Questions tagged [weapons]
For questions about existing weapons or designing new ones.
1,146
questions
2
votes
3answers
76 views
Lava projectiles
I have a civilization that lives near an active volcano. For battle, they use the lava to their advantage, and one of their projectile weapons is a small sphere with lava inside. When thrown, it ...
9
votes
8answers
2k views
'Speed Bumps' as a Lethal Trap in Space Ship Combat
Deceleration as a weapon
In a very interesting question about the scale of distance useful for a space opera game, I was inspired to consider the use of deceleration as a weapon.
Considering humans ...
4
votes
1answer
162 views
Scaling anthropomorphized 'ship girls'
Currently i'm building a world where conventional warship is largely replaced by Kantai, anthropomorphized human female posessing power of modern warship. They are basicly a human sized girl that is ...
6
votes
1answer
226 views
Fantasy weapon physics - weaponising vacuum
If there is a magical weapon that can 'teleport away' a spherical volume of air/some fluid, basically creating a spherical volume of vacuum in that region, what kind would the resulting implosion be? (...
-3
votes
3answers
144 views
Best Offensive Attacks on Self-aware Printers? [closed]
The year is 2089. The world has suffered greatly from EMPs from asteroids. The internet is no longer reliable(Bye bye SE). We now rely on printers to send messages. Our research has advanced, and now ...
2
votes
4answers
324 views
What plausible history allows a society to adopt Dark Age weaponry and reject “modern”-ish weapons?
Let's consider some highly civilized/organized, free-thinking world akin to the Medieval/Dark Ages:
Technology is fairly rudimentary, reduced to — for the most part — two-handed swords, halberds, and ...
2
votes
3answers
105 views
Can there be a scientific explanation for an indestructible kaiju? [closed]
Assume that the kaiju is insusceptible to all weapons but nuclear ones. What could explain its impenetrable form?
3
votes
7answers
729 views
Firearms and weapons in space
Lets assume the setting is multiple civilizations all around the universe, each owning at least one of a planet, a huge mother space ship or a space fleet.
If for some reason there would be a conflict ...
7
votes
7answers
3k views
A type of phenomenon for an infinitely large amount of electricity?
I'm writing a story that has a mobile multi-purpose type weapon that functions by creating an obscene amount of electricity; to make it easy on myself I've used magic as an in-universe mechanic to ...
7
votes
2answers
160 views
Would harpoons help in hunting large land animals?
Harpoons are cool, but as far as I know in the real world they've only been used in hunting marine animals so they don't float or sink away. Stone age hunters managed to hunt down mammoths using only ...
3
votes
1answer
239 views
What is the largest asteroid humanity could survive?
An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth with the same trajectory as the one that killed the dinosaurs. Current human civilisation gets one year warning and will do everything it can to secure our ...
-3
votes
2answers
186 views
Could a blade rusted by dried blood become jammed in its sheath?
My character forgot to clean his sword after killing a man. The blade stayed for weeks in her sheath, drying the blood.
I wrote a scene where he can't unsheathe his sword because it's "jammed&...
4
votes
6answers
253 views
Small Arms Laser Alternatives
So first to admit, I really dislike the use of laser rifles and the like to replace traditional ballistic small arms, but I still really enjoy the idea of having something that'd be able to not only ...
1
vote
1answer
50 views
What kind of combat situation warrants the use of frequency modulating phaser? [closed]
I'm comparing 2 modes of modulation: amplitude(AM) and frequency(FM). My understanding is if the phaser is set to stun I can lower the power which is exactly what AM phaser is preferred but what about ...
4
votes
2answers
161 views
Justifying Laser Weapons in Fiction
As a layman, I was shocked to learn that LASERs in real life are much more dangerous than Hollywood portrays. As I understand it, you can get permanent eye damage from a strong enough laser, even ...
3
votes
2answers
114 views
How do I write a fictional alternate history to handwave in a higher predilection for firearms among world cultures?
I'm not a fan of the word "handwaving" it just makes me sound like I'm bullshitting something I want into my story with various excuses. Essentially I want to have all of the world's ...
18
votes
18answers
3k views
Plausible setting that requires a wearable flamethrower
I've got a story I've started, and realized I have no explanation as to why the main character has a wearable flamethrower. Right now, I'm leaving it as 'He's a youtuber who makes stupid stuff so ...
5
votes
1answer
200 views
In a Gunpowder Fantasy world, would shorter/taller races be able to use muskets just as effectively as a Human?
I just recently started my first proper worldbuilding project and I've encountered an issue. Most of the races in my world are pretty standard height, but some of them are pretty short or even very ...
17
votes
12answers
5k views
How devastating is a weapon that can internally and rapidly cool down a section of a human body?
Let's say in a magical world, there exists a basic cooling spell which slightly cools down an area by reducing the heat energy of everything inside it.
In said world there also exists a particularly ...
8
votes
6answers
3k views
Supplies sat in space for five years, are they still usable?
A travelling space fleet found an old militarized asteroid, with weaponry, space suits, munitions, and food which had been sitting there for 5 years. Is it still usable and safe?
Guns- coilguns, ...
-5
votes
3answers
98 views
how to make a photon weapon? [closed]
How would one go about making a photon weapon? I've thought about this for a bit, but with my very limited knowledge of light and waves/particles/sciency stuff I have come up with the following:
We'...
7
votes
3answers
107 views
Emitting a particle beam within the atmosphere
In particle accelerators, particles are typically accelerated within a vacuum (or as close to it as possible) in order to minimize interference and collisions with air molecules during the ...
6
votes
2answers
190 views
Is it possible to make a catapult with bronze & wood instead of iron/steel & wood?
I've read that Roman catapult were made out of iron and I was wondering if it was possible to replace that iron with bronze instead. In a world where bronze is readily available, copper and tin..etc ...
4
votes
6answers
243 views
Just how big of an advantage would an army with bronze weapons & armor have over another more primitive army armed with stone & bone made weapons?
The reason I'm asking is because I'm building a fantasy world where iron/steel is exceptionally poor and the materials necessary for bronze (copper, tin...etc) are super abundant and readily available ...
14
votes
12answers
3k views
Mostly realistic weapons to assault a planet from orbit
I'm looking for a few weapons which I can use to attack a planet from orbit.
I'm not looking to destroy it or make it uninhabitable, just wreck a few things until the occupants stop launching anti-...
6
votes
2answers
721 views
Tesla coils as spaceship weaponry - would they work?
Question- would a tesla coil function in space?
What I think would happen- Tesla coils are basically a high DC voltage arcing through the air, searching for the easiest path to ground. A single coil ...
3
votes
4answers
99 views
Monster hunter/ traveler silver weapons? [closed]
In my own research I have concluded that bows are usually the preferred weapon for a hunter of monsters. But in universe the most reliable way of hurting monsters are silver, and silver arrows can get ...
3
votes
2answers
118 views
Is a lightning based minefield in space feasible?
Suppose there was a conflict between 2 spacefaring civilizations and one is capable of cloaking their ships beyond the sensor capabilities of the other side. As countermeasure you'd need a weapon ...
5
votes
1answer
136 views
How to explain a fast-acting “tar pit” projectile weapon?
In movies or on TV usually for entertainment reasons, quicksand is quite often and inaccurately portrayed as a kind of super fast acting, almost inescapable and extremely deadly trap capable of ...
1
vote
2answers
177 views
A missile that's launched from "small' flying dragons. How can it take advantage of that?
So, when I say small dragons, they're still around the size of a Clydesdale horse, of course. While this might seem small, that's because you're watching them on a small screen and because people ...
2
votes
2answers
95 views
Composite armor plates: stainless steel mesh embedded in poly resin
Long story short: the setting is something like Highlander meets The Road or I Am Legend – basically a vast majority of humanity dies VERY suddenly such that vast quantities of regular items are ...
-7
votes
4answers
134 views
Is it plausible to take down buildings with jet fuel in my World? [closed]
Let's say I want to demolish a building quickly and easily. I want it to collapse symmetrically even if there is a hole in one side. And, I want it done in hours and not the days of thorough ...
25
votes
25answers
8k views
Sci-Fi weapon that can kill people through armor, but doesn't damage starship hulls?
I have been trying to come up with some kind of small arm that could be used in a science fiction setting with the following two characteristics:
It is designed so that it won't put a hole in a ...
4
votes
2answers
108 views
What would be the most lethal melee weapon for trunks creature on land?
Imagine a race of intelligent humanoid beings standing almost 2m tall with 2 trunks instead of arms for handling and gripping objects, these trunk-like arms are similar to the elephant's except they ...
7
votes
7answers
5k views
What would the effects of firing only the gunpowder in a weapon against an opponent's body?
In some parts of my setting, bullets for black-powder weapons are difficult to find, but the black powder itself is relatively easy to come across. Some groups - say raiders, settlers, cheap assassins ...
2
votes
2answers
122 views
Is it possible to create a polymer-cased telescoped leadless ammunition (PCTLA) and would be cost effective to create them?
I'm currently writing a military science fiction story, and I came across several different types of ammunition: leadless 'green' bullets, polymer-cased ammunition, and polymer-cased telescoped ...
19
votes
26answers
13k views
If guns had a 50% chance of lethally backfiring, what would they be used for?
I'm developing a world in which everything needed to create gunpowder (sulfur, charcoal, potassium nitrate) along with other chemicals, are all infused with chaotic, unstable magic. Weapons which rely ...
3
votes
2answers
155 views
Particle Weapons - Sight and Sound
I'm trying to create a universe that is grounded in reality but still interesting and exciting like a traditional sci-fi story.
In my setting, particle weapons (like in "Star Wars" or "...
4
votes
2answers
112 views
Can I get some help making my area denial non-lethal grenade realistic and scientifically sound?
I've come up with a haphazard design for grenades that coat their surroundings with slippery polytetrafluoroethylene when they explode, the purpose being an area denial weapon. If someone is chasing ...
7
votes
3answers
668 views
Would superfluid helium-4 grenades make for a useful area denial weapon?
Superfluid helium-4 is an extremely slippery substance, which is why I came upon the idea of weaponizing it. One of the planets in my setting is rich in helium, so the weaponization of the element ...
4
votes
7answers
298 views
Why are my soldiers weapons so ineffective, or the rarity of one-hit kills
Intruder alert! Intruder alert!
The alarm blares in the control room. The security cameras focus on a group of people who shouldn't
be there, who are carrying ...
2
votes
4answers
143 views
Defending a kingdom against highly arboreal (6-limbed) enemies
Before getting on to the main topic, I should point out that the defenders and attackers are both the same species, no humans are present in this scenario, as it does not take place on Earth. The race ...
-4
votes
1answer
126 views
What kind of damage can a single swing of a super sharp sword at super speed do?
The wielder is super-human, enhanced by magic, able to swing the sword at any speed physically possible (without breaking the laws of physics). The sword is ultra-sharp, with an edge of any sharpness (...
5
votes
3answers
309 views
Does my military make much sense?
For some context, my world takes place in the year 2027, just close to a two decades ever since the Black Flu pandemic ripped across the human race and the zombies initiated the Great Collapse, ...
4
votes
4answers
151 views
How practical would it be to have VTOL aircraft be part of a military in a post-apocalyptic dystopian setting?
For some backstory, in my world, the United States Garrison is the new military of a post-apocalyptic dystopian US where modern civilization and every single country around the world fell due to ...
4
votes
1answer
110 views
How would a race of horizontal lizard men fight, and how would humans fight them?
This question is inspired by the video essay series "Fantasy Re-Armed" by Shadiversity on YouTube, where Shad explores typical fantasy races and what weapons they and their opponents ought ...
2
votes
3answers
121 views
Scientifically plausible non-WMD parasite/grey-goo clouds?
So, grey goo isn't exactly the most useful thing from a military standpoint, not just because of high-entropy and metastable materials that you can't get chemical energy out of, but also that:
Me: ...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
Usefulness of shields in future wars
I like the image of heavily armored troops fighting wars. I understand that body armor is very cumbersome, and does not totally protect from damage.
So what about shields?
Imagine we had access to a ...
0
votes
2answers
110 views
how well would a magical scale armor-strength cloak work as armor?
the cloak covers most of the body, usually down to a foot above the ground.
it's stiff enough and built to sort of spread out as it gets lower at a constant rate, and underneath the cloak is the ...
3
votes
4answers
311 views
What would be an effective method to 'peacefully dissolve' a multicellular organism?
An unnamed advanced civilization is renowned throughout its home galaxy for its zealous belief in a certain flavor of absolute freedom. To them, it is a travesty for any individual to suffer harm from ...
