
edit1:
Committing suicide 100% defeat for you and clone.
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Would ground-based vehicles become obsolete in the age of space combat?
I'd think the future combat of planetary invasion (as in conquering, not destroying) would use space fighters/gunships with infantry for CQC support.
Realistically, in a universe where interstellar ...
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How would martial arts develop in world with monsters?
If you have played Eastern-style RPG's (role playing game, think Final Fantasy) your know they tend to have monsters of many types and sizes, some much larger, some smaller, some humanoid, some animal ...
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To justify mortal combat
The setting is now-ish, with better robots and stuff to do our jobs for us. Somehow - that's the question - people bring back mortal combat to resolve their conflict (accepted by the law of course).
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How can infantry and light cavalry defeat heavy cavalry in a valley?
At the climax of my medieval low-fantasy novel the protagonist has to besiege a castle that (from his side) can only be accessed through a valley. The valley is quite cramped, and the hills are too ...
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What are some ways combat will occur in 0 gravity
While reading Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, I realized that most combat techniques don't work as well in space. Old fashioned hand to hand combat and swordplay don't work since there's no footing and ...
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How to make flashy fighting practical fighting
I have a friend who is a practitioner of HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts), and who adores telling me all about realistic fighting techniques and why all the fight scenes I love suck. Well, I know ...
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Modern Body Armor for Medieval Style Weapons
Imagine an alternate history, where weapons types didn't advance past "medieval" type weapons. So like: swords, maces, flails, crossbows, bows, polearms, mauls, etc. I'm intentionally excluding "gun"/...
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What changes would we see in humans genetically engineered for combat?
I've got a group of humans who believe as a central tenet of their religion that humans should be as physically perfect as possible. In pursuit of this goal, they've spent a few hundred years applying ...
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How would martial arts specialize to take advantage of human sexuality-based musculoskeletal differences, especially in women?
Considering that men and women actually do wind up with a variety of nonreproductive physiological differences (unlike many fantasy worlds which ignore them), among them:
Men wind up with more ...
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Fairy battle tactics
My fairies are hunted for food by basically anything that’ll eat bugs, mice, and small birds. Humans also target them because wild fairies are seen as a nuisance (and a tasty nuisance at that). How ...
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How might castles develop in magical world?
Allow me to shed some light on this subject (turns on lightbulb).
Brief Overview of Magic
These powers manifest themselves any time from birth to the end of puberty. These magical powers fall under ...
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What about electronic warfare?
According to two websites I respect a great deal (Atomic Rockets and Rocketpunk Manifesto), weapons fall into three broad groupings: kinetic, explosive, and energy.
But if we're talking about winner ...
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Very Close Quarters Combat in space
When I saw this question today in the active questions list I thought it would be about one-on-one combat in space. But the question and answers (while still good) were focused on battles between ...
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How would one defend against a being that can turn parts of itself intangible at will? [closed]
There are a number of stories that contain a being that can turn parts of itself intangible at will, meaning it won't interact with most objects:
The twins from the second Matrix movie;
The demon ...
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Fighting techniques in an arena of rings rotating in alternating directions
This might be a bit story based, but here goes-
I have an idea for an arena for one of my civilizations which involves about 20 rings a yard wide and rotating each other at different speeds. the outer ...
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How Could a Human beat a Centaur in a Fight?
I write centaurs as wild barbarians that love fighting - especially with weakling, little humans. So let's say our centaur and hero are fighting in an open, little, dirt circle in the middle of the a ...
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Primitive underwater melee combat [duplicate]
My setting contains modified humans who live on an ocean planet with only small pockets of land. Generally, large populations of people live on these small islands but since land is so restricted, ...
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