Questions tagged [warfare]
For questions related to the effects of certain circumstances, conditions, or locality changes on war. Related tags: [civil-war], [nuclear-war], [cold-war]
1,834
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Could a Luna-based colony successfully revolt against Earth? [closed]
Let’s say that a colony established by humans on Earth’s moon was, for whatever reason, entering a revolutionary war with Earth for its own long-term sovereignty as a planet/nation. Mars has also been ...
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How to Quickly Direct a Dragon’s Fire while Piloting her in Battle?
In this world, some dragons are bred by humans, some are feral. Some are domesticated and trained for work or war, while others are free, and can make lifelong friends with humans and their families. ...
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How would a late 1890s/ early 1900s army and a early 16th century army interact in war without prior contact?
Armies of the late 1890s and the early 16th century are operating on practically completely different principles of war. How they fight battles is extremely different.
However in this case, they've ...
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Minimizing bleeding, maximizing killing
In this world there is a species of Apex predators that roams every corner of the planet, creatures basically unkillable... Oh, and it flies, very fast. But they have only one weakness, they are blind ...
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what deal would a ruler strike with a god of another nation? [closed]
I have a story, where a monarchy of elves fights against an empire of humans because the humans are logging their holy forest.
Inside the empire there is a region populated by a tribe that is fighting ...
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Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
I have two small tribes which are in a similar, small geographical location. One of the civilisations is a group of warriors, called Wolves, who have trained to be warriors since children. The others, ...
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How could forces without metal or plastic face up to conventional forces?
The basic concept here is that armies in this setting use powerful shield generators (carried in armoured vehicles) to create shields that inorganic matter cannot pass through - no metals, no plastics....
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How might weapons and armor evolve in a world where Humans coexist with Dinosaurs?
I'm thinking of writing a story where due to magic, a bunch of Neolithic tribes get sent to the Late-Cretaceous Period.
While I was coming up with the idea, I realized that living with dinosaurs may ...
6
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Black powder Daisy revolver: possible?
The Daisy V/L was a caseless rifle which used the heated air that compressed through a small hole to ignite the propellant and launch the projectile.
In a world I'm making, I'm thinking that a ...
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How would the "Hardness vs Toughness" dynamic of gems apply if it were possible to make shields out of them?
From my understanding, "hardness" and "toughness" in the context of material sciences (or perhaps specifically gems?) refers to two separate properties: "hard" materials ...
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Is this diesel gun concept feasible?
Inspired by this question here regarding the possibility of gasoline firearms.
On a world that is equivalent to the Late Victorian Period technologically where smokeless or even black powder was not ...
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Help with realism for extended US Civil War [closed]
The US Civil War runs normally until August 1863, when the fictional nation Mexicatan (all of Central America minus the Panama islands) joins the CSA in invading the Western USA. Mexicatan is a puppet ...
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How much better would metallic hydrogen be than conventional explosives?
How much more effective (if at all) would metallic hydrogen explosives be against armored targets?
In this setting metallic hydrogen can be cheaply manufactured and contained in a metastable state ...
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Would it be petty of me to make the use of full plate armor a war crime? [closed]
Now this goes back to another question I asked a while back and i will openly admit this is more out of spite than anything else, but I just hear people going on and on about how full plate is the ...
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How to make a plausible foot-based mercenary nomadic tribe work in a Late Medieval Setting?
The background of the World setting is similar to 15th Century Europe with low-magic.
The tribe in question is a sub-race of human, but having a culture similar to IRL Romani People, who roams around ...
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How could somebody who controls lemons defeat the worlds militaries [closed]
In my story I have a character that
has the ability to control citrus fruits and their properties. This character has to be able to overthrow a country.
Applications of this characters powers include
-...
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Would an Army using a controlled fire surrounding an opposing army in a heavily forested area be an effective way to destroy said army?
Imagine a scenario where Army A has received intel of the movement of Army B in a heavily forested area. Army A decides to spring a trap where in it sets fire to the forest encircling Army B, ...
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How do you justify Adventurers being multiple [Character Classes] instead of everyone being Generalists in fantasy settings? [closed]
Someday I want to write a fantasy book wherein the MC is a solo adventurer or something similar, thing is when it comes to those types I notice they’re almost all the same…ability/skill-wise ...
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What would the effects of a space based laser weapon system capable of tracking and destroying any projectile posing a threat to human life?
Imagine a constellation of satellites equipped with sensors capable of identifying any object posing a risk to humans and targeting it with lasers to neutralize it. The constellation covers the entire ...
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Moving Arrows to Supersonic Speeds
In a sci-fi world that I am making, an infantry held launcher is one of the many weapons developed to counter increasingly tough armor protection, brought on by the advent of advanced materials and ...
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Necessity of army and navy in a space warfare setting
I'm writing a realistic sci fi story involving interstellar conflict , where space warships (assume something like star destroyers from star wars) are the norm, These warships are capable of orbital ...
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Domesticated Bears [duplicate]
I'm writing about a world similar to that around the time of the Roman Empire, only they have domesticated bears and use them for warfare. I want them to be used to be able to break through enemy ...
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Individual Laser-Point-Defense [closed]
Laser point defense is a known concept.
A powerful laser beam, either continuous or pulsed is used to shoot down or deflect either a projectile or object out of the sky. The concept has been ...
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Wormhole Based Warfare [duplicate]
Let's say that, theoretically, a civilization is capable of utilizing wormholes for travelling to the stars, this wormholes, eventually get turned into a device that can be used as for travel, as a ...
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Can a war in an 1800's level society kill a billion people in 17 years?
Technology Level
The planet has a level of technology of about the early 1800's. They have some basic steam transportation, muskets and bayonets, cannons and other basic artillery, and some less ...
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The interplanetary cold war
A cold war, the tension between well-armed powers that doesn't directly lead to an all-out war, but to an era of tension, espionage, proxy-warfare and propaganda. In our own world, the most famous ...
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Extrapolating a culture from its use of armored fighting vehicles? [closed]
Ok, rewriting this one, so some of the answers and comments are from a simpler version:
Let's say, in an alternate timeline, or on another world, we discover the equivalent of mechanized warfare -- ...
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How would a species with intangibility-powers deal with war and violence? [closed]
I've got an idea for an alien species with intangibility powers, similar to Kitty Pryde from the X-men or Mira Nova and the Tangeans from "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command". They are capable ...
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Would a Gas Giant be a feasible option for in-atmosphere fighting?
Could it be possible that a large portion (80%+) of a gas giant has thin enough atmosphere that the ships don’t suffer from re-entry effects, but thick enough that conventional dogfighting tactics ...
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What AI force strength would be needed to defeat modern humanity? [closed]
When (not “time”, but at what force size/distribution) would my artificial life have enough presence to believably conquer humanity?
My story takes place during a war between two species: Humans and ...
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Are there any good alternatives to firearms for 1920s aircrafts?
Short and simple are there any actually effective alternatives to firearms as the main alternative for WW1-1920s era aircraft including biplanes and airships?
Rules:
1: The weapon must be able to be ...
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How would a modern society be ruled by a warrior class? [closed]
I want to know if it is possible for a modern Western society to revert to a form of feudalism, with a warrior caste or 'knights' that rule and protect everyone else for food and money. How would such ...
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What makes my artificial intelligence indestructible, but containable?
In my story, I have Artificial Intelligences that turn against their creators (think something akin to Skynet). These AIs are bent on the destruction of humanity. Humans and the AIs go to war ...
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What would be the primary weaknesses of massed archers?
Setting: In my world, there exists a nation that has a military primarily made up of archers. Each citizen is required to have a level of proficiency with a longbow, both in individual shooting and ...
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Possible layouts for a sci-fi military airship [closed]
My story features airships that fly by using applying electrical to a strange mineral to generate antigravity. By altering the current the airship can increase or decrease its height. Since they don't ...
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Sustaining linear warfare in futuristic combat [closed]
In my sci-fi setting, I’m looking for a way to have linear infantry formations, or something similar, in a world where airplanes and machine-guns also exist. It is made possible by the existence of ...
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What is the easiest fuel a blockaded, sanctioned nation can procure/synthesize during a war?
In my world, which is partially based on a WW2-style environment, there are two large countries, namely A and B, that are fighting each other.
A is a Nazi Germany-type country with fine revised ...
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Is it possible to fight a CONVENTIONAL war against an enemy who can win any direct confrontation?
I have an empire, let's call it X, that has access to (very few) superhumans with extremely destructive powers. For instance, one of them has near-complete control over fire and can burn down entire ...
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What weaponry would a clockwork Skynet use to take over a fantasy world? [closed]
Milennia ago, on another plane of existence, a genius clockmaker dedicated his life to the creation of a thinking machine. The clockmaker imbued the two noblest ideas he could think of into the ...
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How detailed would these medieval era reports be?
I have no idea how to start researching this, so I'm going to here, where there are people who are much smarter than me. So I'm writing a story set in the medieval time period. In my story, there is a ...
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How feasible are nukes as a spotting system in space?
In the semi-realistic space combat I design, the following rock-paper-scissors relation holds:
lasers beat rockets
rockets beat armor
armor beats lasers
The level of technology is not too futuristic:...
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WW1 soldier in WW2 : how would he get caught?
In my story, a French soldier from WW1 died in a horrible way, and became a ghost. As such, he's still wearing the same military uniform as he died, the same equipment, etc. He can react to his ...
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What would naval warfare look like if Dreadnoughts never came to be?
I sadly couldn't find any answers to this question, probably because it's quite niche, so i'm posting this as my first question here!
The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(1906) was ...
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How would a 4-armed, blind species,use firearms?
My blind, intelligent species has advanced technologically to the stage of space exploration through the usage of FTL travel. The reason for their blindness is evolving underground, after the surface ...
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Ideal weapons and combat gear for prehensile feet
What weapons and combat gear would suit a race of creatures with prehensile hands and feet?
I'm designing a high fantasy warrior who comes from a bipedal race of creatures with prehensile hands and ...
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How would a societies evolve where almost everyone can shapeshift into last person they have touched [closed]
In my world, every individual gains the unique ability to shapeshift into the last person they have touched upon turning 16 years old. Somethings to note is one cannot revert back to their original ...
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Would the use of sulfuric acid "piranha" weapons be considered chemical weapons, and thus, War Crimes?
In an alternative reality, people where capable of taking information from the future, and thus, they decided to not only to replicate future technology for the betterment of manking, but also future ...
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Would a lizard-mounted cavalry be effective against pikes?
Would a cavalry force mounted on giant lizards be effective against unmounted pikemen?
The lizards are roughly horse-sized, with a large reptilian head which they keep down when they run. It seems ...
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What laws of war would pertain to this futuristic situation, hundreds of years from now?
I was thinking of a story I wanted to write, but I had a legal question.
It involves a war story, and a group of around 12 soldiers. Members of a regular armed force, with the authority of the head of ...
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Sonic weapons vs Faeries: Can we survive The Cloud of Blades & Bombs?
The faeries of my world are nightmare fuel.
They 5-7 cm insects that have two legs and four upper grasping limbs. Paired with this, they have the flight characteristics of humming birds, making them ...
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