Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

[Old Man]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Dune had some good ones. Crysknives, hunter-seekers, and (if you can stand the movie) weirding modules.

[gewing]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

lightsabers and type II phasers are classics.

 

The gun from Deathworld was ok, the holster was interesting.

 

The Dally gun (Dial a Gun) from "The tactics of Mistake" was pretty good. silly, sort of, but good.

 

one of my favorites was the "megatron"???? from a pair of novels that I forget the name of. THe kid inherited his dad's iirc 20mm pistol. He wasn't very good with it, despite the surgery his dad had done on him when he was a kid, that was somehow supposed to make him a better shot.

 

Eventually, he buys personal armor, and the stuff he locates was from some planets security services, and had some kind of induction connection built into the gloves.

 

THis made the connection to the "smart link" I would go so far as to call it a "SUPER smart link" that was implanted in him.

 

All of a sudden he could SEE the rounds going down range, had rangefinding and target tracking capabilities, and acted hugely faster.

 

The experienced adventurer who watched this exclaimed "The kids a wired on Killer!"

 

 

I would really like to have a vibro-blade from Webber's universe, and the pulsers were pretty cool too.

 

The pulser fired darts, accelerated by artificial GRAVITY fields to iirc over 2000mps. Some versions of the darts, for military use, were formed out of superdense explosives. THey penetrated like steel, but blew up in the process.

[Old Man]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I remember a neat little gun out of a short story in a Dragon magazine. Crackpot inventor creates a gun that 'fires' a self-propagating disruption wave that more or less keeps going as long as there's matter in front of it to disrupt. Takes it out in the backyard, fires it three times at a tree stump; three bright points of light fly out and make three perfect little holes straight through it. That kills the battery, so that ends the day's test.

 

That evening he's watching the news and sees a story about a mysterious, beach-ball-sized globe of energy that flew out of the ocean in New Zealand and shot down a military jet. Story ends with the realization that those three shots will go out into space forever, "and who the shooting back will do?"

[Shike019]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I'm giving my votes to the Lightsabre and Reason from Neal Stephenson's Snow crash.

[Zeropoint]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

"I think they'll listen to Reason." -- one of my favorite lines from Snow Crash.

 

My vote for my favorite sci-fi weapon would be the Tenkian Shuriken from Neal Asher's "Gridlinked".

 

Tenkian was a weapons designer who viewed his creations as works of art. As such, they are each unique, and as beautiful as they are deadly. The Shuriken is the last and greatest of his works. It possesses five retractable blades made of chainglass, a substance with the hardness of diamond and the tensile strength of high-alloy steel. Cut radius with the blades fully extended is 25 cm. The Shuriken is normally housed in a holster on the right arm, but when activated, flies and spins at high speeds under its own power. It has limited artificial intelligence, and is capable of both following orders and proactively intervening to protect its owner. It also seems to be capable of learning through experience.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

"I think they'll listen to Reason." -- one of my favorite lines from Snow Crash.

 

 

Yeah... closely followed, in my quotebook, by "Hold on a second.. I think I'm about to get into a gatling gun duel"

[keithcurtis]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I think I'll go with the phaser and lightsaber crowd, though I prefer the type I. It can do everything the type II can (except maybe overload), and has the advantage of not even looking like a weapon.

 

I know it's not as powerful, but that's like saying an A Bomb is not as powerful as an H Bomb. Either one is sufficient for home defense.

 

For big weapons, I like the one from Niven that suppresses the charge on the Proton. It makes nice clouds out of anything solid.

 

Or the Wave Motion Gun from Starblazers/Yamato.

 

Keith "Thinks the Death Star is overkill" Curtis

[Dauntless]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

My favorite sci-fi weapon isn't really a weapon at all. In fact, it's a defensive weapon. It's the shield from Dune. This one technological gadget perfectly rationalized the return of sword and other melee fighting in a high tech world. The more energy an object has, the greater the resilience of the shield. Hence, you had to learn how to fight with archaic weapons again.

 

Actually, Dune did have a pretty cool weapon...the voice augmenter. It wasn't just the vibrations that had power, but the meaning of the words themselves. Perhaps more of a fantasy thing, but it's interesting to note how many religions believe in the power of words. For example, logos in Greek, which represents the "word" of God, and in Shintoism, all of creation begins with "vibrations" (not unlike current string theory ideas...not just sound vibrations).

 

But really, I'm a believer that weapons are secondary to the wielder. Yamaoka Tesshu was a famous samurai who lived during the Meiji Reformation of Japan (late 1800's, early 1900's) and who had in fact, originally been in opposition to the Emperor but later became his personal sensei in bushido (some say it was he as well as Saigo Takamori who were the inspiration for Katsumoto in the movie The Last Samurai). He was asked by a lieutenant in the newly forming Japanese Imperial Army why it was still necessary to learn the sword in the age of rifle and cannon. Yamaoka laughed and replied that the modern weapons don't train the person in virtue like the old weapons. The sword, being an extension of the wielder means that the person himself must become better. The sword was up close and personal, and the user had to learn to let go of ego and even life. But impersonal weapons like the rifle and cannon didn't require the same level of insight into a way of life.

 

That's not to say you don't respect non-archaic weapons, but I do think a quote from Dragonstar Rising will helpfully make this more clear:

"The true benefit of power armor is that it allows the spirit to keep pace with the physical". So any sci-fi weapon or gadget which does this is cool in my book.

[Curufea]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Ah well,if you want the ultimate weapon - you can't go past the Lazy Gun from Against A Dark Background by Iain M. Banks. It always destroys what you shoot it at, no matter what it is. It varies the method of attack based on the target.

[csyphrett]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I always liked the armor from Northworld, and the tanks from Hammer's Slammers for different reasons.

CES

[CDad]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

What? Nobody mentions Vera?

 

My favorite - the linear accelerator the Moonies use to "send grain" back to Earth in Hienlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". TAANSTAAFL.

[wcw43921]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

The Secret Disintegrator Button from the "Mirror, Mirror" universe in Star Trek.

 

That's the one where Kirk can open a panel in his quarters, spy on anyone undetectably--and wipe them out of existence with the touch of a button.

 

Yes--I believe it was called the Tantalus Field.

 

I like the Sandman pistol from the Logan's Run movie. Sleek and deadly in appearance--much like the Sandmen themselves.

 

Also I like the Stun Gun from Space:1999. Compact and versatile, it makes a great holdout weapon.

 

But ultimately I have to go with the lightsaber. In the right hands, it's the deadliest hand weapon around. I think it could even block a phaser beam.

[tkdguy]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I like the Pacifier gun that appeared in Doctor Who (Tom Baker's run). Instead of causing damage, it temporarily removed all the target's aggression, making him/her a happy camper for a few hours.

 

But I'd have to go with the lightsaber as my favorite. The difference is, I'd like to have a "barber pole" style lightsaber with blue, white, and red swirls moving up the blade.

 

(In best Vader imitation) Luke, would you like your sideburns long or short?

[freakboy6117]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

hmm type 2 lawgiver from judge dread 6 types of ammo and anti theft explosive charge

[CSgeekHero]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Another vote for Phaser Type II and the lightsaber

[gewing]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

What? Nobody mentions Vera?

 

My favorite - the linear accelerator the Moonies use to "send grain" back to Earth in Hienlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". TAANSTAAFL.

 

 

 

nuclear warheads designed to destroy puny re-entry vehicles...

 

knock them off course. MAYBE.

[sinanju]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

nuclear warheads designed to destroy puny re-entry vehicles...

 

knock them off course. MAYBE.

 

Don't forget the "unstoppable missiles" the primitive (1943 or so) humans on earth were lobbing at the alien invaders' spaceships parked in Europe in Turtledove's "World War" novels. The alien spacecraft, of course, had anti-missile defenses--not that they expected to need them.

 

Then their radar detected incoming missiles. Fire anti-missiles. NO EFFECT. One warship utterly destroyed. A few minutes later, another missile shows up on radar. Another ship destroyed when the incoming bogey proves invulnerable to anti-missile fire.

 

Alas for the humans, by then the aliens figured out that what they thought was a missile was actually a multi-ton explosive shell fired from "Big Bertha" (an artillery piece mounted on a railroad car. Too big, too tough and too damn stupid for sophisticated anti-missile defenses to stop it. The third "missile" never got launched as the aliens eradicated the artillery position with extreme prejudice....

[Curufea]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I quite liked the Thor missile system from the wargame Renegade Legion: Centurion.

 

Semi guided crowbars dropped from orbit.

[Vondy]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

For sheer look and feel, let alone the anti-matter rounds in the top barrel, I'd have to go with the Blaster from Blade Runner.

 

http://www.brmovie.com/Images/Things/blaster_02.jpg

 

For classic happy-factor, the lightsaber.

[AlHazred]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Good answers, all. Not familiar with Harry Harrison's Pyran gun, but it sounds interesting; maybe I'll have to check them out. Dune's weapons were interesting, with distinctive background elements that made them stand out. I also like megaplayboy's ideas for "man-portable" weapons...

 

I'll add the AM-280 rifle from Chapter 39 of Gerrold's A Matter For Men. A needler, it has a fantastic multi-frequency laser sight built in. When the sight is tuned with the same code key as the accompanying helmet, the laser changes frequency randomly and unpredictably several times a minute, with the helmet changing frequency of pickup in time with it. So, you can see the beam as a steady beam, but alien species that can see some unusual frequencies shouldn't be able to see the beam most of the time. Better for stealth.

 

Oh, and I was thrilled to see the mention of the gun from Dragon magazine. That was a neat story idea, and one I've long wanted to use in a game...

[Old Man]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Oh, I almost forgot--for plain old slugthrowers, you can't beat the M41A pulse rifle. Ten millimeter explosive tipped caseless, standard light armor piercing rounds, with an over and under 30mm pump action grenade launcher. Feel the weight.

 

Supplemented, of course, by the smartgun, a squad automatic weapon so heavy it has to be worn on a gyroscopically stabilized harness to distribute the weight and recoil...

[Curufea]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Countered by the mandatory 3d6 unluck any wielder of the weapons must have as a disad

[LordGhee]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

I liked the ideal of the smart gun as scripted and in the novelation.

 

it was a belt fed pistol using the same round as the standard Marine weapon. mounted on a gimbel armed with a tv sight attacted to the weapon. this worked like an attack helocopter gun sigth, where you look it points this allowed for fast action and most importantly the ability to look and shoot around corners. Very important to clear a ship or building in a safe way.

Something our troops would like now.

[Nyrath]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

Good answers' date=' all. Not familiar with Harry Harrison's Pyran gun, but it sounds interesting; maybe I'll have to check them out. [/quote']

 

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3l.html

 

The colonist on the planet Pyrrus have the ultimate quick draw in a gadget called the "power-holster." The holster is strapped to your forearm. When you arrange your hand in "holding-a-pistol" posture, a mechanical actuator slams the gun out of the holster and into your hand.

 

From Deathworld by Harry Harrison

 

"Every gun is fitted to its owner and would be useless on anyone else," Brucco said. "I'll show you why." He led Jason to an armory jammed with deadly weapons. "Put your arm in this while I make the adjustments."

 

It was a box-like machine with a pistol grip on the side. Jason clutched the grip and rested his elbow on a metal loop. Brucco fixed pointers that touched his arm, then copied the results from the meters. Reading the figures from his list, he selected various components from bins and quickly assembled a power holster and gun. With the holster strapped to his forearm and the gun in his hand, Jason noticed for the first time they were connected by a flexible cable. The gun fitted his hand perfectly.

 

"This is the secret of the power holster," Brucco said, tapping the flexible cable. "It is perfectly loose while you are using the weapon. But when you want it returned to the holster-" Brucco made an adjustment and the cable became a stiff rod that whipped the gun from Jason's hand and suspended it in midair.

 

"Then the return." The rod cable whirred and snapped the gun back into the holster. "The drawing action is the opposite of this, of course."

 

"A great gadget," Jason said. "But how do I draw? Do I whistle or something for the gun to pop out?"

 

"No, it is not sonic control," Brucco answered with a sober face. "It is much more precise than that. Here, take your left hand and grasp an imaginary gunbutt. Tense your trigger finger. Do you notice the pattern of the tendons in the wrist? Sensitive actuators touch the tendons in your right wrist. They ignore all patterns except the one that says hand ready to receive gun. After a time the mechanism becomes completely automatic. When you want the gun, it is in your hand. When you don't, it is in the holster."

 

Jason made grasping motions with his right hand, crooked his index finger. There was a sudden, smashing pain against his hand and a loud roar. The gun was in his hand-half the fingers were numb-and smoke curled up from the barrel.

 

"Of course, there are only blank charges in the gun until you learn control. Guns are always loaded. There is no safety. Notice the lack of a trigger guard. That enables you to bend your trigger finger a slight bit more when drawing so the gun will fire the instant it touches your hand."

 

It was without doubt the most murderous weapon Jason had ever handled, as well as being the hardest to manage. Working against the muscle burning ache of high gravity, he fought to control the devilish device. It had an infuriating way of vanishing into the holster just as he was about to pull the trigger. Even worse was the tendency to leap out before he was quite ready. The gun went to the position where his hand should be. If the fingers weren't correctly placed, they were crashed aside. Jason only stopped the practice when his entire hand was one livid bruise.

 

Complete mastery would come with time, but he could already understand why the Pyrrans never removed their guns. It would be like removing a part of your own body. The movement of gun from holster to hand was too fast for him to detect. It was certainly faster than the neural current that shaped the hand into the gun-holding position. For all apparent purposes it was like having a lightning bolt in your fingertip. Point the finger and blamm, there's the explosion.

 

[Seenar]

Re: Favorite Sci-Fi Weapon

 

EE "Doc" Smith's Lensman

 

The Planetary Nut Cracker:

 

Take two worlds moving in opposite relative directions, and slap inertial dampeners on 'em. Then, move them aside another world and shut the dampeners off.

 

WHAMMO!

 

Also, if we are branching out, I don't want to have a ray gun as much as I want a flying robot that is basically a ball turret, like VINCENT from the Black Hole.