Questions tagged [weapons]
For questions about existing weapons or designing new ones.
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What natural material shatters when thrown like a grenade?
Our intrepid wizard protagonist realizes there is only one of him and an army of baddies. He has a band of some 50 people with him, but only a dozen have combat training and he is the only spellcaster....
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Why combat machines in this world are colorful
For all of the combat machine we see in real life, they are painted in colors to blend into the background and lower visibility in every spectrum. Except for when they are participating in a parade, ...
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Alternative Bullet Propellant That Produces Inert Gasses
Recently, I asked a question(previous question
) about the viability of sodium azide as an alternative bullet propellant, and besides the fact that it seems like ignition is mostly electric(temps of ...
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Ideas for underwater electrocution weapon?
Are there any electronic devices that can be used to electrocute people in water, like, say, beach goers in the ocean? The weapon would need to be installed under the water in advance and then be ...
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Sodium Azide for Bullet Propellant?
I'm considering alternatives to current gunpower or smokeless powders for bullet propellant.
I ran across Sodium Azide, used for airbags mainly.
If it is ignited, it starts a decomposition reactions ...
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Is it possible to have lasers that travel slower than light?
In science-fiction, what are referred to as "laser guns" are usually just plasma weapons that travel slower than the speed of light. But I want to have actual laser - not plasma - weapons in ...
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How practical would firearms be for early humans?
The basic setup for this world is that whenever someone dies, their soul is subjected to reincarnation. However, every once and a while this system fails and the souls are lost into limbo where they ...
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How would draw weight, range, and power of a bow be affected by a magic bowstring?
So in my world, there are magical artifacts and weaponry.
One of which is the bow. It's bent like a strung bow, but without a string. And when you grab where the string would be and pull back an ...
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What kind of weapon would be most useful for a fantasy civilization of blind creatures?
In my low-fantasy setting there is a civilization of completely blind humanoid creatures. Their ability to perceive the world is directly related to the other senses (hearing, smell and touch), which ...
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Can you cauterise a wound as it's cut if the blade is hot enough?
A person is cutting off an external piece of their body (like an arm or a finger) in a scenario where there is little medical equipment available. The removal of the appendage is an intentional ...
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Energy weapons or Bullets? What would make more sense?
I am currently trying to write a sci-fi world set in a very distant future. It is a "hard" sci-fi setting, however it has things such as artificial gravity and FTL systems, however I am ...
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Can unlimited kinetic energy be stored in superfluid helium?
Liquid helium can be in a state of superfluidity — meaning it can flow with zero internal friction. Let's assume that for whatever reason that this form of helium is present in large amounts. Could ...
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If a type of gunpowder is two and a third times more powerful than OTL gunpowder, what kinds of designs would be optimal?
I am currently trying to write an alternate history story. In the story a new type of gunpowder, called 'Greek sand' is developed by an alternate Roman Empire, using the secret recipe of Greek fire ...
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What kind of effect would a tank shell that create plasma on impact have on armour? [closed]
What kind of effect would a tank shell that create plasma on impact have on armour? These projectiles are made up of 3 main parts, a gas canister holding the gas, a capacitor that is used to heat the ...
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What POD Would I Need to Make the European "Flag Samurais" a Reality? [closed]
In honor of the much-delayed Tokyo Olympics, Japanese artists (I've never found their names) have drawn the flags of all the nations personified as anime warriors. For this question, let's focus on ...
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What are some reasons that guided munitions are impractical in my world?
Under what set of circumstances do guided munitions become impractical but not impossible (i.e. moon missions are doable, but mass-produced ICBMs or anti-ship missiles are not), while conventional ...
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What kinds of (effective) melee weapon could only be made with modern technology? [closed]
What kinds of (effective) melee weapon could only be made with modern technology? While we could make melee weapons with more modern technology, all we have are advancements in metallurgy applied to ...
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Weapons that are highly impractical for infantry use IRL but more practical if wielded by something stronger or larger than a human
TL;DR: what normally crew-served or heavy weapons could be used as infantry weapons by something larger and/or stronger than a human?
Let's take the M2 Browning, or, rather the .50 Browning round it ...
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How effective would a scythe be in a one-on-one, sword-versus-scythe fight?
In one-on-one combat, with one combatant using a sword, the other the aforementioned false Death, how effective would a scythe be in combat? What tactics could be utilized with it, and what tactics ...
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What would a magnetic field do to a particle weapon?
In my sci-fi universe, there are two types of energy weapons: plasma cannons, and particle beam weapons. The way things currently are is that energy weapons are space-based, because they don't work in ...
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Any realistic ideas for a suction-based weapon?
I’ve been looking for real-life examples of suction-based weapons or weapons that work like a vacuum, violently sucking up the surrounding matter, but my search hasn’t generated any decent results. ...
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Cryogenic Hydrogen Powered Fighter Jets Design [closed]
A possible future power source for passenger airline aircraft is liquid hydrogen, and assuming we solve the safety and infrastructure issues, it's doable and much less sci-fi, as for example, a Martin ...
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What kind of charged rifles could exist in a hard sci-fi future? [closed]
Right so for a worldbuilding server I am part of I am making some weaponry. But now I got some test models done, I am unknown to what kindof weapons they are. The rp is set in 2150-2250. Not a solid ...
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Usefulness of a weapon based on throwing hot water
The people of my flat medieval fantasy world have found a rune that generates infinite boiling water, and they want to use it to kill each other. Sadly the water cannot be made with momentum included, ...
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How can an armed group travel to and attack a rival group in another country?
I have a world where the different countries feature various types of organized groups, some are criminal groups (mafia type organizations) and others are non-criminal but they are both armed and ...
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What sort of weapons manufacturing could be supported by a post-apocalyptic world?
I've just been working on this post-apocalyptic setting and was wondering what level of weapons technology it would be able to support. Essentially a combination of land degradation, global warming (...
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Crewed polearms
In ancient and late medieval combat, the pike emerged as a supreme weapon, an evolution of the spear. The pike being longer than any other melee weapon, a phalanx of pikemen would skewer the front ...
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Gunpowder is delayed until around the industrial revolution, what are the results? [closed]
So gunpowder is one of those inventions that could have easily been delayed, because there was no logical reason to mix those ingredients together for an intended purpose. It thus seems reasonable ...
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Utility of Shard Spells
Background:
In my world, people can gain Enchantments (explained here) by killing a monster with their own self, and since magic is an extension of self, it counts as a simple way to gain Enchantments ...
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Uses for dragons in combat in a Renaissance-level setting with cannons, muskets, and magic? [closed]
My fantasy setting has late Renaissance-level technology with cannons and muskets, along with a moderate level of magic (i.e. Wizards and other spellcasters are well-known, but pretty uncommon). How ...
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What weapons would fossorial people use?
The fossorial people are similar to humans. They are around 3ft tall as adults. Their limbs are far stronger, and their hands and feet are larger, with the fingers being shorter and more robust, and ...
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How to kill people with blaster weapons
Recently, the R&D team found an exiting, yet unfortunately nonlethal weapon; Blaster technology. Blaster technology fires a projectile that moves at the speed of light, strikes the target, and ...
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Effect of Modern Firearms on Dinosaurs
Man vs Dinosaur. It is a relatively common trope in various Sci fi settings, most famously done in Jurassic Park. These depictions have always fascinated me. I have always been bothered, however, by ...
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Can these golems be weaponised?
In this setting, people have developed magi-tech, humanoid golems that they use for tasks such as cleaning, helping with construction, carrying heavy stuff around, etc. They are common/cheap enough ...
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How Would the Square-Cube Law change Medieval/Ancient Warfare Between Tiny Humanoids
My story has a battle between two tiny races of humanoids. Assume that both of these races have developed in relative isolation from one another so they have not had a lot of time to develop ...
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Ancient artillery, throwing bombs with slings [closed]
a sling can throw a projectile up to 400 meters or further, in some cultures children grow up training with slings and in adulthood it develops into an extension of their arm, developing the ability ...
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Damage caused by a bomb capable of deleting everything within a 20 meter radius
What kind of damage could a bomb that cause everything within a 20 meter radius to just vanish have within the Earth atmosphere?
I would imagine that it would create an implosion and inflict immediate ...
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Utility of Cherry Bomb
I had a weird idea for my fantasy setting: cherry bombs!
1-3 Cherry Bombs are Dropped by Cherry Brutes (Sakurage may be a better name for them, I'm open to suggestions) upon their death and/or ...
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Are electron particle beams effective against robots?
Electron particle beams are quite interesting weapons. What they shoot would look like a lightning bolt, and the beam keeps itself focused in an atmosphere. However the bremsstrahlung the weapons ...
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ETCs, macron accelerators, and plasma cannons! Viable alternatives to the same old space weapons?
The other day I wrote this post, asking about the possibility of an electricity based weapon. Sadly, no real feasible or possible weapon was available that could work in a vacuum with some actual ...
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Alternative Methods to Penetrating Body Armor?
This is a follow up to this question I asked a few days about methods to penetrate advanced body armor. That post primarily focused on possible methods of penetration, but this post will primarily ...
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Are AP slugs for shotguns possible?
When writing stories I usually use war as a simple and understandable way to introduce a conflict that needs to be resolved or sweeps the character away.
To keep it interesting I need to build ...
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Methods of Conducting Electricity through a Vacuum?
The title sums up most of what I'm asking, but I'll give a bit of background. Recently I've been reading mortal engines (minor spoiler alert, so skip to the next paragraph if you'd like), and in the ...
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What is the best way to explain a weapon that create a vacuum storm pillar?
I'd like to make an explanation for scientific phenomenon that has been use in this kind of technology without accidentally suggesting that the technologies in my world are advanced enough for space ...
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What would have been required for rockets to have dominated instead of cannons?
What would have been required for rockets to have dominated historically instead of cannons as the standard artillery weapon? There was enough of an overlap that this feels like it could have been ...
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What would be needed to have melee in a near future setting alongside ranged weapons?
How possible would it be to have guns & melee co-exist in a near future setting? In this setting genetic modification is possible but difficult to do to currently alive humans. Humans have spread ...
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Realistic Rounds for Penetrating advanced body armor? A round for standard infantry against nano-machined ceramics
Ed: This is my first post here so sorry for any mistakes I made. I realize my question was kinda stupid thinking about it.
Here's the gist, I'm having issue coming up with a round for standard ...
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Can archers on the ground shoot down a hot air balloon?
As a scenario, let's say that a group of heroes is traveling in a hot air balloon as a proof-of-concept for bandit-proof travel. Some particularly well-armed bandits naturally have taken an issue with ...
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What temperature should a beam of light be at to burn through a person in a couple of seconds? [closed]
A magical technician who creates weapons with lenses, LEDs, and mirrors.
What temperature should a beam of light be at to burn through a person in a couple of seconds? Cut a bone in a couple of ...
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Optimal tracks/treads for Desert based tank
This questions sounds fairly simple but i just want to be sure.
Imagine if you have an army who's main force comprises Tanks and who have to operate mainly in a desert (think the Great Sand Sea area ...
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