New answers tagged post-apocalypse
4
votes
Accepted
If the USA was hit by a bombardment of nuclear warheads, what would the landscape look like?
If the nukes are targeted at wiping out living beings, most of the landscape will be physically unchanged: the explosions will happen above the ground, to maximize fireball and radiation exposure, and ...
- 241k
0
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Why would hinder the government from reclaiming postapocalyptic US?
Something worse
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/06/04/monstro
No one knowing what the fuck was going on in the darkness. No one but
us.
Initially, no one believed the hysterical evacuees. ...
- 276k
8
votes
Accepted
Why would hinder the government from reclaiming postapocalyptic US?
Cost-Benefit Analysis
When assaulting an enemy position, there's a simple calculation that the attackers must make based on two quesions:
What are we likely to gain from this battle?
What are we ...
- 39k
8
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How could a pandemic trigger a renaissance?
I've read/seen that one of the biggest follow-on effects of the Great Plague of the 14th century killing between 1/3 and 1/2 of the population of Europe was that everyone who survived was suddenly (...
- 36.9k
3
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How could a pandemic trigger a renaissance?
The mechanism for this isn't mysterious. Under normal circumstances, those with resources strive to control society and information. This pulls resources out of support networks until they're barely ...
- 2,163
1
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How could a pandemic trigger a renaissance?
I cant see this as being a possibility. Certainly in smaller more egalitarian communities after a time you might conceivably see a boom in overall growth. But as a whole the systems society is built ...
- 2,236
2
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How could a pandemic trigger a renaissance?
In the wake of a planet wide disaster, the goal of society shifts from profit to altruism. The governments and people of the world have a common goal -- helping each other. Everyone is a victim. ...
- 41.1k
1
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Not all tech can be miniaturized.
Beneath the technobabble, a "plasma generator" could be a fusion reactor, which uses superheated plasma to generate energy, or even a (made up) high ...
- 161
2
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Steam and plasma generators don't miniaturize well
Steam power requires boilers, pipes, valves, and vents. While you might be able to have some gadgets powered by a boiler backpack, you wouldn't be ...
- 2,687
0
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
They were never invented to begin with. One might say that at some point in our history, it was inevitable that handguns would become the primary weapon used by ground forces. But this wasn't always ...
- 121
0
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
The planet’s gravity is really strong.
The plasma generators in the ships are the way to charge up powered anti-gravity devices in the form of leftover steampunk exoskeletons in various forms and ...
0
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Remnants of handheld firearms exist, but their owners used them to ruin.
Instead of the other answers which posit that firearms are useless, I'll say that they were indeed crucial at one point, but so ...
1
vote
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
In steampunk setting you have also steam weapons, where instead of expanding gunpowder reaction products projectiles are moved by expanding steam.
Now you need to hold in hands heater, water tank, ...
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4
votes
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Too big
If the power density is too small, a firearm will be too large for a human to handle - or too small to be effective. That's why early gunpowder weapons were cannons. As the gunpowder was ...
- 3,560
7
votes
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
I am really uninterested in making a shooting game.
(Well, that's unfortunate. I really like shooting games.)
You have ship-mounted plasma cannons and railguns, but you really don't want people ...
- 5,182
2
votes
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
No gunpowder or black powder technology.
Gunpowder and black powder are really good at what they do. If you just eliminate any understanding of it or technology to produce it, relying instead on ...
- 1,232
12
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
The Ships Forbid It
The world is full of hovering ships powered by semi sentient plasma generators.
The hover ships are the remnants of a 3-laws robot apocalypse. Because the AIs are above all else,...
- 65.7k
21
votes
Accepted
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
The aliens were big.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOUW1G-AE0A
/The ships are heavily armed with everything from rockets to plasma cannons, to improvised railguns that can launch scrap./
A lot of ...
- 276k
5
votes
Other than match and rope, is there any other way to fire what is essentially a musket/cannon?
Burning glass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNuOcA3nh2U
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_glass
Burning glass technology has been known since antiquity, as described
by Greek and Roman writers ...
- 276k
7
votes
Other than match and rope, is there any other way to fire what is essentially a musket/cannon?
This is post-apocalyptic. so there are literally millions of discarded used up cigarette lighters Zippos of all sorts littering the landscape. Flint wheels, Piezoelectric, electric arc...
enter link ...
- 2,236
13
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Other than match and rope, is there any other way to fire what is essentially a musket/cannon?
Since this is post-apocalyptic and not historical, how about electric igniters?
They can make black powder and lead bullets. They cannot make new cartridge cases unless a goldsmith does a single one ...
- 97.9k
7
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Other than match and rope, is there any other way to fire what is essentially a musket/cannon?
a flint could be struck against steel or even another flint to create a spark. A battery could be used to create a spark. All manner of chemicals could be used, a match could be used, a flaming brand ...
- 31.1k
4
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Other than match and rope, is there any other way to fire what is essentially a musket/cannon?
The simple and crudest weapon would be a iron or steel pipe (lead is too soft and would deform. With a small hole (touch hole) that could be used to ignite the powder by touching it with a flame, ...
- 1,381
4
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Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Goggles On!
Most military action is air-to-air. Or rather giant steam/plasma-punk dirigible to giant steam/plasma-punk dirigible. They have deflection shields which can stop small firearms coming ...
- 41.1k
19
votes
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Too Risky:
Your tech is fairly solid, but there's lots of steampunk piping that doesn't tolerate piercing damage from high-velocity projectiles very well. Anyone shooting a handgun tends to get ...
- 54k
8
votes
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Heavy(ish) plasma generators
The semi-sentient plasma generators come in different shapes and sizes, the ligther ones at 25kg up to several tonnes. While 25kg may produce enough power for a small ...
- 8,199
10
votes
Why are there no handheld firearms in my steampunk future?
Personal shields are so easy to build with this tech that nobody bothers to build handheld weapons
Using a small power source it's relatively easy to build an efficient personal shield that blocks ...
- 3,247
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