Questions tagged [weapons]
For questions about existing weapons or designing new ones.
1
vote
4answers
194 views
How would a medieval army conquer a treetop city?
In my book series, an evil space conqueror named Tate is attacking the planet of Aztlan. However, in order to do so, he must subjugate the Avian tribe and their capital city of Palo Alto. However, ...
32
votes
10answers
7k views
What would the proper shooting stance be for a recoil-free arm cannon?
Quick summary: it’s the modern day, and everyone can use magic. Some of that magic is of the variety that lets you launch energy blasts from your fists, similar to a Mega Man style arm cannon. You ...
-4
votes
4answers
388 views
Could your hand stop an arrow from hitting you? [closed]
Question: Would an unarmoured hand stop an arrow shot from a bow
Story Details:
I was doing my usual scouting route along the Great Divide, when I chanced upon a Sun Empire's camp on the other side....
3
votes
3answers
242 views
Other metal alloys as armor/weapons
We know of the metal iron, and alloys bronze and steel, used as armor and weaponry in the Medieval ages.
Is there another metal alloy that could be used for armor or weapons in the Medieval era?
6
votes
7answers
529 views
Bolas + Explosives + Magnets: Fun or Failure?
I have a character who bills himself as an explosives experimenter. He wants to try something new with explosives.
He knows how to make a bolas and has the materials to make one. However, he has this ...
1
vote
3answers
228 views
Plasma Blades vs. Bullets
As far as fiction is concerned, plasma weapons look better than modern-day metal weapons. However, I'm curious about their functionality in reality as depicted in fiction.
What mechanism will allow a ...
7
votes
8answers
303 views
High tech underwater weapon
Assume soldiers of the future need to fight person to person underwater, at depths from 30 to unachievable today, like 1-2 kilometer.
Today, underwater warfare between scuba divers, involves ...
3
votes
3answers
236 views
100% mechanical plasma rifle
Unlike most modern electronic weapons, the functionality of fully-mechanical rifles are complemented by their durability. They can be used without authorization, electricity, or calamity-proofing.
...
33
votes
20answers
8k views
What projectile weapon can replace a bow under the following circumstances?
I have a race of elf-like humanoids that live in a forest. One of their best methods of travel is what you may call "forest running". They are attuned to the harmonic movement of the forest from a ...
5
votes
4answers
177 views
Short-term Miniature black hole weapon and its effects
So in this world I'm building there's a bunch of reasons to, at some point, stop being nice and make sure someone is really, really dead. For this purpose they decided to weaponize black holes. ...
2
votes
2answers
118 views
Process to aim the main gun on a modern battle tank [closed]
What is the exact, or a typical process, to aim the main gun on a modern battle tank? What are the individual steps and who does the work (a gunner? loader? computer? commander?)? How does the actual ...
5
votes
3answers
285 views
How do I power Goldeneye?
I've been spending some time thinking about putting a satellite weapon into space.
It would look something like this. Don't worry about those letters, they stand for something else.
This weapon can ...
2
votes
8answers
291 views
How to make a rocket-boosted sledgehammer that won't break the users' arm?
Even though GURPS, so far, is my best shot at coming up with sci-fi melee weapons, this one's tricky.
The rocket-boosted sledgehammer differs from the standard tool by having a thruster on the back ...
3
votes
2answers
148 views
How many shots would it take to sever a limb? [closed]
Modern (or near future, 10-20 years) setting. Mostly regular humans. Regular firearms.
The scene goes like this: the Big Bad Villain of the story fought the Big Good Hero in hand-to-hand combat and ...
1
vote
2answers
63 views
How to build and run a Skunk Works to weaponize magic flying ships [closed]
My kingdom has developed a new flying ship powered by a new air-magic engine. As near as my scholars and engineers are able to tell, it's the first of its kind. Three working prototypes ply the skies ...
8
votes
3answers
481 views
Compact Arm Gun Prosthetic?
In the DC universe, there exists a hero known as Sister Superior with prosthetic arms that are capable of turning into any weapon she desires. Interestingly, her arms look no different from a regular ...
4
votes
5answers
247 views
What is a way I can use to store weapons?
I need to carry large weapons but I also need to be able to hide them when I'm not using them, then make them reappear when needed. The setting is pretty realistic.
The weapons are quite huge: a ...
1
vote
5answers
289 views
How can a scythe be used for mass assassinations? [closed]
I want a scythe to be used for a mass murder, far-range combat, & close-range combat, and I need it to be large to create fear in opponents.
Although the massive scythes shown in anime can be ...
0
votes
4answers
207 views
The opposite of lightning or force used as a weapon, what could it be? [closed]
WHAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LIGHTNING?
If there was a sword that controls lighting, what would its elemental opposite be?
The idea is that one is positive and one is negative. One pulls electricity from ...
0
votes
1answer
146 views
How big can my tank be? [duplicate]
In an alternate 1950s cold war, the Soviet Union and the United States (and their NATO and Warsaw pact allies) are locked in an arms race not unlike our own. What's the difference you ask? Instead of ...
12
votes
12answers
7k views
Would a glass sword be plausible and useful?
Though glass knife existed and are still used in modern electron microscopy, glass is known for its brittleness and a sword need to be able to parry an attack. But the idea of a transparent glass ...
23
votes
8answers
5k views
How to design an advanced deadman's switch for the “vitality impaired”?
I don't usually use vampires as main characters. They're normally supporting characters for more, and yet less, human immortals, but I've decided to flesh them out a bit. I was thinking about advanced,...
-5
votes
2answers
211 views
The Best Arsenal : The Best Assault Rifle [closed]
I am trying to learn from my past mistakes on asking for too much at a time, while asking for the wrong things, and often forgetting about crucial details.
So here I am, in my quest of finding the ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
Gravity being weaponized for its time altering properties
Physics isn't my strong suite, but I'm trying to understand if something could be theoretically possible in some highly advanced future:
Would it be possible for an advanced civilization to invent a ...
9
votes
4answers
3k views
Is a network of spoon-launching trebuchets realistic?
On a comment to My carrier pigeons have been replaced by spoons: how can I send messages? I joke about creating a network of trebuchets to launch spoons.
Is it realistic?
My concerns:
How far ...
0
votes
3answers
194 views
Help my Assassin Kill His Target [closed]
This normal looking man here is called Sam, and he’s about to kill a VERY important person whose death will bring about a great war. This would-be assassin is posing as an Alliance guard, face lift ...
24
votes
6answers
5k views
How to build a Blood Gun?
I recently played the game Mary Skelter - Nightmares, in which the protagonist after some time acquires a weapon that is called a Mary Gun - a device that shoots his own blood.
I'll change the ...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
Formulating likelyhood for civilization to face weapons-based self-destruction [closed]
Premise
I would like to create a formula that tackles the question of how likely a civilization is to commit self-annihilation. At first glance it doesn't sound possible or practical for that matter. ...
-1
votes
1answer
106 views
Accuracy of Machine Aimbots
The evil professor Mr. GLOOPbar has built a base IN SPACE 2 years ago in 2016 with the best contemporary technology.
His base is ran by a Artificial super intelligence of unfathomable intelligence ...
4
votes
2answers
176 views
Are folding Xiphoi practical?
I have a character that fights with a pair of xiphoi (double-edged, one-handed shortswords used by the ancient Greeks). These swords are stored in thick nylon sheaths around the character's forearms, ...
4
votes
2answers
198 views
How powerful a bow would be needed to kill this lion
In this land, similar to late medieval Europe/North Africa, there are a species of very large lions, a little larger than the prehistoric American Lion, with an average weight of 500 to 600 kg, that ...
1
vote
0answers
70 views
Weapons for a tabletop game [closed]
I'm making a race for a table top game with high tech weapons. What's a weapon that would shoot through people that isn't just a high powered cannon? Didn't have to be functional today because this is ...
0
votes
1answer
199 views
How much force would this weapon apply?
In the Marvel Universe Mjolnir is said to be forged in the heart of a dying star. Neil deGrasse Tyson mistakenly assumes it was forged out of the heart of a dying star in this video.
But what if ...
33
votes
21answers
15k views
Are “Midas” swords useless for warfare?
Are swords, spears, and arrows that turn slain enemies into pure gold useful, in medieval combat, or are they useless aside from free money?
Notes about the weapons:
flesh wounds don't turn people ...
11
votes
5answers
832 views
Man-portable anti-satellite weapon
Man-portable air-defense systems have been around for decades, and so have been anti-satellite weapons. But while the former is a small, short range rocket, the latter is as big as a cruise missile. ...
6
votes
3answers
458 views
The practicality of Wild Dog's arm-mounted gatling gun
In the Time Crisis series of games, terrorist-for-hire and recurring antagonist, Wild Dog has a cannon mounted in place of his missing left arm. Throughout the series, this weapon takes various ...
-2
votes
3answers
161 views
Why would an electrokinetic be unable to create weapons made from electricity?
In my setting, there are these super-powered individuals that can draw upon an invisible energy source in order to enhance their physical abilities and use physics-defying abilities such as ...
50
votes
20answers
10k views
Why would people still use pump-action guns in the future?
9 out of 10 action heroes agree: Repeating a pump-action shotgun looks and feels just plain awesome.
But besides the rule of cool, why would we still use pump-action guns in a future scenario 100-200 ...
3
votes
2answers
189 views
Can a two handed sword bludgeon when swung?
Would a large, two handed sword have enough weight behind it when swung, swung, not thrusted, to bludgeon heavy armor like chainmail or plate? So If you swung this giant sword and it hit someone's ...
3
votes
7answers
319 views
Realistic Design For Orcish Swords [closed]
What kind of sword/s might orcs use? Specifically what kind of sword/s might they use that also fits their characterization as brutal, somewhat savage, warriors. While still being practical, realistic ...
-1
votes
8answers
338 views
Why would sorcerers not use guns? [closed]
I have noticed that in most fantasy books, at least the ones I read, the group of sorcerers, wizards, or demigods don't use guns or other modern weapons, and instead prefer to use medieval weaponry. ...
2
votes
5answers
1k views
Weaponry made from brittle steel: splintering projectiles
This is about a fictional material that is meant to be very similar to steel, but very brittle (under regular conditions). This means it breaks under stress instead of being strained signficantly ...
58
votes
10answers
10k views
Is it possible to create a practical sword that's naturally toxic?
While doing research, I stumbled across the alloy "arsenical bronze", in which copper is smelted with arsenic instead of (or in addition to) tin. This apparently gives you "a stronger final product ...
10
votes
6answers
4k views
What manner of weapons and armor would be suitable for freezing conditions in the middle ages?
In this story I'm giving a go at, humanity as a whole have been under siege from creatures that can be best described as humanoid demons. Things haven't been going well for the human race, as the ...
-6
votes
1answer
141 views
Ordinary guns in space
Can you kill someone from an ordinary gun in space? Will it be able to shoot?
I mean weapons like M4A1, pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns.
How will they behave in open space?
My thoughts are ...
4
votes
6answers
215 views
Possible character body modification for wielding large swords
Duramar was a cook, a really strange one. He would walk crooked forward and slightly bent to his right. From time to time I saw him loosing his balance trying to speed up the dinner time, only to be ...
7
votes
11answers
4k views
Effects of stray bullets in space
A battle takes place on the outskirts of a colonized solar system between attacking and defending forces. Would any stray shots have a chance of hitting a ship or station closer to the center of the ...
-2
votes
3answers
140 views
What is the most effective crude weapon? [closed]
I am developing a race of generic "barbarians", but I'm looking to see what weapons they can develop that pose a great risk to others.
I have not decided what kind of conditions they live in, and I ...
12
votes
4answers
5k views
Would it make any difference If I use diamonds as arrowheads?
Let's say I have a plenty of supply of diamonds for my archer's arrows and my blacksmiths can easily work with diamonds.
Would diamond arrows be superior to iron arrows?
-2
votes
3answers
111 views
Gravity canceling space gun vs black hole [closed]
Not sure how to say this simpler, so we'll try shorter.
We have a big space gun. It makes gravity not be there where it shoots.
It shoots at a black hole.
Does black hole go boom?
And for the ...
