Sci-fi Weapons, Vehicles and Equipment

I need it to be launched or fired without elastic type actions like with taught bow strings and pulleys.

The more I think about it the more something like a spigot mortar makes a bit of since. Instead of launching a hefty AT projectile it is firing something roughly the size of modern crossbow bolt but meant to able to hunt with and deal with soft body armor.

Well you could used compressed air, sure it would need a good seal, but it would only get used for one shot, so it wouldn't need to be ultra-durable.

Possible but compressed air becomes rather limited due to weight constraints of the compression system. Especially when we are talking something roughly the size of an modern AR 15 launching projectile whose mass is quite a bit more then any pellet rifle out there.

Though that is another idea. Advanced air rifles instead of combustion guns.

edited 14th Nov '13 12:35:36 AM by TuefelHundenIV

Magnetics then?

These guys need to be using something a bit simpler then rail guns/coil guns.

It is looking like the Spigot Mortar like function is the best bet. A non-traditional projectile projection method. That and maybe airguns for hunting as well.

It probably won't surprise most of you, but I have a bias: I LOVE crossbows. The one I own is rifle-sized, self-cocking, with brass pulleys and steel cables. It packs a REAL punch. I use it for home defense. It's a very... intimidating looking weapon. Then again I also own throwing knives, sharpened finger claws, folding knives with brass knuckle handles, a bow and arrow, a replica mammoth spear/fighting bow and a blowgun, as well as a small, easily concealed folding sickle-like blade for covert protection. But I've recently begun toying around with building a working crossbow from parts scavenged from broken ones.

Need to find some hollow point darts for my blowgun though so I can cook up some venomous projectiles.

edited 14th Nov '13 4:54:14 AM by fulltimeD

Poison darts usually just have a groove in the tip and shaft for the poison.

(wonders what kind of tool I'll need and hops of wikipedia)

I'm sure there's something in my kitchen cabinet that I can use in place of actual frog venom.

edited 14th Nov '13 12:41:20 PM by fulltimeD

Maybe spoiled mayonnaise

Or Miracle Whip.

Bleh. If you are going to say hunt pests most blow gun darts work as is. Get the broadhead darts.

Ok so I decided I wold go with the S Pigot Mortar concept. Even a small example of the Spigot motard can launch a projectile with surprising force, decent accuracy and ok range.

Bleach does some very nasty work on your insides if you take an internal dose of it.

There are horror stories about children than drank drano. Limbs literally falling off. I doubt just a coating of it will be lethal but it's still going to do serious tissue damage.

Add barbs if you can. Otherwise, the target will pull the arrow out and blood pressure will flush the wound.

The limbs falling off sounds like a serious stretch. Here is what is in Drano.

sodium hydroxide, sodium nitrate, sodium chloride, and aluminum. Toxic yes. Make your limbs fall off, not very likely. Drinking it would give you one hell of terrible death from internal chemical burns and thermal reaction of the elements mixing with water in the stomach and throat.

Household toxins rat poison, herbicides, and insecticides.

Ok the spigot launcher works. A simple launch tube, saboted bolt with fins, and a in bolt charge tripped by a firing rod in the launcher. First shot needs to be cocked, the force of the recoil re-cocks the mechanism. A drop in feed from a box mag loaded on top that feeds a round when it is re-cocked means it can fire repeatedly. If it gets a short round or it isn't re-cocked by recoil they can use the manual mode.

edited 15th Nov '13 1:14:51 PM by TuefelHundenIV

For those fond of laser weapons.

The Pulsed Energy Projectile

The PEP

A screen of plasma blasts to stun or disorient enemies This looks like a spin off of the PEP.

Apparently the PEP heats up a targets surface causing material ablation. This isusually caued by the tip of the beam. By the time the pulse is finished the rest of the lasers energy dumps into the plasma cloud from the ablation and causes a small energetic explosion which generates an EM pulse. And apparently said EM pulse causes pain and temporary paralysis.

The "plasma shield" uses a similar concept that is aimed at turning small pockets of air into a localized plasma cloud which is then fired off by a second laser to create a aerial boom. Basically stun blast.

Oh and a plasma atenna for extra high speed communication.

See here

edited 15th Nov '13 6:41:25 PM by TuefelHundenIV

I have to admit, when I saw that bit of Elysium I thought to myself that it wouldn't be that farfetched for my setting to have some sort of surface-orbit MANPADS-alike system (hey, soft sci-fi!). Of course, said surface to orbit MANPADS has a very limited range and is more suited to shooting down small ships (or shuttles) in the equivalent of LEO or lower; at its maximum ranges the missile would not be very agile, and earlier models might be distracted by celestial bodies once they leave atmosphere (think the attempts by early Sidewinders to shoot down the sun ).

However, they do give ships something to think about rather than plunging heedlessly into atmosphere.

@PEP and plasma shenanigans:

Very cool.

A quick question for you all. The Coalition employs very rugged, reliable yet highly advanced (and deadly) small arms. What sort of technology/designs could achieve that?

Polymers, alloys and cold hammer forged barrels (forged at or near room temp). There could be polycarbonate lenses for scopes.

edited 17th Nov '13 6:21:58 PM by TairaMai

For high pressure barrels they could do what the do with tank barrels. They use a sort of pressure forging to create dense layers of metal.

As an aside, I've figured out an acronym for surface to orbit man portable missiles: MANSPADS. MAN portable SPAce Defence Systems. Alternatively, MANPODS (MAN Portable Orbital Defence Systems). At the very least, it's less unwieldy than specifying a surface to orbit system resembling MANPADS.

Thank you very much! What sort of weapons would use a high pressure barrel, though? Am I right in thinking along the lines of high velocity rifles (particularly sniper rifles)?

One area of concern that occurs to me is that it's difficult to think of a highly advanced small arm with all the proverbial toys that could reasonably be made resistant to dust, dirt and other grime it would encounter in surface. I mean, of course you could employ some sort of method to make it waterproof for example, but that doesn't help much against mud, windblown sand, etc.

edited 18th Nov '13 9:42:26 AM by Flanker66

Flanker: Tank barrels usually.

Whoops, that's what I get for posting with my brain switched off.

So what if we made a gun that, instead of gunpowder, used an electric charge to generate plasma as a propellant?

...might need more sleep.

Been done in fiction, it's plausible . One sci-fi story had a Starfish Alien had a binary propellent for it's gun (water and another chemical for an exothermic reaction: they mix in the chamber and propel the bullet with steam.

Press forging You could feasibly use it to make any kind of weapon barrel. They are used in tank barrels because the process makes very strong barrels capable of standing the pressures of a tank gun firing.

There are also weapon concepts like the Scram Cannons.

More news articles that present interesting tech for the interested.

Electronic Warfare drone flies and does its thing

Personal Drones that orbit or hover near the user

Flat proof tires Non-Pneumatic tires for civilian vehicles.

edited 18th Nov '13 8:14:19 PM by TuefelHundenIV

Ah, I see! Speaking of tanks, any useful features for a hover tank? Something important to keep in mind about its employment is that it can float at a higher altitude to get a better view of the battlefield, though that's mostly used for helicopter style pop-up attacks than actively flying^* Helicopters are far more agile than hover tanks and can sustain a hover (at a much higher altitude to boot!), which is why they're not obsolescent. They also have better sensors, so this pop-up/pop-down ability is risky if it's used too often since it invites getting hit by an anti-tank weapon.

The self-operable drone umbrella is a cute concept. There are probably all sorts of personal drones available for the civilian market in my setting, particularly in the Confederacy. Some of them might be a little gimmicky, others will be all business, but that's to be expected.

I imagine that in military service there would be recon drones, obviously, as well as flying EW platforms (as one of the articles suggests). It could be tricky to meaningfully arm them unless they're fairly large or have impressive power-to-weight ratios.