New answers tagged warfare
2
votes
How can I convince members of peaceful religions to start a holy war?
Just War Theory
Developed by St. Augustine et al, Just War theory is an early form of the Laws of War which was common in Christendom up until (roughly) the American Civil War. One of its defining ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Alcohol
Lets use a real world example, what was one of the biggest advantages of cities and agriculture according the people that lived in them, alcohol! One of the big draws cities had to hill folk ...
1
vote
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Economy.
Sheep are not substantially weaker, they are just reluctant to fight. If confronted in equal numbers with Wolves, the result is in no way pre-determined. Wolves may have higher chances ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
The wolves are raised in their early life by the sheep. Just like a son can soon overpower and dominate his mother in our society, it rarely happens that the son turns on the mother. Some genetic ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Culture and tradition (can be mixed with religion)
They don't attack them because that's how it's always been.
Their culture is mainly based on discipline and respect, as well as effacement of the ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Culture of honor
The Wolves could see as dishonorable to attack groups they consider inferior relative to warfare or fighting, e.g. see the Wikipedia article on chilvary:
Chivalric codes encompassed ...
1
vote
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Wolves are mercenaries
In history you don't really have any fully pacifist societies with medieval technology level. But let's say their religion forbids them to kill. The Sheep then would still have ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Weapons technology
A dedicated warrior tribe spends its time conquering, defending, or training. They don't take the time to perfect metalworking as it's considered an effete art; craftsmanship is ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Real historical example
A very real example of this was the Israelites and the Egyptians in history, where the Israelites were shepherds which was an occupation that the Egyptians refused to do. It ...
0
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
The Muskogean tribal towns, which were either “white” (peaceful, civic) or “red” (warriors);were a historical example of this. Their people often wore red and white clothing and face paint to show ...
2
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
This is easy to explain. However you might need to abandon the idea of two tribes, but instead have two (very separate) subgroups within one tribe.
Start with the people of the city being not only ...
3
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Someone has to work.
Looks the wolves don't like to. Okay, but everyone needs products. So, someone has to work. "Taking over the sheeps", what would that mean? They are already life and ...
3
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Money
The wolves are well paid by the sheep for their efforts, and are happy with the arrangement. Amongst the sheep are economists, farmers, builders, workers, merchants, etc. i.e. people who know ...
7
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
some options:
Kids. A fanatical warrior culture would have no means of raising children. Not only their culture would have no time, skill and inclination to raise children, but consider that women ...
6
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
The Hunger-ish games
Every Year, 10 members of each tribe are expelled from the tribe into the wilderness.
Each group of 10 is different - but the end result is usually one of 3 outcomes:
The Wolves ...
8
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
They're all pacifists. The warriors have a special dispensation from God to righteously kill (certain) people and take their stuff (under certain circumstances).
This is backed up by the indirect ...
21
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Have you forgotten that in the past it was commonly accepted to have a society were someone worked for all, someone fought for all and someone else prayed for all?
Sure, the soldiers would have taken ...
4
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Religion
The wolves are raised to be tough and strong and the sheep are weak and soft. The wolves survive by hunting and the tribute paid to them from the sheep. If the hunting is bad then the weakest ...
10
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
The warrior tribe are nomadic raiders.
Like many warrior cultures in history, the warrior tribes don't like settling down, rarely have permanent settlements, and highly value freedom.
They get most of ...
16
votes
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Frame Challenge:
A purely warrior culture i.e. one where the only duty of all members is to fight and nothing else? No hunting/gathering or farming, no craftsmen, builders or metal workers, no ...
18
votes
Accepted
Why would a warrior tribe be dependant on a pacifist tribe?
Passive Resistance
The Sheep (though some heavily loaded names here) aren't weak, they're pacifists. If this includes not putting up resistance to being conquered, they've clearly got incredibly ...
1
vote
How could forces without metal or plastic face up to conventional forces?
Tactical nuclear weapons
Trees
Flooding
Explosives
Sonic weapons
Directed-energy weapons
Focused sunlight
Rocks (catapult, trebuchet, low velocity howitzer... the slow knife, after all...)
Etc.
...
2
votes
Accepted
How could forces without metal or plastic face up to conventional forces?
Ceramics are non-organic, but neither metal nor "plastic".
Material Science knows 3 material classes of non-biological origin: Metals, Polymers, and Ceramics. It's possible to create many ...
3
votes
How could forces without metal or plastic face up to conventional forces?
Cruise missile
If these plastic/metal blocking shields are common enough that it's worth creating a countermeasure, they could just build one, especially in medium sci-fi. Yes, not being allowed to ...
4
votes
How could forces without metal or plastic face up to conventional forces?
Organic poisons and toxins, on organic support is the way to go. Just to give you a couple examples:
Curare poisoned darts: killing targets since prehistory, 100% organic.
Sharpened bamboo, spread ...
3
votes
How might weapons and armor evolve in a world where Humans coexist with Dinosaurs?
They would die very quickly, but not because of the dinossaurs.
Middle-jurassic had around half the avaialable oxygen in the air than we have today. Most large-ish mammals (Humans included) don't work ...
30
votes
How might weapons and armor evolve in a world where Humans coexist with Dinosaurs?
Not Much Difference
People often underestimate just how much of a force multiplier a sharpened stick, complex language skills, and human ingenuity really was for our ancestors.
Cavemen faced off ...
2
votes
How might weapons and armor evolve in a world where Humans coexist with Dinosaurs?
less than you think
Claws are useless compared to stone blades, claws are cool decorations but don't have much use. This is less true for big horns, but humans have had access to those and did not use ...
1
vote
How might weapons and armor evolve in a world where Humans coexist with Dinosaurs?
Bad times ahead
They're going to have a very, very bad time that's for sure. Dinosaurs were such efficient killing machines mammals only got a chance to shine after they died out. Before that time ...
13
votes
How might weapons and armor evolve in a world where Humans coexist with Dinosaurs?
less armor
Armor isn't too effective when you're getting stomped on or chewed up. Since large carnosaurs rely more on olfactory senses, perfumes that blend in with plants and mud may be used instead. ...
3
votes
Accepted
Black powder Daisy revolver: possible?
The V/L system was pretty much an air rifle designed to employ dieseling. Even in the absence of the caseless propellant, the gun would still propel a bullet downrange on air pressure alone.
The ...
10
votes
How would the "Hardness vs Toughness" dynamic of gems apply if it were possible to make shields out of them?
There are several issues when designing a shield.
What is a shield? It is something that protects you against some incoming weapon. It can do that by deflecting the weapon, by absorbing it, or by ...
7
votes
How would the "Hardness vs Toughness" dynamic of gems apply if it were possible to make shields out of them?
Would the calculus change if we went from medieval weaponry to say, cannons or modern firearms?
Yes.
Allow me to introduce Composite Armor - Paraphrasing - but my understanding is that you have ...
19
votes
Accepted
How would the "Hardness vs Toughness" dynamic of gems apply if it were possible to make shields out of them?
Toughness is more important in a shield
Toughness refers to the amount of energy necessary to deform a material. A tougher material will be able to absorb harder blows without being damaged, and if it ...
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