Questions tagged [combat]
For questions involving the specifics of combat.
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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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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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Is music weaponizable for small-scale melee fighting?
Some people say music soothes the souls. However, could it have an effect on small-scale fights? The scenario I'm wondering about is quite similar to Starlord from Guardians of the Galaxy: A human is ...
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What might mini submersible dogfights be like?
Recently, a company created a fascinating toy available to the sufficiently rich. It is not hard to imagine that military types have taken a close look at this, and have thought about ways to tweak ...
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How to explain hover technology
In many sci fi games we see vehicles (or in halo 4 and 5 guns) that use hover technology. But how using technology that is scientifically realistic could we explain military grade hover technology? By ...
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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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Battles in space [duplicate]
As far as I am aware, the realities of warfare in space is (or will be) vastly different to our current imagining. Star Wars and Star Trek both have ships relatively close to each other, firing lasers ...
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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 paleolithic combat work in a world where you have instant, and permanent mastery when you hold any tool?
How would paleolithic combat work in a world where you have instant, and permanent mastery when you hold any tool?
Weapons are limited to stones, slings, clubs, and stone-point spears, but any tool ...
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What hairstyles are practical for action characters? [closed]
I will instantly assume that ponytails and their kin (very grabbable) and long hair in general (see: impractical capes) are not the best hairstyles of choice for characters wanting to fight.
I'm ...
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What martial art style would most suit an unarmed 'support' character?
I'm toying with an RPG concept, which includes a younger unarmed martial artist (14/15). As keeping with martial arts tropes he fights unarmed and may fight against monsters as well as humans, but ...
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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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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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energy based super weapons in space, realistically possible?
So I'm already knee deep learning about science stuff for what I'm working on, but these two questions seem to have snagged me.
Of note, I am looking at these issues from a highly technological ...
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Camouflaging a mech
With modern technology, targeting equipment has become very good in its ability to pick out a target and lock onto it, thereby reducing the viability of traditional camouflage. In a world of mechs, ...
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The viability of frontline infantry mechs [duplicate]
The mechs that have been developed are 40 tons and 5 meters tall at the smallest and can reach to 250 tons and 25 meters tall at the biggest. They are mostly capable of carrying large weapon systems ...
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Live-fire mech sports
In this world, mechs (think MechWarrior) have been developed and have become formidable fighting machines. They are capable of dominating the battlefield and can carry multiple heavy weapons into war. ...
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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 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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Could a bird be a match for a small airship?
Could a large, aggressive bird of prey take an aircraft the size and weight of two motorcycles out of the sky?
The bird is about the size of a child, but has sentient intellect. If it got through the ...
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Is hand to hand combat the destined to make a comeback in space?
Okay, the title is a little misleading, but in Michael Hicks' In Her Name books an alien race many millennia old has achieved space travel and has highly advanced technology. When I say advanced, I ...
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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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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 long would it take to train a medieval village girl to be a swordsgirl?
This is for a story set in a Renaissance-era type society but with improved scientific knowledge from spirits / divination or some such with common elemental magic (Earth, Wind, Fire, Water...) and ...
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Effects of copious amounts of spider silk
What would be the effects of copious amounts of spider silk be on a highly militaristic country? The country is somewhere between renaissance and industrial as far as development, and has had access ...
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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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Relativity in regard to space combat
How would relativity affect space combat? I'm wondering how it would work at all. If everyone is moving at different speeds, then they're experiencing time differently, and maybe seeing ships where ...
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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 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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