Clever Future Weapons

[CorpCommander]

So, what your favorite clever sci-fi weapon? I've been working on a campaign and I was thinking about how lame its gotten to portray lasers and Ion/Meson/particle guns. I want something really interesting.

 

What have you come up with?

[austenandrews]

Miniature antigrav robot security attendants.

 

Nanoclouds have all sorts of interesting applications.

 

Personal geosynchronous laser platforms. Be the first on your block to get one.

 

My 50's atomic space opera game has a Vibro-Gun that fires tiny metal shards into a target and then uses a high-powered magentic beam to vibrate it to smithereens.

 

-AA

[cutsleeve]

i always liked the needle gun heinlein wrote about in the cat who walks through walls. a small fire arm that fires a 4mm rod which penetrates the human body and then detonates making an inaudible explosion in the body killing the target.

 

in my sci fi settings fire arms where still commonly used also. This is because they did the job they put nice round holes in what they where aimed at. cheap, easy to use, and the technology to make them is commonly avaliable.

 

Actually sci fi weapons have pretty much been plotted out there arent very many new things that have come out most are just variations on a theme.

[McCoy]

Stunner, the only weapon that really lets you shoot first and ask questions later.

 

Nerve Disrupter: very popular on spaceships and space stations, effective against personell without causing embaressing holes to let the vacuum in.

 

Plasma Rifle: your basic superheated gas gun.

 

Needler: gauss gun that fires hundreds of steel fletchetts.

 

All old standbys, but all useful.

[Lord Liaden]

OK, I'll give it a shot.

 

Here's something I came up with for "techno ninjas:"

 

Singing Stars: These shuriken-like throwing weapons contain small but powerful motors which give the stars tremendous rotational velocity, greatly enhancing their effective range and allowing them to penetrate most forms of protective armor. The motors produce a high-pitched whine which inspired the weapon's name.

 

Singing Stars come in two varieties. Small stars (about 3" in diameter) can be hurled up to three at once, at one or multiple targets. Large stars (4" across) have variable gyroscopic stabilizers allowing for "trick throws," such as over or around barriers or even arcing back to strike targets from behind.

 

Because of their small size and internal motors, these stars are not built with Strength Minima.

 

Small Stars: RKA 2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Autofire (3 shots; +1/4), 24 Charges (+1/4) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1). Total cost: 30 points.

 

Large Stars: RKA 2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Indirect (always originates with character, but can attack from any angle; +1/2), 16 Charges (+0) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1). Total cost: 30 points.

[Lord Liaden]

And more techno-ninjary

 

This is an item for hand-to-hand combat:

 

Thunder Sticks: Resembling bulky nunchakus, these weapons are wielded in a similar manner. However, the damage the Thunder Sticks do is the product of a series of shaped charges which detonate on impact with a solid object, in a powerful, deafening but tightly-focussed blast.

 

RKA 2d6, +4 Stun Multiplier (+1), 16 Charges (+0) (60 Active Points); OAF (-1), No Range (-1/2) (total cost: 24 points) plus Hearing Group Flash 5d6, 16 Charges (+0) (15 Active Points); OAF (-1), No Range (-1/2) (total cost: 6 points). Total cost: 30 points.

[CorpCommander]

to Lord Laiden

 

SWEET. Who doesn't love Ninja???

 

I like the Trick stars. Great concept.

 

I've been thinking about unusual weapons for my campaign.

 

The "Grasshopper" is a grenade launcher with smart grenades. It has the usual AP/AT rounds. It also has the iSpy round (if you have HUD it projects a ground image back to you. Can be used indirectly.)

 

Loitering Missiles. These are missiles that you launch that circle your Area of Operation and look for enemy targets. They loiter for a few minutes. If nothing comes their way they go ballistic. If they find something they drop on it (or fly up to it if they are set for anti-aircraft mode.)

 

An electronic version of concertina wire. It's easier to emplace and is based on force fields. It can be stored in 1/1000th the space as regular wire, is safter to handle and can be delivered by air, artillery, missile or vehicle.

[Fitz]

Memory-form projectiles -- very nasty.

 

Produced in a helical format and then deformed to a straight needle; when introduced into a warm wet medium (like a human body, for example) they revert to their helical form, wrapping themselves around bones and arterys.

 

Just the thing to make a combat surgeon's life a misery. Of course, they make the victim's life a misery too, but then being shot will do that anyway.

[SSJ Archon]

Photonades: Basically balls of one way glass. Wrapped in fragile plastic, the moment they are exposed to light, the light builds up inside, quickly detonating them, creating a blinding hot flash, and flying liquid glass. The guy in the sun glasses makes a quick get away. The thicker the glass, the more powerful the explosion.

 

Basic Photonade{

Energy Blast 1d6, Explosion

plus

Sight Group Flash 5D6 Explosion

}

 

Ampgun: Basically a hand held subwoofer, these babies will get you out of a pinch in no time! Perfect for blowing away police baracades, vault doors, and especially people!

 

Heavy Ampgun{

Energy Blast 3D6 Stun Only Area of Effect Cone x2 area size Armor Piercing x2 Does Knockback Double Knockback x2

plus

Hearing Group Flash 20D6 Area of Effect Cone x2 area size

plus

Physical Limitation: Doesn't Work in a Vaccum.

}

 

I'm not very good at making these powers obviously, but Iike the special effects...

[gewing]

I have always liked the electromagnetic guns.

 

done just right, you could use a variable amount of power with a variable range of projectiles. if I am not Totally off base, a coil-gun could be self centering with proper projectiles.

 

imagine...

10mm coil gun

variable ammo

standard steel 4.7mm bb. cheap, light, small. autofire, MANY rounds for a given weight. Could be fed 3 or 5 at a time for a burst/shot effect.

 

5mm Armor piercing flechette. possibly autofire

(newish version fragments after penetration... ouch.)

 

10mm HE, HEat, illumination, CS, or smoke grenades.

10mm bean bag- non lethal

now to make it more flexible, there are 5 pre-set power levels.

 

1- one charge. BB travels 2500 fps. Flechette travels 2000fps, grenades travel 200 fps.

 

2- 2 charges BB travels at 3500 fps. Flechette travels at 3200 fps grenade travels 300fps

 

3 -4 charges BB travels 4200fps Flechette travels 4000fps grenade travels 400 fps

 

4- 8 charges Bb at 5500fps flechette at 5000fps, grenade at 500 fps

 

this allows a range of attacks from 1d6+1 k to perhaps even 3d6AP. A really nasty person might go higher!

 

range mod improves as velocity does. BBs take a modified reduced by range, they are ballistically inefficient.

 

BBs are used by cheap forces as standard ammo, well equipped forces use them only as emergency ammo. The same size magazine that holds 10 grenades holds 5000 BBs.

 

 

The basic idea can be scaled up to cannons or grenade launchers, though they don't work with bbs due to larger size making it less practical.

 

Using strictly grenades/slugs would be even easier, Flechette could have a sabot around them. A bursting shot round could give a nice shot gun effect, modern cannons are being fitted with similar shells.

 

 

 

oh, if the memory projectile is invisible to x-rays... I like it either way!

 

 

 

 

Originally posted by Fitz

Memory-form projectiles -- very nasty.

 

Produced in a helical format and then deformed to a straight needle; when introduced into a warm wet medium (like a human body, for example) they revert to their helical form, wrapping themselves around bones and arterys.

 

Just the thing to make a combat surgeon's life a misery. Of course, they make the victim's life a misery too, but then being shot will do that anyway.

[Chuckg]

I was always a fan of the 4mm Gauss rifle loading hyperdense.

[Space Cadet]

You want a clever but creepy future weapon? Just imagine a high-

tech version of the Tall Man's Giant Ball Bearing From Hell (from the

Phantasm movies): anti-grav propulsion, semi-autonomous

targeting capability and a weapons system that can kill a target

in any number of ways.

 

Almost sounds like something that Doctor Destroyer would come

up with...

 

Space Cadet

[DigitalGolem]

The Ice gun;

 

Makes its own ammo from water, may also dissolve various chemicals in each round, and after hitting its target at lethal velocity, the ammo dissolves. No evidence.

 

How to accelerate an ice needle to a lethal velocity, I have no idea. Perhaps a high-tech heating element in lieu of a firing pin, creating a small but powerful steam explosion? Any other suggestions?

 

thanx heaps,

 

DGv3.0

[Dr. Anomaly]

I suppose you could do it by mixing a bit of iron into the water before freezing it, and then use magnetics. Since iron is present in the body already, it shouldn't stand out immediately after the ice melts, right?

[SSJ Archon]

Ice gun.

 

Don't use water ice. I would use liquid/solid nitrogen, or something like that. You can still shoot it in a cartidge, because its cold enough that it won't melt/evaporate right away.

They would still be detectable. The only real advantage is that there is no shell or anything to be traced. These super cold ammos would also reveal themselves through the freezing damage they would do the the skin.

 

You could also take this in the opposite direction;

 

Use thermite or something else that burns ultra hot. It will go straight threw ANYTHING, and afterward theres nothing to (or nothing that still holds value for) tracablity. This way is easier, sense you don't have to keep it cold.

 

Any more technical question the science man can awnser? (Guess what kind of character I usually play!)

[CorpCommander]

Force XXI

 

Force XXI has some interesting weapons. The proposed infantry rifle has a HUD mode so its partially indirect. (around corners only, -1/2? -1?) It also has a 20mm round underneath instead of a 40mm GL. I think they want that for the AP effect against vehicles.

[Greenstar]

CorpsCommander, you mentioned a "loitering missile". I *think* the US Army already has something amazingly like that, I believe it's called SADARM. If I recall correctly, it's delivered by a large artillery round that pop open and two "parachute bombs" pop out and proceed to coast about, looking for tanks. When it finds one, it dives into the thinner top armor and lets go with a EFP charge.

 

It's been a while since I read up on it, so my memory may be off a bit. I think this is a decent link to data on it:

 

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/sadarm.htm

[CorpCommander]

@Greenstar

 

Hey, that is interestingly similar to what I was thinking about. My first impression was of a cruise missle with look down radar. This is a cheaper alternative. Though it only seems to be useful against static targets. I wonder what the hang time is? 1 minute?

 

Anyway, this is impressive: SADARM detects a vehicle

[Greenstar]

Dunno what the hang time is, but I'd bet longer than a minute. Also, ISTR that it could target moving vehicles, though with less reliability.

 

I also seem to recall that they were workin gon a successor that was basically a really big shell (MLRS type) with 2 smart glider bombs inside...and then extending that, 1 smart RPV bomb with a quiet prop and solar-cell wings. Both would greatly improve loiter time.

[Dr.Device]

My favorite near future weapon is from Snow Crash.

 

Reason: A person carried linear accelerator with a suitcase-sized nuclear reactor as a power source.

 

When all else fails, they'll listen to Reason.

[Kevin Scrivner]

Clever, but not futuristic

 

The ice bullet IS a clever idea but not necessarily futuristic. Charlie Chan matched wits with a murderer who employed such a weapon in "Meeting At Midnight" (1944). In this case, the bullet was made of frozen blood of the same type as the victim's. In an era before DNA testing, that made it even harder to detect. The projectile melted and mixed with the blood flowing from the wound. Incidentally, the "gun" itself was quite compact -- a dual-purpose cigarette case.

[Mentor]

I gotta go with the Willys gun from the "Sten" series. A geostabilized battle rifle using a laser to propel force shielded, hyperheavy Antimatter 2 bullets, hundreds of tiny sized rounds per minute are fired from a magazine hold thousands of projectiles. Imagine a full auto BB gun with thousands of rounds packing the punch of a modern day main battle tanks gun. Sweet.

[Chuckg]

True, the willygun is a nice weapon.

 

They never did explain how they gave it a minimum safe arming distance, though. It'd really suck to fire it off, have the BB hit a twig two feet in front of your muzzle, and blow you up.

[chaos_engineer]

the aforementioned needlers are a pulp-sf staple, and often shoot drugged rounds.

 

another pulp mainstay is the disintegrator ray. Larry Niven gave it a hard-sf rational in his novel "Ringworld". "Where its narrow beam fell, the charge on the electron was temporarily depressed. Solid matter, rendered suddenly and violently positive, tended to tear itself into a fog of monatomic dust."

 

Niven also came up with the variable sword, a mono-molecular wire kept rigid by a "stasis field" (although a piezo-electric charge would probably work) that's extendable up to several meters (say 15-30). The tip of the sword is marked by a small, glowing red bead (holographic?). (the wire itself, needless to say, is all but invisible.) cuts through just about anything like a hot knife through butter.

 

however, i think it's pretty absurd to say it's "lame" to have lasers and particle beams in a sf setting, especially if you're striving for any kind of realism. and if you aren't, why not just transpose some flashy magic spells?

[Greenstar]

- Gyro-jet type rocket propelled bullets, only smaller and much more energetic.

 

- "Smart" bullets that can lock onto a target signiture and have some limited steering.

 

-- Vibro-blades that use sonic or molecular vibration to aid their cutting power.

 

- Tiny insect-sized drones that inject destructive nanites into the target

 

- Hell, for that matter, destructive nanites!