Questions tagged [weapons]
For questions about existing weapons or designing new ones.
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Sword with a perpendicular grip
I've been thinking about a sword or other bladed weapon having a perpendicular grip/handle similar to a modern policeman's baton- would there be any obvious benefits or flaws in such a design?
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Addressing paradoxes with Weapons designed to hit a target in the past
In space, normal weapons are so easy to dodge because by the time you see an enemy ship and fire at it, it's already moved out of the way. Now imagine a weapon that travels backwards in
time as it ...
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What are potential avenues in advanced materials/manufacturing for light, high-strength parts for portable cannons, firearms and ammo, and armor?
In my setting, there's a faction known as International Front that combines guerilla and para-militarism with advanced technology (for a guerilla group).
Their main goal is to fight and conquer the ...
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How feasibly could a post-apocalyptic society achieve aviation?
In my setting, I have created a technologically innovative faction which seeks to utilise various past technologies, namely, aircraft.
For context, the setting is a post apocalypse type setting ...
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Spear-thrower that doubles as a hatchet?
It seems like civilizations that used the atlatl usually switched to a different melee weapon, so the atlatl and its darts were more exclusively ranged weapons.
If I am designing a civilization that ...
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What are potential avenues for firearms and weapons technologies for a biotech-centric species?
In my setting, there is an alien world known as Totaria and an alien race known as the Totarians, who possess a special cell that lets them develop whatever organs, limbs, and creatures they want, ...
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How strong does a rope need to be to hold back a harpooned elephant?
Relating to a previous question, say that a group of people is hunting an elephant-sized land animal. For some reason, this animal needs to be harpooned so it won't simply run away to an inhospitable ...
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How to design a “legendary looking bow” that fits a Medieval European fantasy? [closed]
Introduction
We often see bows and archer heroes (and heroines) being depicted in various fantasy series, wielding some “legendary bows” with bizarre and pointy shapes which looks like unattended ...
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Tactics and formations to defend a convoy of starships [closed]
Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms at war. One of them had more starships and access to magnetic monopoles. For the purpose of this question, they could have been another exotic particle. ...
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How feasible is using Titanium for weapons?
Disregarding actually acquiring material and any time/effort required for the manufacturing process, would titanium cutting weapons (e.g. swords and daggers) be more effective than steel weaponry?
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If people in medieval times had access to titanium, would it be used over steel?
Let's say that in 1,100 AD, aliens secretly come to Earth and turn all of the titanium oxides into pure titanium.The aliens then leave and humans discover this new metal.
By the late medieval era, ...
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How many magnetic monopoles are needed to disable an aircraft carrier?
Once upon a time there was an interstellar kingdom with access to hundreds of planets through wormholes. Geniuses or luck gave them magnetic monopoles. They exist!!! The next bit is somewhat magical ...
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Could a very light humanoid creature throw a javelin?
My story has a creature that is vaguely humanoid in shape and lives on an Earth-like planet. However, the creature is smaller (dingo-sized) and only weighs around 35 pounds.
Like humans, these ...
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If thrusting is the most practical way of hurting a foe, why wouldn't ancient armies use barbed weapons to inflict even more damage? [closed]
I wonder why no military from history wouldn't make their spears and swords barbed. If the point of thrusting is to damage vital organs and cause massive blood loss, wouldn't it make more sense to ...
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What kind of melee weapon is ideal to destroy a monster's core?
Most regenerative monsters possess a "core" of some kind which must be destroyed in order to kill them. I've noticed this trope at least a dozen times in Japanese media specifically. In fact ...
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If a very hot blade were used to cut off a limb, would it cauterize, and if so, would it be less lethal than a regular wound? [duplicate]
Okay, so first post here, howdy, nice to meet you!
I’m working on a story that involves a woman on a vendetta who decides that she will begin trying to avoid killing people, however mutilation is fine,...
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What's the fastest a medieval projectile could go, if it was powered by human muscles?
How fast could a human-powered medieval projectile go?
Rules:
The weapon must be made of materials available in medieval times: wood, steel, catgut, bone, rope, etc. No modern composites or plastics.
...
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How would electric weapons used by mermaids function, if feasible? [closed]
Electric eels are animals that eat by stunning their prey with electricity before eating them. The amperage and voltage isn't usually high enough to kill humans but it can still hurt them.
Assuming ...
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Which Sci-fi projectile weapons do not need a long barrel type shape? [closed]
As I am not well versed in science fiction or knowledge of guns, I have done some research recently into alien sci-fi guns as that is what I am currently designing and I find that many resemble human ...
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Taping blades onto your shoes. Is it a stupid idea or a practical one? [closed]
What if the shoes have blades! Imagine kicking your enemies and bleeding them to death! Is it practical though?
First Case: A Post-Apocalyptic World with Zombies! How original!
Guns are rare. Bullets ...
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Is my magic system too convoluted for my own story? [closed]
I am planning an adventure story, focused in the fights, like a shonen anime. For that purpose I want to have a magic system similar to the the shaman's king one (fusing spirits with objects to give ...
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What would be the quickest way to sterilize a planet from several light-years away?
I'm thinking of a couple main ways, but they seem pretty unreliable for complete sterilization. I'm imaging a pretty reclusive hermit civilization around their solar system. They see intelligent life ...
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Gyrojet pistol vs forensics? [closed]
How would ballistic evidence be gathered against against a gryojet pistol in which there would not be the clear marks left on the bullet due to the barrel? I'm thinking of this in a science fiction ...
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Shape for injector spikes that provide the best seal
In the near-future story I'm working on the protagonist is prepared for a wide range of possibilities, including getting outnumbered and surrendered.
For that possibility i though about a Banshee Box ...
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Monomolecular wire bolo rounds: how to make it work?
In the near-future story I'm developing, I've tried to incorporate all kind of somewhat-credible technology into weapons and gadgets.
I had the idea of what's basically two shotguns fused together, ...
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Railguns vs coilguns in the field [duplicate]
I am developing a sci fi mod for a game called armored brigade and a faction present in this mod will use either railguns or coilguns as crew served anti armor weapons similar in form to something ...
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Would a gun that shoots subsonic depleted uranium/tungsten bullets require a muzzle booster for cycling reliability?
In the near-future story i'm developing the main character resorts to every trick in the book to improve the performance of her guns, including using subsonic cartridges for the sake of quietness, but ...
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Self-Sharpening Monomolecular Edge
In my research while trying to incorporate monomolecular edged blades in my story, i saw that a monomolecular edge would get instantly dull after cutting anything, but then i saw these depleted ...
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Would it make sense to have an atlatl user in a world where archery is mainstream? [closed]
I'm writing a story is set in a Monster Hunter-like world where giant animals roam the landscape. Most of the main characters are archers, but I want to have one who is an atlatl (spear thrower) user ...
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Would it be plausible for a laser weapon to pass through glass and retain its destructive power?
So, the characters in my story are trapped in an abandoned city in a glass dome at the bottom of the ocean that has suffered damage from some sort of bombardment. I'm currently trying to work out the ...
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Would the backblast of a rocket launcher be damaging to robotic soldiers?
So in the future, we have robotic (humanoid) soldiers that do the fighting regular human infantry used to do. Now, the backblast of a rocket launcher in real life can definitely kill someone. If there ...
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Space-Travel friendly weapons [closed]
When creating a background antagonist, there is a civilization of aliens who are trying to expand their space empire. They are not the typical "evil empire", but rather just an empire trying ...
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Ideal melee weapon for someone with "psychic arms" [closed]
There's a trope in certain comedic series, such as Veggietales and Homestar Runner, to have characters that do not have limbs, and yet visibly carry things around anyway.
The general rules seem to be ...
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Could a hand launched missile work?
If we're assuming that a missile has a similar sort of soft launch capability to the Javelin but with a smaller and lighter missile, could it be plausible to have a missile that is sort of hand thrown/...
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What would be a realistic distance for Tank Buster helicopter to engage a giant monster from?
In monster\Kaiju movies it is common to see the military engaging giant monsters, using air power, at extremely close range.
An early example of this was in the 1933 rendition of King Kong the biplane ...
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Electric Arc Discharge Plasma and other forms of Plasma tech as a weapon
I'm making a weapon for my character which looks like a sword or is used as such but is segmented to give it whip like flexibility (restricted movement for safety) when needed. Each segment has metal ...
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Other than match and rope, is there any other way to fire what is essentially a musket/cannon?
Okay, so, weird question, I know. But I'm making a fantasy world long after the apocalypse and it is a world where people are running out of ammo and a specific tribe has gunpowder but fails at ...
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
I am working on a steampunk/plasmapunk game. The players are dropped into a ruined world full of old technology.
The big focus of the game is the players salvaging the stuff that's left behind and ...
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Can flak or some other method be used to detonate WWI-style artillery shells mid-air?
I'm working on a steampunk-inspired low-fantasy setting where combat is primarily conducted via WWI-style artillery. Airships are employed extensively in ship-to-ship and ship-to-ground warfare, and ...
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Would the "Rods from God" satellite actually create an explosion?
The "rods from God" satellite. Its a satellite that contains these long darts, presumably made of a very heavy material like tungsten, that are dropped into the atmosphere. By the time they ...
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If all humans of this era suddenly became fast enough to dodge bullets, how would this change the military's choice of weaponry? [closed]
Would melee weapons become more useful than guns, or would guns still be better?
For reference: in terms of speed, the enhanced humans can outpace bullets by fast-walking.
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Cryogenic weapon
Lots of games have a type of "freeze" or "ice" element effect to their weapons, like for instance cryo weapons in Borderlands, but I'm trying to work out how that might be ...
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How to justify guns being advanced earlier
In my world's history, firearms were developed in their medieval period, much like our world. However, they have things like culverins in the 1300s, and handgonnes that work better than in real ...
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Firearms in early modern time - who could afford them?
Could a middle-classman eqivalent afford a whellock or later flintlock pistol? How realistic would it be to give them to regular bandits with an explanation that they've gotten them from soldiers' ...
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Defending against dinosaurs with an automatic shotgun that fires miniaturized anti-tank munitions
Like any reasonable billionaire, I want to breed dinosaurs on my private island - big ones. Like, T-Rex big. Of course, one needs a well-armed security force to guard such an endeavor, lest the ...
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Accuracy limits of Victorian-era rifles
I have a fictional character in 1870 who is a marksman of superhuman ability; basically, he doesn't need a sniper rifle with a telescopic sight, he is a sniper with a telescopic sight, and can get the ...
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A weapon that can instantly kill millions without harming the bodies
I have a world set in the far future, no specific time for vagueness sake, that is completely war-torn by 2 warring factions. This planet is both sides' last stand, so it's all-out, no-limits warfare....
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The immediate and long term effects of slashing wounds in microgravity
What would be the specific long term and short term outcomes of slashing wounds in microgravity?
The scenario is that a normal adult is slashed with a knife in a microgravity environment. Assume ...
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How would cephalopod-like aliens design firearms
(BTW this is my first question, sorry if this is bad.)
So basically, in my world there is a race of octopus-like aliens who use handheld firearms, now the question is how would they design them. Now ...
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Optimal Fuel for GyroJet Handheld Weapon? [closed]
Is there optimal fuel for gyrojet weapons?
Specifically, what fuel would best propel gyrojets from a hand held launcher (read gun -- ex: pistol, rifle, volley gun, etc.)? I'm looking for velocity -- ...
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