Marcus Impudite Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Advantage #1: Easily taking someone alive for interrogation. Because questioning a corpse wouldn't be very fruitful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Advantage #2. Savings in cleaning costs. Because some stains just won't come out. HM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Advantage #3: They're more fun at parties. Because when someone loses at "spin the blaster" you can't invite them back next time. With "spin the stunner" there's always a rematch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Advantage #4 : Friendly fire is not nearly as big of a deal. Have enemies mixed in with your allies? Stun em all, and sort it out later! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 That latter is notable in the Vorkosigan books by Bujold. Ivan Vorpatril, a secondary character in many of the books (and the main one in one), notes at one point that the first rule of stunner tag is shoot everybody. You can always apologize and offer a headache tablet to any friendlies. Adnantage #5 : No firing hesitation. All but the most hardened or well trained personnel will probably hesitate before taking a life. Stun shot? No need to worry about it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 And #5 leads logically to Advantage #6: Fewer deaths due to law enforcement. "Wrongful death" accusations, and all the hostility and unrest they cause, should drop dramatically. Not that police may be any more loved by some segments of the populace, but they might be less feared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 #7: If you're out to incite terror and cow a population, stunning selected victims and removing makes good sense, so you can kill them in more creative ways in more isolated circumstances and leave the corpses in prominent places for maximum psychological impact. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Walsh Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 #8. Because in some jurisdictions it's still illegal to kill idiots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 Hopefully natural selection will bump them off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 And #5 leads logically to Advantage #6: Fewer deaths due to law enforcement. "Wrongful death" accusations, and all the hostility and unrest they cause, should drop dramatically. Not that police may be any more loved by some segments of the populace, but they might be less feared. Not really (to wrongful death accusations), if someone unfortunately dies from the use of a stun gun, you'll still get sued. (even if the only other option was bullets) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 Not really (to wrongful death accusations), if someone unfortunately dies from the use of a stun gun, you'll still get sued. (even if the only other option was bullets) There'll still be fewer instances of death, so those suits will be less frequent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Impudite Posted February 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 #9: Training Purposes. Adding some realism to academy training exercises is great, provided cadets don't get killed off for real... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 There'll still be fewer instances of death, so those suits will be less frequent. There will be fewer incidents of death per shooting, yes, but the number of shootings may go up so far that there are as many or even more deaths overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothere Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 #10 Training accidents are a lot less messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 As grim night sets over the ghastly battlefield of the Somme, German soldiers advanced amongst the winnowed fallen of Britan and her Empire. Dreadfully armed with buckets of warm water, indelible felt markers, and razors, they are about to commit an atrocity for the ages. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 Advantage #11: When the captain instructs his crew to "set weapons to Stun," and the crew does something to their weapons, you can be pretty sure their default setting is to Kill. Which tells you a lot about their culture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted February 26, 2016 Report Share Posted February 26, 2016 Well, I'd hope the weapons' default setting was "Off/Safety"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Carman Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 That latter is notable in the Vorkosigan books by Bujold. Ivan Vorpatril, a secondary character in many of the books (and the main one in one), notes at one point that the first rule of stunner tag is shoot everybody. You can always apologize and offer a headache tablet to any friendlies. Adnantage #5 : No firing hesitation. All but the most hardened or well trained personnel will probably hesitate before taking a life. Stun shot? No need to worry about it! Also noted in that series was the drawback of being armed ONLY with a stunner: enemies won't hesitate to try to overwhelm you with numbers, then stomp you to death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Actually stun guns are so primitive. Goober rounds are much better - all the disabling, but you don't have to wait for them to regain consciousness and can use the right solvent to get them moving again: http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2002-09-30 "Schlock: Ahhh...goober rounds. Shoot first, ask for concessions later." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 Also noted in that series was the drawback of being armed ONLY with a stunner: enemies won't hesitate to try to overwhelm you with numbers, then stomp you to death.And if your opponents are immune to stunners (like robots), you are generally weaponless against them. Stunning all new arrivals to make sure they're human in that way may be part of the protocol for vetting new personnel, to try to deal with e.g., the Cylon problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narf the Mouse Posted April 7, 2016 Report Share Posted April 7, 2016 And if your opponents are immune to stunners (like robots), you are generally weaponless against them. Stunning all new arrivals to make sure they're human in that way may be part of the protocol for vetting new personnel, to try to deal with e.g., the Cylon problem. ...Of course. It's not like Cylons would want to turn into inferior biologicals. That would be the plot of a B-grade survival horror. Probably end with most viewers wanting half the cast dead, anyway. Tax: 12) Laser tag gets a whole lot more fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freakboy6117 Posted April 8, 2016 Report Share Posted April 8, 2016 The vorkosigan series has a lot of stunner use. with the standard offensive weapons being either instantly lethal incredibly destructive or both. Which means stunners are a popular choice for personal defence and stunner tag is the default for a lot of combat. stun everything that moves and sort things out later is the name of the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narf the Mouse Posted April 14, 2016 Report Share Posted April 14, 2016 If two identical people show up shouting "Imposter!" at each other, you can just shoot them both *and* sort it out later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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